Last edition:
Showing posts with label law. Show all posts
Showing posts with label law. Show all posts
Monday, May 5, 2025
Sunday, May 4, 2025
Musings Over a Barrel: Bourbon Independence Day: A Toast to America’s Nat...
Musings Over a Barrel: Bourbon Independence Day: A Toast to America’s Nat...: On May 4, 1964 , Senate Concurrent Resolution 19 (S. Con. Res. 19) was passed, declaring that bourbon “is a distinctive product of the Unite...
Saturday, May 3, 2025
Court Watch
Chaos was the law of nature; Order was the dream of man.
Henry Adams.
A glimpse into what's going on in the law, and the Court's.
April 21, 2025
1. The U.S. Supreme Court had issued a temporary stay on deportations of Venezuelans to El Salvador under the Enemy Aliens Act, as it well should have. There isn't a war going on.
The pause is so that it can take the question in chief.
On the same basic topic, a Federal judge has issued a finding of probable cause of criminal contempt for the administration's refusal to adhere to his order regarding such deportations.
2. Wyoming Tribe's Law Firm One Of The Few Fighting Trump's Big-Law Orders
Trump's ongoing assault on the law includes assaulting law firms that have displeased him. Quite a few have caved in, but this one didn't.
3. A federal judge ordered that Tufts University student Rumeysa Ozturk be transferred from a detention center in Louisiana to Vermont no later than at the start of next month.
4. The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments on the Trump administration's plans to end birthright citizenship next month. Trump, in one of his many stupid statement moments, said that this should be an easy win as birthright citizenship was tied to slavery, which is really ignorant.
5. Wyoming Supreme Court mulls constitutionality of state’s abortion bans: Much like the case, Wednesday’s hearing largely focused on whether a section of the state’s constitution that protects individuals’ rights to make their own health care decisions prevents the state from banning abortion.
A frustrating thing for conservatives who would like to find a more middle of the road set of people to vote for, now that the Wyoming Republican Party is in a civil war between real conservatives and populists, is that the Democratic Party nationally and locally just can't wash it hands of blood.
It puts voters in a horrible position. Insane gerontocracy v. seas of blood.
Former Wyoming Supreme Court Justice Keith Kautz created some controversy when he joined some legislators in a prayer session associated with the oral arguments, stating as a prayer:
I especially pray for the justices on the Wyoming Supreme Court. May they know that the true beginning of wisdom is to acknowledge you. Give each of them wisdom and courage in deciding the case coming next week. Let them see how much you love each human and the world you created.
I don't see a problem with that, but apparently some people did. Justice Kautz noted that he asked, upon retiring, not to be assigned to any cases dealing with abortion because of his religion based opposition to it. He apparently is a member of a Baptist group called "Converge".
6. A group of Wyoming lawyers wrote an open letter about recent legal developments. It was directed at Wyoming's Congressional representation.
Condemn attacks on judiciary, Wyoming lawyers and judges urge delegation
The letter was met with a "pound sand" response from that representation which went on to say that Federal courts had too much jurisdiction, which they are seeking to limit.
That's wrong, and that's a mistake.
William Roper: “So, now you give the Devil the benefit of law!”
Sir Thomas More: “Yes! What would you do? Cut a great road through the law to get after the Devil?”
William Roper: “Yes, I'd cut down every law in England to do that!”
Sir Thomas More: “Oh? And when the last law was down, and the Devil turned 'round on you, where would you hide, Roper, the laws all being flat? This country is planted thick with laws, from coast to coast, Man's laws, not God's! And if you cut them down, and you're just the man to do it, do you really think you could stand upright in the winds that would blow then? Yes, I'd give the Devil benefit of law, for my own safety's sake!”
Robert Bolt, A Man for All Seasons: A Play in Two Acts
April 24, 2025
Trump has issued an order which takes on accrediting bodies, including the ABA.
REFORMING ACCREDITATION TO STRENGTHEN HIGHER EDUCATION
Executive Orders
April 23, 2025
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered:
Section 1. Purpose. A group of higher education accreditors are the gatekeepers that decide which colleges and universities American students can spend the more than $100 billion in Federal student loans and Pell Grants dispersed each year. The accreditors’ job is to determine which institutions provide a quality education — and therefore merit accreditation. Unfortunately, accreditors have not only failed in this responsibility to students, families, and American taxpayers, but they have also abused their enormous authority.
Accreditors routinely approve institutions that are low-quality by the most important measures. The national six-year undergraduate graduation rate was an alarming 64 percent in 2020. Further, many accredited institutions offer undergraduate and graduate programs with a negative return on investment — almost 25 percent of bachelor’s degrees and more than 40 percent of master’s degrees — which may leave students financially worse off and in enormous debt by charging them exorbitant sums for a degree with very modest earnings potential.
