CONTEXT
By now, it is quite clear that djt and MAGA elites intend to subvert and drain as much power** as possible, as fast as possible, from all public and private individuals, groups and institutions that stand in opposition to kleptocratic tyranny. No significant source of real or potential opposition is off limits. The threat now explicitly includes USSC justices who cross djt and his 100% weaponized MAGA DoJ.
** Power consists mostly of (1) legal and constitutional protections, norms and policies, (2) access to courts for redress of grievances, and (3) free and fair elections. All three are now under ferocious authoritarian MAGA attack.
In MAGAland politics, the threat of kleptocratic tyranny is primarily in the form of some combination of a corrupt djt dictatorship, corrupt plutocracy and corrupt Christian nationalist theocracy**. So far, a corrupt US military junta seems unlikely. However, if djt fires Pete drunk as a skunk Hegseth and replaces that idiot blunderbuss with a far more intelligent and ruthless MAGA defense secretary, then maybe a corrupt military junta could also be a significant part of the MAGAland tyranny mix. But we are not there yet. 👍
** As I have said many times now, the CN theocratic movement is not primarily a religious Christian movement. It is a wealth and power movement run by cynical, corrupt CN elites. They have bamboozled rank and file supporters and sympathizers into a false belief that the their goal is merely an innocent effort to defend traditional Christian values and fight off the victimization and horrific persecution of American Christians. The whole CN thing is a gigantic, cynical theocratic lie.
That context is where this post is coming from. The institution under attack here is the professional news media, but not MAGA news sources like Faux News.
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This 4-page DoJ document is from MAGA thug Pam Bondi (US attorney general) dated April 25, 2025. Here, she declares war on news reporters by revoking previous DoJ protections for reporters who protect their confidential news sources from prosecution. The first paragraph and footnote 1 read as follows:
Safeguarding classified, privileged, and other sensitive information is essential to effective governance and law enforcement. Federal government employees intentionally leaking sensitive information to the media undermines the ability of the Department of Justice to uphold the rule of law, protect civil rights, and keep America safe. This conduct is illegal and wrong, and it must stop. Therefore, I have concluded that it is necessary to rescind Merrick Garland’s policies precluding the Department of Justice from seeking records and compelling testimony from members of the news media in order to identify and punish the source of improper leaks.1 I am also directing the Office of Legal Policy to publish new regulatory language in 28 C.F.R. § 50.10 to reflect the rescission of those policies.
1 All policies inconsistent with this memorandum and the accompanying regulation are hereby rescinded, effective immediately. See, e.g., 28 C.F.R. § 50.10 (2022); Merrick Garland, U.S. Dept. of Justice, Memorandum, Use of Compulsory Process to Obtain Information from, or Records of, Members of the News Media (July 19, 2021), https://www.justice.gov/ag/page/file/1413001/download.
Key points:
- Federal prosecutors can now use subpoenas, court orders, and search warrants to compel the production of information and testimony by and pertaining to members of the news media. When reporters refuse to comply, they will be prosecuted and jailed for obstruction.
- Bondi's memo says that the “Justice Department will not tolerate unauthorized disclosures that undermine President Trump’s policies, victimize government agencies, and cause harm to the American people.” The scope of that goes beyond classified information to include disclosures that challenge administration policies or show illegality, corruption or incompetence in djt’s administration.
- The alleged rationale is to safeguard “classified, privileged and other sensitive information.” That is a much broader set of government secrets than existing federal criminal law protects. Existing federal law focuses primarily on making it illegal to share classified information, not on covering the ass of a corrupt, incompetent and/or anti-democracy president or government.
- The vague phrasing in Bondi’s memo implicitly calls for much more than just restoring past reporter protections under Biden. Bondi says that federal prosecutors “will continue to employ procedural protections to limit the use of compulsory legal process to obtain information from or records of members of the news media.” However, the memo doesn’t describe the protections. Given the routine cynical mendacity of MAGA elites, one can reasonably presume “procedural protections” for reporters will usually be somewhere between trivial and non-existent. Probably mostly non-existent.
Believe it or not, we are in an all-out war of corrupt, brutal MAGA authoritarianism against our democracy, rule of law, civil liberties and all people, groups and institutions that stand in defense of those ideals. MAGA and djt in particular hate anonymous sources of inconvenient information. They constantly attack anonymous sources of inconvenient information as politically motivated, liars and frauds. News from anonymous source is dismissed as things like fake news or books, defamatory fiction or bullshit. MAGA is almost always just fine with anonymous sources that reveal information that is convenient or good for MAGA or djt. Treatment of anonymous sources by djt and MAGA
elites is a cynical, calculated duality of public denunciation of and attacks on unnamed informants in critical reporting, while enthusiastically amplifying favorable anonymous leaks (example 1, example 2, example 3, example 4).
Q: Are we really in a real war, or is this just a fever dream of some deranged crackpot, e.g., me?