E.J. Graff

Federal Agency Investigates Nike for Discrimination Against White Workers

Holy $#@%.

www.nytimes.com/2026/02/04/b...

Way back in the dark ages when I was young, there was this very unpleasant word used to describe teenage girls who were perceived as sexually attractive to older men. What was it? It's hard to remember. Oh yes, jailbait!

They 100% knew it was wrong. All of them. It wasn't "a different time."

"On December 2, 1783, then-Commander-in-Chief George Washington penned: “America is open to receive not only the Opulent & respected Stranger, but the oppressed & persecuted of all Nations & Religions.”1 More than two centuries later, Congress reaffirmed President Washington’s vision by establishing the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) program. See 8 U.S.C. § 1254a (TPS statute). It provides humanitarian relief to foreign nationals in the United States who come from disaster-stricken countries. It also brings in substantial revenue, with TPS holders generating $5.2 billion in taxes annually. See Part VI. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem has a different take. [screenshot of tweet].

So says the official responsible for overseeing the TPS program. And one of those (her word) “damn” countries is Haiti. Relevant here, three days before making the above post, Secretary Noem announced she would terminate Haiti’s TPS designation as of February 3, 2026. See 90 Fed. Reg. 54733 (Nov. 28, 2025) (Termination). Plaintiffs are five Haitian TPS holders. They are not, it emerges, “killers, leeches, or entitlement junkies.” They are instead: Fritz Emmanuel Lesly Miot, a neuroscientist researching Alzheimer’s disease, Dkt. 90 (Second Am. Compl. (SAC)) ¶ 1; Rudolph Civil, a software engineer at a national bank, id. ¶ 2; Marlene Gail Noble, a laboratory assistant in a toxicology department, id. ¶ 3; Marica Merline Laguerre, a college economics major, id. ¶ 4; and Vilbrun Dorsainvil, a full-time registered nurse, id. ¶ 5. They claim that Secretary Noem’s decision violates the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), 5 U.S.C. § 706(2), and the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. The Government counters that the Court does not have jurisdiction, and, in any case, the Secretary did not violate the law. Plaintiffs seek to stay the Secretary’s decision under 5 U.S.C. § 705 pending the outcome of this litigation. See Dkt. 81 (§ 705 Mot.). To decide their motion, the Court considers first whether it has jurisdiction. It does. See Part II. It then considers: whether Plaintiffs have a substantial likelihood of success on the merits; whether they will be irreparably harmed absent a stay; and whether a merged balance of the equities and public interest analysis favors a stay. See Part III. Each element favors Plaintiffs. See Parts IV, V, and VI. Plaintiffs charge that Secretary Noem preordained her termination decision and did so because of hostility to nonwhite immigrants. This seems substantially likely. Secretary Noem

has terminated every TPS country designation to have reached her desk—twelve countries up, twelve countries down. See Section IV.A.2. Her conclusion that Haiti (a majority nonwhite country) faces merely “concerning” conditions cannot be squared with the “perfect storm of suffering” and “staggering” “humanitarian toll” described in page-after-page of the Certified Administrative Record (CAR). See Section IV.A.3.a. She ignored Congress’s requirement that she “review the conditions” in Haiti only “after” consulting “with appropriate agencies.” 8 U.S.C. § 1254a(b)(3)(A); see Section IV.A.1. Indeed, she did not consult other agencies at all. See id. Her “national interest” analysis focuses on Haitians outside the United States or here illegally, ignoring that Haitian TPS holders already live here, and legally so. See Section IV.A.3.b. And though she states that the analysis must include “economic considerations,” she ignores altogether the billions Haitian TPS holders contribute to the economy. See id. The Government’s primary response is that the TPS statute gives the Secretary unbounded discretion to make whatever determination she wants, any way she wants. And, yes, the statute does grant her some discretion. But not unbounded discretion. To the contrary, Congress passed the TPS statute to standardize the then ad hoc temporary protection system—to replace executive whim with statutory predictability. See Section I.A. As to irreparable harm, the Government contends that, at most, the harms to Haitian TPS holders are speculative. But the Department of State (State) warns [screenshot]

Dkt. 100 (§ 705 Reply) at 20–21.4 “Do not travel to Haiti for any reason” does not exactly scream, as Secretary Noem concluded, suitable for return. And so, the Government studiously does not argue that Plaintiffs will suffer no harm if removed to Haiti. Instead, it argues Plaintiffs will not certainly suffer irreparable harm because DHS might not remove them. But this fails to take Secretary Noem at her word: “WE DON’T WANT THEM. NOT ONE.” See Section IV.B.2.b. Finally, the balance of equities and public interest favor a stay. The Government does not cite any reason termination must occur post haste. Secretary Noem complains of strains unlawful immigrants place on our immigration-enforcement system. Her answer? Turn 352,959 lawful immigrants into unlawful immigrants overnight. She complains of strains to our economy. Her answer? Turn employed lawful immigrants who contribute billions in taxes into the legally unemployable. She complains of strains to our healthcare system. Her answer? Turn the insured into the uninsured. This approach is many things—in the public interest is not one of them. For the reasons below, the Court GRANTS Plaintiffs’ Renewed Motion for a Stay Under 5 U.S.C. § 705, Dkt. 81.

