The Sound of Teeth on Bone: You Are Here
[NB: check the byline, thanks. /~Rayne]
Where to begin:
“Damn! You over here like, damn, Kamala, come back to me!” Akademiks joked, speculating that Ross may regret his enthusiastic endorsement of Trump on the campaign trail, now that the president’s economic policy has cost him at least $10 million.
In August 2024, Trump appeared on Ross’s livestream, where the young influencer gifted Trump a $100,000+ custom Cybertruck, Rolex, and his endorsement. While he was visibly morose over the financial hit, he didn’t have anything negative to say about Trump.
Source: Latin Times
Nothing bad to say about the man who cost him eight figures — so far.
This influencer is among many who are why Harris-Walz made no inroads with white and Latino men. They feel a need to belong to a tribe and it’s one which pulls up the tree house ladder to prevent women especially those of color from joining.
Harris warned them and they still can’t fully acknowledge she warned them and they were wrong, let alone admit that really is a leopard sitting on their chests gnawing on their cheekbones.
I’d like to laugh but my investment portfolio is down by a lot and unlike 2008 there was no safe haven I could trust thanks to DOGE Muskrats mucking about in Treasury.
At some point we’ll have to rescue these guys like Bluebeard’s last wife because we’ll be rescuing ourselves at the same time.
~ ~ ~
And now for something critically important — an urgent call to action.
Go to Indivisible.org and read the explanation about H.R. 22, a bill which will disenfranchise a massive number of voters. This is one of the methods by which Trump will attempt to hang onto the White House as well as a stranglehold over executive functions. If voters are deprived of their right to vote, they won’t be able to remove bad representation at mid-terms let alone the general election.
https://indivisible.org/campaign/trumps-new-executive-order-eo-silence-americans-what-you-need-know
While all eligible voters will be affected, those most likely to be disenfranchised are married and divorced women because they will be assessed a poll tax in the form of additional identity documentation in the form of a marriage license. Trans persons and adoptees will also be affected negatively.
The bill also has a hole in it, and I’ll tell you right now it affects me, my father, and my sibling as an example. The word “territory” never appears in this bill, and my father is an American citizen born in what was then a territory, now a state.
Bill text at: https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/119/hr22/text
This legislation needs to die and the 107 Republican House members who co-sponsored it need to hear from their constituents that they are failing their oaths of office to uphold the Constitution.
Don’t let this slip by you, take action. We can’t trust the Supreme Court to do the right thing and protect Americans’ right to vote.
Congressional switchboard: (202) 224-3121
My accounts are down by $50K in the last three months. Which is more than 10%.
Same, but I’m not in CECOT. The reduction in my net worth is a first world problem aka unimportant in the grand scheme of things.
Not true, actually. All these things are linked together.
When a major portion of the US working and retired-from-working class begins to hoard their stashes instead of investing them (which is already happening), that’s another seismic shift beneath the already crumbling Trump project.
The adults in the GOP (derisive pun intended) are showing signs of cognition, and the the shifting of retirement account profiles is not a small part of that. With Trump doubling down now and world markets imploding, I’m guessing that even the cumbersome 25 A will be getting looked at.
In a very real way, Trump is stepping on a branch line of the Third Rail. All that we lack at this point is a crypto crash. (“Whattaya mean there’s no money there?!”)
The El Salvador prisoners’ fates are in the courts at this point. The ignomny of their kidnappings and gulag-ing doesn’t nullify the fact that everything’s connected.
Have you looked at the crypto markets lately ? I think that qualifies as a crash.
It qualified as a significant dip certainly, but not a real crash, and today is supposed to be another test of that market, but it’s not at the “Whaddaya mean there’s no money there?” point yet. It hasn’t “Bankman-fried” itself yet, iow.
Rayne – thank you for an important column and a heads-up on HR22. I will call my rep. today. I completely agree that the GOP is going to rely heavily on disenfranchisement to preserve power since Trump is going to make the brand radioactive…
There might be a brake coming on the tariff insanity and extortion. A group financed by the financial and judicial kings of the GOP, Charles Koch and Leonard Leo is suing over using “emergency” powers to declare tariffs when no emergency in reality exists.
