Posts Made By: Rod Kaufman

Originally Posted by James Brown

The alternative is to believe that the Military, Congress, the Courts, The DC police, the huge remaining administrative apparatus, and the voters will stand by while Trump ignores Supreme Court orders.   This sort of total collapse of government is not going to happen.   List the most egregious executive orders issued so far, and there are plenty of them, and I bet you that I can find a cite to the court case challenging each order and in many cases enjoining them while the judicial process grinds out.   I will not gloat then, but in four years you will see that the US government and the US voters have no apatite or tolerance for a wannabe dictatorship.

At the end of the day, when all is said and done by the courts, the ONLY mechanism the courts have to enforce their contempt of courts order is by an order to the marshals' service to arrest and or incarcerate the offender. All Trump has to do is have one of his lackeys, in this case AG Pam Bondi, order the DOJ to in turn order the marshals service not to take action. The aforementioned scenario is already been discussed by judges and legal experts on MSM.

That said, I expect Alito and Thomas to fully support Trump's position on executive action in essentially the same manner that the GOP in congress does.

I'm not going through a rehash of the immunity case again except to say we agree to disagree on it.

On edit: I'll add that the judges on the lower courts have generally ceded to Trump on the basis of his, for all practical purposes, blanket immunity on the cases he's faced...

Coming back on topic:     https://www.nbcnews.com/business/economy/january-2025-inflation-report-what-to-know-economy-right-now-rcna191653

"Price growth sped up unexpectedly in January, posing an early challenge to President Donald Trump's economic agenda."

"Trump regained the White House vowing to lower prices "immediately," promising voters on the campaign trail that he'd begin doing so "starting on Day One." But the president, who is 24 days into his new term, cast blame on his predecessor Wednesday morning, writing on his Truth Social platform, “BIDEN INFLATION UP!”

"Yet at least one Trump economic adviser has signaled the administration may look to curb overall consumption, which would most likely entail a slowdown in growth and even increase unemployment. Kevin Hassett, director of the National Economic Council, told CNBC on Monday that reducing demand and increasing the labor supply could address the pace of price growth."

Originally Posted by James Brown

And you really think the Army, The DC police, 50 state governors, the career employees in the US Marshall's service, the entirety of Congress, the Federal Judiciary, and the voters are just going to stand by twiddling their thumbs if/when Trump and Bondi provokes a constitutional crisis in this manner?   I don't believe you really think this.  Hardly.   Trump would back down and comply, while arguing that he won.  If he did not, he would be arrested, impeached and removed from office.   The Army, The DC police, the career employees in the US Marshall's service, Congress, the Federal Judiciary, and the voters are not all Trump hacks afraid to stand up to Bondi.

Incidentally, our last AG arguably manipulated and weaponized his authority upon demand by the President.  The Courts and the voters had the last word, didn't they?

"And you really think..."

It's not what I think, it's what the (retired) judges and legal pundits think that matters and given Trump's propensity to ignore the fundamental structure of our constitution and our government by way of anointing Musketeers to deconstruct the government and by virtue of his own SCOTUS-approved immunity as well as his shielding from the GOP congress specific to impeachment (or virtually anything else he does), he may very well order Bondi to order the Marshals service to not to engage in any court appointed enforcement proceedings on the issues.

"Incidentally, our last AG arguably manipulated and weaponized his authority upon demand by the President."

Congratulations! That one takes the cake for hogwash of the decade in the annals of the history of the astromart! YOU had posted in the past in regards to if there was any blame to be assigned for any of the lack of action in the federal cases against Trump, it out to be borne by Garland who is arguably the slowest and most feckless AG we've ever seen!

Biden, himself, noted Garland was one of his biggest mistakes. He couldn't carry out a mission to weaponize the government even if he was authorized and ordered by Biden to do it! He's no Bill Barr!

Originally Posted by James Brown

By the way, I'm not sure I can sleep tonight unless you acknowledge the immunity decision protects Biden, and that the elimination of the Chevron doctrine enhances the position of all those litigants who think Trump and his agencies are overstepping their authority.   Yay Court!

I think the immunity decision, besides being a bad one as well one as being solely brought forth before the court due to Trump's actions of which he escaped prosecution because of it, is an unnecessary one because no DOJ would prosecute an ex-president for the actions/examples that have been cited by conservative causes such as a president ordering the assassination of a terrorist abroad (ex Bin Laden).  

