#LindseyHalligan, the interim #USattorney for the Eastern District of Virginia who was hand-picked for the job by #Trump, subsequently indicted #LetitiaJames after her predecessor declined to do so, citing a lack of evidence.

#law #RevengePolitics #USpol #authoritarianism #fascism #tyranny

Created after the 2008 financial crisis, the #FHFA is typically a low-profile regulatory office, but Pulte has launched a new hotline targeting mortgage fraud & made public criminal referrals against a series of #Trump foes including #NYAG #LetitiaJames, as well as #FederaReserve Board Governor #LisaCook & California Democratic Senator #AdamSchiff.

#law #RevengePolitics #USpol #authoritarianism #fascism #tyranny

The ouster of Joe Allen, #FHFA's acting #InspectorGeneral, follows the agency's director, Bill Pulte, becoming an outspoken voice in support of the #Trump admin. Across the government, the Trump admin has so far fired or reassigned close to two dozen agency #watchdogs, who police #waste, #fraud & #abuse. It has also defunded the group that supervises those offices.

#law #RevengePolitics #USpol #authoritarianism #fascism #tyranny

Exclusive: #Trump ousts #watchdog of US housing regulator involved in mortgage probes of his foes, sources say

The internal watchdog for the US Federal Housing Finance Agency [#FHFA] is being removed from his role, four people familiar with the matter said, at a time when the housing regulator is playing a role in Trump's targeting of perceived enemies.

#law #RevengePolitics #USpol #authoritarianism #fascism #tyranny
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/watchdog-being-ousted-us-housing-regulator-involved-trump-crackdown-sources-say-2025-11-03/?utm_source=braze&utm_medium=notifications&utm_campaign=2025_engagement

Oh FFS

#LauraLoomer is now *credentialed* to cover the #Pentagon

The #FarRight activist & former congressional candidate has repeatedly criticized defense officials on her website & social media accounts while boasting of her close ties to #Trump.

#FourthEstate #journalism #propaganda #StateMedia
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2025/11/03/laura-loomer-pentagon-credentials/

…Until now, #Trump, in the half-joking estimation of one longtime adviser, has been able to order up investigations of his political enemies like Ubers.

But in two low-key but self-assured appearances over the past six weeks, #JackSmith has made it unmistakably clear that he will not only defend himself but take a hammer to Trump’s exaggerated or false claims about his work as special counsel.

#law #SeditiousConspiracy #ElectionInterference #coup #Jan6 #insurrection

Whether #JackSmith gets the chance to confront his accusers on the biggest official stage available to him, a public #House or #Senate hearing, remains very much an open question. Some #Republicans have privately expressed concern that #Trump’s quest for vengeance could backfire by giving a credible anticorruption investigator an open mic.

#law #SeditiousConspiracy #ElectionInterference #coup #Jan6 #insurrection

#JackSmith has told people in his orbit that he welcomes the opportunity to present the public case against #Trump denied to him by #SCOTUS decision asserting broad presidential #immunity from prosecution & adverse rulings from a Trump-appointed judge on the federal bench in Florida.

#law #SeditiousConspiracy #ElectionInterference #coup #Jan6 #insurrection

Quite the opposite, in fact. #JackSmith, who spent >2 years aggressively collecting evidence to prove #Trump mishandled #ClassifiedDocuments & tried to overturn the results of the #2020election, appears eager to publicly challenge a foundational pillar of #MAGA canon: that Trump was a sinned-upon innocent who did nothing to deserve scrutiny, much less 2 prosecutions.

#law #SeditiousConspiracy #ElectionInterference #coup #Jan6 #insurrection

Trump’s unrelenting fast-track drive to humiliate, investigate & prosecute the people he hates has gained momentum, in part, because his targets have not been in a position to inflict serious retributive pain on him.

#JackSmith is different.

