Law & Crime: ‘Lied to courts’: Appeals court affirms disbarment recommendation for Trump attorney John Eastman

The legal disciplinary board for attorneys in California has affirmed a recommendation that former law professor John Eastman be disbarred over his role in efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election to favor President Donald Trump.

On Friday, a three-judge panel on the California State Bar Court’s Review Department ruled on two separate requests by  Eastman and the Office of Chief Trial Counsel – seeking review of a March 2024 decision recommending he lose his law license.

The panel, effectively a court of appeal in the Golden State’s lawyer discipline system, declined to disturb the lower court’s ruling.

Sounds like King Donald’s kind of guy!!!

Independent: Police deploy tear gas as ‘No Kings’ protesters rally against Trump

Tensions escalated during “No Kings” protests against Donald Trump on the streets of downtown Los Angeles on Saturday, 14 June, as police sought to disperse demonstrators with abrupt orders to leave.

Protesters were pushed back by officers on horseback, and law enforcement also fired flash bangs and canisters of tear gas to clear out demonstrators after the formal event ended.

Millions of people were estimated to have joined the protests in more than 2,000 communities, which took place the same day as a military parade in Washington, D.C., for the Army’s 250th anniversary, which coincided with the president’s birthday.

Demonstrations protested what organisers described as Mr Trump’s authoritarian agenda, including recent immigration raids that have rattled communities across the country, including in LA.

https://www.the-independent.com/tv/news/trump-no-kings-protest-la-tear-gas-video-b2770322.html

Independent: Popular Oregon vineyard owner arrested by ICE agents outside his church: ‘Everything was taken from him’

A popular Oregon vineyard owner was taken into Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody outside his church in Oregon on Thursday.

Moises Sotelo-Casas was detained outside of St. Michael’s Episcopal Church in Newberg, about 25 miles outside of Portland. His daughter, Alondra Sotelo-Garcia, told KGW8 that he’s now being held at the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, Washington.

She found out about her father’s detention when a neighbor spotted his truck and told her mother, she said. After confirming the car indeed belonged to her father, she tracked his location to an ICE detention facility in Portland and saw him later that day.

“I was crying, I was a mess,” she told the outlet. “He was in chains at his feet,” she said. “Shoelaces were taken off, his belt was off, he didn’t have his ring, he didn’t have his watch. Everything was taken from him.”

She said she understands that ICE is seeking to detain criminals, but reiterated that’s not who her father is.

The TV station said it couldn’t find any records for Sotelo-Casas.

Another family broken up to assuage the of egos Bimbo #2 Noem, Homan, Miller, etc., no criminal records to be found.

https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-politics/oregon-vineyard-owner-ice-arrest-church-b2770978.html

‘Trump’s $45M taxpayer-funded parade embarrassment was so pitiful it sickened Melania’

President Trump’s birthday parade has been branded a ‘grotesque birthday party for an ageing man’ – and even wife Melania Trump ‘couldn’t stomach it’

Donald Trump’s ridiculous military parade was never about the troops.

It wasn’t about patriotism, unity, or honouring the 250th anniversary of the US Army, no matter how many flags were waved or tanks rolled by.

It was about one thing only: Donald J. Trump and his obsessive, delusional need to feel worshipped.

Billed as a grand celebration of America’s armed forces, this taxpayer-funded farce was really a grotesque birthday party for an ageing man who’s spent his life confusing adoration with leadership.

The tanks, the troops, the blaring anthems – all orchestrated not to salute American service but to feed Trump’s insatiable ego as he marked 79 years of being the world’s biggest narcissist.

This wasn’t a show of strength. It was a pitiful attempt to copy the authoritarian pageantry of his role models, Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un – leaders Trump has fawned over while undermining American democracy at every turn.

While America burns, literally and politically, Trump played emperor on a hollow throne.

Just hours after an elected official was assassinated in her own home, and as millions of Americans rallied in the streets under the banner of “No Kings,” Trump paraded down Constitution Avenue like some bloated monarch.

And where were the throngs of adoring fans he so desperately craves? Not in Washington, DC.

Only a few thousand bothered to turn up.

https://www.themirror.com/news/politics/trumps-45m-taxpayer-funded-parade-1210226

Atlantic: The Shame of Trump’s Parade

Today’s events are another step in an ongoing effort to turn the U.S. military into a partisan—and personal—instrument of the president.

Today—250 years since the Continental Army officially formed to fight for the independence of the American colonies against the British monarchy—marks a milestone in President Donald Trump’s effort to politicize the U.S. military. Though they are rare, military parades have happened before in Washington, D.C. For the most part, these have been celebrations of military achievements, such as the end of a war. But today is also Trump’s birthday, and what he and his supporters have planned is a celebration of Trump himself.

A mark of a free society is that its public institutions, especially its military, represent the body politic and the freedom-enabling equal rights that structure civic life. If service members and the public begin to believe that the military is not neutral but is in fact the servant of MAGA, this will threaten the military’s legitimacy and increase the likelihood of violent conflict between the military and the public. Today’s events bring us one step closer to this disaster.

