Aw yea, y’all. She wouldn’t have passed kindergarten. She couldn’t define this if it were written in 12” letters on a chalkboard. It’s sad for what she’s supposed to be doing. This is the person who has been roundly mocked for her costume choices in her interviews and for wearing full-face makeup when she has tagged along on Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids. The $50,000 Rolex flashing on her wrist while she posed in front of incarcerated men at a mega-prison in El Salvador smacked of callous cruelty. And the theft of her bag — along with $3,000 cash and her work badge — while she was sitting in a Washington restaurant was peak irony for a top security official. Too, too funny. And sad. Really sad. We haven’t even gotten to the point of this piece. Let’s see a Kristi Gnome failure.
“Secretary Noem, what is habeas corpus?” Senator Maggie Hassan asked at a hearing on Tuesday.
“Well, habeas corpus is a constitutional right that the president has to be able to remove people from this country—”
“Let me stop you, ma’am. Excuse me, that’s incorrect,” Hassan replied.
“President Lincoln used it—”
“Habeas corpus is the legal principle that requires that the government provide a public reason for detaining and imprisoning people,” Hassan said, explaining an undergraduate-level principle to the acting DHS director.
“If not for that protection, the government could simply arrest people, including American citizens, and hold them indefinitely for no reason,” she continued. “Habeas corpus is the foundational right that separates free societies like America from police states like North Korea. As a senator from the ‘Live Free or Die’ state, this matters a lot to me and my constituents, and to all Americans. So, Secretary Noem, do you support the core protection that habeas corpus provides, that the government must provide public reason in order to detain and imprison someone?”
“I support habeas corpus, I also recognize that the president of the United States has the authority under the Constitution to decide if it should be suspended or not—”
Excuse me? What in the holy h*ll is she talking about? Because really? I’ve been out of school a *long* time and even I know what that means! I keep reading this over and over and being stunned Every. Single. Time. This shows a deeply alarming lack of knowledge for someone overseeing the Trump administration’s illegal immigration crackdowns. Ouch! But wait, there’s more!
Senator Andy Kim gave Noem another chance to display her ignorance.
“I wanted to just go back to something that was raised earlier about habeas corpus,” Kim said. “Can you confirm to us that you understand that any suspension of habeas corpus requires an act of Congress?”
“President Lincoln executed habeas corpus in the past with, um, retroactive action by Congress. I believe that any president that was able to do that in the past, it should be afforded to our current day president. This president has never said he’s going to do this, he’s never communicated to me or his administration that they’re going to consider suspending habeas corpus,” Noem replied. “But I do think the Constitution allows them the right to consider it.”
“How many times has habeas corpus been suspended in our country?” Kim asked.
“Once that I know of.”
“Four times.”
“I’m not certain if that those were—”
“The instance that you’re referring to is one where the courts subsequently showed that Congress is the one that has the ability. Do you know what section of the Constitution the suspension clause of habeas corpus is in?”
“I do not. Nope.”
“Do you know which article it is in?”
“No I do not, sir.”
“Well it is in Article 1. Do you know which branch of government Article 1 outlines the tasks and the responsibilities for?”
“Yes.”
“Which one?”
“Congress,” Noem replied, proving the point Kim and Hassan had been trying to get across.
*headdesk* Oh, my dear sweet lawd. Oh, bloody h*ll. This is the head of DHS. This gnome is the Head. Of. DHS. Could we just use her as a façade and get someone in there who KNOWS WHAT THEY ARE DOING? And yea, as usual, don’t answer that. Sadly, I already know. No wonder all the deportations are a mess. No wonder they think they can fly under the radar. Except they have been caught at it, and courts are not happy, especially the Supreme Court. Forget about Congress. With their (slight) majorities, for now, they’ll just do what the Cheeto Prophet tells them to do. No wonder the country is such a mess. Lots of sighs here. Thanks for sticking with me!
*****And now, please read ******
Zoomers, we are always in need of donations. It’s been an especially rough month, and my own health has not been great these past few weeks, which just adds to the frustration. Anything you can spare will be immensely appreciated. And thank you to all who have donated generously already. Ursula
Unbelievable!
Even more stupid than she first seemed.
Just like all of the idiot’s acolytes.
If they weren’t stupid, they wouldn’t be where they are today. Kissing Trump where the sun don’t shine.
Listening to her talk, OMG. That accent is straight out of the movie “Fargo”.