When ICE Murders People
Sometimes it's best just to listen to Brahms
Good Morning:
Yesterday on #DogShirtTV, the estimable Holly Berkley Fletcher, the estimable Mike Feinberg, and I observed the fifth anniversary of the January 6th insurrection. Holly observed it by morphing into an on the scene reporter and interviewing a Jan. 6 perpetrator. It’s an unusually good show. You should watch it:
Yesterday On Lawfare
Compiled by the estimable Isabel Arroyo
The Law of Deposing Nicolás Maduro
Scott R. Anderson assesses a range of international and domestic legal arguments the Trump administration could make to justify deposing Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. Anderson emphasizes that a possible “second wave” of operations—especially one involving ground troops—could strain expansive domestic military authorities to their limit.
The decision to remove Maduro from power and assert control over Venezuela is likely to be one of the most consequential acts of Trump’s second presidency. But for its part, the Trump administration has thus far offered little by way of domestic or international legal justification for its actions. Building on other recent analyses, this piece attempts to take the scattered half-arguments the Trump administration has put forward and situate them against broader patterns of executive branch (and Trump administration-specific) practice to identify what arguments the administration seems most likely to rely upon—and what the broader implications of doing so could be.
Documents
Isabel Arroyo shares the recently unsealed indictment against Maduro and his wife handed up by a grand jury in the Southern District of New York.
Podcasts
On Lawfare Daily, I sit down with Anderson, Anna Bower, Michael Feinberg, Eric Columbus, and Katherine Pompilio to discuss the Supreme Court’s decision on President Trump’s domestic deployment of the National Guard in multiple cities, Jack Smith’s testimony in front of the House, developments in Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s case, a hearing in the arrests of Maduro and Flores, and more.
On ICE Murdering People in Minnesota
I have nothing useful or interesting or new to say about yesterday’s atrocity in Minnesota. I will say only that law enforcement is not a plaything. And if one deploys law enforcement in provocative manners, confrontations with civilians are inevitable. This will result in tragedies, both for law enforcement, and for civilians. Because people do evil things. Because people do stupid things. Because adrenaline happens and people make bad decisions in spur of the moment situations.
The lesson? Don’t do provocative law enforcement deployments that are wholly unnecessary in communities that don’t want them to terrorize immigrant communities.
It’s really not very complicated
Operation Brahms
We have arrived at the perfectly lovely Op. 24 Variations and Fugue on a Theme of Handel—which is a wonderful piece that has a plethora of good performances available. I love Murray Perahia, so I’m going with this one, but you really have a choice of a lot of the great Brahms interpreters on this one:
And for those who like watching performances, this performance at the Queen Elizabeth competition in 2021 by Jonathan Fournel is both beautifully played and elegantly filmed:
The Handel variations are dedicated to Clara Schumann—widow of Robert Schumann and a great pianist and minor composer in her own right. Brahms was 28 when he wrote it, and it is said to mark the beginning of his period of masterworks. It immediately precedes in publication the Op. 25 piano quintet, which is one of the truly iconic pieces of Brahms chamber music, and about which I will write about in the coming days.
For those who want a very readable breakdown of the variations, Wikipedia has a nice summary.
The Handel variations are probably the most famous of Brahms’s theme and variations engagements with other composers. George Frederick Handel was, of course, one of the titanic composers of the Baroque era—about a century before Brahms. So unlike the two Schumann variations pieces, which involved an engagement with the work of a contemporary, this one has a timeless feel—Brahms reaching back in time. It is one of the few pieces I know of in which a great Romantic composer self-consciously reflects musically on Baroque work.
Richard Wagner, who could not have been more un-Brahmsian in his own musical attitudes, nonetheless responded favorably to the piece, writing, “One sees what still may be done in the old forms when someone comes along who knows how to use them.”
For those who are looking for beautiful entry to Brahms piano music that is immediately accessible—and some Brahms can be dense—but that also has the depth and richness of the great Brahms piano music, the Handel variations are not a bad place to start.
Also, the fugue at the end is to die for.
Music Recommendations From Richard Wattenbarger
Speaking of Wagner and Brahms, the estimable Richard Wattenbarger popped up on #DogShirtTV yesterday with some new recordings he highly recommends. I promised I would include them in today’s dog shirt. So here they are:
Bach, Mass in B Minor, Rafaël Pichon, Pygmalion.
Bach, St. Matthew Passion, Rafaël Pichon, Pygmalion.
Wagner, Der Ring des Nibelungen, Staatsoper unter den Linden (Berlin), directed by Dmitri Tcherniakov, Christian Thielemann conducting. Available here and here.
I will be ordering all of these and will share thoughts after I have watched and listened.
Today’s #BeastOfTheDay is the spotted estuary smooth-hound shark, heard here clicking:
A study from March 2025 reports:
The rig, also known as spotted estuary smooth-hound, is a small, benthopelagic shark (70−150cm) of the family Triakidae (hound sharks). The species is endemic to inner shelf areas, coastal waters (up to 1000 m depth) and shallow estuaries around New Zealand. This mesopredatory shark mainly feeds on crustaceans, especially crabs on the sea floor and is preyed upon by larger sharks, and marine mammals. According to an anecdotal account by fish tag-and-recapture field researchers, juvenile rigs were heard to produce clicks in the wild while swimming in schools…
All 10 rigs (Mustelus lenticulatus) tested in this study produced broadband clicking sounds during handling. To the best of our knowledge, this study would be the first to show that sharks can produce sounds. Rigs handled for 20 s produced significantly more clicks during the first 10 s than during the subsequent 10 s, and both in the presence and absence of body movements. Rigs were not observed to produce clicks during feeding or while free-swimming in the tank. This may suggest that the initial handling triggers a stress or startle response, resulting in increased click activity. As rigs become accustomed to the handling, the behavioural response likely diminishes, leading to fewer clicks over time. Further behavioural observations are needed to test this hypothesis and verify whether rigs produce clicks under more natural conditions without human interference.
I applaud today’s Beast for its sacrifices in the service of science. Personally, I would do significantly more than click if someone handled me for 20 seconds.
In honor of today’s Beast, find a researcher willing to handle you for 20 seconds. Record the sounds you make and report the results. For science.
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