What does a TRUMP presidency look like?

[DGuller]

Just goes to show, no matter what human development KPI you choose, the three Scandinavian countries always come out on top.

[The Brain]

According to a recent poll 7% of Swedes have a positive view of the US. 4% positive to Trump (Putin 1%).

[HVC]

Even after all his efforts Trump is still playing second fiddle to Putin. Sad.

[The Minsky Moment]

https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.288365/gov.uscourts.dcd.288365.37.0_2.pdf

United States Senator Mark Kelly, a retired naval officer, has been censured by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth for voicing certain opinions on military actions and policy. In addition, he has been subjected to proceedings to possibly reduce his retirement rank and pay and threatened with criminal prosecution if he continues to speak out on these issues. Secretary Hegseth relies on the well-established doctrine that military servicemembers enjoy less vigorous First Amendment protections given the fundamental obligation for obedience and discipline in the armed forces. Unfortunately for Secretary Hegseth, no court has ever extended those principles to retired servicemembers, much less a retired servicemember serving in Congress and exercising oversight responsibility over the military. This Court will not be the first to do so! 

Keep whacking those moles.

[Baron von Schtinkenbutt]

I love judicial snark.

[The Minsky Moment]

Leon is an old timer, a former Reagan hand in the Justice Department.

[The Minsky Moment]

DOJ antitrust chief is out.  She was pursuing a hardline vs the Ticketmaster monopoly, the admin wants to give them a sweetheart settlement.  The Billionaire Boys Club is fully in control now.

[Norgy]

I notice some say Rubio struck a conciliatory tone in München.

"We want allies who are proud of their culture, their heritage ... and together with us are willing and able to defend it," he added. "For we in America have no interest in being polite and orderly caretakers of the West's managed decline. We do not seek to separate, but to revitalize an old friendship."

Conciliatory to the European fascists that Republicans have courted for decades, at least. 

[Syt]

https://apnews.com/article/trump-sarcone-kinsella-new-york-prosecutor-2df07b38fe05671a03487b1d90324f8d

Top US prosecutor appointed to New York Albany office by judges is immediately ousted

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — A lawyer appointed by judges to be the U.S. attorney for northern New York was immediately fired by the Justice Department in the latest clash between the Trump administration and the judiciary over the process for selecting top federal prosecutors.

Donald Kinsella spent less than a day in the position before he was dismissed on Wednesday. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche announced his firing in a social media post.

"Judges don't pick U.S. Attorneys," the president does, Blanche wrote, adding, "You are fired, Donald Kinsella."

It was unclear Thursday who was supervising the office, which handles federal prosecutions and other legal matters for a broad swath of upstate New York.

The district court judges posted a brief statement Thursday saying they had acted under their legal authority in appointing Kinsella.

"The Court thanks Donald T. Kinsella for his willingness to return to public service so that this vacancy could be filled with a qualified, experienced former prosecutor, and for his years of distinguished work on behalf of the citizens of the Northern District of New York," read the statement.

President Donald Trump's pick to lead the office, John Sarcone, is among a number of interim U.S. attorneys installed by the administration who judges have found to be unlawfully serving in their positions.

U.S. law normally requires senate confirmation for U.S. attorneys, and only allows people to serve in the position without that confirmation for limited time periods. Under Trump, however, the Justice Department has sought to leave unconfirmed prosecutors in their positions indefinitely, often through novel personnel maneuvers that courts have later ruled to be improper.

In December, Alina Habba resigned as the top federal prosecutor for New Jersey after an appeals court said she had been serving in the post unlawfully.

Lindsey Halligan, who pursued indictments against a pair of Trump's adversaries, left her position as an acting U.S. attorney in Virginia after a judge concluded in November that her appointment was unlawful and that indictments she brought against New York Attorney General Letitia James and former FBI Director James Comey must be dismissed.

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi appointed Sarcone to serve as the interim U.S. attorney for the Northern District of New York in March 2025. But when his 120-day term elapsed, judges in the district declined to keep him in the post.

