The Conversation -- April 27, 2025

What with all the DOGE firings and anticipated program cuts to NOAA and with stories proliferating about the U.S. weather service now being unable to forecast hurricanes, tornadoes and other weather events, RAS has been checking up on local NOAA stations around the country. Not to worry! Everything is under control! ~~~

Ian Bogost & Charlie Warzel of the Atlantic: “The Trump administration is pooling data on Americans. Experts fear what comes next.... The federal government is a veritable cosmos of information, made up of constellations of databases.... A fragile combination of decades-old laws, norms, and jungly bureaucracy has so far prevented repositories such as these from assembling into a centralized American surveillance state. But that appears to be changing. Since Donald Trump’s second inauguration, Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency have systematically gained access to sensitive data across the federal government, and in ways that people in several agencies have described to us as both dangerous and disturbing.... In March, President Trump issued an executive order aiming to eliminate the data silos that keep everything separate.... As a society, we produce unfathomable quantities of information, and that information is easier to collect than ever before.... Advancements in artificial intelligence promise to turn this unwieldy mass of data and metadata into something easily searchable, politically weaponizable, and maybe even profitable.... America already has all the technology it needs to build a draconian surveillance society—the conditions for such a dystopia have been falling into place slowly over time, waiting for the right authoritarian to come along and use it to crack down on American privacy and freedom.” Thanks to laura h. for this gift link.

Stephanie Saul & Alan Blinder of the New York Times: “... after weeks of witnessing the administration freeze billions in federal funding, demand changes to policies and begin investigations, a broad coalition of university leaders publicly opposing those moves is taking root. The most visible evidence yet was a statement last week signed by more than 400 campus leaders opposing what they saw as the administration’s assault on academia. Although organizations of colleges and administrators regularly conduct meetings on a wide range of issues, the statement by the American Association of Colleges and Universities was an unusual show of unity considering the wide cross-section of interests it included: Ivy League institutions and community colleges, public flagship schools and Jesuit universities, regional schools and historically Black colleges.”

(Alleged!) Master Thief Arrested. Derek Hawkins, et al., of the Washington Post: “Authorities have arrested a person in the theft of Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi L. Noem’s purse — which contained $3,000 cash, her passport and her department badge among other items — from a downtown restaurant last week, law enforcement officials familiar with the matter said Sunday. The suspect could face charges in the theft from Noem and possibly two other thefts in the District, according to two D.C. police officials.... 'This individual is a career criminal who has been in our country illegally for years,' Noem said in statement provided to The Washington Post through a spokeswoman. 'Unfortunately, so many families in this country have been made victims by crime, and that’s why President Trump is working every single day to make America safe and get these criminal aliens off of our streets.'”

Marie: Of course it is not only Donald Trump who is giving the United States a bad name in the rest of the world. The story below is a week old, but it's illustrative of why other people don't like us -- and with good reason: ~~~

     ~~~ The Ugly Americans. Peter Conrad of the (London) Sunday Times (April 19): “... JD Vance ... turned up at the Vatican on Saturday aboard a traffic-clogging motorcade of 40 black 4x4s.... He was accompanied to the Vatican by his wife, Usha, and their three young children. The second family was then given a private tour of the Sistine Chapel.... Later Usha enjoyed an evening visit to the Colosseum — which her husband had also been scheduled to attend before a last-minute change of plan — where she was given a personal tour of the arena ... by Alfonsina Russo, the director. Lesser mortals unlucky enough to have booked their own visit had to make do with a refund.... Some chanted 'shame' or anti-American slogans when they learnt the reason for the closure.... Among the disappointed was Stephen Fishler, 58, a businessman from New York who arrived with his family in good time for his 6pm slot, but was turned away without explanation. 'What does he think he is, special?' complained Fishler, himself a Trump voter. 'JD should have waited until the Americans who had tickets had their visit and then gone in.'” Thanks to RAS for the lead. ~~~

     ~~~ As Scott Lemieux says of Fishler, “'He screwed us when we thought he would screw other people!' is a complaint we’re going to hearing more and more from MAGAworld.'” MB: You see, it isn't only JayDee & Usha and Donald who don't know how to behave abroad & don't care about anybody else; it's so many of the Little MAGAts, too. Self-absorption/indifference-to-others is an essential piece of the MAGA psychological composition.

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David Sanger & Motoko Rich of the New York Times: “Mr. Trump was on the ground in Rome for about 14 hours, and left immediately after the services for the pope in St. Peter’s Square, stopping only for handshakes or greetings with a few of the presidents, prime ministers, royals and religious leaders who came to the ceremony. It ... left no time for discussion of his tariffs on the European Union, his turn toward normalizing relations with Russia or his insistence that Europeans must take far larger responsibility for their own defense. Mr. Trump told aides he wanted to make it back to his golf resort in New Jersey before the end of the day.... Mr. Trump’s meeting of 15 minutes or so with [Ukraine's President Volodymyr] Zelensky was surrounded with a symbolism and mystery of its own.... Mr. Trump, flying back home, posted a lengthy message blaming Ukraine’s plight in part on his predecessors, Barack Obama and Joseph R. Biden Jr., the latter of whom had been sitting four rows behind him at the funeral. 'This is Sleepy Joe Biden’s War, not mine,' he wrote. He also criticized Russia’s leader. 'There was no reason for Putin to be shooting missiles into civilian areas, cities and towns over the last few days,' he wrote. 'It makes me think that maybe he doesn’t want to stop the war, he’s just tapping me along.' Mr. Trump also threatened new sanctions against Russia in the post.” This is a pinned item in a liveblog.

Here's how Devil's Disciple & inappropriately dressed Donald Trump got a front-row seat at Pope Francis' funeral. (Also linked yesterday.) Update. Here's the New York Times' take on Trump's unsuitable suit & tie. PLUS -- Payback Time: Zelensky gets back at Trump for that Oval Office sartorial slam. Thanks to RAS for the link. ~~~

Maybe you're wondering why Trump went to Francis' funeral in the first place. Let's ask him ~~~

~~~ Antony Clements-Thrower of the (U.K.) Mirror: On Air Force 1, on the way to Rome, a reporter asked Donald Trump why he felt it was important to go to the Pope's funeral. “... it has little to do with the church - and more to do with who helped him once again attain the presidency. Trump said: 'I just thought it was out of respect. I won the Catholic vote and I think that’s the first time that’s ever happened where a Republican won the vote, but I won it by a lot. I have a great relationship with the Catholics, very simple. But I won the Catholic vote, 56% of the vote. I don’t know why we didn’t get more actually. But we did well with the Catholic vote. My relationship is very good therefore I think it’s appropriate [that I attend the funeral].'” ~~~

     ~~~ BTW, Jeff Bezos' newspaper did a nice job of Clean-up on AF1. Here's how the WashPo reported the very same crass, self-referential response: “In the days preceding the funeral, Trump said he admired the pope because Francis 'loved the world, actually, and he was just a good man.' He said it was important that he was present at the ceremony. 'We did well with the Catholic vote, and our relationship is very good,' Trump said, 'so therefore I think it’s appropriate.'”

Tony Romm of the New York Times: “Nearly four weeks into a costly global trade war with no end in sight, Mr. Trump is facing a barrage of lawsuits from state officials, small businesses and even once-allied political groups, all contending that the president cannot sidestep Congress and tax virtually any import at levels to his liking. The lawsuits carry great significance, not just because the tariffs have roiled financial markets and threatened to plunge the United States into a recession. The legal challenges also stand to test Mr. Trump’s claims of expansive presidential power, while illustrating the difficult calculation that his opponents face in deciding whether to fight back and risk retribution. None of the lawsuits filed this month are supported by major business lobbying groups, even though many organizations — including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Business Roundtable — have been sharply critical of the president’s tariffs and lobbied to lessen their impact....

“At the heart of the legal wrangling is a 1970s law, the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, which enables the president to order trade embargoes, set sanctions and limit foreign investment to ward off adversaries abroad.... Mr. Trump invoked that law.... For evidence of an emergency, Mr. Trump primarily pointed to the trade deficit.... No president before Mr. Trump had ever imposed such import taxes under the emergency law, which does not once mention the word 'tariff.'”

Here's some bad news for the Trump mob -- Trump, Stephen Miller, Pam Bondi, Kash Patel, Kristi Noem, Tom Hogan, etc., and good news for due process, the rule of law, and moral rectitude. ~~~

~~~ Maegan Vazquez & Teo Armus of the Washington Post: “A U.S. district court judge has ordered two Venezuelan nationals living in Washington to be released from immigration custody, saying the federal government has failed to provide substantial evidence to declare either of them was an 'alien enemy' warranting removal under ... Donald Trump’s order invoking the Alien Enemies Act. The decision, issued Friday by El Paso-based senior U.S. District Judge David Briones, marks the first time a judge has ruled that the Trump administration had erred in classifying someone as an 'alien enemy' and ordered a release.... The Supreme Court ruled that the government needed to give anyone labeled an “alien enemy” a chance to contest that designation. The judge in El Paso also went a step further in specifying that going forward, the government must provide detainees 21 days to contest their status, and they must be given a notice in a language they can understand.... Briones also barred the removal of any noncitizen being held in federal immigration custody within his district — a jurisdiction that includes El Paso and several counties along the U.S. border eastward into San Antonio and Austin — under Trump’s order.” (Also linked yesterday.)

