The Trump Administration: The Clusterfuck Continues

[dougrb]

The Higgs Bozo

[Monty]

Abrego Garcia is back in the United States

Mistakenly deported Salvadoran native Kilmar Abrego Garcia has been brought back to the United States where he will face criminal charges for allegedly transporting undocumented migrants within the U.S.

More than two months after the Trump administration admitted it mistakenly deported Abrego Garcia from Maryland to his native El Salvador, a federal grand jury has indicted him for allegedly transporting undocumented migrants within the United States.

A two-count indictment, which was filed under seal in federal court in Tennessee last month and unsealed Friday, alleges Abrego Garcia, 29, participated in a yearslong conspiracy to haul undocumented migrants from Texas to the interior of the country.

He was scheduled to have his initial court appearance Friday in the Middle District of Tennessee.

Abrego Garcia’s return follows a series of court battles in which the Trump administration repeatedly said it was unable to bring him back, drawing the country toward the brink of a constitutional crisis when the administration failed to heed the Supreme Court’s order to facilitate his return.

Abrego Garcia’s attorney, in an online press briefing, called the charges against his client “an abuse of power.”

“They’ll stop at nothing at all – even some of the most preposterous charges imaginable just to avoid admitting that they made a mistake, which is what everyone knows happened in this case,” said attorney Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg.

And it appears to be a conspiracy of one.

Abrego-Garcia is the only member of the alleged conspiracy charged in the indictment.

Personally, I don’t think it’s possible for him to receive a fair trial.

We don’t need no stinking privacy. So says the United States Supreme Court.

WASHINGTON – A divided Supreme Court on June 6 said Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency can have complete access to the data of millions of Americans kept by the U.S. Social Security Administration.

The court paused a judge’s order blocking DOGE from immediately getting broad access to the data which includes Social Security numbers, medical and mental health information, tax return information and citizenship records.

The court’s three liberal justices − Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson − disagreed with that decision.

“The Government wants to give DOGE unfettered access to this personal, non-anonymized information right now —before the courts have time to assess whether DOGE’s access is lawful,” Jackson wrote in a dissent joined by Sotomayor. “In essence, the `urgency’ underlying the Government’s stay application is the mere fact that it cannot be bothered to wait for the litigation process to play out before proceeding as it wishes.”

Where’s the best place to arrest someone? Why, at the court where he’s seeking asylum, of course!

SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) — A newlywed California woman said her husband was handcuffed and hauled away by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents moments after he attended an asylum hearing at San Francisco Immigration Court.

Shaylyn Ordaz and her husband, Anyelo, went to the courthouse together on May 23.

“Imagine this: you’re one month away from celebrating 6 months of marriage to the love of your life. You’re in the honeymoon phase. You’re planning your life together. Thinking that you’re doing everything right, you walk out of an immigration hearing just to have your spouse immediately detained without any explanation,” Ordaz wrote on a verified GoFundMe page.

“That’s what happened,” she added.

Anyelo reportedly arrived in the U.S. in early 2024 seeking asylum from Colombia. He does not have a criminal history in the U.S. nor in his home country, Ordaz said, and he moved to the U.S. seeking a better life.

“My husband attended all of his check-ins and asylum hearings as required by law. Then, thinking we were almost through with the asylum process, the government lawyer in the courtroom asked for the case to be dismissed,” Ordaz wrote.

ICE officers were allegedly waiting in a hallway just outside the courtroom.

This meshes with the story just above it. The 2FE (2nd Felonial Era) simply cannot be bothered to wait for the wheels of justice to turn. They want to punish people and to Hell with rights guaranteed by the constitution. To Hell with facts, too.

Jeopardy! host has some blunt commentary about the 2FE.

Jeopardy! host Ken Jennings writes that “our republic” might be saved from Trump-era misinformation by basic facts, like the meaning of habeas corpus, which Kristi Noem recently flubbed.

The scathing takedown came in the form of a new op-ed in The New York Times. When “Senator Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire asked Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to define habeas corpus, a bedrock common-law protection under fire from the administration,” Jennings writes, “Ms. Noem wasn’t even close.”

The problem with her answer, writes Jennings, is that “inaccurate facts make for less informed decisions. Less informed decisions make for bad policy. Garbage in, garbage out.”

