POKING AROUND AT THE END OF WEEK NINE

From the Department of This Is What A Fascist Takeover Looks Like: CFPB changes its mind on discrimination. Yesterday, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau vacated its own settlement with mortgage lender Townstone for discriminating against Black home buyers. While the bureau brought the case during Trump’s first term, its new crop of regulators want to return the six-figure penalty to Townstone, saying their predecessors used “radical ‘equity’ arguments” to abuse its power when enforcing “unjust” anti-redlining law. In February, the White House singled out Townstone’s case in a statement about dismantling the CFPB, and the insurer was represented in renegotiations by a Leonard Leo-affiliated conservative legal foundation. Since Inauguration, the agency has dropped numerous investigations into banks accused of violating consumer protection law — including companies owned by Trump’s donors.

From the Department of Did CEOs Just Privatize The FBI? Corporate executives have turned FBI investigators into their own personal police force, journalist Ken Klippenstein reports, spying on Americans online who make critical posts about wealthy corporate leaders. It’s part of a larger effort by Maladministration II to label growing public dissent as terrorism.

From the Department of Crypto Buys a Get-Out-Of-Jail-For-Almost-Free Card: Maladministration II has dropped an investigation into blockchain-based digital payment firm Ripple in exchange for a $50 million fine, 97.5 percent less than prosecutors’ original $2 billion penalty. As tracked by advocacy group Public Citizen’s Rick Claypool, the move comes after Ripple donated $49.5 million to super PACs supporting pro-crypto candidates last election cycle and $5 million worth of its coin XRP to Trump’s inauguration.

Gordon Gekkos assemble for Trump tax fight. Private equity firms are launching a seven-figure ad campaign to shape the battle over renewing President Donald Trump’s tax cuts. Much of the attention has been focused on the industry trying to preserve its special carried-interest loophole that lets Wall Street moguls pay lower tax rates than their secretaries. But just as important to the industry is bringing back tax preferences that rewarded private equity firms for loading up companies with debt — a move that often enriched Wall Street executives while pulverizing companies, workers, and investors. At issue was a beneficial provision in the original Trump tax law that limited the interest private equity firms could deduct from their taxes. “The private-equity industry was one of the major beneficiaries of the former, weaker interest deduction rules because of its tendency to load up target companies with debt and to take on additional debt to fund dividend payments to the PE owners,” reports the research group, Private Equity Stakeholder Project. he real-world effects of tax-incentivizing Wall Street’s debt schemes. A recent study looked at what happens when “portfolio companies take on new debt to pay investor returns.” It found that the schemes “increase deal returns” (read: payouts to Wall Street execs) but “wage growth among survivor firms falls by over 50%.” Meanwhile, the moves “increase the chance of bankruptcy by 31%” for companies loaded up with debt and “negatively impact overall fund returns” to investors like workers who have pension funds. The Private Equity Stakeholder Project report offers an example: A private equity firm acquired the maker of Instant Pot cookers and forced the company to take out a $450 million loan and pay $170 million to the firm — while “essentially none of the debt supported investment in the business,” according to Crain’s Chicago Business. Eventually, the loan’s interest payments forced the company into bankruptcy. The rules that Wall Street lobbyists want revived would have given the private equity firm an additional $17 million tax write-off for engineering the scheme. lobbyists aim for two-letter change Bloomberg notes that right now, private equity firms can still “deduct interest expenses totaling up to 30%” of earnings before interest, taxes, and deductions. But if lobbyists add “depreciation” and “amortization,” it would massively benefit private equity, financially incentivizing its wage-depressing, bankruptcy-causing, investor-fleecing debt schemes — while adding $179 billion to the deficit. the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office finds that extending the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) without offsets would HURT the economy. The nonpartisan, non-profit organization Committee for Responsible Federal Budget finds, based on the CBO numbers, that extending Trump’s tax cuts mostly for the rich would add “over $37 trillion to the debt over the next 30 years, including $4.5 trillion over the next ten years and $15.0 trillion over the next 20 years.”

