Coffee Talk with Tiff

October 14, 2025 12:46 pm EDT Tiff Coffee Talk with Tiff 0
Coffee. Photo by Jonathan Thursfield.

It’s Tuesday…

President Shitshow’s public schedule for…

10/14/2025:

Experts say Milei comes to the White House with two clear objectives. One is to negotiate U.S. tariff exemptions or reductions for Argentine products.

The other is to see how the United States will implement a $20 billion currency swap line to prop up Argentina’s peso and replenish its depleted foreign currency reserves ahead of crucial midterm elections later this month.

The Trump administration made a highly unusual decision to intervene in Argentina’s currency market after Milei’s party suffered a landslide loss in a local election last month.

ABC News. 10/14/2025.

I did not read the article.


I’ve called an audible and decided not to cover President Victory Lap’s Phase 1 ramblings—at least not in full. I don’t know what’s happening, but I’m starting to care less and less about whatever President Nazi Miller’s Puppet has to say. It’s the same shit on repeat. I’m not saying I’ll ignore the Orange-Isn’t-His-Color nonsense forever; just for today, we’ll be doing a weave of our own.

Speaking of Nazi Miller…

Last week, he took to CNN to blast a Trump judicial appointee who sided with Portland, Oregon, ruling that deployment of the National Guard there was unwarranted—at least for now, since the judge only issued a 14-day temporary restraining order. During his CNN hit, he declared that, under the law, President You Will Respect My Authority! has “plenary authority” to basically do whatever he wants, whenever he wants to.

After saying the words “plenary authority”, Nazi Miller froze. CNN passed this freezing off as a tech glitch.

Steve Ayscue explained in a new Public Notice post (Aaron Rupar’s Substack) that CNN did another solid for Nazi Miller and his Presidential Puppet by quietly removing the “glitch” from the version of the segment posted on CNN’s official YouTube channel.

I have verified that section does not exist in the official video released by CNN.

But as we say in the biz, the internet is forever and that section still exists.

Huff Post:

The transcript:

Reporter:
Stephen Miller, we have a lot to get to, Stephen, including the government shutdown. Thank you so much for joining us. By the way, you’ve called the district judge’s ruling blocking the deployment of the National Guard in Oregon “legal insurrection.” Does the administration still plan to abide by that ruling?

Stephen Miller:
Well, the administration filed an appeal this morning with the Ninth Circuit. I would note the administration won an identical case in the Ninth Circuit just a few months ago, with respect to the federalizing of the California National Guard under Title 10 of the U.S. Code. The president has plenary authority—

Reporter:
Stephen, hey, Stephen, can you hear me? It seems— Stephen, I apologize. It seems like we’re having a technical issue. We’ll try to fix that.

Ayscue explains what “plenary authority” means and why Nazi Miller’s words, that CNN attempted to cover up, are a “big deal”.

“Plenary authority,” explained

“Plenary authority,” sometimes called “plenary power,” refers to areas of law where some body or official exercises complete control, with no limitations. It’s a thorny concept that can refer both to the ability to make laws and the ability to review government actions.

An example of the former is Congress’s power over immigration. Because Congress has complete authority in that arena, states cannot pass their own immigration laws. This played out recently when a lower court struck down — and the Supreme Court declined to overturn — a Florida law that made it a crime, with mandatory imprisonment, for “illegal entry” into the state. Controlling immigration, the lower court noted, has been an exclusively federal power for 150 years.

An example of the latter can also be found in the immigration context. There, the ability of the federal courts to review legislative and executive branch actions is quite limited. Practically speaking, this means the judicial branch typically has to defer to the other branches in reviewing any immigration matters.

So, if Miller had been answering a question about immigration law, it might not have been such a stretch to invoke plenary authority. But that wasn’t the question. The question was about Trump’s authority to federalize the National Guard under Title 10.

[snip–he went into the background of the Ninth Circuit’s ruling about national guard usage in California]

This is the basis for Miller’s fury. Even with the Ninth Circuit requiring that Trump’s fever dreams be treated with the most kid-friendly of gloves, the administration still couldn’t meet the bar. Miller’s contention that ICE officers in Portland “have to street battle against Antifa, hand-to-hand combat every night to come and go from their building” is objectively absurd. Courts cannot possibly be required to accept anything Trump says, no matter how disconnected from reality, as an adequate reason to send in the troops.

[snip]

It bears mentioning that, despite Stephen Miller’s relentless attacks on lower court judges — including accusing them of tyranny, judicial coups, legal insurrection, and not understanding the Supremacy Clause — he is not a lawyer. He earned his BA in philosophy from Duke University in 2007, but his lack of credentials hasn’t stopped him from deciding he knows the law better than everyone else. He even lists himself as “co-founder” of America First Legal, a hideous little law firm that largely exists to drive everyone except white straight Christians out of public life.

Public Notice. 10/14/2025.

Speaking of the media…

Fox Entertainment weekend host, playing Defense Secretary Pete Hegshit, announced a new media policy in September.

October 13th:

Press wasn’t allowed to roam free in the pentagon.

Press has and has always worn badges.

Credentialed press no longer permitted to solicit criminal acts =’s State run media.

Back in September NPR explained:

Using the rebranded “Department of War” acronym, “DoW,” the 17-page document obtained by NPR outlining the new rules for the media says those who fail to obey the new policy will lose their press credentials — cutting off access to the headquarters of the largest department in the U.S. government.

“DoW remains committed to transparency to promote accountability and public trust,” the document said. “However, DoW information must be approved for public release by an appropriate authorizing official before it is released, even if it is unclassified.”

NPR. 10/20/2025.

