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ArcticStones's avatar

Great interview! I very much enjoyed it live yesterday.

Is there any good reason why only 12 of 23 Democratic attorneys general have joined that lawsuit? Surely all of them should be in on this – especially if, as AG Keith Ellison underscores, "this fight will be won in the court of public opinion."

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Susan Dieterlen's avatar

I've been wondering this, too. They seem to be working together, so I'm guessing/hoping there's some strategy in play? Maybe it's just limits of time and resources? A lot of mice to chase.

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Cheryl Johnson's avatar

The GOP legislature has passed laws that block the NC AG Jeff jackson on weighing in on many issues.

https://www.axios.com/local/raleigh/2024/12/11/nc-gop-governor-power-legislature-disaster-relief

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ArcticStones's avatar

An unsurprising power grab. That explains only one of the remaining eleven.

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Cheryl Johnson's avatar

That is the only one I know about! ;-)

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ArcticStones's avatar

TRUMP REGIME ARRESTS A JUDGE

Meanwhile, Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan has been arrested for not aiding ICE’s attempt to detain an undocumented immigrant in her courtroom!

"Sources have told the Journal Sentinel that ICE officials arrived in Dugan's courtroom on the morning of April 18. When they went to the chief judge's office, Dugan directed the defendant and his attorney to a side door in the courtroom, directed them down a private hallway and into the public area on the 6th floor."

FBI Director Kash Patel posted on X about the arrest but later deleted his post.

https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/breaking/2025/04/25/milwaukee-county-judge-hannah-dugan-arrested-by-feds-at-courthouse/83270885007/

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ArcticStones's avatar

This unprecedented arrest of an American judge is making international headlines.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cly5xx017vko

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Deborah Potter's avatar

This is beyond terrible. It is TYRANNY!

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Deborah Potter's avatar

There was an interesting discussion last night on PBS. Judge Hannah Dugan may be viewed as heroic for taking a moral stand via civil disobedience. It was noted that part of the heroism is to accept the penalty. Her bravery will give future judges the courage to take similar action. It was said that civil disobedience is an effective way to delegitimize an authoritarian regime, and may become increasingly necessary.

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ArcticStones's avatar

Interesting point. However, I think her arrest – which I consider an unheard of overreach – might have a chilling effect on other judges who are not eager to have the threatened penalties imposed on them. I can see this cutting both ways.

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Deborah Potter's avatar

Absolutely! dt most likely intended for the arrest to have a chilling effect on the judiciary and all of his perceived "opponents." Now, how will the public respond to such intimidation?

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Lisa Iannucci's avatar

What the? No words.

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Kate O'Shea's avatar

Amen

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Thomas's avatar
5dEdited

Good to see this mentioned here... Thank you. Judge Hannah Dugan...

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Annie Bear's avatar

The Minneapolis Indivisible Group is having an emergency protest outside the courthouse today.

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ArcticStones's avatar

Excellent! Judge Hannah Dugan needs our support. Her arrest is outrageous and is a democracy unworthy.

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Annie Bear's avatar

a great protest today at the courthouse. Rachel Maddow just mentioned it! I would guess it was over a hundred people--pretty good for something announced a few hours earlier. Our indivisible group is doing such a great job. One comical moment when the younger person leading the chanting suggested the mostly Gen X and above crowd, who had been standing in the cold for at least an hour, get down on one knee.

We all got back up, eventually.

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Karen Pirello's avatar

Thanks for the link, Olav. Outrageous that this judge was arrested. And we find out from the article by a local reporter that the judge appeared in court in a “black dress with white flowers.” WTF????

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ArcticStones's avatar

As Simon indicates, we need to say Judge Hannah Dugan’s name, again and again – and her shocking arrest needs to be top of the news. Our democracy simply cannot accept such outrageous violations of law and order by the supposed "authorities".

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SaltandVinegar's avatar

FBI arrested a judge in Wisconsin this morning for allegedly not helping ICE arrest an immigrant in her court room. Insane.

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David E.'s avatar

Self-report:

1. I was feeling under the weather yesterday, so I didn’t do much of anything. I did, however, write a letter of thanks to the President of Western Washington University (WWU), who added his name to the open letter. WWU is my hometown university, and it’s very much part of the community.

