MAGA realizes disaster is coming, but its solution is hilarious www.dailykos.com/stories/2026...
dailykos.com
MAGA realizes disaster is coming, but its solution is hilarious
One right-wing media personality is freaking out.
Markos Moulitsas
@kos.dailykos.com
21K followers 735 following 222 posts
Founder, Daily Kos Cofounder, Civiqs
![UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
MARK KELLY,
Plaintiff,
Civil Case No. 26-81 (RJL)
V.
PETE HEGSETH, et al.,
Defendants.
MEMORANDUM OPINION
February 12, 2026 [Dkt. #2]
United States Senator Mark Kelly, a retired naval officer, has been censured by
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth for voicing certain opinions on military actions and
policy. In addition, he has been subjected to proceedings to possibly reduce his retirement
rank and pay and threatened with criminal prosecution if he continues to speak out on these
issues.
Secretary Hegseth relies on the well-established doctrine that military
servicemembers enjoy less vigorous First Amendment protections given the fundamental
obligation for obedience and discipline in the armed forces. Unfortunately for Secretary
Hegseth, no court has ever extended those principles to retired servicemembers, much less a retired servicemember serving in Congress and exercising oversight responsibility over
the military. This Court will not be the first to do so!](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:36eqtmzysqf7wsslczw4uxcd/bafkreiclbgaenrhgnor6zvmnfql4d3olwzqp7zikm3maum5ylc4m6epys4)
![The Government asked this Court to stay the District Court's order. After the response and reply were filed, JUSTICE BARRETT referred the application to the Court. We directed the parties to file supplemental letter briefs on an issue that the District Court had addressed but the parties' initial briefs had not: the meaning of the term "regular forces" in §12406(3). In its supplemental brief, the Government argues that the term refers to civilian law enforcement officers, such as those employed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement or the Federal Protective Service.
Respondents, echoing the District Court, maintain that the term refers to the regular forces of the United States mili-tary.
We conclude that the term "regular forces" in §12406(3) likely refers to the regular forces of the United States mili-tary. This interpretation means that to call the Guard into active federal service under §12406(3), the President must be "unable" with the regular military "to execute the laws of the United States." Because the statute requires an assessment of the military's ability to execute the laws, it likely applies only where the military could legally execute the laws. Such circumstances are exceptional: Under the Posse Comitatus Act, the military is prohibited from "execut[ing] the laws" "except in cases and under circumstances expressly authorized by the Constitution or Act of Congress."
18 U. S. C. §1385. So before the President can federalize the Guard under §12406(3), he likely must have statutory or constitutional authority to execute the laws with the regular military and must be "unable" with those forces to perform that function.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:6h7b2i6ttw3l4t7pvbvxdith/bafkreiftbhzwvn3vgwhqsi7k2paizvdw4t26ailljvovso3chqupnmj364)
![REPORTER: Mr. President, my condolences to you, Sir. My condolences on the loss of your friend Charlie Kirk. [unintelligible]
How are you holding up over the last day and a half, Sir?
TRUMP: I think very good. And by the way, right there, you see all the trucks? They've just started construction of the new ballroom for the White House, which is something they ve been trying to get, as you know, for about 150 years. And it's gonna be a beauty. Absolutely magnificent construction. We just started, so it'll get done very nicely.
And it will be one of the best anywhere in the world, actually.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:cfy5rgqvohpdqxgu2geb5u2b/bafkreig42mujsiyxozvq3kiayszu47dbk6zds3icm5bwu34twt3d7vbo2q)
