We respond…
Okay — look… don’t get me wrong, not enacting insane tariffs — for no discernible reason… is a good thing.
But this jamoke didn’t have to do any of it in the first place.
And most of all, if this means an iPhone that cost $900 yesterday will now cost $3,200. . . Is this really a win?
…Elect a clown, expect a circus….
Geez-la-wheez… just… damnation.
नमस्ते
First thing this morning, his lawyers filed a “sur-reply” in the Supreme Court. They did so to point out just how egregious the “shifting sands of lies” have been, as to his abduction, kidnapping, actually — and rendition to a Salvadoran hell-hole.
Wake up, Justices KBJ, Kagan and Sotomayor — demand a quick straw-vote, on the petition the Chief is… sitting on. Summarily order his immediate release — get him home — on a government plane today. Right now — here is that new filing, and a bit:
…The Government’s attack on the injunction’s use of the verb “effectuate” all but concedes that the order appropriately requires it to “facilitate” Abrego Garcia’s return. To “facilitate an alien’s return” includes “engag[ing] in activities which allow a lawfully removed alien to travel to the United States.” Reply 6 (citing ICE Policy Directive No. 11061.1, § 3.1, Facilitating the Return to the United States of Certain Lawfully Removed Aliens (Feb. 24, 2012) (capitalization omitted)). The only thing preventing Abrego Garcia from returning to the United States is the Government’s arrangement to have him incarcerated in El Salvador. See SA096-100; Opp. 2. . . .
Recognizing that the Government’s concession below that it lacks a “satisfactory” answer as to why it “can’t” bring Abrego Garcia back is case-dispositive, the Government’s Reply (at 5) takes the extreme step of disavowing its own lawyer’s statements. Yet the Government still has not supplied a satisfactory answer to that central question. It points to no evidence—only pure conjecture about El Salvador’s general views on criminal enforcement. But Abrego Garcia left El Salvador as a teenager in 2011 and has not been charged with a crime there (or here). The United States arranged his incarceration and surely can arrange his release.
Nowhere in any of its briefs has the Government stated that the United States is actually powerless to facilitate and effectuate Abrego Garcia’s return. It can and it should….
Courts would cease to function if they could no longer rely on concessions by counsel at oral argument. There is no basis for the Government to withdraw the good-faith admissions of its experienced agent simply because it now finds them inconvenient….
This is an astonishingly deplorable position the US has taken, in the person of Kristi Noem. Onward!
नमस्ते
The British Columbian health authorities are warning, overnight, that Canada is starting to become a higher risk geography — for mpox, particularly in the gay community. [My prior backgrounder from November 2024 — on the Canadian outbreak is here.]
For the love of Pete, people (literally!) — please do go get BOTH doses of the vaccine. It is highly effective, but only if you “take all your medicine“. Both doses. Seriously. Here’s the latest out of Vancouver, BC:
…Vancouver Coastal Health says there’s been a recent spike in mpox, the viral infection also known as monkeypox.
A statement from the health authority says the increase is cases is predominantly among gay and bisexual men who haven’t had two doses of the vaccine that prevents the infection.
It says the disease is prevalent in parts of Africa, and since 2022, one of the African strains has spread to more than 70 countries, transmitting from person to person.
Data from the BC Centre for Disease Control show 96 cases last year and 19 so far this year, most of which the health authority says have been in its jurisdiction.
The statement says that of the people in B.C. who have had their first shot of the vaccine since 2022, only 47 per cent have received the follow up dose….
We are likely to see another very busy day in the courts, and certainly will see another blood bath — now stretching seven sessions, minimum — on Wall Street. F U G L Y.
नमस्ते
Sure — in the grand scheme of trillions of dollars destroyed, in four days, on capital markets around the globe… John Hinderaker being a hypocrite… is really the smallest of news.
But as the legacy graphic at right suggests, John was only too happy to shill for him (likely on zero due diligence, too) — even as the US Supreme Court (in Tangerine 1.0) called his theories of executive privilege law… bunk.
Once again, Hinderaker proudly shouts that he voted three times for a guy that, for the last two times he voted for him… he knew for certain surrounds himself with MORONS — and in many cases, felons as well.
That’s why it’s a lil’ precious to hear John whining about Jared Kushner, reading one very dubious treatise — on protectionist economic theories (to create a “reinforcing cognitive feedback loop” — for Tangerine), and then inviting the author to become Tangerine’s economic sooth-sayer.
