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Why Elon Musk Can't Run DOGE [sic] Anymore

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emptywheel
When a bunch of Democratic Attorneys General latched onto a legal theory to hold Elon Musk accountable for dismantling the Federal government, the White House decided that Musk doesn't actually run DOGE.
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John Barrasso Declares Programs Protecting Christian Minorities and Combatting Migration "Wrong"

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emptywheel
Because John Barrasso has unquestionably parrotted already discredited propaganda, he unwittingly went on Fox News and cheered the shutdown of programs protecting Christian minorities around the world and combatting migration to the US at its source.
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DOGE2025 Is Getting the Catastrophic De-Ba'athification They Demanded

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emptywheel
Elon Musk's DOGE boys and Project 2025 bureaucrats are discovering precisely what Paul Bremer learned two decades ago: When you deliberately destroy bureaucracy, you also destroy the ability to rebuild bureaucracy.
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Emil Bove's Missing Documents

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emptywheel
There are a number of documents Judge Dale Ho might demand that Emil Bove submit to the docket before dismissing the case against Eric Adams, including the notes from a January 31 meeting that Bove confiscated. Remarkably, though, Bove didn't even submit the most obvious: Adams' consent to dismissal without prejudice, which Bove negotiated without the involvement of SDNY.
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Aggressive Defense Of The Rule Of Law

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Ed Walker
Fighting Trump's assault on the rule of law means losing the gentility complex
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Fridays with Nicole Sandler

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emptywheel
Listen on Spotify (transcripts available) Listen on Apple (transcripts available)
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As the Thursday Night Massacre Turns into Friday Morning

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emptywheel
Hagen Scotten is the latest DOJ attorney who has put principle over Emil Bove's political errand.
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Did Pam Bondi Bury the Election Day Bomb Threats?

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emptywheel
With twin efforts taken in recent weeks -- the closure of FBI's Foreign Influence Task Force and the sidelining of the people at CISA who protected the 2024 election -- we may never get an explanation about who called in bomb threats to disrupt election day in November.
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What We Talk About When We Talk About AI (Part one)

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Quinn Norton
A Normal Person's Explainer on What Generative AI is and Does Part 1 - In the Beginning was the Chatbot (Go to Part Two) "Are you comfortably seated? Yes, well, let's begin." *Clears throat theatrically* "Our experience, in natural theology,…
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Trump Fired Inspectors General Who Identified $183.5 Billion in Waste, Fraud, and Abuse

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emptywheel
The lawsuit by eight of the Inspectors General Trump fired on his fourth day on the job -- who claim they've identified $183.5 billion in potential waste, fraud, and abuse during their tenure as IGs -- will contrast their proven efforts with DOGE's feigned interest in doing the same.
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Thomas Krause Says Trump Had to Close USAID because of Trump's Poor COVID Management

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emptywheel
In a court filing, DOGE lead at Treasury, Thomas Krause, attempted to justify his existence by citing a bunch of GAO reports. One of them substantiated how many improper payments were made in programs Donald Trump set up in response to COVID.
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Marko Elez "Resigned" the Day His Write Access to Payment Systems Was Discovered

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emptywheel
Because Marko Elez resigned the same day WSJ asked Treasury about racist social media comments, it has been assumed that that was why he quit. But that's just based on correlation, not any proof of causation. So we can't rule out that he quit because Treasury discovered he had more access than they intended to give him.
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"The Fraudsters Complain the Loudest and the Fastest:" Legacy Media Ignores Import of Gaza Condom Fact Check

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emptywheel
Elon Musk got caught in several lies in a press conference yesterday -- including, with his claim about condoms in Gaza, a false claim that Trump parroted. But that's not what led the news.
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Donald Trump's Incorrect Shell Game of Appropriated Spending

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emptywheel
Trump's DOJ keeps having to confess that the DOGE and Project 2025 people hijacking the government have misled career AUSAs about the full extent of their refusal to follow Congress' orders.
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Rule of Law: Don't Obey in Advance, But Also Don't Give Up in Advance

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emptywheel
JD Vance might well like to simply ignore Judge Engelmeyer's order. Trump might want to start siccing his mob when judges make adverse rulings. But there are good reasons to believe that that won't happen, yet. And until then, this legal process is a tool that can be used to buy time and hem in Trump's mob.
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Trump Stewing because of Lies Stephen Miller Fed Him During the Campaign

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emptywheel
Trump is furious that his thugs can't fulfill his promises of mass deportation. But those failures arise not through want of trying. Rather, those failures stem from the fact that reality in no way matches the hellhole Miller pitched for Trump, the imaginary hellhole Miller used to get voters afraid enough to vote for Trump.
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It's Still Not Clear Whether Elon's DOGE Boys Are Reviewing, Taking, or Altering Government Networks

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emptywheel
It's not yet clear whether Elon's DOGE [sic] boys are reviewing, taking, or altering data in government servers. One thing is clear, however: There's not a shred of evidence these boys are doing what Elon claims they're doing.
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Trump Appointee Carl Nichols Enjoins Trump from Stranding USAID Workers

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emptywheel
Trump's administration had a chance to substantiate the wild claims of fraud and abuse that Elon Musk has leveled at USAID.  And Carl Nichols was unimpressed. 
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