OPTIMIST DAY UPDATES
For Better and For Worse, It Is Who I Am and What I Like To Do
-Week Three of Term Two of We-Know-Who is on, and fortunately, pushback on Team Trump and his megabuck sidekick Apartheid Boy is starting on a number of fronts, most prominently recently the courts. As the attempt to both create a President by Proclamations and IT Coup d'etat carries on, work to slow or stop the deluge is happening apace thanks to Federal judges. Two of them have declared the attempt to end birthright citizenship as grotesquely and obviously unconstitutional. A third case has put a stall on firing FBI agents, which to recall is being done because they exposed Trump's criminality (and how DARE they, according to Dear Leader). A fourth court told Elon he couldn't use his incel coder team to stall or stop payments after commandeering the Treasury Department's payment computers, And today, a fifth court has put the "buyouts" being "offered" by Trump (and more specifically Elon) on ice while the legality of the offers - including, not unimportantly, whether there is actual money for them - are further litigated.
-So this is good - and, a quick and fun anecdote (yes, fun!) about that last ban. Seems that the "buyout offer" is remarkably like the same "buyout offers" that were offered by workers of what used to be called Twitter. Besides being piss-poor offers with very questionable conditions (such as they aren't traditional buyouts but agreements to work for 6-8 months while still being susceptible to being fired at will), the offers were proffered via emails that were referred to with the subject title of "A Fork in the Road" (as they were at ex-Twitter). While 40,000 people had said they would take it (those have been suspended as well), many Federal workers have defied the offer with emojis or responses simply called (or emojis of) "SPOON!" The reference is not just an obvious direct response to a 'fork,' the nerds out there recognize that "SPOON!" is the signature catch phrase of The Tick, a comic book superhero (that was also a live-action Fox series!) who both is a superhero and a fun commentary on superheroes in general. (Look it up!)
-Anyway, back to fighting The Dipshit Duo - and so far, Congressional Democrats also are stepping up - at least in the last few days. In the Senate, at the time of this writing Senate Dems are in the midst of an old-school filibuster to clog up the nomination vote of Office of Management and Budget nominee (and Project 2025 central writer) Russ Vought, with promises to finally fight the remaining Trump Cabinet nominees. It appears to be working with FBI nominee Ka$h Patel, as his confirmation vote has been delayed with no clear date to bring it up, as Director of National Intelligence nominee Tulsi Gabbard and Health and Human Services Secretary nominee Robert F. Kennedy Jr. are also in line, and hopefully at least putting the brakes on if not finding ways to derail at least one of them.
-On the House side, Democrats on the House Oversight Committee had an idea when they discovered MAGAt Committee members would be short of a member - call a fast quorum vote and use their in-the-moment majority to issue a subpoena to Musk to get him in front of the Committee and put him in public, thereby continuing to drive down his polling numbers and a hoped-for wedge between him and Trump.
-A great idea, but it didn't quite happen - in part because MAGAts got wind of the scheme and (in several cases) literally dashed into the chamber to vote to protect the President their financial and virtual dungeon master the bully du jour Musk, and in part because Rep. Ro Khanna, a Democrat who represents Silicon Valley (and a big Bernie bro), missed the vote. Khanna insists he was supportive of the move but wasn't briefed on the plan, though others on the committee dispute that. Nonetheless, there is a promise that Dems will try it again to force MAGAts to also support Musk - something that polling is showing is not happening, and something believed to be a reason why telephone calls to DC have been at such a high volume several Congressional phone systems have slowed or went down this week.
-More fighting back is going on, including multiple states Attorneys General banding together to push back against those two guys - but make no mistake (as if this needs to be said), the fkery continues apace. Elon's Incel Crue continues to rampage through government organizations they don't like despite having no legal means and even less political authority, with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency and the Department of Education the latest targets. Trump also signed a new Executive Order press release "banning" transgendered people from playing in competitive sports - an "order" that, at most, is estimated to affect at most ten NCAA athletes. And, several states and cities therein (including Chicago) have been sued by the new Attorney General, Pam Bondi, for continuing to defend immigrants through their Sanctuary City status, and will try to use courts to stop Federal aid to those cities even though, again, that's not supposed to be A Thing.
-The immigration Thing continues to be central to what Trump wants to do - but, while the threats must continue to be treated as real (particularly as Trump is discussing taking "immigrants" to both Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and the foreign country of El Salvador), the sense that it is more important that Trump put on a show that satisfies him and MAGA than actually enforcing any humane rational immigration laws. Immigration Czar Tom Homan and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem have been making showy appearances on Fox - Homan warmongering about "shots" being fired in Mexico "any minute," and Noem appearing in literal costumes as an ICE agent and border guard riding a horse with perfect hair. There are reports that livestreaming ICE arrests are out and will be replaced by phony "documentaries" about "stories on the border" undoubtedly designed to anger and inflame. New "White House" communiques are glorified X posts with self-referential "proof" from other right-wing outlets. And The Guardian reports that, surprise surprise, SOMEbody is working on the Google algorithms to inflate the total number of immigrants being arrested and deported.
-In other words, the "Shock'n'Awe!" promised by Trump and the Heritage Foundation is ... showing instability at the least, and may actually be counterproductive. For a reason why, The Daily uses the example set by Viktor Orban of Hungary, a man who Trump and others have openly embraced as an example of how to create an American fascism - and how Team Trump is screwing up the plan. Yes, taking over the government and getting a media pliant and ready to help is important, and Trump seems to have checked those boxes. However, there is still the need to get the citizenry to accept and actively give away rights to the fascists - and there, The Daily is theorizing, Team Trump is doing what Team Trump has traditionally done: blow it bigly.
