The Trump Administration: The Clusterfuck Continues (Part 2)

[Dung_Beetle]

@Smapti, I live for these posts! Thank you so much.

[Smapti]

Well, hold onto your butt, because they’re making him do ANOTHER one of these in a little bit.

It’s like they WANT us to see how deteriorated and feebleminded he is.

[Monty]

More on the lying liar’s liar’s pretending to be a lawyer.

A watchdog group has accused Donald Trump’s new White House Press Secretary Katie Zacharia of violating California law by describing herself as a “lawyer” and working as an attorney in California despite never being admitted to practice law in the state.

Campaign for Accountability, a nonprofit group, filed a complaint with the State Bar of California on Wednesday stating that Zacharia has “repeatedly held herself out to the public as entitled to practice law without a license to do so, conduct California law treats as a crime.”

“Ms. Zacharia has represented herself as a lawyer repeatedly to buttress her reputation and credibility as a television legal commentator and now as the White House spokesperson, yet it seems it was all a lie,” according to the group’s executive director Michelle Kuppersmith.

“In California, calling yourself a lawyer without a license isn’t puffery; it’s a crime,” she added. “The State Bar should investigate whether Ms. Zacharia has misled the public about her credentials and hold her accountable if she has.”

In a statement to The Independent on Tuesday night, Zacharia said she “practiced international transaction law, with all the appropriate credentials” while working for a Chinese firm, but did not answer whether she has ever been admitted to any state bar. The White House only noted that Zacharia has her juris doctorate, an academic degree.

In response to The Independent’s questions about the complaint, the White House shared a post on X from communications director Steven Cheung.

“This group that filed the ‘complaint’ is a radical leftist-organization run by rabid numbskulls suffering from a severe case of Trump Derangement Syndrome,” he wrote. “Nobody takes them seriously because they are deranged low lifes.”

The group was founded by Anne Weismann and Louis Mayberg, who previously worked with Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, another nonprofit watchdog group that the president has routinely criticized.

Growing scrutiny into Zacharia’s legal experience followed Tuesday morning’s report from news outlet Popular Information, which sought to untangle her public statements and whether she is licensed to practice law in the U.S.

That afternoon, during her first appearance alongside the president, reporters asked Zacharia where she had ever passed a bar exam. She responded, “When I moved to China.”

After graduating from Pepperdine University’s Caruso School of Law in 2011, Zacharia worked for Chinese firm Zhong Lun.

“Published reporting indicates, however, that China does not permit foreign nationals to sit for its national bar examination or to practice Chinese law,” according to Wednesday’s complaint from Campaign for Accountability.

“In any event, admission in a foreign jurisdiction would not authorize Ms. Zacharia to practice law in California or to hold herself out as entitled to do so here,” the complaint states.

Her LinkedIn does not list any experience as an attorney except for 15 months as “general counsel” with Fix California, a right-wing nonprofit group founded by Trump ally Richard Grenell.

So evidently she’s been violating US laws and Chinese law. Quite the inernationalist.

Judge says the liar-in-chief’s liars lied.

WASHINGTON – A federal judge ruled that top Trump administration officials spread “entirely false information” to justify firing a former top official at the Federal Emergency Management Agency as part of “outrageous government conduct."

Mary Comans was fired as FEMA’s chief financial officer on Feb. 11, 2025, for allegedly approving millions in hotel rooms for undocumented immigrants. But U.S. District Judge William Fitzpatrick in Virginia found the spending was approved by others and that officials such as Elon Musk, a former presidential adviser who headed the Department of Government Efficiency, and former DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, were “knowingly spreading false information about her.”

“For reasons unfathomable to this Court, officials chose to turn the power of the federal government against a singular employee with an impeccable record of public service,” Fitzpatrick wrote Oct. 13. “The attacks against Ms. Comans were based entirely on false information, and many government officials knew the accusations were untrue at the time they were made.”

Comans was caught up in DOGE cuts overseen by Musk at the start of President Donald Trump’s second term, under an executive order that cut thousands of workers and dismantled whole agencies.