Notwithstanding this slide in graduation rates and graduates’ performance in the labor market, the spike in debt obligations in relation to expected earnings, and repayment rates on student loans, accreditors have remained improperly focused on compelling adoption of discriminatory ideology, rather than on student outcomes. Some accreditors make the adoption of unlawfully discriminatory practices a formal standard of accreditation, and therefore a condition of accessing Federal aid, through “diversity, equity, and inclusion” or “DEI”-based standards of accreditation that require institutions to “share results on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in the context of their mission by considering . . . demographics . . . and resource allocation.” Accreditors have also abused their governance standards to intrude on State and local authority.
The American Bar Association’s Council of the Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar (Council), which is the sole federally recognized accreditor for Juris Doctor programs, has required law schools to “demonstrate by concrete action a commitment to diversity and inclusion” including by “commit[ting] to having a student body [and faculty] that is diverse with respect to gender, race, and ethnicity.” As the Attorney General has concluded and informed the Council, the discriminatory requirement blatantly violates the Supreme Court’s decision in Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President and Fellows of Harvard College, 600 U.S. 181 (2023). Though the Council subsequently suspended its enforcement while it considers proposed revisions, this standard and similar unlawful mandates must be permanently eradicated.
The Liaison Committee on Medical Education, which is the only federally recognized body that accredits Doctor of Medicine degree programs, requires that an institution “engage[] in ongoing, systematic, and focused recruitment and retention activities, to achieve mission-appropriate diversity outcomes among its students.” The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education, which is the sole accreditor for both allopathic and osteopathic medical residency and fellowship programs, similarly “expect[s]” institutions to focus on implementing “policies and procedures related to recruitment and retention of individuals underrepresented in medicine,” including “racial and ethnic minority individuals.” The standards for training tomorrow’s doctors should focus solely on providing the highest quality care, and certainly not on requiring unlawful discrimination.
American students and taxpayers deserve better, and my Administration will reform our dysfunctional accreditation system so that colleges and universities focus on delivering high-quality academic programs at a reasonable price. Federal recognition will not be provided to accreditors engaging in unlawful discrimination in violation of Federal law.
Sec. 2. Holding Accreditors Accountable for Unlawful Actions. (a) The Secretary of Education shall, as appropriate and consistent with applicable law, hold accountable, including through denial, monitoring, suspension, or termination of accreditation recognition, accreditors who fail to meet the applicable recognition criteria or otherwise violate Federal law, including by requiring institutions seeking accreditation to engage in unlawful discrimination in accreditation-related activity under the guise of “diversity, equity, and inclusion” initiatives.
(b) The Attorney General and the Secretary of Education shall, as appropriate and consistent with applicable law, investigate and take appropriate action to terminate unlawful discrimination by American law schools that is advanced by the Council, including unlawful “diversity, equity, and inclusion” requirements under the guise of accreditation standards. The Secretary of Education shall also assess whether to suspend or terminate the Council’s status as an accrediting agency under Federal law.
(c) The Attorney General and the Secretary of Education, in consultation with the Secretary of Health and Human Services, shall investigate and take appropriate action to terminate unlawful discrimination by American medical schools or graduate medical education entities that is advanced by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education or the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education or other accreditors of graduate medical education, including unlawful “diversity, equity, and inclusion” requirements under the guise of accreditation standards. The Secretary of Education shall also assess whether to suspend or terminate the Committee’s or the Accreditation Council’s status as an accrediting agency under Federal law or take other appropriate action to ensure lawful conduct by medical schools, graduate medical education programs, and other entities that receive Federal funding for medical education.
Sec. 3. New Principles of Student-Oriented Accreditation. (a) To realign accreditation with high-quality, valuable education for students, the Secretary of Education shall, consistent with applicable law, take appropriate steps to ensure that:
(i) accreditation requires higher education institutions to provide high-quality, high-value academic programs free from unlawful discrimination or other violations of Federal law;
(ii) barriers are reduced that limit institutions from adopting practices that advance credential and degree completion and spur new models of education;
(iii) accreditation requires that institutions support and appropriately prioritize intellectual diversity amongst faculty in order to advance academic freedom, intellectual inquiry, and student learning;
(iv) accreditors are not using their role under Federal law to encourage or force institution to violate State laws, unless such State laws violate the Constitution or Federal law; and
(v) accreditors are prohibited from engaging in practices that result in credential inflation that burdens students with additional unnecessary costs.
