Wednesday, April 8, 2026

Grifter Ed Martin

Believe I've covered grifter Ed Martin before.  In case I haven't, from Wikipedia:

Martin was appointed as the interim US attorney for the District of Columbia on January 20, 2025, minutes after Donald Trump was sworn in as the forty-seventh president.[71]

In his first weeks as interim US attorney, Martin made significant personnel changes, dismissing approximately thirty federal prosecutors who had worked on January 6 cases who were on probationary status. He eliminated the Capitol siege prosecution unit and imposed a hiring and promotions freeze. He also replaced the office's top assistant US attorney with a Republican former Senate staffer.[68]

Martin ordered top supervisors to conduct internal reviews of the office's handling of January 6 prosecutions following President Trump's mass pardons, particularly focusing on obstruction charges that Trump had criticized. He dubbed this the "1512 Project," referring to the section of law covering obstruction charges. He also launched an inquiry involving Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.[21][68][39]

As interim US attorney, Martin initiated an internal investigation into the use of obstruction charges in January 6 cases, characterizing their application as a "great failure". He faced scrutiny for signing a motion to dismiss charges against Joseph Padilla, a January 6 defendant whom he had previously represented as defense counsel. The action drew criticism from legal experts, who noted Justice Department regulations require lawyers to recuse themselves from cases involving former clients for at least one year.[72]

In February 2025, Martin publicly pledged his office's support to Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which was charged with recommending overhauls to the federal bureaucracy. Martin posted a letter on X promising to "pursue any and all legal action against anyone who impedes your work or threatens your people". This statement came amid controversy surrounding DOGE's actions at various federal agencies, including the U.S. Agency for International Development, where DOGE representatives removed top security officials who had refused to grant them access to restricted spaces.[21]

On February 24, 2025, Martin was criticized for referring to himself and fellow United States attorneys as "President Trumps' lawyers" in a post on X.[73][74] In March 2025, he was criticized for a letter telling the dean of Georgetown University’s law school, William Treanor, that he would not hire anyone who was "affiliated with a law school or university that continues to teach and utilize DEI."[75] In March 2026, the Office of Disciplinary Counsel filed misconduct charges against Martin over the letter.[76]

On February 28, Martin demoted prosecutors including Jason McCullough, who had been the lead prosecutor in the sedition case against Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio.[77][78] Martin said he would not prosecute Tarrio for allegedly assaulting a woman the previous month at a protest. He further said that the police officer who arrested Tarrio should be reprimanded. "I believe he [the officer] was itching to arrest a [January] Sixer," Martin alleged.[77] Prosecutors determined that it would be difficult to overcome a potential claim of self-defense by Tarrio, and the decision not to prosecute was consistent with other decisions in the past.[79] On March 13, 2025, representative Jamie Raskin, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, asked the Justice Department's inspector general to launch an investigation into Martin. Raskin wrote: "In seven short weeks, the list of Mr. Martin's constitutionally, legally, and ethically indefensible actions have grown exponentially."[80]

In April 2025, Martin sent a letter to Wikimedia Foundation. In the letter, Martin accused the Foundation of "allowing foreign actors to manipulate information and spread propaganda" and questioned its status as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.[81][82] It was also reported in April 2025 that Martin had sent a "vaguely threatening" letter to The New England Journal of Medicine, accusing the journal of being "partisans in various scientific debates". At least three other medical journals received similar letters from Martin.[83]

In April 2025, an open letter criticizing Martin was signed by over one hundred former prosecutors who had worked in the Office of the US Attorney for the District of Columbia, who claimed that Martin "has butchered the position, effectively destroying it as a vehicle by which to pursue justice and turning it into a political arm of the current administration."[55] In Missouri, the editorial board of The Kansas City Star deplored Martin as "not fit" for the job.[84]

In May 2025, Republican Senator Thom Tillis announced his opposition to confirming Martin to the position permanently, citing in particular Martin's involvement in Stop the Steal. This left Martin with too few votes to be reported positively out of the Senate Judiciary Committee.[22][23] On May 8, 2025, Trump announced that he was withdrawing Martin's nomination.[24][25] Later the same day, Trump named Jeanine Pirro as Martin's replacement.[26]




President Donald Trump’s failed U.S. attorney nominee-turned-pardon attorney Ed Martin is trying to move his DC Bar disciplinary proceedings to federal court. It’s a move that another Trump-aligned lawyer, Jeffrey Clark, previously tried and failed. 

The DC Bar is looking into Martin based on his actions while serving as the district’s acting U.S. attorney, before bipartisan opposition blocked his confirmation (which ultimately went to Jeanine Pirro).  

Among Martin’s unusual activities during his interim top prosecutor stint was writing, in February 2025, to the dean of Georgetown Law School, a private Catholic and Jesuit institution, about the school’s alleged “DEI” practices, which Martin deemed “unacceptable” and said his office would not hire students from schools with such practices. The dean responded in a March 2025 letter that the First Amendment prevents the government from telling Georgetown what to teach and how to teach it. 

Martin reiterated that he wanted answers to his DEI questions and noted Georgetown’s status as a federally funded nonprofit, adding that no Georgetown Law students would be considered for positions in his office. Martin also wrote to the university’s president and board chair, complaining that the dean had not responded and stating answers to his questions were relevant to the university’s nonprofit status and federal funding.   
Phillip Argento, a Georgetown graduate and retired judge, wrote to the DC Bar, requesting an investigation of what he called Martin’s apparent professional misconduct. Argento wrote that, as someone who teaches at his church, he viewed Martin’s letter to the school as an attack on religious freedom. 

The bar initiated formal disciplinary proceedings. In a filing specifying the charges last month, bar disciplinary counsel Hamilton Fox alleged Martin “knew or should have known that, as a government official, his conduct violated the First and Fifth Amendments to the Constitution of the United States.” 

Fox also accused Martin of misconduct in response to the bar’s investigation by engaging in unauthorized direct communication with a judge during a proceeding and engaging in conduct that seriously interfered with the administration of justice.


