«USAID Inspector General somehow managed to put together a report on the damage the chaos is having. Among other things, it finds that the cuts have incapacitated any means of vetting disbursements to keep them out of the hands of terrorists.»

https://www.emptywheel.net/2025/02/11/donald-trump-incorrect-shell-game-of-appropriated-spending/

I confess I just skimmed this post, but this did jump out at me.

This type of thing is just going to become more common and we won’t find out about for years, when people have finally sorted through the wreckage and done the forensics. Expect articles in the future (like… years from now) about how we accidentally funded this unpleasant thing or enabled that unpleasant thing. The exact thing the far right is currently (or rather, up until very recently) accusing the government of.

https://5calls.org/issue/consumer-financial-protection-bureau-cfpb-vought/

You can, too.

Left voice mail. Tip: keep it short. I ran on a bit (covered both CFPB and the SAVE Act) and got cut off. Hopefully it registered anyway.

So, I’m reading this book, and

«“People are going to die when we do this.”

“People will die if we don’t. Oh, Sheridan—you’ve come so far, done so much good work for the cause. Please don’t quail now, at the final hurdle.”

“I won’t ‘quail,’” he said, resenting her tone.

“You trust me, don’t you? Absolutely, unquestioningly?”

“Yes.”

“Then you know that we are doing the right thing, the decent thing, the only human thing. When the time of transition is complete, the citizenry will thank us from the bottom of their hearts. And the time will be soon, Sheridan. Now that all but these last few trifling obstacles have been removed…”»

Aurora Rising Alastair Reynolds https://bookshop.org/p/books/aurora-rising-alastair-reynolds/1c76a81c9461d910?ean=9780316462570&next=t&digital=t

This is part of a conversation between the antagonist (at least, I *think* she’s the antagonist, but it’s early) and one of her henchmen. The dastardly plot is being exposed to the reader.

I’m supposed to hate the Bad Guy, and be secure in my knowledge that of *course* the people won’t welcome a dictatorship, but… We’ve just voted into power a gang that is destroying our government with the active endorsement of [Googles to see if “majority”means”over 50%”] a plurality of those who voted, and…

This Bad Guy is landing very differently than she would have a year ago, and I’m wondering if maybe the citizenry *would* thank her from the bottom of their hearts.

If the price of freedom is eternal vigilance, I think there are a LOT of people that don’t want to pay that price, that “eternal vigilance” is just too much work.

And that’s not a great feeling.

The only thing that gives me hope, oddly (and why should it be odd, John?), is the people of South Korea immediately throwing off an attempt to establish authoritarianism. (Well, and maybe the demonstrations in Germany against the far right, but we’ll see what happens at election time.)

But it’s definitely affecting my reading of this book.

“Jane says we have to consider the very real possibility that some parties may attempt unilateral punitive action if they conclude that Ultras were responsible.”

“In other words, we could be looking at war between the Glitter Band and the Ultras.”

“I’m hoping no one will be quite that stupid,” Sparver said. “Then again, this is baseline humans we’re dealing with.”

Aurora Rising Alastair Reynolds https://bookshop.org/p/books/aurora-rising-alastair-reynolds/1c76a81c9461d910?ean=9780316462570&next=t&digital=t

Accidental commentary on current events.

So. Got an email from the Democratic party chair of a neighboring county (I volunteered to canvas there, so I’m on their list, which is a good thing, because I don’t seem to be on my own county’s list, or they don’t like me, or they’re just not sending emails).

Some very interesting tidbits in there about calling your congresspeople.

«Every single day, the Senior Staff and the Senator get a report of the most-called-about topics for that day at each of their offices, and exactly how many people said what about each of those topics. Republican callers generally outnumber Democratic callers 4-1, and when it’s a particular issue that single-issue-voters pay attention to (like gun control, or Planned Parenthood funding, etc…), it’s often closer to 11-1, and that’s recently pushed congressmen on the fence to vote with the Republicans.»

4! To 1! Republicans absolutely not afraid to pick up the phone and tell their congresspeople what’s on their mind. Maybe because they are actually on board with this democracy thing (crazy, I know).

