The New Republic -Edith Olmsted / February 17, 2025 – Anti-Trump 50501 Protests Break Out Across the Country Protests against Donald Trump and Elon Musk took place nationwide on President’s Day. Since then, the fascist duo have only continued their plot to cut popular federal programs and launch mass firings of federal employees.
We’re not happy in Pennsylvania, that’s for sure.
But the Trump administration keeps pushing this upon us.
The New Republic – Stephen Miller Crashes Out Trying to Defend DOGE Miller was reduced to just shouting at the CNN host. Edith Olmsted / February 18, 2025 “I would say that it’s pretty standard when you’re downsizing government, you make cuts, you assess those cuts. You see who needs to be rehired, you see who needs to be kept, who needs to be reevaluated,” Miller continued, adopting Musk’s inane view that the best way to downsize was to cut off limbs of the system, and then simply wait to see whether it stops working—or something blows up.
And probably most Trump voters didn’t even ask for this because none of this was in the Trump campaign after all. And I have a hard time believing that even die-hard MAGA supporters actually wanted the Trump administration to be doing quid pro quo deals with corrupt Democrat politicians in New York City.
The New Republic – Casey Michel / February 18, 2025 Quid Pro Whoa Trump Saved Eric Adams’s Bacon—and Put the Country Up for Sale The quid pro quo deal between the president and the mayor of New York City will throw open the foreign corruption floodgates. Once the staffer relayed the funding plot to Adams, the mayor “directed” that his staffer “pursue the [Turkish national’s] illegal scheme.” As the indictment details, Adams “welcomed the offer of foreign contributions.” Nor was Adams especially far into his tenure when he allegedly decided to toss the door open to foreign monies; according to the federal indictment, this all took place a mere 10 days into his stint as New York mayor. It’s not difficult to see why Adams’s Turkish contacts allegedly funded him. In addition to green-lighting the biggest Turkish consulate in the world—burnishing the reach and reputation of Turkish autocrat Recep Erdoğan in the process—one of Adams’s Turkish contacts, who agreed to “contribute $50,000 or more” to Adams’s mayoral campaign, said he “believe[ed] that Adams might one day be the President of the United States and [was] hoping to gain influence with Adams.”
A lifetime ago I would’ve remarked on how foolish these Turks seemed for thinking this guy would ever be president, but…
The New Republic – Eric Adams’s Deal With Trump May Be About to Get Him Fired – It sure sounds like Governor Kathy Hochul is ready to give Adams the boot. Ellie Quinlan Houghtaling / February 18, 2025 “I recognize the immense responsibility I hold as governor and the constitutional powers granted to this office,” she continued. “In the 235 years of New York State history, these powers have never been utilized to remove a duly-elected mayor; overturning the will of the voters is a serious step that should not be taken lightly. That said, the alleged conduct at City Hall that has been reported over the past two weeks is troubling and cannot be ignored.”
I was skeptical that Kathy Hochul would remove Eric Adams, mostly because they’ve been so cozy cozy in the covid contrarian campaign to make life harder for high risk immunocompromised people by trying to get statewide mask bans that would put a lot of seniors and disabled people in danger. But perhaps public pressure on the issue of Eric Adams blatant corruption is just a bridge too far for even the most checked out New Yorkers.
That said, Governor Kathy Hochul was quoted as saying: “Tomorrow, I have asked key leaders to meet me at my Manhattan office for a conversation about the path forward, with the goal of ensuring stability for the City of New York.” And I want to caution that this is very much an indication that she’s in a state of elite panic. And we cannot depend on elites making the right decisions without ordinary people holding them to account with sustained pressure.
It’s definitely worth writing to your reps to complain about this, even if it’s just to periodically check in and say, like I have:
I don’t like the idea of my America being transformed into a totalitarian corrupt corporate dictatorship that seems beholden to tyrants or fringe politicians in other countries and to transnational tycoon corporate interests.
As a lifelong resident of Northeastern Pennsylvania I’m not easily shocked by public corruption, kickbacks, and bribes, including healthcare corruption, and by Dem officials as well as Republican shenanigans and foreign connections. And there’s the access journalism that accompanies all of it. But the likes of Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and Eric Adams are so horrendous they make even Luzerne County look like a beacon of political morality and goodness in comparison.
I personally right now wouldn’t recommend anyone get brain implants at Neuralink, work as an astronaut, go anywhere at all risky in a National Park, or fly on an airline in the U.S.