2. I listened in on my wife’s Zoom call with Indivisible leaders Ezra and Leah. The most important thing I learned is that Indivisible is considering a large coordinated demonstration on June 14. This is Flag Day! I love the idea of millions of Americans coming out with U.S. flags to demonstrate against the Trump regime. It also happens to be Trump’s birthday. How delicious that will be if enormous crowds turn out to protest on Dear Leader’s birthday.

3. Today I listened to Lisa Senecal talk to David Pepper on Lincoln Square Media.

https://www.lincolnsquare.media/p/live-harvard-tells-trump-to-take

This was excellent. Mostly it was about the suit that Harvard has brought against the Trump regime, and about how academic freedom is a fundamental free-speech issue Pepper also highlighted how foolish it has been when institutions and firms capitulate to Trump. His excellent point is that they are submitting to illegal acts.

4. In response to Trump’s memo on investigating ActBlue, I gave money to Abigail Spanberger, the NC Dems, the Hopium 7, and Corey “the living Letter to America” Booker. Every time Trump does something like this I want to help to widen the circle of defiance. When we defy Trump, we expose how he is a weak and fearful little man.

5. I called the offices of my three members of Congress and left messages for them. Subject: the tariffs, how they are both destructive economically and unconstitutional, and how the latter is one more instance of why we need a Letter to America.

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drbilldean@gmail.com's avatar

Nice going

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steve reed's avatar

maybe we need to be punishing any orgs that capitulate

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Lisa Iannucci's avatar

Hopping on quickly to post this great Bulwark pod episode w Sen. Booker: https://youtu.be/j8oB2ISjoDQ?si=49jor_hYfSm92gvG

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Michael G Baer's avatar

A great boost to my dark mood today. Thank you Lisa, and thank you Cory

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Stu Weiss's avatar

I put this in late last night and want to repost.

https://min.house.gov/sites/evo-subsites/min.house.gov/files/evo-media-document/04.24.25-letters-to-law-firms-on-trump-administration-agreements-all.pdf

My rep Sam Liccardo is one of the signatories, and I emailed and thanked him. I love seeing a counteroffensive action like this, backed by citing state and federal laws against extortion and blackmail.

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Catherine Giovannoni's avatar

Thank you, Simon, for the great interview with another brave AG. I've contacted Maryland's AG to ask where they are and why they're not participating.

This morning, I called Senators Alsobrooks and Van Hollen and Congressman Raskin to ask them to support Senator Kaine's resolution on tariffs and to make federal and state criminal referrals against Elon Musk.

One of the (many) things we're going to need once Democrats are back in power is some laws that put teeth in the Emoluments Clause. Trump is now just openly using his "crypto" scam to sell access to him and the White House. (I'm so old that I remember Al Gore getting in big trouble for making a fundraising call while sitting in the White House.) Last time, suits seeking to enforce the Emoluments Clause were allowed to languish for years in the courts and then found moot once Trump was out of office. We're going to need rocket docket provisions and a new law that finds violation of the Clause is deemed a "high crime and misdemeanor" for purposes of impeachment.

Looking forward to today's Founding Members chat in a bit.

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Hical's avatar

Amen about the Emoluments Clause (among your many other good points).

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Anne R. Buttenheim's avatar

Maryland's AG is VERY active working with other state AGs on many of the ongoing law-suits. Get on his mailing list of press releases and you'll see how active he is. He may not be participating on every single lawsuit but he is not slouch in this department.

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Judymbatterson's avatar

I love the idea of music……..concerts…..that will engage my grandchildren in a way they are not today

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Anne R. Buttenheim's avatar

Yes, music was a big part of the Vietnam war resistance, and I wish some current artists would compose and sing for this crisis. It is a way to awaken people who don't have their heads buried in newspapers and substacks the way we do!

The case of the MD man held in El Salvador reminds me of Bruce Springsteen's hit, "We Take Care of our Own," initially written with American soldiers in mind, but the theme and lyrics fit this larger situation as well. Senator Van Hollen's visit to El Salvador was a great illustration.

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Barbara Moschner's avatar

Self report: Calls to Republican Tony Gonzales to take back the tariff policy making to the Congress and to stand up for the rule of law for the wrongly incarcerated immigrants. I also called Senator Cruz with the same messages.

