Sue Halena

For decades, a newswoman; now, a nanny. Interested in a safe and civil world for all generations.

[Marco Foster @MarcoFoster_]

James Talarico: “The only thing worse than a tyrant is a tyrant who thinks they’re on a mission from God. Our faith in Jesus should lead us away from theocracy, tyranny, Christian nationalism and toward a multi-racial, multi-cultural democracy”

[ProPublica @propublica]

ProPublica identified at least 79 children who’ve been left screaming, unable to breathe, or otherwise hurt by tear gas and pepper spray during Trump’s historic immigration crackdown.
https://t.co/p3QWXhlMHE

[Isaac Saul @Ike_Saul]

We are in deep, deep trouble.

A reader wrote in to me this week saying that they wouldn't read my Trump corruption story because ChatGPT "fact-checked the piece" and informed them most of it was false.

Among other things, ChatGPT told them that there is no Iran war, Jared Kushner is not a negotiator in the war, Qatar never offered Trump a $400 million plane, George Santos wasn't pardoned, the NYTimes did not report on Syrian billionaires lobbying Trump for sanctions relief, Trump never launched a meme coin, and World Liberty Financial (the Trump family crypto firm) doesn't exist.

Of course, all of these things ARE real, do exist, and are happening right now. Apparently, the reader copy and pasted the text of my story into ChatGPT, and without the links ChatGPT couldn't confirm any of it. Once the reader sent ChatGPT the link to the story, it ended up concluding all the facts were correct.

How many people simply don't know how to use AI and are offloading all their thinking? It's a terrifying thought. And a totally new frontier of reality to navigate.

[Isaac Saul @Ike_Saul]

There is a particularly disarming quality of this administration's corruption — just doing it so brazenly and out in the open and shamelessly — that has basically made them immune to criticism. It's remarkable, really, and it seems like there is a new story like this every single day.

[KSTP @KSTP]

Minnesota leaders have updated their lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) after they say new data shows businesses and workers experienced devastating economic damage during Operation Metro Surge. https://t.co/hSm9GYsAL6

[The Washington Post @washingtonpost]

Breaking news: The Trump administration’s fundraising arrangement for the White House ballroom project shields donor identities and excludes the White House from conflict of interest requirements, according to records obtained by The Post. https://t.co/BV4EN425Yf

[Isaac Saul @Ike_Saul]

To recap: Trump started a massive mid-cycle redistricting war in Texas. Democrats responded by gerrymandering everywhere they could, and got Ds to turn out for a voter referendum that will cost Rs four seats. Trump responds by claiming (of course) the election was stolen.

[Sue Halena @SueHalena]

Spot on, Joe.

[Joe Walsh @WalshFreedom]

That’s not at all the job of the Attorney General. Not even close. The AG doesn’t work for the President. He works for the American people. His job isn’t to “execute the president’s agenda.” His job is to fairly execute justice in America. These people are fucking everything up.

[PBS News @NewsHour]

More than 350 U.S. service members have been injured since military action against Iran began in late February. U.S. Central Command says the vast majority of those injuries are traumatic brain injuries.

TBIs have become the defining injury of post 9/11 conflicts, and the symptoms can often linger for years, or even a lifetime.

@ElizLanders has more.

[ABC News @ABC]

A Vietnamese immigrant died in government custody last week, according to a notification sent to lawmakers from ICE, marking the latest detainee death during the Trump administration's immigration crackdown. https://t.co/N5NfgKCUQy

[ProPublica @propublica]

The DOGE team was acting like “a bunch of people who didn’t know what they were doing, with ideas of how government should run — thinking it should work like a McDonald’s or a bank — screaming all the time,” former SSA Commissioner Leland Dudek said.
https://t.co/TUMsqot1Do

[Rep. Mike Levin @RepMikeLevin]

The Financial Times is reporting something that should be front-page news everywhere.   

Pete Hegseth didn’t just help design the Iran war. He championed it publicly, cheered it on, and sold it to the American people. And according to the Financial Times, while his own department was in the final stages of preparing to launch it, his broker at Morgan Stanley was attempting to make a multimillion-dollar investment in the defense companies that build the weapons we used to fight it.   

The investment didn’t ultimately go through, but only because the fund wasn’t yet available on Morgan Stanley’s platform. Not because anyone stopped it.  

