Carol Leonnig, et al., of MS NOW: "Federal judges in Minnesota have several times in recent weeks rejected arrest warrants for people protesting a surge of immigration officers in that state, finding that federal agents do not have sufficient evidence that protesters assaulted officers or committed other crimes.... In these sealed court proceedings, magistrate judges in the federal court in Minnesota have been deluged with requests from federal prosecutors to arrest and criminally charge protesters.... But some prosecutors have fared poorly in establishing evidence of crime.... It is exceedingly rare for judges to turn down investigators’ requests for search and arrest warrants or criminal complaints, since the standard of evidence required is so low.... This spate of rejections in Minnesota would normally cause embarrassment for the U.S attorney’s office.... But the Minnesota office has been in turmoil since the Justice Department’s decision not to investigate the officer who killed [Renee] Good, which led to six senior prosecutors resigning, and more departures are expected."
From a New York Times liveblog of stupid stuff Trump has done & said lately:
Stephen Castle (re: Cadet Bonespurs): “Prime Minister Keir Starmer of Britain and other leading British politicians on Friday condemned claims made by ... [Donald] Trump that NATO troops had stayed 'a little off the front lines' during the war in Afghanistan. Mr. Trump made the comments in an interview in Davos, Switzerland, with Fox Business, in which Mr. Trump questioned whether other members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization would come to the aid of the United States if needed. 'We’ve never needed them,' Mr. Trump said. 'We have never really asked anything of them. You know, they’ll say they sent some troops to Afghanistan or this or that. And they did. They stayed a little back, little off the front lines.' Under NATO’s collective security agreement, known as Article 5, aggression against one member country is considered an attack on all. It has been invoked only once in the history of the alliance — after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.... Britain ... lost 457 soldiers during two decades of subsequent fighting in Afghanistan.... Mr. Starmer — who normally avoids criticizing the president — said the remarks were 'insulting and frankly appalling.'...” Here's a CBS News story.
Speaking of stupid stuff: ~~~
~~~ KARE Minneapolis: "The day after ICE arrested a 5-year-old boy, his lawyer is sharing new details about how he and his family came to the U.S., directly disputing claims made by the Vice President. Liam Ramos ... was detained on Tuesday afternoon along with his father. The arrest has sparked widespread criticism.... Vice President JD Vance held a press conference in Minneapolis on Thursday, where a reporter asked about Liam. Vance appeared sympathetic at first but then claimed that the boy's father is an 'illegal alien.' 'What are they (ICE) supposed to do? Let a 5-year-old freeze to death?' Vance said.... Attorney Marc Prokosch said the father is not an 'illegal alien' and has been following the law in seeking asylum. According to Prokosch, the family entered the U.S. in 2024 through a port of entry, has been following the legal process, appearing at court hearings, and does not pose a safety risk. He said they 'did everything right when they came in,' and the boy's arrest is 'inhumane and unacceptable.'" ~~~
~~~ Marie: Mediaite transcribes JayDee's remarks here. He claims he did "a little bit [of] follow-up research" and learned that "when they went to arrest his illegal alien father, the father ran." Every story I've read about the boy's detention says that both the child and his father were detained in the driveway of their home, so it looks as if Dad didn't run very far. According to this Guardian story, the father's car engine was still running when ICE detained him. JayDee's "little bit of research" seems to have been checking in with professional liar Tricia McLaughlin. According to the Guardian, "Tricia McLaughlin, Department of Homeland Security assistant secretary, said in a statement on Wednesday night that ICE was conducting a 'targeted operation' to arrest Liam’s father, who[m] she called an 'illegal alien'. 'ICE did NOT target a child,' she said. McLaughlin also alleged the father 'fled on foot – abandoning his child.'” I don't know for certain what happened, but neither does JayDee.
Once again, we see that Trump's bad decisions are not limited to political and economic matters. : ~~~
~~~⭐Apoorva Mandavilli of the New York Times: “Offering a startlingly candid view into the philosophy guiding vaccine recommendations under the Trump administration, the leader of the federal panel that recommends vaccines for Americans said shots against polio and measles — and perhaps all diseases — should be optional, offered only in consultation with a clinician. Dr. Kirk Milhoan, a pediatric cardiologist who is chair of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, said that he did have 'concerns' that some children might die of measles or become paralyzed with polio as a result of a choice not to vaccinate.... In the case of an infectious disease, a personal choice to decline a vaccine may also affect others, including infants who are too young to be vaccinated or people who are immunocompromised. But a person’s right to reject a vaccine supersedes those risks, Dr. Milhoan said.... The polio and measles vaccines are widely acknowledged as staggering successes in public health, credited with preventing disability and millions of deaths worldwide.”