WASHINGTON – A federal judge ruled that top Trump administration officials spread “entirely false information” to justify firing a former top official at the Federal Emergency Management Agency as part of “outrageous government conduct."

Mary Comans was fired as FEMA’s chief financial officer on Feb. 11, 2025, for allegedly approving millions in hotel rooms for undocumented immigrants. But U.S. District Judge William Fitzpatrick in Virginia found the spending was approved by others and that officials such as Elon Musk, a former presidential adviser who headed the Department of Government Efficiency, and former DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, were “knowingly spreading false information about her.”

“For reasons unfathomable to this Court, officials chose to turn the power of the federal government against a singular employee with an impeccable record of public service,” Fitzpatrick wrote Oct. 13. “The attacks against Ms. Comans were based entirely on false information, and many government officials knew the accusations were untrue at the time they were made.”

The felon’s back to his old habits: hiding the numbers.

The Trump administration is delaying the release of detailed data showing how Republicans’ 2025 tax cuts affected millions of Americans’ taxes, even as it tries to sell voters on the law ahead of the midterm elections.

The numbers document which tax breaks were claimed by people in different income brackets, as well as information like how much they paid in taxes.

The IRS typically releases the data in the wake of each filing season, and this year’s rollout is more anticipated because it’s expected to provide the first detailed look at how taxpayers are taking advantage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, including its new deductions for overtime wages and tipped income.

The data was scheduled to be released in July, and then updated again in September, as the IRS processed more people’s returns —but the agency hasn’t published either. The IRS said it is awaiting approval from the Treasury Department to publish the figures.

But the delay has already irked some who complain it is part of a pattern of the administration withholding otherwise routine releases of tax data.

“I think they are hiding stuff that doesn’t line up with all the crowing the CEO has been doing,” Nina Olson, a former national taxpayer advocate, said of Frank Bisignano, the IRS’s day-to-day leader who has joined Republican lawmakers in touting the breaks to voters.

The data was scheduled to be released in July, and then updated again in September, as the IRS processed more people’s returns —but the agency hasn’t published either. The IRS said it is awaiting approval from the Treasury Department to publish the figures.

But the delay has already irked some who complain it is part of a pattern of the administration withholding otherwise routine releases of tax data.

“I think they are hiding stuff that doesn’t line up with all the crowing the CEO has been doing,” Nina Olson, a former national taxpayer advocate, said of Frank Bisignano, the IRS’s day-to-day leader who has joined Republican lawmakers in touting the breaks to voters.

The lack of detailed numbers on the 2026 filing season comes as the agency is also under fire for withholding a periodic report on the so-called tax gap, which is the share of taxes owed but not yet paid.

The administration declined to answer questions about the delay on the record. In an emailed statement, an official speaking on condition of anonymity said its “priority is to release accurate and reliable data” following “major changes” to the tax code. The official did not say when the figures might be released.

He’s got a list and he’s not going to check it twice. That’s left to his targets.

WASHINGTON, Oct 14 (Reuters) - The US Justice Department on Tuesday gave California officials 48 hours to review a list of alleged noncitizen voters or face legal action, according to two letters reviewed by Reuters, part of an unprecedented effort to find evidence ‌of voter fraud ahead of next month’s elections.

The letters, written by acting Deputy Attorney General R. Trent McCotter and addressed to California Secretary of State ‌Shirley Weber and Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder Dean Logan, say the Justice Department provided officials in Los Angeles County with a “password-protected thumb drive” with the names of people the federal government “believes are likely noncitizens” ​and were sent mail-in ballots from California.

The letters demand that the state and county segregate returned mail-in ballots from voters on the Justice Department’s list and not tabulate their votes “until citizenship has been determined.” In cases where ballots have not been sent out yet, it orders California officials to withhold them from those on the list until their citizenship is confirmed.

The federal government “will have no choice but to seek emergency relief,” according to the letters, if state and county officials do not follow its instructions.

