- COVID & Health News 2/23/25
Respiratory illnesses are still HIGH now across the country and Influenza A is VERY HIGH. COVID wastewater levels are MODERATE in most places, but are still HIGH in the Midwest. - UPDATE: NIH reimposes “DEI” funding freeze despite court order
- On the origin of “make something wonderful”
Steve’s driving motivation - Trump Makes Stunning Admission as He Rages About Michael Wolff Book
- Musk Lashes Out at Pentagon Critic Who Ridiculed His Ultimatum to Federal WorkersElon Musk Threatens FBI Agents and Air Traffic Controllers With Forced Resignation if They Don’t Respond to an Email
Employees throughout the federal government have until 11:59 pm ET Monday to detail five things they accomplished in the last week.Federal workers sue over Elon Musk’s threat to fire them if they don’t explain their accomplishments
Trump Says Workers Who Don’t Respond to Musk’s Email Risk Being Fired
‘If you don’t answer, like you’re sort of semi-fired,’ president said MondayDOGE will use AI to assess the responses from federal workers who were told to justify their jobs via email
The revelation comes as federal workers face a midnight deadline to respondMusk renews firing threat after being stymied by federal officials
- Trumpism Is Not Inevitable
But if Trump and Musk are going to be defeated, it has to start now.
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So there is an urgency to the needed resistance. And that means there’s an urgency to change the current behavior of Congress.It’s true that the Republican party in Congress has been servile beyond belief. But we don’t need, at first, a massive rebellion against Trump. We need only a handful of congressional Republicans—only four in the Senate, two1 in the House!—to break with Trump on some key issues. For all the momentum Trump has, a few Republicans in the Senate and the House could bring much of it to a screeching halt.Trump would presumably still try to carry out as much of his autocratic project from the White House. But it would be a lot more difficult without Congress nodding along.
- The Reality of Ukraine
A larger meaning of the largest contemporary warThe divide in politics today is between unreality and reality. Those who seek to rule the world blur human experience and smudge memory, making cooperation and friendship laughable and unthinkable. Rather than possessors of truths, we are to serve as lonely nodes in a power network.Ukraine resists an unreality war. Putin’s premise for invasion is that Ukraine does not exist. There is no state, no nation. Ukraine is just a misunderstanding that can be corrected by the violence and propaganda. And so the country was to be occupied, the children were to be reeducated, and everyone with any sort of political involvement was to be murdered.
- Trump Wants to Be President for Life—and He’s Already Preparing for It
No, he’s not “joking” when he portrays himself as a king and muses about staying in office past 2028. Just look at everything he’s done this month. - The “Daddy” Party Is Scaring the Hell Out of the Family
Republicans portray Trump as the nation’s “daddy,” a disciplinarian father who’s going to get America’s house in order. The analogy is more revealing than they realize.
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Forget stern-but-loving Daddy. Trump’s GOP is downright belligerent: the Daddy who berates umpires at Little League games and makes his own kid cry for dropping a fly ball, who other parents won’t carpool with because he flips the bird while cutting off motorists. “What we have now is a violent father, and a father to be feared. The one to whom other parents always go, ‘Who the hell is that guy?’” said scholar Matthew MacWilliams, author of the book On Fascism: 12 Lessons From American History.Trump acolyte Tucker Carlson gave an accurate (if creepy) preview of this abusive, menacing Daddy at a Georgia rally weeks before the election. “Dad comes home, and he’s pissed!” Carlson said to a cheering crowd. “When dad gets home, you know what he says? ‘You’ve been a bad girl. You’ve been a bad little girl, and you’re getting a vigorous spanking right now.’… And no, it’s not going to hurt me more than it hurts you. No, it’s not. I’m not going to lie. It’s going to hurt you a lot more than it hurts me. And you earned this. You’re getting a vigorous spanking because you’ve been a bad girl, and it has to be this way.’” - Eight things scientists can do right now to stand up to the Trump administration’s attacks on research, public health, and the environment
A guest post by Dr Anne Toomey, author of the book “Science with Impact: How to Engage People, Change Practice, and Influence Policy”. - Disarray and Defiance
From Ukraine to Maine, leaders are standing up to authoritarians and the people stand with them….