Now let's be clear, Martin thinks he can get a better deal by going elsewhere -- to a federal court.  Let's be very clear that he broke the law and shouldn't be employed by the government.  He should resign immediately or be fired.  This is outrageous and this is the Chump administration -- grifters and more grifters. 

This is C.I.'s "The Snapshot:"


Wednesday, March 8, 2026.  Chump chickens out, people worry about what Pete Hegseth is whispering to Chump, ICE shoots a man in California, Bill Gates set to be deposed by Congress in the ongoing Epstein investigation, and much more. 


Let's start with a reality from Catherine Bouris (THE DAILY BEAST), that the number injured in the Iran War is now 373. That's the official DoD figure.  


Archbishop Paul S. Coakley, leader of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, called on President Donald Trump to back off his threats to kill “a whole civilization,” issuing a rare direct rebuke of Trump as he faces growing criticism from Catholic leaders over his war against Iran.
Coakley said Tuesday, “the threat of destroying a whole civilization and the intentional targeting of civilian infrastructure cannot be morally justified,” calling on Trump “to step back from the precipice of war.”


If you missed it, last night was supposed to be Convicted Felon Donald Chump bombing Iran into "the stone age."  

What happened?

Chump caved. 

As Ben notes this morning on MEIDASTOUCH NEWS, Chump decided to go along with Iran's previous ten-point proposal.




Monday, the proposal wasn't good enough for Chump.  Tyler Pager and Erika Solomon (NEW YORK TIMES) reported:

President Trump said on Monday that a cease-fire proposal put forth by mediators between the United States and Iran was a “significant step,” but he warned that it was “not good enough” as his deadline of Tuesday evening for a deal approached.

Iran, for its part, rejected any proposal for a cease-fire, mandating that any peace plan include a complete end of hostilities. Diplomatic talks coordinated by Pakistan and other regional countries were continuing, officials said, even as there appeared to be little agreement on what any cessation of hostilities would look like.

If Iran does not agree to reopen the Strait of Hormuz by Tuesday at 8 p.m. Eastern time, Mr. Trump has threatened to launch a massive attack targeting bridges, power plants and other civilian facilities that would, in his words, send Iran “back to the Stone Ages.” But the president has also extended self-imposed deadlines in recent weeks, and diplomats around the world were asking whether Mr. Trump would find an off-ramp again or if he would follow through this time with what could be a gigantic conflagration.







Today, MORNING JOE talked about Chump's cave.  





As the war continues to drag on and as things continue to get uglier, there's a need on the part of some to rush to Chump's defense and find an Iago bringing about the downfall of the hero.  For some, the Iago whispering falsehoods to Chump is Pete Hegseth.  Zoe Engels (MEDIAITE) reports:

Officials have accused Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth of misleading President Donald Trump about the Iran War, declaring that “Pete is not speaking the truth.”

Hegseth has been feverishly blasting the media’s coverage of the Iran War, saying Americans would not believe U.S. “success” in the war if they “listened” to the mainstream media.
On March 6, he told CBS’s 60 Minutes that Iranians are the only people who should be concerned about the war.

“No one’s putting us in danger,” Hegseth said of the U.S. “We’re putting the other guys in danger. That’s our job. So, we’re not concerned about that. We mitigate it as we need to. Our commanders factor all of this, but the only ones that need to be worried right now are Iranians that think they’re gonna live.”

In a new report by The Washington Post, anonymous officials and analysts are quoted as showing concern about the negative influence that Hegseth’s overzealous, false optimism is having on Trump.



Hegseth’s triumphant rhetoric has stood in contrast to that of Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who has not suggested U.S. pilots can use Iranian airspace without concern of enemy threats.

Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell called scrutiny of Hegseth’s public messaging “lies and propaganda.”

“Secretary Hegseth has provided the Commander-in-Chief with decisive military options to achieve our clear, scoped objectives: destroy Iran’s missile arsenal, annihilate their Navy, destroy their terrorist proxies, and ensure Iran can never obtain a nuclear weapon,” he said in a statement. “The Washington Post is pushing a fake story of failure.”

White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly rejected any assertion that Hegseth has misinformed the president and said Trump always knew the Iranians would shoot back. “He has always had the full picture of the conflict. Nothing has surprised him or our military planners, who were prepared for any possible contingency,” she said.


[. . .]

Another source of scrutiny emerged March 31, when Hegseth told reporters the number of Iranian missile and drone launches had fallen to a lower level than any other 24-hour period since the war began. The figure was presented as evidence that “relentless” U.S. and Israeli strikes were degrading Iran’s ability to sustain attacks.

But administration officials said Hegseth’s claim was incorrect and that lower 24-hour periods occurred March 14, 15 and 22. “Documents sent around internally contradict Hegseth’s claims,” one official said.


I don't doubt that Hegseth is whispering errors and outright lies into Chump's ear.  But that's why Chump chose him.  Hegseth wasn't forced off on Chump -- no, Chump chose him.  So he's only whispering to Chump what Chump wants to hear. Hegseth was a known liar before his confirmation hearing.  Chump knew what he was getting. 


Now he knew JD Vance was a liar as well and he thought he could count on him.  But Chump decided he was wrong there so he has now distanced himself from Miss Sassy.  Matthew Rozsa notes:


President Donald Trump is degrading his own vice president, JD Vance, over the latter’s opposition to the former’s Iran war — and it is painfully obvious to White House observers.

“Nobody in Mr. Trump’s inner circle was more worried about the prospect of war with Iran, or did more to try to stop it, than the vice president,” reported The New York Times’ Jonathan Swan and Maggie Haberman on Tuesday. “Mr. Vance had built his political career opposing precisely the kind of military adventurism that was now under serious consideration. He had described a war with Iran as ‘a huge distraction of resources’ and massively expensive.’”
The Times elaborated that, although Vance is not a dove, he privately expressed the belief that a regime-change war in Iran would end badly for the United States. Because Trump wished to engage in some military action against Iran, Vance urged limited action rather than a large-scale campaign, even advocating for Trump to use “overwhelming force, in the hope of achieving his objectives quickly.”

