Some might consider it ridiculous that Jeff Bezos thought it wise to pay $40 million to produce a movie no one outside the White House wanted. But then, was it really about making a documentary about Trump’s third wife, or about having a mechanism to funnel a $40 million to Trump? As a movie business decision, it was nuts. As a Trump business decision, it was still nuts, given that any purchase of Trump’s affection lasts only until the check clears.

But Amazon paid, and the movie was made.

Amazon paid Ms. Trump’s production company $40 million for the rights to “Melania,” about $26 million more than the next closest bidder, Disney. The fee includes a related docuseries that is scheduled to air later this year. The budget for “Melania” is unknown, but documentaries that follow a subject for a limited amount of time usually cost less than $5 million to produce.

Continue reading →

When the chair of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Republican James Comer, subpoenaed Bill and Hillary Clinton, he no doubt did so for nefarious purposes. It served to focus attention on the Clintons’ relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, and thereby deflect attention from Epstein’s best friend. It was in direct conflict with the position taken by Trump administration officials, who refused to comply with the January 6 select committee’s subpoenas under a baseless claim of Executive Privilege.

There was no good faith basis for the testimony of Bill Clinton, for whom there is no evidence that he had knowledge or connection with Epstein’s sex abuse and trafficking with young girls. There was even less basis for the testimony of Hillary Clinton. Nonetheless, Comer issued the subpoenas for closed-door testimony. Continue reading →

Recognizing the overwhelming unpopularity of the Administration’s response to the killing of Alex Pretti, Trump was miffed. Not so much that he disagreed with the tactics of DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and CBT Commandant-at-Large Greg Bovino, as lie and deny has long been Trump’s go-to as he was taught by his sensei, Roy Cohn. But what possible reason could there be for Trump to suffer the slings and arrows of people unwilling to bend to his vision after having seen all the videos when he had people to throw under the bus.

Bye, Bovino. Hide your puppies, as Noem gets nasty when she’s on thin ice. As for Stephen Miller, who knows? Continue reading →

There was no investigation of the killing of Renee Good because, as DAG Todd Blanche concluded, there was nothing to investigate. By seizing the evidence and freezing out the state Bureau of of Criminal Apprehension, they made sure that Minnesota couldn’t do what the feds refused to do.

A similar scenario is playing out after the execution of Alex Pretti, with the feds refusing to secure the crime scene, allow the state access and bizarrely claiming that any investigation would be conducted by DHS, given that Noem already asserted her conclusion that Pretti was there to massacre law enforcement and DHS doesn’t do criminal investigations in any event. Continue reading →

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 →

I caught my wife muttering curses under her breath and filling out forms that looked strangely familiar the other day. On closer inspection, I realized they were Girl Scout Cookie forms.

“Sweetie,” I said, approaching the subject with trepidation, “didn’t you deal with Girl Scout Cookies last year? Isn’t it someone else’s turn?”

“Yes, and [REDACTED] said she’d do it, which means I have to do it or everything’s going to be messed up” she replied.

Oh boy, I thought. Here we go again. 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 →