From the Department of Yeah, Let’s Send This Guy As Ambassador: As Black activists in South Africa fought against their country’s racist apartheid government decades ago, some on the American right felt they took it too far. One of those people who stepped up and spoke out against their fight was L. Brent Bozell III, the right-wing activist that President Trump tapped this week to serve as America’s ambassador to South Africa. According to the congressional website, Bozell’s nomination was received by the Senate Foreign Relations committee on Monday. Trump had previously picked Bozell to be head of the U.S. Agency for Global Media, but that nomination was withdrawn. Bozell once weighed in on the fight against South Africa’s apartheid government. While that regime brutally enforced minority white rule and legal segregation with violence that included the killing and torture of activists, Bozell was concerned with aggressive action taken by the Black opposition. In 1987, Bozell was president of the National Conservative Political Action Committee. On January 28 of that year, he wrote a letter to his counterpart at The Conservative Caucus, a right-wing policy group, declaring that his organization was “proud to become a member of the Coalition Against ANC Terrorism.” The group was opposed to the militancy of the African National Congress (ANC), which was the largest Black nationalist organization dedicated to ending the apartheid regime. Specifically, the coalition Bozell’s organization joined, which included at least 34 different right-wing groups, formed to discourage President Ronald Reagan’s secretary of state, George Shultz, from a planned meeting with ANC president Oliver Tambo. Despite this pressure campaign, Shultz met with Tambo on the same day Bozell’s letter was sent. Mandela died in December 2013. In the days after his passing, Bozell posted on the site formerly known as Twitter to criticize television anchor Brian Williams for engaging in coverage that, as Bozell put it, “mythologizes” Mandela, noting that Williams hosted what Bozell saw as more critical broadcasts about the death of conservative British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher earlier that same year.

From the Department of RFK Jr’s War On American Health Continues: HHS Fuckup, er, I mean Secretary, RFK Jr announced on Thursday that he is cutting10,000 HHS employees across the agency who are responsible for responding to disease outbreaks, approving new drugs, and providing insurance for the poorest Americans, among others. The reduction is in addition to the roughly 10,000 employees who opted to quit the department through voluntary resignation offers since PINO took office. HHS is also apparently poised to slash even more of its workforce past the thousands mentioned in the Thursday announcement. The department will be shedding about a quarter of its workforce in total and losing half of its 10 regional offices. Kennedy is establishing a new subdivision called the Administration for a Healthy America (AHA) as part of the new reorganization that will merge offices in HHS that tackle addiction, toxic substances, and occupational safety, among others.

From the Department of She Should Go Back To Blowjobbing Gymrats Since She Was OK At It: Marjorie Traitor Goon blew up at a British reporter on Wednesday, only for her attempted scolding to embarrassingly backfire. The Goon asked Sky News correspondent Martha Kelner, who was asking a question about American lives being put at risk by the Trump team planning military operations in a group chat, “What country are you from?” When Kelner replied that she was from the U.K., the Goon went off: “OK, we don’t give a crap about your opinion and your reporting,” she said, wagging her finger, before exploding, “Why don’t you go back to your country where you have a major migrant problem? You should care about your own borders.” Kelner kept pressing while the Goon waved her off: “No, you’re done. I don’t care about your fake news.” But when she tried moving on, calling on another journalist with a pointed, “This is an American journalist, thank you,” she got an unexpected reality check. “I’m an American and I’d like to hear your answer to what she’s asking,” the journalist said. The Goon then refused to engage until the American journalist repeated back Kelner’s initial question himself. She never directly addressed Kelner’s question about Trump officials potentially endangering military personnel by using the Signal app to plan attacks, instead deflecting the issue and launching into a tirade against the Biden administration’s border policies. (I’m sooo surprised - not). The dumbest airheaded bimbo blowjobber to ever walk the face of the planet.