(b) To advance the policies and objectives in subsection (a) of this section, the Secretary of Education shall:
(i) resume recognizing new accreditors to increase competition and accountability in promoting high-quality, high-value academic programs focused on student outcomes;
(ii) mandate that accreditors require member institutions to use data on program-level student outcomes to improve such outcomes, without reference to race, ethnicity, or sex;
(iii) promptly provide to accreditors any noncompliance findings relating to member institutions issued after an investigation conducted by the Office of Civil Rights under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000d et seq.) or Title IX of the Education Amendments Act of 1972 (20 U.S.C. 1681 et seq.);
(iv) launch an experimental site, pursuant to section 487A(b) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1094a(b)), to accelerate innovation and improve accountability by establishing new flexible and streamlined quality assurance pathways for higher education institutions that provide high-quality, high-value academic programs;
(v) increase the consistency, efficiency, and effectiveness of the accreditor recognition review process, including through the use of technology;
(vi) streamline the process for higher education institutions to change accreditors to ensure institutions are not forced to comply with standards that are antithetical to institutional values and mission; and
(vii) update the Accreditation Handbook to ensure that the accreditor recognition and reauthorization process is transparent, efficient, and not unduly burdensome.
Sec. 4. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this order shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:
(i) the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or the head thereof; or
(ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.
(b) This order shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations.
(c) This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.
DONALD J. TRUMP
THE WHITE HOUSE,
April 26, 2025
The Trump administration really took a step towards Nazism with the arrest of Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Hannah Dugan for supposedly interfering with immigration laws.
Wyoming’s crossover voting ban and closed primary elections are being challenged in a newly filed civil action.
This should be really interesting.
Virginia Giuffre, who accused Prince Andrew and Jeffrey Epstein of sexual abuse, has died by suicide at age 41. Prince Andrew's fall is directly tied to her, and there's no doubt that they met when she was just 17 years old, although he denied any improper conduct with her.
She was a married woman with three children, and had relocated to Australia. Apparently she and her husband had recently separated, and she had recently been in an automobile accident.
The topic of releasing the Epstein files has come up, but so far the Trump administration has failed to release them. Trump, of course, knew Epstein.
April 29, 2025
Hageman, Barrasso Say Judges Who Shield Illegal Immigrants Should Be Arrested
April 30, 2025
Judge: Rock Springs school didn’t violate parental rights in transgender pronoun case: School district officials, educators did not keep information from high schooler’s parents or violate mother’s religious rights, federal judge concludes.
May 2, 2025
A federal judge in Texas barred the Trump administration from deporting Venezuelans from South Texas under the Enemy Aliens Act.
May 3, 2025
I missed it, as I was busy, but Law Day, which is May 1, was rebranded by Trump as Loyalty Day.
The meanings aren't even remotely close.
A Federal Court blocked the Trump administration sanctions on a U.S. law firm.
Thursday, May 1, 2025
Cliffnotes of the Zeitgeist 83d Edition. The law and refusal to depart, departing in the worst way, echoes of service.
The old lawyers.
I was on a phone hearing recently and one of the lawyers, whom I used to run into a fair amount but have not for years, sounded really rough. In a subsequent phone call he sounded the same way, and I looked up his firm photo and realized he is now 76 years old.
76.
What the crap?
In his photo, he looked haggard and ancient.
I was at something else not too long ago and saw another lawyer I used to run into a fair amount, who always had a youthful appearance even though I knew he was at least decade. I was shocked by his appearance.
He's now 83. He might just be practicing part time, I'd note.
I spoke to a lawyer friend of mine who is now up over 70, I think. He doesn't appear worn or drawn down, but he told me that he's afraid of retiring as he enjoys the social interaction of the lawyers. We discussed another lawyer who is a friend of his whom I figure is now in his mid 70s.
There's something deeply wrong with all of this.
This reflects, I'll note, in our society at large, of course. Our last qualified President, Joe Biden was in his 80s, and clearly suffering from mental decline, when he left office in defeat. A recent book regarding the 2024 election reports, in hte opinion of hte authors, that Biden believes he's smarkter than everyone else which formed the basis of his disaterous decision. Our current chief executive is also, in my view, suffering from dementia at an increasing rate that can't be ignored, but which is largely being ignored, even as he destroys the economy, foreign relations, and American democracy. He also seems to suffer from "only I can do it" delusion, and on at least one occasion in the 2024 campaign said as much.
Biden was a lawyer, eons ago. Trump is a real estate developer, so that's a bit off point. But there's something really pathetic about lawyers who practice past their 60s. I'm in my early 60s, I'd note. They've lost something of their soul, if not their souls in general, and have nothing left but their work.*
There's also something societally wrong with a society that allows this to occur. I'll avoid the political discussion, but mental decline is inevitable in almost everyone who lives past their 50s. People don't want to believe it, but it's absolutely true.
And beyond that, society should not encourage the elderly to occupy positions such as this past their mid 60s. It takes up space that should be filled by younger people. By that point a peson should be ready to retire, and if they're not, they're never going to be ready, economically. Talent wise, they should apply their talents and time to something else.
Read a book, train a dog, go fishing. Discovery the person you were when you started out, and the one you apparently lost.
Mehr Mensch sein.
Service.
Vietnam service ribbon.
This will be an odd one, and it'll sound difficult not to make it should like I'm being unduly critical.
