It’s Tuesday…
President Shitshow’s public schedule for…
| Tuesday, February 25 2025 |
| 9:00 AM In-Town Pool Call Time The White House In-Town Pool |
| 1:00 PM Press Briefing by the White House Press Secretary James S. Brady Press Briefing Room On Camera |
| 3:00 PM The President signs Executive Orders Oval Office Closed Press |
I’m gonna speculate that today’s press briefing, opens with Karoline Leavitt trying to gaslight people into thinking they won a major case against AP News…
Yesterday, as I was scrolling through my twitter feed, this is what I saw…
https://t.co/6GGzAGz6NE pic.twitter.com/qKbMZmWL4S
— Karoline Leavitt (@PressSec) February 24, 2025
Followed by this…
— Karoline Leavitt (@PressSec) February 24, 2025
She then retweeted herself talking about the “victory” followed by posting her own tweet talking about her victory.
The winning continues at the Trump White House after a federal judge ruled in our favor against the activist @AP.
— Karoline Leavitt (@PressSec) February 25, 2025
Asking the President of the United States questions in the Oval Office and aboard Air Force One is a privilege granted to journalists, not a legal right. pic.twitter.com/XJ3nDaJGoX
She isn’t wrong that the Trump appointed Judge, Judge Trevor McFadden denied immediately relief. However, as NPR explains: In denying the AP’s request for a temporary restraining order, however, U.S. District Court Judge Trevor McFadden ordered an expedited consideration of its lawsuit. The AP is seeking to overturn the ban altogether; the judge set a court hearing for March 20, at which he will consider the motion.
The Judge also encouraged the government attorney’s to reconsider their policy saying that the law has been “unhelpful” to admin’s that have tried to put bans in place in the past.
However, the judge took pains to observe that the law has been “unhelpful” to administrations that have sought to put bans in place in the past, according to the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. He advised government attorneys to reconsider their policy.
NPR. 02/24/2025.
We are here because President Shitshow got mad at AP News for saying they would carry on calling the Gulf of Mexico, the Gulf of Mexico, instead of the Gulf of America.
In More Lawsuit Drama News…
For those wondering when a Judge would ask “who runs DOGE”, well, it happened yesterday during a court hearing regarding the case (Just Security):
| Alliance for Retired Americans v. Scott Bessent et al (D.D.C.) Case No. 1:25-cv-00313 | Complaint | Feb. 3, 2025 | The complaint alleges that the Treasury Department granted DOGE-affiliated individuals access to sensitive personal and financial information maintained by the Treasury Department. The plaintiffs sued on behalf of members whose records may have been transmitted from the Treasury Department to DOGE employees, thus allegedly depriving the members of privacy. The lawsuit seeks an injunction and declaratory relief, as well as a temporary restraining order, for alleged violations of the Administrative Procedure Act and actions in excess of legal authority under the Privacy Act. Update 1: On Feb. 6, 2025, the parties in the suit mutually proposed an order that Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly adopted. It limits access to Treasury Department payment records and systems to two (Musk-affiliated) Special Government Employees in the Department (“read-only” access), other employees who need to access the record to perform their duties, or individuals who are already entitled to access the records under statute. |
When you click the case listed in the first box, it takes you here (Court Listener.com).
Anna Bower with Lawfare, posted screen grabs of the court transcript I can’t access without paying for PACER…
To be fair, she might have transcribed it herself, having listened in on the phone…
Judge Kollar-Kotelly grilled a government lawyer about DOGE's command structure.
— Anna Bower (@AnnaBower) February 24, 2025
Counsel repeatedly said he didn't know the answer to her questions. The judge said it’s relevant bc she’s concerned about whether DOGE’s operations violate the constitution’s Appointments Clause.
BY WHOM INDEED pic.twitter.com/B5U6CGdUwX
— Anna Bower (@AnnaBower) February 25, 2025
WE DON'T KNOW WHO IS ACTUALLY DOING THESE THINGS INDEED pic.twitter.com/iaHJJJyB93
— Anna Bower (@AnnaBower) February 25, 2025
And if you skip the rest, this one, finally just wraps it all up…
[Silence.] pic.twitter.com/YbfPycauxp
— Anna Bower (@AnnaBower) February 25, 2025
For a media story on the above court hearing, I found one at Politico.
The gist from the article:
It was possible, Kollar-Kotelly said, that the DOGE Service is running afoul of the appointments clause of the Constitution, which generally requires federal agencies to be run by Senate-confirmed officials.
“Based on the limited record I have before me I have some concerns about the constitutionality of the of USDS’s structure and operation,” said Kollar-Kotelly, using the acronym of the U.S. Digital Service that President Donald Trump renamed and restructured as the U.S. DOGE Service on his first day in office.
The Trump administration said earlier this month in a separate legal case that Musk is not the administrator of the DOGE Service nor an employee of the organization.
But Kollar-Kotelly on Monday ticked through a handful of subsequent statements from Trump, Musk and the White House that implied Musk did indeed have a greater role with the DOGE Service. Her list included Trump’s comments last week at a financial conference in Miami where the president said he “put a man named Elon Musk in charge” of DOGE.
Politico. 02/24/2025.