The immunity decision does, however, offer the protection from prosecution for presidents engaging in acts of malfeasance such as those by Trump or Nixon, with the latter likely not resigning under the umbrella of privileged communications while in office.

Originally Posted by Russ Carroll

Jim, this is exactly what I am saying. Trump will defy the tyrannical overreach of the courts to save democracy.

even a broken clock is right twice-a-day. Good job, Richie!

I seem to recall a rant or three or four or more from our resident supporter of the Trump "JD" Putin-commie team screaming anytime Biden issued an executive order and belching  gas from his gut about how tyrannical he was but now Trump has set the record for executive orders for modern presidents in their first 100 days in office.

Then if a court stepped in and blocked one of 'em, he'd post how great it was that the court put Biden in his place but now if a court has an adverse decision on Trump's executive orders, it's the tyrannical courts that are at fault! What a freaking hypocrite!

"Most commonly, Howell emphasized, "Congress and the courts do nothing at all" in response to unilateral action. "

"One potential check, though, has remained silent so far: the new GOP majority in Congress. Despite the breadth of Trump's unilateral actions, congressional oversight seems nakedly absent — a fact that some argue will only embolden Trump. Some Republicans may be reluctant to confront him publicly, wary of political repercussions, as much of their party applauds these efforts as the president delivering on his campaign promises. If that pattern continues, a true check from the legislative branch may depend on whom voters send back to Washington in 2026."

https://abcnews.go.com/538/trumps-record-number-executive-orders-testing-limits-presidential/story?id=118535046

Originally Posted by James Brown

Hi James, Jim - thanks, and no worries.  I actually think Rich understood my point.  Sadly, Rich lies so easily, for example, that he did not put "The TORMENTOR" on his own account profile, that I don't know what to think when he grossly and laughably misstates one of our points of view.  Either Rich is a pathological liar, or he has a serious, disabling mental illness.  Either way, I'm happy to ignore him.   

I did put in another post that I was 99% certain that our Constitutional system would hold if Trump provoked a constitutional crisis.  I'm still good with that number although it may be too optimistic.  Heck, according to the ESA on the A-Mart front page, we are only 98% certain that a fairly large asteroid AR2024 AR4 will miss Earth in 2032!   Not much is 100% certain!   

One thing I am sure of is that you guys, Russ, David, Rod, and anyone else who reads the posts here understood my points.  J

Hi Jim,

A sane and rational person would understand your points/concerns but the self-described "The Tormentor" is not one of them.

That said, I'm wondering you make of the parade of DAs in New York resigning in protest over Trump's DOJ's efforts to force them to drop the corruption case against the mayor of New York city in wake of his cooperation with Trump to go onto Fox and Friends to champion Trump's stance on illegal immigration?

I understand the head who resigned is a staunch conservative/republican and a dedicated member of the federalist society.

https://www.newsweek.com/prosecutor-resigns-warns-trumps-doj-it-was-never-going-me-2031456

Originally Posted by Richard Davis

Resident Canuck wrote:  

What shall be done about the extra-constitutional presence of Musk? He is unelected, DOGE  is in no way official with no congressional backing.

Let me educate You and the other leftists here and explain to You that there is NOTHING Illegal about the DOGE creation.

Yes, it is official. 

That department doesn't need to be 'created by' and/or voted on by Congress.

The United States Department of Education was CREATED BY an Executive order given by President Jimmy Carter back in 1979 when he brought into formation the Dep't of Education.  

There were NO votes in Congress to create this 45 Year old US Cabinet dep't.

Executive order no 12212 enabled an Entire Cabinet Dep't. 

How did that happen?  Please explain why the US Department of Education is legal and DOGE is not.

I'll wait for your answer.

By the way, 2.5 MILLION Bureaucrats were NOT elected but are in place in MY gov't wasting money hand over fist.

I'll support Elon Musk as he continues to uncover the waste and abuse by those unelected Bureaucrats IN MY gov't.

"The United States Department of Education was CREATED BY an Executive order given by President Jimmy Carter back in 1979 when he brought into formation the Dep't of Education. "

"No. The Department of Education was established through legislation passed by Congress, a power given to Congress through the U.S. Constitution."
"Therefore, only Congress has the authority to abolish the agency. To do so, a bill would have to pass with a supermajority in the Senate—a minimum of 60 votes."