&

“Scientific consensus in fields like climate change and vaccine efficacy is no longer the official position of American government. Ditto for legal facts (birthright citizenship), political facts (the winner of the 2020 election) and historical facts (too many examples to list),” he also writes. “Inconvenient experts who push back can be removed by executive order; inconvenient books that disagree can be removed from libraries.”

More lies from the 2FE.

The National Hurricane Center is “fully staffed” and any suggestion that the Trump administration fired meteorologists at the National Weather Service is “fake news,” “preposterous and silly,” Commerce Sec. Howard Lutnick testified to Congress this week.

But the administration did fire meteorologists, and the nation’s top hurricane forecasting office is not fully staffed as the season is underway.

The NHC, like many other parts of the NWS, has a staffing shortfall currently, with five vacancies at the center in Miami, including at least four meteorologists.

None of the NHC positions can be filled due to the federal hiring freeze, though the NWS was able to get an exemption for 126 mission-critical vacancies at other forecast offices around the country.

The critical staffing issues — which have meant some forecast offices are no longer monitoring the weather 24/7 or launching twice-daily weather balloons — have raised concerns that forecast accuracy will suffer during this hurricane season.

“We are fully, fully staffed. There are no openings on the National Hurricane Center, zero. It is fully staffed,” Lutnick said before a Senate appropriations subcommittee during hearings on the Commerce Department budget on Wednesday.

Lutnick claimed again on Thursday the NHC is “fully staffed,” and falsely stated local weather service forecast offices are fully staffed in an appearance before the House Appropriations Committee.

I bet the supply department has enough staff to get Sharpies, though.

The felon still wants to punish California.

The Trump administration is preparing to cancel a large swath of federal funding for California, an effort that could begin as soon as Friday, according to multiple sources.

Agencies are being told to start identifying grants the administration can withhold from California. Sources said the administration is specifically considering a full termination of federal grant funding for the University of California and California State University systems.

Undocumented persons in Texas can no longer qualify for in-state tuition at the state’s public tertiary schools.

The Justice Department and the state of Texas settled a lawsuit Wednesday, blocking the state from offering undocumented immigrants residing in Texas the in-state tuition rates for its public colleges and universities.

The lawsuit, which was filed by the Justice Department earlier the same day, alleged that the Texas law – which had been on the books for two decades – is unconstitutional. Federal district Judge Reed O’Connor quickly approved the settlement, permanently blocking the law’s use.

The legal maneuver is another action by President Donald Trump’s administration to reshape universities and further its nationwide immigration crackdown.

FBI deputy director says he’s going to go after corrupt polticians. Hilarity ensues.

FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino on Wednesday made a vow that got him plenty of unsolicited advice on social media.

“If you are a corrupt politician out there, if you are engaged in behavior, you know what you’re doing, we’re gonna find you. I promise,” he said. “No one is going to get off. The days of selecting and putting your partisan bias on and taking care of your friends, those days are over.”

The responses to that are awesome. Take a few moments and read them all. Savor those moments.

Education Secretary shows she’s a know-nothing.

Education Secretary Linda McMahon deflected when asked if she knew what the Tulsa Race Massacre was during a Wednesday congressional hearing, telling lawmakers that she intends to “look into it more.”

McMahon’s response comes as Rep. Summer Lee (D-Pa.) pressed her about history lessons that would be considered “illegal DEI” by the Trump administration. (DEI stands for diversity, equity and inclusion and has been used by Republicans as shorthand for initiatives addressing race and gender, among other topics.) The comments are also the latest to suggest that McMahon — a former pro wrestling executive who’s had little education policy experience — could use a lesson or two herself.

“Would it be ‘illegal DEI’ for a lesson plan on the Tulsa Race Massacre?” Lee asked McMahon during the Wednesday panel.

“I’d have to get back to you on that,” McMahon said.

“Do you know what the Tulsa Race Massacre is?” Lee asked.

“I’d like to look into it more and get back to you on it,” McMahon replied.

McMahon was similarly evasive when asked if lessons involving civil rights trailblazer Ruby Bridges would be deemed “illegal DEI.”

“How about the book ‘Through My Eyes,’ by Ruby Bridges, for instance?” Lee asked.

“I haven’t read that,” McMahon responded.

“Have you learned about Ruby Bridges?” Lee said.

“If you have specific examples, you’d like to –” McMahon countered.

“That was a specific example… I named a specific book,” Lee emphasized.