And a few lies, none of which are true:

The organizers have made it abundantly clear that today’s purpose is to directly laud Trump and his politics. In promotional materials, they tell us, “Under President Trump’s leadership, the Army has been restored to strength and readiness.” They credit his “America First agenda” for military pay increases, enlarged weapons stockpiles, new technologies, and improvements in recruitment, declaring that he has “ensured our soldiers have the tools and support they need to win on any battlefield.”

As the Trump-aggrandizing bullshit piles up:

Monica Crowley, the State Department’s chief of protocol and a former Fox News host, went on Steve Bannon’s podcast WarRoom to say that the concurrence of the U.S. Army’s anniversary and Trump’s birthday is “providential.” She called it “meant to be. Hand of God, for sure.” She added, “It is really a gift, and we want to be sure that we celebrate in a manner that is fitting, not just of this extraordinary president but of our extraordinary country.” She also expressed hope that the crowd would serenade the president with “Happy Birthday.” Clearly, Trump isn’t merely the guest of honor; he is the reason for the party.

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2025/06/250th-anniversary-army-parade/683162

Esquire: Somehow Republicans Are Defending Kristi Noem After the Forceful Removal of Senator Alex Padilla

I thought assaulting someone holding federal office was a crime. Not anymore, apparently.

So, apparently we’re bum-rushing US senators now. From The Guardian:

In video taken of the incident that has since gone viral on social media, Padilla is seen being restrained and removed from the room by Secret Service agents.“I’m Senator Alex Padilla. I have questions for the secretary,” Padilla shouts, as he struggles to move past the men removing him from the premises. “Hands off!” he says at one point.Emerging afterward, Padilla, who is the ranking member of the judiciary subcommittee on immigration, citizenship and border safety, said he and his colleagues had repeatedly asked DHS for more information on its “increasingly extreme immigration enforcement actions” but had not received a response to his inquiries.

This tinhorn governor of a state where nobody lives, this puppy-murdering hack whose political career outside of MAGA World was as dead as Custer, now gets to sic her black-shirted thugs on the senior senator of a state that she and her criminal boss and all their attendant lords have been lying about, and about which she had flown to Los Angeles to lie about some more.

Dumbass in a ballcap says what? She just admitted they’re blowing up the town to get rid of the mayor and governor. If the courts ever get their teeth back, this gaffe will figure prominently in many filings.

Meanwhile, Padilla is hauled into a backroom and driven to the floor and handcuffed.

And not for nothing, but threatening and/or assaulting the holder of any federal office is a felony and could draw you five to ten in the pokey. And these goons are pretty identifiable.

And, of course, the administration’s prevarication mill went into full operation almost instantly. From The New Republic via Yahoo:

In posts on X, the official DHS account and Assistant DHS Secretary Tricia McLaughlin released a statement attempting to justify wrestling Padilla to the ground and handcuffing him. “Senator Padilla chose disrespectful political theatre and interrupted a live press conference without identifying himself or having his Senate security pin on as he lunged toward Secretary Noem,” the statement read.

Tricia learned to lie like this at the AEI’s Leadership Institute.

But in a video of the altercation from Padilla’s office, the senator could be heard clearly identifying himself. “Hands off! I’m Senator Alex Padilla, and I have questions for the secretary,” said the California Democrat as a security guard pushed him out of the room.

It’s clear that the goons looked at him and just saw another angry brown face. And by their reactions, Tricia and her boss are similarly afflicted.

This is also all my bollocks. Noem knows who Padilla is and, if she doesn’t, she should, and he did identify himself. Third-rate hack with a fourth-rate alibi.

And what about Speaker Moses? What did you expect?

That sanctimonious sumbitch wants Padilla censured. And he spent the afternoon hiding. If he’s a Christian, I’m an Ostrogoth.

The day was not without its burlesque, however. In a House Oversight Committee hearing, Rep. Maxwell Frost asked Chairman James (Jughead) Comer to issue a subpoena for Noem regarding the events of the day. Comer, of course, refused, probably because Padilla was not carrying Hunter Biden’s laptop at the time. And then we were off.

https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a65058840/senator-padilla-kristi-noem-james-comer-marjorie-taylor-greene

Independent: US citizen blasts ICE after being detained as he drove to work: ‘They’re the criminals’

ICE and Homeland Security agents forced Elzon Lemus out of his car and detained him for between 20-25 minutes, apparently based solely on his appearance

A New Yorker who was stopped and detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents says he was treated like a criminal for simply existing as a Hispanic person in the U.S.

“[ICE] said that they’re looking for criminals, but in reality, they’re the criminals,” Elzon Lemus, a 23-year-old from Brentwood, told reporters during a Thursday press conference.

Lemus, an electrician, was riding in the passenger seat of a car on his way to work when ICE agents stopped the vehicle in Westbury, New York. The ICE agents reportedly said that Lemus “looks like somebody we are looking for.”

He asked “who are you looking for exactly, because it’s definitely not me.” Much of his interaction with ICE was captured on cellphone video.

After the car was stopped, Lemus says he was surrounded by ICE and Homeland Security Investigations vehicles. The agents then threatened him and demanded his ID.

