Look very closely, and see of you can spot what these eight news items have in common:

⯐ Musk calls for impeachment of judge who blocked ‘DOGE’ access at Treasury

⯐ VP Vance claims judges ‘aren’t allowed’ to overrule President Trump on executive orders, suggests POTUS has ‘legitimate power’ to defy judicial rulings

⯐ House Speaker Johnson says ‘the courts should take a step back’ from Trump cases

⯐ Elon Musk rages as judges uphold ‘DOGE’ blockade: “Attempted coup!”

⯐ The core argument emerging in Trump’s legal filings and executive orders — one without support anywhere in the Constitution or the law — is that simply by being elected, Trump has the power to do whatever he wants

⯐ Judge orders Trump administration to immediately unfreeze federal funding and to stop violating his rulings

⯐ FEMA official ignores judge’s latest order, demands freeze on grant funding

⯐ Trump signals he might ignore the courts

If you guessed ignoring the courts, you guessed right. It’s been two weeks since a judicial ruling blocked Elon Musk’s federal funding freeze, and the freeze has not been thawed. Other judges have issued similar orders, to no avail.

Same as Donald Trump the man has always lived above the law, Trump the president is above the Constitution. And if judicial oversight is moot, then we have no checks and balances, and America’s 250-year experiment with a constitutional democracy has ended.

American Bar Association supports the rule of law

I remember a time when the ABA wouldn’t have needed to issue a press release like this. Now, it’s courageous.

Top Justice Department official orders prosecutors to drop charges against New York Mayor Eric Adams

and then

Mayor Adams to top commissioners: don’t criticize Trump, don’t interfere with immigration enforcement

Could the corruption be any more obvious? Why, yes it could — just wait a few days.

“Some people leave the country, others turn to explosives”

Shopify says they only closed Kanye West’s store because they thought he might not actually ship the Nazi t-shirts, not because they were Nazi t-shirts

Jeep introduces pop-up ads that appear every time the vehicle stops

Family of kids who froze to death reached out at least three times to Detroit’s homeless response team

NOAA is told to make list of climate-related grants, setting off fears

Is there anything they do at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration that’s not going to mention ‘climate’? Sheesh, we’re going to have such an idiocracy when Trump wins the war on science.

By shuttering the CFPB, Trump is not just going back to a pre-financial crisis status quo, but to something actually weaker than that. There is essentially no longer any Federal enforcement of consumer protection rules for financial products.

ICE wants to know if you’re posting negative things about it online

White House bars AP reporter from Oval Office because of AP style policy on ‘Gulf of America’

This is stupidity that makes my head hurt — and the world lines up to say yes!

Google officially changes the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America on Maps

Google replaces Neville Chamberlain as the face of appeasement.

Department of Education tells employees to end support for transgender students

In a couple of years, there’ll be a small article on page B-41 of the Times, reporting that suicide has skyrocketed among trans youth, and wondering why.

PBS caves to Trump, ousts staffers: “We have closed our DEI office”

Wikipedia prepares for ‘increase in threats’ to US editors from Musk and his allies

UN warns US cuts could lead to 6 million AIDS-related deaths as Trump moves to dismantle USAID

Trump’s immigration crackdown blurs the lines between reality, rumor and theater

“I might lose my farm because of the government.” [VIDEO 3min]

The dude in the video doesn’t quite connect the dots. The government — under Biden — had a deal to save his farm. The government — under Trump — is changing all the rules, reneging on the contract. If all he groks from this is “government bad,” then game over. Except it’s not a game.

EYE ON AI

Microsoft study finds AI makes human cognition “atrophied and unprepared”

ChatGPT’s political views are shifting right, a new analysis finds

AI company asks job applicants not to use AI in job applications

2/12/2025

Logo illustration by Jeff Meyer. Tip ‘o the hat to the Anderson Valley Advertiser, Bleepity-Bleep, Voenix Rising, and anywhere else I’ve stolen links, illustrations, or inspiration.

Special thanks to Linden Arden, Becky Jo, Joey Jo Jo emeritus, Jeff Meyer, John the Basket, Dave S, Name Withheld, and always extra special thanks to my lovely late Stephanie, who gave me 21 years and proved that the world isn’t always shitty.

And Now the News

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