-The Daily points out that, in Hungary, measures designed to give Orban and his cronies more power were gradual, backed by PR efforts after each measure to get the populace used to each measure before moving on to the next one, thereby allowing Hungarians to erode their own power. In contrast, Trump's Everything Everywhere All At Once is the exact opposite - do it all and trust the institutions and people will be too overwhelmed to act, or try to act until it is too late. That strategy is where the cracks in Team Trump's foundation is showing, as polling is showing Musk is becoming a Bad Guy and Congresspeople admit concern about Elon is being expressed so loudly in their offices that they are also noticing what's going on and the concerns, i.e. "Elon can stop my Social Security check?!" (Answer: probably), are real - and also reflecting on Dear Leader.
-All of this, and only now are we getting to the other big thing Trump said since my last Substack: that the United States and its troops will delightfully and as publicly as possible head over to the Gaza Strip to make it Trump Red Sea and ethnically cleanse relocate Palestinians as a result. Aside from the deepest and dumbest MAGAts and Vladimir Putin, literally nobody thinks this is a good idea - because, oh what are the words, IT IS ONE OF THE STUPIDEST IDEAS TRUMP HAS EVER COME UP WITH - and this is TRUMP we're talking about!
-Naturally, Trump is not letting go of the idea (his people are trying to push Trump's words away from him, natch), although why would they since in the press conference where Trump tried to commit American troops in the heart of some of the deepest-seeded America-hating regions on the globe Trump blithely ignored the fears and spoke of Gaza as if it was just another real estate development plan he can steal from before it goes bankrupt. That Trump followed up that appearance with a second public appearance in which he belchgargled praise for Alabama lunkhead Senator Tommy Tuberville for coaching Patrick Mahomes in college (Tuberman coached at Auburn, Mahomes played at Texas Tech, and were years apart to boot) while lamenting "two-dollar airline tickets" - really - makes the whispers about Trump's mental capabilities a bit louder and a bit harder to hide physically.
-This also has not gotten into much detail about the savage attacks on USAID, which are quite expansive (touching on everything from humanitarian aid that is being interrupted and potentially replaced by China to further mucking up Ukraine) (and always, SLAVA UKRAINI!) and clearly increasingly very personal to Elon Musk (from resentment over USAID's role in the end of apartheid in South Africa to financial investigations into Musk's Starlink satellite system), but we know the drives are going to continue. But there are also continued inroads in the courts - the Musk-rats having been barred from mucking around with computers in the Labor Department this afternoon - and we can support them with groups working to take Trump to court (the ACLU, Democracy Docket, state AGs) - but we will ...
-So let's wrap today with Music News, and a big goodbye being scheduled for this July in England. The mighty Black Sabbath and its original iconic members - Geezer Butler, Tony Iommi, Ozzy Osbourne and Bill Ward - have announced a farewell concert which has become a massive celebration and festival of metal. Immortal bands (Metallica, Pantera, Slayer), newer metal bands (Halestorm, Lamb of God, Gojira) and guitar gods both real (Duff McKagen, Tom Morello), upcoming (Wolfgang Van Halen), sorta-kinda (Billy Corgan) and phony (Fred Durst? GTFOH!) will play at the event. While there have been three other such concerts announced, the fragile physical condition of Ozzy (who will likely need to sing while sitting as he is no longer able to stand, according to Sharon Osborne) will likely mean this one's The Real Final Show.
-Warm up the devil's horns and get ready!
-Now, the trivia ...
-NEWS ON THIS DATE: In 1865, Robert E. Lee was appointed General-in-Chief of the Confederacy. In 1891, the Dalton Gang robbed their first train. In 1952, Elizabeth II became Queen of England (God save her!). In 1958, George Harrison joined The Quarrymen. In 2014, Jay Leno left THE TONIGHT SHOW once and for all.
-DEBUTS ON THIS DATE: The Weimar Republic (1919), Charlie Chaplain (THE KID, 1921), OF MICE AND MEN (1937), Frank Sinatra on national radio (1943), SpaceX in flight (2018), DUNE: PART TWO (2024).
-HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Babe Ruth, Mary Leakey, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Patrick Macnee, Haskall Wexler, Mamie Van doren, Rip Torn, Francois Truffault, Mike Farrell, Tom Brokaw, Sarah Brady, Fabian, Michael Tucker, Bob Marley, Kate McGarrigle, Richie Zisk, Natalie Cole, Kathy Najimy, Robert Townsend, Axl Rose, Gordon Downie, Rick Astley, Tom Tupa, Bob Wickman, and Charlie Heaton.
-REST IN PEACE/POWER: Joseph Priestley, King George VI, Vince Guaraldi, Danny Thomas, Arthur Ashe, Jack Kirby, Carl Wilson, Falco, James Whitmore, Ralph Kiner, Dan Hicks, Professor Irwin Corey, Seiji Ozawa, and today, Virginia McCaskey.
-FEED THE WORMS: Aaron Burr, Ronald Reagan and Eva Braun entered Earth on this date. George P. Schultz bought it on this date.
-TODAY'S MUSIC INTERLUDE: Can there be anyone else? And can there be any other song for the moment?