The putz only now says he “didn’t believe Trump would go through with it.” Gee, that’s a tremendous theory — for choosing the leader of the free world.
Damn.
This is utterly a ship of malign, felonious fools — stem to stern.
Out.
Elon once is again trying (as he did three weeks ago), through his lawyers, to avoid having to produce FOIA documents, as to what he did, and why he did it — in the firings cases, and in the raid on Social Security data, and his failed attempt at getting the most sensitive IRS data.
His preposterous claim is that since DOGE is a non-entity, and not part of government. . . it need not answer (as Churchill had worried about Russia, in 1939). [For an extended look at why that is all so much poppycock, take a look at this backgrounder from just a few weeks ago, via yours truly.]
CREW however has put all of that to the definitive lie. And now a federal judge in DC is very likely to order limited discovery into what DOGE real is, and does — to answer whether it must produce its records as any other part of Tangerine 2.0’s cabinet level entities must. Here’s Musk’s last ditch — and likely failing — effort filed tonight, in the case (and a bit of the double-speak, below):
…CREW cites the directive to “implement” the President’s DOGE Agenda in Executive Order 14,158, but [we’ve claimed this refers] to the entire DOGE structure (including DOGE Teams at federal agencies); the word “implement” is purely prefatory language [Ed. Note: but of course! Another instance of words meaning only what Musk says they mean!] that explains why the President signed the Executive Order; and even if the term “implement” standing alone was suggestive of something more [Ed.: it is; it suggests lots of action!], the term must be construed in light of the full text of the Executive Orders and presidential memorandum, which assign to USDS specific and purely advisory responsibilities. ECF No. 24-1 at 22-23.
CREW also cites Executive Order language directing Agency DOGE Team leads to coordinate their work with USDS, and directing each Agency DOGE Team lead to provide a monthly hiring report for the agency to USDS. [Obviously, he will lose, here.] Motion at 12-13….
I think you gave the ball-game away, there fellers. It is all a bit like being at some Mad Hatter’s Tea Party, on Ketamine, with these goofs. Onward, and well argued by CREW — it will win the FOIA documents — even if it takes a few months’ time.
नमस्ते
Well — tonight may come and go — without an order from the Supremes for Mr. Abrego Garcia to get on a US-chartered plane and come home, from El Salvador. But make no mistake: the unanimous Alien Enemies Act decision yesterday (i.e., on the putative Venezuelans’ right to due process) has now made it iron clad, that Justice Roberts must order Mr. Garcia flown home.
This is very well-put in that it makes it clear that Kristi Noem has been telling varying lies, right along, since the go in this case:
…J.G.G.’s [in the Venezuelans’ cases] due process holding supports Abrego Garcia’s position that the Government violated his due process rights by removing him to El Salvador.
The [Supreme] Court’s unanimous insistence on due process and on the availability of judicial review to secure due process underscores that Abrego Garcia — who was removed without reasonable notice or an opportunity to challenge his removal before it occurred, and in conceded violation of a court order prohibiting his removal to that country — must have a remedy for this constitutional violation.
The Government now alleges that Abrego Garcia is a member of MS-13, an allegation that the Fourth Circuit deemed “unsupported — and then abandoned.” Abrego Garcia v. Noem, 2025 WL 1021113, at *5 (4th Cir. Apr. 7, 2025) (Thacker, J., with King, J., concurring). Indeed because Abrego Garcia was deprived of any judicial review whatsoever, he had no opportunity to even respond to prove that he is not a member of MS-13…
So, again — we wait. And a man’s very life… hangs in the balance, Chief. Get it together, and get it done.
नमस्ते
Well… “We must take pleasure in the little things….”
I do dearly love that it is the owner of the business that shepherded Tangerine 1.0’s SCOTUS picks through confirmation that now sues in Northern Florida’s federal courts — saying Trump’s tariffs are unlawful. The irony here is… delicious.
And the guy is not wrong — this is another unlawful power grab. One fostered by this same supplicant Federalist Society bigwig. Hilarious. Here’s the 29-page complaint, and a bit of it:
…If the President is permitted to use the IEEPA [emergency order on tariffs] to bypass the statutory scheme for tariffs, the President will have nearly unlimited authority to commandeer Congress’s power over tariffs. He would be empowered to declare a national emergency based on some long-running national problem, then impose tariffs purportedly in the name of that emergency — thus sidestepping the detailed constraints Congress has placed on the tariff authority it has granted.
