Let’s investigate viral nonsense that got tens of millions of views.
The post by @DesireeAmerica4 was viewed 10.8 million times. And the post by @amuse was viewed 18.3 million times.
People are shocked by something that never happened.
Actual Court Ruling
The Actual District Court Opinion does not say arrest, but does say this.
[It is a] basic proposition that all orders and judgments of courts must
be complied with promptly. * * * Persons who make private
determinations of the law and refuse to obey an order generally risk
criminal contempt even if the order is ultimately ruled incorrect. The
orderly and expeditious administration of justice by the courts requires
that an order issued by a court with jurisdiction over the subject matter and person must be obeyed by the parties until it is reversed by orderly
and proper proceedings.Defendants are
hereby further ORDERED as follows:
- The Defendants must immediately restore frozen funding during the
pendency of the TRO until the Court hears and decides the Preliminary Injunction request. …
Appeals Court Ruling
Those who cannot read and don’t bother with the law were also shocked by the Appeals Court ruling.
NBC News reports Appeals court rejects Trump administration bid to immediately reinstate funding freeze
In its ruling Tuesday, a three-judge panel of the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals wrote that the “defendants do not cite any authority in support of their administrative stay request or identify any harm related to a specific funding action or actions that they will face without their requested administrative stay.”
“We are confident the District Court will act with dispatch to provide any clarification needed with respect to, among other things, the defendants’ contention that the February 10 Order ‘bars both the President and much of the Federal Government from exercising their own lawful authorities to withhold funding without the prior approval of the district court,’” the appeals court wrote Tuesday.
Judge McConnell granted the states’ request for a temporary restraining order on Jan. 31 in a ruling finding the states “are likely to succeed on the merits of some, if not all, their claims” that the funding freeze exceeded the president’s powers.
Billionaire Elon Musk, whom Trump named as head of his advisory Department of Government Efficiency, also complained about the judges who have been blocking his access to some federal agencies. He suggested that some of those orders might need to be defied, a position that some frustrated staffers in the White House agree with.
Shocking Language?
The legal analysis clowns were shocked by this District Court statement “Persons who make private determinations of the law and refuse to obey an order generally risk
criminal contempt even if the order is ultimately ruled incorrect.”
Somehow that ridiculously got translated to arrest.
@DesireeAmerica4 asks “Since when does a judge have the power to override the President like this?”
I pointed out that never happened but there was no retraction. I also asked @amuse to retract and got silence.
Meanwhile, the amount of idiotic nonsense the post generated was out of this world. But that was the point all along.
Amusing Nonsense
Here’s amusing nonsense by @MegaMAGA7631
“The court of appeals knows the judge’s ruling is wrong, but they’ll just kick the can down the road as usual. What a bunch of corrupt fraudsters.”
Here’s something that arguably is shocking: Someone actually got this correct.
Please consider @JimmytheButt202 who replied to @MegaMAGA7631 with “Weird how you guys know what’s really happening even when it isn’t happening at all. Great way to declare victory when losing.”
Perhaps I am mistaken, but I think he sees it correctly, for a total of 55 views.
Origin of the Shocking Phrase
Q: Who said “Persons who make private determinations of the law and refuse to obey an order generally risk criminal contempt even if the order is ultimately ruled incorrect“?
A: The US Supreme Court in 1975.
Please consider the US Supreme Court ruling Maness v. Meyers, 419 U.S. 449 (1975)
We begin with the basic proposition that all orders and judgments of courts must be complied with promptly. If a person to whom a court directs an order believes that order is incorrect, the remedy is to appeal, but, absent a stay, he must comply promptly with the order pending appeal. Persons who make private determinations of the law and refuse to obey an order generally risk criminal contempt even if the order is ultimately ruled incorrect.
Howat v. Kansas,258 U. S. 181, 258 U. S. 189-190 (1922); Worden v. Searls,121 U. S. 14 (1887). The orderly and expeditious administration of justice by the courts requires that “an order issued by a court with jurisdiction over the subject matter and person must be obeyed by the parties until it is reversed by orderly and proper proceedings.”
Yes, it is totally shocking for a District Court and an Appeals Court to side with the Supreme Court and not Trump.
How could they?
Impeach them all, I say. Trump needs to pack the court. Do it first so Trump can be king.