American Civil Liberties Alliance
https://nclalegal.org/
Press Release:
NCLA Sues to Stop Trump Admin. from Imposing Emergency Tariffs That Congress Never Authorized https[:]//nclalegal[.]org/press_release/ncla-sues-to-stop-trump-admin-from-imposing-emergency-tariffs-that-congress-never-authorized/
This is the Supreme Transparency page about them:
New Civil Liberties Alliance
https://supremetransparency.org/powerbrokers/new-civil-liberties-alliance/
Yes…Associations listed are KOCH Network and Leonard LEO
They’re misnamed – they’re the “NO Civil Liberties” association. Except the really rich can buy all the civil liberties they want.
Hoping to be confused with the ACLU.
Harpie, thank you for all the background info and filling in the blanks I left.
Trump supplies the maga votes along with the threats of physical violence to keep the GOP in line.
But the long history of Koch and Leo behind the scenes with piles of cash and think tank propaganda points are in large part what created this monster of an administration to start with.
The GOP needs their support to survive at least as much as they need maga. So if anyone can slow or stop the self induced calamity on tariffs, it is these two.
Yes, we know how supple a decision- and policy-maker Donald Trump is, and how well he responds to pressure and good advice. If Koch and Leo are suing, it’s because Trump already wasn’t listening.
https://bsky.app/profile/bgrueskin.bsky.social/post/3lmetgqj3mc2o
April 9, 2025 at 6:58 AM
WSJ: Dollar Confidence Crisis is Here, Deutsche Bank Warns
What more could a narcissist ask for: he speaks and the world shudders
The highly-levered Japanese Yen/USD carry trade is blowing up on some large hedge fund positions. If the dollar keeps slipping against the yen the loses can go exponential. The Swiss franc gained almost 10% today on safe haven buying.
If Trump gets the debt ceiling raised and the tax cuts into law, the bond market will demand higher interest rates at treasury auction. Which when combined with the coming recession becomes stagflation. Kryptonite for equities AND bonds.
Jerome Powell, Biden, George Soros and immigrants will be blamed.
“there was no safe haven I could trust thanks to DOGE Muskrats mucking about in Treasury.”
Exactly. When I rotated out of equities last month — certain a bad storm was coming — I did not turn to treasuries, realizing they were no longer safe. No investment is ever 100% safe, but up until three months ago, I felt I could always rely on T-bills. Now, as I teeter on the brink of retirement, I see that all safety nets are being pulled away.
The stock market always has its ups and downs, but trashing US Treasuries is a boon to the anarchists in Russia and China. Trust and reliance on them will take decades to renew. Trump will tank the world economy, which heretofore relied on them as the worlds safe haven.
Also pay attention to what your state is doing. MI GOP controlled House has introduced HJR B which has similar documentation requirements as HR 22. There isn’t enough support in the legislature for HJR B for it to be put on the ballot in 2026. So the sponsors of MI HJR B have put together a constitutional ballot initiative to try to get enough citizen signatures to get HJR B on the ballot in 2026.
HR 22 is more immediate and requires action now. I have contacted my MOCs more in the last 70 some days than I have in the previous 30 years.
Fellow Michiganders — Voters Not Politicians is holding Stop the Save Act rallies at every Congressional District office in Michigan this Saturday. If you wish to join in at your MOC office, you can check out the details here: mobilize.us/vnp.
While it is critical to call your GOP representatives to let them know how much you are opposed to this un-American bill, it is at least as important to call your Democratic reps to tell them to stand up to this, and thank them for doing so.
As a pastor, I am quite familiar with getting phone calls from folks who dislike something I believe needs to be done. Getting the “thank you” calls makes it a lot easier to do what I believe needs to be done. This is how you help Dems grow a stronger spine.
The Cost of Chaos: This is Getting Scary And it’s all on Donald Trump
https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/the-cost-of-chaos-this-is-getting
Paul Krugman Apr 09, 2025
Last night:
https://bsky.app/profile/carlquintanilla.bsky.social/post/3lmdytofqxc2l
April 8, 2025 at 11:02 PM
China selling treasuries as retaliation certainly sounds likely. trump has been threatening everyone in the world – to quite limited effect, I think China is ready to bring it on. If we’re in a real conflict with Iran the timing would be perfect for China to snatch Taiwan.
