> Noem also said "there is an increasing trend of replacing legitimate oversight activities with circus-like publicity stunts, all of which creates a chaotic environment with heightened emotions."
Wow, just wow! The sheer brazenness of calling legitimate congressional oversight 'circus-like publicity stunts' is on a whole new level. Apparently, the administration at it's sole discretion can decide that congressional oversight is a 'publicity stunt' and disallow it.
Forget doing what is right for the country. At point do the MAGA folks realize that they are enabling a future Democrat in the White House to do the exact same thing, except for causes they don't agree with when they cheer on such blatant authoritarian behaviour.
> The sheer brazenness of calling legitimate congressional oversight 'circus-like publicity stunts' is on a whole new level
Is it? I feel like the mud slinging has been in vogue for a few decades.
The willful lawbreaking is new. But the rhetoric feels familiar.
> point do the MAGA folks realize that they are enabling a future Democrat in the White House to do the exact same thing
None of them do. (To be fair, administrations have been expanding the Presidenxy since WWII. We never had a Constitutional discussion of strategic nuclear command or a standing superpower’s army.)
My pet projects are shredding federal student loan records, tearing the turbines out of coal plants and ceasing enforcement on tariffs and duties on all imported food on day one.
When a future Democrat enters, they'll rally around Democrats being hypocrites if the D's do go that way. Judges could choose that point to say "government overreach has gone too far." You are correct that a precedent is available. I think D's would rather a less totally partisan and authoritative environment so they'll probably steer the other way for the most part but not entirely.
Democratic Reps. Ilhan Omar, Angie Craig and Kelly Morrison showed up at the Whipple Federal Building and were initially allowed in, but shortly after, asked to leave and blocked from touring the facility.
What pisses me off about this story is, that's the end of the story. We went in, they told us to get out, we told them they're breaking the law, they said "We don't care," and we realized how cogent and amazing that was, and said "Welp, that satisfies me! They sure did win that argument! Let's skedaddle everybody!" The only acceptable end of the story is that you went around and deputized whoever you needed and went back in there and got what you came for.
Whatever these people do sets precedent due to the public exposure they get. If they start more (physical) confrontations, the more extreme among their supporters may see that as an invitation to become less peaceful. The administration would see that as a justification for cracking down harder. Protesters that are breaking the law would be the icing on top.
Tim Waltz's decision to increasing the readiness of Minnesotas National guard shows that the situation is extremely tense and the opposition to the administration is forced to walk on eggshells.
It's a near perfect catch: do too little and they won't care and continue implementing their playbook. Do too much and they can and will move faster.
> the more extreme among their supporters may see that as an invitation to become less peaceful
Sure. We’re kind of there. Dark as it seems, what we need is violence. Because this administration has not bothered to calibrate its responsiveness. We may wind up with a Congressman in jail. We may wind up with one murdered by ICE. It will be horrific. But I’m not other paths to shocking the nation into action. (Specifically, paralyzing action. The Democrats who voted to put the government back into gear so they could make their holiday plans are beyond words.)
Of course, for Noem / DHS, its about buying time., she bets by the time anyone goes to the court and gets a temporary restraining order, that they'll rob Omar etc of the optics of visiting. While throwing up the confusion of the other funding source as a legal hail mary
Hopefully Omar are going to get a restraining order...
We're expected to comply with the 'law' and not do anything to impede investigations or ICE activity such as living on the same block as an ICE raid. But they're not expected to comply with the law and actively impede investigations into their activity.
And for reference, ICE as we speak is doing door to door raids in Minneapolis targeting everyone, including American citizens.
This is how tyranny works. 'for my friends everything, for my enemies the law' is the basic premise.
The day before these people said a woman deserved to be shot in the face 3 times for bumping into a federal officer they said that January 6th was peaceful and celebrated a president pardoning... people that attacked federal officers.
They’re literally Trump’s private gestapo army. Their actions are what gestapo did historically. And they’re only accountable to Trump, with no mechanism to hold anyone accountable.
A new police force is needed to arrest the president and others in the executive branch who break the law. Otherwise the political system of America is broken.
The DHS (Kristi Noem) now claims their repeat of the same illegal policy is now legal because it is using a different funding source, which is obviously false. It’s all the same pool of money.
The "pool of money" idea itself has got to go. Government spending and revenues operate much more like sources and sinks than a purse.
Spending injects money into the economy and revenues extract it. The two roughly balance each other but only because overspending/undertaxing increases the money supply in negative ways and under pending/overtaxing decreased the money supply in other negative ways. Besides these, interest rates are the third lever of the economic engine.
The constraint is inflation rather than solvency for states who have monetary sovereignty.
I get the appeal and the logical, rational appeal of the purse model, but it leads to a warped idea of how the government and economy interact.
Their bet is that they will not follow the law, nothing will be done about it, and Americans will be ok with it.
So far, that has been the case. The constitution has become meaningless thanks to maga, and you're better off recognizing that America no longer exists the way you thought about the country.
It’s absurd that there is no actual way to hold the presidency accountable. No way to arrest them for violating the law? No way to arrest them for ignoring court orders? No way to arrest them for detaining people for months and then letting them go and dropping all charges? What’s the point of such a childishly designed political system?
From the article
> Noem also said "there is an increasing trend of replacing legitimate oversight activities with circus-like publicity stunts, all of which creates a chaotic environment with heightened emotions."
Wow, just wow! The sheer brazenness of calling legitimate congressional oversight 'circus-like publicity stunts' is on a whole new level. Apparently, the administration at it's sole discretion can decide that congressional oversight is a 'publicity stunt' and disallow it.