Yet the president has reportedly noticed Vance’s reticence to declare war against Iran and is politically penalizing his own vice president accordingly, including through public displays of how he is out of the loop.


So despite Chump's talking up War Crimes and making outrageous threats, he didn't go through with it.  This time.  And this doesn't need to happen again.

Senator Elizabeth Warren's office issued the following ahead of the deadline Chump had imposed for last night:

Warren: “This is Deranged…Congress Must Pull the Emergency Brake Now”

Link to Video

Washington, D.C. — U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) released a new video condemning President Trump’s threat to wipe out the “whole civilization” of Iran“ and called for Majority Leader Thune to bring the Senate back into session immediately to vote to stop Trump’s war.

“Congress needs to pull the emergency brake now. We should be voting to stop Trump’s war today…Every Republican who refuses to speak out, every Republican who ducks a question, every Republican who votes to let this war continue bears a portion of the responsibility for what is happening in Trump’s war,” said Senator Warren.

Senator Warren highlighted that American families are paying the price for Trump and Hegseth’s war in Iran.

“Gas prices are more than $4 dollars a gallon. Groceries are up. Life was already unaffordable and now you’re paying for Trump’s war while our service members fight and die in another forever war halfway around the world,” she said.

“We don’t know what will happen tonight…But I do know that Congress has the power and the responsibility to end Trump's war. Enough. Call your representatives. And tell these Republicans to grow a backbone and do their damn jobs,” she concluded.

Transcript: Senator Warren on Trump Threatening to Wipe Out the “Whole Civilization” of Iran

Senator Elizabeth Warren: I want to talk directly to people who are sick with worry that Donald Trump is threatening war crimes in Iran. In his words, if Iran doesn’t do what he says, their “whole civilization will die tonight.”

The President of the United States is threatening to bomb innocent people and civilian infrastructure in Iran. He’s threatening to commit war crimes. And he is threatening to do it in our names.

This is deranged. And it must stop.

Some say that this is just Trump negotiating.

No. Trump is threatening mass death if he doesn’t get his way. And it’s further evidence that Trump’s war and Trump himself have spiralled out of control.

Trump’s guy in charge of the war, Pete Hegseth, is thumping his chest that the United States has “complete control of Iranian skies” while our brave pilots get shot down.

And you are paying the price.

Gas prices are more than $4 dollars a gallon. Groceries are up. Life was already unaffordable and now you’re paying for Trump’s war while our service members fight and die in another forever war halfway around the world.

And for what? How is your life better because of Trump’s war?

It is the constitutional responsibility of Congress to not only declare war, but to end war.

Instead, when Republicans have been forced to vote, they have voted repeatedly to continue Trump’s war.

Republican Leader John Thunehune must call the Senate back into session immediately. And Congress needs to pull the emergency brake NOW. We should be voting to stop Trump’s war TODAY.

Make no mistake: Every Republican who refuses to speak out, every Republican who ducks a question, every Republican who votes to let this war continue bears a portion of the responsibility for what is happening in Trump’s war.

We don’t know what will happen tonight. Will Trump back down or will he commit war crimes?

But I do know that Congress has the power and the responsibility to end Trump's war. Enough. Call your representatives. And tell these Republicans to grow a backbone and do their damn jobs.

###




Turning to immigration, Matthew Chapman (RAW STORY) reports on Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin's appearance on FOX "NEWS" 

"I believe sanctuary cities is (sic) not lawful," Mullin told Fox News' Bret Baier. "Some of these cities have international airports. If they are a sanctuary city, should they really be processing customs into their city? We need to have a really hard look at that."
"So you are saying that big cities that are sanctuary cities that have a big airport, they might lose their customs?" said Baier.

"I'm going to be forced to make tough decisions," said Mullin, also noting that this could serve as retaliation for cities whose lawmakers have obstructed funding for DHS in the standoff over ICE reforms.
Mullin's threat here was met with instant outrage on social media, with experts pointing out he doesn't actually have the authority to do this.


The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in Sacramento was launching a probe Tuesday after a shooting involving U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and U.S. Customs and Border Patrol officers near San Jose, California.

KNTV reported that the Tuesday morning shooting shut down on- and off-ramps on Interstate 5 and Sperry Avenue in Patterson, California.  Lauren Mascarenhas (CNN) adds, "Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were involved in a shooting that sent one person to the hospital while they were conducting a targeted traffic stop in California’s Central Valley, the agency said Tuesday."  Uwa Ede-Osifo (GUARDIAN) reports that the man shot was Carlos Ivan Mendoza Hernandez:


Hernandez was hospitalized after the shooting. A spokesperson for the Stanislaus county sheriff’s office, which has jurisdiction over Patterson, declined to comment on Hernandez’s condition.




A Jamaican national arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) after overstaying a tourist visa is disputing the agency’s account of his case, alleging that his identification documents were taken during detention and not returned.

Carlton Junior Burke, 25, said he was taken into custody on October 1, 2025, by federal agents at his home in Madison, Wisconsin, and transported to a detention facility, where he claims his passport and driver’s licenses were collected and not given back.


ICE has earned a reputation for lying about their actions -- to the public, to the courts.  So I'll give Burke the benefit of the doubt. 





Turning to Chump's old friend Jeffrey Epstein. Daniel Ruetenik (CBS NEWS) reports on Epstein's 2008 sweetheart deal:

After serving fewer than four months in jail, Epstein was granted a special arrangement that allowed him to leave custody for up to 16 hours a day, six days a week, as part of a work release program, allegedly to perform work at a charitable organization he had just established called the Florida Science Foundation. 

This continued for the next nine months until his release to a year of supervised house arrest in July 2009. 