We've been running a lot of posts recently about the collapse of South Vietnam in 1975. Nearly daily, as we're in the cycle in which things were becoming a disaster for the Republic of Vietnam, and a war which we entered in the early 1960s, and left in 1973, was about to be lost by the country we supported.
I note this as it's struck me for a long time how many professionals I know, including lawyers, who are of the Vietnam War generation and have no military service.
Not all, I'll note. One former Federal District Court judge here was an artillery observer in Vietnam, and a lawyer in our capital city was an artilleryman. Two state district court judges I know served in Vietnam. And a few other lawyers I know did.
But by and large, most didn't.
It's interesting in a number of ways, one being that it's likely their father's all had served in World War Two.
Now, the Second World War was a huge war, to be sure. But as a member of Generation Jones, when I was growing up, it was the case that if our fathers hadn't served in World War Two, they had in the Korean War, or on either side of it. Growing up, this was so routine you simply assumed it. I recall always being surprised if a kid I knew had a father who had never served in the Armed Forces, and this included professionals. All the doctors and dentists that my father was friends with had served in World War Two or in the Armed Forces after that. I didn't know but one lawyer then, but he'd served in the Post War Army and later on the older lawyers I knew who were of World War Two vintage had served, often quite heroically, in the war.
Baby Boom generation male lawyers? Not so much.
I don't think that's a good thing, frankly. War is awful but most American servicemen who served in the 60s nad early 70s didn't see a day of fighting. The Service is full of men who aren't like you, who didn't grow up like you, and don't have any of your per service shared experiences. That's valuable.
Lots of those guys would have been better men had they served.** Donald Trump would have been.
And American society would be. We really started dividing the country back into the haves, and have nots, but allowing so many who could afford an education to avoid serving. It helped split hte country into the mess it is now.***
"Biased, Misguided WY Judges and Lawyers."
So claimed Wyoming's Congressional delegation about a letter signed by over 100 Wyoming lawyers.
I'm not a signatory to it as, frankly, I was too busy to notice its circulation when it was going around. The letter is 100% correct, however. I know a lot of the lawyers who did sign it, and more of a few of them are actual conservatives, and a few of them were once very significant figures in the Wyoming Republican Party, including those who were elected to office.
Moreover, at least two of the three of the Congressional delegation itself are not anywhere near as populist as they now assert they are. All three of these figures would have supported this letter under different circumstances, and two out of the three undoubtedly still hold the view that the lawyers are right, but are taking their positions as they do not wish to anger Trump supporters. If the wind turns, they'll turn with it so rapidly that it will toss MAGA right off the decks.
All of which is profoundly sad. That people hold one view and then express another one publicly is no doubt common, but it's not admirable, and is far from admirable in a situation like this. It’s one of the things that’s really wrong with American politics today.
It is interesting t have even with the taking of extreme positions like this, at least one refused to publicly adopt the extreme Executive Power doctrine that’s being exercised now, while at the same time, not disavowing it. John Barrasso, when asked if the President really had the power to levy tariffs the way he is (he doesn’t) just twice said that Congress had delegated a lot of power to the President. It has. It’s not a good thing, and he wouldn’t say that it is.
It does make sitting back and letting things happen easier. The entire country is going to suffer massively due to Trump, and Wyoming is going to take a bruising. It’d be far better to stand up and say so now, and take the lumps if they come, then to excuse your conduct later.
Footnotes
*Coincidentally, I saw this in our local newspaper in an advice column.
Dear Eric: I was an attorney when I started having memory problems at age 65. I retired and subsequently learned that I had a devastating rare dementia with a very short lifespan. Instead of providing me support, my friends disappeared from my life, at the time I needed them most. Friends may rally around you when you have cancer, driving you to chemo treatments, dropping off food and other things to support you; when you have dementia, everyone just disappears.
I’ve always been a sociable person and I’m missing that so much, but I have no idea how or where to start. Any ideas?
Students navigate campus atmosphere, social changes to find connection
– Left By Friends
Dear Friends: People sometimes don’t know what to do or say when confronted with illness, but that’s no excuse for your friends’ behavior and I’m sorry. The Alzheimer’s Association (alz.org) has a wealth of resources for people with dementia, including support groups, both online and in-person. Being able to talk with others about what you’re experiencing and feeling will help with isolation.
This also might be a time for you to explore new volunteer opportunities or social groups that have nothing to do with dementia, depending on your care plan and abilities. You are a person who is worthy of connection, with a wealth of experiences and knowledge from which others can benefit. Your company would be welcomed at a senior center, a local outing group or an organization that aligns with your interests and values. If you have anxiety about navigating these spaces with dementia, or need accommodation in order to feel safe, please don’t hesitate to reach out in advance and talk to a group leader about how you can participate most comfortably.
Eric is surprised that his fellow lawyers quit associating with him.
He likely ought not to be.
I don't think it's that people don't know what to say or do. I think that people fail to appreciate that workplace social contacts are, to a very high degree, extremely casual or even business contacts, and that once the professional is not employed, at least in teh law, the value of that person to others in the law is gone.