A Legal Review
Thanks to a few ridiculous posts on X and idiotic legal comments by Musk propelling them on, millions of people believe a judge threatened Trump with arrest.
That never happened.
Moreover, people do not understand the law. District and Appeals court justices are bound to uphold the constitution.
The phrase that upset the most people came from the Supreme Court itself. It was not a threat, it was a statement of existing law.
Should Trump Comply? Will Trump Comply?
The answers are yes and yes. And this is clear too.
No one will arrest Trump, of course. But they might hold DOGE in contempt, even Elon Musk.
So expect Trump to comply, which is what he should have done in the first place, because …. the order “must be obeyed by the parties until it is reversed by orderly and proper proceedings.”
Case closed. I suspect I will get about 1.5K views vs tens of millions of views of total garbage.
Two Key Court Rulings Go Against Trump. Expect More of the Same
Before the Appeals Court ruling, I commented Two Key Court Rulings Go Against Trump. Expect More of the Same
A judge accuses Trump of defying a court order. Surprise Not.
“Expect More of the Same”
Fact check. True.
Addendum – Reader Comments
Reader 1: “Judge in effect ordering Executive Branch to pay fraudulent claims.”
Correct
And the Judge is correct because the asinine way DOGE went to fix this was to block the 99.9 percent of payment that were legit
Had DOGE sought to block just fraudulent payments we would not be in this situation
So….
Blame DOGE not the judge
Reader 2: “DOGE just uncovered how much of our tax dollars were going to Soros and Gates! The people fighting to keep it hidden likely have their hand in the corruption.”
Close to 100% of the money is legit. There are small number of reported cases of fraud. If you were a legit contractor, would you object to not being paid?
You would be screaming – and people like you are now would be accusing you of fraud.
Had DOGE just gone about this sensibly, blocking questionable transactions, we would not be in this ridiculous setup.
And had you gone after this bullshit instead of shutting down everything, a court would not have ruled against you.
Addendum II
I am 100% in favor of DOGE stopping USAID nonsense. But the correct approach is case-by-case.
$40 billion in payments go out through this system. Musk blocked all of them.
Innocent parties were illegally harmed, and that is how the court correctly ruled.
“Judge in effect ordering Executive Branch to pay fraudulent claims.”
Correct
And the Judge is Correct because the asinine way DOGE went to fix this was to block the 99.9 Percent of payment that were legit
Had DOGE sought to block just fraudulent payments we would not be in this situation
So….
Blame DOGE not the judge
Would not be holding my breath on that 99.9% legit claim.
DOGE would not have been instructed where to look by Trump if this was not some spectacular failure of Governance.
DOGE is not a smokescreen it is the product of serious inside workings. Joni Ernst threw her weight behind it. There would have to be others as well pushing this.
For Trump administration to have put their credibility on line DOGE is going to find many Billions.
As I suggested watch the Oval office presser before making assumptions.
I have seen fraud happen in Business and all the wailing with gnashing of Teeth means there is a very Huge problem that Deep State does not want revealed.
Trump was grinning like the Cheshire Cat.
So what – call it 85%
Make up your own number
You don’t cut off all access because of a limited number of bad transaction
Shut things down if there is a major breech of protocol as Trump just fired USAID inspector general.
A delay in payments is s.o.p in Business when there is a fraud alert triggered.
Valid claims are not going to be denied.
No one continues to write checks when a Department is found out of control.
Government is not exempted from following common practice.
In that Oval office presser Musk presented one case they found a three month contract continued being paid for 20 years. gross malfeasance.
He cited other instances,.
Why would you believe there was no substance for taking action of such scope? If Trump is all fluff then that would be revealed quickly, that would certainly please you much.
Fraud? What’s a little fraud, after all? DOGE is about hamstringing the agencies investigating my crimes, purging anyone that doesn’t worship me from their job, and securing more government money for my companies. This year’s deficit will be an all time record, and you goobers will cheer.
I am the deep state, staring you right in the face.
DOGE is also hearing from whistle blowers, so they know exactly where to look and explains why they found so many problems so quickly.
I support this
GIven that it appears some USAID funds were used to support mass media in the US, a case might be made for election interference by government, along with obvious fraud and corruption, little different to Watergate. IMHO, DOGE (and Trump) poked the viper pit, knowingly. Hopefully, they are smart enough to know they would find justification before they did so, and they expect a reaction such as we see with lawsuits flying..