This administration is so stupid and cruel, at least the polls are starting to reflect that Americans, especially young people, are catching on. We just have to keep at it for the next three and a half years!

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Michael G Baer's avatar

MAGA ~ Morons Are Governing America

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Jayne M's avatar
5dEdited

Sharing response from my DEM Senator, Jon Ossoff of GA, about earlier calls/emails I made to his office:

"Dear Ms. M.,

Thank you for contacting my office to share your views about President Donald Trump. I appreciate hearing from you.

With open contempt for the law, President Trump has launched a power grab unprecedented in American history. Within weeks of his inauguration, he fired independent inspectors general across the federal government. He placed personal loyalists in the highest federal offices and openly encouraged them to take vengeance on his political adversaries. He has used the power of government to intimidate and coerce his critics, the press, academia, the legal profession, and the business community. Americans now live in fear of reprisal from their own government.

This authoritarian streak has been paired with rank incompetence. There is nothing efficient about ordering the mass firing of hundreds of thousands of federal workers with no regard for their performance or the importance of their individual roles. No competent private sector CEO would reduce a workforce in this manner. The DOGE policy of firing en masse “probationary employees” — which simply means recent hires — is particularly foolish, as it means federal agencies are suddenly losing all of the young, talented professionals they have worked hard in recent months to recruit.

Elon Musk was neither elected to office nor confirmed by the Senate for any appointed position. It is outrageous that President Trump has granted him unaccountable and unfettered access to Americans’ sensitive personal data. Furthermore, Mr. Musk refuses to testify before Congress to answer questions under oath about his activities, some of which I believe are likely illegal.

I am pushing back daily. I have launched inquiries into the Administration’s dangerous and damaging actions across the Federal government, including at the VA, the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Defense, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. I have led Senate opposition to the Administration’s proposed conversion of the U.S. Navy facility at Guantánamo Bay into a mass detention camp for immigrants. When the Administration tried to shut down scholarships at Historically Black Colleges and Universities, including in Georgia, I pushed back and they backed down. I have forced Senate Republicans to take difficult votes defending their indefensible efforts to gut the Medicaid program and the Social Security Administration. And I will continue.

Thank you again for writing. Please keep the faith and keep working. Our Republic depends on all of us. It is an honor to represent you.

Wherever and however I can be of service, please contact my office at 202-224-3521. All of our resources are also available at ossoff.senate.gov."

In contrast to my do-nothing syncophantic 1st term House member who rubber stamps everything T demands, it is a breath of fresh air to have representation that not only openly acknowledges the chaos, incompetency and damage this administration has done/is doing, but explains the steps he has taken/will take to try and rein in the lawless behavior and reverse the horrific decisions. The next to last paragraph is the most important one of his message as it verifies what we are doing is working!

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Lisa Iannucci's avatar

So much love for Sen. Ossoff!

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Tom Thumb's avatar

Bravo to both you and Senator Jon, Jayne! :)

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Deborah Hemenway's avatar

Just sent another email about tariffs to Tillis. Congress needs to take back their authority it appears to be what all the country wants based on the polls I heard about today.

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Dennis McAtee's avatar

All of that falls back on to the Congress. They have relinquished their authority over to Trump, which is allowing him to issue those executive orders and then they take affect. I blame the Congress for most of this. We all knew/know how unethical/lawless Trump and his administration are.

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Dr. Kent Boyer's avatar

Keith Ellison is a national hero - thank you Simon. He took notes when you were talking about the letter to America. I am writing Illinois' great AG, Kwame Raoul, this morning to reinforce the message again.

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Michael Principe's avatar

The Democrats should follow the messaging advice of Anat Shenkar-Osorio; it’s time to speak in language people understand. I thought her appearance on the Joe Trippi Show last week was on point.