In other words, this doesn't surprise me a bit.
**I'd note that I feel the same way about men who weren't in the service, but who worked a blue collar or agricultural job. Those employments are levelling in a way, and I've noticed that men of the same generation who were never in the Armed Forces, but worked as roughnecks or came from ranches and farms, are much more accepting generally of other people.
***And, ironically, it also started the country off on the hyper glorification of those who have been in the service.
Last edition:
Cliffnotes of the Zeitgeist 82nd Edition. The This Is Your Economy On Dementia Edition.
The Madness of King Donald. The 25th Amendment Watch List.
What we’ve done in our politics is create a situation where we’re electing idiots.
Liz Cheney
Section 1
In case of the removal of the President from office or of his death or resignation, the Vice President shall become President.
Section 2
Whenever there is a vacancy in the office of the Vice President, the President shall nominate a Vice President who shall take office upon confirmation by a majority vote of both Houses of Congress.
Section 3
Whenever the President transmits to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration that he is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, and until he transmits to them a written declaration to the contrary, such powers and duties shall be discharged by the Vice President as Acting President.
Section 4
Whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President.
Thereafter, when the President transmits to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration that no inability exists, he shall resume the powers and duties of his office unless the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive department or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit within four days to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office. Thereupon Congress shall decide the issue, assembling within forty-eight hours for that purpose if not in session. If the Congress, within twenty-one days after receipt of the latter written declaration, or, if Congress is not in session, within twenty-one days after Congress is required to assemble, determines by two-thirds vote of both Houses that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall continue to discharge the same as Acting President; otherwise, the President shall resume the powers and duties of his office.
January 7, 2025.
Trump calls in and Junior puts him on speaker (in Greenland). He says we need to take over Greenland because there are “ships sailing around and they’re not the right ships.”
Ron Filipkowski
And so the Madness of King Donald is on full display, giving room for a Regency in favor of J. D. Vance.
How long will the decent interval be? My prediction is 18 months.
That would be Monday, July 20, 2026.
cont:
We're going to be changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America.
Donald Trump.
cont:
Reporter: Can you assure the world that as you try to get control of Greenland and the Panama Canal, you are not going to use military or economic coercion?Trump: No.. I can’t assure you on either of those two.
And:
The windmills are driving the whales crazy. Obviously.
Trump also stated he'd use "economic force" to compel Canada to become a 51st state.
And:
It's called rain. It comes down from heaven. And they want to do no water comes out of the shower. It goes drip drip drip ... you can have all the water you want. It makes no difference.
And, he claimed at his press conference that Hezbollah was at the January 6 riots.
January 14, 2025
Because creating a new agency obviously makes sense:
January 22, 2025
He (Kim Jong Un) liked me, I liked him. We got along very well…I think he has tremendous condo capability. He's got a lot of shoreline.January 23, 2025
Half pipes. You see 'em all the time. Half pipes. People live in those half pipes now. You know, they have homeless living in those halftype
and;
The head of a country that lives in forest. A number of them, actually. Finland told me this. Austria told me this. The head of Austria, the head of Finland. And it was beautiful they way they expressed it. They said, 'We live in a forest. We are a forest nation.'
and;
We're gonna be demanding respect from other nations. Canada, we have a tremendous deficit with Canada. We're not gonna have that anymore. As you probably know, I say you can always become a state. If you're a state, we won't have a deficit, we won't have to tariff you.
and;
REPORTER: You would agree it's never acceptable to assault police officers?
TRUMP: Sure
REPORTER: Among those you pardoned is a guy who used a stun gun on a police officer. Why does he deserve a pardon?
TRUMP: Well, I don't know
January 25, 2025
I'm signing an executive order to open up the pumps and valves in the north. We want to get that water pouring down here as quickly as possible ... you're talking about unlimited water coming up from the Pacific Northwest, even coming from parts of Canada.
Um. .. there aren't any such valves. This is pure batshit crazy.
In any normal time, this would send Donny to the retirement home. It's completely nuts.
Also, fwiw, water flows from the Continental Divide, west. Not from north to south.
cont:
We may be a very substantially enlarged country in the not too distant— Isn't it nice to see -- for years, decades, we’re the same size to the square-foot, probably got smaller actually but we might be an enlarged country pretty soon.
I actually figure at this point there's a good chance he's going to order the military to invade Canada.
January 26, 2025
Okay, there is now this by the person who (illegitimately and illegally) claims to be the head of the most powerful nation on Earth.
No serious nation does this. The man is a dangerous fool.
25th Amendment.
Section 4
Whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President.
Of course, this is aimed at the American public, with the presumption that being a mob tough guy is cute or admirable, rather than this depiction being childish and repressible.
The American public may disagree, in which case, truly, it has become childish.