Isabelle Taft of the New York Times: “F.B.I. agents arrested on Friday a Milwaukee judge [Hannah Dugan] accused of obstructing justice by directing an undocumented immigrant out of her courtroom through a side door while federal immigration agents waited in a hallway to arrest him.... The arrest has raised several questions — many of which remain unanswered. Here’s what we know so far.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

The obvious purpose of the arrest of Judge Dugan on criminal charges is to intimidate and threaten all judges, state and local, across the country. -- J. Michael Luttig, a conservative former U.S. appeals court judge ~~~

~~~ Patrick Marley & Jeremy Roebuck of the Washington Post: “Officers handcuffed Milwaukee County Judge Hannah Dugan in public. Attorney General Pam Bondi bragged on the Fox News show 'America Reports' about the administration’s willingness to go after judges who 'think they’re above the law.' FBI Director Kash Patel began the day by announcing Dugan’s arrest on social media and ended it by posting a photo of agents leading her away.... Critics of the administration said the spectacle sent a chilling message.... Many scholars have dubbed the standoff between Trump and the courts a constitutional crisis. Judges have increasingly expressed alarm at the administration’s dismissive response to orders blocking Trump’s efforts to dismantle federal programs, fire government workers and fast-track deportations.... Charles Geyh, an Indiana University law professor..., called the arrest part of a pattern: 'An attempt to bludgeon, an attempt to coerce, an attempt to weaken the one branch of government that stands between the executive — the Trump administration — and it doing whatever it wishes to do.'” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Casey Gannon & Evan Perez of CNN: “FBI Director Kash Patel posted a photo on X Friday night of the Wisconsin judge who was arrested for allegedly obstructing immigration agents while she was handcuffed, being escorted to a vehicle by officials.... According to the Confidentiality and Media Contacts Policy listed on the Justice Department’s website, DOJ personnel 'should not voluntarily disclose a photograph of a defendant unless it serves a law enforcement function or unless the photograph is already part of the public record in the case.' Former Attorney General Eric Holder, who implemented the policy during the Obama administration, worked during his tenure to make it more difficult for members of the media to obtain photos of defendants, such as mug shots. Holder told CNN that Patel’s social media post violates this policy. 'Whatever the issues with what the judge did, they’re trying to maximize intimidation,' Holder said in a statement to CNN. It is unclear following Patel’s post on X if current Attorney General Pam Bondi has changed the conduct policy for Justice Department personnel regarding photos of defendants.”

Hamed Aleaziz of the New York Times: “U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, along with state law enforcement officials, arrested about 780 immigrants in Florida in an operation this week, according to ICE data.... The operation began on Monday and targeted undocumented immigrants with final deportation orders, according to an ICE official.... The officers picked up more than 275 migrants with final removal orders, the data showed. ABC News and Fox News earlier reported news of the arrests, which took place over four days. It was the latest move by the Trump administration to seek to accelerate deportations of undocumented immigrants, which have so far been well below the administration’s goals.... The effort this week in Florida was the first to be conducted as part of a formal arrangement with state law enforcement known as a 287(g) agreement, according to [an] official.”

Naomi Nix of the Washington Post: Elon “Musk has argued on social media that DOGE’s work 'is similar to Clinton/Gore Dem policies of the 1990s.' But [Al] Gore on Friday argued that the Clinton administration’s Reinventing Government initiative took a better approach. 'We used a scalpel, not a chain saw or a butcher knife,' he said on 'Real Time with Bill Maher.' 'We cut the fat. Not muscle and bone — that’s what they [DOGE] are doing.' The Clinton administration largely tapped existing government leaders to identify specific areas where agencies could reduce head count or operate more efficiently, Gore said. Clinton also proposed or signed laws to reform government operations. By contrast, Trump has brought in industry outsiders who focused on quickly laying off large percentages of government workers — often irrespective of their job function — and making dramatic cuts to federal programs that have rankled senior Cabinet leaders and faced repeated court challenges.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Yet another reminder that Elon isn't very bright; he is a fine exemplar of the Dunning-Kruger effect. He says he's doing what Al Gore did, but he doesn't know what Al Gore did. And even if there existed no examples of attempts to cut waste, fraud & abuse across a massive bureaucracy, any minimally-intelligent person would know that assigning some boy programmers & hackers with no management experience to do the job was INSANE.

I don't want to belong to any club that will accept me as a member. -- Groucho Marx ~~~

~~~ Dasha Burns of Politico: “Donald Trump Jr., megadonor Omeed Malik and several other investors are launching an invite-only club that costs more than half a million to join.... The 'Executive Branch' is the brainchild of Malik and the president’s eldest son, and their partners at conservative fund 1789 Capital. It will be located in Georgetown. Their goal, the people familiar with the plans say, is to create the highest-end private club that Washington has ever had, and cater to the business and tech moguls who are looking to nurture their relationships with the Trump administration.... The club already has a waitlist.... It’s no coincidence the opening salvo is coinciding with the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. In years past, administration officials would rub shoulders and break bread with journalists. But that won’t be the case this year.... Donald Trump was already planning on skipping the event before Pope Francis’ death took him to Rome, and many of his aides and allies are staying away from the journalism celebration.”

The mood and reality sucks.... No president attending, no comedian to make fun of all of us, TV networks buckling under government pressure, a top producer quitting over corporate interference and the public sour on the media and government....Enjoy the weekend! -- Jim VandeHei of Politico ~~~

~~~ Annals of “Journalism,” Ctd. Michael Grynbaum & Katie Robertson of the New York Times: “Usually, the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner features Hollywood stars, a zinger-filled comedy set and a public display of comity between the White House and the press corps that covers it. On Saturday, the dinner had no comedian and no president.... 'It’s just us,' Eugene Daniels, the association’s president and an MSNBC host, told his fellow journalists at the start of the night. The reporters who spoke from the dais emphasized the importance of the First Amendment, garnering repeated ovations from the black-tie crowd. Levity came in the form of clips from past years, when presidents still turned up and cracked wise about the press and themselves.... As media institutions grapple with an onslaught from President Trump — who has sued and threatened television networks, barred The Associated Press from presidential events and upended the day-to-day workings of the White House press corps — the notion of a booze-soaked celebration felt particularly jarring.”

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Florida Funny Money. Lori Rozsa of the Washington Post: “Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) and his wife are embroiled in a controversy over the possible misuse of $10 million from a Medicaid lawsuit settlement that has thrown the legislature into turmoil and raised questions about Casey DeSantis’s possible run for governor. Leading the probe into the finances of Hope Florida, an initiative led by Casey DeSantis to move people off government assistance, were fellow Republicans — including formerly stalwart Ron DeSantis supporters. The inquiry by a state House subcommittee ended abruptly this week after witnesses declined to testify. The investigation centered on a $10 million payment sent to the Hope Florida Foundation by one of the state’s largest Medicaid contractors after it reached a $67 million settlement with Florida regarding pharmacy cost overpayments. The Miami Herald and Tampa Bay Times reported that Centene — the contractor — returned $57 million to Florida as part of the settlement, then sent the remaining $10 million to the foundation. The foundation supports Hope Florida, a state program designed to provide 'a warm meal, a bed for a foster family, or an outstanding utility bill' to Floridians in need.... The foundation then sent the $10 million to two political nonprofits campaigning against a state ballot measure that would have legalized recreational marijuana. Defeating the measure was a priority for Ron DeSantis in the 2024 general election. The measure did not pass.”

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Vatican. Jason Horowitz of the New York Times: “In a solemn and majestic funeral on the steps of St. Peter’s Basilica, the Roman Catholic Church on Saturday laid to rest Pope Francis, the first South American pope, whose simple style, pastoral vision and outsized footprint on the world stage both reinvigorated and divided the institution that he led for a dozen years. Heads of state, royals and religious leaders sat with an array of Catholic prelates in brilliant red robes around a closed cypress coffin holding the body of Francis, who died Monday at 88. Atop his coffin, the pages of an open book of the gospels fanned in the breeze.”

The Conversation -- April 26, 2025

Here's some bad news for the Trump mob -- Trump, Stephen Miller, Pam Bondi, Kash Patel, Kristi Noem, Tom Hogan, etc., and good news for due process, the rule of law, and moral rectitude. ~~~

~~~ Maegan Vazquez & Teo Armus of the Washington Post: “A U.S. district court judge has ordered two Venezuelan nationals living in Washington to be released from immigration custody, saying the federal government has failed to provide substantial evidence to declare either of them was an 'alien enemy' warranting removal under ... Donald Trump’s order invoking the Alien Enemies Act. The decision, issued Friday by El Paso-based senior U.S. District Judge David Briones, marks the first time a judge has ruled that the Trump administration had erred in classifying someone as an 'alien enemy' and ordered a release.... The Supreme Court ruled that the government needed to give anyone labeled an “alien enemy” a chance to contest that designation. The judge in El Paso also went a step further in specifying that going forward, the government must provide detainees 21 days to contest their status, and they must be given a notice in a language they can understand.... Briones also barred the removal of any noncitizen being held in federal immigration custody within his district — a jurisdiction that includes El Paso and several counties along the U.S. border eastward into San Antonio and Austin — under Trump’s order.”

Isabelle Taft of the New York Times: “F.B.I. agents arrested on Friday a Milwaukee judge [Hannah Dugan] accused of obstructing justice by directing an undocumented immigrant out of her courtroom through a side door while federal immigration agents waited in a hallway to arrest him.... The arrest has raised several questions — many of which remain unanswered. Here’s what we know so far.” ~~~