Media responses:

Networks are coordinating through the Pentagon press pool to issue a unified response to publicly oppose the measure, according to Status’ Oliver Darcy.

Darcy reported Tuesday that Fox News, where Hegseth worked for almost a decade prior to his nomination, has “no plans to agree to the draconian rules,” citing sources.

The move will set up “a showdown with his former employer,” according to Darcy.

Darcy’s reporting was later backed up by CNN’s chief media analyst Brian Stelter, who wrote in his Reliable Sources newsletter, “CNN has already said that its journalists will not accept the new restrictions. I’m told that Fox News, NBC, ABC, CBS and CNN will issue a joint statement later today saying much the same thing.”

The push by Hegseth has now been panned across the board by newspapers and networks — such as The New York Times, The Atlantic, CNN, Newsmax and The Guardian — with the only outlet reportedly agreeing to the new terms being One America News.

Mediaite. 10/14/2025.

Here are the tweets I bookmarked yesterday as the statements came out…

Show more =’s the unrestricted flow of information and journalism that serves the public interest without fear or favor. The Pentagon’s new restrictions erode these fundamental values. Therefore, our journalists will not sign the revised press pass policy.

The Pentagon Press Association also issued a statement:

Show more =’s “acknowledge a policy that gags Pentagon employees and threatens retaliation against reporters who seek out information that has not been pre-approved for release.”

I had Grok extract the text; trying to screen grab the image proved problematic.

Reconsideration of Unnecessary Affirmations Required to Obtain a Press Pass
Oct. 13, 2025

When Secretary Hegseth came into office, Pentagon officials pledged to make this “the most transparent [Department of Defense] in history.” Since then, they have systematically limited access to information about the U.S. military—information vital to members of the military, their families, all American taxpayers, and the general public.

Pentagon press corps: surrender your press pass or sign a document acknowledging vague new policies that, on their face, appear to violate the First Amendment. This Wednesday, hand over your badges rather than acknowledge a policy that gags Pentagon employees and threatens retaliation against reporters who seek out information that has not been pre-approved for release.

Our members are doing nothing to create this situation. It arises from an entirely one-sided move by Pentagon officials. It is apparently intended to cut the American public off from information they do not control and pre-approve—information of concern, corruption, or waste and fraud in multi-billion-dollar programs. Reporting by the Pentagon press corps involves issues that matter: Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines, and Guards who protect America on a daily basis. Their potential expulsion from the Pentagon should be a concern to all.

Members of the Press Association will need to sign the new acknowledgment—each reporter will have to make a final decision based on guidance from their individual media outlet. The PPA, however, continues to question why the problematic new acknowledgment is necessary. PPA members have no issue with wearing badges. Despite statements from Secretary Hegseth and others claiming the issue is that members don’t want to wear badges inside the Pentagon, reporters have done so without complaint.

FACT: Pentagon access provided to reporters has always been limited to unclassified, open spaces. Members of the Pentagon press corps have never gone into secret spaces or obtained classified documents. Access by members of the Pentagon press corps has always been limited to the same areas that cleaning crews and others with no security clearance traverse daily. Longstanding press access rules posed no national security threat, which is why those rules continued without problem for decades across multiple administrations of both political parties.

FACT: Reporters in the Pentagon have always worn badges, and PPA members have no issue with doing so. Despite statements from Secretary Hegseth and others claiming otherwise, reporters have consistently worn identification badges without complaint.

FACT: No other government press corps is required to sign any similar acknowledgment to obtain access to their buildings. The White House and State Department do not require this, nor do other government agencies.

FACT: There is no reason for the Pentagon to require reporters to sign a new document. For decades, reporters seeking a badge to work inside the Pentagon simply signed a single-page form outlining certain limits. The new 21-page document adds extreme claims, outlining unprecedented restrictions on newsgathering and gagging Defense Department employees—from providing access to the highest official to a reporter without permission.

The Pentagon certainly has the right to make its own policies within the constraints of the law. There is no need or justification, however, for it to require reporters to affirm their understanding of vague, likely unconstitutional policies as a precondition for reporting from Pentagon facilities. The Pentagon’s required acknowledgment is particularly problematic because it demands reporters accept restrictions on disclosure of unauthorized information, classified or not—something everyone involved knows to be untrue.

There is simply no need for this battle. The Pentagon has no reason for the new acknowledgment, which chills both reporters and their sources. Americans deserve honest, unvarnished, thorough reporting about their military. We urge Pentagon leadership to reconsider.

Images shared by Phil Stewart. Text extracted by Grok. Formatted by Chat GPT. Read by me. 10/13/2025.

Flash News

Some quick hits…

President Thinnest Skinned Man to Ever Live, blasted a photo used by Time Magazine.

The image…

Show more =’s Middle East.

They didn’t disappear his hair, his hair is simply disappearing…

Captain Obvious stated the obvious this morning during his daily presser to try and make the government shutdown Democrats fault…

Speaking of…

Speaker of the House, Republican Mike “I have no strategy” Johnson might be running out of time on the Epstein Files vote…

Sadly, it doesn’t appear that he has a timeline to follow once she’s certified as the winner of her Congressional race.

Speaking of asshole Republicans that want to control the media and the American people.

The right wing asshats continue to be asshats trying to paint the No Kings Day protest this Saturday as a “Hate America Rally”.

I have signed up for our local rally; I hope nothing happens between now and then that prevents my attendance. I will document as much as possible and share it on the Monday after. Currently, I have no reasons, I cannot attend.

This is an open thread

About the opinions in this article…

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About Tiff 3331 Articles
Member of the Free Press who is politically homeless and a political junkie.