CNN - FBI director posts photo of arrested Wisconsin judge’s perp walk, possibly violating DOJ policy

By Casey Gannon and Evan Perez, CNN
Updated 5:28 PM EDT, Sat April 26, 2025

FBI Director Kash Patel posted a photo on X Friday night of the Wisconsin judge who was arrested for allegedly obstructing immigration agents while she was handcuffed, being escorted to a vehicle by officials.

The photo of Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan does not show her face, but shows her being escorted by three law enforcement agents in a perp walk. The caption by Patel read, “No one is above the law.”

According to the Confidentiality and Media Contacts Policy listed on the Justice Department’s website, DOJ personnel “should not voluntarily disclose a photograph of a defendant unless it serves a law enforcement function or unless the photograph is already part of the public record in the case.”

Former Attorney General Eric Holder, who implemented the policy during the Obama administration, worked during his tenure to make it more difficult for members of the media to obtain photos of defendants, such as mug shots.

Holder told CNN that Patel’s social media post violates this policy.

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NYT - How Trump Plays Into Putin’s Hands, From Ukraine to Slashing U.S. Institutions (Gift link)

Many of President Trump’s actions have been seen as benefiting Russia either directly or indirectly, so much so that Russian officials have celebrated some of his moves.

By Peter Baker
April 26, 2025
Updated 12:51 p.m. ET

If President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia drafted a shopping list of what he wanted from Washington, it would be hard to beat what he was offered in the first 100 days of President Trump’s new term.

Pressure on Ukraine to surrender territory to Russia? Check.

The promise of sanctions relief? Check.

Absolution from invading Ukraine? Check.

Indeed, as Mr. Trump met with President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine on the sidelines of the funeral of Pope Francis on Saturday, the president’s vision for peace appeared notably one-sided, letting Russia keep the regions it had taken by force in violation of international law while forbidding Ukraine from ever joining NATO.

But that is not all that Mr. Putin has gotten out of Mr. Trump’s return to power. Intentionally or not, many of the president’s actions on other fronts also suit Moscow’s interests, including the rifts he has opened with America’s traditional allies and the changes he has made to the U.S. government itself.

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Don Moynihan
‪@donmoyn.bsky.social‬
The Naval Academy cancelled a freakin' Ken Burns documentary showing, not because of the content, but because Burns had been critical of Trump
www.nytimes.com/2025/04/24/u...

April 26, 2025 at 4:51 PM

Raw Story - 'Pretty hardcore' cocaine accusation in Hegseth Pentagon report singled out on MSNBC

Tom Boggioni
April 26, 2025 1:47PM ET

On Saturday morning, MSNBC host Katie Phang invited Guardian reporter Hugo Lowell on to discuss his new report on the turmoil at the Pentagon under Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and quickly singled out a startling revelation of an accusation of cocaine use.

With Hegseth under the gun for what has been dubbed "Signalgate," new revelations that he included his wife, brother and lawyer in a separate Signal chat where he discussed war plan, and use of an unsecured internet commercial "dirty line" from his Pentagon office, Lowell reported that fighting among dismissed Hegseth aides has also gotten messy.

According to his report, the DOD has been "marked for weeks by ugly internal politics" with his now-ousted chief of staff Joe Kasper pointing the finger at the departed Dan Caldwell, deputy chief Darin Selnick and chief to the deputy defense secretary Colin Carroll, with them reciprocating.

According to MSNBC host Phang, what she fund intriguing was a passage where Lowell wrote, "The tensions among the former aides have continued since their collective ouster. Carroll has considered filing a defamation suit against Kasper and started making calls on the Monday after he was fired, asking people whether Kasper had ever been seen doing cocaine in a previous job. Kasper has complained that some of the calls went to his wife and previous clients, asking rhetorically to associates how he would have been able to hold a security clearance and pass regular drug tests."

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AP - Sen. Chris Murphy’s ‘emergency’ message about Trump is connecting with Democratic voters

By MARY CLARE JALONICK
Updated 8:15 AM EDT, April 26, 2025

SAXAPAHAW, N.C. (AP) — Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy isn’t drawing stadium-size crowds like Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are as he tours the country talking to voters. But in a packed concert hall in rural North Carolina, people are starting to view the Democrat as worthy of the national spotlight.

Murphy and Rep. Maxwell Frost, D-Fla., have been staging events in Republican congressional districts in recent weeks, trolling GOP lawmakers such as Rep. Richard Hudson, who represents the area they visited Thursday. Hudson, the chairman of the House GOP campaign arm, has discouraged Republicans from holding town halls, so Murphy and Frost decided to hold one on his home turf in North Carolina.

“We are doing the job that these Republican congressmen and senators won’t do,” Murphy told the hyped-up crowd of mostly older voters at the event, while acknowledging that Democrats need to do more to soothe their anxiety and counter President Donald Trump. “I want to make sure that everywhere, in every corner of this country, people are willing to stand up and fight.”

As other Democrats grasp for a response to Trump’s election, unsure of how to confront him, Murphy is channeling his own frustration and anger into a sustained blitz of television appearances, fundraising appeals, Senate floor speeches and events like the one in North Carolina. He also is talking directly to voters on social media, including through lengthy live videos on Instagram where he sits in his kitchen with a cocktail and tries to explain what he sees as “the central story” of Trump’s presidency — “the billionaire takeover of our government made possible by the destruction of our democracy.”

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Steven Beschloss - How Much Injustice Will Americans Take?

