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More “Coming soon to an election near you” Think you’ve seen everything? N.C. Republicans propose that future voter registration drives be conducted with sample forms — facsimiles, not official forms. The sample forms shall be “for informational purposes only and shall not provide spaces for an individual to fill in the individual’s personal information.” So, Republicans would like to see voter registration drives that don’t actually register voters, just provide information on how someone might register on their own. It takes a criminal mind. Anyone who uses a genuine form in their voter registration drive shall be a Class 2 misdemeanor under proposed House Bill 127. Of course, there is a lot of heat coming down over N.C. Court of Appeals Judge Jefferson Griffin’s Trumpish attempt to steal a state Supreme Court seat.

There was a massive blow up in the oval office today between Trump, Zelensky and JD Vance. The so-called “deal” for the minerals is off and Zelensky ended up leaving the White House. Trump says that he won’t be welcome until he wants peace. By that he means that he won’t be welcome until he’s willing to grovel before him. I don’t think that’s going to happen. The blow up happened when Vance said Zelensky hasn’t thanked America. "You've gotta be more thankful" — remarkable scenes out of the White House as Trump and JD Vance team up to do Putin's bidding and demean Zelenskyy pic.twitter.com/wjp8UfqN0G — Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) February 28, 2025 Oh really? Here it is you fucking jackass : This is how Trump sees it: Trump didn’t just yell at Zelensky and put on a big show of pretend dominance. It’s clear that he wants to abandon Ukraine, he hasn’t made a secret of it, and he made clear what side he is on today: Trump to a reporter who asks him about Russia breaking a ceasefire: "What if a bomb drops on your head right now … Putin went through a hell of a lot with me.

Sloth bear cubs! Bear-y exciting news 🐻🤎 First-time mama Shala welcomed two sloth bear cubs in early December, and after several weeks bonding in their private den, the shaggy-haired sweethearts are making their debut. pic.twitter.com/1q3oSofOXF — San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance (@sandiegozoo) February 13, 2025 First-time mama Shala welcomed two sloth bear cubs in early December, and after several weeks bonding in their private den, the shaggy-haired sweethearts are making their debut. Sloth bears Melursus ursinus live in hot, dry grasslands and forests in Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal and Sri Lanka. They have distinctive chevron-shaped or U-shaped chest markings, a long muzzle (longer than that of other bears) with an elongated snout, lips that can form a tube shape, allowing them to feed by noisily suctioning ants and termites right out of their nest mounds, nostrils that they can close when feeding on termites and ants (to avoid inhaling dirt), and prominent ears covered in long hair. Sloth bears’ upper incisor teeth are effectively missing, which helps them to more easily vacuum up insects.

The maelstrom of the first few weeks of Donald Trump’s second presidency doesn’t show any signs of winding down. Each day brings another atrocity, whether it’s randomly firing massive numbers of workers, purging the Department of Justice and the Pentagon, slashing the FAA and the National Weather Service, rolling back civil rights regulations, eviscerating the scientific research infrastructure of the country and destroying our health and safety organizations. The entire nation is reeling from the wrecking ball Elon Musk has taken to the federal government. Meanwhile, Trump himself is busily tearing up the global order and working hard to blow up the economy with his daft misunderstanding of how things actually work. A case in point, his continued insistence that tariffs are not paid for by a country’s own businesses and consumers. Reporter: Americans who are concerned about higher prices believe, as most people do, that tariffs are paid by consumers and importers when they import things into this country.

They thought Trump was just going to cut some red tape and some taxes Don’t tell me they weren’t aware that he’s an aged, narcissistic imbecile. They knew exactly what he was. They just thought he’d do them some favors and spend the rest of his time tweeting, golfing and torturing the libs. Surprise. Put a lunatic in change and there’s an excellent chance things are going to get crazy: “A difficult time to invest.” “Everybody’s paralyzed.” “I’m sorry I can’t be particularly positive.” “The chaos that is reigning right now is causing everyone to sit on their hands.” That’s Citadel CEO Ken Griffin, ON Semiconductor CEO Hassane El-Khoury, Franklin Templeton CEO Jenny Johnson, and Nasdaq Private Market CEO Tom Callahan on the world of Donald Trump right now. Their comments over the past week capture a growing disquiet among business leaders, a month into a presidency that many of them had cheered. “What decision do you make? Do you want to go left or right?” El-Khoury told Semafor in an interview this week. “Are we going to grow the business?