Where Trump has left a gaping hole in our collective security and the future of Ukraine, the nations of Europe are rising up to fill the void. And where the resistance has seemed shellshocked and complacent, a fierce determination grows among the people, answering the call of a few brave leaders. - Start the 2026 Campaigns *Right Now*
Republicans don’t care. America should vote them out. What are Democrats waiting for? - RFK Jr. Stands in the Way of Polio Eradication
For just the second time in history, we have the opportunity to conquer a human virus—if we use the vaccines. - Trump 2.0 Brings Cuts to Cyber, Consumer Protections
One month into his second term, President Trump’s actions to shrink the government through mass layoffs, firings and withholding funds allocated by Congress have thrown federal cybersecurity and consumer protection programs into disarray. At the same time, agencies are battling an ongoing effort by the world’s richest man to wrest control over their networks and data. - The Trump Administration Keeps Citing an Untrue Stat as It Targets Federal Workers
A “survey of our niche audience for our niche audience” was the source for the claim that only 6% of federal employees are working full time in their offices. The number isn’t true. Why do administration and elected officials keep relying on it? - Project 2025 Makes Trump’s Goal Chillingly Clear
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As Democrats and the public struggle to even keep up with what the Trump administration is doing to the nation, it’s tempting to get caught up in the play-by-play. And although the details certainly are important, the single message must be this: Trump is trying to be a king or a dictator, and Project 2025 is his monarchical playbook. - Men violently zip-tie and remove woman from Idaho Republican town hall: “Speak up” and you will “suffer the consequences” (video)
In Trump 2.0, “free speech” only applies to those who agree with the new regime. Everyone else will “suffer the consequences,” as warned by the host of Idaho’s Republican town hall, where a woman who disagreed with Saturday’s talking points was dragged out in zip ties by several unidentified men. - The King of Chaos
Trump’s Delusions of Grandeur and the Dangers of His Malignant Narcissism
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As citizens, our focus should now turn to action. Trump’s mental instability demands that we redouble our vigilance and resistance. This is already happening, as constituents protest at congressional town halls. Protest works—especially in swing districts where lawmakers can’t afford to ignore public pressure.So, join every protest you can find. Join my movement at Country1st.com, Make your voice heard. Keep up the pressure. Because as he wields the power of the presidency, this KING is only going to get worse, until he realizes he was actually naked the whole time. - TVs at HUD Played an AI-Generated Video of Donald Trump Kissing Elon Musk’s Feet
On Monday morning, TV sets at the headquarters of the Department of Housing and Urban Development played the seemingly AI-generated video on loop, along with the words “LONG LIVE THE REAL KING.” - Why is Trump pressuring Romania to go soft on accused rapist Andrew Tate?
- US Attorney General Pam Bondi could use office to limit access to abortion
Bondi’s anti-abortion record as attorney general of Florida provides a preview of what she and the Trump administration might undertake to curtail reproductive rights. - Judge: US gov’t violated privacy law by disclosing personal data to DOGE
Disclosure of personal information to DOGE “is irreparable harm,” judge rules. - DOJ Demands Safe Space After Mean Judge Lady Made Them Sad With All Those Hard Questions
- Elena Kagan Wants People To Feel Comfortable About Their Right To Criticize The Supreme Court
Don’t like what SCOTUS has been up to? Feel free to say so!In the end, the results matter, people are absolutely entitled to make judgments about the court based on the results that the court is reaching and the reasons that the court is giving for those results.— Justice Elena Kagan, in comments given during Princeton University’s recent Alumni Day event, where she defended the public’s right to criticize whether the Supreme Court “is doing its job properly, no matter how hard we’re working and seriously we’re taking things.” Kagan was later awarded the school’s Woodrow Wilson award.
- Trump is now mocking federal workers with memes threatening their jobs
- Report: Musk Protégé Tied to Executed KGB Spy
- Michael Fanone on altercation with Enrique Tarrio
- Federal Judge Shields More Transgender Inmates From Trump Order
A group of transgender women in federal prisons who would have been moved into men’s facilities can stay where they are for now. - Is Judge Dale Ho Trying To Punk Paul Clement?
It’s actually a hilarious pick. - Mark Kelly to Elon Musk in astronaut feud: Climb into a rocket ship, then we’ll talk
- Trump takeover sees Kennedy Center suffer ticket sale collapse, says reportTrump fired the Kennedy Center’s leadership upon his return to the Oval Office and put MAGA loyalist in charge of the famed institution
- Office of the Special Counsel finds DOGE firings illegalThe Office of the Special Counsel has found DOGE’s firings illegal, specifically regarding the termination of six federal employees, and it appears the judgment will be much wider reaching.
- The sh*t show is on purpose
Here’s a task for some journalist who hasn’t had their White House press credential yanked yet: Ask Caroline Leavitt why Donald Trump didn’t just appoint Stewart Rhodes of the Oath Keepers or Enrique Terrio of the Proud Boys as deputy director of the FBI. I mean, either one of them would be as qualified as Dan Bongino, the man Trump appointed Sunday night as Kash Patel’s second in command. Trump called him on Truth Social “a man of incredible love and passion for our Country,” and “one of the most successful podcasters in the country.” You know who else Trump says are patriots who love this country? The felons who beat cops on January 6, 2021. You know what he’s calling the FBI agents and DOJ prosecutors who handled the cases of the J6 defendants? Unamerican, traitors, criminals.