Each day during his work release, Epstein was transported between the jail and an office in downtown West Palm Beach by his bodyguard and driver, Igor Zinoviev. His personal attorney, Darren Indyke, was listed as his official supervisor at the job. Epstein agreed to hire off-duty sheriff's deputies to monitor his movements, log visitors and provide security at his office and home. 

According to documents released under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, his SUV used for these trips was outfitted with a bed. An account given to the FBI by one woman included the claim that Epstein engaged in sexual activity with her in the vehicle — while it was parked in the jail lot. 
The woman told the FBI she was a former model from Slovakia who Epstein had first met when she was a teenager and still in high school. She told agents she was recruited from Slovakia by Epstein's friend and business associate Jean-Luc Brunel during her senior year to move to New York City and pursue a career in modeling. She met Epstein at Brunel's birthday party at the New York City restaurant Cipriani in 2003. 

By the time of Epstein's incarceration, she had been involved sexually with him for several years. She was one of four "assistants" granted immunity in a federal non-prosecution agreement that Epstein received in exchange for his plea.

King Charles will be visiting Donald Chump in the US later this month.  Survivors of Jeffrey Epstein have already requested that Charles meet with them.  Luke Alsford (METRO) notes:

An Epstein survivor has said she is prepared to wait outside the White House to meet with King Charles during his state visit. Rina Oh is willing to hold a mock tea party with other Epstein victims at the White House gates, with an empty chair reserved for the Monarch to sit down and talk with them. The campaigner, who was groomed and sexually assaulted by Epstein from the age of 21, wants the Royals to prove they care about survivors by funding their therapy costs. Her calls for the King to donate to mental health care for Epstein's victims have been supported by the US's leading anti-trafficking organisation, World Without Exploitation. Charles will visit the US with Queen Camilla at the end of April to mark the 250th anniversary of American Independence, where he will meet President Trump and address Congress.
Democratic Congressman Ro Khanna, who spearheaded the release of the Epstein Files, wrote to the King last week asking him to meet the sex offender’s victims. However, it is understood that Charles will not be able to meet survivors during the trip. Oh, who lives in New Jersey, said that would not stop her from visiting Washington DC to see the Monarch. She told Metro: 'If the King and Queen really do support the victims, then it would be a nice gesture to meet with some of them. It would show that he cared. I don't mind gathering a group and going to Washington. We'll just sit in and have afternoon tea in front of the White House gates.'

Pam Bondi, the former Attorney General, is expected to be deposed by the House Oversight Committee on April 14th.  Joe Sommerlad (INDEPENDENT) reports another 

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick will testify before the House Oversight Committee on May 6 regarding his past association with the late pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, according to reports.

Kentucky Republican Rep. James Comer, the panel’s chairman, announced on March 3 that Lutnick had “proactively agreed to appear voluntarily” and applauded his “demonstrated commitment to transparency” but did not at that stage offer a schedule.
[. . .]
The secretary told Pod Force One presenter Miranda Devine in October that he had been a neighbor of Epstein’s in New York and once visited his brownstone in 2005 but was appalled when his host made a creepy comment about receiving “the right kind of massages” during a tour of the property.

“In the six to eight steps it takes to get from his house to my house, my wife and I decided that I will never be in the room with that disgusting person ever again,” Lutnick told Devine.

However, the release of the Epstein files by the Department of Justice in late December and January revealed that the men had remained in contact after all.

And there's another person who will be deposed by the committee: Bill Gates.  Dan Mangan (CNBC) reports:

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates will sit for an interview about Jeffrey Epstein by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on June 10, according to a person familiar with the situation, who spoke anonymously because the appearance has not been announced.

Gates is one of several people who have agreed to be interviewed by the oversight panel about their dealings with Epstein, the notorious sex offender who killed himself in a New York jail in August 2019.


Let's wind down with this from Senator Tammy Baldwin's office:

Demand comes after Wisconsinites faced weeks long delays getting mail

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) demanded answers from Postmaster General David Steiner regarding long-term mail delays and staffing shortages at post offices across Wisconsin that are impacting local businesses, newspapers, and Wisconsin families who rely on USPS for prescriptions, bills, voting, and more.

“I write you today to express my frustrations with ongoing mail delays and staffing shortages throughout Wisconsin,” wrote Senator Baldwin. “This is not the first time I have reached out to the United States Postal Service (USPS) about mail delivery issues on behalf of my constituents.”

“Millions of Wisconsinites rely on the Postal Service to stay in touch with loved ones, pay bills, receive much-needed medications and cast their vote. We have a duty to find solutions to these difficulties for the people we serve,” Baldwin concluded.

In the letter, Senator Baldwin raised that Wisconsinites across the state have faced significant delays in receiving their mail from USPS. Service delays have been especially pronounced in Brown Deer and Madison, where residents reported weeks-long delays in mail delivery.

These delays follow USPS’ implementation of the Local Transportation Optimization (LTO) policy, an overhaul spearheaded by former Postmaster General Louis DeJoy that has caused widespread service issues in the years since it was first introduced. A March 2025 report by the USPS Office of Inspector General found a general decrease in service in Wisconsin after LTO was implemented.

Senator Baldwin has repeatedly called on the USPS to address rate hikes and delays Wisconsinites are experiencing. In 2024, Senator Baldwin led a group of her colleagues in calling out USPS leadership for unsustainable price hikes and poor service. Baldwin also called on former Postmaster General Louis DeJoy to immediately address costly mail delays suffered by Wisconsin newspapers that rely on the USPS.