The obvious purpose of the arrest of Judge Dugan on criminal charges is to intimidate and threaten all judges, state and local, across the country. -- J. Michael Luttig, a conservative former U.S. appeals court judge ~~~

~~~ Patrick Marley & Jeremy Roebuck of the Washington Post: “Officers handcuffed Milwaukee County Judge Hannah Dugan in public. Attorney General Pam Bondi bragged on the Fox News show 'America Reports' about the administration’s willingness to go after judges who 'think they’re above the law.' FBI Director Kash Patel began the day by announcing Dugan’s arrest on social media and ended it by posting a photo of agents leading her away.... Critics of the administration said the spectacle sent a chilling message.... Many scholars have dubbed the standoff between Trump and the courts a constitutional crisis. Judges have increasingly expressed alarm at the administration’s dismissive response to orders blocking Trump’s efforts to dismantle federal programs, fire government workers and fast-track deportations.... Charles Geyh, an Indiana University law professor..., called the arrest part of a pattern: 'An attempt to bludgeon, an attempt to coerce, an attempt to weaken the one branch of government that stands between the executive — the Trump administration — and it doing whatever it wishes to do.'”

Here's how devil's disciple & inappropriately dressed Donald Trump got a front-row seat at Pope Francis' funeral. Update -- Payback Time: Zelensky gets back at Trump for that Oval Office sartorial slam. Thanks to RAS for the link. ~~~

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The New York Times' live update of Pope Francis' funeral are here.

David Sanger of the New York Times: Donald “Trump met privately with President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine on Saturday in Rome, the White House said, on the sidelines of the funeral service for Pope Francis. It was the first time the two leaders had met in person since their televised argument in late February in the Oval Office that resulted in a deep breach between the two countries.... A White House spokesman, Stephen Cheung, called it a 'very productive discussion,' but gave no details.”

Ken Vogel & Andrew Duehren of the New York Times: Donald “Trump has pardoned a Florida health care executive whose mother played a role in trying to expose the contents of Ashley Biden’s diary. The pardon of the executive, Paul Walczak, was signed privately on Wednesday and posted on the Justice Department’s website on Friday. It came less than two weeks after he was sentenced to 18 months in prison and ordered to pay nearly $4.4 million in restitution, for tax crimes that prosecutors said were used to finance a lavish lifestyle, including the purchase of a yacht. Mr. Walczak’s mother, Elizabeth Fago, who was also involved in the health care industry in Florida, is a longtime Republican donor and fund-raiser who played a role in a surreptitious effort to help Mr. Trump by undermining Joseph R. Biden Jr. in the 2020 presidential election.... There is no evidence that Mr. Walczak was involved in the effort to acquire the diary, and the charges against him were unrelated to the matter.”

Dana Milbank of the Washington Post: “Across the executive branch, in agency after agency, it’s amateur hour under the Trump administration.” This is a gift link to a very good overview of the Not-Ready-for-Prime-Time Administration. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Peter Baker of the New York Times: “If President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia drafted a shopping list of what he wanted from Washington, it would be hard to beat what he was offered [gift link] in the first 100 days of ... [Donald] Trump’s new term. Pressure on Ukraine to surrender territory to Russia? Check. The promise of sanctions relief? Check. Absolution from invading Ukraine? Check.... But ... intentionally or not, many of the president’s actions on other fronts also suit Moscow’s interests, including the rifts he has opened with America’s traditional allies and the changes he has made to the U.S. government itself. Mr. Trump has been tearing down American institutions that have long aggravated Moscow, such as Voice of America and the National Endowment for Democracy. He has been disarming the nation in its netherworld battle against Russia by halting cyber offensive operations and curbing programs to combat Russian disinformation, election interference, sanctions violations and war crimes. He spared Russia from the tariffs that he is imposing on imports from nearly every other nation.... Yet he still applied the tariff on Ukraine, the other party he is negotiating with....

“Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s new department restructuring plan likewise takes aim at offices that have aggravated Russia over the years, including the democracy and human rights bureau, which would be folded into an office for foreign assistance.... Mr. Rubio earlier this month shut down an office that tracked foreign disinformation from Russia and other adversaries, asserting that the Biden administration had tried to 'censor the voices of Americans.'” Read on. This is a gift link.

More on Steve Witkoff's excellent adventures in the Kremlin linked under "Russia," below.

Shane Goldmacher, et al., of the New York Times: “Voters believe ... [Donald] Trump is overreaching with his aggressive efforts to expand executive power, and they have deep doubts about some of the signature pieces of his agenda, a New York Times/Siena College poll found. The turbulent early months of Mr. Trump’s administration are seen as 'chaotic' and 'scary' by majorities of voters — even many who approve of the job he is doing. Voters do not view him as understanding the problems in their daily lives and have soured on his leadership as he approaches his 100th day in office.”

For years, Donald Trump, the United States' first dictator, has spoken out against many of the country's most essential institutions: the judiciary, the justice system, lawyers in general, the press, the universities and all manner of individuals who oppose him or simply refuse to do his bidding. He is no longer satisfied with criticism and threats. Now he is using the mechanisms of the executive branch of the federal government to do actual harm to these institutions and to some of the people and organizations that are a part of them. Yesterday, he upped his years of verbal attacks on the judiciary by sending out agents to snatch and grab a Milwaukee judge out of the courthouse parking lot and detain her. ~~~

⭐  ~~~ Devlin Barrett of the New York Times: “F.B.I. agents arrested a Milwaukee judge on Friday on charges of obstructing immigration agents, saying she steered an undocumented immigrant through a side door in her courtroom while the agents waited to arrest him in a public hallway. The decision to charge a sitting state court judge is a major escalation in the Trump administration’s battle with local authorities over deportations. The administration has demanded, under threat of investigation or prosecution, that local officials not impede federal efforts to deport millions of undocumented immigrants, and the arrest sent a message that the administration intends to take a harder line with those that do. The arrest of the judge, Hannah Dugan, comes after months of rising tensions between the Trump administration and the judiciary.... [Donald] Trump and his top advisers have repeatedly assailed 'local judges' for halting or questioning actions taken by the administration, particularly when it comes to immigration cases.” Barrett goes on describe events leading up to Judge Dugan's arrest. “The judge was charged with obstructing a proceeding of a federal agency, and concealing an individual to prevent his discovery and arrest....

“The bureau arrested Judge Dugan on suspicion that she 'intentionally misdirected federal agents,' Kash Patel, the F.B.I. director, wrote on social media on Friday, before the charges were unsealed. On Friday night, Mr. Patel posted on social media a picture of the judge in handcuffs shortly after her arrest.... Pam Bondi, the attorney general, defended the arrest of the judge, telling Fox News that when someone obstructs justice by 'escorting a criminal defendant out a back door, it will not be tolerated.' 'It doesn’t matter who you are, you’re going to be prosecuted,' Ms. Bondi said. Ms. Bondi also discussed the recent arrest of a former judge in New Mexico, who was charged with obstruction over harboring a person federal agents said was a Venezuelan gang member. 'Some of these judges think they’re above the law. They are not,' she said. 'We will come after you and prosecute you. We will find you.'” This is an update of a report linked yesterday as the news was breaking. ~~~

     ~~~ From an earlier version of the report: “F.B.I. Director Kash Patel ... later deleted the post for reasons that were not immediately clear.” ~~~

     ~~~ Amanda Friedman & Juan Benn of Politico: Patel “later reposted an identical version of [his deleted post].” ~~~

     ~~~ The charging document is here, via the federal courts. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: The purpose of Patel's original post was to humiliate Judge Dugan and to warn other judges that the FBI would get them, too, as AG Bondi later confirmed. For an FBI director to then post a photo of a judge in handcuffs is beyond the pale. I am hoping that Judge Dugan will successfully sue the FBI for false arrest & any other abuses ... and that she will sue Kash personally for intentionally and wantonly defaming her. ~~~

     ~~~ Alex Nguyen of Mother Jones: “The arrest of a sitting judge is a pivotal moment in the Trump administration’s escalation of immigration enforcement.... According to interim guidance from a January 2025 memorandum by former Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Benjamine Huffman — who served as part of the Trump administration prior to Kristi Noem’s US Senate confirmation — officers can make civil immigration arrests 'in or near courthouses' when they have 'credible information' that the person in question will make an appearance. In the guidance document, former acting ICE director Caleb Vitello wrote that the directive would 'reduce safety risks to the public, targeted alien(s), and ICE officers and agents' and was necessary when jurisdictions 'refuse to honor immigration detainers.'” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: The policy might sound somewhat reasonable, but several pundits have pointed out that courts cannot operate and defendants cannot get fair trials if critical players in court proceedings -- defendants, victims, witnesses -- are afraid to come to courthouses for fear of being deported. ~~~

~~~ Joe Patrice of Above the Law: “As the Brennan Center notes, there’s a reason why judges, generally, oppose ICE using their courthouses to make arrests. 'Back in 2018, nearly a hundred judges wrote to the Trump Admin to say that when ICE shows up to courthouses it scares away people who need to access the courts to keep them and their communities safe.' This fear is magnified when the administration is already on record that they aren’t concerned about accidentally sending someone they pick up to an El Salvadoran gulag.... The agents of Law & Order: Clown Car Unit did not give Judge Dugan an opportunity to surrender, instead getting treated like a violent criminal for allegedly refusing to sacrifice her courtroom sovereignty.... Part of [the] judicial function is marking a clear delineation between executive law enforcement and the role of the judge — and making sure judges aren’t just fancy executive branch deputies requires judges being able to control their courthouses.” ~~~

~~~ Chris Hayes put the arrest in context: ~~~

~~~ Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: “The Trump administration’s brash moves to crack down on illegal immigration entered a fraught new phase Friday, with the FBI arrest of a local Wisconsin judge.... Any time you are arresting judges, you enter yet more constitutionally dicey territory, with the administration already flouting and resisting judges’ orders. And the backdrop looms large here: The administration has, in recent weeks, ramped up its attacks against who it labels as radical activist judges who have ruled against many of its immigration actions. (In actuality, several of the judges have been Republican and even Trump appointees.)... Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-New York) labeled [the Milwaukee judge's arrest and detention as] 'an attack on the separation of powers, and we will fight this with everything we have.'... In some of its first comments about the situation, the Trump administration didn’t downplay the idea that this was connected to its broader crusade against the judiciary. Attorney General Pam Bondi actually seemed to lean into the idea that this was part of the larger pattern of judicial wrongs that the administration now seeks to right.” ~~~

~~~ Andrew Solender of Axios: "Democratic lawmakers reacted with ferocity — and some Republicans with cheers — to the Friday arrest of Wisconsin judge Hannah Dugan for allegedly helping an undocumented defendant avoid arrest by ICE agents.... To Democrats, the arrest marks a significant escalation in ... [Donald] Trump's efforts to consolidate power and use federal law enforcement to crush legal obstacles to his agenda.... Democrats are already calling for an investigation into the arrest and the facts surrounding it.... Rep. Becca Balint (D-Vt.), a House Judiciary Committee member, said there should 'absolutely' be a probe: 'On the face of it, this is dangerous and outrageous and it is designed to intimidate our judiciary.'" ~~~

~~~ Nicholas Riccardi of the AP: “On Thursday..., Donald Trump directed his Department of Justice to investigate ActBlue, the Democratic Party-aligned fundraising site that has fueled so many successful challenges against his own party. The next day, amid a long-running feud with judges who have put some of his initiatives on hold because they may violate the Constitution, Trump’s FBI arrested a Milwaukee judge, alleging she had helped a migrant evade immigration authorities. The two acts sent shockwaves through the legal and political worlds, which already have been reeling as Trump has used his office to target law firms, media outlets and individuals with whom he disagrees. The investigations are the latest version of a clear pattern in Trump’s second term: The president has harnessed the power of the federal government to punish his enemies and anyone he sees as standing in his way.”