From the Department of Bad news For A Republican Is Good news For Us: News broke Tursday afternoon that PINO had withdrawn Elise Stefanik’s nomination as ambassador to the UN. Luckily for Stefanik, she had not yet resigned her House seat. But she has given up her position as House GOP conference chair. So now it’s time for Stefanik to crank up the campaign machinery again and for her upstate constituents to realize they were always her second choice. This happened due to Republican anxiety over possibly losing Waltz’s Floida seat next Tuesday and not wanting to put Stefanik’s at risk. A poll released yesterday in Florida shows Democrat Weil losing that race to Republican Randy Fine by only four points, 48% to 44%. Waltz won in November with a 30% margin. Weil is a public-school teacher, who says that his campaign “is about fighting back against the threats against Social Security, health care and public schools.” Polls are tight because Desantis hates Fine and refuses to help him; Fine is a toxic obnoxious ass who has been embroiled in one controversy after another, and Weil is a great candidate who out-fundraised him 9-1. As Josh Marshall points out, “ This is a low-turnout, special election in which Weil is running as the candidate of the out-party that is riding a wave of as-yet-unsated electoral backlash. If that poll is even in the ballpark of accurate, Weil could definitely win this race. In a special election, turnout is everything and it’s easy to imagine Democratic turnout swamping the GOP.” If Weil can win Waltz’s old seat, a Democrat probably has a shot in Stefanik’s seat too. Which is why Elise won’t be going to the UN anytime soon. “If Democrats can pick those seats up in a special election, that means a lot of House Republicans likely have tough races on their hands. And if that perception takes hold, that changes the calculus for everything that happens in Congress over the next 18 months.” Never. Try. To. Foretell. The. Future. Nobody knows anything.

From the Department of Fuck You In Your Face Elmo: A devastating JPMorgan analysis of Tesla this month predicted further losses for the company as Elmo’s White House antics continue, with the report reading in part, “We struggle to think of anything analogous in the history of the automotive industry, in which a brand has lost so much value so quickly.” In February, 2.1% of surveyed visitors to Cars.com said they would consider buying a Tesla. By March, that had dropped by half a percentage point to 1.6%. It’s a shred of the overall auto-buyer pie, but a roughly 25% drop in consideration in a month is nothing to sneeze at. Other EV companies have seen a dramatic shift in the other direction: Rivian jumped from 1% in February to 1.3% in March; in the same time frame, Polestar went from 0.6% to 1.7%; and Lucid zoomed from .4% consideration to 1.5% in a month. New data shows that 11% fewer new Teslas were registered this January versus the same time last year, though EV registrations in general, including rival brands, are up 44% in the same period. Rivian hasn’t offered direct incentives for Tesla owners, a tactic deployed by Swedish automaker Polestar, whose recent “Tesla Conquest” program offered a $5,000 lease bonus on top of other deals to lure US Tesla drivers; or trolled them like Kia, whose Norway arm posted a since deleted cheeky photo of an anti-Musk bumper sticker on one of their own cars.

From the Department of Elmo’s Really Scared Now: In the midst of the above news comes the news that Elmo’s retreating to the Broligarch’s Defense of his elmocar company. Under pressure from Elmo over alleged “threats of violence” by users, Reddit canceled several hundfred posts about the Teenaged Mutant Ninja Basement Dwellers. But it turns out Reddit banned hundreds of comments that did not call for violence or doxxing, according to today’s reporting in The Verge: “Shortly after the two CEOs exchanged text messages, Reddit enacted a 72-hour ban on the “WhitePeopleTwitter” subreddit that hosted the thread about DOGE employees, citing the “prevalence of violent content.” The specific thread Elmo shared on X was also deleted, including hundreds of comments that didn’t call for violence or doxxing. (So far, Reddit doesn’t appear to have intervened in any moderator decisions to ban X links from the subreddits they oversee.) In other words, Elmo took our private information and then went crying to the CEO of Reddit because people were angry about his theft of their private information. Why would the richest man on the planet care about what a bunch of Redditors were saying? Why would he be so obsessed with their contempt for him and his very real attacks on their freedoms so much so that he would rant about it for nearly two months on X and then demand the CEO address his hurt feelings?