In her letter, Senator Baldwin requests written answers to the following questions:

  1. What was the retention rate among pre-career and career USPS employees from Fiscal Year 2024 to Fiscal Year 2025 in Wisconsin? What are the nationwide retention rates among pre-career and career USPS employees from Fiscal Year 2024 to Fiscal Year 2025?
  2. How many USPS employees currently work in Wisconsin? How many open positions does USPS currently have?
  3. Is USPS concerned with staffing shortages and retention rates in Wisconsin? If so, besides job fairs, what solutions have been implemented to address staffing challenges in Wisconsin, specifically?
  4. How successful have the USPS-sponsored job fairs been at hiring new employees in Wisconsin and nationwide? Thus far, have job fairs resulted in long-term employment for Wisconsinites?
  5. How has the USPS responded to the issues raised in the March 2025 OIG report regarding LTO implementation?
  6. Has the USPS implemented the process to track Local Transportation Optimization savings as agreed to in the March 2025 USPS OIG Report? If so, can you provide an explanation of the process and any current findings?
  7. How will USPS ensure customers are immediately notified of any impacts to service in their area moving forward?

A full version of this letter is available here and below.

Dear Postmaster General Steiner,

I write you today to express my frustrations with ongoing mail delays and staffing shortages throughout Wisconsin.

This is not the first time I have reached out to the United States Postal Service (USPS) about mail delivery issues on behalf of my constituents. I frequently urged your predecessor to improve service, emphasizing that USPS’s transition to the Local Transportation Optimization policy (LTO) led to a decline in mail delivery reliability across Wisconsin. This was confirmed by the USPS Office of Inspector General’s March 2025 Report for the Wisconsin region, which found a general decrease in service in the state after this disastrous policy was implemented. The report also found that customers were not notified of the impacts to service in their areas until after an issue arose or they directly asked questions. To make matters worse, the supposed cost savings attributed to the LTO were not even effectively tracked by USPS, making it difficult to verify whether the policy delivered any meaningful financial benefit.

Most recently, I have heard from constituents who have endured long stretches without any mail delivery. In Brown Deer, residents experienced significant delays and inconsistent service from the Post Office on Bradley Road. Some reported going weeks at a time without receiving any mail. I have heard similar stories from my constituents in Madison, who have seen lengthy mail service delays across the entire city.

I appreciate that USPS has addressed staffing shortages in these areas, but the agency must continue to prioritize the hiring and retention of workers across the state in order to prevent future staffing issues that contribute to mail delays. Despite my repeated warnings, it is clear that service issues have not been substantially addressed.

I request that you provide written answers to the following questions by April 30, 2026:

  1. What was the retention rate among pre-career and career USPS employees from Fiscal Year 2024 to Fiscal Year 2025 in Wisconsin? What are the nationwide retention rates among pre-career and career USPS employees from Fiscal Year 2024 to Fiscal Year 2025?
  2. How many USPS employees currently work in Wisconsin? How many open positions does USPS currently have?
  3. Is USPS concerned with staffing shortages and retention rates in Wisconsin? If so, besides job fairs, what solutions have been implemented to address staffing challenges in Wisconsin, specifically?
  4. How successful have the USPS-sponsored job fairs been at hiring new employees in Wisconsin and nationwide? Thus far, have job fairs resulted in long-term employment for Wisconsinites?
  5. How has the USPS responded to the issues raised in the March 2025 OIG report regarding LTO implementation?
  6. Has the USPS implemented the process to track Local Transportation Optimization savings as agreed to in the March 2025 USPS OIG Report? If so, can you provide an explanation of the process and any current findings?
  7. How will USPS ensure customers are immediately notified of any impacts to service in their area moving forward?

Millions of Wisconsinites rely on the Postal Service to stay in touch with loved ones, pay bills, receive much-needed medications and cast their vote. We have a duty to find solutions to these difficulties for the people we serve. Thank you for your attention to this matter, and I look forward to your prompt response.

Sincerely,

###




The following sites updated:

on No comments:

Tuesday, April 7, 2026

Grifter Lori Chavez-DeRemer and Grifter Bruce Blakeman

A grifter in the administration that I always mean to cover but have only had time to cover once so far in the last year is Lori Chavez-DeRemer.  She is our Secretary of Labor and she is one hot mess after another.  Zachary Folk (Forbes) reports:

In January, the New York Post first reported Chavez-DeRemer was under investigation by the Labor Department’s Office of Inspector General for having an inappropriate relationship with a subordinate and “abusing her position.”

One day later, the Post published further details about the investigation and the allegations—including that she allegedly took employees to a strip club in April 2025, and that her chief of staff and deputy chief of staff were instructed to “make up” official trips.
The investigation also reportedly discovered a stash of alcohol Chavez-DeRemer kept in her office, and the investigation was looking into claims of her drinking on the job.

Chavez-DeRemer also faced questions about her alleged misconduct from Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, the chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Bloomberg Law first reported in January.

Chump's entire Cabinet is a scandal, a boatload of unqualified embarrassments.  



The identities of several members of the militia created by New York GOP gubernatorial candidate Bruce Blakeman have reportedly been revealed.

Blakeman’s quest to stand up a force of armed and deputized citizens in his capacity as Nassau County executive — to help with purported “emergencies” — has garnered comparisons to Nazi brownshirts. The Long Island militia has also been likened to the Ku Klux Klan and slave patrols during the era of chattel slavery, both of which deployed militias filled with civilians to terrorize Black people.
A onetime umbrella-holder for Donald Trump and a devout MAGA loyalist, Blakeman has said he will never disagree with Trump in public. He also has said that his militia of “special deputies” — which could be unleashed at his whim — might be used to quell civil rights demonstrations, saying it would be available “if there was a riot.”

Democrats have sounded the alarm that some of the militia members were unqualified and, in some cases, had run into issues with the law themselves. Such fears were seemingly confirmed by a recent court filing by Democrats who are suing to thwart the militia, as reported by Newsday.

The list of deputies includes Zachary Cohen, a nephew of Blakeman’s who, according to Newsday, “has no law enforcement or military experience.”

This is C.I.'s "The Snapshot:"


Tuesday, April 7, 2026.  One of Chump's 'deadlines' looms (though he's already spoken of hw he may change it), he spent a great deal of time yesterday . . . insulting Joe Biden, his call for War Crimes results in a lot of attention, and much more.




