Today is the day the Supreme Court ruled that Trump’s tariffs are illegal. Much consternation is about the land.
\\
A bunch of short items today, which I don’t need to quote from or comment about very much.
- Slate, Richard L. Revesz, 20 Feb 2026: Trump’s Move to Demolish Greenhouse Gas Standards Is Based on a Lie
- It’s rather technical, but the repeal “relies on three key Supreme Court climate change cases to support its action but mischaracterizes each of them.”
\
- NY Times, 20 Feb 2026: 11 Million Visitors Short: Inside America’s Continuing Tourism Slump, subtitled “Last year, the U.S. was the only major destination to see a decline in international travelers. With increased scrutiny at the border, ICE violence and unpredictable policies, the new year isn’t looking better.’ (gift link via JMG)
- There was another story recently about business losses in Minneapolis, because ICE. So much for…
\
- NY Times, 19 Feb 2026: Letters: Trump’s ‘Cartoonish’ Monuments to Himself
- Letter-writer David Hingston writes:
We Americans simply must come to grips with the fact that a potentially decisive percentage of our fellow citizens has determined that evidence of a candidate’s personal integrity and other qualities generally associated with good character (for example, honesty, generosity, patience, humility) does not matter when electing a leader.
That this is the case is, I believe, the real story. We can’t be trusted — shouldn’t be, in fact. When people here and abroad talk about no longer trusting America, I don’t think they’re talking only about this particular president. Rather, I think they’re talking about American voters generally.
Have we decided that character doesn’t count? I believe that to a very troubling degree, it appears we have.
\
Similarly:
- Salon, Chauncey DeVega, 20 Feb 2026: Trump continues to make his own voters suffer, subtitled “The president’s policies are hurting his working-class MAGA followers. But will they ever leave him?”
- Quote: “Many of the president’s voters supported him because he promised to break the rules and punish groups they dislike and even hate — Democrats, liberals, Black and brown people, immigrants, the LGBTQ community, feminists and others. Now the same policies they supported have boomeranged on them.”
- But the short answer to the subtitle: No.
\
- Salon, Heather Digby Parton, 17 Feb 2026: Trump’s “Mission Accomplished” moment gives Democrats an opening, subtitled “The president falsely claimed he ‘fixed’ the affordability crisis. He and the GOP will pay in the November midterms”
- How do we know Trump fixed the crisis? Because he said so!
\
- JMG, 17 Feb 2026: Florida Republicans Block Bill To Keep Trump From Profiting From Renaming Of Palm Beach Intl Airport
- It’s about megalomania, yes, but it’s also, always, about making money.
\
- Right Wing Watch, Kyle Mantyla, 11 Feb 2026: Sean Feucht Announces Partnership With Federal Government To Hold Nationwide Christian Nationalist Worship Services
- Trivial example, but does this guy know how much long hair on men was considered blasphemous (by Christians) as recently as the 1960s? So much for eternal truths.
\
- Washington Post, 13 Feb 2026: Trump tells soldiers to vote GOP in campaign-style rally at Fort Bragg, subtitled “Army policy prohibits partisan displays, and most service members refrained from cheering.”
- Can you imagine any Democrat tells soldiers to vote their way? They would condemned, by the GOP, of election interference.
\
- Washington Post, 19 Feb 2026: After blasting WHO costs, Trump officials propose more expensive alternative, subtitled “HHS proposes spending $2 billion a year to re-create systems the U.S. accessed through the WHO at a fraction of the cost, according to officials briefed on the matter.”
- What are they thinking??
- Vox, Dylan Scott, 19 Feb 2026: Why have Americans turned against this lifesaving medication?, subtitled “Statin hysteria has made it hard to convince people that this effective drug is actually very safe.”
- Now they’re against statins? On what grounds? Kneejerk rejection of anything due to modern science?
- Friendly Atheist, Hemant Mehta, 19 Feb 2026: Trust in clergy members hits record low, Gallup finds, subtitled “Only 27% of Americans see religious leaders as ethical. It’s not hard to imagine why.”
- At the same time, trust in most professions has dropped over the past 50 years. This is a sign of our fracturing culture. The only professions who’ve maintained their trust are nurses and medical doctors. Yet the clergy does show a dramatic drop, a greater drop than any of the 20 professions charted here.
\
- The New Republic, 18 Feb 2026: Trump’s Sons Say Their Open Corruption Is Our Fault, subtitled “Instead of denying the corruption accusations, Donald Jr. and Eric tried to shift the blame.”
- Their argument seems to be: since the law wouldn’t let us do what we wanted to do, we did it anyway, and accusing us of corruption is the law’s fault. Or the banks’ fault.
\
This is somewhat similar. Whatever he can get away with.
- Right Wing Watch, 18 Feb 2026: Hegseth Invites Christian Nationalist Extremist Doug Wilson to Lead Pentagon Worship Service
- Yet again: Christians don’t actually believe in Constitutional principles; they feel entitled, and privileged.