Michael Gold of the New York Times: “Two top House Democrats called on Attorney General Pam Bondi on Thursday to allow them to visit the minimum-security federal prison in Texas where Ghislaine Maxwell is being held and to interview the warden, citing reports they said they had received that she was receiving preferential treatment. In a letter to Ms. Bondi, Representatives Jamie Raskin of Maryland and Robert Garcia of California, the top Democrats on the Judiciary and Oversight Committees, said that more than a dozen people had come forward with whistle-blower complaints about the treatment of Ms. Maxwell, the longtime companion of Jeffrey Epstein.... The lawmakers asserted that whistle-blowers had told them that one person had been fired for reporting Ms. Maxwell’s treatment to Congress, which would be a violation of federal law.”
Indiana. Stephanie Saul of the New York Times: “Police officials in Lafayette, Ind., have arrested five people in connection with the nonfatal shootings of a prominent local judge and his wife five days ago. Officials said in court documents that the attack was part of a plot to murder the judge in order to delay the trial of one of the alleged conspirators in another case. The allegations, described in court documents released on Friday, indicate that the police also believe that the shooting of the judge, Steven P. Meyer of Tippecanoe County Superior Court, and his wife, Kimberly, was a gang-related crime. In the attack on Sunday, the police said, a man went to the door of the couple’s house in Lafayette, claiming to have lost a dog. When the judge and his wife came to the entryway of the house, the man shot them through the door, the police said. Judge Meyer, 66, who was struck in the arm, is hospitalized and recovering. Ms. Meyer was treated for a leg injury and released.”
~~~~~~~~~~
Petty Prince of Pity Parties disinvites PM from "peace" party: ~~~
Please let this Letter serve to represent that the Board of Peace is withdrawing its invitation to you regarding Canada’s joining, what will be, the most prestigious Board of Leaders ever assembled, at any time. -- Donald Trump, in a social media post framed as a letter to Mark Carney ~~~
~~~ No Need to RSVP, Mark! Chris Cameron & Matina Stevis-Gridneff of the New York Times: Donald “Trump rescinded on Thursday his invitation for Prime Minister Mark Carney of Canada to join his 'Board of Peace,' an organization ... he has ... tried to broaden into an institution to rival the United Nations. In a high-profile speech at the World Economic Forum on Tuesday, Mr. Carney had urged leaders of smaller nations to band together to resist Mr. Trump’s America First doctrine and his efforts to dismantle the post-World War II international order. On Thursday, hours before Mr. Trump’s announcement, Mr. Carney went further, denouncing 'authoritarianism and exclusion' in a speech that appeared to be referencing the president. Though Mr. Trump did not explain why he was rescinding the invitation, Mr. Trump, who often lashes out against leaders who publicly defy him, appeared to be reacting to Mr. Carney’s candid remarks.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: I'm thinking Carney is not all that upset about being disinvited from the most prestigious board of kings, tin-pot dictators & repressive despots ever assembled: ~~~
~~~ Ian Austen of the New York Times: “... when [Mark] Carney returned this week from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, he was suddenly a global political star. The normally reserved audience at the annual gathering of billionaires, investors, chief executives and politicians rose in an exceptional standing ovation at the end of Mr. Carney’s rousing, 30-minute speech on Tuesday. Mr. Carney was praised for his candid assessment of what he called an irrevocable 'rupture' to the global order caused by ... [Donald] Trump, and for urging other middle powers to join Canada in charting a distinct path away from the world’s superpowers. And in sharp contrast to other world leaders who flatter Mr. Trump or keep their heads down for fear of provoking him, Mr. Carney speaks bluntly.
“On Thursday..., Mr. Carney set out Canada’s direction in a speech in Quebec City, saying that his country 'must be a beacon — an example to a world at sea.' 'In a time of rising walls and thickening borders, we demonstrate how a country can be both open and secure, welcoming and strong, principled and powerful,' he said, speaking where his cabinet was meeting, in a fortress built by the British more than 200 years ago to fend off American invaders.”
