Week of April 13th, 2025

Yes, Justice Antonin Scalia is the face of my blog this week. These are strange times.

Here we go...

1. President Trump sitting with a dictator in the Oval Office, El Salvador’s President Bukele, made clear that the man mistakenly deported to El Salvador won’t be returned to the U.S. (NYT, Reuters, ABC News, BBC). The Administration first said they had made an error (page 3, paragraph 2, line 2) in deporting him and now they are saying they didn’t make an error.

The Supreme Court ruled 9-0 that the Administration had to facilitate the return of Kilmar Ábrego García and at this point Trump is simply ignoring the order. You don’t “appeal” a SCOTUS order. We all understand that if the Administration gets away with ignoring the Supreme Court - if no one enforces the order, our constitution is nothing more than fish wrap, right? We all get that?

By the way, The El Salvadoran VP said that the reason they are holding Kilmar Abrego Garcia at CECOT is because the Trump administration is paying them to do so. (NYT, WaPo, The Hill)

Trump supporters think the court ruled in his favor – I guess because he told them it did. But no, it did not.

2. FYI: Justice Scalia wrote "… it is well established that the Fifth Amendment entitles aliens to due process of law" 1993 Reno vs Florin. Specifically, he noted that this applies to due process in deportation proceedings. (LII Legal Information Network, FindLaw, The Oklahoman)

3. DOGE abruptly cut a program called Charting My Path for Future Success—a research-based effort that helped teens with disabilities transition from high school into college, work, and independent living. Now it’s gone without explanation.(NPR)

4. “I took a cognitive test, and I got the highest score, and one of the doctors said, ‘Sir, I’ve never seen anyone get that score — that was the highest score.’” — Trump (video) Okay.

5. Fox News host Jesse Watters on tariffs: “What these tariffs are doing to China is collapsing their economy, increasing unemployment, and possibly toppling their regime. So, if they don’t want their regime to fall, they better make a deal with us.” Of course, NONE of this is true.

6. Trump responds to Zelensky’s offer to buy 10 Patriot missiles for $15 billion: “He’s always looking to purchase missiles. When you start a war you gotta know you can win it. You don't start a war against someone 20 times your size & hope people give you some missiles.”(Eurasian Times, Defense Post, BBC) FOR THE LAST TIME, ZELENSKY DID NOT START THE WAR! And yet I see Trump supporters on social media all of the time saying he did – just because Trump told them so. And this is why it feels like I am living in UpsideDownLand.

7. Trump wants El Salvador to build more prisons saying “the homegrowns are next”. (ABC News, NPR, USA Today). They are already disappearing people without due process - most with no criminal record, and so far, flagrantly defying a SCOTUS order. Who is next? Someone who writes a blog every week that is critical of him? Go ahead and call me hysterical. He is already finding ways to punish his dissenters. (BBC, Yahoo, CNN, NYT). He literally signed an EO declaring Miles Taylor guilty of treason for writing a book critical of him. He’s launched a criminal investigation against cyber security expert Chris Krebbs for declaring the 2020 election secure. He’s abusing his power to go after banks, lawyers, universities he hates. Trump has ordered the IRS to rescind Harvard University's tax-exempt status. This is what authoritarians do.

8. “Mindless slashing at NSF won’t just harm the scientific enterprise today—it will damage discovery and innovation for years to come.” (The Bullwork)

9. Robert (brainworm) F. Kennedy, unfortunately for all of us, talked about kids with autism. "They'll never pay taxes, they'll never hold a job, they'll never play baseball, they'll never write a poem, they'll never go out on a date. Many of them will never use a toilet unassisted."(ABC News, NYT, BBC) THIS IS THE HEAD OF HHS. Has he never met someone with autism? Because this utter nonsense, and does not in any way, describe kids with autism. (Fact-checking RFK on health policy.)

10. Trump will reportedly end the very popular IRS Direct File program that allowed taxpayers to file taxes for free. This comes after Intuit, the maker of TurboTax, lobbied the government for years to block IRS free file. Intuit donated $1 million to Trump’s inauguration. (The American Prospect, The AP, Yahoo). Great.

11. US FDA suspends food safety quality checks after staff cuts. (Reuters, Yahoo, AOL) . Hello Salmonella, Listeria, and E. coli, Cyclospora, and Hepatitis A. THIS IS EXACTLY THE KIND OF THING WE NEED OUR GOVERNMENT TO DO. This is why we pay taxes right here.

12. In a 7-2 ruling, the Supreme Court temporarily blocked the deportation of any Venezuelan men held in the Bluebonnet Detention Center in northern Texas under the Alien Enemies Act. (New York Post, CNN, The Hill)

13. Remember when I told you about Teresa Borrenphol being dragged out of a Republican Townhall in Idaho? Those who dragged her out were all just charged, - battery, false imprisonment, security agent uniform violation, security agent duties violation. In Idaho no less. Good news is good. (East Idaho News)

14. Jack Hopkins (just a guy on Threads) nails it. “The thing that irritates me the most is that ever since Donald Trump decided to run in 2015, the United States has not felt like the same United States most of us grew up in, and for good reason: It hasn't been. He stole something vital to the life force of this country. The worst kind of theft.”

15. And finally, an Easter message from the President of the United States of America:

Bonus item 16. If Trumps Easter message hasn't inspired you, late breaking news is that millions once again protested The Administration in cities large and small on Saturday. Even in little Packwood Washington, one of my favorite places.

In the words of Thomas Jefferson in Hamilton, “So what did I miss?"