If not, then we are seeing a disaster unfold.
Turns out it was 44k to Politico, not 8 million, but you guys are completely impervious to any factual information that contradicts your preconceptions, and you will die defending the 8 million number.
I love stupid people so much!
Anything we can think of, they have blown way past. This issue is deep in corruption, malfeasance, Disregard to Policy & Procedure, for starters… they are looking for the “Main Source” of the problems, is my best guess.
Information will flow freely once the Top Tumbles. They have not even begun to eat each other up. That’s why you hit the top first, and take down the rest, on your way down the ladder.
The Party is over soon enough for many…
Live by lawfare, die by lawfare?
It’s not a crime if you’re rich enough.
In my decades of legal practice, I have come up against only a few better than you
It is easy to get a temporary restraining order (“TRO”). Getting a preliminary injunction is a different matter. There are systemic issues exposed in regard to the government’s funding: First, established procedures requiring certain coding (for audit purposes) and written explanations of the purpose of the funding are routinely ignored. Second, much of the funding goes to non-governmental entities and it is unknown how much they skim off the top for their administrative expenses, and no one bothers to check this out first. Nor does anyone follow up to ensure the NGO properly used the finds they are given. Finally, the agencies do not follow up to ensure the recipient’s spending has actually advanced the Congressional purpose in allocating these funds.
Trump has a good point as to these issues and I would expect any preliminary injunction entered will take these concerns into account, and there will be procedures imposed that will enable funding to be withheld under specified conditions.
Trump has zero chance of shutting down USAID by executive order.
Trump is not trying to shut down USAID – he wants to place it under the supervision of the State Department – where they reportedly do a better job vetting the recipients.
Wrong. He shut it down and a District Court and Appeals Court agrees with me.
Had Trump gone about this correctly, on a case-by-case basis, we would not be here.
Amazing how you ignore parts of the SC ruling you don’t like.
The SC stated in its ruling “…with jurisdiction over the subject matter…”
Does a District Judge have jurisdiction over the entire spending of the the US government.?
Does a District Court Judge have the authority to block an Executive Officer of the US President from carrying out the duties of his Office?
I can hardly wait for some District Judge to come up with some ruling that nullifies something that the the Democrats and yourself think is lawful and wait for the hypocrisy.
“The Democrats and Me”
I suspect you are as stupid as you sound.
By the way, and Appeals Court upheld the ruling. …. and the District Court cited the Supreme Court
“..Close to 100% of the money is legit…”
How do you know? Who has actually said that ‘close to 100% of the money is legit’? Is there an external auditor? Is there even an internal auditor? Do you seriously trust the government to be close to 100% honest? I pose the question because this seems to be the FIRST (serious) audit of government operations in a very long time.
In a responsible enterprise/institution, audits are normal and frequent. Trust BUT verify, or my personal favorite; you get what you inspect, not what you expect.
Any assumption of fact (mine included) is inherently dangerous at this point. As ‘evidence’ of substantive problems I’d propose the DOD’s inability to account for its funds.
Doesn’t matter
Call it 85%
75% 65%…You’re right though, it doesn’t really matter. BY that argument $37 trillion, $47 trillion… doesn’t matter.
That we are at this point, with a vast debt and runaway deficits, and a government that has persistently lied and stopped the truth from coming out about too many things… the issue has become accountability.
It is time to inspect! Much longer without a responsible government, and Jan 6th will be mild resistance.
An excellent and sorely needed post regarding viral nonsense.
Thank you Mish.
Sincerely.
We are at a crucial point that requires full attention & participation…
from the media…
our fellow citizens…
and the other 2 branches of government…
or we will have nothing but 1 sTump.
Thanks
Some idiot gave you a thumbs down
Weird that DOGE isn’t starting with Medicare or the Pentagon. You know, things that we actually spend significant money on.
I don’t think DOGE will be allowed near the DOD…..their job is to entertain us, toying with the smaller agencies.
Because the 67+ million people enrolled in Medicare vote. 🙂
DOGE proposing large cuts in Medicare = probable increase in premiums, co-pays, and deductibles = Republicans losing the House in 2026 midterms.
