If you missed Last Week Tonight with John Oliver last night, his Main Story was about Med Spas.  Now, to be honest, before the show I had no idea what Med Spas were, I'd never heard of them -- which is on me, because they're a $17 billion industry.  It turns out (as Oliver describes) they're facilities that provide aesthetic procedures that are both medical and non-medical.  And the problem is -- the big problem -- is that they're generally not regulated, even in the medical areas.  The report here is scary and very funny in its scathing ridicule.
​

The guest on this week’s Al Franken podcast is one of his favorite guests from back when he hosted a radio show on Air America, Dahlia Lithwick.  As he writes, “Donald Trump and his administration continue their attacks on our democracy, one American institution has placed boundaries on his power: The Courts.  We’re joined by Dahlia Lithwick, award-winning journalist, author, and host of the Amicus podcast. Dahlia looks at the judicial pushback against the Trump administration, as the Courts have stood up to Trump’s policies on birthright citizenship and deportation. We also discuss Trump’s targeting of law firms.
 
The Supreme Court notably ruled 9-0 that the administration must facilitate the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia from El Salvador, which it has ignored. Is this the Constitutional crisis we’ve been anticipating? Will Trump pay a price for ignoring The Supreme Court?

(NOTE: This was recorded before Abrego Garcia was brought back to the United States on Friday.)
 
Plus, Dahlia breaks down why a fetal personhood bill will inevitably be brought before The Supreme Court.

​Some responses have finally begun to trickle out from the White House on the federal court ruling that Trump’s supposed “emergency” tariffs were illegal.  Of course, there was the ol’ standby yowl about “unelected judges” ™.   There was also Stephen Miller with his "outrage” at the ruling, as he wrote on social media that “We are living under a judicial tyranny.”
 
A couple of things.  And this is all really basic and easy.

Seriously.  It's really basic and easy.  And something that has gnawed at me for a very long time, far-transcending even the time of Trump.  ​Which is why it's all the more notable that it's...really basic and easy.
 
First, to people like Stephen Miller, the justice system in the United States, and the U.S. Constitution providing for checks-and-balances between the three branches of government is “tyranny.”  That’s why the people who call people like Stephen Miller – which includes Trump and his administration – “fascist”.  Because thinking justice ruling are “tyranny” and wanting to undermine the authority of the justice system is, like all efforts to undermine opposing centers of power and authority, one of the foundations of fascism.  Side note:  if one doesn’t like being called a fascist, then don’t act like a fascist.
 
And second, as for the White House using the ol’ MAGOP standby, dating back long before the MAGOP even to the traditional Republican Party, of being “outraged” at “unelected judges” ™, there is one very important thing to remember, that’s really basic and incredibly easy:
 
Attorney General Pam Bondi was not elected to her position.
 
Secretary of State Marco Rubio was not elected to his position.
 
Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert Kennedy Jr. was not elected to his position.
 
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick was not elected to his position.
 
FBI Director Kash Patel was not elected.
 
Director of Homeland Security Kristi Noem was not elected to her position. 
 
Senior trade counselor Peter Navarro was not elected.
 
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard was not elected.
 
Border Czar Tom Homan was not elected.
 
Senior adviser Stephen Miller was not elected.
 
You get the point.  No need to name every cabinet member.  Or every Trump adviser.
 
And yes, I know the argument.  “Well, they all were nominated or appointed by the president of the United States!!!!”

And yes, they were.  The thing is -- so, too, were all the federal judges.  All were nominated by the U.S. President at the time of their appointment.  And furthermore, every federal judge went through the approval process to be confirmed by the U.S.  Senate.
 
But Trump advisers were not.
 
Tom Homan was not confirmed by the Senate.
 
Federal convict Peter Navarro was not confirmed by the Senate.
 
Former Fox host Jeanine Pirro was not confirmed as U.S. Attorney by the Senate.
 
Ed Martin, in charge of pardons for the DOJ, was not confirmed by the Senate.
 
