DL Open Thread: Saturday, June 7, 2025
Kilmar Abrego Garcia Returned To The US. Putting the lie to this. And this. Let me just say this–On a day when convicted Proud Boys file suit against the Department Of Justice, Garcia should get the finest attorneys who haven’t been co-opted by Trump to file the Biggest, Most Beautiful, lawsuit against all of these bastards.
Only Some Chinese Are Viewed By Trump As Threats. You know, students and scientists. However:
The Trump White House has repeatedly sounded an alarm about visitors with ties to China’s Communist Party coming to the United States, arguing that they are a potential security threat.
But the administration appears to have literally left the door open to a member of a Chinese government group when it went along with a plan to give the biggest purchasers of President Trump’s digital currency access to the president and the White House.
Mr. Trump launched a so-called memecoin, a type of cryptocurrency, just days before his inauguration. To bolster sales, the president’s business partners created a contest in April, offering the coin’s top buyers a tour of the White House and a private dinner with Mr. Trump at his Virginia golf club.
One of those buyers was He Tianying, who is a member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, according to government documents in China examined by The New York Times.
Krugman On Trump/Musk. I sadly agree with his central premise:
The point is that both men start from the presumption that the U.S. government is an entirely corrupt enterprise, with the president in a position to hand out personal favors or engage in personal acts of vengeance.
And everyone takes it for granted that both men are right. Musk’s only mistake was in underestimating the depths of Trump’s lack of principles, imagining that he was the kind of corrupt politician who stays bought, as opposed to a guy who always breaks his promises the moment it seems expedient to do so.
In short, we no longer have rule of law, just rule by the Leader’s whims. We have abandoned everything America was supposed to stand for.
I don’t blame either Trump or Musk for America’s degeneration. I blame their enablers, who have refused, again and again, to enforce the Constitution or place any restraints on Trump’s abuses. And yes, this means Republicans. You don’t have to love the Democratic Party to recognize that it does, in fact, expel politicians who engage in egregious corruption.
Shower Cap Brings His Weekly Snark. He always does. A tiny taste:
Surprisingly, ticket sales at the Kennedy Center are way down since a certain short-fingered vulgarian appointed himself culture-maker in chief. Still, that Lee Greenwood rock opera adaptation of The Turner Diaries (book and lyrics by Seb Gorka) has been getting solid reviews out of town, so there’s still time to turn things around.
The Supreme Court handed the Trump administration two victories Friday in cases involving the Department of Government Efficiency, including giving it access to Social Security systems containing personal data on millions of Americans.
The justices also separately reined in orders seeking transparency at DOGE, the team once led by billionaire Elon Musk.
In one case, the high court halted an order from a judge in Maryland that has restricted the team’s access to the Social Security Administration under federal privacy laws.
“We conclude that, under the present circumstances, SSA may proceed to afford members of the SSA DOGE Team access to the agency records in question in order for those members to do their work,” the court said in an unsigned order. Conservative lower-court judges have said there’s no evidence at this point of DOGE mishandling personal information. (Uh, there’s no evidence that they’re not mishandling personal information either.)
The agency holds sensitive data on nearly everyone in the country, including school records, salary details and medical information.
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson said the court’s action creates “grave privacy risks” for millions of Americans by giving “unfettered data access to DOGE regardless — despite its failure to show any need or any interest in complying with existing privacy safeguards, and all before we know for sure whether federal law countenances such access.” Justice Sonia Sotomayor joined Jackson’s opinion and Justice Elena Kagan said she also would have ruled against the administration.
This Kid’s Leading The Fight Against Terrorism. Feel less terrified?:
When Thomas Fugate graduated from college last year with a degree in politics, he celebrated in a social media post about the exciting opportunities that lay beyond campus life in Texas. “Onward and upward!” he wrote, with an emoji of a rocket shooting into space.
His career blastoff came quickly. A year after graduation, the 22-year-old with no apparent national security expertise is now a Department of Homeland Security official overseeing the government’s main hub for terrorism prevention, including an $18 million grant program intended to help communities combat violent extremism.
The White House appointed Fugate, a former Trump campaign worker who interned at the hard-right Heritage Foundation, to a Homeland Security role that was expanded to include the Center for Prevention Programs and Partnerships. Known as CP3, the office has led nationwide efforts to prevent hate-fueled attacks, school shootings and other forms of targeted violence.
Fugate’s appointment is the latest shock for an office that has been decimated since President Donald Trump returned to the White House and began remaking national security to give it a laser focus on immigration.
News of the appointment has trickled out in recent weeks, raising alarm among counterterrorism researchers and nonprofit groups funded by CP3. Several said they turned to LinkedIn for intel on Fugate — an unknown in their field — and were stunned to see a photo of “a college kid” with a flag pin on his lapel posing with a sharply arched eyebrow. No threat prevention experience is listed in his employment history.
Well, he’s qualified to further decimate the office, which is no doubt why he was hired.
Wilmington Rent Stabilization Proposal Fails. 6 Yes, 5 No, 1 Not Voting, 1 Absent. Yolanda McCoy did her best Monique ‘Williams’-Johns impression and went ‘Present’ which, as we know, is the same as a no vote. Sure would’ve been nice if the reporter had laid out how each member voted. Although, as near as I can see, Delaware Public Media was the only outlet to even cover the story. I know, however, that some of you out there can fill in the blanks. Please do.
What do you want to talk about?
“ You don’t have to love the Democratic Party to recognize that it does, in fact, expel politicians who engage in egregious corruption.”
Except for Shelby
No: Cabrera, Oliver, Bracy, Spadola, Field
NV McCoy
Absent Johnson
Yes: Darby, Wilhauer, Owens, Congo, Hackett, Harlee
Harlee and Hackett, were previously uncommitted
It was deeply disapointing but a helluva an effort!
My pick for biggest sellout Cabrera who was caught on the public record with this when demanding the cops to silence protesters “Trippi has no balls”
The rent control got more votes than the no votes. Does it take 7 votes to pass something on the council?
Yes.