C.J. Ciaramella of Reason: "Newly uncovered guidance from the Justice Department claims the Alien Enemies Act (AEA) allows federal law enforcement officers to enter the houses of suspected gang members without a warrant and remove them from the country without any judicial review. In a March 14 memorandum, obtained by the open government group Property of the People through a public records request and first reported by USA Today, Attorney General Pam Bondi instructs federal law enforcement officers on how to carry out arrests on members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua (TDA), which ... Donald Trump has declared are 'alien enemies' under the AEA.... The memo is one of the first public glimpses at the Trump administration's claims that it can identify, pursue, arrest, and deport migrants, unconstrained by the Fourth Amendment or due process.... Once a suspect is apprehended, Bondi claims they are 'not entitled to a hearing before an immigration judge, to an appeal of the removal order to the Board of Immigration Appeals, or to a judicial review of the removal in any court of the United States.'...  Ryan Shapiro ... of Property of the People said in a press release[,] 'The documents reveal the Trump administration has authorized every single law enforcement officer in the country, including traffic cops, to engage in immigrant roundups explicitly outside due process.'..."

⭐ ICE (Probably Unlawfully) Deports Toddler-Citizen. Kyle Cheney & Josh Gerstein of Politico: “A federal judge is raising alarms that the Trump administration deported a two-year-old U.S. citizen to Honduras with 'no meaningful process,' even as the child’s father was frantically petitioning the courts to keep her in the country. U.S. District Judge Terry Doughty, a Trump appointee, said the child — identified in court papers by the initials 'V.M.L.' — appeared to have been released in Honduras earlier Friday, along with her Honduran-born mother and sister, who had been detained by immigration officials earlier in the week. The judge on Friday scheduled a hearing for May 16, which he said was 'in the interest of dispelling our strong suspicion that the Government just deported a U.S. citizen with no meaningful process.' The child, whose redacted U.S. birth certificate was filed in court and showed she was born in New Orleans in 2023, had been with her mother and sister during a regular immigration check-in at the New Orleans office of Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Tuesday. Officials there detained them and queued them up for deportation.” The New York Times report is here. The CBS News story is here. ~~~

~~~ Charisma Madarang of Rolling Stone, republished by Yahoo! News: "As part of Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown, three U.S. citizen children were deported with their mothers by the New Orleans Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Friday morning. One of the children was undergoing cancer treatment and one of the mothers is pregnant. Both families had lived in the country for years and had ties to their communities, according to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Louisiana, which warns that the circumstances of their sudden deportations raises grave due process concerns. The civil rights organization says ... that one of the mothers was given less than one minute on the phone before the call was abruptly dropped, after her spouse attempted to provide a phone number to legal counsel. Among the children deported with their mothers, says the ACLU, are three U.S. citizens aged two, four, and seven. One of the children is a U.S. citizen child suffering from a rare form of metastatic cancer and was deported out of the country without medication or consultation with their treating physicians — despite ICE being notified in advance of the child’s medical needs. The civil rights organization says that one of the mothers is pregnant, and was deported without ensuring any continuity of prenatal care or proper medical care."

Zach Montague & Hamed Aleaziz of the New York Times: “The Trump administration on Friday abruptly moved to restore thousands of international students’ ability to study in the United States legally, but immigration officials insisted they could still try to terminate that legal status despite a wave of legal challenges. The decision ... was a dramatic shift by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.... The administration has moved to cancel more than 1,500 student visas in recent weeks. On Friday morning, Joseph F. Carilli, a Justice Department lawyer, told a federal judge in Washington that immigration officials had begun work on a new system for reviewing and terminating the records of international students and academics studying in the United States. Until the process was complete, he said, student records that had been purged from a federal database in recent weeks would be restored, along with their legal status. A senior Department of Homeland Security official ... said ... on Friday [the students] could still very well have it terminated in the future, along with their visas.

The changes on Friday came amid a wave of individual lawsuits filed by students who have said they were notified that their legal right to study in the United States was rescinded, often with minimal explanation.... Upon learning that their records had been deleted from the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System..., scores of students have sued to preserve their status, producing a flurry of emergency orders by judges blocking the changes by ICE.” ~~~

    ~~~ Marie's Translation of Government Statements: Okay, we totally screwed up the first time we tried to just throw all these disgusting foreigners out of the country, and the little brats took us to court. We don't have time for all that. But as soon as we figure out how to deport them in a way that bypasses the courts, we'll be back at it. With a vengeance. (Never mind that hosting international students is among the best and most cost-effective way of disseminating those noisome, passé "values" radical-left Americans have been touting for centuries.)

Perry Stein & Jeremy Roebuck of the Washington Post: “The Justice Department on Friday rescinded a Biden-era policy that prevented officials from searching reporters’ phone records when trying to identify government personnel who have leaked sensitive information to news organizations. Attorney General Pam Bondi said in an internal memo that the media should not be afforded such protections, noting leaks of government information during the Trump administration.... Bondi said she must approve all attempts to question or arrest journalists. Still, she criticized the media’s coverage of the president and added that the administration’s support of the free press exists despite 'the lack of independence of certain members of the legacy news media.'... Under Trump['s first administration], the Justice Department sought court orders to obtain phone and email records of reporters at The Post, CNN and the New York Times, trying to identify who within the government’s ranks was leaking information. Those investigations carried over into the Biden administration until — in 2022 — Attorney General Merrick Garland barred federal prosecutors from using those tactics.” Axios first had the story here. The AP report is here.

William Turton, et al., of ProPublica: "A Treasury Department inspector general is probing efforts by ... Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency to obtain private taxpayer data and other sensitive information.... The office of the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration has sought a wide swath of information from IRS employees. In particular, the office is seeking any requests for taxpayer data from the president, the Executive Office of the President, DOGE or the president’s Office of Management and Budget. The request, spelled out in a mid-April email obtained by ProPublica, comes as watchdogs and leading Democrats question whether DOGE has overstepped its bounds in seeking information about taxpayers, public employees or federal agencies that is typically highly restricted."

Tobi Raji of the Washington Post: “Elon Musk’s U.S. DOGE Service has ordered AmeriCorps to terminate close to $400 million in grants — roughly 41 percent of the national service agency’s total grant funding.... It’s the latest blow to the organization, which deploys thousands of young people to work on community service projects across the United States. The decision to eliminate millions of dollars in grants affects 1,031 organizations, and 32,465 AmeriCorps members and senior volunteers.... Recipients [of grant termination notices] were told that their award 'no longer effectuates agency priorities,' according to notices reviewed by The Washington Post.... Last week, the White House put most of the agency’s roughly 650 full-time staff members on paid administrative leave 'effective immediately.' Layoff notices began arriving Thursday, employees said, with an effective date of June 24.”

Marie: Friday came and went, and Drunk Pete still has his job.

Hatch Act, Begone! Eileen Sullivan of the New York Times: “The Trump administration moved on Friday to weaken federal prohibitions on government employees showing support for ... [Donald] Trump while at work, embracing the notion that they should be allowed to wear campaign paraphernalia and removing an independent review board’s role in policing violations. The Office of Special Counsel ... announced the changes to the interpretation of the Hatch Act, a Depression-era law devised to ensure that the federal work force operates free of political influence or coercion.... Mr. Trump rolled out [the revisions] at the end of his first term but ... President Joseph R. Biden Jr. repealed [them]. Critics have said the law was already largely toothless, and officials in the first Trump administration were routinely accused of violating it.... The changes do not roll back Hatch Act restrictions entirely, but do so in a way that uniquely benefits Mr. Trump: Visible support for candidates and their campaigns in the future is still banned, but support for the current officeholder is not. The move may not violate the law, because it will not influence the outcome of an election, experts say. But it threatens to further politicize the government’s professional work force, which Mr. Trump has been seeking to bend to his will as he tests the bounds of executive power.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: That reminds me that you can now go to the Trump Organization's store and buy MAGA hats & T-shirts bearing the slogan "Trump 2028."

Hassan Kanu of Politico: “A federal judge has temporarily blocked the Trump administration’s efforts to rescind collective bargaining rights from employees at nearly a dozen government agencies and departments. The order from U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman requires federal agencies to engage with their employees’ unions and to resume collecting dues payments, among other normal employee relations business. The judge’s order covers employees at the departments of Justice, Health and Human Services, Treasury, Energy, the Office of Personnel Management and other major agencies.” (Also linked yesterday.) The New York Times story is here.

Sarah Mervosh of the New York Times: “A coalition of 19 states sued the Trump administration on Friday over its threat to withhold federal funding from states and districts with certain diversity programs in their public schools. The lawsuit was filed in federal court by the attorneys general in California, New York, Illinois, Minnesota and other Democratic-leaning states, who argue that the Trump administration’s demand is illegal. The lawsuit centers on an April 3 memo the Trump administration sent to states, requiring them to certify that they do not use certain diversity, equity and inclusion programs that the administration has said are illegal. States that did not certify risked losing federal funding for low-income students. Rob Bonta, the California attorney general, said at a news conference on Friday that the Trump administration had distorted federal civil rights law to force states to abandon legal diversity programs.”

Sophia Cai, et al., of Politico: “The Trump administration is poised to eliminate dozens of federal programs, including protective services for vulnerable seniors, chronic disease self-management education, resource centers for people who have been paralyzed or lost a limb and one that tries to help older people prevent falls. Even a more modest federal initiative aimed at making polling places more accessible would be eliminated under the proposal. All of these programs facing the knife fall under the Administration for Community Living, a component of the Department of Health and Human Services that aims to help older adults and people with disabilities remain in their homes and communities. The whole department is being zeroed out, according to the budget proposal....  Alison Barkoff, former acting administrator of ACL..., [said], 'The combination of dismantling ACL and eliminating programs along the lines of what’s proposed would decimate the system that keeps older adults and people with disabilities in their homes and out of far more expensive institutions.'...”

Ariana Cha, et al., of the Washington Post: “The Trump administration has retreated from a controversial plan for a national registry of people with autism just days after announcing it as part of a new health initiative that would link personal medical records to information from pharmacies and smartwatches. Jay Bhattacharya, director of the National Institutes of Health, unveiled the broad, data-driven initiative to a panel of experts Tuesday, saying it would include 'national disease registries, including a new one for autism' that would accelerate research into the rapid rise in diagnoses of the condition. The announcement sparked backlash in subsequent days over potential privacy violations, lack of consent and the risk of long-term misuse of sensitive data. The Trump administration still will pursue large-scale data collection, but without the registry that drew the most intense criticism, the Department of Health and Human Services said.”

Today's Special: Chicken Salmonella. Angie Hernandez of the Washington Post: “The Agriculture Department on Thursday axed a Biden-era proposal to limit salmonella levels in raw chicken and turkey products as part of an effort to reduce food poisoning. The agency said it received more than 7,000 comments about the proposed rule, which it withdrew after concluding it would have imposed an 'overwhelming burden' on small poultry producers and processors. Food-safety experts criticized the decision, saying the withdrawal signaled an unwillingness to more aggressively protect the public from foodborne illnesses.”

Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post: “Interim D.C. U.S. attorney Ed Martin apologized this week for praising a pardoned Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot defendant who supported Nazi ideology and photographed himself posing as Adolf Hitler, saying he didn’t know about the man’s extremist statements. But in videos and podcasts, Martin has defended the man since at least 2023, calling him a friend who was 'slurred and smeared' by antisemitism allegations. Timothy Hale-Cusanelli, 35, was one of the first Capitol riot defendants charged and one of the first to enter the building through a smashed window. Court filings outlined his history of alleged antisemitic statements, posts and affinity for Hitler.... In remarks published Thursday by the Forward, a Jewish publication, Martin apologized for praising Hale-Cusanelli as 'an extraordinary man, and extraordinary leader' while presenting him with an honorary award from Martin’s nonprofit group on Aug. 14 at Trump’s golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey.... Martin’s attempt to distance himself from Hale-Cusanelli came as Senate Democrats have attacked their relationship, demanding a hearing and floor votes to force GOP leaders to decide how much time and political capital to spend on the nomination.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: To be clear, this is the guy we're talking about. Martin has known him for at least a couple of years but was completely unable to discern that this fellow was a Hitler fan:

Will Oremus & Julian of the Washington Post: “The acting U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia sent a letter to the nonprofit that runs Wikipedia, accusing the tax-exempt organization of 'allowing foreign actors to manipulate information and spread propaganda to the American public.'... Martin asked the foundation to provide detailed information about its editorial process, its trust and safety measures, and how it protects its information from foreign actors.... The letter, which was earlier reported by the Free Press, is part of a broader campaign by the Trump administration and its allies ... against institutions, media outlets and online platforms they have accused of pushing liberal agendas or political views. It builds on growing conservative criticism of Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia that is collaboratively written and edited by thousands of volunteer contributors from around the world.” ~~~

