Jun 7, 2025
Well Well Well
Whenever there's another weird thing that POTUS TACO does, we have to stop for a second to consider the possibility that it's meant to distract us from something else.
I can't say for sure that Katie Phang came up with it, but if Trump can't just blow this off, then maybe this is it.
Remember, we've sent USAGs to prison before. Finding enough leverage to get Bondi outa there might not be such a hard row to hoe.
I get the feeling that somebody like Pam Bondi fits with the Trump administration because she can't really hack it in a profession based on actual competition and contention, and so she's been forced to fail up her entire career.
Also, I've been wondering if the courts could help themselves enforce their rulings by coming down hard on Trump's lawyers when they bring the kind of ridiculous garbage they're always bringing before the judges.
Torpedo a few of these clowns, and maybe enough of the others will hesitate to lick Trump's boots the way they've been doing.
Jun 6, 2025
Progress
Trump made some noise about spitting on the courts. Guess what happened then.
Kilmar Abrego Garcia is back in U.S. custody after being illegally deported and will now face criminal charges
The courts ordered the administration to facilitate his return after he was deported to El Salvador in violation of a court order.
Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Salvadoran native whose deportation by the Trump administration was declared illegal by the Supreme Court and generated a national furor, is back in U.S. custody and will face federal human trafficking charges in Tennessee.
Abrego Garcia was secretly indicted by a federal grand jury in Nashville last month on two felony charges: transporting undocumented immigrants and conspiring with others to do so. The charges stem from a 2022 traffic stop in Tennessee, when police found Abrego Garcia at the wheel and nine other men in an SUV, all of whom were Hispanic and lacked identification, according to the indictment.
The indictment was unsealed Friday after Trump administration officials acknowledged Abrego Garcia was in custody of U.S. authorities. Abrego Garcia’s return was first reported by ABC News.
Abrego Garcia’s return follows months of extraordinary brinkmanship between the Trump administration and federal courts, a Supreme Court rebuke, diplomatic intrigue and a domestic political crisis over the episode.
Abrego Garcia, who allegedly entered the U.S. illegally more than a decade ago, had been living in Maryland when the Trump administration deported him to El Salvador in March. The deportation violated a 2019 immigration-court order that barred the U.S. from sending him there because he was at risk of being targeted by a local gang.
U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis ordered the administration to “facilitate” his return. For months, the administration publicly resisted that order. At times, Trump and his top aides suggested Abrego Garcia would never return to the United States.
“There is no scenario where Abrego Garcia will be in the United States again,” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said last month during a hearing before a Senate appropriations panel.
Kilmar Abrego Garcia is back in U.S. custody after being illegally deported and will now face criminal charges
The courts ordered the administration to facilitate his return after he was deported to El Salvador in violation of a court order.
Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Salvadoran native whose deportation by the Trump administration was declared illegal by the Supreme Court and generated a national furor, is back in U.S. custody and will face federal human trafficking charges in Tennessee.
Abrego Garcia was secretly indicted by a federal grand jury in Nashville last month on two felony charges: transporting undocumented immigrants and conspiring with others to do so. The charges stem from a 2022 traffic stop in Tennessee, when police found Abrego Garcia at the wheel and nine other men in an SUV, all of whom were Hispanic and lacked identification, according to the indictment.
The indictment was unsealed Friday after Trump administration officials acknowledged Abrego Garcia was in custody of U.S. authorities. Abrego Garcia’s return was first reported by ABC News.
Abrego Garcia’s return follows months of extraordinary brinkmanship between the Trump administration and federal courts, a Supreme Court rebuke, diplomatic intrigue and a domestic political crisis over the episode.
Abrego Garcia, who allegedly entered the U.S. illegally more than a decade ago, had been living in Maryland when the Trump administration deported him to El Salvador in March. The deportation violated a 2019 immigration-court order that barred the U.S. from sending him there because he was at risk of being targeted by a local gang.
U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis ordered the administration to “facilitate” his return. For months, the administration publicly resisted that order. At times, Trump and his top aides suggested Abrego Garcia would never return to the United States.