“This is going to go one of two ways here. I need to see your ID — if you’re not the guy I’m looking for, you’re not the guy I’m looking for. But we need your ID,” the ICE agent says in the video.

Lemus said he demanded the agents’ name and badge number, but they refused to provide any identifying information, claiming they were “not authorized” to do so.

“I told them that I’m not authorized to give my ID then,” Lemus said.

An ICE agent threatened him again.

“If we don’t get your ID we are going to need to figure out another way to ID you and that may not work out well for you,” the agent said.

Lemus was then placed in handcuffs for refusing to provide identification to the ICE agents. He said he was hesitant to cooperate because he hadn’t committed any crimes, and he knew the federal agents were not local police, NBC 4 reports.

“I didn’t want to get my ID because as soon as I saw how they were dressed, I knew they weren’t police officers. I didn’t commit a crime and wasn’t driving,” he said.

The ICE agents allegedly left Lemus in cuffs for 20-25 minutes, and confiscated his phone to prevent him from filming them. They eventually found his ID in his pockets.

“It was heartbreaking … it felt like my rights were just out the window,” Lemus said.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/us-citizen-detained-ice-criminals-new-york-b2769786.html

Washington Post: ‘No Kings’ protests nationwide to push back on Trump’s ‘overreach’

In the hours before tanks barrel down the streets of Washington for President Donald Trump’s grand military parade Saturday, thousands of Americans will gather across the country in defiance of what they call his dangerous brand of authoritarianism.

The organized day of protests in over 2,000 cities — dubbed “No Kings Nationwide Day of Defiance” — comes after a week of unrest and anger in Los Angeles and other cities following immigration raids in the L.A. area and the Trump administration’s move to federalize the National Guard and dispatch Marines to California.

No Kings organizer Ezra Levin said that interest has “skyrocketed” since those protests began — with individuals in 200 more cities signing up to host No Kings events just this week. He said more people are now expected to turn out than the estimated 3.5 million who participated in a similar nationwide day of action in April.

“We’re no longer talking to folks who are just paying attention to politics,” said Levin, the co-founder of the liberal advocacy group Indivisible. “People are seeing this overreach by Trump and saying, ‘I don’t like that — what can I do?’”

Images of immigrants being swept up at moments in their daily lives — at car washes and Home Depots, to name just two places — seem to have struck a chord with a wider swath of the public than was previously engaged, observers say, though the concept of deporting those in the country illegally still has broad support.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2025/06/13/no-kings-protest-anti-trump-army-parade

Newsweek: Texas’ largest newspaper trashes Greg Abbott protest move: ‘Expect better’

The Houston Chronicle, Texas’s top selling newspaper, has published an editorial fiercely critical of Governor Greg Abbott over his rhetoric and decision to deploy Texas National Guard troops in response to protests against immigration enforcement, saying “we expect better of him.”

On Tuesday, Abbott announced the deployment of Texas National Guard soldiers. The following day on X he said “5,000+” National Guard personnel would help manage protests in the state adding: “Don’t mess with Texas.”

The move came after days of unrest in Los Angeles which began on June 6 when demonstrators clashed with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents attempting to conduct raids in the city. The following days saw more violent disorder with Waymo self-driving vehicles set on fire and rocks thrown at police who responded with tear gas and other “less lethal” weapons.

In its editorial, the Houston Chronicle said Abbott’s decision to deploy National Guard troops following protests “seems like an overreaction,” adding: “But there was no serious indication Tuesday that Texas was on the verge of exploding. No burning cars. No looting. No mayors imposing curfews.”

Instead the editorial claimed the “most significant provocation to violence seemed to come from Abbott himself, citing the governor’s warning that “Peaceful protesting is legal. But once you cross the line, you will be arrested. FAFO.” FAFO is an acronym for ‘F*** around find out.’

The editorial described this as “the kind of thing that middle schoolers say before a fistfight” adding: “This isn’t the grown-up leadership that Texas needs.”

Greg Abbott is just another sycophant sucking up to King Donald.

https://www.newsweek.com/texas-largest-newspaper-trashes-greg-abbott-protest-move-expect-better-2085043

Deadline: Trump Regains Control Of Troops In L.A. From Newsom Thanks To Appeals Court; Governor Was To Take Command Of National Guard On Friday – Updated

Gavin Newsom’s renewed control of the California National Guard didn’t last more than a few hours thanks to a federal appeals court.

“The request for an administrative stay is GRANTED,” the court wrote in a short order tonight after the White House and DOJ came up short this afternoon in their bid to maintain a hold on the unrequested and widely seen as unnecassary troop deployment. “The district court’s June 12 temporary restraining order is temporarily stayed pending further order,” a three-judge panel of two Trump appointees and one Joe Biden appointee said.

All of which has put the brakes on returning control of the Guard that Trump federalized on June 7 to Gov. Newsom at noon on June 13. It gives Trump at least one more hot weekend to inflame the situation on the ground in L.A. with more immigration enforcement raids. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals trio has now set a June 17 Zoom hearing on the matter.

https://deadline.com/2025/06/trump-court-ruling-troops-la-newsom-1236432420