“Allowing noncitizens to vote cancels citizen votes,” ‌McCotter wrote.

The letters mark an escalation of the Trump administration’s ⁠attempts to pressure states over alleged voting by non-US citizens and signal the Justice Department may be prepared to challenge ballots in the weeks leading up to the November 3 election, when Republicans will be defending their narrow majorities in Congress.

Justice Department spokeswoman Kiersten ⁠Pels confirmed the existence of the letters in a statement to Reuters, adding: “The department will take all necessary legal action to protect election integrity and ensure compliance with federal law.”

And the real reason DOGE existed finally comes to light.

Ex-employees of Elon Musk’s DOGE, which sought to slash waste federal expenditure in the first six months of President Donald Trump’s second term, are monetizing their experience in the private sector, a new analysis has found.

According to The Washington Post, at least two dozen former staffers of Musk’s short-lived department have since “leveraged their government stints to fuel private sector ambitions: building companies that tap government largesse or that deploy knowledge they garnered during their brief tenures in Washington.”

The staffers identified have turned their hands to a variety of ventures, effectively bridging the gap between Silicon Valley and D.C. by capitalizing on their newfound insider knowledge to launch new companies, win executive posts or secure large stakes in start-ups pursuing government contracts.

They don’t need no stinking bodycams.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement has rejected a government watchdog’s recommendation that agents’ body cameras be automatically activated when weapons are drawn.

The Department of Homeland Security, ICE’s parent agency, told the Government Accountability Office that it would not adopt the guidance, according to a report published Wednesday.

In that report, GAO — an independent congressional watchdog — found that ICE and Customs and Border Protection had not updated their body camera policies in several years. As a result, the agencies had failed to account for recent developments, including a growing number of cameras now in use.

Still, the report found that CBP uses technology that automatically turns on body cameras when officers pull out their weapons or turn on emergency lights. ICE, however, does not.

“This presents the risk of personnel not capturing footage of incidents when they are required to do so,” the report said.

Federal immigration agents are generally required to turn on their body cameras at the start of an enforcement encounter, including arrests and vehicle stops.

However, ICE and CBP personnel interviewed at six of 10 locations indicated they were not always sure when they were required to activate their cameras. Some described camera use as “up to interpretation,” “not mandated” and containing “gray areas.”

[Monty]

I considered putting this in the Iran war thread, but it, sadly, fits better here.

He’s the secretary war, so, dammit, there better be a war, a shooting war with shooting right now, dagnabit, he can use for his boss.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has backed unleashing new strikes on Iran as part of a major operation ahead of the midterm elections, according to a report.

Hegseth, 46, and the leadership of U.S. Central Command are the strongest backers of resuming attacks, a source familiar with the discussions told Axios. Most of President Donald Trump’s advisers, however, favor maintaining economic sanctions and “other forms of pressure” for now.

The push comes as the war, which the 80-year-old president promised would last “a few weeks,” is nearing the end of its seventh month and has claimed the lives of 21 U.S. service members, with hundreds of others wounded.

Last week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Trump discussed a possible major new operation before Israel’s Oct. 27 elections and the U.S. midterms on Nov. 3, Axios reported on Wednesday, citing two U.S. officials, an Israeli official, and another source with knowledge of the matter.

[Little_Nemo]

Hegseth is an idiot if he thinks ramping up the war will help the Republicans in the midterms.

Trump and Hegseth are the only two people who think they’re winning the war. Everybody else, including other Republicans, can see this is a fiasco. So putting the war back on the front page will just drive voters away from the Republicans.

[Smapti]

The President’s Brain Is Missing: “Sundown, you better take care” Edition

I don’t know the name of the person we’re trying to beat in this race

Acyn

The purpose of the Second Amendment is to stop wild animals from eating you

Acyn

I really don’t think you ought to be throwing the word “statuatory” around

Acyn

Polls indicate that a top issue for Montana voters in 2026 is deciding on a nickname for Joe Biden

Acyn

Math hard make brain hurt

Acyn

Acyn

Today’s word salad comes with extra union woman wife

Acyn

Would you care for a second helping?

