Here’s an important legal facet of the Trump 2.0 rampage through the agencies, described fairly and with a refutation of the Trump DOJ’s reading of Constitutional Law.
This challenge was inevitable under some President, some day not too distant, since “unitary executive” theory has been growing.
Back in the days when I blogged longer-form original material, I declared myself a “Conscientious Objector to the Culture Wars” in a long-form blog that holds up pretty well in substance despite a few cringeworthy attempts at eloquence.
Trump makes it hard to stay disengaged, but I try.
Chris Christie: Eric Adams and Equality Under the Law calls b*llsh*t on the Eric Adams indictment “dismissal” more effectively than anything else I’ve read.
Of course, Congress will ignore his advice.
I do find it helpful to subscribe to a bunch of legal blogs. The Deal with Eric Adams is NOT a “Plea Bargain” scratches my itch since I practiced almost no criminal law.
I appreciate the sprightly writing:
My metric for judging whether a second Donald Trump presidency is successful or not is whether it delivers what Americans deserve for reelecting a coup-plotting demagogue. So far, it’s beaten expectations.
A penetrating reminder of why I keep a New York Times subscription: David Brooks, Can We Please Stop Calling These People Populists? (unlocked).
Ummm, no thanks — though if you put a gun to my head and said “pick a Presidential Bible,” I’d pick this one over the latest.
Stumbled onto Reginald Mobley, Because. Mesmerizing, partly because one so rarely hears countertenors.
State Dept. Plans $400 Million Purchase of Armored Tesla Cybertrucks
Nothing to see here. Move along now.
A bridge too far. All the previous famous cases included the defense that the artisan objected only to being commandeered into creative design work, a kind of forced expression.
Vice-Presidential anodyne “threat” of the week: “Judges aren’t allowed to control the executive’s legitimate power.”
Well, yeah. But what powers are legitimate, what illegitimate?
[T]o believe that wealth is the only significant measure of the worth of an individual, a family, or a community is to reject the teaching of nearly every religion and wisdom tradition that ever was.
Mark Mitchell and Nathan Schlueter , The Humane Vision of Wendell Berry
Divinity, then, was for the very greatest of the great: for victors, and heroes, and kings. Its measure was the power to torture one’s enemies, not to suffer it oneself: to nail them to the rocks of a mountain, or to turn them into spiders, or to blind and crucify them after conquering the world. That a man who had himself been crucified might be hailed as a god could not help but be seen by people everywhere across the Roman world as scandalous, obscene, grotesque.
Tom Holland, Dominion
I believe that I am not mistaken in saying that Christianity is a demanding and serious religion. When it is delivered as easy and amusing, it is another kind of religion altogether.
Neil Postman, Amusing Ourselves to Death
How could the Purdue men beat USC Friday when two of the USC players were Isaiah Elohim and Saint Thomas? They even have a Pope!
Thanks, Ross Douthat. Your writing Can MAGA Run the American Empire? means I don’t have to. (Unlocked article)
I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.
This is aspirational for me — not something I’ve fully learned.
Rather than flood my timeline with political ejaculations, or even flooding my WordPress blog with them, I’ve been shouting them into the Void that is my Blot blog.
My heart says “this can’t be happening this way, this fast.” My mind says “you’ve been expecting collapse; so what if it’s not exactly as you expected?”
Despite expecting something, I’m still doom-scrolling to find someone with a hopeful and plausible narrative of how this all plays out.
Undelivered Mail, a poem by Rhina P. Espaillat.
My definition of a free society is a society where it is safe to be unpopular.
Adlai Stevenson (via The Economist)
[I share some of the political anxiety of the last 16 days. I’ve added St. Patrick’s Breastplate to my morning prayers.]
I arise today
Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,
Through belief in the Threeness,
Through confession of the Oneness
of the Creator of creation.
I arise today
Through the strength of Christ’s birth with His baptism,
Through the strength of His crucifixion with His burial,
Through the strength of His resurrection with His ascension,
Through the strength of His descent for the judgment of doom.
I arise today
Through the strength of the love of cherubim,
In the obedience of angels,
In the service of archangels,
In the hope of resurrection to meet with reward,
In the prayers of patriarchs,
In the predictions of prophets,
In the preaching of apostles,
In the faith of confessors,
In the innocence of holy virgins,
In the deeds of righteous men.
I arise today, through
The strength of heaven,
The light of the sun,
The radiance of the moon,
The splendor of fire,
The speed of lightning,
The swiftness of wind,
The depth of the sea,
The stability of the earth,
The firmness of rock.
I arise today, through
God’s strength to pilot me,
God’s might to uphold me,
God’s wisdom to guide me,
God’s eye to look before me,
God’s ear to hear me,
God’s word to speak for me,
God’s hand to guard me,
God’s shield to protect me,
God’s host to save me
From snares of devils,
From temptation of vices,
From everyone who shall wish me ill,
afar and near.
I summon today
All these powers between me and those evils,
Against every cruel and merciless power
that may oppose my body and soul,
Against incantations of false prophets,
Against black laws of pagandom,
Against false laws of heretics,
Against craft of idolatry,
Against spells of witches and smiths and wizards,
Against every knowledge that corrupts man’s body and soul;
Christ to shield me today
Against poison, against burning,
Against drowning, against wounding,
So that there may come to me an abundance of reward.
Christ with me,
Christ before me,
Christ behind me,
Christ in me,
Christ beneath me,
Christ above me,
Christ on my right,
Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down,
Christ when I sit down,
Christ when I arise,
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.
I arise today
Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,
Through belief in the Threeness,
Through confession of the Oneness
of the Creator of creation.
Pamela Paul, How to Remain a Reality-Based Human in 2025 (unlocked).
I’ve heard that NYT is pushing Pamela Paul out. Glad it hasn’t happened yet.
David Brooks, The Six Principles of Stupidity (unlocked)
The light has changed;
middle C is tuned darker now.
And the songs of morning sound over-rehearsed.
From “October” by Louise Glück
I’m not going to feel okay with this story from my neck of the woods until I find out why the police stopped him in the first place. All the stories say so far is that he “resisted arrest.” Arrest for what?
Pableaux Johnson, the Heart of New Orleans Hospitality, Dies at 59.
Isn’t that just the most N’Awlins name ever?