The other court case where Joshua Fisher swore President Musk is not in charge of DOGE…
All the above ties into this posted by the White House…
SUNDAY SHOWS: Most Transparent Administration in History (02/23/2025):
This morning, the Trump Administration was out in force across the TV networks to update Americans on the progress made in the historic first month of President Trump’s second term.
Here’s what you missed:
Special Envoy Steve Witkoff on State of the Union
- On negotiations to end the war in Ukraine: “Deals only work, Jake, when they’re good for all the parties — and that’s the pathway we’re on here.”
- On securing a rare earth minerals agreement with Ukraine: “I expect to see a deal signed this week.”
- On bringing peace to Europe: “The only way you’re going to end the carnage is if you have a relationship with the leaders of both countries that are involved.”
Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent on Sunday Morning Futures
- On mortgage rates: “Interest rates are down five weeks in a row on the 10-year since President Trump took office — and mortgage rates are down.”
- On reciprocal tariffs: “We’re just doing what they’re doing and then adding in these other factors. If they remediate those … the tariffs could drop. If they want to continue these unfair trade practices, then the tariff will go up until they are willing to negotiate.”
- On negotiations around a minerals deal with Ukraine: “This deal is part of President Trump’s long-arc negotiating strategy for peace between Ukraine and Russia … A partnership between Ukraine and the U.S. … It is a win-win.”
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth on Fox News Sunday
- On restoring the Pentagon’s mission: “President Trump has given another set of lawful orders, and they will be followed … If they’re not followed, then those officers will find the door … We feel really good about the direction the Pentagon is headed under President Trump.”
- On ending the war in Ukraine: “America more than any other country in the world has invested in helping Ukraine defend itself. Now, it’s time for peace.”
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin on Sunday Morning Futures
- On getting back to the agency’s core focus: “It’s time to go back to the basics to ensure we are delivering clean air, land, and water, and we are also unleashing energy dominance … That’s the priority at the EPA under President Trump.”
Special Envoy Steve Witkoff on Face the Nation
- On President Trump’s plan for peace and stability in Gaza: “He understands that it makes no sense to endorse old policy prescriptions that have not worked.”
National Security Advisor Mike Waltz on Sunday Morning Futures
- On President Trump’s first month: “What you’re seeing under President Trump’s leadership, in just under a month, is bringing multiple wars to an end. He is a president of peace.”
The government lawyers can’t even tell us who is running DOGE, but sure, they are transparent; if transparent =’s in their incompetence.
In “Lies Social” News…
This was posted yesterday…
In the same segment where she tried to gaslight everyone into thinking the admin won against AP News, she spoke about reviving the dead Keystone XL pipeline.
Leavitt: We want the Keystone XL pipeline built. He wants a pipeline built in the northeast pic.twitter.com/hnPuCqSQO5
— Acyn (@Acyn) February 25, 2025
This is one of those talking points that simply won’t die.
First, the Keystone pipeline itself is operational, the XL or phase 4 of the Keystone pipeline project was canceled.
Second, while then-President Joe Biden revoked the permit for the project in January of 2021, the project for the XL part of the Keystone pipeline project had already been halted.
AP News (07/06/2020):
The U.S. Supreme Court handed another setback to the Keystone XL oil sands pipeline from Canada on Monday by keeping in place a lower court ruling that blocked a key environmental permit for the project.
Canadian company TC Energy needs the permit to continue building the long-disputed pipeline across U.S. rivers and streams. Without it, the project that has been heavily promoted by President Donald Trump faces more delay just as work on it had finally begun this year following years of courtroom battles.
[snip]
TC Energy spokesman Terry Cunha said the company is not giving up on Keystone, but it will have to delay large portions of the 1,200-mile (1,900-kilometer) oil sands pipeline. The company started construction last week on a 329-mile (530-kilometer) section of the line in Alberta. That work will continue while the company wages its court fight in the U.S., Cunha said.
AP News (07/06/2020).
It’s basically not coming back. TC Energy has spun off it’s pipeline businesses into South Bow. A South Bow spokesperson told Bloomberg, it has moved on from the Keystone XL.
South Bow Corp., the oil pipeline business spun off from TC Energy Corp., which pursued Keystone XL for more than a decade, has indicated it’s not interested in a revival. Parts of the system — which runs through Alberta, Montana, South Dakota and Nebraska — have already been dismantled. Key permits have expired.
South Bow has “moved on from the Keystone XL project,” a spokeswoman said Monday night.
“We continue to engage with customers to develop options to increase Canadian oil supplies to meet growing US demand,” South Bow’s Katie Stavinoha said by email.
BNN Bloomberg. 02/25/2025.
As I was viewing the old AP News article regarding the dead Keystone XL pipeline, they broke in with this…
Federal technology staffers resign rather than help Musk and DOGE
More than 20 civil service employees resigned Tuesday from billionaire Trump adviser Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, saying they were refusing to use their technical expertise to “dismantle critical public services.”
“We swore to serve the American people and uphold our oath to the Constitution across presidential administrations,” the 21 staffers wrote in a joint resignation letter, a copy of which was obtained by The Associated Press. “However, it has become clear that we can no longer honor those commitments.”
The employees also warned that many of those enlisted by Musk to help him slash the size of the federal government under President Donald Trump’s administration were political ideologues who did not have the necessary skills or experience for the task ahead of them.
Federal technology staffers resign rather than help Musk and DOGE. 02/25/2025.
Just another day in Fresh Hellness!
This is an open thread