~~~ Ishaan Tharoor of the Washington Post: “... for all the oxygen Trump seemed to suck up high in the mountains, he may not have had the biggest impact. That distinction belongs to Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, whose speech Tuesday was widely viewed as the defining moment of the week.”
Paul Krugman: “Trump may have imagined that the Europeans would cower in the face of his wrath. Instead, they humiliated him. He dropped his latest tariff threats in return for a 'framework' that gave the United States essentially nothing it didn’t already have — and left behind a Europe that is finally united in resistance to his bullying.”
President* of the Earth. Marlam Kahn & Kevin Shalvey of ABC News: "... Donald Trump hosted a signing ceremony for his Board of Peace on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos on Thursday, saying that it was a 'very exciting day' and that the collective would become one of the "most consequential bodies" ever created.... More than two dozen countries have so far accepted Trump's invitation to join the board, but none of the U.S.'s major European allies have yet made a commitment and some have rejected the idea. Trump was flanked on the stage in Davos by more than a dozen leaders whose countries had agreed to be signatories. He described those who were present as 'just the countries that are here.'" MB: For some reason, the photo accompanying the ABC News story looks slightly different from the one below. However, at least two faces are the same in both photos: Trump and crazy Argentine president Javier Milei. (Also linked yesterday.)
 |
| Trump signs Board of Peace charter. Thanks to RAS. |
Ashleigh Fields of the Hill: “Many of the countries that signed on to join ... [Donald] Trump’s 'Board of Peace' ... are also banned from immigrant visas by the State Department. Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Egypt, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Morocco, Mongolia, Pakistan and Uzbekistan are among the 75 countries the Trump administration has deemed likely to require public assistance while living in the United States.” MB: I should have asserted above that many of “the most prestigious Board of Leaders ever assembled” were the heads of what Trump would call “shithole” countries.
Constant Méheut of the New York Times: “President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine used a blunt speech before the world’s political and business elites on Thursday to take aim at European countries, denouncing their inability to stop Russia’s aggression and their timid response to ... [Donald] Trump’s threat to seize Greenland. Mr. Zelensky’s speech, delivered at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, was among his most scathing critiques of Europe. It was unexpected, given that the continent has become Ukraine’s most reliable ally as the Trump administration has stepped back from supporting Kyiv’s war effort. The address amounted to a call to action for a continent that Mr. Zelensky portrayed as unprepared for a world growing more dangerous by the day. He warned that Europe must unite and step up or risk being left behind in an increasingly competitive global order.”
When you think President* Whiney-Baby cannot get more absurd: ~~~
~~~ Lucy Campbell of the Guardian: “Donald Trump has said he is expanding his defamation suit against the New York Times after an unfavorable opinion poll.... [In a post on his social media platform, h]e wrote: 'The Times Siena Poll, which is always tremendously negative to me, especially just before the Election of 2024, where I won in a Landslide, will be added to my lawsuit against The Failing New York Times. Our lawyers have demanded that they keep all Records, and how they “computed” these fake results – Not just the fact that it was heavily skewed toward Democrats. They will be held fully responsible for all of their Radical Left lies and wrongdoing!'... The latest New York Times/Siena University poll showed Trump’s approval rating slipped to 40%, three points lower than in the last survey. Fewer than a third of the people surveyed said the country was better off than it was a year ago, and 51% said Trump’s policies had made life less affordable for them.” ~~~
~~~ Donnie Keeps on Suing. Rachel Lerman & Andrew Ackerman of the Washington Post: “... Donald Trump filed a lawsuit Thursday against JPMorgan Chase and its chief executive, Jamie Dimon, alleging the bank improperly closed his accounts in 2021 and sought to 'blacklist' him and his family from doing business with other banks. Trump is seeking at least $5 billion in damages.... Dimon initially struck a celebratory tone toward Trump after his reelection in 2024, saying bankers were “dancing in the street” after years of tougher regulation. In recent weeks, however, Dimon has publicly diverged from Trump, suggesting a more strained relationship between the two men. Dimon recently criticized Trump’s immigration policies, in a rare public rebuke by a major U.S. corporate leader, according to CNBC. Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, this week, Dimon said he disagreed with the president’s approach even as he acknowledged efforts to secure the border.” An AP story is here. The MS NOW story is here. It includes a copy of the complaint.
