Originally published at: Federal Judge Boots DOGE Out Of Institute Of Peace After Armed Takeover - TPM – Talking Points Memo
A judge turned the U.S. Institute of Peace back over to its unlawfully fired board members Monday, scolding the administration for using “brute force and threats of criminal process” to commandeer an organization that does not fall within President Trump’s removal powers. While these firings targeted a small and fairly idiosyncratic government entity — U.S.…
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While this sounds like good news, isn’t this one of the “independent” agencies where the DOGE Bros subsequently fired most of the staff and canceled contracts & grants? What happens now can’t erase that kind of damage.
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Question? Who’s paying Musk’s team of Lost Boys? And who will pay the back salaries of these people who were unlawfully fired?
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I think that USIP is an independent entity, and not an agency. Which is what Judge Howell found. If it’s a non-profit entity that gets is funding from Congress then in the end it certainly doesn’t fall under the POTUS’ purview. Though I do wonder if they only exist on the monies Congress allocates, or does it also get money from outside the US gov’t?
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Yeah I keep wondering about this too. Who is paying them, who determined their salaries, and where’s their damn paperwork!
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Sometimes the Onion is just too good : - )
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Federal Judge Boots DOGE Out Of Institute Of Peace After Armed Takeover
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Barge in with guns… makes sense ar the Institute of Peace. Great optics there DOGE. Ya fucking thugs.
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The Institute of Peace is a beautiful building in a prime spot in DC. I am quite sure the reality TV blowhard and failed real estate mogul had plans for a big beautiful luxury condo building there. Just like he wants to control the Kennedy Center because he has visions of a luxury marina there on the Potomac where billionaires could dock their yachts and come in for a rousing rendition of “Cats” or “Hello Dolly.”
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The granting of summary judgment Monday — letting the fired board take the agency back over, keeping the organization’s property in the board’s hands and expelling the DOGErs who appointed themselves to its leadership in the meantime — is a reversal of what Howell telegraphed at earlier stages of litigation.
This is why due process requires both sides be given an opportunity to present their case. Sometimes developing the evidence results in a changed opinion. emergency injunctions are usually available when the law and facts are pretty damn clear.
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Thanks for providing more insight.
Something I recall about the Institute of Peace is when their new building was first completed in 2011, Republicans in control of Congress at the time, following the 2010 election wave, were hellbent on taking over the space for their own use (though it is not even near the Capitol). That fell through, I imagine because Obama was President. But it crossed my mind these current assaults were possibly Congressional Republicans own hit of retribution in concert with all the other destruction of the Trump regime. One of the first things Dogebag Nate Cavanaugh did upon taking over was transferring the building to the control of the General Services Administration.
I imagine the ruling today reverses that, at least for the time being.
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Sorry, passwords were all changed and all of your data was exported. Have fun!
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Will DOGEBros and their armed thugs be charged with breaking and entering and grand theft? In a just society they would be.
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I suspect there’s a more practical reason for the takeover of the Kennedy Center. It fits with the Seven Mountains power-grabbing theological theory followed by many of the ghouls behind Project 2025. Arts and entertainment make up one of the mountains they believe must be controlled by Christian Dominionism
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[Wiki] USIP is funded annually by the U.S. Congress. For fiscal year 2023 Congress provided $55 million. By law, USIP is prohibited from receiving private gifts and contributions for its program activities. The restriction on private fundraising was lifted for the public-private partnership to construct the USIP headquarters. The facility sits on land owned by the US Navy.
The building is considered privately owned. The annual budget is exclusively public money, by law.
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Wonderful headline, reminds me of the infamous “Headless Body in Topless Bar” headline from the New York Post in 1983.
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It’s only 4 months in and I think this president has created a “FFS, What now?” administration. Exhausting.
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Thank you, Judge Howell. At least we have someone fighting the authoritarians.