There is a ton going on today, but this is the big story and I’m sticking with it for now. I’m just so appalled… The “reporter” that asked that is Marjorie Taylor Greene’s boyfriend. L’il Marco pondering his future and his legacy. Was it worth it? *record scratch* Yep, that's me. I bet you're wondering how I ended up in this situation… pic.twitter.com/1LrNox4Nh7 — The Lincoln Project (@ProjectLincoln) February 28, 2025 Guess what? Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth last week ordered U.S. Cyber Command to stand down from all planning against Russia, including offensive digital actions, according to three people familiar with the matter. Hegseth gave the instruction to Cyber Command chief Gen. Timothy Haugh, who then informed the organization’s outgoing director of operations, Marine Corps Maj. Gen. Ryan Heritage, of the new guidance, according to these people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the matter’s sensitivity. The order does not apply to the National Security Agency, which Haugh also leads, or its signals intelligence work targeting Russia, the sources said. Also this.

And inevitable A Bulwark column by Will Selber (“retired spook”) takes on the Trump administration’s frenzied effort to purge the military of the miniscule number of transgender persons in the services. A casual observer might think it the greatest problem facing the Pentagon. As a commander, Selber had to deal with a lot of personnel issues from vaccine refusal to sexual assault charges. But his training provided little guidance for how to counsel an airman who wanted to transition. Still, his primary responsibility was to ensure his unit “was in tip-top shape at all times.” I asked, “You sure you want to do this?” The answer was yes. I must admit, I had some reservations. For old men like me, transgenderism is a foreign concept. So I read up on it. However, what really convinced me to approve the airman’s request was the airman. Imagine how much courage it took to come into a commander’s office and request such a procedure. That’s courage. And we need more of that in the military. If these team members were otherwise met standards for service, so what if they identify as transgender?

If something like this comes here? A mystery disease in Congo has killed over 50 people—half within 48 hours of getting sick and it’s spreading rapidly. Serious question: if this or any other deadly virus reaches our shores, how will we even know, other than word of mouth? Trump pulled us out of the WHO, is… pic.twitter.com/Grb7KKEEKe — Christopher Webb (@cwebbonline) February 27, 2025 A mystery disease in Congo has killed over 50 people—half within 48 hours of getting sick and it’s spreading rapidly. We don’t need no stinking NIH or CDC or WHO. We’re done with all that. Don’t worry, Donald Trump and Bobby Jr will lead us through it. They’re geniuses. Eat some organic grapes and drink a Diet Coke. You’ll be fine.

It will be interesting to see how people interpret today’s events in the oval office with Zelensky. Overall, 30% of American adults say the U.S. is providing too much support to Ukraine in its war with Russia. That’s up slightly from 27% in November 2024, just after the U.S. presidential election. At the same time, the share of adults who believe the U.S. is not providing enough support to Ukraine has increased slightly: 22% say this, up from 18% in November. These shifts mean that U.S. opinion about support for Ukraine is now closer to preelection levels. About one-in-five Americans (23%) say the level of U.S. support for Ukraine is about right, down slightly from 25% in November. Another 24% say they are not sure, down from 29% over the same period. That was three weeks ago. I suspect that it won’t change substantially due to today’s events. My only hope is that the viral clip of Trump ranting incoherently about Hunter Biden’s bathroom breaks through the cacophony and brings a few of those people who weren’t sure over to the right side. Not that it matters. This country is now a Russian ally whether we like it or not.

“The United States has changed teams” Russian dissident Gary Kasparov spoke at the Principles First conference in Washington last weekend, writes Michael Tomasky. Kasparov “uttered a very simple line that chilled the thousand or so people in the room: ‘The United States has changed teams.’ ” The hell it has. I resent being told the United States of America switched sides because the White House is in the grip of a band of lawless sociopaths. Donald Trump’s country-wreckers have changed teams, certainly. Most of the Republican upper echelons has. Many MAGA foot soldiers have as well. How many have aligned with Vladimir Putin’s “might makes right” geopolitics simply because Trump has is unclear. How many would snap out of it after he’s gone is even less clear. The lean toward Russia on the Christian right comes from the ludicrous proposition that there people live under biblical law because the nation is heavily white and Putin is hostile to LGBT people. One conservative Christian couple from Canada moved to Russia to be free from “LGBT ideology” and quickly found themselves free from being free.