Trump’s order to “cost Midwest energy customers tens of millions of dollars”

An aging coal power plant that was supposed to shutter last week will run throughout the summer at the order of President Donald Trump’s Energy Sec. Chris Wright, a decision that could cost Midwest energy customers tens of millions of dollars.

The last-minute federal order to keep the J.H. Campbell plant operating came as a surprise to Michigan officials, including the head of the state’s Public Service Commission, given it was at the tail end of a multi-year retirement process that was approved in 2022.

“The grid operator hadn’t asked for this, the utility hadn’t asked for this, we as the state hadn’t asked for this,” said Dan Scripps, chair of the Michigan Public Service Commission. “We certainly didn’t have any conversations with the (Energy Department) in advance of the order, or since.”

Wright’s May 23 emergency order cited concerns the Midwest could face a summer electricity shortage due to a lack of available coal, gas and nuclear plants that can provide stable baseload power. But Consumers Energy, the utility that owns the coal plant, told CNN in an email it already purchased another natural gas-fired power plant to carry the load when the coal plant went offline.

Scripps said the cost to keep the over-60-year-old plant operating, even for 90 days, will be high, and customers in 15 states will foot the bill.

So what do you think should be the highest priority of the Deparment of Homeland Security? Cruella de Vile says it’s people who’ve overstayed their visas.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has ordered the staff of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to focus on overstayed visas, according to a Wednesday press release from USCIS.

Another judge takes the 2FE to task for violating the First Amendment. (The bolding is mine.)

A federal judge has blocked the Trump administration from detaining a Columbia University student and lawful permanent resident whom federal agents have targeted for deportation after she took part in an anti-Israel demonstration earlier this year.

U.S. District Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald’s preliminary injunction on Thursday blocks Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from taking 21-year-old Yunseo Chung into custody. Chung is originally from South Korea and has lived in the U.S. since she was seven years old.

ICE had attempted to arrest her in March but were unsuccessful and the court has now barred ICE from detaining her without prior approval.

If the government tries to detain Chung for any reason other than her potential deportation, it must give 72 hours’ notice to Chung’s lawyers and the court and allow the court time to determine if the detention attempt is a pretext for First Amendment retaliation.

The ruling also states that she remains free while her legal case proceeds.

The 2FE is going to sell off life-saving stuff someone else already bought.

Roughly $12 million worth of HIV-prevention drugs and contraceptives purchased by the U.S. Agency for International Development will likely be destroyed after President Donald Trump dismantled the organization, according to a report.

These drugs have been sitting in distribution centers in Belgium and the UAE since January, when Trump ended the agency’s spending, The Washington Post reported. Now, negotiators have been instructed to sell the drugs or else they’ll be thrown out, according to the outlet.

“The mandate that [the USAID negotiator] has been given is ‘get us money for it, and if you can’t do that, we’re just going to trash it,’” someone with knowledge of the situation told the Post.

These supplies include more than 26 million condoms, 2 million doses of injectable birth control, millions of packages of oral birth control, hundreds of thousands of implantable contraceptive devices, and over 50,000 vials of a drug that prevents HIV contraction, the Post reports.

Some of these supplies were earmarked for 18 countries, meaning those governments may never get the aid even though it was already purchased, according to the Post.

The feud with Harvard continues.

President Donald Trump has revoked Harvard University’s permission to host incoming international students, the latest escalation in an ongoing battle between the White House and the country’s oldest university.

In an executive order issued June 4, Trump declared that Harvard’s admission of international students represents a threat to the United States. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem had previously threatened to halt Harvard’s international program, but a federal judge temporarily blocked her from following through.

In his new order, Trump listed a litany of grievances against the university, which he accuses of failing to protect Jewish students from pro-Palestinian protesters. He also noted that Harvard has long used race as a factor in admissions, which led the Supreme Court in 2023 to strike down race-based admissions policies nationwide.
[/quote]

Again, I refuse to quote the orange chicken’s bullshit. It’s in there for your perusal if you wish to inflict that on your sense of logic, truth, and decency. You have been warned!

[Monty]

I missed a quote tag. Here’s the correct bit for that part.

In an executive order issued June 4, Trump declared that Harvard’s admission of international students represents a threat to the United States. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem had previously threatened to halt Harvard’s international program, but a federal judge temporarily blocked her from following through.