Smith, the special counsel who twice indicted #Trump, appears unintimidated by the president’s demand that Republican lawmakers investigate him & that the #DOJ put him in prison for as-yet unproved & unspecified crimes.

#law #SeditiousConspiracy #coup

#GiftArticle

#JackSmith, #Trump’s Target, Shifts From Defense to Counterattack

The former special counsel has told people in his orbit he welcomes the opportunity to present the public case against the president denied to him by adverse court rulings & the 2024 election.

Bring it.

#law #SeditiousConspiracy #ElectionInterference #coup #Jan6 #insurrection
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/03/us/politics/jack-smith-trump-investigations.html?unlocked_article_code=1.yU8.olrq.3OTGE8r_e1HD&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

The #Trump admin said in a second filing with the court that the money it is provisioning for #SNAP — derived from an emergency reserve — would cover “50% of eligible households’ current allotments,” meaning that many #LowIncome families could once again be in dire straits in a matter of days or weeks.

#law #LetThemEatCake

The govt communicated its intentions in a filing with a federal court, which had required an update by Monday. In the filing, the #DOJ said that the admin would “fulfill its obligation to expend” money in an emergency account for #SNAP, so that states could “calculate the benefits available for each eligible household.”

In doing so, the #Trump admin said it would not tap additional funds that might have allowed low-income beneficiaries to receive full payments in November.

#law #LetThemEatCake

#UPDATE

The #Trump admin said Monday that it will *partially* fund #SNAP after 2 judges’ rulings required it to keep the #food #aid program running.

It’s not clear how much beneficiaries will receive, nor how quickly beneficiaries will see value show up on the debit cards they use to buy groceries. The process of loading the cards, which involves steps by state & federal govt agencies & vendors, can take up to 2 wks in some states. The average monthly benefit is usually ~$190/person.

#law

The #USDA planned to freeze payments to #SNAP starting Nov. 1 because it said it could no longer keep funding it due to the shutdown. The USDA has a $5 billion contingency fund for the program, but the #Trump admin reversed an earlier agency plan to use that money to keep SNAP running. #Democrats argue that the admin could also use a separate fund of about $23 billion.

The situation leaves millions with uncertainty about how they will feed themselves.

#law #judiciary #LetThemEatCake

The #Trump admin faces deadlines on Monday to tell 2 federal judges whether it will comply with court orders that it continue to fund #SNAP, the nation’s biggest #food #aid program, using contingency funds during the government #shutdown.

The program serves about 1 in 8 Americans & is a major piece of the nation’s social safety net — & it costs about $8 billion per month nationally.

#law #judiciary
https://apnews.com/live/donald-trump-news-updates-11-3-2025

The challenges to Trump’s #tariffs reached #SCOTUS after judges in 3 different lower courts ruled against the admin but allowed the import taxes to remain in effect while litigation continued.

In a 7-to-4 ruling in late August, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit said the emergency statute did not authorize “tariffs of the magnitude” #Trump announced.

“Whenever #Congress intends to delegate to the president the authority to impose tariffs, it does so explicitly,” the majority said…

“Judges lack the institutional competence to determine when foreign affairs pose an unusual & extraordinary threat that requires an emergency response,” Sauer wrote in a court filing.

Sauer also pointed to a recent concurring opinion from Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh in another case that suggested the 2 doctrines play little to no role in the context of national security & foreign policy emergencies.

#SCOTUS #Trump #law #PartisanCourt #ActivistCourt #AbuseOfPower #tariffs #economy

The other—the “nondelegation doctrine”—says that #Congress cannot transfer unlimited legislative powers—like its taxing authority—to the #ExecutiveBranch.
Solicitor general D. John Sauer said #Trump’s use of the statute to impose #tariffs was not an unlimited delegation of #power. The #law requires declared emergencies to expire in a year & reports to Congress about the tools used in the meantime. Even so, he said Trump’s power to declare an emergency was not subject to review by courts.
#SCOTUS

The case will also force the justices to address 2 doctrines favored by the conservative legal movement, both of which appear to work against #Trump’s claims. The “major questions doctrine” says #Congress must use clear language to authorize executive actions that could transform the #economy. #SCOTUS relied on the doctrine to invalidate many of President #Biden’s key initiatives, including his student loan forgiveness program.