President Trump said on Monday that a cease-fire proposal put forth by mediators between the United States and Iran was a “significant step,” but he warned that it was “not good enough” as his deadline of Tuesday evening for a deal approached.

Iran, for its part, rejected any proposal for a cease-fire, mandating that any peace plan include a complete end of hostilities. Diplomatic talks coordinated by Pakistan and other regional countries were continuing, officials said, even as there appeared to be little agreement on what any cessation of hostilities would look like.

If Iran does not agree to reopen the Strait of Hormuz by Tuesday at 8 p.m. Eastern time, Mr. Trump has threatened to launch a massive attack targeting bridges, power plants and other civilian facilities that would, in his words, send Iran “back to the Stone Ages.” But the president has also extended self-imposed deadlines in recent weeks, and diplomats around the world were asking whether Mr. Trump would find an off-ramp again or if he would follow through this time with what could be a gigantic conflagration.

At MEIDASTOUCH NEWS this morning, Ben explains that Iran's response is to mock him.



Ben notes that last night  Chump "was telling AXIOS that he may hold off on tomorrow's strikes against civilian infrastructure in Iran."

Today on MORNING JOE, Mika noted the changing deadline(s) from Chump. 



They touch on War Crimes in the segment above.  THE NEWSHOUR (PBS) did a segment on the War Crimes aspect last night.


Amna Nawaz:

For perspective now on President Trump's talk about bombing all of Iran's bridges and power plants and whether that's legal under international law, we turn to retired Lieutenant Colonel Rachel VanLandingham. She spent 20 years in the Air Force and is now a professor at Southwestern Law School.

Welcome back to the show.

You heard in our reporting there the repeated threats by President Trump to bomb Iranian infrastructure. He said specifically there's a plan to decimate every bridge in Iran, to destroy every power plant. You have heard the concerns, Colonel, about this potentially being a war crime.

Based on your expertise, is it?

Lt. Col. Rachel VanLandingham (ret.):

He's both threatening a war crime and he's engaging in a war crime through that rhetoric itself. And I will explain that.

First of all, the law of war, that's not just international law. It's U.S. law. And our military members are deeply trained and steeped in this law. The law of war prohibits measures of intimidation against a civilian population, including threats of violence whose primary purpose is to sow terror amongst that civilian population.

Those civilians whose electricity ensures that there's refrigeration for their medicine for those that are dependent on refrigerated medicine, that provides electricity to hospitals, where there are lifesaving operations ongoing, where babies are being born, whose electricity is helping ensure that the water is purified and clean, they are terrified.

It's reasonably foreseeable to believe that such rhetoric will sow terror amongst the civilian population, and, therefore, one can infer that that's what President Trump intends. So he's committing a war crime just through that language.

Second of all, he's threatening to make our military engage in war crimes and therefore stain their honor and their soul and come back with moral injury. Why? Because threatening to destroy every bridge and every single power plant in the entire state of Iran is called an indiscriminate attack. That is a war crime.

Why? Because the law of war says we don't engage in total war for anymore. We don't believe that children are the enemy and that civilians are the enemy. The law of war says, look, we're going to divide the battlefield, which in modern days is often a city like Tehran, into civilian objects, and they're protected, and civilian people, they're protected.

And then there's military targets, lawful military objectives that make an effective contribution to military action and whose destruction provides a definite military advantage. We divide the world into those two camps. By saying we're just going to bomb everything, bomb every single bridge, every single power plant that serves civilians, that is threatening indiscriminate attack.

And it is one of the most horrible war crimes there are because it brings us back, straight back down the slippery slope to total warfare.

Amna Nawaz:

Well, Colonel, let me ask you, if I may, if the military and their lawyers can argue that, yes, the power plants provide electricity to civilians and they use these bridges, but that the regime also gets electricity from these power plants, that these same bridges are used by members of the Iranian military forces, does that justify making them targets?

Lt. Col. Rachel VanLandingham (ret.):

You have to make an individual case-by-case analysis of each bridge and every power plant that is being considered to be a lawful military objective, because, first of all, just saying, by its use or intended use, has to make an effective contribution to military action, not the regime in general, but to military action.

Second -- and so a bridge, therefore, like the bridge that was destroyed last week, a bridge could make an effective contribution to military action because it's being used as a resupply line. Logistical lines are often a legitimate lawful military objectives in war, despite the fact that they also have a civilian use.

Their destruction at the time has to provide a definite military advantage, but that's not the end of the analysis. The law of war goes even further to say, OK, once you have determined that there's some kind of military connection here, there's a connection to military action, and this destruction or disablement will produce a military advantage, then you have to look at, will civilians be harmed?

And, of course, by taking out power plants that are civilian in nature, civilians will be harmed, because civilian power plants provide civilians electricity to their homes, to water purification plants, to hospitals, you name it, right?

This is why the United States strongly condemned Russia and our State Department concluded that Russia was engaged in war crimes of indiscriminate attacks because it was taking out power plants, electrical infrastructure in Ukraine during the dead of winter, in which Ukrainians were plunged into life-threatening cold without the definite military advantage.

Amna Nawaz:

So, Colonel...

(crosstalk)

Lt. Col. Rachel VanLandingham (ret.):

So, the next step that you -- go ahead.

Amna Nawaz:

If I may, let me just ask you this then. At this point in time -- we have a minute or so left -- what would your advice be to U.S. military commanders if they receive these kinds of orders? What's your message to them?

Lt. Col. Rachel VanLandingham (ret.):

Follow your oath to the Constitution and to the law. Follow, trust your training. Ensure that there's discrete analysis done on every single power plant that's on a targeting list, on every single bridge to ensure that, not only it's a lawful military objective, but that proportionality, that the harm to civilians, right, is not excessive compared to the direct and concrete military advantage to be gained.

And that means that most of these indeed will not pass that test. And that's what our military professionals are trained on. And I really hope they go back to that training and that they're taking these threats of war crimes given by the commander in chief and filtering them through their own training and their own conscience and their own legal obligation to follow the law of war.