In his new order, Trump listed a litany of grievances against the university, which he accuses of failing to protect Jewish students from pro-Palestinian protesters. He also noted that Harvard has long used race as a factor in admissions, which led the Supreme Court in 2023 to strike down race-based admissions policies nationwide.

[Buck_Godot]

@Monty

And it appears to be a conspiracy of one.

My understanding is that the evidence of his involvement in human trafficking is that he was pulled over on his way to Texas with a bunch of brown passengers who didn’t have luggage with them.

Slam dunk case if you ask me. /s

@Monty

This meshes with the story just above it. The 2FE (2nd Felonial Era) simply cannot be bothered to wait for the wheels of justice to turn.

More importantly by doing this at a asylum hearing they are sending a message that puts other asylum seekers in a no win situation. Either you show up and risk getting deported on the spot, or you skip your hearing and have you asylum claims rejected because you failed to show up.

[Monty]

Y’all remember the poll I posted way back near the beginning of this thread? One of the choices was the felon is doing what he’s doing to punish America.

You are fucking kidding me!

A former federal inmate who was pardoned by President Donald Trump in his first term for drug trafficking crimes more than two decades ago has been tapped as deputy director of the federal Bureau of Prisons, according to bureau spokesperson Kristie Breshears.

Joshua J. Smith, a Tennessee businessman who founded an inmate advocacy and rehabilitation nonprofit foundation, the Fourth Purpose, will be second in command in the bureau.

The BOP has never had a formerly incarcerated inmate work as an employee at any level, according to a senior bureau official.

“Josh brings to this role something our agency has never had before at this level, a perspective shaped by lived experience, proven innovation and national impact,” Director William K. Marshall III said in a memo to staff Thursday.

“His firsthand understanding of our facilities — of the tension, the risk and the importance of trust — makes him uniquely positioned to advocate for the resources and reforms front-line staff need to do their jobs safely and effectively,” added Marshall, a former prison commissioner in West Virginia whom Trump selected as BOP director in April.

The importance of trust? That’s fucking hilarious given that the felon in charge of the administration is a convicted fraudster.

[Monty]

This is going to be a long one. Just like every damn day during the 2FE feels.

Secretary Antivax, shockingly, is a liar.

Prior to becoming Health and Human Services Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. had espoused the idea of “medical freedom,” the ability of people to make personal health decisions for themselves and their families without corporate or government coercion.

It’s an idea supported under Kennedy’s Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement to reduce the prevalence of chronic disease in the U.S. by making healthier lifestyle choices.

On topics, such as vaccines, Kennedy has said he wouldn’t prevent children from being able to receive vaccines but would leave the choice up to parents.

“I’m a freedom-of-choice person,” Kennedy told Fox News host Sean Hannity during an interview in March. “We should have transparency. We should have informed choice, and if people don’t want it, the government shouldn’t force them to do it.”

Some public health experts told ABC News, however, that the HHS has been limiting choices on some products for many Americans despite Kennedy’s talk about “freedom of choice.”

Just last week, Kennedy announced the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would no longer recommend the COVID-19 vaccine for certain groups.

Additionally, Kennedy has called on states to ban recipients of food stamps from being able to use them to purchase soda. He has also praised states for banning fluoride from public drinking water and indicated he will change federal guidance on recommending adding fluoride.

Secretary Lutnick wants us to build bananas in America.

The Trump administration’s brilliant plan to use tariffs as a means to bring manufacturing jobs back to the U.S. has run into a bit of a hitch: Not everything that the public wants can be manufactured in America.

Testifying before the House Appropriations Committee Thursday, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick tried to brush off concerns over the president’s tariff proposals, insisting that the nation and its myriad businesses would learn self-reliance under the controversial policy.

“What’s the tariff on bananas? Americans, by the way, love bananas. We buy billions of them a year,” asked Pennsylvania Representative Madeleine Dean. “What’s the tariff on bananas?”

“The tariff on bananas would be representative of the countries that produce them,” said Lutnick, eventually clarifying that the tariff rate would be generally 10 percent.

&

“Mr. Secretary, I believe you know better. I believe you realize that a trade deficit is not something to fear. I believe you know that predicability is essential for businesses. I wish you would show that truth to this administration,” Dean said.

But after Dean’s time expired, Lutnick insisted that he had a final comment to make on the issue.