Even if you don't have time to read all 83 pages of Judge Reyes's opinion barring the Trump administration from rescinding Temporary Protected Status for 350,000+ Haitians, please at least check out the four-page introduction.

It's a tour de force:

storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

Congress should consider making it a felony to demolish federally owned buildings without congressional approval.

Unreal. He’s shutting down the Kennedy Center, after his flunkies caused mass defections of artists?

Everything the man touches turns to ash. Our cultural heritage; destroyed. Our national treasures; plundered.

Okay, I'll give you that. I just found Star Wars movies to be mostly boring.

ICE now confirming that there is a measles outbreak at the Texas concentration camp where young Liam was held.

Liam is home now and we are grateful to @joaquincastrotx.bsky.social for traveling to Minneapolis with him and his dad.

Welcome home Liam ❤️❤️

The best part of Andor is the character development and lack of extended pew-pew-pew scenes. None of the movies meet that standard. Andor > all Star Wars movies combined.

Trump Lawsuit Against IRS Puts Him on Both Sides of the Same Case President Trump’s lawsuit against the government that he runs presents a mind-bending minefield of conflicts that could end with his appointees approving a federal payout to him.

Trump paid $750 in federal income taxes in 2016 and 2017 and now wants $10 billion because a leaker pointed that out www.wsj.com/us-news/law/...

Dems need to demand Miller's removal as a condition of funding for DHS past the 2-week CR. There are two weeks for them to plaster this judge's ruling into their public statements, constituent newsletters, TV hits, and more.

Hello to nearby Dayton, Fairborn, and beyond.

Bovino Is Said to Have Mocked Prosecutor’s Jewish Faith on Call With Lawyers

I'm shocked, shocked.

www.nytimes.com/2026/01/31/u...

Where is the facepalm emoji when one needs it?

When I think about measles I think about the number 1,000. Thats the number that epidemiologists use to explain harm from measles in children. With 1,000 cases, about 200 children will require hospitalization, 50 will develop pneumonia, and one to three will die.

South Carolina is at 789.

Ohio folks: get out your whistles, please.

While i have less than no love for Kristi Noem, the level of ferocious hatred towards her (instead of Miller) has seemed tinged with misogyny.

Schumer calls for Kristi Noem and Stephen Miller to be removed from their jobs.

Two people have been abducted from Scotland in the middle of the night by the US military. Despite an order from our highest court that they be kept here.

The Scottish Government must show that actions have consequences by evicting American troops from their base at publicly-owned Prestwick Airport

Bskyers, you know all this. Please send this to friends who want to know how the heck we got here.

How did we get here? Let's start envisioning a better country. We'll start with the megabillionaire problem.

Know anyone who thinks once Trump is out of office, we'll be fine? Yeah, right. Trump could win the presidency — twice — because key portions of our democratic society have been rotting for decades. Here's how we got here — and where we need to go.
howtobeamerican.substack.com/p/how-did-we...

my grandmother, an Auschwitz survivor, was Anne Frank’s neighbor in Amsterdam, and Oma thinks this comparison is perfectly apt

Neighborliness defeats fascism. @adamserwer.bsky.social chronicles and details it so brilliantly and beautifully.

Especially when it's true now for white people, not just Black folks

At what point does a governor deploy National Guard troops against an occupiying federal force? Asking for Minnesota.

ICE detained a 2-year-old girl in Minneapolis and put the child on a flight to a detention center in Texas, despite a court ordering her release: www.startribune.com/agents-detai...

in case you're curious about how angry Minnesota is about ICE, it was -20 today

Thousands of Minnesotans marched in downtown Minneapolis to protest ICE. The wind chill was 30 below during the march.

Hundreds of businesses closed their doors Friday in support of the protest as activists urged Minnesotans to abstain from economic activity.

Old normal or new normal? Define your year.

every single successful general strike in US history has had union backing through the local AFL-CIO

this is the first time it’s been called for since the 1940s