From the Department of Go Fuck Yourself In Your Face PINO: District Court Judge James “Jeb” Boasberg continues to be a pain in President Donald Trump’s side. Boasberg - the same judge overseeing a challenge to the Trump administration’s deportation of suspected Venezuelan gang members - ruled Thursday that officials caught up in the Signal group chat scandal must cough up all of the texts they sent on the encrypted messaging app between March 11 and March 15. Boasberg’s order came in response to a lawsuit filed by watchdog group American Oversight against Trump’s security team that alleges that the administration violated the Federal Records Act and the Administrative Procedure Act by using Signal, which allows users to auto-delete messages, to share information that could not be stored and shared with the public in the future. Boasberg’s order may be difficult for the administration to comply with. A screenshot of their chat published by The Atlantic on Wednesday showed that Waltz, who created the group, had set messages to disappear after a week. Members of the group, as well as the White House itself, have downplayed the scandal and asserted none of the texts published by The Atlantic were classified. Hegseth has gone as far as calling the ordeal a “hoax,” while PINO has called it a “witch hunt.” PINO went an an Adderall-fueled Embarrasment-A-Thon on Lies Anti-social about Boaseberg’s appointment: “How disgraceful is it that ‘Judge’ James Boasberg has just been given a 4th ‘Trump Case,’ something which is, statistically, IMPOSSIBLE. There is no way for a Republican, especially a TRUMP REPUBLICAN, to win before him. He is Highly Conflicted in his hatred of me - Massive Trump Derangement Syndrome! Boasberg, who is the Chief Judge of the D.C. District Court, seems to be grabbing the ‘Trump Cases’ all to himself, even though it is not supposed to happen that way. There must be an immediate investigation of this Rigged System, before it is too late!”

From the Department of I Love It When Failed New Age Bimbos Fail Again: A White House plot to axe international broadcasters Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty has been foiled after presidential advisor and failed New Age Bimbo Kari Lake was forced to rescind a letter canceling the network’s grants. It comes just a day after a judge temporarily halted an attempt by Maladministration II to shut down the station, claiming it would “violate the Constitution and federal laws.” “We’re confident the law is on our side as the US Constitution grants Congress the exclusive power of the purse,” RFE CEO Stephen Capus said in a statement after Wednesday’s hearing. “It is unlawful to deny us the funds that Congress has already appropriated to RFE/RL for the rest of this fiscal year.” Although no official ruling was made, the temporary pause was enough to make Maladministration II back off, and in a letter written by Lake on behalf of the U.S. Agency for Global Media, who spearheaded the charge to cancel the broadcaster, acknowledged that attempts to take them off the air had been “rescinded” and that the network would continue to receive federal funding for the foreseeable future. In a recent op-ed in The Hill, RFE’s former director of research Ronald Linden said: “Autocrats know now, as they did in 1989, that they must control the information environment. America should challenge those efforts with the powerful voices we have and, at the very least, not put out of business one of our most valuable instruments of global influence.”

From the Department of Indiana Jones Would Be So Proud: Resurfaced CIA files say the Ark of the Covenant has been found, and that the sacred chest is protected by “entities.” The declassified files show the intelligence agency enlisted individuals who claimed they had extra sensory perception (ESP) in December 1988 to search for the lost artifact by way of “remote viewing.” One of the remote viewers allegedly used their purported psychic abilities to locate the chest, believed to hold the Ten Commandments, “somewhere in the Middle East as the language spoken by individuals present seemed to be Arabic.” They said the target, which they supposedly found using coordinates given by the CIA, was “hidden—underground, dark and wet were all aspects of the location of the target,” and that it’s protected by “entities,” and “will not/cannot be opened until the time is deemed correct.” The files, which were declassified in 2000, also include sketches and drawings of what appear to be mosques, mummies, and a winged creature labled “Seradin.” During the 1970s and 1980s, the CIA deployed remote viewers in “Project Sun Streak” to locate far off targets using their purported abilities. The project was closed down in 1995. So, I guess it’s not in the basement of the Federal Reserve in NYC, huh?

