Losing My Perspicacity, December 12, 2025

In partnership with

Good morning and Happy Friday! Thanks for starting your day with me.

Well, Donald Trump had a very bad day yesterday. I don’t mean bad, like you stepped in a puddle and had to spend all day with one wet sock, I mean epicly bad. Let’s break it down by topic.

First, after a legal battle that began last spring, Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Maryland man who was “mistakenly” removed to El Salvador by the Trump administration, which refused to do anything to rectify the situation until forced to by a federal court, was released from ICE custody by Judge Paula Xinis, who is none too pleased with the way the government has conducted themselves throughout this case.

There have been several shocking moments as Abgrego Garcia’s case wound itself through the court system - the “accidental” deportation, the refusal to do a damn thing to bring Abgrego Garcia back to the US, Abrego Garcia asking to remain in criminal custody to keep ICE from snatching him off the streets, and the DOJ’s misrepresenation to the court of Costa Rica’s position on accepting Abrego Garcia. But none was more shocking than learning today that the US never had a removal order for Abgrego Garcia - meaning they were never allowed to move him out of the country to begin with.

Judge Xinis also goes into detail about the DOJ’s deceitful conduct and mentions that she’ll take their behavior into account when considering a pending motion for sanctions.

To make a long story short, in addition to stonewalling just about every order Xinis has handed down in the case, the DOJ represented to the court that Costa Rica was no longer willing to accept Abrego Garcia, which is why they wanted to remove him to Liberia. They had a DHS official swear to that under oath, and they brought him in to testify to the same. But it turned out the official was some sap who just signed whatever the lawyers put in front of him. Moreover, the DOJ moved to seal the testimony because they knew that Costa Rica would contradict their story as soon as they got wind of it, which is exactly what happened. The highest prosecutor’s office in the land straight-up lied to a federal judge. Repeatedly and brazenly. It’s unbelievable.

In other “bad” things that happened to Trump yesterday:

• A second grand jury refused to indict NY Attorney General Letitia James on charges of mortgage fraud. (cackles)

• Despite threats by Trump to withhold funding for the entire State if they didn’t vote in his favor, Indiana Senate Republicans rejected Trump’s redistricting push.

• DHS Secretary Kristi Noem made a disastrous appearance on Capitol Hill, in which she was confronted by a US veteran who was forced to self-deport and accused of lying under oath. The video is too good not to share:

Noem then claimed she had to leave the hearing early to attend a critical FEMA meeting. It turns out, that meeting had been canceled.

• But Noem wasn’t alone in her incompetence; she got a huge assist from this guy, FBI Branch and Offices Director Michael Glasheen, who was about as tough under pressure as a wet toilet paper.

It’s probably worth noting that Portland police officers have testified under oath in Oregon v. Trump that “Antifa” is not an organization, but an anti-fascist ideology. Maybe the FBI should talk to them. Putting “antifa” on a list of domestic terrorists is kind of like putting “anti-racism” and “feminism” on the same list (which Trump would probably also like to do).

• Moving on, Trump announced a pardon for Tina Peters, a Colorado election-denier who is serving time on state charges of tampering with election machines on Trump’s behalf. The only problem? A President can’t pardon anyone convicted of state charges. Colorado Governor Jared Polis has already smacked him back down.

• And then there’s Fed Chair Jerome Powell, who said yesterday that the federal government may be systemically exaggerating job creation statistics. Not that we would know, as we don’t get to see them ever since Trump fired the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics because he didn’t like their numbers.

• Finally, here’s Trump admitting he knows nothing about what Melania does and calling Barron Trump “her boy.”

God, he’s so weird. Just think, by the time you get this newsletter delivered to your inbox, we’ll already have seen his 5:37 am crashout on Truth Social. I can’t wait.

In other news: Trump moves to kill US tourism for good; FIFA accused of ethics breach (evergreen); WaPo staffers revolt against AI; and The High Note.

Here we go.

Invest right from your couch

Have you always been kind of interested in investing but found it too intimidating (or just plain boring)? Yeah, we get it. Luckily, today’s brokers are a little less Wall Street and much more accessible. Online stockbrokers provide a much more user-friendly experience to buy and sell stocks—right from your couch. Money.com put together a list of the Best Online Stock Brokers to help you open your first account. Check it out!

Start investing

No one is coming to the US

Trump took the State of Florida by more than 13 percentage points in the last election. It’ll be interesting to see how many of those voters remain fans after he kills their state’s most significant industry.

Yesterday, DHS announced that it wants a look at everyone’s social media before they’re allowed into the country. Including tourists.

I don’t even know all my emails from the last 10 years. Foreigners are supposed to put themselves through this ringer for what? Disneyland? Go to France — you can visit Paris and Disneyland.

Tourism is already down in Florida, and this isn’t going to help. And frankly, how can you blame tourists? I don’t travel to certain countries because I don’t want to get grabbed off the street and tossed into prison. You can’t fault others for feeling the same, because we’re now one of those countries. Don’t believe me? Here’s an entire story on all the tourists ICE has kidnapped. Just in time for the World Cup!

Speaking of the World Cup…

There is hardly a day when FIFA is not in breach of some kind of ethics code. However, this particular breach is about the stupid little peace prize FIFA gave Trump. FIFA, you see, is supposed to remain politically neutral.

I mean, they’re not wrong. The problem is that FIFA loves dictators because they give them whatever they want without much hassle. Generally, what they want is to live like kings for a month while the tournament is happening, launder money, and act like a county unto themselves. That’s why they gave Russia the World Cup in 2018, Qatar the 2022 games, and Saudi Arabia the Cup in 2034. The only group that might love authoritarian regimes more than soccer’s governing body is the IOC.

Oh, and did I mention that the DOJ moved to drop charges against a FOX employee convicted of bribery related to the World Cup? Interesting timing, no?

Another WaPo revolt

It feels like every other week, we get a story about how Washington Post staffers are “in open revolt” against some policy or another. Not that I blame them, they do work for a particularly lame supervillain who single-handedly ruined America’s greatest investigative newspaper.

This time, however, the Post is late to the game. We were forced (by management) to use AI to write quick recaps at my last job, and we couldn’t even rely on it to get sports scores from the day before correct. That was in 2024. They should have learned from our very public mistake.

Yeah, I get it. It’s embarrassing and stupid. Not to mention, hiring human beings to work on this stuff would replace some of the jobs the industry has hemorrhaged over the last 10 years. The problem is that, despite what Elon Musk and Sam Altman want us to believe, AI doesn’t learn or think for itself; it only churns out whatever you’ve loaded into it — which is why Grok is now willing to murder a billion children to save Musk.

AI steals content from creators and then keeps spitting it out over and over, using it in all kinds of incorrect situations. I will never believe that we’re just a few years away from AI replacing us all. It doesn’t work well enough. It’s like we’re all being sold magic beans, and Wall Street and every town building a data center is falling for it.

The High Note

Each Day, I do my best to leave you with a smile on your face, a song in your heart, and the will to fight another day.

I’ve been listening to a lot of Johnny Cash lately, and The Man in Black has been resonating with me more than usual: “Well, we're doin' mighty fine, I do suppose, In our streak of lightnin' cars and fancy clothes, But just so we're reminded of the ones who are held back; Up front there ought to be a man in black.”

Hey, survive and advance out there today, kids. Don’t let the bastards get you down. Have a great weekend!

Follow Julie on Bluesky and Instagram so she can get another book contract.