"Executive orders do not have the power to “override federal laws and statutes,” meaning funds appropriated to the department through Congress cannot be revoked by an executive order either."

https://www.americanprogress.org/article/frequently-asked-questions-about-the-u-s-department-of-education/#:~:text=No.,Congress%20through%20the%20U.S.%20Constitution.

"Executive order no 12212 enabled an Entire Cabinet"

That was enabled primarily through the power vested in the president to do so from the Department of Education Department Organization Act which was passed by congress.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Department_of_Education_Organization_Act

As for the rest of your self-serving rant, the lion's share whatever so-called fraud and waste is supposedly being uncovered by "DOGE" is whatever Trump's musketeers don't approve of because it either doesn't agree with whatever they choose to believe in or doesn't benefit them...

Originally Posted by Richard Davis

The idea of the Dep't of Education was to ensure the rights of the states to ensure their control over their responsibility for the education of their local school students.

It has ballooned into nothing more than a Federal Funding to the corrupt and pathetic teachers Unions, the NEA and the AFT, and like all gov't controlled entities the product these teachers Unions produce is dismal, pathetic, and is more expensive than anywhere else in the world.


20 US 3403. SEC. 103.

(a) It is the intention of the Congress in the establishment of the Department to protect the rights of State and local governments and public and private educational institutions in the areas of educational policies and administration of programs and to strengthen and improve the control of such governments and institutions over their own educational programs and policies. The establishment of the Department of Education shall not increase the authority of the Federal Government over education or diminish the responsibility for education which is reserved to the States and the local school systems and other instrumentalities of the States.

b) No provision of a program administered by the Secretary or by any other officer of the Department shall be construed to authorize the Secretary or any such officer to exercise any direction, supervision, or control over the curriculum, program of instruction

It has done the exact opposite of the promised BS that they listed above in 20 US 3403. SEC. 103.

The whole dep't will hopefully be abolished soon.

The department of education has been systematically defunded by Republicans in the states for years with much of it redirected to private schools and, in particular in the red states to religious schools, and all at the expense of public schools. It's no wonder why public schools are failing. 

This is the typical republican playbook at work, defund a program or agency until it performs badly or fails outright and then point to it and say, "ya see it doesn't work and we were right all along."

Originally Posted by James Brown

Here is the EO creating DOGE from an existing agency branch.  

 https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/establishing-and-implementing-the-presidents-department-of-government-efficiency/

The department of digital services does(or did)this:The United States Digital Service (USDS) works to improve government services by using technology and design. USDS partners with federal agencies to create digital services that are user-friendly and reliable.
How USDS works
Collaborates with agencies
USDS works with agencies across the federal government to address critical needs.
Uses interdisciplinary teams
USDS brings together teams of engineers, designers, data scientists, and more.
Prioritizes human-centered design
USDS focuses on iterative improvements to create seamless digital services.
Modernizes procurement
USDS works to modernize procurement processes and practices for the digital era.
Examples of USDS work
Veterans Affairs
USDS helped the VA improve its technology presence for veterans, increasing satisfaction and trust.
Infant formula shortage
USDS partnered with the Department of Health and Human Services to create data systems and predict needs for infant formula.

None of the above is consistent with the activities of DOGE. So, it seems they simply took the closest in appearance department and utilized it as a cover for justification of what it is really doing.
 
Will that withstand the scrutiny of constitutionality? My guess is that it will given the propensity of the conservative majority to ignore the merits of a case(except when it wants to further their own rationale for arriving at a decision) and so will grant Donald Trump (and Elon Musk) even more power to do what they're doing.

Speaking of Elon, have you wondered how it can be that while the musketeers are finding supposed cases of fraud and waste and abuse in virtually every department, they somehow can't find it in the billions of dollars in contracts that Musk and Starlink have with the US government? Every dollar of those contacts is perfectly allocated and spent? And that's just one "tidbit" of a merit of a case that the cons on SCOTUS will ignore...

Originally Posted by James Brown

If DOGE does exceed its constitutional authority, I think the cons on the Court will surprise you.   Not everything is politically motivated.

Well, it appears we won't have to wait too long before we know since Trump has just filed his brief with SCOTUS to legally authorize his firings and the like. Note his rationale:

"The brief cites the Supreme Court decision that gave Trump immunity from criminal prosecution and reflected a muscular view of executive power."

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-administration-supreme-court-permit-firing-whistleblower-agency-head/

IMO, Trump and his team are feeling confident the cons on the court will come through for him...