Rayne,
I don’t quite understand the loophole. I was born on a military base on an American territory. Over the years, I have had several issues getting government background checks and security clearances, due to my birth certificate’s lack of “officialness” being questioned, due to lack of “embossing”, “military hospital no longer in existence”, “lack of specific signatures”….the list goes on and on.
This is the first time I have heard that territories could add another blip to this old game I am used to playing.
Are you saying that the lack of territory being part of the HR 22 language means that because I was born in a territory that would be the pretext to deny my voter registration?
I don’t doubt this could be possible due to my past experiences, but this is the first I have heard about this particular issue.
Read the text of the bill. Because it’s not spelled out IF this bill passes, persons who were born in territories or are children of those persons could have their citizenship called into question because the bill doesn’t say anything one way or the other.
Remember Trump’s bullshit birtherism about Obama and his birth certificate? Trump was born before Hawaii became a state and he played on its status as a former territory with his birtherism, combined with Obama’s non-US father. That’s the same kind of nebulous argument the Trumpists would use against all born in territories. I suspect Trump also has an ongoing bias against Puerto Rico because of a failed Trump-branded course; he’d love nothing more than to leave all Puerto Ricans terrorized wondering about their status as citizens and voters.
You haven’t heard anything about this because the bill was only recently submitted. Now you know that the bill is a piece of shit.
Agreed. A complete POS. And as I mentioned before it’s not like there aren’t already problems with territory birth certificates, even on American military bases.
Thank you for keeping us informed and focused.
Thanks for this heads up Rayne. I’m registered on a webinar by Angus King this evening, and I’m gonna make this issue my question to him. I’m sure he’s up on it, but I’ll mention the territories aspect of it, and how that relates to Trump’s birtherism shit with Obama.
In that sense, this bill smacks of the same revenge-driven action that Trump is basing his second term on: Obama humiliated him severely in that classic National Press Club birth certificate satire he delivered with Trump sitting right in front of him, and two other Negroes and a UN employee fucked with him legally. Bad genes, apparently…but whose?~
And now the latest, Trump loses game of chicken with the rest of the world: after weeks of denying he wouldn’t back down on tariffs, he declared a 90 day moratorium an hour or so ago. It’s on the NYT live feed, go there if you want. It’s breaking right now, especially the backstory which will likely have Leo and Koch as the smoke jumpers.
Watch as the rest of the world says they won’t rescind their tariffs on us unless Congress takes the tariff power back from him, to where it belongs.
The biggest single problem with H.R. 22 is the required documentation — think of all the voters who don’t have time let alone the extra cash to go and obtain a copy of their birth certificate, and in the case of married/divorced women, trans persons, adoptees, additional certificates for marriage, legal name change, adoption.
These costs are poll taxes and are likely to affect nearly half of voters.
The matter of territories tells us the bill was sloppily written, and it tells us they were focused on the biggest single bloc affected: married/divorced women.
Recall just how many right-wingers don’t believe women should have the right to vote — this bill is a first step in reversing suffrage.
That’s the message you need to take to Sen. King first and foremost.
Copy.
Reply to Rayne 4/9/25 4:17pm PDT
Not to mention the issue of what happens if someone literally has no birth certificate. Filing birth certificates didn’t become more or less universal until the 1950’s, so there are likely plenty of people alive who never had one. Yes, you can file a form that says you tried and the state doesn’t have a record of your birth, but that’s not going to satisfy the anarchists who want to burn down the electoral system.
Yes, as well as married/divorced women, trans persons, and adoptees, this bill will disenfranchise mostly elderly who were born in rural areas, particularly persons of color.
Gee, can’t imagine the white Christian supremacy wanting to do that. -__-
@ Rayne:
So I got on the web town hall with King despite my individual code# not working. That meant I was only able to listen, not post a question or comment. I did send your assessment of the bill to his and Collins’ and Pingree’s offices, though.