From the Department of Tulsi Gabbard Is Dumber Than A Bag Of Rocks: Alleged DNI Cult Girl Tulsi Gabbard was unfortunate enough to be in for a second day of grilling about Signal Gate on Tuesday. Rep. Jim Himes asked Cult Girl why she lied under oath the day before in front of the Senate when she claimed that specific targets or weapons were not mentioned on the chat: “My answer yesterday was based on my recollection, or the lack thereof, on the details that were posted there.” Himes: “So it’s your testimony that less than two weeks ago you were on this chat that had all this info about F-18s, and Reapers, and targets on strike, and you in that two week period forgot that?” Sen. Mark Warner: “What makes it particularly galling is when the director of national intelligence self-righteously tweets 12 days ago, ‘Anybody leaks, we're going to pursue them to the full extent of the law.’ Well, does that apply to the leadership?” Former Marine fighter pilot Amy McGrath: “Old F-18 fighter pilot here with 80+ combat missions - launch times on a strike mission ARE ABSOLUTELY CLASSIFIED.”

Ukraine has received an odious 58-page document from the Trump Admin which outlines things that the US wants from Ukraine as part of any peace deal and aid. The US says in the proposal that these things are owed to us in exchange for the aid we have provided since 2022.

… Under the agreement, Ukraine would have to give up rights to all their oil and gas - both new and existing deposits - for an indefinite period of time to the US. The agreement is permanent and can never be changed without US approval.

… Yaroslav Trofimov, Chief Foreign Affairs correspondent for WSJ: “The latest US proposal essentially turns Ukraine from a sovereign country to the property of a Delaware corporation, which would have monopoly rights over its natural resources and all infrastructure, and the power to inspect all its government offices, until the end of time. Inspired by King Leopold’s Congo. Obviously there is zero chance Ukraine will accept this.”

… Zelensky to Le Figaro: "Trump tried to create good diplomatic relations with Russia, but that kind of method doesn't work with a man like Putin. If Trump eases sanctions against Russia, Putin will only conclude one thing: that he is a weak president and can therefore move on to the next stage. Putin lives without pressure 24 hours a day. There is no opposition in Russia."

… Zelensky: "Witkoff's statements hinder us a lot. We are fighting Putin and we do not want him to have more assistance. It is difficult for us. We are already fighting a country that is larger in territory but smaller in dignity. We want the Americans to be on our side. Even if the US has chosen the tactic of being in the middle today, it should be in the middle, not closer to the Kremlin.”

… Estonia PM Kristen Michal: “My message is this: there is only one plan. Ukraine’s plan. Russia should have no say in Ukraine’s defense and security guarantees. Ukraine wants peace – and proves it. Russia delays and demands. Europe will do its share and remain determined to build lasting peace.”

From the Department of Who Controls The Present Controls The Past Who Controls The Past Controls The Future: Thursday, PINO signed an executive order seeking to exert more control over what is displayed at Smithsonian museums and federal sites, citing what the White House called “divisive narratives” promoted by certain museums. The executive order claimed that the Smithsonian Institution “has, in recent years, come under the influence of a divisive, race-centered ideology. This shift has promoted narratives that portray American and Western values as inherently harmful and oppressive.” The order cites an exhibit at the American Art Museum titled “Stories of Race and American Sculpture” and references at the National Museum of African American History and Culture that assert “hard work,” “individualism,” and “the nuclear family” are parts of “white culture.” “Museums in our Nation’s capital should be places where individuals go to learn - not to be subjected to ideological indoctrination or divisive narratives that distort our shared history,” the order states. The order directs Corporal Couchfucker to lead efforts to eliminate content from Smithsonian museums that “do not align” with Maladministration II’s vision to “remind Americans of our extraordinary heritage.” It also directs Interior Secretary Doug Burgum to determine whether any public monuments, memorials or statues were removed during the Biden administration that “perpetuate a false reconstruction of American history.” The executive order is part of a broader effort by Maladministration II to roll back Biden-era initiatives that were deemed “woke” or that promoted diversity, equity and inclusion.

From the Department of Elmo Delenda Est!: In a Thursday interview on Faux Noise, Elmo doubled down on accusing Sen. Mark Kelly of being a “traitor” because he visited Ukraine and insisted the United States support the country earlier this month. Fox News’s Bret Baier asked Elmo why he would call the senator a traitor on X in reaction to his trip to Ukraine and his argument that the U.S. should not give up on Ukraine amid its war against Russia. He responded: “I think somebody should… care about the interests of the United States above the interests of another country. If they don’t, they’re a traitor.” Baier noted that Kelly is a decorated veteran, former astronaut and sitting senator. “That doesn’t mean it’s okay for him to put the interests of another country above America,” Elmo replied. (Yeah, unlike you and your treason with Russia and China, you goddamned Afrikaner piece of treasonous shit. ) Kelly toured a military hospital and interacted with Red Cross personnel during his visit to Ukraine. He responded to Elmo calling him a traitor, sharing on X, “Elon, if you don’t understand that defending freedom is a basic tenet of what makes America great and keeps us safe, maybe you should leave it to those of us who do.”