When we are past this era, and it won't be soon enough, the long lasting American anti intellectual streak in the culture has to end. Yes, some people really are smarter than other. No, collective widom doesn't trump intellect. People need to get educated.
January 29, 2025
We identified and stopped $50 million being sent to Gaza to buy condoms for Hamas. And you know what's happened to them? They've used them as a method of making bombs.
We didn't appropriate $50M for condoms for Hamas.
Truly, this is rather weird, even for Donald Trump, and some people will believe it, which is pathetic.
January 30, 2024
A helicopter/aircraft collision occurred last night near Washington D.C. The helicopter was a Blackhawk, and therefore a military helicopter.
Trump took to social media:
Let's face it. Trump is simply stupid. The nation has elected a wealthy, dimwitted, vengeful, ignoramus.
January 31, 2024
This is simply surreal:
This one is shameful beyond all measure:
This is, frankly, shameful in the extreme:
Trump is pitting people against each other on racist grounds. He's an embarrassment to the country.
It's worth watching when it's signed. Trump has the appearance of a profoundly stupid man.
On his appearance, his physical condition is rather obviously declining quite rapidly. He can no longer hide that he's bald and his hair is white. The orange tan stuff, which was always disgusting, isn't working.
Latest babble:
February 5, 2025
Trump proposed the Gazans be cleared out of Gaza and given new land, and the existing area become a real estate development belonging to the United States.
This came in a conference with Prime Minister Netanyahu, who pretty clearly thinks Trump is nuts.
If the Gazans could be resettled in a viable location, which won't happen, it would address much of their problems. The US then owning Gaza as a sort of Levantine Club Med is bat shit crazy, however.
Trump claimed Middle Eastern leaders thought this was a great idea, which they immediately denied. It's pretty clear the major Middle Eastern powers also regard Trump as a lunatic.
This does provide, however, a real insight into his senile way of thinking. Trump, a real estate developer who really has nothing else to his credit, and lacks any moral character, thinks the whole world is just one big real estate developer. Essentially he's a collision of amorality, senility, and capitalism.
February 23, 2025
February 24, 2025
King Donny appointed right-wing conspiracy theorist commentator Dan Bongino as deputy director of the FBI.
Okay, at this, point, this has reached the mornic level.
March 8, 2025
This is twice in a week where a cabinet officer suddenly acted independently in front of King Donny.
25th Amendment. . .
April 16, 2025
From I Could Be Wrong
April 18, 2025
The Congo in Africa. Many, many people come from the Congo. I don’t know what that is, but they came from the Congo.
Donald Trump, in a press conference with Giorgia Meloni.
My guess is the following set of photographs might be copyrighted, as I don't know who took them, but I'm posting them under the fair use exception for what they illustrate.
Meloni is exactly the sort of right wing populist leader MAGA people claim they want. She's genuinely a far right politician, but not a babbling vengeful incoherent old guy. Her expressions, and she's notoriously expressive, say it all. She can hardly stand being there.
cont:
WOMAN: It's an ice fishery, and it's been around since the early 1900s
TRUMP: So it's been around for millions of years
cont:
It's all about slavery and if you look at it that way, we should win that case.
Donald Trump on birthright citizenship.
April 19, 2025
While this thread is focus on Donald Trump, we can't help but note that Lauren Boebert stated Wall Street "is full of Communists selling their stock to hurt President Trump".
Truly, Republicans ought to really stop and think. That's amazingly stupid.
And then we have White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt who comes across as a total ditz. In her defense, her job is shoveling shit, but none the less.
April 20, 2025
Mad King Donny's admin launched a politicized COVID 19 site yesterday.
April 21, 2025
Trump's social media Easter post.
Happy Easter to all, including the Radical Left Lunatics who are fighting and scheming so hard to bring Murderers, Drug Lords, Dangerous Prisoners, the Mentally Insane, and well known MS-13 Gang Members and Wife Beaters, back into our Country. Happy Easter also to the WEAK and INEFFECTIVE Judges and Law Enforcement Officials who are allowing this sinister attack on our Nation to continue, an attack so violent that it will never be forgotten! Sleepy Joe Biden purposefully allowed Millions of CRIMINALS to enter our Country, totally unvetted and unchecked, through an Open Borders Policy that will go down in history as the single most calamitous act ever perpetrated upon America. He was, by far, our WORST and most Incompetent President, a man who had absolutely no idea what he was doing -- But to him, and to the person that ran and manipulated the Auto Pen (perhaps our REAL President!), and to all of the people who CHEATED in the 2020 Presidential Election in order to get this highly destructive Moron Elected, I wish you, with great love, sincerity, and affection, a very Happy Easter!!! From Donald Trump Truth Social 04/20/25 08:46 AM
This is extremely weird and ought to be evidence enough that Trump isn't well, and should be removed immediately.
April 22, 2025
Rumors are circulating that Pete Hegseth is about to be booted for a second texting war plans scandal.