Because these are war crimes that they don't follow those steps. And those war crimes do not have a statute of limitations. And many of our -- and it has universal jurisdiction. And so many of our allies could -- if you want to travel to Europe, ensure you don't get engaged in a war crime.





Chump is no longer merely a convicted felon, he's now someone who is  a lame duck with fading power.   Michael Tomasky (THE NEW REPUBLIC) observes:


The presidency of Donald Trump is now officially in collapse. His war is not exactly a disaster, but it sure isn't the cakewalk he envisioned when he sprang it on the American people and the world with no notice on February 28. His firing of Attorney General Pam Bondi because she wasn't sycophantic enough indicates a man who is utterly incapable of understanding anything about how democracy is supposed to work. His economy is a wreck and may well get worse. His proposed budget, especially the half-trillion-dollar increase to the Pentagon, is wildly out of whack with the priorities of the public.
I could go on—and on. But on top of all that, Trump’s purchase on reality, tenuous at the best of times, is slipping fast. Think about what it takes for the “leader of the free world” (a phrase we are now obliged to tuck inside irony quotes) to wake up on Easter morning—the day of the resurrection of the same Jesus Christ in whose name “War Secretary” Pete Hegseth says we are killing Iranians—and post this unhinged and inflammatory comment on social media: “Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran. There will be nothing like it!!! Open the F[**]ckin’ Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell -- JUST WATCH! Praise be to Allah. President DONALD J. TRUMP.”
The sentence with the three expletives will catch the notice of most Western eyes, but I have a feeling it’s the next one, and its schoolyard-level sarcastic mockery, that will get the lion’s share of the attention in Iran and across the Muslim world. And that wasn’t even his low point of the past week. His speech at the National Prayer Breakfast on Thursday was an embarrassment, rife with conspiracies, self-pitying grievance riffs, tasteless “jokes,” and bile spewed at the usual targets—again, on a venerated day on the Christian calendar, Maundy Thursday, the last full day of Jesus Christs’s mortal life. Trump rendered a supposedly solemn occasion profane in the way only he can do.

A rickety house often stands longer than we imagine it will. The support structures are surprisingly sturdy. But finally one day, something comes along—a hard rain, a mighty wind—against which the beams and foundation are no match.

Donald Chump is losing it.  He is disgracing himself (and this country) on the world stage.  In response to his remarks on Sunday, CAIR issued the following:


“President Trump’s deranged mocking of Islam and his threats to attack civilian infrastructure in Iran are reckless, dangerous, and indicative of a mindset that shows indifference to human life and contempt for religious beliefs. 

“These statements are not made in a vacuum. They follow a long pattern of anti-Muslim rhetoric and policies that have dehumanized Muslims at home and abroad. The casual use of ‘Praise be to Allah’ in the context of violent threats reflects a disturbing willingness to weaponize religious language while simultaneously denigrating Islam and its followers.

“Congress must not remain on vacation while the President openly promises to commit war crimes that could trigger even more regional and global conflict. Lawmakers have a duty to reconvene and to reassert their authority over matters of war and peace, and to ensure that no president can unilaterally drag our nation into war.”

Last week, CAIR said President Trump’s Threat to bomb Iran “Back to the stone ages” was “anti-Muslim, racist, and dehumanizing.”

CAIR’s mission is to protect civil rights, enhance understanding of Islam, promote justice, and empower American Muslims.       

Chump is disgusting and is disgusting in public.  Hazel Gandhi (THE MIRROR) reports:


Donald Trump said Kim Jong Un referred to former President Joe Biden as a "mentally re------ person," repeating a disturbing slur by the North Korean dictator.

The president was speaking to reporters to provide an update on the U.S. and Israel's war on Iran today. During this address, he was heard talking about how several allies like South Korea and Japan failed to help the U.S. during the war.

Trump said that Kim, whom he got along with "very well," referred to Biden in a conversation as "mentally re-----." Trump added that Kim said "very nice things" about him.



“Do you notice, he said very nice things about me. He used to call Joe Biden a mentally re{***]ded person, OK? So, don’t tell me about your stuff,” the president said. “[Of] Joe Biden, he said, ‘He’s a mentally retarded person.’ He was so nasty to Joe Biden, it was terrible. But to me -- he likes Trump.”


He's a butcher to his people.  Kim Jong Un liking you is nothing to brag about.  And repeating his real or imagined (who knows with Chump's dementia whether it was said or not) insults about another US president?

Whose side are you on, Donald Chump?

It sure isn't America's side.  America first was the lie you told to get back in the White House.  America first is not "Let me have Netanyahu's back as he attacks Iran."  

Donald has lost it.  The 25th Amendment needs to be invoked.  Paul Krugman called for it to be invoked over the weekend.





Sarah Ewall-Wice (THE DAILY BEAST) reports that he also attacked Joe in front of children at Monday's Easter Egg Roll:

The president, 79, was participating in activities at the annual Easter Egg Roll on Monday, but he couldn’t keep his mind on the holiday spirit and resorted to political attacks while mingling with children.

Trump was sitting at a table with a group of young children and started signing autographs.

“Biden would use the autopen,” he told the kids.
“What?” one confused kid could be heard responding. It wasn’t clear whether he was too young to know about the former president or didn’t know what an autopen was.

“He’d have an autopen follow him, Joe Biden,” Trump told the group. “He didn’t sign. He was incapable of signing things, so they’d follow him around with a big machine. You know what it was called? An autopen.”
But the president was not done talking about the autopen as the children continued with their activities.

“And he’d have the autopen sign for him. He’d take the paper, hand it to his guys. Sign it with an autopen. Give it back,” Trump told the confused children. “Not too good, right?”

As he spoke, some of the children looked around, as if they were no longer interested in hearing what the president had to say.


