DILBERT’S ASSAULT ON THE RULE OF LAW IS FAILING
(Note to readers: No, I am not using “Dilbert” in reference to the former cartoon character. I am using it as that word is used in the Navy, to describe a moron. “That’s a real Dilbert move,” is not what you want people saying about you there. And Buford P. Shitweasel is a definite “Dilbert.”)
Dilbert’s Department of Injustice tried this morning to take the next move in The Authoritarian Playbook: defy the courts.
In the filing this morning in response to a judge's ruling last Thursday involving Maladministration II efforts to freeze federal funding by approving a temporary restraining order to stop the OMB freeze on paying the U.S. bills and cease federal spending that Congress previously approved, the Department of Injustice said:
"Given that the Plaintiffs only challenged the OMB Memorandum, Defendants do not read the Order to prevent the President or his advisors from communicating with federal agencies or the public about the President’s priorities regarding federal spending. Nor do Defendants construe the Order as enjoining the President’s Executive Orders, which are plainly lawful and unchallenged in this case. Further, Defendants do not read the Order as imposing compliance obligations on federal agencies that are not Defendants in this case. Defendants respectfully request that the Court notify Defendants if they have misunderstood the intended scope of the Court’s Order." This was signed by acting Assistant Attorney General Brett A. Shumate.
Basically, Maladministration II said “We don’t recognize your actions and we will continue to do what we want to do.” They dared the court to exercise its authority.
The court was up to the task.
A slate of judges issued pauses to Dilbert’s executive order stopping all government funding. And the federal judge who issued last week’s Temporary Restraining Order today denied an attempt to dismiss the restraining order and issued demands for information that must be released to the public.
"ORDERED that Defendants must provide written notice of the court's temporary restraining order to all agencies to which OMB Memorandum M-25-13 was addressed," the ruling said. "The written notice shall instruct those agencies that they may not take any steps to implement, give effect to, or reinstate under a different name the directives in OMB Memorandum M-25-13 with respect to the disbursement of Federal Funds under all open awards. It shall also instruct those agencies to release any disbursement on open awards that were paused due to OMB Memorandum M-25-13..."
Democracy Docket founder Marc Elias posted on Bluesky celebrating what he called a "big victory for Democracy Docket and their clients. Also a win for democracy and the rule of law."
However, the crisis continues as The Children’s Brigade is still in place in the Treasure Department building, and Dilbert is still claiming he will end USAID, which was “transferred” today to the State Department (illegally).
Senator Brian Schatz is taking a page out of Senator Tommy Tuberville's playbook, promising to block all diplomatic posts until funding and staff for the United States Agency for International Development are restored.
Schatz will put a vote hold against all Trump appointees. Most low-level appointees get unanimous approval so that Congress does not get clogged deliberately over hundreds of nominations. Schatz's move would force Senate Majority Leader John Thune to dedicate floor time to confirmation hearings which would greatly slow down business. “I will oppose unanimous consent. I will vote no. I will do maximal delays until this is resolved.”
Senator Chris Van Hollen said he would join Schatz’s holds, while protesting at the USAID headquarters. “We’re all in this together,” he said in response to a reporter’s question. That hold would impact Rep. Elise Stefanik to serve as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. Her nomination was reported out of the Foreign Relations Committee last month.
Trump announced Monday that the USAID would be merged into the State Department. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has reportedly been named acting director of the United States Agency for International Development. it was not clear the move would stand up to legal scrutiny. Laws passed by Congress created USAID, and Trump "may not unilaterally override a statute by executive order." Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said late last week that any effort to dissolve USAID would be “illegal and against our national interests.”
Un-President Dilbert J. Dumbfuck dismissed the suggestion that it would require an act of Congress to do away with USAID. “I don’t think so. Not when it comes to fraud. If there’s fraud. Those people are lunatics. And, if it comes to fraud you wouldn’t have an act of Congress, and I’m not sure you would anyway,” Dilbert said.
Three employee unions - Alliance for Retired Americans, American Federation of Government Employees, and Service Employees International Union - that represent federal workers have filed lawsuits today to stop Elmo and his Children’s Brigade collection of non-government aides from accessing the personal information in the Treasury Department payment systems. The suit specifically targets Trump's new Treasury secretary, Hedge Funder Scott Bessent, saying that he's allowing access to personal information without following the law.
Since the Republican House majority is so tiny, Democrats could defund Trump.
There is recognition in Congress on the part of Democrats that they do have power despite being in the minority, if they cease “going along to get along” with the MAGA Party.
Government funding runs out on March 14, just 39 days from now. And with a one-vote margin in the House and the 60-vote threshold in the Senate, MAGA congressional leaders desperately need Democratic support to keep federal agencies open. There is a decade-plus of evidence that House Republicans can’t pass government-funding bills on their own, even with big majorities. Two out of the last three GOP speakers lost their jobs during government funding fights. Next week, Rep. Elise Stefanik will resign from the House to serve as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, narrowing Johnson’s majority to 217-215 until April, which is significant because the debt ceiling must be raised by mid-March. Dilbert also wants Congress to raise the debt limit until 2029, which will require Democratic cooperation in both chambers.