April 23, 2025
You know, the cost of eggs have come down like 93, 94% since we took office. They are pretty much normally price now.
Donald Trump.
This is a complete lie. And its such an absurd lie, that it once again raises questions about the sanity of the person saying it.
April 26, 2025
There was no reason for Putin to be shooting missiles into civilian areas, cities and towns, over the last few days. It makes me think that maybe he doesn't want to stop the war, he's just tapping me along.
Donald Trump.
April 29, 2025
With approval ratings taking, and this before the tariffs have even hit, King Donny is having a fit, and blaming the "fake news media".
April 29, 2025
Reporter: Who do you want to be the next Pope?
Trump: “I'd like to be Pope. That'd be my number one choice.”
April 30, 2025
I suppose this is supposed to be a joke, but it's really insulting.
May 1,2025
Trump, in an interview with Stephen Smith, a black reporter, about Harvard:
We had riots in Harlem and frankly if you look at what's gone on and people from Harlem went up and they protested, Stephen, and they protested very strongly against Harvard, uh, they happened to be on my side. ... I got a very high Black vote.
Uff.
Yesterday, a cabinet meeting was held which turned out to be a praise session of sycophants, with Pam Bondi's praise, claiming Trump had saved the lives of over 250,000,000 Americans the most bizarre and extreme.
The entire cabinet is basically nuts.
And so, after 100 horrific days, we'll make that the fitting close to the first installment of this 25th Amendment Watch List.
Related threads:
"The President of the United States of America is at war with the Constitution and the rule of law."
Thursday, April 24, 2025
Thursday, April 24, 1975. Wings of Freedom
The last Pan Am flight out of South Vietnam occured.
Episode 4: Evacuation of Saigon, Wings of Freedom Mission
Six terrorists of the Baader-Meinhof Gang (the "Red Army Faction") seized the West German embassy in Sweden. They took eleven hostages and demanded the release of Andreas Baader and Ulrike Meinhof, which the German government refused. They after killed two of the hostages before a bomb they took in the embassy accidentally exploded, allowing the hostages to escape and fatally injuring two of the terrorists.
The Swedish army took the rest prisoner.
The change in policy on negotiations with terrorists marked the beginning of the decline of domestic terrorism directed at West Germany.
Colorado Attorney General Joyce Murdoch invalidated all six marriage licenses for same-sex marriages that had been issued by Boulder County Clerk Clela Rorex.
Last edition:
Wednesday, April 23, 1975. Ford addresses Vietnam at Tulane.
Tuesday, April 22, 2025
Wednesday, April 22, 1925. Thought police.
The Peace Preservation Law was enacted in Japan allowing the Special Higher Police (Tokubetsu Kōtō Keisatsu or Tokkō) of the Home Ministry to arrest "anyone who has formed an association with the aim of altering the kokutai" (the "national essence" of Japan) or having "joined such an association with full knowledge of its object".
Criticism of the government could be considered an attempt to alter the national essence.
This is exactly the way the Republican Party is acting today.
A "Thought Section" of the Tokubetsu was created to monitor "dangerous thoughts" or "thought crime" within Japan and its territories.
The Saltair pavilion, in Saltair, Utah at the Great Salt Lake in the United States, was destroyed by fire.
Last edition:
Tuesday, April 21, 1925. The loss of the SS Raifuku Maru. Saudi Arabia wipes out the gravesites of members of the family Muhammad.
Labels: 1920s, 1925, boats and ships, Calvin Coolidge, Disaster, Islam, Kingdom of Hejaz, Saudi Arabia, technology
Saturday, April 19, 2025
NO KINGS
This is the 250th anniversary of the Battle of Lexington and Concord.
A big cause of the American Revolution, as everyone knows, was Parliament's (not the King's) imposition of taxes on the colonies, which was done to help pay for the French and Indian (Seven Years) War. They were, in modern parlance, value added taxes, which the colonist had no say in, and they were specifically directed, on tea.
"No taxation without representation" was the cry.
When, the following year, the Continental Congress got around to declaring independence the following year, they listed twenty five grievances they accused King George III of, those being:
- Grievance 1 "He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good."
I think this charge can be levied against King Donald, but it is complicated by the fact that Congress is pretty much completely dysfunctional and has been for some time.
- Grievance 2 "He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them."
- Grievance 3 "He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only."
- Grievance 4 "He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, and also uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures."
- Grievance 5 "He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people."
- Grievance 6 "He has refused for a long time, after such Dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining, in the meantime, exposed to all the Dangers of Invasion from without, and convulsions within."
- Grievance 7 "He has endeavored to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands."
The Trump administration's outright hostility to the foreign born is at a level not seen since the 19th Century, and which exceeds any level in any prior administration in the country's history. Included in this is an assault on birth right citizenship, which is featured in the Constitution.
- Grievance 8 "He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers."
- Grievance 9 "He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries."