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drbilldean@gmail.com's avatar

China's Local Move To Gold For Trade Replacing Dollar

China is now preparing to establish a gold standard in trading with its local ASEAN trading partners through the Shanghai Gold Exchange established in 2002 With an estimated 30K+ tons of gold it is strongly positioned to use the yuan backed by gold to displace the dollar as the global reserve currency

This is a really big deal for much of the America's economic strength over the decades has been as its place as reserve currency in global trade But with the deterioration of its purchasing power due to excessive QE over the decades the weakened dollar position can now be easily exploited by China whose geopolitical strategy has always been to let the US make the mistakes and patiently wait for its turn to move, much akin to the philosophy of martial arts

The time is right to strike with the US weakened with what the Chinese know about the largest credit bubble in world history has been popped prompted by the Orange Cheeto and his Nazi followers and the equity markets are reflecting this With China being the second largest buyer of US treasuries to support the ballooning American debt this adds another layer of complexity that puts the US in a very vulnerable position

The only safe place to be in this global destruction of fiat currencies is to get out of credit and get into real money which is gold/silver

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Tom Thumb's avatar

Dr Bill, just to be clear, you aren't recommending that *we* do this, are you? Unless folks have something constructive in mind to do with the gold after they help collapse the dollar, for me, at least, I'd feel like I was one of the firms poaching clients from Paul, Weiss (which apparently played a big role in their capitulation). I'd like to see a list of those firms published somewhere--they need to pay an even bigger price for that than Paul, Weis imnsho.

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SW's avatar

Is this what you're getting at - law students with great success make a spread sheet of firms that capitulated

https://www.allrisenews.com/p/skadden-students-georgetown

re: gold standard craziness, iirc, Stimon advised him not to post that craziness here

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Tom Thumb's avatar

SW--No, I want to know which law firms saw Trump’s executive order re: Paul, Weiss and decided that was a great opportunity to poach Paul, Weiss's clients, which helped lead to their capitulation. Said firms may not have capitulated at all; they might be GOP firms, for all we know.

I assume Simon sees things like that Georgetown list as chasing the new and attacking fellow Democrats, and I agree with that. I also believe revenge is best served cold, when you have nothing better to do. But we should at least be getting and keeping the receipts, especially when it's hard to call organizations that stab Democratic orgs in the back like the raiders did "fellow Democrats".

Our side produces most of the GDP in this country. Money is why these firms did this. Money is how to punish them. Eventually. My 2 cents anyway.

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SW's avatar
4dEdited

Thanks for clarifying about Paul, Weiss - I was not following that. The Georgetown list isn't about chasing the new - it's nothing for Hopium, just law students informing other law students - I found it very interesting and constructive, it's not chasing the new which I take to mean getting side tracked from our focus by 'Something' might happen, let's get bent out of shape about it and slack off on what we are doing

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SW's avatar
4dEdited

Sorry, I should add, don't understand why the Georgetown List might be attacking fellow democrats, I understand from your reply you know more of the backstory. I'd be interested in hearing. - someday. best not to waste time on it now, because it does become chasing the new.

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Tom Thumb's avatar

Hi SW-- I actually don"t know that what the Gtown students are doing is chasing the new--I probably shouldn't have put it like that. I think what Simon means when he says that is that *we* can't be chasing everything. It actually seems like a good mission for Gtown's law students to take on, and when they decide what they want to do about it (or maybe they already have? I haven't had a chance to look at the doc yet), I hope you'll let us know. I think what's probably going to work best in this fight is for different groups to bite off different pieces, develop and execute plans that include very simple ways the rest of us can do to help without getting distracted from whatever we're supposed to be focused on (sorry if I'm saying something totally obvious).

As far as attacking other Dems goes, I assumed that's what you were referring to when you mentioned that Simon had called it "craziness." In this case, I guess it would depend on which firms are on the list, but I assume Trump targeted them because they disproportionately support our causes, so if we attacked them for capitulating, we're attacking our own. I agree with Simon that for sure now is not the time to do that, but if we have to scapegoat some org to send a message and stop the bleeding, so be it, imnsho...

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SW's avatar

Ah, I see what you're saying, thank you for your reply. I didn't know the Paul, Weiss situation, so Gtown students kind of peripheral. In anticipation of interviews w. firms they're listing all the firms in 5 categories [ranging from knuckling under to fighting back - my terms, not theirs] depending on the degree to which the firms are knuckling under. their list is a resource for upcoming interviews and it's being consulted nationwide.

I mentioned 'craziness' my term, don't recall what Simon said, probably something diplomatic like he doesn't agree and it's not pertinent to Hopium, re: going on the gold standard.

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