If these reports are accurate, the Secretary of Defense was positioned to profit from a war he helped start, using information no private investor could ever have. That is a profound betrayal of every service member he commands, and of every American who trusted this Administration with their national security.  

No one should be cashing in on privileged information while lives and national security are on the line.

[ProPublica @propublica]

The fight so far is focused on three fatal shootings, but prosecutors in Minneapolis have opened criminal investigations into 14 additional cases of potentially unlawful behavior by federal agents during Operation Metro Surge.
https://t.co/D4Ll954C6Z

[Isaac Saul @Ike_Saul]

The fact that I can't tell whether this is genuinely our president or a hack is such a jarring, disorienting snapshot of our time. At some point, there aren't enough policy wins to make up for the degradation of what's acceptable; the president seems to be going mad before us.

[Lesley Abravanel 🪩 @lesleyabravanel]

A UAE “Spy Sheikh” secretly bought a $500M stake in Trump’s crypto company — then got access to guarded U.S. AI chips Biden had blocked. Deputy AG Todd Blanche deflected when confronted on ABC News. This is corruption, plain and simple. The White House is for sale.

[Senator Amy Klobuchar @SenAmyKlobuchar]

The President’s proposed USDA budget takes away nearly 20% of its entire funding, slashing support for rural towns, agricultural research, and food aid produced by American farmers, all while they are already struggling in a tough farm economy.

This is unacceptable.

[Headquarters @HQNewsNow]

Trump is seeking to pay for his new $1.5 trillion military budget by cutting the following:

$510 million - Grants for farmers and agricultural research
$82 million - Loans for rural small businesses (Fully eliminated)
$61 million - Support for farmers and food markets (Fully eliminated)
$240 million - School meals and food education for children abroad (Fully eliminated)
$659 million - Community building grants
$47 million - Support for minority-owned businesses (Fully eliminated)
$449 million - Economic development grants for communities
$1.6 billion - Weather forecasting, fisheries, and coastal protection (NOAA)
$993 million - Scientific research and technology standards
$150 million - Support for American exports and trade
$2.2 billion - Broadband and internet access programs
$8.5 billion - Funding for public schools
$1.5 billion - Vocational training and adult education (Fully eliminated)
$2.7 billion - College access and higher education support
$15.2 billion - Roads, bridges, and infrastructure projects
$1.1 billion - Home energy efficiency and clean energy programs (Fully eliminated)
$1.1 billion - Scientific research funding
$386 million - Environmental cleanup programs
$150 million - Cutting-edge clean energy research
$4 billion - Help paying home heating and cooling bills for low-income families (Fully eliminated)
$768 million - Refugee resettlement assistance
$819 million - Care and shelter for migrant children
$775 million - Local anti-poverty programs (Fully eliminated)
$5 billion - Public health programs, mental health services, and disease prevention
$5 billion - Medical research (NIH)
$129 million - Healthcare quality and safety research
$356 million - Emergency preparedness and disaster response
$1.3 billion - FEMA community disaster preparedness grants
$707 million - Cybersecurity protection for critical infrastructure
$52 million - Airport and transportation security
$40 million - Protection against chemical and biological weapons threats
$53 million - Funding for homeland security operations
$3.3 billion - Community development block grants for local neighborhoods (Fully eliminated)
$1.3 billion - Affordable housing construction grants (Fully eliminated)
$393 million - Programs to reduce homelessness
$529 million - Housing assistance for people living with HIV/AIDS (Fully eliminated)
$489 million - Housing and services for Native American communities
$50 million - Grants to help communities build more housing (Fully eliminated)
$60 million - Enforcement of fair housing and anti-discrimination laws
$58 million - Homebuyer and renter counseling services (Fully eliminated)
$45 million - Renewable energy development programs (Fully eliminated)
$1.7 billion - Grants for local law enforcement and public safety
$20 million - Civil rights mediation and legal access programs (Fully eliminated)
$1.6 billion - Job training for at-risk youth (Fully eliminated)
$395 million - Jobs program for low-income seniors (Fully eliminated)
$234 million - Worker safety and labor protection programs
$101 million - Enforcement of equal pay and workplace anti-discrimination laws
$46 million - Programs to combat child labor and forced labor abroad
$2 billion - International humanitarian aid
$1.2 billion - Food aid for hungry families abroad (Fully eliminated)
$4.3 billion - Global health and disease prevention programs
$2.7 billion - Funding for the United Nations and international partnerships
$642 million - International economic and treasury programs
$315 million - Democracy and anti-corruption programs abroad
$486 million - Grants for public transit projects
$4.2 billion - Electric vehicle charging infrastructure
$372 million - Airline service for rural and small communities
$145 million - Grants for sustainable and equitable infrastructure
$204 million - Loans and investment for underserved communities
$1.4 billion - IRS taxpayer services and enforcement
$100 million - Air pollution monitoring and reduction programs (Fully eliminated)
$1 billion - EPA grants to states for environmental protection
$2.5 billion - Clean drinking water and wastewater infrastructure funds
$90 million - Grants to reduce diesel pollution (Fully eliminated)
$3.4 billion - NASA space and earth science research
$297 million - NASA technology innovation programs
$1.1 billion - International Space Station operations
$143 million - STEM education programs
$309 million - Small business development and entrepreneurship programs
$170 million - Small Business Administration operations
$158 million - Loans for small businesses

