Alex Jeffrey Pretti is dead. Trump called him a domestic terrorist. Noem asserted that he was there to “massacre law enforcement.” She said “I don’t know of any peaceful protester who shows up with a gun and ammunition rather than a sign.” Video leaves no doubt that Pretti never brandished a gun, pointed a gun, reached for a gun or otherwise used a gun against anyone. It appears he “was armed” with a gun. He had a permit for a concealed weapon.

To the extent there was any excuse for pumping ten bullets into his body, it was because he had a weapon* on his person.** As loyal Trump sycophant who pretends to be the United States Attorney for the Central District of California, Bill Essayli twitted, “If you approach law enforcement with a gun, there is a high likelihood they will be legally justified in shooting you.” Continue reading →

There is little question that Jan Carey broke the law by starting a fire in Lafayette Park, even if he did so in protest of Trump’s Executive Order “criminalizing” the burning of the American flag. But he didn’t just start a fire. He then burned the Stars and Stripes the same day that Trump signed his EO. So was he being prosecuted for starting a fire, or targeted for burning the flag? That’s what D.C. Chief Judge James Boasberg decided he was entitled to find out.

You cannot falsely shout fire in a crowded theater.  What about lighting a fire in a crowded park? After President Donald Trump issued an executive order directing the Department of Justice to prosecute anyone who engages in the protected speech of burning the American flag, Defendant Jan Carey marched to Lafayette Park and burned a flag in protest. He stands charged with violating park regulations that prohibit setting a fire outside a designated area or receptacle and lighting a fire that damages property or threatens public safety. Continue reading →

Not that there’s much of the Constitution that ICE seems either care about or recognize, but two whistleblowers have revealed that ICE has put into writing the position that its own administrative warrants are all that’s needed to break into homes to make arrests. As long as they have a Form I-125, signed by an immigration judge, an administrative judge who works for the Justice Department, that’s good enough.

Federal immigration officers are asserting sweeping power to forcibly enter people’s homes without a judge’s warrant, according to an internal Immigration and Customs Enforcement memo obtained by The Associated Press, marking a sharp reversal of longstanding guidance meant to respect constitutional limits on government searches. The memo authorizes ICE officers to use force to enter a residence based solely on a more narrow administrative warrant to arrest someone with a final order of removal, a move that advocates say collides with Fourth Amendment protections and upends years of advice given to immigrant communities.

Is it good enough? Continue reading →

Later today, President Trump is scheduled to speak at the World Economic Forum at Davos about housing affordability, which has no bearing on the subject for which the Forum exists and is unlikely to be the topic of Trump’s meandering stream of consciousness speech, which is more likely to touch upon the 2020 “rigged” election, Biden’s failings, and Norway’s shame in not awarding Trump the Nobel Peace Prize for the eight wars he pretends he prevented.

In contrast, Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney gave a speech yesterday that said out loud the reality in which nations of the world that once believed they were allies of the United States, and that the United States of America was a reliable friend and protector of the free world now find themselves. Continue reading →

On the verge of the Supreme Court decision over Trump’s purported use of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977, Trump’s hurt feelings over not being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize that he so desperately desired got the better of him. While threatening to invade Greenland and take it for his own, he imposed yet another set of tariffs, this time against European NATO allies who are prepared, along with Canada, to honor their duties under Article 5 of the NATO alliance, to come to the aid of any NATO member threatened by hostilities. The hostilities, of course, come solely from Trump.

Trump sent the president of Norway a letter, which he ordered distributed among ambassadors of other NATO nations so they would all appreciate the great and powerful Trump. Continue reading →

In a New York Times op-ed by former federal judges Shira Sheindlin of the Southern District of New York and John Jones III of the Middle District of Pennsylvania, they note the obvious. Lawyers have forsaken their dignity. In support, they tell the sordid tale of Trump coercing Biglaw to bend to his will, and some white shoe firms flopping on their knees with tongues out and drool dripping on Trump’s Thom McCans.

Last year was not the proudest year for the American legal profession. The Trump administration took unconscionable and manifestly illegal measures against law firms that had represented clients and causes the administration disliked. In response, several large firms made deals to eliminate diversity efforts and agreed to provide nearly $1 billion of free legal services to causes favored by the government. While a handful of firms fought back and won, most simply remained silent, no doubt wary of making themselves a target of political ire.

Continue reading →

The Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency was never one of the elite federal groups. It was the TSA of federal agencies, unlike the FBI, Secret Service or Postal Inspectors, who were highly regarded whether they deserved it or not. But ICE? It was not where the best and brightest wanted to work. Accordingly, it was staffed by the dregs of federal law enforcement, the people no other agency would take. And that was largely fine given the limits of its jurisdiction and purpose.

But that was before mass deportations became the primary focus of the federal government, and ICE was loosed on the streets to act without legal or constitutional constraint, a price Stephen Miller and the MAGA faithful were willing to pay to rid the nation of illegal aliens and anybody else they deemed undesirable Americans. The agency has since run amok, flipped the process on its head by demanding, at will, people prove their citizenship and wantonly engaging in violence and destruction along the way. The administration has backed them without reservation, making up any story necessary to justify their brutal actions without shame. Continue reading →

He did it. It comes as no surprise, as it conforms to his character, but still. He did it. Trump stood there for his photo op, grinning, next to Venezuela opposition leader, María Corina Machado, holding the framed prize.

In the background, you can see the gold doodads Trump adores, what to his mind scream wealth, power and importance. After all, he was a kid from Queens who was never accepted by the old money of New York because he was vulgar and ignorant, the sort of person one didn’t invite for dinner. That’s why he was best friends with someone like Jeffrey Epstein, who was also a pariah among the wealthy, though for somewhat different reasons. Continue reading →

After another shooting in Minneapolis by an ICE agent, chaos erupted. Protesters apparently “took the bait” and responded to ICE’s surge by shooting fireworks and assaulting agents. Agents responded by firing gas cannisters and flashbang grenades, and spraying OC in the faces of protesters. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche saw his opening and went for it.

Beyond the disingenuous comparison of surging 3000 ICE agents, dwarfing the Minneapolis police force of 600, for no better reason than Trump hating those “garbage” Somalis, as well as former Democratic VP candidate Walz, Blanch threw in a word that isn’t thrown lightly. Insurrection. Continue reading →

Six left the Department of Justice Office of Civil Rights. Six more left the United States Attorney’s office for Minnesota. These aren’t radical left lunatics, as our president likes to call anyone who doesn’t bend to his will, but Assistant United States Attorneys, prosecutors if you will, who got their marching orders and decided to walk instead.

Six federal prosecutors in Minnesota resigned on Tuesday over the Justice Department’s push to investigate the widow of a woman killed by an ICE agent and the department’s reluctance to investigate the shooter, according to people with knowledge of their decision.

Joe Thompson, who was in charge of the fraud investigation that was used to justify the surge, was one of the six to leave. Continue reading →