As to King’s town hall, he made some very forceful points, and I’m hopeful he can help lead the Party he doesn’t belong to out of its current weak state. Also, the session was sponsored by Indivisible and moderated by Tom Andrews, the most liberal Congressperson Maine has ever had (two terms in the early ’90s ), which surprised me, given King’s relative centrism. Tom’s chief of staff during his House stint was Craig Brown, co-founder of Common Dreams with his late wife, Lina Newhouser. As far as I know, Tom hasn’t moderated his politics over the years, and he sounded like the old Tom yesterday. So that was encouraging as to King’s “evolution” from stubborn Centrism.
King is fully behind the effort in the Senate to take back tariff power from Trump. It sounds like there’s already 60 votes for that, but the process isn’t simple:
https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/can-congress-reverse-trump's-tariffs
But King is fully behind it and may be a good negotiator with the GOP.
King nailed the USAID gutting, pointing out something that isn’t getting attention in the press: China has gratefully walked into the breach that Trump’s foreign aid vacuum created, a loss of global soft power that will haunt us for decades. King was livid when he pointed that out.
He also mentioned the stupidity of firing Gen. Haugh, NSA director, as we’re experiencing record levels of cyber attacks.
He called DOGE clueless. I heard no mention of HR 22, though I was called away twice with family stuff during the 45 minute event.
I also remember the harrumphing about John McCain’s eligibility to run in 2008 because he was born in the Canal Zone (then a US territory). It seems to be situational for the GOP, where McCain was a problem but Calgary-now-Cancun Ted Cruz was not in terms of being ‘native born’.
This SCOTUS MAGA majority has demonstrated that every bit of parsing is fair game if it gets them to their preferred conclusion, so Rayne is right to highlight the gaps and omissions.
I stopped commenting here after the election. I came to believe that the legal matters being discussed here were all going against us, so not much cause to view the wrongness of that, it was right in our face.
This post now turns to the legislature for relief. Is that where we can make a difference.
I’m still for rising up.
If you make any further reference to the use of violence I will block you.
“Rising up” in comments at this site had better mean getting off one’s ass and making phone calls to Congress, networking and organizing with others locally, participating in mutual aid.
My use of that expression was not intended to suggest violence. You can go ahead and delete the comment.
Guess he changed his mind about making elections safe and secure.
https://www.inquirer.com/opinion/editorials/trump-election-voter-suppression-save-act-cybersecurity-cuts-20250406.html
(Trump) administration has announced cuts to the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), which aids states in safeguarding our election systems. According to election administrators, these cuts have meant the end of federal programs intended to safeguard critical election systems and detect threats.
Just preparing a smoother glide path for Elon and the DOGE babies to replicate their swing states action in the ’26 election.
Trmp is all for making elections safe and secure, at least for him. For the voters, eh, not so much.
Thank you VERY MUCH for the important “urgent call to action” news, Rayne. Disturbing.
An FYI re China —
My understanding is that Chinese financiers and developers have put ALOT of money into the purchase/development of major highrises and other real estate projects in San Francisco and, I assume, other U.S. cities. The Pandemic already created major stresses to vacancy rates at these buildings. While vacancy rates have been returning, I think about what new financial impacts could occur by Trump’s latest actions.
Just as Americans had scraped together some cash to buy the dip he goes and raises prices.
https://thehill.com/business/5240782-stock-market-surges-trump-pauses-tariffs/
100% that crypto wallets attached to one of Trump’s proxies bought on the dip an hour (hell, maybe even minutes) before his announcement. This corruption makes Teapot Dome Scandal look like an ordinary teapot.
If I were cynical, I would propose that one of the hidden reasons we have these kayfabe tariff announcements is to manipulate the market in essentially an inverse pump and dump. We already know that Convict-1 / Krasnov shrinks from direct challenges and consequences like the coward he is, but I find it hard to believe that he wouldn’t use the cover of the ’emergency declaration’ to claim that these were actions taken in the performance of presidential duties rather than garden variety insider trading. I find it interesting that the official US Trade Representative was not in the loop, even though he was getting beaten up on the Hill today. It makes one wonder who got their heads-up.
Market manipulation is on my bingo card.
The market started going up before the announcement.
Is anyone left in the SEC Enforcement Division.