More good stuff:

«Give them your zip code. They won’t always ask for it, but make sure you give it to them, so they can mark it down. Extra points if you live in a zip code that traditionally votes for them, since they’ll want to make sure they get/keep your vote.

Pick 1-2 specific things per day to focus on. Don’t rattle off everything you’re concerned about — they’re figuring out what 1-2 topics to mark down for you on their lists. It’s important that they just keep getting calls.

Be clear on what you want and write it down before you dial the phone — “I’m disappointed that the Senator…” or “I want to thank the Senator for their vote on… or “I want the Senator to know that voting in _____ way is the wrong decision for our state because…” Don’t leave any ambiguity.

They may get to know your voice/get sick of you — it doesn’t matter. The people answering the phones generally turn over every 6 weeks anyway, so even if they’re really sick of you, they’ll be gone in 6 weeks.

And, finally, guess what web site they recommended?

https://5calls.org/!

Ha!

https://www.wonkette.com/p/this-press-release-from-the-cfpb

«On the evening of February 6, three minions of professional Twitter poster and Jeffrey Epstein confidant Elon Musk appeared in the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) internal staff directory.»

Oh, my God.

[settles in to read the rest of it]

«It can be tempting to say that just as the Red Scare petered out, so too will the current hunt for “disloyal” elements. But for all the parallels, there’s an important difference: Loyalty then meant loyalty to the United States; today Trump demands loyalty to himself and his agenda.»

https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2025/02/06/government-workers-purge-1950s-communism-00202336

https://krebsonsecurity.com/2025/02/teen-on-musks-doge-team-graduated-from-the-com/

Oy vey. What kind of people is Musk hiring? Clown squad. And malicious. I wouldn’t trust this guy (and, by extension, the rest of Musk’s team) with ANY sensitive data.

https://www.wonkette.com/p/musks-doggie-hackerboys-update

Good article; Wonkette rocks.

Please join me in a sidebar in which I do math with zeros.

100 is a 1 followed by two zeros. It’s also 10 × 10, so we can write 10² or 1E2 in computerese because computers can’t do exponents.

Likewise, 1000 is a 1 followed by three zeros or 10 × 10 × 10 or 10³ or 1E3.

When you divide, you subtract exponents, so 1000 ÷ 100 is done by subtracting the 2 in 10² from the 3 in 10³, so the answer is 10¹ or just 10.

Duh. Sounds stupid so far, right? Let’s take it to the next level.

One meeeelion is 1,000,000; 1 followed by six zeros, 10⁶, 1E6.

One billion is 10⁹; nine zeros.

One trillion is 10¹²; twelve zeros.

Those numbers (6, 9, 12) are worth memorizing.

Paul Ryan’s big tax cut bill, which he enacted for his good friend Donald Trump and his billionaire buddies back in 2016, is expiring this year (2025, for any time travellers from the future who are still unsure as to what year it is). Elon Musk and his billionaire bros would prefer that not happen. Continuing that tax cut will cost an eye-watering amount of money that must be accounted for in the budgetary process. AOC says that’s  $4 trillion. Elon says he wants to cut $2 trillion. 12 zeroes.

Elon says he saved $110 million. That’s 8 zeroes (100 × 1 million;  10² × 10⁶ = 10⁸ because we add exponents when multiplying).

$4 trillion. 4 × 10¹². Divided by 10⁸… 12 minus 8… is 10⁴. That’s a 1 followed by 4 zeroes. That’s $10,000. (Don’t forget to multiply by 4.)

If you had a gift card with a balance of $40,001 and you swiped it at a vending machine that charged you $1 for a Coke, now you have $40,000 on that card. How much did that hurt? How much are you complaining?

That’s what $110 mil is in the face of $4 *trillion*. It’s couch-cushion change. It’s four quarters and a dime.

We’re starving babies around the world (including this country) for chump change because Elon wants to save those tax cuts for himself and his billionaire friends. And it’s not even going to help.

Don’t just follow the money. Follow the *zeros*.

https://www.wsj.com/economy/consumers/americans-jittery-over-inflation-university-of-michigan-survey-suggests-1476cf39?st=Rqsamf&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink (gift)