Acyn

Apparently Trump thinks he lowered drug prices by threatening to beat up the CEOs

Acyn

And you may ask yourself, well, how did I get here?

Acyn

That’s not what you said when you were checking out Senator Husted’s ass the other day

Acyn

[Monty]

I suppose helping Russia conquer Ukraine is one way to end the war.

The U.S. may have intentionally withheld early warnings this week of Russian strikes on Ukraine, multiple sources familiar with the matter told CBS News.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine “received no advance warning from our partners” when Russia launched a ballistic missile barrage at Kyiv and other locations early Tuesday.

The sources said American officials told their Ukrainian counterparts the system used to detect Russian missile launches had failed due to “bad weather.” Ukrainian officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity given the sensitivity of the topic, told CBS News they did not believe the excuse, and they accused the U.S. instead of “playing” with the system.

When Russia launched another wave of ballistic missiles around 3 a.m. local time on Wednesday, the sources said the U.S. early warning system appeared to be working again.

The sources said the U.S. had failed to provide intelligence on Russian ballistic missile launches during one previous instance earlier this year, citing the need to focus more resources on the Middle East.

[aurora_maire]

Trump thinks he can tell Putin and Zelenskyy what to do. Yet it’s only Zelenskyy who gets punished when they both ignore him. Strange that. /s

[Horatius]

@Monty

Engaged to his son for four years, yet he had to guess if they date

Also, would she have ever been appointed as an ambassador if she wasn’t a Trump insider?

[Odesio]

@Little_Nemo

Trump and Hegseth are the only two people who think they’re winning the war. Everybody else, including other Republicans, can see this is a fiasco. So putting the war back on the front page will just drive voters away from the Republicans.

Trump doesn’t believe he’s winning and fully understands the war is a millstone around the GOP’s neck. But he’s incapable of taking responsibility for his own actions and the only defense he has is to lie, lie, tell more lies, and on occasion blame others. The entire situation is frustrating him as there’s no way for him to get out of it without looking like a loser.

[solost]

@Smapti

You know how it is when your kid goes to school and disappears for three days, right?

Trump: "They want to cut your children. It’s unbelievable what they do. Your son leaves as Jimmy and comes home in three days as Janet, and they don’t even ask you. They can take your child out of school and do whatever the hell they want.

Y’know, there are crazier things trump has been saying lately, including in this latest group of trump rally quotes Smapti posted. But this is a durable one I’ve sometimes wondered about. Does anybody actually believe this?

I would love to ask for details-- not from trump, since he’ll just call me low IQ and tell me to shut up, but one of his lickspittle sanewashing apologists. JD Vance maybe. Or Rubio-- that’d be fun to see him squirm trying to answer. “The President has long claimed, vehemently and very often, that schools are arranging for children to have gender reassignment surgery without the parents’ knowledge or approval. Can you give one example of this ever happening? And how does it work, exactly-- does the child ask for the surgery, or does the school have some sort of screening process that flags children as supposedly needing the surgery, and then arranges it against the wishes of the child as well?”

@Smapti

The purpose of the Second Amendment is to stop wild animals from eating you

Trump: If the Democrat communists win, they will take away your guns. You know who would love that to happen? Some of the wild animals you have up here that like eating you. The animals would gain a lot of weight.

Oh, now we know why trump was posting videos of big cat attacks on humans to TS the other day. At the time, it just seemed like a baffling, awful, offensive thing to do that was surely a consequence of a sick, decaying mind. But now we know he was protecting the Second Amendment! Never should have doubted our President!

[Monty]

Fiscal resposibility, cluster style.

U.S. Treasurer Brandon Beach is challenging Americans to “get a roll of Trump dollar coins,” a newly minted gold-colored $1 coin featuring the president’s portrait, and spend them at their “favorite liberal coffee shop.”