“There is no uncertainty, if you build in America and you produce your product in America, there will be no tariff,” Lutnick said, as Dean interjected: “We cannot build bananas in America.”

Congratulations on your promotion to Limited Duty Officer. Now get the fuck out of the miitary.

Sailor Benjamin Kibler was overcome with pride when he was selected for the competitive position of Limited Duty Officer, a class of personnel the US Navy describes as “valuable individuals” who are among the “most fully qualified” talent the branch has to offer.

Kibler and his wife celebrated the February 24 announcement as an exciting turning point in his career. As they prepared to relocate to Japan as part of his ship’s new deployment, his wife quit her job and the couple sold their truck, downsized their apartment and got rid of many of their belongings.

Within two days it had all fallen apart.

Kibler is among thousands of transgender and nonbinary service members affected by a February 26 memo from the Defense Department that announced military personnel with a diagnosis of gender dysphoria would be discharged from service.

The Trump administration has argued that trans service members’ “false ‘gender identity’” conflicts with the armed forces’ standards of integrity and their service negatively impacts the military’s lethality, readiness and cohesion. But trans service members have been baffled by the characterization and say it does not reflect their years of service and deployments across the globe.

“I don’t know how you like me for a commission on Monday and then say that I’m unfit for service on Wednesday of the same week,” Kibler said. He added, “It has nothing to do with my performance or anything like that. I think that’s kind of the bigger pill to swallow.”

ICE Agents and detainees are getting sick while stuck in Djibouti, the 2FE does nothing to help, blames others.

A group of immigration officers are stuck in a small east African country, plagued by smog from burn pits with human waste, at risk of malaria, and taking a dozen medications to battle chronic respiratory illness.

Those 11 agents are working 12-hour shifts to guard a handful of detainees who were set to be deported to war-torn South Sudan before a judge stepped in to block their removal, citing due process violations.

But the judge didn’t force Donald Trump’s administration to offload those immigrants in Djibouti.

Lawyers for the government had even requested that they land there. Massachusetts District Judge Brian Murphy granted their request to hold those deportees overseas, in U.S. custody, to give them a chance to receive a “reasonable fear interview” to explain how they would face persecution or torture if they were sent to South Sudan.

The Trump administration, which had requested permission to hold deportees in Djibouti, is now accusing Judge Murphy of “stranding” ICE agents there.

This next one could have gone into the schadenfreude thread, but hey, here’s good because it’s more of a clusterfuck than a comeuppance.

“Proud Boys’ $100 Million Lawsuit Puts Trump In A Lose-Lose Position”

Five members of the Proud Boys pardoned by President Donald Trump for orchestrating the Capitol insurrection have turned around and sued the federal government, forcing Trump’s administration into an awkward position.

The lawsuit from members of the neofascist group — all of whom were convicted and given lengthy sentences for the key roles they played in the riot on Jan. 6, 2021 — claims they were the victims of “egregious and systemic abuse of the legal system and the United States Constitution to punish and oppress political allies of President Trump.”

The complaint, which seeks $100 million in restitution, compares their punishment to “placing one’s enemies’ heads on a spike outside the town wall as a warning to any who would think to challenge the status quo.”

Their lawsuit effectively leaves Trump’s administration with two politically unappetizing options: Defend the Biden administration’s prosecution after Trump pardoned them and nearly all other Jan. 6 offenders, or force American taxpayers to shell out for a settlement with them.

Students’ lives are in upheaval because of the felon.

Chinese students in the United States are questioning their future in the country after the state department announced last week that it would “aggressively” revoke visas for Chinese students and enhance scrutiny of future applications from China and Hong Kong.

Chinese students hoping to study at Harvard, the US’s oldest and wealthiest university, are under particular pressure after the Trump administration announced on Wednesday that it was banning the school from enrolling new foreign students. The presidential proclamation cited Harvard’s links with China as a particular cause for concern.

For Jerry*, a 22-year-old applied mathematics student at the University of California, Los Angeles, the uncertainty started last month, when the Trump administration suddenly halted Harvard University’s ability to enrol any international students.

Jerry has a place on a health data science masters programme at Harvard, which is due to start in the autumn. The US government’s attempt to ban Harvard from accepting international students appears to have been blocked, at least temporarily, by the courts. But Trump’s announcement on Wednesday invokes a different legal authority.

