Three players Nets could land in NBA free agency or offseason trade.
The Lakers declined Nick Smith Jr.’s $2.5 million team option for the 2026-27 season, making the guard an unrestricted free agent. The decision, which was first reported by ESPN, will help give the Lakers over $50 million in cap space entering free agency on Tuesday. The Lakers declined Nick Smith Jr.’s $2.5 million team option...
Rachel Maddow kicked off her Monday night MS NOW program with a discussion of Star Wars — and specifically, how one track from the original trilogy just cost the Trump administration a big settlement payout for unlawful police conduct."The Empire Strikes Back is just as exciting as the first Star Wars movie, but it is darker, it is definitely darker, right?" said Maddow. "Our heroes aren't, you know, just plucky underdogs like they were in the first movie. It really, really feels like they are losing ... it's dark. The whole vibe of The Empire Strikes Back is this, you know, the dark dread of this tyrannical force having the upper hand, seeming like it's winning."Even if you aren't a Star Wars fan, Maddow continued, or have even seen the movies, you're likely to know one iconic piece of media from them, she continued. "This sound from The Empire Strikes Back still takes you right back to it, still puts you right back in that fear and dread of the terrible, evil Galactic Empire. John Williams' Imperial March from The Empire Strikes Back ... instant American pop culture shorthand for 'you're looking at tyranny,' right?"Enter Sam O'Hara, Maddow said — a protester who took it upon himself, during the initial Trump-mandated deployment of Washington, D.C., by the National Guard, to walk behind them blasting the Imperial March on his iPhone. She put up a clip of the incident.For that, she said, "a National Guardsman summoned the D.C. police to arrest him for it. And they put him in handcuffs. For having done that, for having played that song." As of today, however, he has gotten a $50,000 settlement for that unlawful treatment by the police. Moreover, she noted, "his lawsuit against the National Guard is still pending. So there may yet be more to come."As for O'Hara now, said Maddow, "he notes to the Washington Post today that he does still go out and do this, only now he doesn't just do it with his iPhone, now he does it louder. With a portable speaker. And now he's just been paid $50,000 for the way they overreached and handcuffed and tried to lock him up for doing it." - YouTube youtu.be
Three players the Knicks could land in free agency.
In Trump’s Washington, a rebel like Bill Maher can be given his due — which can’t be said in precincts that cultural liberals control.
While Trump celebrated a ruling expanding presidential power to remove and replace regulators, other decisions were major setbacks.
Now the good news. As noted by Justice Thomas, this decision when contrast against the Lisa Cook decision does not find alignment. By a vote of 6-3, the justices struck down a federal law that bars the president from firing members of the Federal Trade Commission except in cases of “inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance […] The post Supreme Court Rules 6-3 That President Can Remove Any Agency Head in Executive Branch appeared first on The Last Refuge.
President Donald Trump's new appointee is raising alarm among staff inside the Department of Homeland Security and many are willing to quit over the appointment. The Daily Beast reported on Monday that Trump has tapped an obscure state trooper from Oklahoma to run U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), citing a piece from PunchUp. Senior officials say that they were shocked deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller was not appointed to the role.Richard “Lance” Schroyer is a former highway patrol officer and Marine, his biography says. Officials inside of DHS think that the real puppetmaster of ICE has been Miller, and they thought he was the likely nominee along with border chief Tom Homan. The Beast noted that the Senate hasn't confirmed a head of ICE since the Obama administration. However, they did approve DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin. According to insiders, Schroyer's announcement sent shockwaves through DHS. “He’s Markwayne’s guy,” one senior official told PunchUp.“Everyone was blindsided by the selection [of Schroyer], including Homan and Miller,” one source said. There is a concern that it could be a signal that Miller's power over immigration and deportations is being whittled away. “He may be getting boxed out,” the source added.That said, the Homan wing isn't doing well either. It “seems Homan is losing some power,” another senior ICE official told PunchUp. He evidently wasn't "a fan" of Trump's idea to rebrand ICE as "NICE."“Everyone loves it, but I have been told by the legendary Tom Homan that the Agents do not love it as much as the other population," Trump wrote on Truth Social on June 20. “I think Homan is going to lose all power," another official said about the matter. Schroyer will take over a massive agency with a significant budget, despite having no experience leading an agency or office of any kind. Three insiders told PunchUp that the rank and file are ready to self-deport from their jobs. “Troops not happy at all. Senior leaders not happy,” said one senior ICE source. “No experience. He was a trooper. But that’s it. Never a boss. Never a leader. Never had to manage a budget. Now he has $78 billion. Now he has 32,000 employees.”Agents, the person said, are ready to walk. “Many say they will retire,” the source said. “You’re gonna see a lot of senior leaders” who “retire, leave,” they told PunchUp. “Because it’ll be a power struggle. A new person in there, no one will know what is going on, and we’re gonna look like idiots.”They think Schroyer is "nice" but that he has “no experience really with 287g ops." He's already been working quietly as a senior advisor to Mullin. Schroyer also worked previously as Mullin's residential security detail. "The pair were so close," the report said, citing a source, and noted that he was invited to have dinner with the family while working on the detail. One agency veteran said that it's part of an ongoing pattern of appointing friends with no experience to jobs. “This guy will be his ‘fish cop,’” the senior ICE official said when speaking to PunchUp. The report recalled previous Secretary Kristi Noem's deputy director of ICE, 29-year-old loyalist Madison Sheahan. She eventually left ICE and ran for Congress but lost in the primary. “Putting his person in with no experience just to have his guy on the inside. He’s going to be the new Noem," the official said.
In a 6-3 decision, the Supreme Court struck down a 91-year-old precedent that has prevented presidents from removing members of independent agencies meant to be a check on his power.