IT'S THURSDAY ALREADY?

Time has speeded up. The Krazy now comes at you faster than a Focke-Wulf 190 making a “Twelve O’Clock High” pass at you.

There are 285 days to the mid-terms.

A leaked security threats assessment from Maladministration II says the greatest threat America faces is within its own borders, according to a new report. (Yes, it’s in the White House) Each year since 2020, the Department of Homeland Security has published a Homeland Threat Assessment, a report that describes the specific threats America faces. A lot of the usual suspects are present: crime, drug gangs, illegal immigration, and so on. But a new crop of characters appeared in this year’s report, which has not yet been made public. The report now focuses on terrorism stemming from “class-based or economic grievances.” Kenn Klippenstein, who leaked the report, wrote at his Substack: “The phrase could as much refer to an angry MAGA Midwesterner as it could any Mamdani-supporting urban dweller. But the focus is clear: the main threat to the ‘homeland,’ DHS thinks, is the American people.”

In a closed-door caucus meeting Wednesday, Hakeem Jeffries announced his opposition to the bill released earlier this week to fund the Department of Homeland Security. Jeffries and his colleagues believe the bill doesn’t cut ICE funding enough, nor adequately rein in the deportation agency.Anti-Trump gropups had put pressure on members to oppose the funding, including a MoveOn call-in and letter-writing campaign. MoveOn officials also contacted Democratic leadership offices and staff of the appropriations committee directly. “Trump and Republicans slashed our healthcare to pay for masked ICE agents and armed troops scaring and killing our neighbors,” MoveOn spokesperson Britt Jacovich said in a statement. “If Democrats in Congress truly want to stop ICE in Minnesota and across the country, here’s their chance to prove it.”

The conservative U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit, located in St. Louis, Mo. and full of Trump appointees, granted the Maladministration II its motion for an administrative stay on the prior order pending the court’s consideration of the federal government’s motion for a full stay. In a Friday order, U.S. District Judge Katherine Menendez wrote that ICE officers cannot retaliate against, arrest or detain people “engaging in peaceful and unobstructive protest activity,” including those observing federal immigration enforcement operations in the state. She also banned the use of pepper spray and Mace on peaceful protesters. The suit was initially brought in December by six people who alleged that ICE officers violated their First and Fourth Amendment rights by using pepper spray, pointing firearms and other weapons at them, trailing them to their homes, physically assaulting them and unlawfully arresting them. Within 15 minutes of the decision being posted, ICE agents in Minnesota attacked a group of protesters, spraying pepper spray in their eyes.

In a court order Wednesday, Judge Paul Engelmayer of the Southern District of New York denied a request from Reps. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) and Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) to appoint an independent monitor to ensure the Department of Justice (DOJ) complies with the law mandating the release of all files related to Jeffrey Epstein. The judge said he could not grant the lawmakers’ request because the court does not have the authority to supervise the DOJ’s compliance with the Epstein Files Transparency Act (EFTA), which Khanna and Massie co-authored. “The questions raised by the Representatives and the victims are undeniably important and timely. They raise legitimate concerns about whether DOJ is faithfully complying with federal law,” the judge wrote. But, he said, he cannot grant the request, in part because Maxwell’s “federal criminal case does not give the Court jurisdiction over—or authority to supervise—DOJ’s compliance with the EFTA, a civil records disclosure statute.”

Say good-bye toi the Fourth Amendment? A secret internal ICE memo dated May 12, 2025 gave unconstitutional guidance allowing federal agents to forcibly enter homes without judicial warrants to detain undocumented immigrants. “The memo authorizes ICE officers to use force to enter a residence based solely on a more narrow administrative warrant to arrest someone with a final order of removal, a move that advocates say collides with Fourth Amendment protections and upends years of advice given to immigrant communities,” according to the AP, which first obtained the memo. It was a part of a whistleblower complaint to senators from two anonymous ICE officials. DHS did not contest the authenticity of the memo, which was signed by Todd Lyons, the acting director of ICE. A DHS official told the NYT that “their understanding was that the idea was piloted in one or two locations earlier this year.” The memo acknowledged that it was offering different legal guidance than DHS had given in the past: “Although the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has not historically relied on administrative warrants alone to arrest aliens subject to final orders of removal in their place of residence, the DHS Office of the General Counsel has recently determined that the U.S. Constitution, the Immigration and Nationality Act, and the immigration regulations do not prohibit relying on administrative warrants for this purpose.” (Everything in the last quote is a lie - to the people who will carry out the order. An “administrative warrant” isn’t worth the paper it’s written on.) In a sign that ICE knew how controversial and potentially illegal the new guidance was, the memo was not widely distributed within ICE. While addressed to “All ICE Personnel,” in practice the May 12 Memo has not been formally distributed to all personnel. Instead, the May 12 Memo has been provided to select DHS officials who are then directed to verbally brief the new policy for action. Those supervisors then show the Memo to some employees, who read the Memo and return it to the supervisor. The Fourth Amendment is as important to us as is the First. It’s what prevents that “Gestapo knock on the door” at Oh-Dark-Early. I can tell you that were it not for the Fourth Amendment, and the failure of the Killeen, Texas, Police Department to follow it, I would have spent a huge chunk of the past 56 years in Huntsville Prison for a crime that didn’t happen. This is a Big Fucking Deal.