Marco Rubio, the secretary of state, has announced that the authorities will be targeting Chinese students specifically, nationwide.

It is “total discrimination,” Jerry said. “I don’t think anyone would consider that reason sufficient. That’s just pushing Chinese students to go elsewhere”.

Unsure about whether or not he will be able to enrol at Harvard, Jerry is considering taking up a place on a DPhil (PhD) programme at Oxford University in the UK. He said on Thursday that following Trump’s latest attack on Harvard, Oxford seems like an even more likely option.

Although he hopes to study at Harvard, Jerry feels lucky to have a back-up plan. “A lot of the people who accepted Harvard offers don’t have other options. So it must be much more anxious for them”.

Across the US, universities have been scrambling to find ways to reassure the hundreds of thousands of Chinese students on their campuses about their academic future.

Traitor Babbitt’s family to get $5 million dollars from the federal government.

The Trump administration will pay a $4.975 million settlement in the lawsuit over the wrongful death of Ashli Babbitt, who was killed by a U.S. Capitol Police officer after storming the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

Babbitt — a 35-year-old from California and veteran of the Air Force who went to Washington for President Donald Trump’s rally — was among an early group of rioters that reached the doors of the Speaker’s Lobby, adjacent to the House chamber, while lawmakers were still evacuating.

Details of the settlement were released by Judicial Watch, a pro-Trump advocacy group that represented her estate and family members in the lawsuit. The Department of Justice did not immediately respond to request to comment.

The settlement is likely to inflame tensions on Capitol Hill over the riot. Outgoing Capitol Police chief Thomas Manger blasted the reported settlement last month, saying it “sends a chilling message to law enforcement nationwide, especially to those with a protective mission like ours.”

As members of the mob standing near Babbitt pounded on the doors and cracked glass window panes, outnumbered police officers stepped aside and ceded the hallway to the rioters. Moments later, Babbitt is seen on video attempting to enter the lobby through a shattered window. That’s when Capitol Police officer Michael Byrd fired the fatal shot. Byrd was investigated and cleared by local and federal authorities.

Babbitt was the only rioter killed by police, but several others died either during or in the hours immediately after the protest. Over 100 Capitol Police officers were injured during the protest.

I can’t force myself to quote more of that bullshit. And it wasn’t a wrongful death.

The official spiritual advisor to the president is now prophesying.

President Donald Trump’s top spiritual advisor visited a southwest Miami-Dade County megachurch to outline a vision of a Christian-dominated world and urge believers, particularly Evangelicals, to help make it a reality.

In a two-hour sermon on Thursday, Florida Pastor Paula White-Cain — a prominent televangelist and senior advisor to Trump in the newly established White House Faith Office — told a packed church at King Jesus Ministry, one of the largest megachurches in South Florida, that she was not merely preaching but prophesying.

“Can one person make a difference? You didn’t come to fit in, you came to take over. You came to move in your Kingdom calling,” she said. “That threatens people who don’t understand the word of God because their language, their understanding is not like yours.”

Blending Biblical scripture and personal stories, White-Cain spoke about God using ordinary people to spread the Gospel, save lost “souls,” and achieve Christian ‘dominion’ by transforming society.

“God wants to use you to reposition society, your community, this nation, the world,” White-Cain said. “Get ready because you’re going to reap the greatest harvest mankind has ever known.”

Governor of California throws down the gauntlet.

California Governor Gavin Newsom fired back at Donald Trump after CNN reported that the administration was seeking to cut off federal money to the state.

“Californians pay the bills for the federal government. We pay over $80 BILLION more in taxes than we get back. Maybe it’s time to cut that off, @realDonaldTrump,” Newsom wrote on X.

How fucking clever: “REMOVE”

The White House is backing legislation to expedite the timeline for executing removal orders for illegal immigrants.

The Rapid Expulsion of Migrant Offenders who Violate and Evade (REMOVE) Act, led by senators Marsha Blackburn, Ted Budd and Ted Cruz would give the Department of Justice a quick 15-day timeframe to finish “removal proceedings” after the process has “commenced.”

In the rest of the article is bullshit rationalization and, very troubling, this tidbit. The bolding is mine.

Stephen Miller, White House deputy chief of staff for policy, said the bill will help with the administration’s deportation goals, adding the administration is aiming for 3,000 arrests daily.