Sen. Patty Murray, the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, said: “Democrats are, as always, committed to responsibly funding the government, but it is extremely difficult to reach an agreement on toplines - much less full-year spending bills - when the president is illegally blocking vast chunks of approved funding, when he is trying to unilaterally shutter critical agencies, and when an unelected billionaire is empowered to force his way into our government’s central, highly-sensitive payments system at the Treasury Department. Democrats and Republicans alike must be able to trust that when a deal gets signed into law, it will be followed.” That’s Senate-speak for “We can’t believe him anymore.”
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries released a “Dear Colleague” letter today, threatening that Democrats could leverage the government funding deadline of March 14 to stop Trump's Office of Management and Budget order that blocks funding from being released for key government programs. Jeffries outlined the House Democratic strategy, which also targets tech billionaire Elon Musk's reported seizure of the Treasury Department's payment system, and with it the spending mechanism of the entire federal government.
"I have made clear to House Republican leadership that any effort to steal taxpayer money from the American people, end Medicaid as we know it or defund programs important to everyday Americans, as contemplated by the illegal White House Office of Management and Budget order, must be choked off in the upcoming government spending bill, if not sooner. At my discretion, legislation will be introduced shortly to prevent unlawful access to the Department of Treasury Bureau of the Fiscal Service payment system that contains highly confidential and personal information related to Social Security and Medicare recipients, taxpayers, households, nonprofits, businesses and federal contractors."
If Democrats allowed the vote on raising the debt limit to fail, thus putting all blame for the possible economic destruction of the country squarely on Republicans, they could make the second vote into a hammer to end this happy horseshit from Dilbert.
What a rollercoaster! Last night I thought we would wake up Friday with the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers parading in Washington in review by Dilbert. Today he stands revealed as still the lifelong loser he has always been. Keeping up with this and getting the news to you is a full-time job, and I could use your help as a paid subscriber to make that possible. It’s only $7/month or $70/year.
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My Canadian wife and in-laws are being insufferable about the stupidity of 51% of Americans (I hate when they are right.) Which brings me to—
Let’s get one thing straight—this isn’t a negotiation. This is a man-child stomping his feet and declaring victory because someone handed him a juice box. Mexico? Canada? They nodded, said, “Of course, Mr. President, whatever you say”, and then continued doing exactly what they were already doing. Meanwhile, the markets recoiled like they’d just been slapped with a wet fish, and the rest of us had to pretend we weren’t watching history’s dumbest trade war unfold in real time.
Picture it: He swaggers up to the podium, chest puffed out, announces tariffs like he’s just split the atom, and then—shock of all shocks—everyone with a functioning brain cell panics. Businesses scramble, investors reach for their smelling salts, and even Jamie Dimon, who generally treats economic disasters like a minor inconvenience, tries to soothe the masses. “Relax”, he says, as if explaining to a passenger that yes, the plane is hurtling toward the ground, but the in-flight snacks are still being served.
And then there’s the little Canadian curveball. Trudeau didn’t even have to break a sweat. He shuffled a few papers, made a big show of offering new security measures—measures that, surprise, had already been in the works—and boom! The so-called dealmaker walked away, convinced he had won. I imagine the Canadian government laughing into their Tim Hortons.
As for our favorite chaos entrepreneur up north—yes, the one with a penchant for naming his businesses after children’s toys and tanking their reputations just as fast—he responded to being banned from Ontario with a resounding “Oh well.” A man of deep, intellectual introspection, clearly.
And then we have Congress, watching this mess unfold like exhausted parents at a school play where their kid is the only one shouting his lines off-script. Even Ron Johnson, not exactly the brightest bulb in the marquee, is backing away slowly, muttering about Great Depression-era trade policies like he just now discovered what they are. If he’s worried, you know it’s bad.
And yet, here we are. The stock market tanked, businesses are left holding the bag, and Mr. “I Don’t Even Look at the Market” blinked, took the bad deal, and strutted away like he’d just pulled off a heist. The only question left is—who’s going to be the one to finally tell him he’s been outwitted by maple syrup diplomacy? Because I, for one, would pay to see that.
The DC judge is clear: "Judge Loren AliKhan also blocks agencies from implementing the order "under a different name." (Chris Geidner, Law Dork) If it walks like a fuck, and talks like a fuck...
DC was one of the plaintiffs in the Rhode Island case TRO'd last week. So no issue of "is this a nationwide injunction." It applies directly to DC.
USAID is specifically an independent entity, by statute. The really FUN thing is that the statues involved with it include this one: 22 U.S. Code § 2151–2 - Actions to improve the international gender policy of the United States Agency for International Development (https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/22/2151-2). It is worth reading. Let's see agencies remove references to gender in a statute.
Someone, I've lost track of where, gives this site for complaining about Cybercrime https://www.ic3.gov/ I have filed mine, with subject both Musk and all the tech babies, complaining about unwarranted access to, most important, my bank info. NOW the White House is claiming that Musk is a "Special Government Employee." THAT position has restrictions and ALSO involves conflict of interest rules and financial disclosure rules. Query whether the tech babies have this hallowed appointment. See Wikipedia on the subject.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_Government_employee