~~~ You're not alone, Wikipedia. Ed threatens every publication that he feels is not sufficiently promoting his fascistic ideology: ~~~

~~~ Teddy Rosenbluth of the New York Times: “A federal prosecutor in Washington has contacted The New England Journal of Medicine, considered the world’s most prestigious medical journal, with questions that suggested without evidence that it was biased against certain views and influenced by external pressures. Dr. Eric Rubin, the editor in chief of N.E.J.M., described the letter as 'vaguely threatening' in an interview with The New York Times. At least three other journals have received similar letters from Edward Martin Jr., a Republican activist serving as interim U.S. attorney in Washington. Mr. Martin has been criticized for using his office to target opponents of the administration. His letters accused the publications of being 'partisans in various scientific debates' and asked a series of accusatory questions about bias and the selection of research articles.... Amanda Shanor, a First Amendment expert at the University of Pennsylvania, said the information published in reputable medical journals like N.E.J.M. is broadly protected by the Constitution. In most cases, journals have the same robust rights that apply to newspapers — the strongest the Constitution provides, she added.” ~~~

     ~~~ Evan Bush of NBC News: “British medical journal The Lancet, which did not receive one of the letters, published an editorial describing the inquiries as 'harassment' and intimidation, adding that U.S. science was being 'violently dismembered' by the Trump administration.... The inquiry into scientific journals comes as the Trump administration has executed funding and personnel cuts to federal science, health and research agencies. ”

Judge to Bondi: STFU. Benjamin Weiser & Anusha Bayya of the New York Times: “The judge overseeing the federal prosecution of Luigi Mangione, the man accused of killing a health insurance executive in Manhattan, on Friday warned the U.S. attorney general to keep quiet about him to ensure a fair trial[.] As Mr. Mangione, 26, pleaded not guilty to a murder charge that could bring the death penalty, the judge, Margaret Garnett, made it clear that she wanted to depoliticize the circuslike atmosphere surrounding the case.... Attorney General Pam Bondi ... had announced that the government would seek capital punishment against him 'as we carry out President Trump’s agenda to stop violent crime and Make America Safe Again.'... Inside the packed courtroom, Judge Garnett directed prosecutors to convey her caution against public commentary to the interim U.S. attorney, Jay Clayton, and asked that he pass on the message to Ms. Bondi 'and any of her subordinates at Main Justice.' Mr. Mangione’s lawyers had already complained about Ms. Bondi’s public statements.”

Michael Gold & Grace Ashford of the New York Times: “George Santos, the former Republican congressman from New York whose outlandish fabrications and criminal schemes fueled an unforeseen rise and spectacular fall, was sentenced to more than seven years in federal prison on Friday. His 87-month sentence was a severe corrective to a turbulent period in which Mr. Santos was catapulted from anonymity to political and pop cultural infamy, a national spotlight that, even when negative, he often relished more than rejected. Mr. Santos pleaded guilty last year to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. He acknowledged his involvement in a variety of other deceptions, including lying to Congress, fraudulently collecting unemployment benefits and bilking campaign donors out of hundreds of thousands of dollars.” (Also linked yesterday.) 

Sarah Fitzpatrick & Rich Schapiro of NBC News: “Virginia Giuffre, one of the most prominent survivors of Jeffrey Epstein’s sexual abuse, has died by suicide, her family said Friday.  Giuffre, 41, died in Neergabby, Australia, where she had been living for several years. Giuffre was one of the earliest and loudest voices calling for criminal charges against Epstein and his enablers. Other Epstein abuse survivors later credited her with giving them the courage to speak out.”

~~~~~~~~~~

Russia. Mary Ilushina of the Washington Post: “A high-ranking Russian military official was killed Friday in an explosion in a suburb of Moscow, in what authorities are treating as a case of murder.... Lt. Gen. Yaroslav Moskalik ... was killed when a vehicle rigged with an improvised explosive device packed with shrapnel detonated. Surveillance footage published from the scene suggests Moskalik was walking past the car at the time of the explosion.... The incident coincides with the meeting of ... Donald Trump’s envoy, Steve Witkoff, in Moscow for high-stakes talks with President Vladimir Putin. The Kremlin disclosed few details following the three-hour meeting between Witkoff and Putin, their fourth in recent months, as Trump continues to push for a resolution to the three-year war in Ukraine. Yury Ushakov, Putin’s foreign policy adviser, described the talks as 'constructive,' saying they helped narrow the gap between Russian and U.S. positions not only on Ukraine but on several broader international issues. Ushakov added the possibility of resuming direct negotiations between Russian and Ukrainian representatives was discussed.”

The Conversation -- April 25, 2025

Marie: It's Friday afternoon -- the very best time of the week for Pete Hegseth to resign.

Michael Gold & Grace Ashford of the New York Times: “George Santos, the former Republican congressman from New York whose outlandish fabrications and criminal schemes fueled an unforeseen rise and spectacular fall, was sentenced to more than seven years in federal prison on Friday. His 87-month sentence was a severe corrective to a turbulent period in which Mr. Santos was catapulted from anonymity to political and pop cultural infamy, a national spotlight that, even when negative, he often relished more than rejected. Mr. Santos pleaded guilty last year to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. He acknowledged his involvement in a variety of other deceptions, including lying to Congress, fraudulently collecting unemployment benefits and bilking campaign donors out of hundreds of thousands of dollars.”

Hassan Kanu of Politico: “A federal judge has temporarily blocked the Trump administration’s efforts to rescind collective bargaining rights from employees at nearly a dozen government agencies and departments. The order from U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman requires federal agencies to engage with their employees’ unions and to resume collecting dues payments, among other normal employee relations business. The judge’s order covers employees at the departments of Justice, Health and Human Services, Treasury, Energy, the Office of Personnel Management and other major agencies.”

Dana Milbank of the Washington Post: “Across the executive branch, in agency after agency, it’s amateur hour under the Trump administration.” This is a gift link to a very good overview of the Not-Ready-for-Prime-Time Administration.