#law #PartisanCourt #ActivistCourt #AbuseOfPower #tariffs

#Trump’s order argued that the #tariffs were needed as a response to “large & persistent” #trade deficits.

Tara Leigh Grove, a UT at Austin #law professor, said the justices could find it a stretch to characterize longstanding trade deficits as an emergency. On the other hand, she said, the statute is broad & appears to give a president a lot of discretion.

“The justices will be struggling with whether they want to second-guess any presidential decision about an emergency,” she said.

#SCOTUS

“Emergency powers are meant to be used in emergencies,” said Michael W. McConnell, a former federal appeals court judge nominated by President George W. Bush, who is leading the coalition of small businesses. “No Supreme Court would want to provoke a confrontation with a president of the United States unnecessarily, but on the other hand, the law is the law.”

#SCOTUS #Trump #law #PartisanCourt #ActivistCourt #AbuseOfPower #tariffs #economy

…But prominent legal figures opposed to the #tariffs, including retired federal judges and a founder of the conservative #FederalistSociety, said the case was not a close call. While past presidents have invoked the emergency statute to impose sanctions or to freeze a country’s assets, #Trump is the first in 50 years to rely on it to impose tariffs.

#SCOTUS #law #PartisanCourt #ActivistCourt #AbuseOfPower #economy

They say that rolling back the #tariffs — & potentially refunding money already collected — could lead to economic ruin akin to the Great Depression, an interruption of #trade negotiations & diplomatic embarrassment. [so don’t break the law in the first place jackasses]

#SCOTUS #Trump #law #PartisanCourt #ActivistCourt #AbuseOfPower #economy

But the #law does not mention the words “tariffs,” “taxes” or “duties.” If the word “regulate” meant “tax,” the small businesses told the court, the president “could tax everything from autos to zoos.”

From the start, the admin has insisted that the consequences for the country are too significant for the court to resist #Trump.

#SCOTUS #PartisanCourt #ActivistCourt #AbuseOfPower #tariffs #economy

The 1977 statute gives the president certain tools to “deal with any unusual & extraordinary threat” to “the national security, foreign policy or economy of the United States.” That includes the power to “regulate” imports.

The president’s lawyers say that language gives him broad authority to impose #tariffs when he believes an emergency exists.

#SCOTUS #Trump #law #PartisanCourt #ActivistCourt #AbuseOfPower #economy

The admin’s on-again, off-again taxes on imports have roiled small businesses, prompting lawsuits from state officials & 6 companies, including the wine importer V.O.S. Selections & the toy manufacturer Learning Resources, whose cases are before the court on Wednesday. Trump’s actions, they say, were unlawful, cut into their profits & forced them to lay off employees & raise prices.

#SCOTUS #Trump #law #PartisanCourt #ActivistCourt #AbuseOfPower #tariffs #economy

#Trump used the statute to announce tariffs on goods imported into the US from China, Canada & Mexico, saying the levies were a punishment for failing to stop the flow of fentanyl. In April, he again relied on the International Emergency Economic Powers Act [#IEEPA] when he announced #tariffs on imports from >100 trading partners, saying they were needed to address #trade deficits with the rest of the world.

#SCOTUS #law #PartisanCourt #ActivistCourt #AbuseOfPower #economy

The case has divided the conservative legal community.

The #Constitution gives #Congress the power to impose #taxes. But soon after taking office, #Trump declared that a 1977 #law gave him the power to impose #tariffs unilaterally during “emergencies”.