From the Department of PINO’s War On The Law Continues: ON Thursday, PINO issued his 100th executive order sind January 20, a proclamation targeting WilmerHale, a law firm with ties to former special counsel Robert Mueller, making it the latest law firm to be a target for retribution. The executive order directs the government to suspend any security clearances held by WilmerHale employees, review the firm’s access to government buildings and terminate any contracts with WilmerHale. The proclamation specifically cites WilmerHale employing Mueller, the former special counsel who oversaw the investigation into whether the 2016 Trump campaign coordinated with Russia, as well as two of Mueller’s aides, Aaron Zebley and James Quarles. “This weaponization of the justice system must not be rewarded, let alone condoned.” A WilmerHale spokesperson said it was aware of the order, and they noted a similar order targeting another firm had been enjoined by a federal judge. “Our firm has a longstanding tradition of representing a wide range of clients, including in matters against administrations of both parties. The Executive Order references Robert Mueller, who retired from our firm in 2021, and had a long, distinguished career in public service, from his time as a Marine Corps officer in Vietnam to his leadership of the FBI in the aftermath of the September 11th terrorist attacks.”

“We remain committed to providing the expert representation that our clients are entitled to and rely upon,” the spokesperson added. “We look forward to pursuing all appropriate remedies to this unlawful order.”

From the Department of the Republican War On Workers Continues: OPM said Thursday that PINO signed an executive order limiting numerous agency employees from unionizing and instructing the government to stop engaging in any collective bargaining. The OPM memo references an order from PINO that has yet to be publicly posted, but a fact sheet from the White House claims that the Civil Service Reform Act that allows government workers to unionize “enables hostile Federal unions to obstruct agency management.” The order targets agencies it says have a national security mission but many of the departments don’t have a strict national security connection. In addition to all agencies with the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Defense, the Department of State, and the Department of Veterans Affairs, the order also covers the Treasury Department, all agencies with Health and Human Services, the Environmental Protection Agency, the National Science Foundation, the General Services Administration, and many more. The OPM memo instructs agencies to terminate their collective bargaining agreement. “Consequently, those agencies and subdivisions are no longer required to collectively bargain with Federal unions. Because the statutory authority underlying the original recognition of the relevant unions no longer applies, unions lose their status as the ‘exclusive recognized’ labor organizations for employees of the agencies.” The OPM memo also says “agencies should cease participating in grievance procedures after terminating their” collective bargaining agreements. In case anyone reading this still doesn’t see what is happening, this is how Fascist Dictatorships take power.

From the Department of Elmo Is A Criminal: Elmo says a Wisconsin voter has been awarded $1 million days before the conclusion of a fiercely contested state Supreme Court election that has broken spending records and become a referendum on Musk and the first months of President Donald Trump’s administration.The payment to a Green Bay man, which Elmo announced Wednesday night on his social media platform X, is similar to a lottery that his political action committee ran last year in Wisconsin and other battleground states before the presidential election in November. The campaign for the Democratic-supported candidate, Susan Crawford, blasted the $1 million payment as an attempt to illegally buy influence on the court in a state where Tesla, his electric car company, has a lawsuit pending that could end up before the court.