The so-called Trump coins, issued to mark the United States’ 250th anniversary, already went for sale through the U.S. Mint in September, with its price depending on the quantity. A 25-coin roll is listed for $61 in the U.S. Mint’s website, $36 more than the coins’ combined face value, while a 100-coin bag costs $154.50, $54.50 above face value.

The coins are not currently available on the website, but Beach said they will be back in stock next month.

“This is the Trump dollar coin. It will be in the banks next month,” the Trump-appointed treasurer, a former Georgia state lawmaker, said in a video shared on TikTok by the Treasury’s official account.

“And I want to challenge you to go get a roll of Trump dollar coins next month. And then I want you to go to your favorite liberal coffee shop with your Trump coins, buy a cup of coffee, and watch their heads explode,” Beach added. “They will not like it, but I love it. And I love this president, and I love this coin.”

How many flaws do you see in this so-called plan?

[Little_Nemo]

@Odesio

Trump doesn’t believe he’s winning and fully understands the war is a millstone around the GOP’s neck. But he’s incapable of taking responsibility for his own actions and the only defense he has is to lie, lie, tell more lies, and on occasion blame others. The entire situation is frustrating him as there’s no way for him to get out of it without looking like a loser.

This is part of the ongoing debate. In this case, I feel Trump believes his own lies.

I feel Trump and Hegseth believe they are providing great military leadership. They believe that the failures of the war are due to subordinates who aren’t doing what they should be doing.

[fachverwirrt]

Hasan 's execution no longer to be live streamed. Also, it’s Obama’s fault.

Donald J. Trump: "Nidal Malik Hasan, a former U.S. Army Major turned traitor,...

[Odesio]

@Little_Nemo

This is part of the ongoing debate. In this case, I feel Trump believes his own lies.

I can’t really argue strongly against this as I often wonder if Trump believes his own lies as well. In this particular case, it’s a little complicated. On some level, Trump’s right, we’re winning in the sense that the United State Armed Forces have inflicted a great deal of damage to Iranian forces while incurring relatively little damage of our own. The disconnect for Trump is he cannot understand why military victories don’t automatically lead to accomplishing his strategic goal of opening the strait.

I believe he understands he cannot win without escalating the war by putting boots on the ground. I wouldn’t bet hard money on it though. He may very well believe Iran is going to cave at any time, perhaps just after the mid-term.

[Pardel-Lux]

@Monty

How many flaws do you see in this so-called plan?

Only one, but it’s a big one. It starts at the beginning and goes on till the end, and then keeps on bumbling along for a while. I hope they put it into practice.

[Little_Nemo]

Trump has chosen to surround himself with sycophants and fly around to maga rallies, so he’s always hearing people telling him what he wants to hear. And he’s chosen to believe that what he’s hearing is a reflection of reality.

So when reality leaks into the fantasy world that Trump has built for himself, he attacks it. He says that the reality is a lie and what he’s hearing from the people around him is true.

In Hegseth’s case, he’s not experienced in military affairs at this level. He was a lieutenant who worked an office job in Iraq two years after the invasion. Most of what he knows about fighting a war seems to have been learned from watching Chuck Norris movies.

[Little_Nemo]

@Monty

How many flaws do you see in this so-called plan?

Well, telling people that using Trump coins might make their head explode isn’t the selling point Beach seems to think it is.

[Little_Nemo]

@fachverwirrt

Nidal Malik Hasan, a former U.S. Army Major turned traitor

I hadn’t heard that Hasan was part of the January 6 riot.

[Der_Trihs]

@Odesio

On some level, Trump’s right, we’re winning in the sense that the United State Armed Forces have inflicted a great deal of damage to Iranian forces while incurring relatively little damage of our own. The disconnect for Trump is he cannot understand why military victories don’t automatically lead to accomplishing his strategic goal of opening the strait.

Thing is, that wouldn’t actually be “winning”; the strait was open before he started the war. In order for Trump to feel like he won he has to get something from it, and Iran has to get nothing.