I agree. Even MAGA will vote for whoever protects their payments.
If you tell them it will make trans people suffer, they’ll accept anything. We’ve proved this repeatedly. They’d vote to have their kids chucked in bonfires if I had stinky tell them to.
Historically the midterms are a slaughter for the president’s party anyway, but yeah. Still, if they really care about the deficit, they should shoot their shot and take the consequences. I think we all know they don’t care, though.
Think critically. Low hanging fruit fall first, and easiest. I suspect Trump et al are sending a message to potential whistle blowers for the higher ‘fruit.
Trump is just testing to see what the MAGA public will tolerate.
Note that I said I suspect. You have NO idea what Trump is doing, which makes you suspect because your mind is clearly closed.
Noted, Professor.
Neither are investigating me or my companies. Why would I mess with them?
Gas Prices Are Soaring Again Under Trump With High Prices Persisting, Trump Tempers Tone on Slaying Inflation https://dnyuz.com/2025/02/12/with-high-prices-persisting-trump-tempers-tone-on-slaying-inflation/
I wonder what laws we are talking about ? The attempted coup of a president by the government insiders like Comey, Brennan ,Clapper, Page . Using the agencies to try and bring down a duly elected president by the states and the people . Leaking hundreds classified info to the MSM false information ect .All against the law They do not have to worry because they are protected by the bureaucracy They would have to charge theirselves . Are these the laws we are talking about ?
Basic fact – Last time I remember judges are not the executive branch and can’t arrest the president; only the president is subject to the house of represtatives. When you defie the president, he knows where to look.
Can you please read the post and abstain from total nonsense comments.
Oh look, another failure of the education system! Beautiful!
Stupid gullibility in the USA is at an all-time high. Just ask your AI to think this through for you!
The Constitution is the Constitution for Republicans, not the democraps, who use only when it justifies their actions.
Democrats BAD!
The executive branch eventually wins all these cases.
It all depends upon the details of the legislation establishing , say, USAID. Many pieces of legislation allow the executive latitude in how to execute the law. I doubt that Trump’s legal team has crafted detailed arguments for some of his EO’s, but as these cases wend their way through the courts, they’ll be looking for every loophole in their favor. Meanwhile we pontificate without having read the legislation.
“The executive branch eventually wins all these cases.”
While I would agree with you on the surface, as they “Very Well” should IMO win all of them to date, it does get extremely convoluted, and for this very reason, it was designed along the way as such IMO.
The quick cases will be the ones not possible to win, and not worth the negative press on the topic. They will push it to the limit legally, for little cost only, and then they stop talking about it once that’s determined.
The mid cases will be those that just need to be shot down. Just BS charges but hold value none the less, so you must allow them to be litigated. The easily determined ones, that can’t be opposed, again without the negative press, will also stopped being talked about, but only after they have gotten their moneys worth on the topic. This will cost more (perhaps Our Taxpayer $$?), so they will push harder and for longer. Some will get held up for further jurisdictions.
The long cases will be litigated for a longtime and over BS, but “Woven Into The Fabric” of the Law. These folks are evil, but some not so stupid about it… Most will end up at the SC and litigated rather quickly, and most should be in favor of the President for obvious reasons (The Law), and some, but very few, could be simply stopped, as not worth the time or effort. There will be easier ways to address these afterwards.
I think the “Wild Card” is Funding though. I can’t think if ultimately they simply just want to pull 100% of the Funding, that is wouldn’t be an “Automatic” Yes, as they are in charge of it after all. Call it Security or Something, but it will get done. There will “Always” be a better place to spend it if they must…
Nonsense. First, it goes to the US Court of Appeals. The decision might be overturned, or remanded back to the lower court. If not, Trump et al appeal to the US Supreme Court, who might not grant ‘cert.’ At that point, it will truly be an argument over the Constitution.
The ‘executive’ power of the President will be the major issue. Either the power to inspect resides in the President as an executive function, or it does not. It is clear Congress has not done its job.
He’s not inspecting poot. I’m inspecting the organizations that threaten me. This is a purge of the disloyal, necessary for The Golden Age.
You really are ignorant if the best you can do is claim ‘He’s not inspecting poot.’.
Does the Constitution give executive power to the President? YES or NO.
Does executive power include the right to, and responsibility for accounting? YES or NO.