“There is no scenario where Abrego Garcia will be in the United States again,” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said last month during a hearing before a Senate appropriations panel.
It's Not A Cat Fight
The Über-Corrupt Fascist Broligarch vs the Über-Corrupt Fascist Ego-Freak.
They're both looking for nothing more than the best ways to line their pockets with American taxpayer dollars so they can buy themselves more power.
There's no Good Guy / Bad Guy here, so maybe the rubes will take a lesson and see that idolizing any politician always ends up being a bad idea.
(not holding my breath on that one, but hey - ever hopeful, y'know?)
So let's look at it from the standpoint of someone who deals with this kind of childish bullshit all the livelong day.
Jon Stewart
He's come back a little. At least when he's in front of The Daily Show crowd, he's not the cynically Both-Sides prick that he became while he was away.
This is far-reaching and he breaks it down pretty well.
81 Years Ago
"...all experience has shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer while evils are sufferable..."
-- The American Declaration Of Independence - Thomas Jefferson
In the face of threats and dangers that are meant to intimidate and conquer, the seemingly tiny, insignificant, individual people who decide to stand up and stand together have proven over and over that a certain invincibility is possible - it's just not something you get from yourself alone.
I'm just one guy - one voice - one vote. And besides, what's in it for me?
06JUN44
Elon vs TACO Don
The world's richest man and the world's most powerful man are locked in a playground-level tussle over how best to fuck over Americans in order to hand more yacht money to wealthy people and corporations.
Jun 5, 2025
Something Pretty
Watermelon aurora during a full moon in Alaska
— Vincent Ledvina (@vincentledvina.bsky.social) June 5, 2025 at 6:23 AM
[image or embed]
Stand Your Ground
The president said he had fired the museum leader — setting up a standoff between the White House and the Smithsonian.
President Donald Trump’s latest attempt to assert control over an elite American cultural institution has turned into a high-stakes Washington standoff.
In defiance of Trump’s announcement last Friday that he was firing her, Kim Sajet — the director of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Portrait Gallery — has continued to report for work, conducting meetings and handling other museum business as she did before, according to several people familiar with her activities who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a personnel matter.
Writing on Truth Social, Trump had declared he is firing Sajet because she “is a highly partisan person” and because she is a “strong supporter of DEI,” a reference to diversity, equity and inclusion. He said her replacement would be named shortly.
Trump has not provided a legal reasoning to support his authority to fire Sajet. Top congressional Democrats have asserted the president does not have legal authority for the firing.
Sen. Gary Peters (D-Michigan), a member of the Smithsonian’s Board of Regents, said Wednesday that the board had requested more information and “will discuss the issue further” at its scheduled meeting on Monday.
“We just need more information about her performance, and some of the allegations that were made, so we can make an informed, thoughtful decision,” Peters said. “Clearly, the president has no authority whatsoever to fire her. The Smithsonian is an independent institution, and the director of the Smithsonian is the one who she reports to and that’s the person who makes the decision as to hiring and firing of individuals.”
In a joint statement, House Administration Committee ranking Democrat Joseph Morelle of New York and House Appropriations Committee ranking Democrat Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut said: “President Trump has no authority to fire employees of the Smithsonian Institution — including the Director of the National Portrait Gallery. The dismissal of Director Sajet is unacceptable and has the same legal weight as the President’s prior attempts to undermine the Smithsonian’s independence: absolutely none. Should the White House require a copy of the Constitution, we would be more than happy to provide one.”
Holy crap - shots fired!
Sajet’s refusal to abide by Trump’s decision sets up a test of the bounds of presidential authority over the Smithsonian, a sprawling complex of 21 museums, 14 education and research centers and the National Zoo. It is not a traditional government agency nor part of the executive branch, and hiring and firing decisions have historically been handled by the Smithsonian’s secretary, rather than its Board of Regents. The Smithsonian’s current secretary, Lonnie G. Bunch III, is widely expected to discuss the president’s attempt to oust Sajet at the board meeting Monday.