Devlin Barrett of the New York Times: “F.B.I. Director Kash Patel said on Friday that agents had arrested a county judge in Milwaukee on charges of obstructing immigration enforcement. A spokesman for the U.S. Marshals confirmed the arrest of a sitting judge, a major escalation in the Trump administration’s battle with local authorities over deportations. The bureau arrested Judge Hannah Dugan on suspicion that she 'intentionally misdirected federal agents away from' an immigrant being pursued by federal authorities, Mr. Patel wrote on social media. He later deleted the post for reasons that were not immediately clear. An F.B.I. spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Brady McCarron, a spokesman for the U.S. Marshals, confirmed that the judge had been arrested by F.B.I. agents on Friday morning. The charging document against the judge was not immediately available in federal court records. The Trump administration has vowed to investigate and prosecute local officials who do not assist federal immigration enforcement efforts, denouncing what they call 'sanctuary cities' for not doing more to assist federal apprehensions and deportations of millions of undocumented immigrants.” ~~~

     ~~~ The story has been updated. New Lede: “F.B.I. agents arrested a Milwaukee judge on Friday on charges of obstructing immigration agents, saying she steered an undocumented immigrant through a side door in her courtroom while the agents waited to arrest him in a public hallway. The decision to charge a sitting state court judge is a major escalation in the Trump administration’s battle with local authorities over deportations.” ~~~

     ~~~ Amanda Friedman & Juan Benn of Politico: Patel “later reposted an identical version of [his deleted post].” ~~~

~~~ AND This from the NYT story linked above: “Pam Bondi, the attorney general, defended the arrest of the judge, telling Fox News that when someone obstructs justice by 'escorting a criminal defendant out a back door, it will not be tolerated.' 'It doesn’t matter who you are, you’re going to be prosecuted,' Ms. Bondi said. Ms. Bondi also discussed the recent arrest of a former judge in New Mexico, who was charged with obstruction over harboring a person federal agents said was a Venezuelan gang member. 'Some of these judges think they’re above the law. They are not,' she said. 'We will come after you and prosecute you. We will find you.'”

     ~~~ The charging document is here, via the federal courts. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I am hoping that Judge Dugan will successfully sue the FBI for false arrest & Kash for intentionally and wantonly defaming her.

~~~~~~~~~~

Things Fall Apart.... The Darkness Drops Again. Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: “Even as Trump nears that [100-day] milestone by which new administrations have increasingly gauged their early progress, there are myriad signs that his second-term project may be falling apart. A man who came into office vastly exaggerating the mandate that voters had just given him — and has governed accordingly — appears to have, per public polling, squandered whatever mandate he was given with his brazen actions. And indicators are increasingly dire on a number of significant policy fronts for him.... Perhaps more troubling for Trump, most of his major policies are even more unpopular than he is. That suggests his image is largely buoyed by loyalists who might not like what they’re seeing but still say they support him — for now.... But it’s not just the polls. It’s also the discord and the administration’s clear struggles to chart a path forward and avoid shooting itself in the foot.... In sum: It’s all an increasing mess.” ~~~

     ~~~ Rachel Maddow last night elaborated on Blake's report. ~~~

~~~ Todd Spangler of Variety: Donald “Trump is unhappy with Fox News Channel again over the conservative outlet’s poll finding that he has record-low approval ratings after the first 100 days of his second term in office. 'Rupert Murdoch has told me for years that he is going to get rid of his FoxNews, Trump Hating, Fake Pollster, but he has never done so,' Trump wrote in a post on his Truth Social platform. 'This “pollster” has gotten me, and MAGA, wrong for years. Trump added that Murdoch 'should start making changes at the China Loving Wall Street Journal. It sucks!!!'... Trump’s approval ratings in the first 100 days in office [44%] are lower than those for Biden (54%), Obama (62%) and George W. Bush (63%), per Fox News.”

Heather Cox Richardson writes a helpful summary of how we got to "where we're at," and as an historian, she has the wisdom to link it back to Republicans' embrace of "the myth of cowboy individualism" and Sir Ronald of Reagan.~~~

     ~~~ Marie: It's a good essay, and well worth a read. BUT. While obviously one cannot scrunch a comprehensive history lesson into a short essay, I do think Richardson is a bit too pollyannish when she concludes, "The American people seem to be realizing that the rhetoric of cowboy individualism is a very different thing than its reality." I don't think "the American people" "realize" much. They go to the store; they see the price of coffee and eggs. Their bosses won't give them raises because tariffs. They hear their friends & neighbors gripe. They're unhappy. They blame the president. In this case, they place the blame on the right head. But this "judgment" is accidental. Americans blame the president, any president, for bad weather and crap schools.

He’s actually selling access, personal access, to him and to the White House if people invest in this meme coin, which really has no intrinsic value.... If you are a foreign government burdened by tariffs, will you be enticed to invest? If you’re a criminal felon, will you maybe invest in hopes of they’ll give you an opportunity to make your case for a pardon? -- Virginia Canter, former White House associate counsel

... The Trump coin scam is the most brazenly corrupt thing a President has ever done. Not close. -- Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.)

Drew Harwell & Jeremy Merrill of the Washington Post: “Buyers have poured tens of millions of dollars into ... Donald Trump’s meme coin since his team advertised Wednesday that top purchasers could join Trump for an 'intimate private dinner' next month, a Washington Post analysis found. The holders of 27 crypto wallets have each acquired more than 100,000 $TRUMP coins, stakes worth about a million dollars each, since noon on Wednesday, when the team announced that the 220 top coin holders would be rewarded with a 'night to remember' on May 22 at the president’s Trump National Golf Club outside Washington. Crypto wallets are generally anonymous, making it challenging to identify who the purchasers were.... The coin’s price has surged more than 30 percent since the announcement, to about $12, boosting the value of the crypto wallets owned by a digital firm affiliated with Trump’s family business, the Trump Organization, by roughly $100 million....”

Maggie Haberman, et al., of the New York Times: Donald “Trump on Thursday plans to direct the Justice Department to investigate ActBlue, the fund-raising platform that powers virtually every Democratic candidate and cause, according to a person briefed on the preparations. The move steps up Republicans’ effort to cripple their opponents’ political infrastructure. It will be the third time in three weeks that Mr. Trump has directed the government to target a perceived political enemy, a drastic expansion of his use of his powers to try to damage domestic opponents. Mr. Trump plans to call for an investigation by Attorney General Pam Bondi into ActBlue, which is used across the Democratic Party’s ecosystem to collect donations online. The inquiry is ostensibly meant to look into possible illegal donations made by people in someone else’s name, known as straw donations, as well as hard-dollar contributions from foreign donors.... Congressional Republicans have separately been investigating what they claim are the platform’s insufficient security provisions.” (Also linked yesterday.) Politico's story is here.

Pardon Her. Gregory Svirnovskiy of Politico: “... Donald Trump has pardoned a former Las Vegas City Council member and one-time Nevada gubernatorial candidate who was found guilty of fraud last year, the latest example of the president using his pardon power to reward allies. Michele Fiore — who has occasionally been dubbed 'Lady Trump' — was convicted in October of using $70,000 she solicited to build a memorial for two fallen police officers on personal expenses, including political fundraising bills and rent payments.”

     ~~~ Rio Yamat of the AP: Something else Fiore used the memorial fund for: cosmetic surgery. “In a lengthy statement Thursday on Facebook, the loyal Trump supporter expressed gratitude to the president while also accusing the U.S. government and 'select media outlets' of a broad, decade-long conspiracy to 'target and dismantle' her life.” MB: I guess that's why they call her Lady Trump: like her benefactor, she's a criminal who blames others for her misdeeds.

Say What? Ivan Pereira of ABC News: "For years..., Donald Trump has blasted politically damaging reporting by The Atlantic Editor-in-Chief Jeffrey Goldberg as fake, made-up. His most recent criticism has been over Goldberg's bombshell story about a Signal chat he was accidentally invited to, one that included top members of Trump's national security team, conversing about an impending military attack on Houthi terrorists in Yemen. Now, in a surprise twist, Trump said he would speak face-to-face with Goldberg on Thursday after claiming on Truth Social that Goldberg, along with The Atlantic writers Michael Scherer and Ashley Parker, would sit down with him for an interview. 'The story they are writing, they have told my representatives, will be entitled, "The Most Consequential President of this Century," he said.... 'I am doing this interview out of curiosity, and as a competition with myself, just to see if it's possible for The Atlantic to be "truthful,"' Trump posted. 'Are they capable of writing a fair story on "TRUMP"? The way I look at it, what can be so bad.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Trump may have all the best words, but he doesn't seem to know that "consequential" doesn't mean "excellent."

Marcie Jones of Wonkette took a realistic look at Trump's, uh, “economic policy,” brilliant negotiations with China and sundry perambulations: “The stock market paused its freefall on Tuesday after Art O’Deal said he was not going to 'play hardball' with China, insisting that he was in contact with China 'every day' and that tariffs 'will come down substantially.' But, two days later, in spite of rumors that they could go down to 35 to 65 percent (which is still insane and economy-wrecking) his 145 percent tariff has still not come down. And the only 'hardball' is Trump getting kicked in the balls, hard. By China! Within hours of Trump’s Oval Office press conference, China said it was FAKE NEWS, 假新闻, they had not been talking to Trump at all, and a spokesman re-iterated that they plan to 'fight until the end.' Because guess who manufactures and prints all the cards Trump claims to be holding? Then [Thursday], Trump insisted that he WAS TOO talking to China, but he can’t tell you with whom, it’s a big secret!” ~~~

~~~ Marie: Speaking of perambulations, did you Trump has been walking around the White House's wet, shoe-wrecking, hard-to-tread lawn and dictating places to put a couple of gimungus flags on 100-foot poles. And doing other gaudy decorating things when not actively ruining the country? I'm tellin' ya, the U.S. has never had such a consequential president*.

