DL Open Thread: Tuesday, January 28, 2025

El Somnambulo

2 days ago

Post-Democracy America: Trump Fires Justice Department Prosecutors:

Acting Attorney General James McHenry fired several Justice Department officials yesterday who worked on the federal criminal investigations into President Trump, according to two DOJ officials. At least a dozen people who worked with special counsel Jack Smith received dismissals. It is not clear how many officials involved in the Trump investigations received termination notices.

In the termination letters, McHenry wrote that he did not trust the officials to faithfully implement the president’s agenda due to their role in prosecuting him, NPR’s Carrie Johnson tells Up First. A longtime lawyer informed Johnson he could not recall a time in modern DOJ history when so many prosecutors from a single case were dismissed. While the fired prosecutors could protest, sue, and potentially regain their jobs with back pay, the process could take time. Meanwhile, some senior civil Justice Department officials have been reassigned in recent days to work on a sanctuary city task force, which Johnson says could be a tactic designed to get them to quit.

DOJ, as we knew it, no longer exists. In its place is an agency expected ‘to faithfully implement the president’s agenda’, which, um, is not justice. Or Justice.

Trump Freezes All Federal Grants And Loans. Trillions of dollars. That won’t have any impact on the economy:

The White House budget office is ordering a pause to all grants and loans disbursed by the federal government, according to an internal memo sent to agencies Monday, creating significant confusion across Washington.

In a two-page document, Matthew J. Vaeth, the acting director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, instructs federal agencies to “temporarily pause all activities related to obligations or disbursement of all Federal financial assistance.” The memo, a copy of which was obtained by The Washington Post, also calls for each agency to perform a “comprehensive analysis” to ensure its grant and loan programs are consistent with President Donald Trump’s executive orders, which aimed to ban federal diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, and limit clean energy spending, among other measures.

The memo states its orders should not be “construed” to impact Social Security or Medicare recipients, and also says the federal financial assistance put on hold “does not include assistance provided directly to individuals.”

But the document says programs affected are “including, but not limited to, financial assistance for foreign aid, nongovernmental organizations, DEI, woke gender ideology, and the green new deal.”

Donald Kettl, professor emeritus and former dean of the University of Maryland School of Public Policy, said the language in the memo is confusing, making its specific effects unclear. There will be widespread panic, Kettl said, as state and local governments as well as the people most reliant on federal-funded grants scramble to figure out if and when their cash flow will stop.

“In two pages, we’ve got what amounts to 60 years of tradition and policies that are thrown up in the air,” said Kettl, who has consulted for multiple government agencies. “For those suffering most, the uncertainty will be immense.”

Say Goodbye To Transgender Troops:

President Trump made transgender issues a centerpiece of his campaign, promising to “stop the transgender lunacy” and “get transgender out of the military.” During his first term, Trump banned transgender people from serving in the military, though ultimately troops who had already transitioned—like Stehlik—were grandfathered in.

That may not be the case this time.

On Monday, in his inaugural address, Trump proclaimed that the government recognizes “only two genders: male and female.” Later that day, he repealed an executive order by President Biden allowing transgender people to serve. Now, Stehlik and thousands of other troops, stationed from Connecticut to Kentucky to California, are bracing to see if Trump orders a new trans ban.

Data from UCLA also shows that transgender Americans sign up to serve their country at a rate twice that of cisgender people. Most transgender servicemembers have more than 12 years of service, said Rachel Branaman, the executive director of the Modern Military Association of America, which advocates for LGBTQ service members.

Any talk of a ban “harms readiness,” Branaman said.

Removing thousands of long-serving troops, she said, represents “a lot of specialized training that essentially costs billions of dollars and creates an operational gap.”

Might as well again point out that all this is Project 2025 being implemented. Are we better or worse off than Hungary yet?

First J6’er Goes Down. Tried to fight with cops. Lost:

An Indiana man who was pardoned by Donald Trump for taking part in the January 6 insurrection was killed by police during a traffic stop on Sunday.

Matthew Huttle, 42, was shot by a sheriff’s deputy after allegedly resisting arrest and getting into an altercation with an officer, local news outlets in Indiana report, based on the Indiana state police’s account of the incident.

Another January 6 participant who was pardoned last week was rearrested on federal gun charges. Daniel Ball of Florida was detained for an illegal firearm possession charge, a case that predated but emerged from his involvement in the 2021 Capitol insurrection.

Only the beginning.

Look Who’s Stepping Up To Run For Rethug State Chair. Ex-cop, ex-gun-range owner, oh, and State Senator, Dave Lawson:

“Our messaging has been terrible, and it doesn’t take a lot of money to change the attitude, to change the messaging so that people are understanding what they’re doing and get our candidates on the same page – which we don’t have,” Lawson said.

Adding that the focus first should be on people and a platform, Lawson said “as we go along, people will start believing in us. They will start coming because we are worth investing in.”

Then, the money would come.

“Priority-wise, we’ve got to get people on board,” Lawson said.

If messaging is indeed the problem, that gobbledygook isn’t the answer. But more power to him/them.

The Ardens Vs. Delmarva. Hey, I live. there, so I’m with the residents. What gets me is Delmarva’s arrogant dismissal of alternatives while providing no supporting evidence to dismiss them. Written by a former Ardenite himself, Cris Barrish:

(Lisa) Wilson Riblett, who heads an Ardentown subcommittee focused on the project, and Ben Gruswitz, an urban planner who is Ardencroft village assembly chair — effectively its mayor — say Delmarva has basically blown off their pleas and requests.

In November, for example, Gruswitz asked Delmarva in writing to conduct a feasibility study for other transmission routes, such as along the railroad tracks.

“This realignment offers numerous benefits, including reduced health and environmental risks, alleviated housing impacts, and improved efficiency by continuing the consolidation of transportation and utility infrastructure along the [rail] corridor and away from schools and communities,’’ Gruswitz wrote.

“By moving the lines away from residential and forested areas, we can greatly reduce environmental and health risks while preserving the character of our communities and natural habitats.”

State Rep. Larry Lambert, who represents Arden, followed up with a separate request to Delmarva for such a study. Lambert’s letter noted that the lead levels exceeded state and federal safety limits, including “one as high as 11.5 times the standard for residential areas.”

Phillip J. Vavala, the company’s regional president, responded to Gruswitz with a letter that repeated many of the fact sheet talking points. Vavala also wrote that while rerouting the lines might seem like a “quick fix,” especially moving them to the railroad tracks, “our engineering teams determined during the planning phase of this project that alternative routes were not viable or feasible due to congestion in the region.”

With no substantiation. Who do they think they are? The Army Corps Of Engineers?

What do you want to talk about?