He Takes the Big Aspirin.* Julia Manchester of the Hill: Donald “Trump on Thursday addressed bruising on his hand seen at an event earlier in the day. saying he 'clipped' it on a table and attributing being easily bruised to the side effects of taking aspirin daily for his heart condition.... 'I clipped it on the table,' he [asserted], saying that he put cream on it. 'I would say take aspirin if you like your heart, but don’t take aspirin if you don’t want to have a little bruising,' the president said. 'I take the big aspirin. And when you take the big aspirin, they tell you, you bruise. The doctors said, “You don’t have to take that, sir. You are very healthy.” I said, “I’m not taking any chances,’” he said. 'That’s one of the side effects of taking aspirin.'” ~~~
~~~ * But it's a "Sir" story.
Luke Broadwater & Zach Montague of the New York Times: “At its first meeting to consider ... [Donald] Trump’s planned new White House ballroom, the Commission of Fine Arts on Thursday reported it had received more than 30 letters from the public about the project. 'The truth is almost all them were in some way critical,' said Thomas Luebke, the commission’s secretary.... The members of the newly remade board — whom Mr. Trump appointed after he fired their predecessors — had their own questions and concerns, including about the size of the 1,000-person ballroom and the security of the facility. But they also made clear they believed it was their role to carry out the president’s agenda, and do so quickly.... The Commission of Fine Arts, which is overseeing the design of the president’s new ballroom plan, is one of two review panels that Mr. Trump has stacked with allies as he has pushed to construct a 90,000-square-foot building in the place of the East Wing....” ~~~
~~~ Huh. Jacob Rosen & Arden Farhi of CBS News: "A federal judge appeared skeptical of the Trump administration's claims that it has the proper authority to continue construction on the East Wing site that was demolished last year. U.S. District Judge Richard Leon heard arguments Thursday on a motion brought by the National Trust for Historic Preservation to block the ongoing construction of the East Wing until the Trump administration goes through the appropriate approval processes, which it alleges the Trump administration has ignored. Friday's [MB: ???] arguments focused primarily on two issues: whether the president can unilaterally renovate the White House and whether he can do it with private funds that were transferred to an office under his authority, rather than with funds appropriated by Congress."
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. Glenn Thrush & Alan Feuer of the New York Times: “Jack Smith, the special prosecutor who twice indicted Donald J. Trump, defended his investigation in a tense and long-awaited appearance before a House committee on Thursday — flatly accusing Mr. Trump of causing the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.... His testimony represented the argument he was never allowed to deliver in court: that Mr. Trump 'engaged in criminal activity' that undermined democracy and the rule of law.... 'Our investigation revealed that Donald Trump is the person who caused Jan. 6, that it was foreseeable to him and that he sought to exploit the violence,' Mr. Smith said, sitting alone at the witness table.... The hearing posed significant risks to Mr. Smith, who has said he believes Mr. Trump and his appointees will seize on the smallest misstep to investigate, prosecute and humiliate him....
“As if to underscore that danger, Mr. Trump took to Truth Social to go after Mr. Smith. Hopefully Attorney General Pam Bondi 'is looking at what he’s done, including some of the crooked and corrupt witnesses that he was attempting to use in his case against me,' he wrote.... Republicans [on the Committee] repeatedly accused Mr. Smith of participating in a Democratic conspiracy to destroy Mr. Trump.... Asked to comment on Mr. Trump’s threat on Truth Social during his testimony, which included a call for his disbarment..., [Mr. Smith said,] 'The statements are meant to intimidate me.... I will not be intimidated. I think these statements are also made as a warning to others what will happen if they stand up.'...
“The expansive report [Mr. Smith] wrote about the documents case remains under seal because of an order issued by Judge Aileen M. Cannon, the Trump appointee who oversaw the proceeding. Her order expires on Feb. 24, but Mr. Trump has been trying to prevent the report from seeing the light of day. On Tuesday, his lawyers asked Judge Cannon to permanently keep it under wraps, arguing that its release would 'improperly endorse' Mr. Smith’s 'unlawful investigation and prosecution' of the case and 'irreparably harm President Trump.'” NPR's report is here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ American Oversight (December 23, 2025): “On Monday..., Judge Aileen Cannon denied American Oversight’s motion to intervene to lift the court’s January 21, 2025, gag order blocking the release of Volume II of former Special Counsel Jack Smith’s report on ... [Donald] Trump’s handling of classified documents.... 'After nearly a year of delay, the court acted only when it was forced to and after Donald Trump personally stepped in. Even then, the decision was structured to give him exactly what he wanted: time, leverage, and a clear roadmap for keeping this report buried,' said Chioma Chukwu, Executive Director of American Oversight.'... In November, Judge Cannon was compelled by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit’s to respond to American Oversight’s mandamus petition asking the court to vacate the gag order. The court found that Cannon’s failure to rule on our motion — which had been fully briefed since March — constituted an 'undue delay,' and gave her 60 days to fully resolve the issues....” (Also linked yesterday.)