That’s why I mentioned the emergency declaration piece, because that is how Convict-1 / Krasnov will get plausible deniability through this being an ‘official act’.
Convicted felon manipulating the market for his family and friends.
A con man’s character; corruption, cruelty and criminality.
This yo-yo effect with tariffs is insane.
Donnie needs a padded room so he can bounce of the walls instead of bouncing off of the people of the US and eating he people’s faces.
https://bsky.app/profile/atrupar.com/post/3lmflzeonbk2y
April 9, 2025 at 2:18 PM
FWIW, I don’t hear Horsford literally say “WTF!”, but that IS the effect.
They all left to check with their brokers. The last week sure seems like performance art designed to MBR: make billionaires richer. And the media and everyone else fall for it.
Let’s see how long it takes him to brag about having the largest daily point gain in history.
Didn’t take him long.
Wed. afternoon at WH Trump told the press, “Over the last few days it looked pretty glum to…I guess they say it was the biggest day in financial history.”
Look out below: Biggest three days in financial history as 10 year treasury interest rate rises 13 2/3%. The ten year “is viewed as a safe haven during times of uncertainty, which has been the word du jour as Wall Street remains on edge that shifting trade dynamics could induce a self-inflicted recession.”
https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/wild-swings-in-treasurys-have-investors-worried-something-is-about-to-blow-up-in-markets-180240729.html
[Moderator’s note: please check your HTML tags, or better yet, don’t use them if you don’t know how. I’ve removed both bad blockquote tags and replaced them with plain old-fashioned quotation marks to offset the excerpted text. Visit https://www.w3schools.com/html/ if you need more info about HTML tags. /~Rayne]
Thanks and my apologies Rayne.
Do you ever sleep?
Reply to xyxyxyxy
April 10, 2025 at 3:56 am
I sleep but lately it seems like I have more insomnia. Can’t imagine why… *waves around at the flames*
Trump Engaged in Suspect Tax Schemes as He Reaped Riches From His Father
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/10/02/us/politics/donald-trump-tax-schemes-fred-trump.html
AND
Rep. Steven Horsford to Greer: “So the trade representative hasn’t spoken to the POTUS about a global reordering of trade, but yet he announced it on a tweet? WTF! Who is in charge? It looks like your boss just pulled the rug out from under you. There is no strategy … is this market manipulation?”
https://bsky.app/profile/atrupar.com/post/3lmflzeonbk2y
Thank you Harpie. Apologize for the repeat. Overwhelmed. Pouring myself a glass of wine.
No need for apologies, Jenny!
Me, too…me too. So, Slainte!
That segment is *chef’s kiss*. I love that a representative for persons near/in/working for Las Vegas casinos called Greer out on his boss’s likely gambling with our economy.
ADDER: From Mastodon —
https://www.threads.net/@ronaldfilipkowski/post/DIP1NEmxCWM
The luck of the MAGA!
Quelle coinky-dinky.
Poor JG. He never seems to get the Signal.
> > Transpersons and adoptees will also be affected negatively. > >
Side note that bigots intentionally leave the space out of “trans people”, “trans women”, “trans men” and so on to give the false impression that trans people are some weird third thing and not just another type of person. It may seem minor but to avoid being mistaken for a gender fascist bigot using “trans” like any other adjective, with a space between it and other words, is the best practice.
The Trans Journalists Association style guide dictionary explicitly advises against combining the adjective – see “trans man” and “trans woman” in the glossary section. https://styleguide.transjournalists.org/?ref=transjournalists.org#section-glossary
GLAAD’s style guide also says not to use “transwoman” and “transman”: https://glaad.org/reference/trans-terms .
[FYI – It’s fixed. Please also consider changing your VPN server; this comment went into auto-moderation because you appeared to the system to be another community member using a different username. /~Rayne]
MAGA commonsense says no space is required.
Kitchen Cabinet and China
Donald gives us all the railroad
All the live long day
Donald gives us all the railroad
Just to pass his crimes away
Hear his razzle-dazzle crowing
Size up how much he will suborn
Can’t you see the trap in doubting:
China, foe, our thorn
China is our foe,
China is our foe,
China is our foe, and thorn, and thorn
China is our foe,
China is our foe,
China is our foe, and thorn
Hey, Trump’s Kitchen Cabinet and China
Trump’s Kitchen Cabinet, we know
Trump’s Kitchen Cabinet and China
Scamming with the old bozo
And singing, fee, fie, fiddle-e-i-o.