Sarcone stayed on anyway, and while in his position pursued another investigation of James, a Democrat and longtime Trump foe.

Last month, Judge Lorna G. Schofield in New York City blocked subpoenas requested by Sarcone in connection with that investigation, saying he was not lawfully serving as U.S. attorney and that any "of his past or future acts taken in that capacity are void or voidable as they would rest on authority Mr. Sarcone does not lawfully have."

On Tuesday, Sarcone changed his title to "first assistant U.S. attorney." That prompted federal judges in the district on Wednesday to try and fill the apparent vacancy in the top spot by appointing Kinsella.

A woman who answered the phone at the federal prosecutor's office in Albany responded to a request to speak with Kinsella by saying: "Technically, he's not employed with our office anymore."

Messages were left for Kinsella at Whiteman Osterman & Hanna LLP, the law firm where he is a senior counsel and where a website describes him as a 40-year veteran of "complex criminal and civil litigation over a "distinguished career."

An email sent to Sarcone seeking comment on the latest developments was not immediately returned. His office declined to comment. A spokesperson at Justice Department headquarters in Washington declined to comment.

Those who clicked on "Meet the U.S. Attorney" on the website for the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Northern District of New York on Thursday were greeted with the "staff profile" page for Sarcone, though his title is now "First Assistant U.S. Attorney."

[garbon]

https://thehill.com/homenews/media/5737123-bondi-sparks-outrage-epstein/

Bondi faces MAGA media backlash after hearing on Epstein

Attorney General Pam Bondi is facing a wave of backlash from many in the conservative media ecosystem following her testimony this week before the House Judiciary Committee about the Department of Justice's (DOJ) handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files.

During a contentious hearing Wednesday, Bondi sparred with lawmakers over the release of the files and beat back accusations of a cover-up related to the dead sex offender and financier.

"When the Attorney General of the United States is asked why she has prosecuted no one related to Jeffrey Epstein and this is her answer, she should be fired or resign," the conservative radio host Erick Erickson wrote on social platform X, attaching a clip of Bondi talking about the recent success of the stock market under President Trump.

"But neither will happen, which is another reason the Democrats are going to have a good election year," he added.

Tim Pool, a online influencer popular on the right, also criticized Bondi's performance in the hearing.

"I think they've miserably handled the Epstein files. I don't think we're serviced as the American people by this kind of yelling," Pool said on a recent episode of his podcast, according to the Daily Beast, praising Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and others who grilled Bondi over the DOJ's handling of the files.

The Fox News host Lisa Kennedy expressed frustration with the way Bondi handled herself during the hearing, saying she came off "like a shrieking Karen."

"It's like I want this country to do well. I want to be convinced that the president, I don't care what administration it is, that we are on the right track, and the people who are in charge of every aspect of the federal government, they have their position locked up and they are doing the very best they can with an incredibly talented team," Kennedy said on an episode of "The Five" this week. "When she's this emotional, it looks like she's lost a little bit of the edge."

Right-wing pundit and second amendment activist Dana Loesch blasted the attorney general during her radio show the day after the hearing, saying she "made an a‑‑ of herself."

"Republicans and Democrats were asking her about Epstein. And the Republicans, it wasn't just Massie. You're talking about Jim Jordan, you're talking about Brandon Gill, you're taking about very genuine conservatives, who by the way are more conservative than Pam Bondi because they'd never been for gun control. If you wanna sit here and introduce the Dow into it, let's go ahead and talk about your positions on red flag laws and universal background checks, AG," she said.
...

[The Minsky Moment]

https://apnews.com/article/trump-sarcone-kinsella-new-york-prosecutor-2df07b38fe05671a03487b1d90324f8d

US attorneys are appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate

If the president can't or won't get Senate approval, his authority to designate a temp is restricted by law.  Blanche knows this, his dismal record of lying to the public continues