Emily Bazelon & Rachel Poser in the New York Times Magazine: “Since [Kash] Patel’s confirmation last February, the F.B.I. has undergone a transformation that has upended its nonpartisan rules and norms, deeply rattling many of its 38,000 employees. Patel has fired agents who worked on the Trump investigations and radically changed the bureau’s mission. More than 20 percent of the F.B.I.’s work force has been assigned to immigration enforcement, pulling agents and analysts away from investigating public corruption, cybercrime, white-collar crime, drug trafficking and terrorism. Patel has also been embroiled in controversies over his use of government resources, his temperament and missteps in high-profile investigations. We interviewed 45 employees who work at the F.B.I. or who left during Trump’s second term, as well as many other current and former government officials.... Many current and former employees fear ... that the F.B.I. has become a weapon of the White House, and that the firings and the diversion of resources to immigration enforcement have left the country vulnerable to attack.”
Pooja Salhotra & Jazmine Ulloa of the New York Times: “Hundreds of businesses across Minnesota are expected to close and many people are vowing to pause everyday activities on Friday as part of a general strike against the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. As tensions mount and a sense of fear of detention by immigration agents permeates the state, vendors, labor unions and residents are set to participate in an economic blackout and gather at prayers and protests on what organizers called a 'Day of Truth and Freedom.'”
JayDee “Tries a Different Tack.” Natalie Allison & Lauren Gurley of the Washington Post: “Walking out of a roundtable with immigration enforcement officials Thursday in Minneapolis..., the vice president said his goal was to help lower the temperature in a city roiled by chaos in recent weeks. 'The directive that I got from the president of the United States is “Meet these guys halfway,’” Vance said of local leaders whom he and other Trump officials have described as stonewalling Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s efforts.... The vice president’s comments were in tonal contrast with his declaration earlier this month that the officer who fatally shot 37-year-old Renée Good ... was 'protected by absolute immunity.'... He called for city and state leaders to allow police to better cooperate with federal agents to keep enforcement efforts more targeted to violent criminals, and he blamed local officials for making the situation more chaotic.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: I don't think JayDee, in calling for cooperation with local officials, addressed the fact that (a) the DOJ has shut out Minnesota officials from participating in an investigation of the killing of Renee Good, or that (b) the DOJ had initiated baseless criminal investigations into prominent Minnesota officials like the governor and the mayor of Minneapolis.
Heather Cox Richardson pulls together JayDee's attempt "to regain control of the narrative" with a number of other Trumpy developments. Too bad Richardson didn't incorporate the following story, wherein the administration tries to "regain control of the narrative" by proving "a (fake) picture is worth a thousand words." ~~~
~~~ The thing George Orwell got wrong was the year 1984. ~~~
~~~ Tiffany Hsu, et al., of the New York Times: “The White House posted a digitally altered image showing a demonstrator involved in interrupting a church service in Minnesota last weekend crying as she was arrested on Thursday. A previous version of the image, also posted by an official government account, showed her looking forward calmly.... The Justice Department said on Thursday morning that it had taken the demonstrator, Nekima Levy Armstrong, a lawyer, into custody, accusing her of helping to interrupt a church service in St. Paul, Minn., on Sunday.... Less than an hour after Attorney General Pam Bondi announced the arrest on X on Thursday, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem posted an image of the arrest on the same social media platform. In Ms. Noem’s image, Ms. Levy Armstrong appears composed.... Roughly a half-hour after Ms. Noem sent her message, the White House posted its own version of the arrest image, in which Ms. Levy Armstrong appears to be sobbing. Her skin appears to have been darkened.” Here's the Guardian's story.