#SCOTUS #PartisanCourt #ActivistCourt #AbuseOfPower #economy

…In a sign that the court recognizes the importance of the #tariffs case, the justices set a brisk schedule for the parties to submit written briefs & present oral arguments. They now seem likely to rule swiftly rather than wait until the end of the term next summer, as is their usual practice for the most consequential decisions.

#SCOTUS #law #PartisanCourt #ActivistCourt #AbuseOfPower #Trump #economy

"The remarks follow Trump’s earlier call for Israel’s president to pardon Netanyahu and his public efforts to boost the embattled leader during Gaza peace talks, deepening his direct involvement in the country’s internal politics."

#Trump #Netanyahu #Israel #Gaza
/8

"Donald Trump said in a '60 Minutes' interview that he plans to “be involved” in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s corruption trial 'to help him out a little bit,' signaling another unprecedented intervention in Israel’s judicial affairs."

~ Aaron Parnas

#Trump #Netanyahu #Israel #Gaza
/7

https://aaronparnas.substack.com/p/news-white-house-grows-frustrated

Jack Goldsmith, a Harvard Law School professor & former top #DOJ lawyer under George W. Bush, said that because the legal issues were so closely contested in the #tariffs matter, some justices could
weigh broader implications across the set of presidential cases, concerned about either handing #Trump too much #power — or too many defeats.

#SCOTUS #law #PartisanCourt #ActivistCourt #AbuseOfPower #economy

Other such cases are on the horizon. Next month, #SCOTUS will consider #Trump’s efforts to seize control of #independent agencies. And in January, the justices will weigh his attempt to remove a member of the #FederalReserve Board. The admin has also asked them to consider the legality of the president’s executive order ending #BirthrightCitizenship.

#law #PartisanCourt #ActivistCourt #AbuseOfPower #tariffs #economy

"And I’m seeing that so dramatically and, to me, in what is such a disgraceful way in the final days of this campaign against Zohran Mamdani. What are you willing to sacrifice in order to prevent a New York mayor who says that Israeli Jews and Palestinians should live equally under the same law? What are you willing to try to do to destroy such a candidate? The answer is: lie with almost anyone, do almost anything."

#ZohranMamdani #Israel #Gaza #Jews #Zionism #media #Trump #MAGA
/3

he more I began to feel that the organized American Jewish (continued from /1):

"the more I began to feel that the organized American Jewish community was willing to sacrifice almost anything to preserve unconditional support for the state of Israel, that every other value, every other principle was subordinated to that."

#ZohranMamdani #Israel #Gaza #Jews #Zionism #media #Trump #MAGA
/2

"When I started writing my book, I didn’t think it would be about idolatry. I mean, I knew it would be about Israel and the destruction of Gaza, but it ended up kind of being a book about idolatry because the more I wrote it," (continued in /2)

~ Peter Beinart

#ZohranMamdani #Israel #Gaza #Jews #Zionism #media #Trump #MAGA
/1

https://peterbeinart.substack.com/p/what-will-establishment-jewish-leaders

The case “is one of the most important in the history of the country,” #Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social. “If a president was not able to quickly & nimbly use the power of tariffs, we would be defenseless, leading perhaps even to the ruination of our nation.” 🙄

Observers of #SCOTUS said the justices would be keenly aware that Trump would perceive a legal defeat as a personal blow.

#law #PartisanCourt #ActivistCourt #AbuseOfPower #tariffs #economy

Experts say the case is a tossup that poses difficult legal & political considerations for the justices, made all the more tense by Trump’s efforts to personalize the dispute.

#Trump had mused about attending the court’s argument this week, & has spoken repeatedly of the case’s importance to him. On Sunday, he said he decided against going to court, but stressed that he considered the stakes to be monumental.

#SCOTUS #law #PartisanCourt #ActivistCourt #AbuseOfPower #tariffs #economy

Again & again since #Trump returned to the White House, #SCOTUS’ conservative majority has blessed his boundary-pushing policies….

But on Wednesday, the justices will consider for the first time whether to say “no” to Trump….