Yeah, right. Quotas for arrests always mean everyone’s rights will be protected and innocent people won’t be caught up in the dragnet. Right? Yeah?

Guess who hired a spy!

A U.S. intelligence worker charged with trying to leak state secrets to a foreign spy agency was hired as a 22-year-old with little professional experience outside the cash register at a local grocery store, The Daily Beast can reveal.

His professional experience prior to joining a U.S. national security agency was remarkably similar to that of Thomas Fugate, who has just been appointed to lead terror prevention at the Department of Homeland Security.

A cybersecurity graduate of Florida Polytechnic University, Nathan Vilas Laatsch is the second national security official in two days whom The Daily Beast has revealed to have virtually no professional experience other than working at a grocery store before being hired by a U.S national security agency at the age of 22.

Laatsch, now 28, a computer scientist with “top secret” clearance at the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) in Virginia, was hired under the last Trump administration. He was arrested last week, accused of attempting to pass sensitive information to Germany’s Federal Intelligence Service (BND).

And note that awesome resume further down in the article. I don’t want to spoil it for you so no quote.

Hahahahahahahah, Hegseth! Don the Con got you but good! (The bolding is mine.)

The top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee has warned Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth that he could be “on the hook” for hundreds of millions of dollars for having accepted a luxury jet from the Qatari government.

In a letter sent Wednesday, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) argued that Hegseth’s formal acceptance of the Boeing 747 jetliner last month — a move made so the Air Force can upgrade its security measures so it may eventually be used as Air Force One — violates the Constitution Emoluments Clause. The rule bars federal officials from accepting financial benefits from foreign governments without congressional approval.

“I write now to urge and advise you to promptly mitigate these violations—and your own personal legal exposure—by either returning the plane to the Qatari government or promptly seeking Congress’s consent to accept it,” Raskin wrote.

&

In his letter, Raskin says Hegseth is in violation of the Foreign Gifts and Decorations Act, which could prompt the Attorney General to bring civil action and penalties against him.

Under that law, government officials can accept certain gifts up to $480 in value, and they cannot “request or otherwise encourage the tender of a gift or decoration” from another country.

In violating the act, Hegseth can face a penalty “not to exceed the retail value of the gift improperly solicited or received plus $5,000.”

“In other words, you may be on the hook for $400 million (plus $5,000) even for a jumbo jet that you accepted on behalf of the President but do not get to personally enjoy,” Raskin writes, referring to the cost of a new Boeing 747-8 jet.

Years ago, I read a fascinating Science Fiction story in my father’s Playboy magazine. In this story, a rather large group of humans lived on a flat plain surrounded by incredibly high mountains. Each human was attached to a kind of umbilical cord which went fro the human to a bottomless pit in the center of the plain. Women knew they’d conceived when a second cord appeared. The fascinating bit was the cords pulled each person towards the pit. Sometimes the cord would run extremely fast, pulling the attached human to their demise. The writer of the story, to my recollection, did not say how these humans came into this situation.

Why do I mention it here? I bet some already knnow. Attaching yourself to the felonn-in-chief is no different than being in the pit in that story. And there’s no rhyme or reason on when he’s going to chuck you into the pit. But you can be certain it will happen no matter what you do.

By the way, does anyone remember this story? I can’t remember the author’s name nor can I remember the title of the story.

[Horatius]

@Monty

Their lawsuit effectively leaves Trump’s administration with two politically unappetizing options: Defend the Biden administration’s prosecution after Trump pardoned them and nearly all other Jan. 6 offenders, or force American taxpayers to shell out for a settlement with them.

They’ve already settled with the family of Ashli Babbit, why would anyone expect them to do differently with these guys?

Such lawsuits are just the way they give each other money, now, while avoiding “bribery”. Trump sues companies who then settle with him, and right-wing groups sue the government, and Trump instructs the lawyers to settle with them. It’s all legal.

[bobot]

From link…

@Monty

In his letter, Raskin says Hegseth is in violation of the Foreign Gifts and Decorations Act, which could prompt the Attorney General to bring civil action and penalties against him.

Is Raskin unaware of who the current AG represents, works for, and takes orders from?

[Chefguy]

The new person overseeing anti-terrorism at Homeland Security is a 22-year old who graduated from college a year ago. Let that sink it a bit.

[Elendil_s_Heir]

At least he’s got the eyebrow for the job.

