The Four Kinds of Fuck-Ups Kristi Noem Committed on March 15

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emptywheel
The case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia is yet another example -- this time, of DHS shipping a guy with an order specifically prohibiting his deportation to El Salvador to Nayib Bukele's authoritarian prison in El Salvador -- of the absolute incompetence of DHS under Kristi Noem.

Trump's Threats to the Constitution Are Happening in Real Time, Not (Just) in a Third Term

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emptywheel
Trump managed to hijack any discussion of the many things he did to solidify authoritarian power last week by getting everyone to talk about a hypothetical assault on democracy that remains several years in the future.

Honesty, Humility, Integrity: Pete Hegseth Fails to Meet Standards He Claims Trans Service Members Lack

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emptywheel
Even as Pete Hegseth uses manufactured claims that all trans people lack the honesty, integrity, and humility to serve to throw thousands out of the military, he continues to double down on his false claims to avoid accountability for his own actions.
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Reaching Velocity to Escape Anti-Vax Stupidity

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Rayne
Stupidity about vaccines is both too damned close and traveling at the speed of light. We're going to have to be faster.

Fridays with Nicole Sandler

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emptywheel
We talked about how Mike Waltz and Pete Hegseth show we need DEI to bring back basic competence.

Stephen Miller's Presumed Babysitting of JD Vance's European Animosity ... and DOD's Potential War Crimes

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emptywheel
In the Signal chat, Mike Waltz seems to add SM--believed to be Stephen Miller--to rebut JD Vance's doubts about the Houthi strike.

Clean on OpSec: Pete Hegseth Spilled Specific Details of an Attack in Advance

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emptywheel
The desperate panic to deny the gravity of this situation, however, is a real testament to the contempt in which the White House holds the men and women whose lives were put at risk -- may still be at risk -- because their Defense Secretary is so incompetent he can't bother with the least little OpSec.

Patronage Is a Lucrative Way to Attack Rule of Law

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emptywheel
Until Trump starts attacking Republican law firm Jones Day for doing the same things the firms he is targeting also do, people have to stop giving Trump's excuses for the attacks on law firms any credence.

Kristi Noem Invokes State Secrets to Cover-Up Her Inability to ID Women as Women

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emptywheel
Kristi Noem is trying to cover up a lot of embarrassing details with her invocation of State Secrets in the Alien Enemies Act deportation case. But among the most embarrassing for a transphobe like her is that she misidentified the sex of nine of the detainees, sending women when Nayib Bukele would only accept men.

Seven Reasons Trump's Entire National Security Team Should Resign in Disgrace

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emptywheel
It's not just that Mike Waltz accidentally added the wrong person to a Signal chat, the cover story Trump has adopted. Trump's entire national security team was witness to an egregious breach that might be a crime. All should resign in disgrace.

Talking about Chuck Schumer Will No More Save Democracy than Chuck Schumer Will

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emptywheel
The State of the Union was 20 days ago. Since that day, Democrats have spent much of their time talking about other Democrats, talking about how Democrats are responding to the assault on the country, rather than talking about the assault itself…

The Classified Information John Ratcliffe, Pete Hegseth, and Mike Waltz Sent to Journalist Jeffrey Goldberg

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emptywheel
A summary of the highly classified information that John Ratcliffe, Pete Hegseth, and Mike Waltz shared with journalist Jeffrey Goldberg.

Todd Blanche Kicks Off His Tenure Chasing Leaks Implicating His Own Conduct

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emptywheel
In an inauspicious sign for his tenure as Deputy Attorney General, Todd Blanche announced an investigation into a leak to NYT as he was considering invoking State Secrets to cover up the topic of the leak.

"The Very Importance of Facts Is Dismissed, or Ignored:" Todd Blanche Whines about Women Judges, Again

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emptywheel
The defense attorney Trump has put in charge of running DOJ is whining about another woman judge, just like he whined about Tanya Chutkan. This time, he's complaining that Beryl Howell quoted from a book, without naming Trump.

Fridays with Nicole Sandler

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emptywheel
We talked about how poorly chose martyrs can backfire.

Judge Hollander Tells DOGE to Stop Hitting Flies with Sledgehammers at Social Security

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emptywheel
Elon Musk keeps making false claims of fraud at Social Security. Those false claims have served to get at least ten DOGE boys -- some whose background clearances haven't been completed -- access to highly personal data of all Americans.

Amy Gleason's Four -- I Mean Five -- Executive Orders

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emptywheel
Dismantling the US Institute of Peace is not among the things Amy Gleason says DOGE has been authorized to do.

The List of Rules Marko Elez Didn't Sign

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emptywheel
By all appearances, on Scott Bessent's authority, someone at least considered giving Marko Elez -- at the time only cleared to the Secret level -- Top Secret Read/Write access to Treasury's Mainframe, without first making sure he had signed a list of rules about altering or copying data.

Sell Your Tesla Dump Your Stock

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Ed Walker
It's tough to sell a used Tesla. It's easy to sell $TSLA.
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