Forget doing what is right for the country. At point do the MAGA folks realize that they are enabling a future Democrat in the White House to do the exact same thing, except for causes they don't agree with when they cheer on such blatant authoritarian behaviour.
> The sheer brazenness of calling legitimate congressional oversight 'circus-like publicity stunts' is on a whole new level
Is it? I feel like the mud slinging has been in vogue for a few decades.
The willful lawbreaking is new. But the rhetoric feels familiar.
> point do the MAGA folks realize that they are enabling a future Democrat in the White House to do the exact same thing
None of them do. (To be fair, administrations have been expanding the Presidenxy since WWII. We never had a Constitutional discussion of strategic nuclear command or a standing superpower’s army.)
My pet projects are shredding federal student loan records, tearing the turbines out of coal plants and ceasing enforcement on tariffs and duties on all imported food on day one.
When a future Democrat enters, they'll rally around Democrats being hypocrites if the D's do go that way. Judges could choose that point to say "government overreach has gone too far." You are correct that a precedent is available. I think D's would rather a less totally partisan and authoritative environment so they'll probably steer the other way for the most part but not entirely.
Go look at @DHSgov on Twitter. They’re leaning into the fascist rhetoric. There’s no pretense anymore.
It’s obvious that they don’t plan on a future Democrat ever occupying the White House again.
Democratic Reps. Ilhan Omar, Angie Craig and Kelly Morrison showed up at the Whipple Federal Building and were initially allowed in, but shortly after, asked to leave and blocked from touring the facility.
What pisses me off about this story is, that's the end of the story. We went in, they told us to get out, we told them they're breaking the law, they said "We don't care," and we realized how cogent and amazing that was, and said "Welp, that satisfies me! They sure did win that argument! Let's skedaddle everybody!" The only acceptable end of the story is that you went around and deputized whoever you needed and went back in there and got what you came for.
I don't get it either. If you're a member of congress push your way in there! Let them cause a confrontation so that it can be fought in courts.
Whatever these people do sets precedent due to the public exposure they get. If they start more (physical) confrontations, the more extreme among their supporters may see that as an invitation to become less peaceful. The administration would see that as a justification for cracking down harder. Protesters that are breaking the law would be the icing on top.
Tim Waltz's decision to increasing the readiness of Minnesotas National guard shows that the situation is extremely tense and the opposition to the administration is forced to walk on eggshells.
It's a near perfect catch: do too little and they won't care and continue implementing their playbook. Do too much and they can and will move faster.
> the more extreme among their supporters may see that as an invitation to become less peaceful
Sure. We’re kind of there. Dark as it seems, what we need is violence. Because this administration has not bothered to calibrate its responsiveness. We may wind up with a Congressman in jail. We may wind up with one murdered by ICE. It will be horrific. But I’m not other paths to shocking the nation into action. (Specifically, paralyzing action. The Democrats who voted to put the government back into gear so they could make their holiday plans are beyond words.)
Peace at any price?
Unfortunately history has taught us that tyranny can only be defeated with force.
Of course, for Noem / DHS, its about buying time., she bets by the time anyone goes to the court and gets a temporary restraining order, that they'll rob Omar etc of the optics of visiting. While throwing up the confusion of the other funding source as a legal hail mary
Hopefully Omar are going to get a restraining order...
We're expected to comply with the 'law' and not do anything to impede investigations or ICE activity such as living on the same block as an ICE raid. But they're not expected to comply with the law and actively impede investigations into their activity.
And for reference, ICE as we speak is doing door to door raids in Minneapolis targeting everyone, including American citizens.
This is how tyranny works. 'for my friends everything, for my enemies the law' is the basic premise.
The day before these people said a woman deserved to be shot in the face 3 times for bumping into a federal officer they said that January 6th was peaceful and celebrated a president pardoning... people that attacked federal officers.
They’re literally Trump’s private gestapo army. Their actions are what gestapo did historically. And they’re only accountable to Trump, with no mechanism to hold anyone accountable.
A new police force is needed to arrest the president and others in the executive branch who break the law. Otherwise the political system of America is broken.
https://google.com/search?q=post-constitutional
This is blatantly illegal since a judge recently ruled they MUST allow congressional visits:
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/17/us/politics/ice-inspectio...
The DHS (Kristi Noem) now claims their repeat of the same illegal policy is now legal because it is using a different funding source, which is obviously false. It’s all the same pool of money.
The "pool of money" idea itself has got to go. Government spending and revenues operate much more like sources and sinks than a purse.
Spending injects money into the economy and revenues extract it. The two roughly balance each other but only because overspending/undertaxing increases the money supply in negative ways and under pending/overtaxing decreased the money supply in other negative ways. Besides these, interest rates are the third lever of the economic engine.
The constraint is inflation rather than solvency for states who have monetary sovereignty.
I get the appeal and the logical, rational appeal of the purse model, but it leads to a warped idea of how the government and economy interact.
What color are your tax dollars?
Their bet is that they will not follow the law, nothing will be done about it, and Americans will be ok with it.
So far, that has been the case. The constitution has become meaningless thanks to maga, and you're better off recognizing that America no longer exists the way you thought about the country.
It’s absurd that there is no actual way to hold the presidency accountable. No way to arrest them for violating the law? No way to arrest them for ignoring court orders? No way to arrest them for detaining people for months and then letting them go and dropping all charges? What’s the point of such a childishly designed political system?
what happened to her dog? black dog, sitting in the right rear seat, window all the way down, did the happy dance as the executioner got close.