A Saturday Prompt

Steven Beschloss
Apr 26, 2025



Yesterday Wisconsin Judge Hannah Dugan was arrested on charges of obstruction after an immigrant and his lawyer left Dugan’s courtroom through a private exit while federal agents waited outside. FBI Director Kash Patel boasting about his agency’s arrest of the judge. “Thankfully our agents chased down the perp on foot and he’s been in custody since, but the Judge’s obstruction created increased danger to the public…Excellent work,” he wrote on X. (The post was subsequently deleted.) Chimed in Attorney General Pam Bondi on Fox News without concern for the evidentiary process, “These judges think they’re above the law. They are not. We will come after you and prosecute you.”

As a Milwaukee County executive put it, this was a “large performative showing of law enforcement officials” and was meant to “instill fear and hostility across our community.” As attorney and democracy advocate Norm Eisen put it, “This is not a crime. A judge has the authority in her courthouse to excuse a defendant for God’s sake.”

I could write more about this, but last night the story broke of three children ages 2, 4 and 7—all U.S. citizens—being taken out of the country without due process. While details are still emerging, the American Civil Liberties Union noted that the “rapid early-morning deportation” involved two mothers (one who is pregnant) and their children, including a two-year-old who suffers from a rare form of metastatic cancer and was removed without needed medication. Reportedly, she and her mother were taken to Honduras and against the father’s wishes and his emergency appeal.

ICE “ignored their own protocols on legal access and protecting children’s rights to enact an expedient deportation they know to be unlawful,” noted Fatima Khan with the Louisiana Organization for Refugees and Immigrants. “Not only that, they disappeared these families before any U.S. Court could stand up for its children.”

The arrest of a judge for not facilitating immigration enforcement and the removal (indeed kidnapping and trafficking) of U.S.-born children, represent the escalation of this regime’s lawlessness and inhumanity—part of its expanding commitment to stoke fear, ignore its constitutional obligations and threaten the lives of everyone in America, non-citizen or citizen. It should be noted that these latest transgressions precede the Supreme Court hearing arguments next month on birthright citizenship that seek to undo the 14th Amendment, enacted after the Civil War essentially to give freed slaves legal status but in effect guarantees citizenship to virtually everyone born in the U.S. The speed with which Trump operatives Patel and Bondi took to the public sphere underscores the regime’s desire to accelerate fear and intimidation by creating ugly spectacles.

/snip

Politico - Russia claims complete ‘liberation’ of Kursk, admits North Korea assistance

It’s the first time the Kremlin has acknowledged the estimated 11,000 North Korean troops fighting for Moscow in the region.

April 26, 2025 4:49 pm CET
By Ben Munster

The Kremlin claimed Saturday that it had driven Ukrainian forces out of the Kursk region of Russia after months of bitter fighting, and for the first time acknowledged the presence of North Korean troops helping its forces in the area.

Valery Gerasimov, chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, reported the complete “liberation” of the Kursk Oblast to Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in a statement carried by Russian state media outlet TASS.

The Ukrainian government reportedly denied that Kursk had been recaptured, saying that while Kyiv’s forces were in a “difficult” position they had successfully resisted encirclement and pushed back several Russian ground assaults.

The Kremlin also expressed gratitude for North Korean troops deployed in the region to assist Russia’s efforts, with Gerasimov hailing their “fortitude and heroism,” according to Interfax. It’s the first time the Kremlin has confirmed the presence of North Korean troops, which could number as many as 11,000, according to Ukrainian and South Korean estimates.

“I want specially to note the participation of servicemen of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea in liberating border areas of the Kursk Region who in accordance with the Treaty on the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between our countries rendered considerable assistance in crushing the Ukrainian army’s combat group that had launched an incursion,” Gerasimov said, according to TASS.

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The Guardian - Trump officials deported two-year-old US citizen ‘with no meaningful process’, judge says

Child’s father pushes to have her returned to US as White House challenges law with its immigration crackdown

Joanna Walters in New York and agency
Sat 26 Apr 2025 09.29 EDT

The Trump administration appeared to have deported a two-year-old US citizen “with no meaningful process”, a federal judge said on Friday, as the child’s father sought to have her returned to the United States.

It is the latest example of the White House cracking down on documented immigrants, including green card holders and also even citizens who have the status by birth or naturalization. The unorthodox policy and the frequent avoidance of due process has brought about a clash with the judicial branch of the US government in a battle over the constitution.

US district judge Terry Doughty in Monroe, Louisiana, said the girl, who was referred to as VML in court documents, was deported with her mother.

“It is illegal and unconstitutional to deport, detain for deportation, or recommend deportation of a US citizen,” said the judge.

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Mediaite - Bill Maher Scolds Al Gore For Comparing Trump To Nazis — After Furor Over Maher-Trump Dinner

Tommy Christopher
Apr 26th, 2025, 8:35 am

Comic and political pundit Bill Maher scolded former Vice President Al Gore for comparing President Donald Trump to Nazis — just days after he lashed out at comedian Larry David for comparing Trump to Hitler.

David cut deeply at Maher with a satirical op-ed mocking the Real Time host’s account of a White House visit by equating it to a humanizing dinner with Hitler. Entitled, “My Dinner With Adolf,” David’s piece mimicked Maher’s post-Trump explications.

Gore, meanwhile, drew attention this week when he told the San Francisco Climate Week conference that the “scale and scope of the ongoing attacks on liberty are literally unprecedented,” and went on to draw parallels to the Nazis by quoting philosopher Theodor Adorno.

On Friday night’s edition of HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher, the interview guest was Al Gore, former vice president under Bill Clinton, environmentalist, and co-founder of The Climate Reality Project

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The Tennessee Holler
‪@thetnholler.bsky.social‬
WISCONSIN: The chair of the elections commission, a lawyer, breaks down what actually happened using the actual complaint.

Arresting judges like this is a wild fast-forwarding of our plunge into authoritarianism.

April 26, 2025 at 7:45 AM