A 5 year old detained by federal agents was the fourth student in the same Minneapolis-area school district picked up by ICE in recent weeks, district leaders said. After the child and his father were detained Tuesday when they arrived home from preschool, the child was reportedly used as “bait,” the school district said, to knock on the door of his own home so agents could see if anyone was inside. ICE reportedly declined to leave the child with an adult present in the home, and the school district believes the father and child were transferred to a detention facility in Texas.

Illinois officials have opened a investigation into claims that the notorious immigration raid last fall on a Chicago apartment building - that saw ICE agents rappelling from Blackhawk helicopters and destroying every apartment in the building - was prompted by a tip from building managers about Venezuelan immigrants not authorized live in the building in a potentially illegal attempt to force out Black and Hispanic tenants. None of the people detained were Venezuelan, most were U.S. citizens, and a Chicago federal grand jury no-billed all the charges.

The same federal magistrate judge who signed off on the search of the home, car, and person of WaPo reporter Hannah Natanson has now directed the Justice Department not to review the contents of her seized electronic devices, which her lawyers argue “contain essentially her entire professional universe.” Magistrate William B. Porter of the Eastern District of Virginia issued the order after Natanson and the Washington Post company moved to intervene in the matter, which arises from an investigation into the allegedly improper handling of national defense information by a government contractor. An interesting observation from Politico: “The newly released court records do not indicate whether Porter was informed that Natanson is a journalist or whether the judge determined that the 1980 law limiting searches of reporters, the Privacy Protection Act, did not apply in this instance.”

A federal judge reportedly refused to sign off on charging documents for journalist Don Lemon after he reported on an anti-ICE protest at a Minnesota church. “Multiple sources familiar with the proceedings confirm a Minnesota federal magistrate judge refused to sign a complaint bringing charges against Don Lemon in connection with the church protest on Sunday,” CBS correspondent Scott MacFarlane reported on today. Pam Bondi revealed that another suspect had been charged in the case. “Minutes ago at my direction, @HSI_HQ and @FBI agents executed an arrest in Minnesota,” Bondi wrote on X. “So far, we have arrested Nekima Levy Armstrong, who allegedly played a key role in organizing the coordinated attack on Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota.” The minister at this church is also the ICE district manager in Minneapolis. The protesters were loud and noisy, but also peaceful, did no damage, and left when ordered to do so. The “church” is also “conservative fundamentaloist” - surprise surprise. We do now have a state religion: Christian Nationalism. Bondi was reportedly “enraged” after a Minnesota federal magistrate judge refused to sign off on charging Don Lemon.

A legal expert has revealed how former Special Counsel Jack Smith’s testimony on his investigations into Trump could open him up to perjury charges. CNN senior justice correspondent Evan Perez described why Smith was pausing before answering each question during his first public testimony with the House Judiciary Committee. “There’s a perjury trap over this entire hearing. They are watching every single word, and he is, I think he is weighing every single word. He cannot diverge from his previous testimony, he did a deposition in December, and I think he’s trying to be careful and that’s what you’re seeing, the tentativeness at the beginning. It’s pretty clear he’s comfortable with what he did and he still believes that he would do it again.” Smith was speaking on his decision to prosecute Trump on a series of federal crimes in 2023. He wasted no time declaring that Trump “broke the law” at a congressional hearing Thursday. Committee Chair Jungle Gym Jordan delivered a scathing opening statement, accusing Smith of acting under “politics” and complaining about “stolen phone records.” (FACT Check: no phone records were “stolen.” Trump lashed out at former special counsel Jack Smith while he was testifying before the House Judiciary Committee, spewing on Lies Anti-Social: “Deranged Jack Smith is being DECIMATED before Congress. It was over when they discussed his past failures and unfair prosecutions. He destroyed many lives under the guise of legitimacy. Jack Smith is a deranged animal, who shouldn’t be allowed to practice Law. If he were a Republican, his license would be taken away from him, and far worse!” (FACT CHECK: Republican lawyers get disbarred for committing actual crimes.)