Brad Reed of Common Dreams: “US Customs and Border Patrol Commander Greg Bovino on Tuesday was caught on video throwing a gas grenade at lawful protesters in Minneapolis on the same day that a court temporarily lifted restrictions on federal immigration agents’ use of force in the Twin Cities. As reported by the Minnesota Star-Tribune, Bovino hurled a gas canister at protesters who had gathered at Mueller Park in the Minneapolis neighborhood of Whittier. After Bovino threw the can, the Star-Tribune wrote, 'plumes of green and gray smoke burst over the crowd,' causing protesters and observers to flee the scene. According to NBC News’ Maggie Vespa, the attack on the protesters began shortly after Bovino and other immigration agents were denied service at a local Speedway gas station. As they exited the station, they were 'swarmed' by demonstrators, and the situation 'devolved' from there.... Immigration agents were also seen deploying chemical spray on protesters and observers. In one case, an agent was caught on video spraying a person directly in their eyes even after they had already been brought to the ground and restrained by fellow officers.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
How Screwed-up Is ICE? Andrew Egger of the Bulwark: “When ICE agents detained U.S. citizen ChongLy Thao in Minneapolis this weekend — breaking down his door and escorting him half-naked into the snow -- administration officials claimed they’d been looking for a pair of sex-criminal migrants at the address. DHS plastered images of the two men they were hunting across social media with dire warnings that they remained 'at large.'... But there was one place they apparently hadn’t bothered to look: the Minnesota prison system.... Lue Moua, one of DHS’s purported targets, has been [there] since a 2024 conviction on charges including felony kidnapping.... Moua’s name, face, and criminal record are easy to find in a public database of state criminal records.... Moreover..., Moua is already under an ICE detainer — meaning ICE is already aware he is there and has requested he be placed into their custody upon his release from state prison.... It all amounts to the latest indicator that the Minneapolis ICE crusade is more of a government-run smash-and-grab operation than an orderly, tightly run enforcement process.”
Jeremy Roebuck, et al., of the Washington Post: “A [magistrate] judge in Minnesota rejected federal prosecutors’ attempt to criminally charge journalist Don Lemon in relation to his presence this week during a protest at a St. Paul church, an extraordinary rebuke of a Justice Department that has drawn criticism for its forceful response to demonstrations against immigration enforcement efforts.... Lemon, a former CNN anchor now working as an independent journalist, followed the demonstrators into the church as they protested one of its pastors who also works as a local U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement official.... It is exceedingly rare for a court to refuse to sign off on a misdemeanor complaint sought by prosecutors, suggesting the judge did not believe there was probable cause to support a case against Lemon. 'The magistrate’s reported actions confirm the nature of Don’s First Amendment protected work this weekend in Minnesota as a reporter,' his attorney Abbe Lowell said in a statement.”
Danny Hakim of the New York Times: “ In the wake of an immigration sweep in Chicago last fall that ignited protests all over the city, federal officials accused a local Latino man of offering a bounty on [Border Patrol commander Greg] Bovino’s life.... But on Thursday, a Chicago jury acquitted ... [Juan Espinoza Martinez], the latest setback for the Justice Department, which has faltered in a number of attempts to prosecute cases related to Mr. Trump’s immigration policy.... After the acquittal, Mr. Espinoza Martinez hugged his lawyers but was not released from custody. With a separate immigration case ahead, it was not clear what his fate would be.” The AP's report is here.
Here's a reminder that disregarding the Bill of Rights is an administration-wide project. It's not all on ICE Barbie & her team of swaggering sadists. ~~~
~~~ Zach Montague of the New York Times: “Secretary of State Marco Rubio personally approved the deportation of five student activists last year after receiving memos largely describing their participation in pro-Palestinian protests and their writings about the war in Gaza, according to internal government documents unsealed by a federal judge on Thursday. The documents reveal new details about how the Trump administration decided to target the activists, who were all foreign students visible in campus protests. They had been in the United States legally but were arrested and threatened with deportation last spring. The several hundred pages were submitted as evidence in a trial held in Massachusetts in July over noncitizen students’ freedom of expression. After hearing testimony and examining the documents, Judge William G. Young, an appointee of President Ronald Reagan, ruled last year that the Trump administration had illegally targeted the students for deportation based on their speech — in particular their opposition to the Israeli government and its military operations in Gaza.... Last week [Judge Young] agreed to a request from The New York Times and other media outlets that [documents in the case] be released as a matter of public interest.”