Fee, fie, fiddle-e-i-o-o-o-o.
Fee, fie, fiddle-e-i-o.
Scamming with the old bozo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAI7gB5NnwM
“Liberace I’ve Been Working on the Railroad”
Its’ always fun when you can hear it in your head.
(Example from several days ago: a shot of a panel from Mad’s “East Side Story”, where they’re doing “When You’re A Red [You’re a Red all the way]”)
link to panel: https://file770.com/wp-content/uploads/east-side-story-a-1887480598-584×252.jpg
Thanks, PJ, I appreciate that.
Anyone else would have just put “I’ve been working on the railroad.” But no. Savage Librarian put LIBERACE’s “I’ve been working on the railroad.” Which is what makes it sublime.
9:37 AM TRUMP: “THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY!!! DJT.” [1]
Approx 1:30 PM TRUMP backs down on tariffs [1]
Minutes later stocks surge in the U.S., sending the Dow up 1,800 points. [1]
1:52 PM The White House posts: “DO NOT RETALIATE AND YOU WILL BE REWARDED” [2]
2:16 PM Owen Willis posts [w/screenshot]: “stock ticker is back on fox news, roflmao”
3:29 PM Stephen Miller posts: “You have been watching the greatest economic master strategy from an American President in history.”
[1] https[:]//www[.]huffpost.com/entry/trump-presidency-live-updates_n_67e55ccce4b0d5fb5f3d85c1/liveblog_67f6f391e4b0148714528890
[2] https[:]//bsky.app/profile/carlquintanilla[.]bsky.social/post/3lmfysqfxds2l
[3] https[:]//bsky.app/profile/owillis[.]bsky.social/post/3lmflvbvt7k2p
[4] https[:]//bsky.app/profile/muellershewrote[.]com/post/3lmg4ft53qk2h
I’m wondering how many in this maladministration profited just from knowing about this shit even five *minutes* before. I’d bet it’s everyone in The Felon Guy’s family and office circle, plus the GOP “in-group” in Congress.
The Art of the Steal. More money, money, money for the Greed and Grift Group.
Thanks for that tick-tock, harpie. Jeebus. The amount of spin put on Trump’s dump-and-pump is disgusting. Laura Ingraham-Fox YouTube video published about 5 hours ago lauded Trump’s acumen.
Meanwhile, Lawrence O’Donnell-MSNBC pointed out Elon Musk was nowhere around the White House when Trump backed down on tariffs for all but China, having gotten his point across when Musk called Peter Navarro a moron for his pro-Trump tariff stance.
ButWhatAboutBidenGettingFiftyThousandFromChina?
“Pump and dump” refers to:
a) Trump manipulating the market
b) Trump’s treatment of women aka “hit and run”
c) all of the above
I’m going with c).
That issue regarding people born in “territories” is scary. Haven’t read about it.
Prior to all this mess started read Warren Buffett had sold off a lot of stock and simply had his assets in cash. Thought that was interesting. A friend’s family member who lived in the U.S.A. AND Canada closed their businesses in both countries and sold their homes. Moved to Panama. Did wonder what they were thinking.
It was surprising how many people lost so much money in their retirement funds due to the stock market. Yikes.
Trump is trying very hard to ensure the citizens of the U.S.A. are returned to a life style their ancestors lived, about a hundred years ago, or prior to WW II.
He is disenfranchising citizens at an alarming rate, violating the American Constitution, destroying the judicial system and with the Republican politicians in Congress helping. The people in Congress might want to consider once they have done what Trump wants, he won’t need them either.
Watched the protests all over the U.S.A. this past weekend.
Thank you for the call to action, Rayne.
Just called my Hoosier senators and urged them to reject HR 22.
Feel like I could have urged them to do about 1001 other things, but feel more strongly that it’s important to remember the mission and stick to the script.
Hope everyone has a great weekend.