Not only is Musk vastly overinflating the money he has saved, he is not accounting for the exponentially larger waste that he is creating. He’s inflicted these costs on the American people, who will pay them for many years to come. -- Max Stier, CEO of the Partnership for Public Service ~~~

~~~ Elizabeth Williamson of the New York Times: Donald “Trump and Elon Musk promised taxpayers big savings, maybe even a 'DOGE dividend' check in their mailboxes, when the Department of Government Efficiency was let loose on the federal government. Now, as he prepares to step back from his presidential assignment to cut bureaucratic fat, Mr. Musk has said without providing details that DOGE is likely to save taxpayers only $150 billion. That is about 15 percent of the $1 trillion he pledged to save, less than 8 percent of the $2 trillion in savings he had originally promised and a fraction of the nearly $7 trillion the federal government spent in the 2024 fiscal year. The errors and obfuscations underlying DOGE’s claims of savings are well documented. Less known are the costs Mr. Musk incurred by taking what Mr. Trump called a 'hatchet' to government and the resulting firings, agency lockouts and building seizures that mostly wound up in court. The Partnership for Public Service ... has used budget figures to produce a rough estimate that firings, re-hirings, lost productivity and paid leave of thousands of workers will cost upward of $135 billion this fiscal year. At the Internal Revenue Service, a DOGE-driven exodus of 22,000 employees would cost about $8.5 billion in revenue in 2026 alone, according to figures from the Budget Lab at Yale University.... Neither of these estimates includes the cost to taxpayers of defending DOGE’s moves in court. Of about 200 lawsuits and appeals related to Mr. Trump’s agenda, at least 30 implicate the department.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: The IRS figures cited looks extremely low. That is, Musk has cost much more than $8.5 billion in uncollected tax revenue calculated in Williamson's report. According to a Washington Post analysis made a month ago, Musk's cuts to IRS employees will lead to a loss of $500 billion in revenue, not $8.5 billion. So the analysis above is an underestimate. So subtract only the "savings" Musk claims (without evidence) of $150BB from the $500BB he cost in lost tax revenue: $500BB - $150BB = $350BB. That is, Musk's chainsaw massacre will cost a minimum of $350BB per year, and that's before calculating the other costs Williamson cites. All of this disruption and loss of service for a net loss to federal coffers. Trump and Musk are either incredibly stupid or they are bent on destroying the country. I think it's the latter. ~~~

~~~ Dan Diamond, et al., of the Washington Post: A yelling match Elon Musk had with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent outside the Oval office this week “was just Musk’s latest confrontation with a top Trump appointee in a three-month government stint that has been peppered with controversy. He has rebuked officials such as Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy and economic adviser Peter Navarro in meetings or on social media, calling them incompetent or suggesting that they have lied. He also alienated Trump aides with unscripted remarks and abrupt edicts, forcing political appointees to scramble to explain his decisions.... Polls show a majority of Americans hold an unfavorable view of him and say he has had too much sway in government operations.... The White House has sought for weeks to put guardrails around Musk and his team’s activities.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: According to Diamond, et al., after the dustup Musk & Bessent had outside the Oval, “Musk unfollowed Bessent on X, his social media platform.” Ooh, I wonder if Scott will take Elon off his phone contacts list. I know the POTUS* is a toddler, but the junior-high-school atmosphere around him is not much of an improvement.

Patrick Marley of the Washington Post: “A judge temporarily blocked election officials Thursday from implementing parts of ... Donald Trump’s executive order requiring people to prove they are citizens when they fill out federal voter registration forms. The sweeping order Trump signed last month sought to overhaul how the 2026 midterm elections are run, even though the Constitution says voting policies are to be set by the states and Congress. Democrats and voting rights groups quickly sued, leading to Thursday’s preliminary injunction. 'Our Constitution entrusts Congress and the States — not the President — with the authority to regulate federal elections,' Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly of the U.S. District Court for D.C. wrote in her opinion.... Kollar-Kotelly’s preliminary injunction put that part of Trump’s order on hold while she considers lawsuits filed by the Democratic National Committee, the League of United Latin American Citizens, the League of Women Voters and others. Her ruling diminishes Trump’s chances of changing the form before the 2026 elections.... Under the ruling, the independent, bipartisan Election Assistance Commission is barred for now from changing the federal voter registration form to require people to provide passports or other documents proving their citizenship to get on the voter rolls. The ruling also prevents federal agencies from implementing a part of the executive order that tells them to determine whether someone is a citizen before providing the person a registration form.” (Also linked yesterday.) The AP report is here.

Alan Feuer of the New York Times: “Over the past two weeks, immigration lawyers, scrambling from courthouse to courthouse, have secured provisional orders in five states stopping the Trump administration from using the Alien Enemies Act, an 18th-century wartime law, to deport Venezuelans accused of being gang members to a terrorism prison in El Salvador.... But at least so far, the one thing the lawyers have not managed to do is protect another — and harder to reach — group of Venezuelan migrants: about 140 men who are already in El Salvador, having been deported there under the act more than a month ago. Early Friday, the American Civil Liberties Union took another shot at seeking due process for those men. Lawyers for the group filed an updated version of a lawsuit they brought against ... [Donald] Trump’s use of the Alien Enemies Act on March 15, the first that challenged his invocation of the law. This time, the A.C.L.U. is asking a federal judge in Washington not to stop the men from being sent to El Salvador, but rather to help them return to U.S. soil.”

Alan Feuer & Hamed Aleaziz of the New York Times: “A federal judge in Maryland ordered the Trump administration to take steps to seek the return of a 20-year-old Venezuelan man who was deported to El Salvador last month, ruling that his removal violated a previous court settlement intended to protect young migrants with pending asylum cases. The decision on Wednesday by the judge, Stephanie A. Gallagher, came two weeks after the Supreme Court ordered the White House to seek the release of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, another migrant who was wrongfully sent to El Salvador as part of the same deportation operation. Judge Gallagher’s ruling, which cited Mr. Abrego Garcia’s case, was notable for the way it suggested that errors and violations of court directives continued to plague ... [Donald] Trump’s aggressive plan to deport as many as 1 million people in his first year in office.... The second case involves the 20-year-old Venezuelan identified in court papers only as Cristian.” Politico's report is here.

Michelle Goldberg of the New York Times: “Of all the men we’ve rendered to this hell [CECOT prison], the one I can’t get out of my mind is Andry Hernández Romero, a gay makeup artist from Venezuela, sent to rot in El Salvador because the Trump administration claimed his tattoos link him to the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.... (... USA Today would reveal that one of the two contractors [at a privately-run detention center who determined that the young man was a gang member] was Charles Cross Jr., a 'disgraced former Milwaukee cop with credibility issues' who’d been fired for driving his car into a home while drunk.)... Hernández Romero’s case exemplifies the carelessness that has marked the Trump administration’s arrangement with El Salvador from the beginning. And it highlights the rapid transformation of America from a place of refuge for at least some victims of oppression to a place where noncitizens often seem to have no human rights at all.... While America’s treatment of Hernández Romero is harrowing, it isn’t unique. As Bloomberg reported, around 90 percent of the migrants sent to CECOT have no criminal records aside from immigration or traffic violations.... And everything Trump is doing to these migrants, he would, if given the chance, do to Americans.”

Mattathias Schwartz of the New York Times: “On April 7, the Supreme Court ruled that the government must give Venezuelan migrants notice 'within a reasonable time' and the chance to legally challenge their removal before being deported to a maximum-security prison in El Salvador.... Before Saturday, when the Supreme Court issued a second order, which blocked the deportation of a group of Venezuelan migrants under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, detainees slated for deportation were given a one-page form that stated 'if you desire to make a phone call, you will be permitted to do so,' according to ... a four-page declaration by an official from Immigration and Customs Enforcement. They then had 'no less than 12 hours' to 'express an intent' to challenge their detention, and another 24 hours to file a habeas corpus petition asking for a hearing before a judge, the declaration said. The form itself is written in English, but 'it is read and explained to each alien in a language that alien understands.'... Lawyers for detainees held elsewhere, who have sued in the Northern District of Texas, have disputed the government’s claims about being given notice. They also have said that the form was not explained to detainees and that they were simply told to sign the document....”

Susan Svrluga of the Washington Post: “Federal agents did not have a warrant when they arrested Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University student who had been an outspoken advocate for Palestinian rights, according to court documents. Attorneys for the government argued that while generally an arrest warrant must be obtained, there is an exception to the requirement if the immigration officer 'has reason to believe that the individual is likely to escape before a warrant can be obtained.' Attorneys for Khalil, who had a green card marking him as a legal permanent resident, have asked an immigration judge to end efforts to deport him.... 'There’s no reason they couldn’t get a warrant,' said Baher Azmy, [an attorney for Khalil].... Secretary of State Marco Rubio had said in a memo submitted to the court that Khalil and another student helped foster a hostile environment for Jewish students in the United States and that their presence would 'undermine U.S. policy to combat antisemitism around the world and in the United States....'” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I'd like to remind Little Marco and his puppet-master that only one federal judge has ruled on the law under which he wants to deport Khalil. That judge found the law to be patently unconstitutional because it “confers upon a single individual, the secretary of state, the unfettered and unreviewable discretion to deport any alien lawfully within the United States.” That judge's name was Maryanne Trump Barry, and she was Donald Trump's sister.

Sara Schonhardt of Politico: “The State Department is eliminating the Office of Global Change, which oversees international climate change negotiations for the United States. Staff were told about the move verbally Thursday afternoon.... The news thrust the office into chaos.... 'This will hamstring international climate cooperation at the worst possible time,' said one official, referring to the upcoming global climate talks called COP30. It’s 'just strategically fucking dumb when it comes to China,' that person added, saying the move would leave a leadership vacuum that China could fill. A State Department spokesperson confirmed that the office is being eliminated to comply with ... Donald Trump’s directives to cease participation in international agreements.” Marie: I would say “fucking dumb” is an apt way to describe most if not all of Trump's orders -- unless maybe you're talking to a nun, in which case “extremely dumb” might be more listener-sensitive.

Dana Goldstein of the New York Times: “A federal judge in New Hampshire limited on Thursday the Trump administration’s ability to withhold federal funds from public schools that have certain diversity and equity initiatives. The judge, Landya B. McCafferty, said that the administration had not provided an adequately detailed definition of “diversity, equity and inclusion,” and that its policy threatened to restrict free speech in the classroom while overstepping the executive branch’s legal authority over local schools. She also wrote that the loss of federal funding 'would cripple the operations of many educational institutions.' The decision followed a demand earlier this month by the Trump administration that all 50 state education agencies attest that their schools do not use D.E.I. practices that violate ... [Donald] Trump’s interpretation of civil rights law. Otherwise, they would risk losing billions in Title I money, which is targeted toward low-income students. About a dozen states, mostly Democratic leaning, refused to sign the document.” (Also linked yesterday.)

Reed Abelson of the New York Times: “The small government agency responsible for overseeing programs like Meals on Wheels is being dismantled as part of the Trump administration’s overhaul of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Roughly half its staff has been let go in recent layoffs and all of its 10 regional offices are closed, according to several employees who lost their jobs.... In ... [Donald] Trump’s quest to end what he termed 'illegal and immoral discrimination programs,' one of his executive orders promoted cracking down on federal efforts to improve accessibility and representation for those with disabilities, with agencies flagging words like 'accessible' and 'disability' as potentially problematic. Certain research studies are no longer being funded, and many government health employees specializing in disability issues have been fired.” (Also linked yesterday.)