[ThelmaLou]

@Chefguy

The new person overseeing anti-terrorism at Homeland Security is a 22-year old who graduated from college a year ago. Let that sink it a bit.

OMG. He’s from San Antonio.

UTSA grad leads counterterror office

I think I remember him bagging my groceries at HEB a couple of years ago…

[Pardel-Lux]

@Monty

President Donald Trump’s top spiritual advisor

@Monty

a prominent televangelist and senior advisor to Trump in the newly established White House Faith Office

TIL that the Clusterfucker has a top spiritual advisor and that there is a newly established White House Faith Office. This is so horrible it makes me laugh.

[Atamasama]

@Pardel-Lux

there is a newly established White House Faith Office.

We had a whole thread devoted to it.

The Department of Faith is re-instated

Distraction or actual, unthinkable idea? This is a video from PBS It appears donald re-enstated it during his first term. Don’t know how I missed that. Frankly, it scares the hell out of me.

[Coriolanus]

Trump says Elon Musk will face 'serious consequences' if he backs Democratic...

Is this battle still a topic here? I’m seeing 22 year olds in charge of terrorism.

I’m not one to back Elon Musk in any way. Didn’t trump proudly buy a Tesla like a month ago? My wife suspects their breakup involved a woman, which makes this positively Shakespeare if true.

Yet here we have a President threatening outright, along with his “Better watch out” threats to Bruce Springsteen, yet another person and of course there is the blanket “I am going to get revenge if you wrong me in any way” which has been his thing since the 1980s.

This guy is the fucking President and this cannot become “The New Normal”

And what elections can he be taking about? Isn’t this year like local representatives and such. In the “New Normal Frontier” there will not be any congressional elections next year. Or in 2028.

[Monty]

This year would be local elections, along with whatever special elections needed. Next year will be mid-term elections. Then another round of local/special contests in 2027. And then the ketchup will hit the walls when the felon cannot even run for office.

Do you know wht’s going to keep the pubbies from getting the White House again in the 2028 election? My guess is the massive write in vote campaign MAGA is going to do thinking that will overcome the constitutional provisions.

That last bit above, of course, is assuming we even have a constitution left.

[Coriolanus]

Karl Rove, to his credit (did I just write that?) knew that winning statewide elections would be a good thing in very Constitutional ways. And we was very successful, as the state houses and such have gone quite red. So yes, this years elections do matter.

Indeed, it was an even bigger thing in 2020 when Trump thought he could ask then demand of a largely republican number of republican state people to do whatever it takes to make Georgia (and I believe Arizona) go red for him.

And we all remember how he fomented rebellion in 2020.

Being the cynic I am - especially as I’ve known who and what Trump has been (not paying contractors, threatening to sue them) in the 1980s when at best you call him a well-dressed slum-lord in NYC even before his 7 (or 8, depending how you count his shitty Atlantic City casinos) bankruptcies.

At least before 2024 I said “there is no way he is a billionaire”. Now I am sure via his corruption he absolutely is a billionaire.

Actually, I reckon he is frightened that Elon Musk will (perhaps certainly now that he’s been threatened) not only back the democrats but also allow for there to be elections next year.

Thomas Jefferson would be a bit perplexed that, just as Democracy was about to fail, the richest man in the world just might preserve it.

[Q.Q.Switcheroo]

@Coriolanus

My wife suspects their breakup involved a woman

But they know it’s their own damn fault

[ThelmaLou]

@Coriolanus

My wife suspects their breakup involved a woman…

Does Putin count?

[Coriolanus]

@ThelmaLou

Does Putin count?

My wife is from St. Petersburg (same as Putin) and we spoke a bit about this breakup and I said “Trump long ago passed the dead girl / live boy” threshold and as many of us may have believed - that Putin has some “kompromat” that could discredit trump to the level of 2/3’rds of the Senate, that possibility has long passed.

I will ask her, though it will be more fun explaining Q.Q.Switcheroo’s Margartaville reference which got a hearty laugh from me.

[natureboy]

Putin probably had some form of kompromat on Trump but it might not have been what we thought. Maybe not the pee-pee tapes but more like hard evidence of bribery of foreign officials. But since Putin thought Trump was the better option, he might have felt inclined to pull those punches.

Putin has seen what we’ve seen. Trump is a 34-time felon and still got elected. Whatever cards Putin might have held, that ship has sailed.