You get the point.
 
Though there’s one more name (of a great many) to add –
 
Stephen Miller was not confirmed by the Senate.

"But...but," they sputter, "judges have more power."

If a top adviser to the president of the United States, the most powerful man in the world, gives his or her advice and it's taken and made an Executive Order or put into action in any way...man, does that adviser have massive power.
 
And still, there something else important to add.
 
Most, if not all, state and local judges are elected.  State Supreme Court judges are elected.  In every election I have ever voted since I turned 18, judges have been on the ballot.
 
So, lest MAGOPs get the wrong idea, or want to give the public the wrong idea to undermine judicial authority, most judges in the U.S. are, in fact, elected.  And all federal judges are appointed by the President of United States – which is his check on the judiciary.  And all federal judge appointees must be confirmed by the U.S. Senate – which is their check on the judiciary.
 
And the U.S. justice system was created by the United States Constitution as part of the checks-and-balance system, which includes giving the unelected federal judges the power to check the Executive Branch – by determining under law if the actions of the president are legal.  Or not.
 
It’s pretty basic and easy.
 
I know that many on the extreme right hate this.  I know that people like Stephen Miller hate this.  I know that Trump hates this.
 
But that’s democracy under the United States Constitution.  It’s how democracy works.
 
It’s not tyranny.  It’s democracy.
 
The actions of Trump, Stephen Miller, the Trump administration, elected MAGOPs in Congress enabling and supporting Trump – trying to undermine the Constitution, taking actions to overthrow democracy in the U.S.? 
 
That’s tyranny.
 
It’s pretty basic and easy.
​

Yesterday, the U.S. Court of International Trade struck down Trump’s tariffs, ruling that he didn’t have the legal authority in imposing them as supposedly “emergency” measures.
 
These were Trump’s hubristic and wildly misguided-named “Liberation Day” tariffs, which he placed on almost every country in the world, including some territories where there weren’t even any humans living there, just (in one case) penguins.  And the ruling against Trump wasn’t a close split-decision.  It was unanimous, 3-0.
  
The three-member court -- which included a Trump appointee, as well a judge appointed by Ronald Reagan -- was blunt.  “The Worldwide and Retaliatory Tariff Orders exceed any authority granted to the President by IEEPA to regulate importation by means of tariffs.”
 
The court also ordered that all tariffs that had been collected be “vacated.”
 
So far, Trump has not responded.  It’s my guess he will be displeased.  And blame the judges for his illegal act.  And whine and flail and threaten.  And be incomprehensible.  Which is getting worse by the day.
 
(For the record:  Yesterday, as well, a speech expert explained to the Daily Beast in specifics why Trump is showing signs of "mental decline."  The easy response to that is “Gee, no kidding...?”  But more to the point, given that many psychologists have long said he's showing signs of dementia -- and that the White House has taken off its website all Trump transcripts -- it's all of a part addressing the same dementia issues Trump has.)

By the way, oddly, this ruling may help Trump in a small way -- keeping prices from rising massively, thereby saving Trump from his own worst efforts.  But overall, it's a disaster for him, since tariffs-tariffs-tariffs are what he ran on and has long ranted out, and it's not only an embarrassment for him -- and he hates being embarrassed -- but I suspect he's now going to be going into whining mode for a long time, making him look even weaker and more pathetic.

Yes, we'll have to see what the Supreme Court ultimately does.  But the Constitution does seem incredibly clear on this.  Congress controls tariffs.  And the court ruling yesterday was blunt about that.

And for as blunt as the ruling was, what stood out to me was not so much that the federal court blocked the tariffs as being illegal (hugely significant tough that was), but that the court did what MAGOPs in Congress had refused to do, despite all experts saying imposing such tariffs under the emergency act requires committee consideration in the House within 15 calendar days after a resolution is introduced -- and then a full vote of the House must take place within three days after that.  And the House refused to act.
 