[PBS News @NewsHour]

A drone maker backed by President Donald Trump's two oldest sons is trying to sell to Gulf countries while they are under attack by Iran and dependent on the U.S. military led by their father.
https://t.co/77E51TNvpK

[Pete Buttigieg @PeteButtigieg]

Trump’s new budget adds an extra $500 billion to fund wars abroad — about $3,700 more for every household in America — while cutting health, jobs, housing, and education.

Put simply, it takes more of your money for foreign wars, while making life in America even more unaffordable.

[Shanaka Anslem Perera ⚡ @shanaka86]

Twenty-six generals and admirals in fourteen months. No misconduct cited for a single one.

A former Fox News weekend host who never held a senior military command has removed the Joint Chiefs Chairman, the Army Chief of Staff, the commander of Army Transformation and Training, the Chief of Chaplains, and at least 22 other senior officers from the most powerful military on earth. He blocked four Army officers from promotion to brigadier general, two Black men and two women, by unilaterally striking their names from a list of 36. When Army Secretary Dan Driscoll refused to remove them, Hegseth did it himself. No hearing. No review board. No Senate consultation. The names were struck because the man who reads the list decided they should not be on it.

The pattern is not random. It is architectural. Every removal serves the same function: shortening the distance between a presidential decision and its execution. The officers who remain are the ones who did not resist. The officers who resisted are gone. The replacement for the Army Chief of Staff is Vice Chief General Christopher LaNeve, who served as Hegseth’s personal military aide. The man who carried the briefcase now signs the orders. The chain of command has been rebuilt so that every link answers directly to the man who removed the previous link.

General Randy George was the commander of the United States Army’s ground forces. That title matters now in a way it did not matter six weeks ago. Before February 28, ground forces in Iran were a theoretical exercise discussed in war colleges and think tanks. After five weeks of air strikes, with the IRGC publishing bridge target lists across four allied nations, with the President saying the military has “not even started” destroying what remains, with MEUs staged in the Gulf and the 82nd Airborne deploying and JSOC operators at forward bases in four countries, the ground option is no longer theoretical. It is a logistics package. And the man whose job was to assess whether that package should be opened was told to retire the same day the President posted “much more to follow.”

Lieutenant General Hodne ran the command that trains every soldier who would execute a ground operation. Major General Green led the chaplain corps that would minister to every soldier who dies in one. George decided whether the operation should happen. Hodne prepared the soldiers to carry it out. Green prepared them to live with it. All three were removed on the same afternoon.

Congress has not held a hearing. No subpoenas issued. The legal authority for a Defence Secretary to unilaterally override promotion lists and force immediate retirement of Senate-confirmed officers during wartime has not been tested because nobody with the authority to question it has chosen to.

The IRGC has said attacks will “intensify from next week.” The Ford carrier is heading back. The CNN intelligence assessment confirms half of Iran’s launchers and thousands of drones remain. The President has named the next targets: power plants, desalination, oil wells, Kharg Island. And every general who might have said “this crosses a line” is already gone.

Twenty-six officers. Zero misconduct findings. One question that every general still serving is asking behind closed doors: who is left to say no? And what happens when the answer is nobody?

https://t.co/dAOBBMsgDS