In an only-in-Washington twist, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. — who has been presented with major questions at the Supreme Court regarding the limits of presidential authority since Trump took office — is the chancellor of the Smithsonian and a member of its board.
A Trump White House spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A Smithsonian spokesperson declined to comment.
In February, Trump made another foray into American arts when he took over control of the Kennedy Center, dismissing his predecessor’s appointees to its board, who then installed him as chairman and replaced the institution’s director with a political ally with scant experience in the arts. The Smithsonian differs from the Kennedy Center because presidents don’t appoint members to its board, which is composed of a mix of officials from all three branches of government and members of the public. But Trump is not without allies on the Smithsonian board, including Vice President JD Vance who, like Roberts, is an ex officio member.
Trump’s move against Sajet follows an executive order he issued on March 27 titled “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History,” which aims to “restore the Smithsonian Institution to its rightful place as a symbol of inspiration and American greatness.” A 35-year-old special assistant and senior associate staff secretary, Lindsey Halligan, was among the order’s architects — instigated, in part, by her early-2025 visit to the show “The Shape of Power: Stories of Race and American Sculpture,” an exhibition at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, which shares a building with the Portrait Gallery.
The order calls for Halligan and Vice President JD Vance to “remove improper ideology” from the Smithsonian and “prohibit expenditure on exhibits or programs that degrade shared American values, divide Americans based on race.”
“President Trump’s attempt to fire the National Portrait Gallery Director is outrageous and represents yet another disturbing example of his relentless effort to control American art and culture,” said Rep. Chellie Pingree (Maine), the ranking Democrat on the House Interior Appropriations Subcommittee, which oversees the Smithsonian, in a statement. “Despite what the President may think, America’s cultural institutions are not run by dictatorial impulses.”
On Tuesday a White House official provided The Post a list of 17 instances in which, the White House argued, Sajet was critical of Trump or outspoken about her support for diversity, equity and inclusion. The list included her donations to Democratic politicians and advocacy groups; a social media post praising Anthony S. Fauci; the caption for the museum’s presidential portrait of Trump mentioning his two impeachments and “incitement of insurrection” for the events of Jan. 6, 2021; and numerous quotes from interviews in a variety of publications about her efforts to represent a broad swath of Americans within the gallery’s walls.
One item on the list was a quote in a 2019 USA Today story about Black artists demanding representation in American artistic institutions: “We owe it to Americans to reflect them because we owe it to accurate history,” Sajet says. “I’m not interested in only having a museum for some people.”
The list additionally took issue with remarks Sajet has made in support of the #MeToo and Black Lives Matter movements, and criticism of Columbus Day and her rejection of one artist’s 2016 portrait of Trump as “too political.” It notes that Sajet has commissioned artworks about Mexican immigration and “the complications of ancestral and racial history.” It was critical of her 2013 decision to use “50 percent of all money spent on art” to “support diverse artists and portrait subjects.”
Since its founding 179 years ago, the Smithsonian, which receives about 60 percent of its budget from federal appropriations and grants, has generally operated independently, although there have been several controversies in which museums have altered exhibitions in response to outside criticisms, including from politicians. Museum directors, such as Sajet — holders of some of the most prestigious positions in American arts — are not paid with federal funds, instead drawing their salaries from the Smithsonian’s trust fund.
Hours after Trump’s post, Bunch told Smithsonian staff in an email obtained by The Washington Post that the White House also sent new details of proposed cuts to the institution’s budget, slashing it by 12 percent and excluding funding for its Anacostia Community Museum and its forthcoming National Museum of the American Latino, Bunch said.
On Saturday, at the Portrait Gallery and SAAM’s joint family Pride celebration, a trio of visitors strolled the central courtyard in neon vests emblazoned with “Hands off the arts” on the back — closely watched by a Smithsonian staff member, who hovered nearby.
“I’m outraged” by Sajet’s firing, said Karen Nussbaum, 75, of Washington. “There’s a place for a political expression in art, but not political control of art.”
“I think the next step is controlling what artists think and do,” said Cynthia Cain, 60, of Washington, “and that’s not acceptable.”
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