Trump's attacks on the judiciary are certainly evidence of this. Right now, the Administration is ignoring an order to return a wrongfully deported prisoner.
- Grievance 10 "He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance."
DOGE.
- Grievance 11 "He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures."
Just last week came the news that the Trump administration has basically martialized the public lands along the Mexican border.
- Grievance 12 "He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power."
See above and the use of the military for what the Border Patrol should properly be doing.
- Grievance 13 "He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:"
- Grievance 14 "For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us.
Again, see above.
- Grievance 15 "For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:"
- Grievance 16 "For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world".
Tariffs are accomplishing this.
- Grievance 17 "For imposing taxes on us without our consent:"
Tariffs again.
- Grievance 18 "For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Jury trial:
- Grievance 19 "For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offenses:"
El Salvador prisons and Laotian deportation?
- Grievance 20 "For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighboring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries to render it at once an example and fit instrument
This was directed at Quebec, but it could now pretty ably describe what Trump is doing in general.
- Grievance 21 "For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:"
Again, see it above.
King Donald is repeating many of those same offenses, albeit in new forms, those being the ones emboldened. Explanations, for the doubters, are provided above, but like British conservatives in the 1770s, they will not be able to see their own violations.
Perhaps nearly as distressing is a new development that I'm seeing in some Conservative quarters.
New York Times conservative columnists David Brooks called just recently for a "National Civil Uprising".
That's essentially a call for a massive act of civil disobedience, and frankly I think it has a good chance of happening.
And some are hinting at even more than that.
For decades, the Wayne LaPierre National Rifle Association fueled the belief in the firearms community that the Second Amendment exists in order to allow civilians to fight Federal tyranny, if it came to that. That's really completely incorrect, as the text of the amendment clearly demonstrates:
A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.
Posted on Twitter with the words "It won’t be long until the proletariat remembers why we have the second amendment". This is suddenly a place where some on the left and some on the right are frighteningly meeting.
The founders of the Republic didn't want to keep a large standing Army, which they regarded, rightly, as a threat to democracy. The early land defense of the country, therefore, relied on state militias, which had the added ability to take on local problems without the necessity of a Federal army having to intervene. After all, keep in mind that one of the cited reasons for the Revolution is that the English had kept large bodies of armed troops in the colonies.
Posted on Blue Sky with "The 2nd Amendment exists for a reason. It was put in place to protect us against tyranny, even from our own elected officials. We have the right to stand up."
Standing armies are always a problem and the current era might very well be starting to demonstrate that. Throughout the nation's history it usually didn't have large armies save in times of war, or leading up to war. But since the onset of the Cold War it has. Even now, in the post Cold War era, the Army is enormous compared to what it had been before World War Two.
Anyhow, the Second Amendment doesn't exist so that average people can take on a tyrannical government. It exists so that states can take on the British, basically. That hasn't stopped at least three decades of firearms owners being schooled in the thought that they might have take up arms against the government, with those claims uniformly coming from the right, although in the 1960s, there were those on the left who argued with some justification that oppressed minorities should arm to protect themselves.
Malcom X, who was a big proponent of the Second Amendment, looking out a window while holding a M1 Carbine.
Now, all of a sudden, I'm seeing anti Trump Conservatives suggest that the Second Amendment's clauses have what I've already noted as a mistaken view. And some on the left are goading the far right on this very topic, ie., now that we have an authoritarian, they're quiet. That shows, I think, how far down the road of chaos we've gotten. We haven't seen anything like that since the Civil War.
An example of the goading, but there's a point to it. Trump is rapidly evolving into a full blown authoritarian, just the kind of people that the NRA warned about for years. This is why, quite frankly, I think the Trump administration will be the death knell of the Second Amendment. Either Trump himself will ban entire classes of weapons as he'll conceive of them as a threat, or a successor President, if we get through this will, as the "we need these. . ." because argument will have shown to be baloney or worthless.
Moreover, there's some discussion going on in the military right now over what the duties are of military officers if they are ordered to take an illegal action. To some extent I think you can argue they already have been, with the Trump administration declaring the public lands along the Mexican border to be military reservations, but that actually has a long history. At any rate, Angry Staff Officer, whose blog we link in here, has put up two items recently on the military duties to disobey illegal orders. The Space Force has had one commanding officer relieved for criticizing J. D. Vance's territorially aggressive statements, something I'm sure she knew would occur when she made them. While we'd have to see what would actually happen, I suspect there's a lot of back barracks discussions going on amongst officers about the point at which they refuse to obey an illegal order from Trump.
Anticipating the worst, from Twitter.
Trump is a disaster, bringing the worse instincts in people to the top, and excusing them. This will get worse, and worse, if the 25th Amendment doesn't come into play. The man is an stupid, ancient, narcissist who may very well be bordering on insane. If Congress acted now, and truth be known a near majority likely grasp it and are too chicken to do anything, the situation could be salvaged.
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