He’s out farting around on the golf course, and doesn’t even know how to turn on a computer. He’s inspecting golf balls. He could no more analyze this data than he could turn into a shitbird and fly out the window.
Give me the credit I deserve.
What we are talking about is the Bureaucratic administrative state resistance to having transparency and being audited . This does include the judicial branch .
whose goal is to stop or delay any attempt to expose what the records of anything that would potentially embarrass them . Define immediately 10 seconds or government time 2 weeks .. This the same government that doesn’t even let audits happen or can’t pass one . This is all on purpose because they run things not the people or the elected officials. This is them giving the people a middle finger and you have outlets like this that support this kind of behavior . Audit the Fed or the pentagon is met with go F yourselves yet people support this crap . Yet this same government will enforce these audits and requirements that they don’t allow to happen on bussinesses and other entities and fine the crap out of them if they fail or don’t do them in a timely manner . Samantha Powers worth 30 million off a 250 k salary , if true the odds of that are pretty close to zero she was in chaarge of USAID .
So lets not talk about that lets worry about Trump taking down some web pages or the court stepping in to force funding to that very organization . The US goverment should lead in transparency instead it is the opposite and this is why the MSM is irrelevant because people see through these lies and have moved on to other means to get info
Samantha Power accepts speaking fees over $100,000. I wonder whether her agency funded the big donors.
https://www.speakerbookingagency.com/booking-request/samantha-power
Well, it’s not really an audit. Neither me or the wiz kids have any background in accounting (heck, I don’t even have a bachelors degree in anything). We’re looking for things we can exaggerate and whip up a social media frenzy with. Why do you think we keep switching agencies without completely investigating any of them?
We’re mining ragebait to keep our little ragemonkeys raging.
Now bare those teeth, beat your chest, jump up and down and HOLLER for me!
Sometimes you sound like the real McCoy…..
Maybe people should watch Oval office presser with Musk instead of deciding what Trump will do.
add: If anything Trump would welcome an appeal. More Public attention on what is going on in Government.
Judge in effect ordering Executive Branch to pay fraudulent claims.
That is going to go over really Big with John Q Public who cannot make ends meet.
Cats out of the Bag Folks and no hiding things under the Rug of MSM propaganda.
“Judge in effect ordering Executive Branch to pay fraudulent claims.”
My observation also.
“Judge in effect ordering Executive Branch to pay fraudulent claims.”
Correct
And the Judge is Correct because the asinine way DOGE went to fix this was to block the 99.9 Percent of payment that were legit
Had DOGE sought to block just fraudulent payments we would not be in this situation
So….
Blame DOGE not the judge
It is my understanding that DOGE was NOT at the hearing, leaving no opportunity for a two-sided discussion of the issues. That in itself, should be warning just how biased the court system has become.
So, who is to blame? The Judge, for a failure of due process guaranteed by the Constitution.
Still, it makes a great setting for global economic collapse. Still got your gold?
How the flying F does it matter?
What about this do you fail to understand …
1. The court, after listening to both sides, made a ruling
2. DODE illegally ignored the ruling
3. The Judge affirmed his ruling citing the Supreme court. “Persons who make private determinations of the law and refuse to obey an order generally risk criminal contempt even if the order is ultimately ruled incorrect.”
4. The appeals court agreed.
What about that do you fail to understand?
Like I’d have the balls to show up at a hearing…. that’s poor people stuff.
Ideally, the US Court of Appeals would be a public hearing, as would the District Court and Supreme Court.
Doesn’t matter today’s WH press conference press secretary showed the press examples of what DOGE found.
Judge in my knowledge did exparte. It was a one sided presentation by AG all Dems.
WH went ahead anyway. Showed the goods.
Pam Bondi supposed to give presser this afternoon.
The Constitution created one court. SCOTUS. All other federal courts are ‘inferior’ courts, and are a creation of Congress. Congress created them. Congress can destroy them. And that is what they should begin to do.
Neither the Framers nor Congress ever authorized or expected that a single district court judge, presiding over a small geographic territory (and I might add, who got his job after donating 500k to the Democrats, who holds radical left wing views, who worked on Obama’s campaign, and whose daughter holds a senior position at the Dept of Education) could issue a TRO that would cover the entire country.