Sheryl Stolberg of the New York Times: “The United States formally withdrew from the World Health Organization on Thursday, making good on an executive order that ... [Donald] Trump issued on his first day in office pledging to leave the international organization that coordinates global responses to public health threats. While the United States is walking away from the organization, a senior official with the Department of Health and Human Services told reporters on Thursday that the Trump administration was considering some type of narrow, limited engagement with W.H.O. global networks that track infectious diseases, including influenza.... On Thursday, the administration said that all U.S. government funding to the organization had been terminated, and that all assigned federal employees and contractors had been recalled from its Geneva headquarters and its offices worldwide.” The AP story is here.
Marie: Bobby Kennedy, Jr. brought new meaning to the term "Guinea pig" in approving this now-cancelled, horrifying "study": ~~~
~~~ Stephanie Nolen & Christine Jewitt of the New York Times: “The West African nation of Guinea-Bissau has suspended a controversial U.S.-funded study of the hepatitis B vaccine in infants there after an outcry from public health researchers over the ethics of the work. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention approved a $1.6 million grant for the study last month, days after the health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., lifted the agency’s longstanding recommendation to give the vaccine to all infants at birth. Although the World Health Organization also recommends giving the shot at birth, Mr. Kennedy said more research was needed about the effects of a birth dose. The study, which was to be carried out by Danish researchers, swiftly became the subject of furor in the public health world, with researchers in Africa and the United States saying that it violated key tenets of ethical science. A Trump administration health official said the study had been paused.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: IMO, this is akin to the infamous "Tuskegee Experiment" on Black men who had syphilis. Bobby Kennedy isn't just a crackpot; he's an evil crackpot. It seems that every day we learn of another atrocity that the Trump administration is carrying out in our names and with our dollars. ~~~
~~~ Update: Here's the NPR story, which reports that "Many public health experts call the study unethical and unnecessary, likening it to the infamous Tuskegee Experiment." So I'm in good company.
The NPR story also reports that HHS "is proceeding as planned and the protocol is being finalized." So it ain't over till it's over. (For a while, I thought I must be getting smarter because I have so often found experts who agree with my knee-jerk reactions to one thing and another. It has since dawned on me that I'm "right" most of the time because Team Trump is so glaringly wrong -- all of the time. I'm not wiser; the government is just consistently dumber.)
The people who risk their lives in defense of the constitution have earned the right to the press freedoms of the First Amendment. -- Erik Slavin, Stars & Stripes Editor-in-Chief ~~~
~~~ Liam Scott & Scott Nover of the Washington Post: “The Pentagon criticized the military newspaper [Stars & Stripes] as 'woke.' Now its leaders — and some members of Congress — are trying to assert the publication’s independence.... First published during the Civil War and continually published since World War II, Stars and Stripes reports on and for the U.S. military community. With about 60 newsroom staffers spread across eight countries, the paper estimates that it reaches about 1.4 million people a day across its platforms. Even though the newspaper receives some of its funding — about 35 percent to 45 percent — from the Pentagon, Congress has long affirmed the newspaper’s editorial independence.... [Sen. Richard] Blumenthal [D-Conn.] said in a statement Thursday that he’s planning to take action to further codify Stars and Stripes’s editorial independence by introducing legislation ensuring the outlet is 'safeguarded from political influence and interference.'”
Jake Spring of the Washington Post: “National Park Service staff on Thursday took down an exhibit on slavery at Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia, which had been targeted last year by ... Donald Trump in an executive order on 'restoring truth and sanity to American history.' The exhibit was at the President’s House Site, where George Washington lived as president. The informational panels discussed Washington’s ownership of enslaved people, as well as the broader history of slavery, and included details about their lives. The Park Service has been removing information on historic racism, sexism, LGBT rights, slavery and climate change since last year as it carries out Trump’s executive order.” An ABC News-Philadelphia story is here.
Catie Edmondson of the New York Times: “The House on Thursday passed a spending package for a broad swath of the government, narrowly mustering the votes to fund the Department of Homeland Security amid a Democratic revolt over spending for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The package, which also would fund the Pentagon and the health and transportation departments, rejects the deepest spending cuts that ... [Donald] Trump requested, including a 50 percent reduction to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and a 40 percent cut to the National Institutes of Health, which would instead receive a $415 million boost. It also rejects Mr. Trump’s request for a $840 million increase in funding for ICE, leaving funding for the agency roughly flat. It contains the final set of spending bills that must be enacted before next Friday in order to avoid a government shutdown. The legislation still must pass the Senate before it can be sent to Mr. Trump, but it appeared to be on track to clear Congress.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ An NBC News story is here. Politico's story is here.