Actually, it’s worse than that.  It’s not just that the MAGOP-led House refused to act, but – you may recall (something the news media seems to have missed) that on May 14, I wrote here about how MAGOPs took to bizarre measure of altering reality to get around the “15 days” rules by declaring in a resolution on March 11 that the next 22 months to be "one day"!!
 
So, yes, yesterday morning, May 27, 2025, was still officially, according to the MAGOP House, March 11.
 
All because they were too afraid to use their Constitutional authority to follow the law and block the Trump “Liberation Day” (sic – or sick, take your choice) tariffs as illegal.  And ultimately, damaging to the U.S. economy and economic prestige in the world.
 
Which left it up to the federal court.  Unanimously.

To quote Bill Murray's character in Groundhog Day -- "You know what today is?  Today is...tomorrow."
 
Happy March 12. 

Liberation Day.  Actually.

While driving around yesterday, I had the news on the radio and heard reports of several recent and egregious pardons that Trump has made recently:
 
The reality TV Chrisleys, convicted of fraud and tax evasion – Trump pardon.
 
The Virginia sheriff caught on take taking bribes, and convicted of taking over $70,000 in bribes, about to be sent to prison the next day – Trump pardon.
 
Trump getting $1 million dollar donation at a Mar-a-Lago fundraiser from the mother of a nursing home executive who plead guilty of stealing more than $10 million from employee paychecks to buy a yacht and other luxury items – Trump pardon.  And now no longer has to pay $4.4 million in restitution to the victims.
 
The founder of electric vehicle company Nikola, convicted for fraud and required to pay $680 million in restitution – Trump pardon, nullifying the payment of any restitution.
 
And what occurred to me as I drove was – oh, okay, I get it.  Trump supporters, especially wealthy ones, know that they can commit pretty much whatever crimes they want, aware that if their support of Trump is important enough to Trump (whether financially or politically), they’ll get pardoned.
 
And this isn’t hyperbole.  After all, add to the list Trump pardoning 1,500 convicts in prison for trying to overthrow the government during the Jan. 6 Insurrection.
 
Oddly enough, I wasn’t going to write about this today, since I had a different issue that had caught my eye.  But as it happened, that “other issue” was related to pardons and others in the Trump administration committing crimes with likely no ramifications. 
 
The first was reading about how when Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth fired senior advisor Dan Caldwell a few weeks back -- it turns out that the information his investigator got came from an illegal wiretap!!!  And I commented online, “Pretty much nothing from the unqualified Hegseth's office or from Trump is even remotely surprising. Especially crimes.
 
But far worse to me what the other story.  This time, it was that the Department of Justice (and what an oxymoron that is in the Trump administration…) is actually, literally, really, honestly considering a pardon for the two men convicted of plotting to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.   Yes, really.  Actually.  Literally.  Honestly.
 
About which I commented online, “Nothing is surprising in the Trump administration.”
 
But the story is even worse – which one couldn’t think possible.  It’s that the DOJ attorney in charge of pardons has caused these convicted felons, who planned to kidnap a governor, the real “victims."  Yes, actually, literally, really, honestly.  Apparently, the extreme-right conspiracy theory is that they were manipulated to plan the kidnapping by government agents.  Mind you, when tried in court, the evidence convinced the jury that they were both guilty, guilty, guilty.
 
But the story is even more – and yes, it’s possible.
 
That’s because the person who is in charge of all these pardons in the DOJ is none other than disgraced would-be U.S. Attorney nominee Ed Martin.  The man who didn’t see a Trump conspiracy he didn’t like.  The man who was forced to drop out from his nomination to be a U.S. Attorney when his close ties were revealed to a convicted Jan. 6 Capitol well-known for his racist and antisemitic speeches and even dressing up to look like Hitler. 
 
Yes, that Ed Martin.  The person Trump put in charge of pardons for the “Department of Justice”. (sic)
 
But then, in the end – pretty much nothing is surprising in the Trump administration.  Where crime not only pays, it’s required.