His vile Sunday comments -- on Easter Sunday, no less -- were beneath the office of the President.  Pablo O'Hana (METRO) observes:


Trump’s Republican Party is dead. Not only in its soul, but in the essential qualities that once defined it. While it may still win seats in the Midterms and retain the loyalty of millions, what truly matters has been lost. The capacity for independent judgment, for institutional self-respect, for the basic reflex of saying ‘No, not this’, is gone. Donald Trump’s Easter Sunday post, in which he threatened to bomb Iranian power plants, dropped the f-word into the public record, and signed off with ‘Praise be to Allah’, is not an opportunity to wake up Republican Party officials, members and voters. It is simply more evidence that they may be breathing, but in reality they’re dead inside. We have been here so many times before that Trump reaction commentary has become its own genre, with its own predictable arc. Something happens. Jaws drop. A Republican or two issue carefully worded statements expressing concern. The news cycle moves on. Nothing changes.


The words are not just shocking. They are unhinged.

“Power Plant Day… Bridge Day… Open the f***in’ Strait… you crazy b*******… or you’ll be living in Hell.” Posted in a frenzy, laced with threats, profanity and mockery, it reads less like the considered voice of the leader of the free world and more like the rant of a barroom bully spoiling for a fight.

And yet this is Donald Trump, the President of the United States, broadcasting to the world. This is what American leadership looks like now. The post lays bare something far more dangerous than bluster. It shows a man losing control of events, of strategy, and increasingly of himself.

 

There is no telling how bad the war and the economy will get, but one thing is starting to become certain: The war in Iran and the escalating economic damage from it is getting in the way of Trump’s true love, which is waging culture wars that stir up the ugliest impulses within the MAGA base. The president desperately wants everyone to stop talking about oil prices, bombed schools and the Strait of Hormuz, and get back to stoking racist hysteria and leading revenge campaigns against his perceived enemies.

Trump’s desperation to refocus attention on his obsessions and grievances was on full display over the weekend. For nearly two days, the White House avoided press questions about the downed fighter jet, presumably to shut down any discussion of the rescue mission that was underway. Instead, the president bellowed a few of his incoherent threats at Iran on Truth Social, but largely focused on his usual obsessions: complaining about ABC News and the New York Times, posting misleading polls to convince himself he’s popular and repeating white nationalist slogans about non-white immigrants. It was only after both Air Force servicemen were recovered that Trump deigned to acknowledge the situation — and of course, to take credit for their rescue.

Trump and his allies are working in tandem to redirect attention away from the war and onto their culture war fixations. On Wednesday, as the Supreme Court was hearing arguments about birthright citizenship, White House staffers and some of the more odious members of Congress fanned out on X, cheerleading for the justices to strip children born to immigrants of their citizenship. Deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller called the 14th Amendment ” the gravest and most preposterous of all constitutional abominations.” On Truth Social, Trump tailored the sentiment to his vocabulary level, calling the constitutional guarantee “STUPID.” Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, one of the most compulsive MAGA social media users in Congress, tweeted, “The Constitution isn’t a national suicide pact.” The following day, Trump kept whining after realizing the Supreme Court looks likely to rule against him. “Kangaroo Court!!!,” he posted on Truth Social, along with a Fox News video claiming birthright citizenship is a “constitutional wrong.” 

Despite the administration’s hyperbolic efforts to portray a 158-year-old amendment as an immediate threat to civilization itself, Trump and his allies could not turn media attention away from the very real disaster that is the Iran war. Thursday’s headlines were dominated by the surge in oil prices that followed Trump’s failure of a speech. It’s not that the press ignored the birthright citizenship case, but most coverage outside of Fox News focused on how skeptical the justices were of the president’s position.




Turning to Chump's Mini-Me Pete Hegseth, Steve Mollman (NEWSWEEK) reports:

Retired Army Major General Randy Manner warned that the Pentagon is heading into a “very dangerous” moment after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth fired senior Army officers, arguing the move risks silencing honest military advice during the Iran war.

Manner made the remarks during an appearance on Alex Witt Reports on Sunday, as the decision continues to draw criticism from former senior military leaders and Republican lawmakers with deep defense credentials.
The firings have raised alarm about civil‑military relations at a time when the United States is engaged in conflict and facing high‑stakes decisions that rely heavily on experienced military judgment. Critics say abruptly removing senior officers without clear public explanations risks undermining morale, discouraging a breadth of views, and weakening confidence among troops.

Manner warned that the consequences could be immediate and severe.

“That is an extremely dangerous situation to be in,” he said on Alex Witt Reports. “Only two other leaders in the world have seen that, and that was Stalin and Hitler, who purged the best officers that they had before each of the wars they engaged in."


Let's wind down with this from Senator Kirsten Gillibrand's office:


Read NBC’s Story Here

Today, U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC), demanded more information following reports that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has blocked or delayed promotions for over a dozen Black and female senior officers across all four branches of the military. 

Gillibrand’s letter to SASC Chairman Roger Wicker (R-MS) requests a closed hearing concerning Secretary Hegseth’s actions to examine whether they may have been motivated by politics or inappropriate bias.

The full letter can be found here or below:

Dear Chairman Wicker,

I am writing to request a closed hearing concerning the Secretary of Defense’s decision to withhold promotions for officers selected for promotion to general officer. Public reports allege that these holds may have been motivated by political ideology, inappropriate bias, or immutable and constitutionally protected characteristics rather than merit. Military advancement must remain strictly meritocratic and based on performance.

As a former Chair of the Personnel Subcommittee, I know that there are many appropriate reasons for withholding promotions, and examining the basis of the holds often involves sensitive or adverse information that warrants certain privacy safeguards for the officers in question. It is critical that we both assert the constitutional oversight role of the Senate and ensure that our military is selecting the best candidates for promotion to general officer based solely on merit, free of unlawful bias or prejudice. A closed hearing will ensure that we can protect the privacy of these officers while gathering information to understand the justification for withholding their promotions, with the goal of demonstrating to our colleagues in the Senate and to the American people that they can remain confident in a military promotion system based on individual merit and demonstrated performance.

Sincerely,

###


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