You are ignoring the fact that the Crazies are continuing to make a mockery of the judicial system. Why do you think they filed in Rhode Island, Boston, NY, DC. This is forum shopping in the worst way. Trolling for plaintiffs. Trolling for just the perfect left wing nut case judge.
Not how it is supposed to work.
Trump is playing it quite cool, as he should. In the end SCOTUS will end the nonsense. And maybe some good will come out of it, in that the scope of a district judges authority will finally be put to bed.
Lastly, if the GOP had any guts (which they do not) the way to solve the entire problem is simple. They should put Roberts on notice that in the upcoming budget they will be ending all funding for inferior courts. Since they are not Constitutionally mandated, that is within their power. Roberts can envision SCOTUS caseload rising by 10,000 percent. Thst should light a fire u Dee his sorry ass to end the stupidity that is occuring.
You are on the wrong side of this issue. Morally. Logically. Legally. You are not calling out the obvious forum shopping and lawfare that is occuring. And in the end you will have to admit you were wrong. On all counts. Sadly it’s going to take months to get there, and everyone will have moved on. I’ll be sure and remind you though. For old times sake.
PS-So a district court judge has the authority to tell the incoming administration they cannot remove web pages that were designed and put in place by the prior administration? Oh ok.
I guess we are all the Truman Show now, eh? Ridiculous.
LOL Trump is the king of pay to play, you can quit with your childish hysterics any time.
Yes, good comment comrade. The ministry of information thanks you for your comment.
I love it when they turn that purpley color and start spluttering. Shows how much they love me.
Can Trump trade SDNY hole for Alberta?
Congress deals at the macro level but the agencies operate at the micro level. So a congressional budget authority allows an agency like USAID to spend $X, it does not specify on what specific project the agency will grant money for.
So, since the agencies are part of the executive branch, the micro (specific projects) spending is approved there. The judicial ruling effectively grants the agency employees more authority than the president.
So where in any private enterprise does an employee’s authority exceed that of the CEO.
Congress could specify if it wanted to. It doesn’t because … why? A cynical view is it wants to spend money frivolously and without responsibility, or its members get a kickback, or by controlling appointments, can direct money to its favorites.
Rising debt is an existential crisis for the nation.
Delays make the problem worse while the time window to solve the problem closes.
Some judges fail to see the obvious. They are increasing the risk to the nation.
Trump should order his people to ignore their orders, pardon as needed.
If you believe that you should be furious about this circus. The drivers of debt are being left untouched while we cut relative peanuts from cancer research and services for disabled kids.
The effectiveness of those funds for cancer research and disabled kids might be an issue. How much was spent on DEI in those areas? How much was used for political favors? etc etc.
Do you know much a university skims off the top of a Federal research grant for ‘overhead.’? How much gets used for ‘research’?
How much was NOT given to research done by conservative faculty?
Ignorance is bliss.
I seem to recall that many of those on the left side of the political aisle were making similar arguments about the courts when attempts to implement their own preferred policy prerogatives via executive fiat were also shot down. And those on the right side roundly condemned the left side for such brazen attempts to circumvent the proper, constitutional means for enacting such prerogatives. Yet, here we have those same figures on the right side condemning the courts for doing the exact same thing to their attempts to circumvent the proper channels for enacting such measures. It’s almost as if both sides have one fundamental principle: power; and they’re willing to propose anything and run over or ignore any sort of constitutional checks on the exercise of that power, or at least hypocritically whine about it.
Agree, Pete! I wonder how our lives would be different if Congress were not dysfunctional. Executive Orders have been around forever, but the Obama Administration took it to the level of “governing” through their usage. This was back in the time of the Tea Party and government shutdown in 2012/2013. This is not a criticism of Obama because how else can a President attempt to move his agenda forward if Congress is inept? Since then, Trump 1, Biden, and now Trump 2 are following the same path of issuing EO decrees and often for things that are under Congress’ purview. But EOs don’t hold the same power as law, so the pendulum swings from all the way left to all the way right, then back again. Now, crowning achievements are getting a law passed or a final rule in the Federal Register because it will be more difficult for “the other side” to undo them. The goal of Congress has become to have power and not let your opponents have any “wins.” I hesitate to say that a functional Congress would make the current power dynamic go away, but the need for EO-by-decree would be much less.