How much of an ignorant, senile old fool did Trump make of himself yesterday at Davos? Here’s some quotes, you be the judge:

“The United States is treated very unfairly by NATO. I want to tell you that. And when you think about it, nobody can dispute it. We give so much and we get so little in return. And I’ve been a critic of NATO for many years, and yet I’ve done more to help NATO than any other president, by far, than any other person. You wouldn’t have NATO if I didn’t get involved in my first term. The war with Ukraine is an example. We are thousands of miles away, separated by a giant ocean. It’s a war that should have never started, and it wouldn’t have started if the 2020 U.S. presidential election weren’t rigged. It was a rigged election. Everybody now knows that. They found out. People will soon be prosecuted for what they did. It’s probably [not] breaking news, but it should be. It was a rigged election.”

“We’ve never gotten anything, except we pay for NATO. And we paid for many years until I came along. We paid for, in my opinion, 100% of NATO because they weren’t paying their bills. And all we’re asking for is to get Greenland, including right title and ownership, because you need the ownership to defend it. You can’t defend it on a lease. Number one, legally, it’s not defensible that way—totally. And number two, psychologically, who the hell wants to defend a license agreement or a lease?”

Some of the United States’ longest standing allies have scorned en masse a signing ceremony for Donald Trump’s new “Board of Peace” initiative. Not a single representative from a Western European country was present at the launch Thursday morning at the World Economic Forum in Davos. Fewer than 20 nations made an appearance, and the ones who did were autocracies and/or Trump allies - among them Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE, along with Argentina and Paraguay. Trump: “Every one of them’s a friend of mine. In this group I like every single one of them, can you believe it? Usually I have about two or three that I can’t stand. They’re great people, they’re great leaders.” Trump went on to brag that his new group would bring “glorious peace” to the Middle East. “For that region and for the whole region of the world, because I’m calling the world a region. The world is a region.” As much an ignoramus as you think he is, he is far moreso.

Governor Abigail Spanberg is doing everything right. The droolers of MAGA demonstrated that with their meltdown over her implementing the policies she campaigned on. A sampling: “White liberal women are the most dangerous people in our society,” MAGA activist Laura Loomer. Harmeet K. Dhillon, assistant attorney general for the Civil Rights Division at the Department of Justice, called Spanberger “a Bond villain.” MAGA “influencer” Tomny Seruga posted,“Pure demonic evil now resides in the Virginia Governor’s mansion.” Republican Arizona Congressman Abe Hamadeh posted, “What’s happening in Virginia should be a lesson to all Congressional Republicans. If Democrats regain power, they will unleash the most radical and transformative legislative agenda in our nation’s history. We won’t even recognize our country, and we may never get it back.” (That’s indeed our plan, you ignorant dumbfuck) Josh Holmes, co-host of the Ruthless podcast, said of Spanberger, “She’s there for a cup of coffee, and all of a sudden, we have a Communist manifesto in front of us. This is going fast and furious, but it is how Democrats govern, regardless of what they say.” Michelle Maxwell, a self-described “Proud Virginia Constitutional Conservative,” claimed that the Democratic Party is “grooming” Spanberger to run for president and that she would be the “new Hillary.” “Being governor is just a stepping stone. So while everyone is distracted with Gavin she is the plan. Spanberger is the country’s problem now&we better not take her lightly.” The far right podcast TimCast posted: “The fact that its 3 counties outside of DC that decide for the entire state should be grounds for the rest of the state to secede. We have no representation. Many aren’t even born in America. They’re trying to enshrine foreign control with that degradation of voting integrity.”

Foreign policy analyst David Rothkopf says a “declining” Donald Trump is dragging American credibility abroad through the mud as he torches alliances that underpinned U.S. security for decades. “For a hundred years, the U.S. has made building transatlantic relationships the foundation of peace and prosperity for us, and for many, many people in the world. And it’s over,” Rothkopf said. “Europe does not trust us anymore.” We probably won’t see this new relationship with Europe, in which we are on the outside looking in, change in the remaining lifetime of anyone reading this. We’ve proven with the re-election of Trump after we knew what he is that the contemporary United States is not the country that was. “The world is not the world that it was when you woke up this morning. And it only promises to get worse and worse,” Rothkopf said.

You are not the crazy ones. These are truly the times that try men’s (and women’s) souls. This is the fight of our lifetimes, and the challenge of our generation. I realize times are getting harder, which is why some readers understandably didn’t renew their subscriptions. There are quite a few free subscribers who read TAFM regularly. I hope that means you find value here. If you happen to be in a position to help make up the gap, please consider joining the other paid subscribers here at That’s Another Fine Mess to keep things going. It’s only 21 cents a day. I am deeply thankful to those who have done so.

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