From the Department of Justice Stands Up To Maladministration II> Washington DC District Judge Beryl Howell accused the Department of Injustice and alleged AG Pam Bondi of attacking her character in an effort to undermine the integrity of the judicial system, forcefully pushing back against Maladministration II’s criticism of the courts for rulings that blocked parts of PINO’s agenda. District Judge Beryl Howell’s comments came in an order denying the Justice Department’s bid to remove her from a case over an executive order punishing a prominent law firm. The Trump administration had asked for the case to be moved to another judge in Washington’s federal court, accusing Howell of demonstrating “a pattern of hostility” toward the Republican president. “When the U.S. Department of Justice engages in this rhetorical strategy of ad hominem attack, the stakes become much larger than only the reputation of the targeted federal judge,” wrote Howell. “This strategy is designed to impugn the integrity of the federal judicial system and blame any loss on the decision-maker rather than fallacies in the substantive legal arguments presented.” Maladministration II has ramped up its criticism of judges in recent weeks, accusing the judiciary of improperly impinging on the president’s powers. PINO has called for impeaching another Washington federal court judge who ruled against the president’s deportation plans. Howell said the Trump administration’s claims of “ongoing improper encroachments” of Trump’s executive power sounds “like a talking point from a member of Congress rather than a legal brief from the United States Department of Justice.” Furthermore, it “reflects a grave misapprehension of our constitutional order,” she wrote. She granted a temporary restraining order sought by the firm, Perkins Coie, one day after it filed a federal lawsuit alleging it’s being illegally targeted because of its legal work. The judge said the president’s action sends a chilling message that lawyers can be punished for representing clients or advancing views unfavorable to the administration.“Such a circumstance threatens the very foundation of our legal system. Our justice system is based on the fundamental belief that justice works best when all parties have zealous advocates.” “Adjudicating whether an Executive Branch exercise of power is legal, or not, is actually the job of the federal courts, and not of the President or the Department of Justice, though vigorous and rigorous defense of executive actions is both expected and helpful to the courts in resolving legal issues,” she wrote. The Justice Department had argued that “reasonable observers” may view Howell as unable to impartially rule on “the meritless challenges to President Trump’s efforts to implement the agenda that the American people elected him to carry out. This Court has not kept its disdain for President Trump secret,” Justice Department lawyers wrote. “It has voiced its thoughts loudly — both inside and outside the courtroom.” (FACT CHECK - no, the American people did not vote for any of this fascist bullshit) Howell said Maladministration II’s bid to get a new judge “relies only on speculation, innuendo, and basic legal disagreements that provide no basis for disqualification.” Perkins Coie called the judge’s ruling “an important first step in ensuring this unconstitutional Executive Order is never enforced.”

Finally a bit of good news to round out the week:

From the Department of It Seems Some Senators Want To Do Their Jobs: Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Roger Wicker and Ranking Member Jack Reed sent a letter Thursday to the Department of Defense Acting Inspector General formalizing the request for an inquiry into the Signal chat. Among the requests the senators asked for, were an assessment of Defense Department classification policies, and "assessment of whether any individuals transferred classified information, including operational details, from classified systems to unclassified systems, and if so, how." Is a congressional investigation coming? Maybe. Possibly. Hopefully.

From the Department of They’ll Back Up If You Smack Them Hard Enough: Maldministration II informed Congress Thursday that it has temporarily restored the funding of the Yale School of Public Health’s Humanitarian Research Lab (HRL) unit that has played a key role in gathering evidence on Russian war crimes in Ukraine, hours before the program was set to expire. “They should last six more weeks,” a senior administration official told Kyiv Post’s Washington correspondent when asked about the future of the program.The temporary policy reversal, first reported by the Washington Post, is “a part of the standard close-out procedures for terminated programs,” as senior officials explained. The evidence collected by the Yale unit is absolutely crucial to Ukraine’s efforts to return their children home, according to a letter from Congress members last week.

From the Department of Black Voters Are Not Stupid: The corporate media has been relentless in pushing the Republican fueled myth that black voters have moved to the Republican Party. However, PINO took office with a net (-27) approval rating with black voters, and in less than two months, he has absolutely cratered. PINO’s net approval rating has fallen 27 percentage points among Black voters, who are now 47 points more likely to disapprove than approve of how he’s doing his job, 72% to 24%. PINO is now at a (-17) net approval rating with Gen Z, a net (-2) with Gen X, a net (-4) with Baby Boomers, and his net (0) rating with Millenials is actually his best one with any age group.

Midnight, one of the many black kitties who have graced my life. She was here from 1996-2015.

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