The heavy tariff the President imposed on products from China has inflicted economic and competitive harm on Plaintiff Simplified, a small business that purchases products from sources in China and pays the related tariffs. the China Executive Orders require Simplified to pay significantly more in tariffs, thus inflicting severe competitive injury in the form of higher costs, competitive disadvantage, and lost profits. These Executive Orders also deny Simplified the protection the Constitution promised when it assigned Congress sole control of tariffs and the regulation of commerce with foreign nations.
The tariffs imposed by the China Executive Orders will greatly damage Simplified because it imports material from China each year, from December to March. Simplified has to pay tariffs as orders are received in the United States.
Under current plans, the new tariffs will impose hundreds of thousands of dollars in costs on Simplified. If it moves its manufacturing operations away from China, this would impose further costs. Either course would require Simplified to raise its prices to its customers and either reduce its already small staff or not hire more staff. Any raised prices for Simplified’s products will likely reduce demand for those products….
As I say: delicious! Do stay tuned. This is REALLY going to wax Trump’s skis!
नमस्ते
Well — this is barely worth a mention.
Paul — as ever, sees only black and white. He cannot accept that when decades of time pass, some people’s views… evolve.
In fact, most people’s do. If they are… intelligent.
So it is that Paul bleats on and on, about Maryland giving a “discretionary second look” to / at older cases, where an convicted inmate who was 16-25 years of age at the time of offense has now served a full 20 years.
He makes the silly leap that these will primarily be heinous murderers — and the additionally preposterous leap… that lots of these cases will be “set free.” That’s silly — because the cases he gets vexed about… won’t make the cut. He gets all worked up — with exactly zero factual basis for doing so. [Leviticus 19:18, “You shall not take vengeance or bear any grudge against your people….”]
So spare us your faux outrage — your vengeful G*D… is not my master. We are a nation of law, not ruled by a G*D or king. [I don’t believe in the nonsense parts of that book.]
Do take a seat — and let the people who MATTER… show you that elections have consequences, son.
Geez — this is not a theocracy (yet).
Do recall that back in January/February 2024, a mother and her young child drowned, after being lacerated under this abomination. Also recall that State of Texas law enforcement agents had originally placed it on the side of the riverway that belongs (as property) to the feds, or more likely to. . . the nation of Mexico. Damn.
But there it will likely now remain, at least until the mid-term elections in 2026. Here’s that mournful order:
…CASE CLOSING ORDER
On March 18, 2025, Plaintiff the United States filed its Notice of Voluntary Dismissal pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 41(a)(1)(A)(i), dismissing without prejudice the above-captioned action. (Dkt. # 79.)….
D A M N A T I O N.
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Well… this is both MUCH higher quality analysis — and far faster — than my efforts might ever be, late night tonight. So do read it all, from the SCOTUSBlog, and Amy Howe — on the probationaries case out of San Fran, and USDC Judge Alsup’s courtroom. It is only a temporary change, however. We shall see how the merits come out, back in the trial courtroom. This means only that the non-profits themselves lack standing.
The employees putatively let go certainly have standing, in their individual names — and it DOES NOT mean that what Trump/Musk did was in any manner… lawful.
Here is the preeminent Amy Howe, do listen in:
…The Supreme Court on Tuesday paused an order by a judge in San Francisco that would require the federal government to reinstate more than 16,000 workers who were fired by six agencies earlier this year. A group of nonprofits challenging the layoffs argued that the terminations by the Office of Personnel Management violated several different parts of the federal law governing administrative agencies. But by an apparent vote of 7-2, the justices nonetheless put the order by Senior U.S. District Judge William Alsup on hold….
In a brief unsigned order, the court explained that it was not weighing in on the claims by other plaintiffs in the lawsuit – specifically, unions representing government employees, whose claims Alsup did not address because he concluded that he likely did not have the power to hear them. The court also did not weigh in on the propriety of the firings more generally.
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson also would have turned down the Trump administration’s plea, because she would not have reached the question of the nonprofits’ standing to sue at this stage of the case….
A federal appeals court rejected the government’s request to put Alsup’s order on hold while its appeal — which the court agreed to fast-track — moved forward….
Now you now — ever onward, but just now grabbing a quick bite — at the taco trucks, in the chilly sunshine. Smile.
नमस्ते