At issue is the legality of his…use of emergency powers to impose sweeping #tariffs on nearly every US trading partner. The outcome of the case could significantly affect the global #economy….

#law #AbuseOfPower
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/03/us/politics/supreme-court-trump-tariffs.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

Projection

#Trump says he 'won't be extorted' by #Democrats seeking #healthcare for the people

The government #shutdown is poised to become the longest ever this week as #Republicans continue to refuse to negotiate with #Democrats. Millions of people could lose #FoodAid benefits, #health #care subsidies are set to expire & there are few real talks between the parties over how to end it.

#PublicDisservice
https://apnews.com/article/government-shutdown-longest-trump-democrats-senate-filibuster-1f147746aab58daffd8a8cb578df0b81?utm_source=onesignal&utm_medium=push&utm_campaign=2025-11-03-No+end+to+the+shutdown

@Tutanota It's not a bet.

The US-style AI scam as FAANG is doing it, is a securities style fraud, to make their companies look like “growth stocks”, thus getting a pass on P/E criteria that apply to “mature stocks”. Luckily for them #Trump has dismantled regulations in the US.

https://www.wheresyoured.at/big-tech-2tr/

And over-valuated stock is basically a licence to print money.

https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4156&context=lkcsb_research

The companies can issue overvalued stock in themselves to pay for acquisitions, as compensation etc.

Cuz when you’re a #billionaire, who cares about pinching #pennies?

#US #penny production ends

Pennies are drying up faster than retailers anticipated following Trump's decision earlier this year to halt production of the one-cent coin. #Retail groups…are frustrated by the lack of guidance from the #Trump admin & lawmakers, forcing them to round down to avoid angering customers & violating laws in some states—potentially costing high-volume businesses significant #money.
https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/us-retailers-left-short-changed-penny-production-ends-2025-11-01/?utm_source=braze&utm_medium=notifications&utm_campaign=2025_engagement

It turns out, though, doesn't it, that Cardinal George and all the Catholic bishops celebrating their alliance with white evangelicals to become an arm of the Republican party were wildly deceived about where the real threat to religious liberty lay — not with the Democrats but with the party these bishops helped anoint as God's party.

See /5-7 in this thread.

#Trump #Republicans #ICE #immigrants #ReligiousFreedom #Catholic
/10

This claim about the bugbear of secularization was persistently used by the US Catholic bishops after they allied themselves with white evangelicals to slam Democrats, to claim that Democrats were eroding religious freedom and trampling on people of faith and their right to worship freely — and discriminate against targeted minority communities like the LGBTQ community in the name of religious belief.

#Trump #Republicans #ICE #immigrants #ReligiousFreedom #Catholic
/9

In 2010, Cardinal Francis George, president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, famously stated that he and priests of his generation would die in bed, but priests of the next generation would die in prison and priests of the following generation would be martyred.

George said this because he wanted to maintain that "secularization" was threatening religious freedom.

#Trump #Republicans #ICE #immigrants #ReligiousFreedom #Catholic
/8

“'This time, I felt a lot of grief,' admitted Dominican Sister Christin Tomy, who helped organize the Mass. 'I really was just heartbroken… for the way that the body of Christ was being ripped apart' by the refusal.

Bishop García-Maldonado — himself an immigrant from Mexico — reminded everyone that 'wherever our brothers and sisters are, Jesus wants to be… [to let those detained know] 'You are not alone.'"

#Trump #Republicans #ICE #immigrants #ReligiousFreedom #Catholic
/7

"But as the small group reached the facility’s gates, an Illinois state trooper relayed their request to ICE officials by phone.

Moments later the officer emerged and 'the answer was no,' Sister JoAnn Persch, RSM, announced to the crowd.

No reason was given this time, despite organizers following all protocol after a prior denial."

#Trump #Republicans #ICE #immigrants #ReligiousFreedom #Catholic
/6