No Country for Old Women. Meredith Wadman, et al., in Science: "... Donald Trump’s administration appears to be killing much, if not all, of a historic initiative that was the first, and is still the largest, National Institutes of Health (NIH) effort centered on the health needs of women. The Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) has enrolled tens of thousands of participants in clinical trials of hormones and other medications and tracked the health of many thousands more over more than 3 decades. Its findings have had a major influence on health care. WHI leaders announced yesterday that contracts supporting its regional centers are being terminated in September and that the study’s clinical coordinating center, based at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, “will continue operations until January 2026, after which time its funding remains uncertain.” They added that the contract terminations for its four main sites “will significantly impact ongoing research and data collection … severely limit[ing] WHI’s ability to generate new insights into the health of older women, one of the fastest-growing segments of our population.” (There are about 55 million postmenopausal women in the United States.)” Thanks to Akhilleus for the link. See also his commentary below. MB: Here's mine: This is infurating! (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Update. Roni Rabin of the New York Times: “Following an outcry from scientists and health experts, federal health officials on Thursday said they would restore funding to the Women’s Health Initiative, one of the largest and longest studies of women’s health ever carried out. The findings of the W.H.I. and its randomized controlled trials have changed medical practices and helped shape clinical guidelines, preventing hundreds of thousands of cases of cardiovascular disease and breast cancer. 'These studies represent critical contributions to our better understanding of women’s health,' said Emily G. Hilliard, a spokeswoman for the Department of Health and Human Services. 'We are now working to fully restore funding to these essential research efforts,' she added.” (Also linked yesterday.) NPR's story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Sorry, but I don't believe Emily there. Little Marco promised, for instance, that he would restore PEPFAR funding that has saved millions of lives of people with HIV. Well, he didn't do a very good job, and some of those former recipients of PEPFAR-funded treatments are dying today.

⭐Helene Cooper, et al., of the New York Times: “Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s personal phone number, the one used in a recent Signal chat, was easily accessible on the internet and public apps as recently as March, potentially exposing national security secrets to foreign adversaries. The phone number could be found in a variety of places, including WhatsApp, Facebook and a fantasy sports site. It was the same number through which the defense secretary, using the Signal commercial messaging app, disclosed flight data for American strikes on the Houthi militia in Yemen. Cybersecurity analysts said an American defense secretary’s communications device would usually be among the most protected national security assets. 'There’s zero percent chance that someone hasn’t tried to install Pegasus or some other spyware on his phone,' Mike Casey, the former director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center, said in an interview. 'He is one of the top five, probably, most targeted people in the world for espionage.'” ~~~

~~~ Tara Copp of the AP: “Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had an internet connection that bypassed the Pentagon’s security protocols set up in his office to use the Signal messaging app on a personal computer, two people familiar with the line told The Associated Press. The existence of the unsecured internet connection is the latest revelation about Hegseth’s use of the unclassified app and raises the possibility that sensitive defense information could have been put at risk of potential hacking or surveillance. Known as a 'dirty' internet line by the IT industry, it connects directly to the public internet where the user’s information and the websites accessed do not have the same security filters or protocols that the Pentagon’s secured connections maintain.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Apparently President* Blabbermouth, He of the Public Bathroom Full of Classified Docs, will not fire a guy who essentially posts imminent battle plans online. That's fair, I guess.

Evan Hill of the Washington Post: “The Washington Post reviewed hundreds of cases involving contractors alleged to have used unauthorized technology or mishandled sensitive government information — the same types of security violations that experts have said Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth may have committed last month when he disclosed the details of impending airstrikes in Yemen using ... Signal. The Post found that in at least five cases, the contractor lost their credentials.... 'These people had their security clearances either denied or revoked for conduct that was far less serious than ... what occurred with the Signal exchange,' said R. Scott Oswald ... of the Employment Law Group.... Such attack plans typically are considered so highly classified that accessing them requires a code word and a secure line of communication, former defense officials have said.... Security clearance guidelines are the same for contractors, civil servants and members of the military.” MB: And this doesn't even get to the issue of Drunk Pete's sending imminent air strike plans to his wife, brother & lawyer. (Also linked yesterday.) 

Alex Galbraith of Salon: “According to the [Wall Street Journal, Pete] Hegseth threatened top officials with lie-detector tests to root out media sources on recent embarrassing stories. Shortly after word broke last month that the Pentagon might brief Elon Musk on secret war plans in China, Hegseth exploded at the then-chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Admiral Christopher Grady. 'I’ll hook you up to a f**king polygraph!' Hegseth reportedly yelled at Grady, per two unnamed sources who spoke with the outlet. The Times of London reported that Hegseth has created "an atmosphere of intidimidation" via threats of lie-detector sessions.”

Paul McLeary & Jack Detsch of Politico: “The circle of top advisers in Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s orbit has shrunk in recent days to little more than his wife, lawyer, and two lower-level officials — leaving the Pentagon’s lead office without longtime expertise or clear direction. Hegseth’s decision to fire three senior aides last week and reassign his chief of staff has blown a hole in his leadership team, severing essential lines of communication across the department and leading to fears about dangerous slip-ups such as weapons program delays. The wholesale turnover ... has left the first-time government official without trusted staff who understand Washington — just as he faces fallout from a series of scandals that have led to rampant speculation inside the building about how long he’ll keep his job. 'It’s a free-for-all,' said one person familiar with the office dynamics....”

Dan Lamothe of the Washington Post: “Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s chief of staff departed his post Thursday, he said, the latest twist in an extended period of turmoil at the Pentagon that has included infighting among Hegseth’s advisers, the firing of at least three political appointees and deepening scrutiny of the secretary’s stewardship of the government’s largest agency. Joe Kasper, the departing chief of staff, leaves the role voluntarily and will become a part-time special government employee with a focus on science, technology and industry, he told The Washington Post, though his exact role and title were not yet clear.... Kasper had been discussing the move with colleagues for weeks.... His exit follows weeks of friction between him and Hegseth’s other senior advisers, and questions about how the Pentagon is being managed under the former Fox News personality and the leadership he assembled upon taking office just three months ago.” Politico's story is here.

Borowitz Report: "In the latest embarrassment to rock the Trump administration, Pete Hegseth admitted on Friday that he accidentally texted Houthi rebels a detailed list of the makeup products he uses before appearing on television. The embattled defense secretary said that he had mistakenly sent the Houthis a cosmetics order intended for Sephora." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: It's fine for us to make fun of Drunk Pete, but the fact is that Donald Trump set him up to fail. Any intelligent person would know that Pete could not possibly run the Pentagon, which means both Trump & Pete are dumb as rocks ... OR Trump wanted Pete to fail and Pete is dumb as rocks.

Everything Is Going Very Smoothly. Stefanos Chen & Benjamin Weiser of the New York Times: “The U.S. Department of Transportation on Thursday said it took the extraordinary step of replacing the federal lawyers defending it in a lawsuit over New York City’s congestion pricing program, after accusing them of undermining the department’s bid to end the toll. The move came after the U.S. attorney’s office for the Southern District, which had been handling the case, said it mistakenly filed in federal court in Manhattan on Wednesday night a confidential memo that questioned the department’s legal strategy and urged a new approach. In response, however, the department raised the possibility that the disclosure attempted to sabotage its efforts to halt congestion pricing. Transportation officials said they would transfer the case to the civil division of the Justice Department in Washington. The memo has since been removed from the public docket. In the letter, dated April 11, the three assistant U.S. attorneys on the case warned that Sean Duffy, the transportation secretary, was using a shaky rationale to end the tolling plan and was 'exceedingly likely' to fail, the lawyers wrote.” The Gothamist's story is here.

Jeffrey Mervis of Science: “The director of the National Science Foundation (NSF) announced his resignation [Thursday], 16 months before his 6-year term ends, in a letter to staff obtained by Science....  Sethuraman Panchanathan, a computer scientist ... was nominated to lead NSF by then-President Donald Trump in December 2019 and was confirmed by the Senate in August 2020.... Although Panchanathan, known as Panch, didn’t give a reason for his sudden departure, orders from the White House to accept a 55% cut to the agency’s $9 billion budget next year and fire half its 1700-person staff may have been the final straws in a series of directives Panchanathan felt he could no longer obey.... On 14 April, staffers from ... DOGE set up shop ... at NSF and triggered a series of events that appear to have culminated in Panchanathan’s resignation. Two days later, NSF announced it was halting any new awards for grants that had been recommended for funding.... And NSF said pending proposals that appeared to violate any of Trump’s executive orders ... would be returned for 'mitigation.' On 18 April, NSF announced it was terminating what could be more than $1 billion in grants already awarded because they clashed with those directives and 'were no longer priorities' for the agency.... The same day, DOGE told Panchanathan to prepare a plan for massive layoffs across the agency.”

~~~~~~~~~~

Ukraine/Russia, et al. Ryan Grenoble of the Huffington Post: “When a reporter asked [Donald Trump] what concessions Russia has offered so far to move the needle closer to peace, Trump said, 'Stopping the war. Stopping — taking the whole country.' 'Pretty big concession,' he added.” Bear in mind that Trump has demanded that Ukraine cede to Russia all the territory Russia has captured in this invasion and in the 2014 invasion of Crimea. If Canada seizes control of Michigan, should the U.S. hand over Michigan to Canada? ~~~

~~~ Kim Barker of the New York Times: “Russia killed at least 12 people and injured 90 others in a huge attack on the Ukrainian capital early Thursday, prompting ... [Donald] Trump to issue a rare public criticism of Moscow just hours after he lashed out at President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine.... On Thursday, Mr. Trump lashed out at President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia about the attack, showing how his administration’s positions can seem to flip-flop without warning. 'Vladimir, STOP!' Mr. Trump posted on Truth Social, saying that he was 'not happy' with the Russian strikes. 'Not necessary, and very bad timing,' the post said.” The CBS News story is here.