Tuesday tidbits
Seems the DOJ just threw ICE under the bus.
We’ve all seen the stories in which someone is arrested at the courthouse where they are attending a government mandated appointment with the judge. Instead of taking a step forward in the process, they find themselves on a plane to elsewhere – like an ICE facility staging them to be flown home somewhere. The justification from DOJ?
The memo, issued in May 2025, says ICE agents can conduct “civil immigration enforcement actions in or near courthouses when they have credible information that leads them to believe the targeted alien(s) is or will be present at a specific location.”
And ICE has run with it. However, in a follow-on from DOJ:
But the DOJ said in its letter the memo “does not and has never applied to civil immigration enforcement actions in or near” immigration courts.
“We deeply regret this error,” the DOJ letter reads, which also blames ICE for the mistake. According to the DOJ lawyers, they were specifically “informed by ICE that the 2025 ICE Guidance applied to immigration courthouse arrests. In addition, we discussed with and obtained the approval of assigned ICE counsel before filing every brief in this case and making any oral representations to the Court and Plaintiffs.”NPR
Sounds like those folks need to get on the same page. Something like this is red meat to a defense attorney.
Moving on to stolen cars – anyone who has lived near a border knows that stolen cars often cros said border and can be a bugger to get back. At least if you prove to the appropriate locals that the vehicle IS legally stolen, you sometimes get some satisfaction. Not gonna happen in Russia now, though.
The proposal, reportedly drafted by Russia’s Interior Ministry at the direction of President Vladimir Putin, is framed in bureaucratic calm. The goal, officials say, is to protect the interests of car owners whose vehicles have been “listed as wanted on the initiative of hostile states.”
What Russia has now come up with is a legal environment where instead of acknowledging that the car was stolen, the draft law says the vehicle is “wanted” only because hostile states (meaning EU countries) put it on that list.
Nick a car, get it to Russia… and it is no longer stolen property and you are golden. Essentially Putin is trying to nullify international property law as a way to mess with the West.
So, the phrase is a kind of legal sleight of hand: it transforms a stolen car into a victim of geopolitics. Instead of saying “this car was stolen,” the law would say “this car was unfairly targeted by hostile governments.” It literally turns criminal theft into a political dispute, giving Russia cover to legalize property that would otherwise be recognized internationally as stolen. Guessing Headlights
I’m not necessarily proposing a solution… but will observe that many years ago, horse thieves were hanged.
Several sources say that the administration was caught flat-footed by Iran announcing the Straits of Hormuz closure.
But the Trump administration acknowledged in classified briefings, CNN reported last night, that it did not make provisions for a closure because officials assumed that such a move would hurt Iran more than the United States. The Atlantic
I had thought that Trump’s comment about Robert Mueller (“Good, he’s dead”) was possibly one of the most classless things he has said. OK, the two weren’t exactly bosom buddies – there are still some standards a President can be expected to meet. But if indeed the administration thought Iran wouldn’t use closing the Straits as a political-economic weapon – what planet have these idiots been living on for the last 40 years?
Man, I miss the days when the only ground combatants in the area were Iraq and Iran.
Category: "Your Tax Dollars At Work", Foreign Policy, ICE, Iran
All right, maybe he should have rearranged the wording:
“Robert Mueller is dead. Good.”
While at the same time recognizing that there were Marines that ended their tours in Vietnam with heartbeats because of him.
Russians have been unable to purchase European and US vehicles and parts since 2022 leading to significant problems for repairing and replacing vehicles. Unless it was built within the last four years anything smuggled across the border is torn down for parts as soon as it arrives.
So far as the SoH being closed, come on, Iran has literally threatened to do that hundreds of times. Everyone knew this was a thing. Their hope of course is that the US will be pressured to give up the campaign. Thirty-five years ago they might have been right.
Since 1992 we have reduced the number of oil fired power plants by 2/3. US gas and oil production has sky rocketed to place the US as the number one producer and number three exporter in the world. We went from net imports of 40% of our needs to being one of the largest net exporters in the world. Honey badger don’t care.
Then the hope is that the our oil poor allies will put pressure on us. Except that European demand for oil has steadily declined since the 1990s. Especially true among the PIIGS, who are down to 60% of their 2004 levels of consumption. Then consider that 20% of cars in the EU are now electric and they are under a lot less pressure since about 1% of their electricity comes from oil. The EU electricity is today nearly 50% renewable with nearly one third of their production from solar and wind. With NG and coal combined making up about 25% of electric production.
Oil and gas are fading quickly in the modern world as a means to power homes and autos.
You’ll never see the SoH the same way again…
Accurate.
As to cars crossing the Southern Border. Yep a long and storied tradition. Years ago Tucson got it’s first female Police Chief. She had “come out of the closet” making her very attractive to the very demokrat city clowncil. One night she parked her Department car with her department radio and a weapon in front of her house. It got stolen. To her credit she did recover the car, in Mexico finding it being driven by a Federale at the time. The radio and gun never were found. Shocking. She then said she bore no responsibility for the loss.
In later months she found a Motor Officer responsible for lost property when his helmet was stolen from inside his garage. She gave that Officer a suspension without pay and a negative annual review.
It’s good to be the gay queen… Fortunately, she eventually did move on but not after really trashing morale in the Department and causing more than a few folks to move on to more welcoming agencies. Everyone knew the only thing they could count on behind their back, was one of her knives.