Robert Jimison of the New York Times: “The House on Thursday just barely defeated a resolution that would have barred ... [Donald] Trump from taking further military action in Venezuela without congressional approval, weeks after he ordered a raid there without consulting or winning approval from lawmakers. The measure failed in an unusual tie vote of 215 to 215, with two Republicans crossing party lines in favor.... The defeat was the latest instance of Congress ceding authority to a president who has aggressively tested the bounds of his military power.” (Also linked yesterday.) The AP story is here.
Catie Edmondson of the New York Times: “The House on Thursday voted unanimously to tuck language into a spending bill that would repeal a law that created a new avenue for senators to sue the government if federal investigators gained access to their phone records without notifying them. The 427-0 vote amounted to a bipartisan rebuke of the Senate after leaders in that chamber in November slipped the legal provision into legislation to reopen the government after the nation’s longest shutdown. It allows each senator to sue for at least $500,000. The last-minute insertion of the measure into a must-pass bill late last year had infuriated Republicans and Democrats in the House — and many in the Senate. They objected in particular to the retroactive nature of the measure, which appeared aimed at ensuring that eight Republican senators whose phone records were subpoenaed by investigators examining efforts by ... [Donald] Trump to obstruct the results of the 2020 presidential election could seek personal payouts.” ~~~
~~~ Rachel Maddow pointed out a comical irony of this vote: House members voted to repeal the Senate phone records bonanza during an adjournment of a hearing in which some of these same House members were railing against Jack Smith for subpoenaing the records.
David McCabe & Emmett Lindner of the New York Times: “TikTok said on Thursday that its Chinese owner, ByteDance, had struck a deal with a group of non-Chinese investors to create a new U.S. TikTok, concluding a six-year legal saga that saw the app banned by Congress and ensnared in politicking between two global superpowers. Investors including the software giant Oracle; MGX, an Emirati investment firm; and Silver Lake, another investment firm, will own more than 80 percent of the new venture. That list also includes the personal investment entity for Michael Dell, the tech billionaire behind Dell Technologies, and other firms, TikTok said. Adam Presser, TikTok’s former head of operations, will be the chief executive for the U.S. TikTok....
“Since 2019, universities, several branches of the U.S. military, the vast majority of the House of Representatives and both ... [Donald] Trump and President Joseph R. Biden Jr. had tried to ban or block TikTok, with unanimous support from the Supreme Court.... The driving force behind the deal is a federal law, passed in 2024 and upheld by the Supreme Court, that would have banned the app if it did not separate itself from ByteDance by early 2025.... But Mr. Trump formally delayed the enforcement of the law several times after he took office again last January, as he pushed the company to reach a deal for new ownership.” ~~~
~~~ Monica Alba, et al., of NBC News: "The United States and China have signed off on a deal that hands control of TikTok’s U.S. operations to a group of investors backed by ... Donald Trump."
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Iowa. Frances Vinall of the Washington Post: “A former Iowa schools superintendent on Thursday admitted to a court that he had misrepresented himself as a U.S. citizen on an employment form, in a case that shocked the Des Moines school district after his arrest by Immigration and Customs Enforcement last year. Court filings show Ian Roberts pleaded guilty to falsely claiming to be a U.S. citizen in his employment documentation in June 2023, when he was hired by the Des Moines School Board, and to possessing firearms while he was in the country illegally. A sentencing hearing is set for May 29.”
Minnesota Gubernatorial Race. Lisa Lerer, et al., of the New York Times: “Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota filed paperwork on Thursday to run for governor of her home state, signaling her likely entrance to a contest that has shifted rapidly since Gov. Tim Walz made the stunning decision to end his campaign for a third term. The state’s race for governor has been upended by ... [Donald] Trump’s anti-immigration raids, the fatal shooting of a woman in Minneapolis by a federal agent and widespread protests against the administration’s crackdown. The Justice Department has also begun investigations into at least five Democratic officials in the state, including Mr. Walz.”
Texas. Neil Vigdor of the New York Times: In 1954, “an all-white jury convicted Tommy Lee Walker of rape and murder, relying on inadmissible evidence and a coerced confession that he immediately recanted, county officials said.... [Walker] was sent to the electric chair in 1956.... On Wednesday, the Dallas County Commissioners Court exonerated Mr. Walker, determining that the prosecutor in the case and the police had steered his conviction ... during the Jim Crow era, and violated his constitutional rights. ”
