I think about this post every day 🧪

I'm becoming interested in the general phenomenon of norm equilibria that are getting shattered, and whether/ when that results in a new worse equilibrium. Widespread pardons for Republicans convicted of corruption (see also Santos), the end of FCPA enforcement... www.wsmv.com/2025/11/06/p...

BREAKING: JUSTICE DEPARTMENT EATS A LOSS IN 'SANDWICH GUY' CASE AS JURORS FIND DEFENDANT NOT GUILTY www.nbcnews.com/politics/jus...

I cannot stress it enough: this is the kind of thing Americans declared independence over. This kind of thing is why the Bill of Rights exists. This is why your high school history teacher made you read 18th century essays about standing armies. This. So this wouldn't happen here.

Inconceivable!

That's amazing! I have the same combination on my luggage!

Counterpoint: That's not true. www.propublica.org/article/immi...

Excuse me? So the company the President currently owns is teaming up with a cryptocurrency company to create a prediction market, which will take bets... on things the President himself has quite a lot of control over? Gosh, I'm sure nothing bad will happen. www.ft.com/content/4855...

Federalist: The necessity of a senate is not less indicated by the propensity of all single and numerous assemblies to yield to the impulse of sudden and violent passions, and to be seduced by factious leaders into intemperate and pernicious resolutions. Antifederalist: Let me tell you about Tommy.

It is true that Trump cannot constitutionally be elected to a third term as president and also true that that fact will not stop him from seeking re-election in 2028. The questions become would the Republican Party nominate him, would states exclude (or be allowed to exclude) him from their...

“.. staffers were taken aback the next morning, when Thompson suggested during the daily network editorial call that it should ease up on covering Trump’s East Wing demolition ..” @nataliekorach.bsky.social @status.news www.status.news/p/mark-thomp...

The 4th Amendment requires the government to let you go about your business unless they have some reasonable basis to suspect that you specifically may be committing a crime. Kavanaugh's logic formalizes systematically weakening its protection based on your color, name, accents, or job.

As a reminder, when Biden announced student loan forgiveness—based upon a statute passed by Congress which explicitly said the President could do exactly that—Douthat called it "semi-Caesarist" because it was done "without consulting Congress."

It also increasingly feels like the lawlessness is the point in this administration. Breaking any rule establishes a precedent for being unbound by all rules.

I don’t need to explain why it’s wildly unacceptable for the military to be illegally privately financed by the president’s wealthy allies, right?

No declaration of war. No congressional authorization for the use of force. No due process. No public demonstration of evidence. Just killing.

TRUMP IN JULY, discussing plans to build a ballroom beside the White House: “It won’t interfere with the current building. It’ll be near it but not touching it — and pays total respect to the existing building, which I’m the biggest fan of." THE NEWS TODAY: Trump is demolishing the entire East Wing.

All of the Clinton-era conservative pearl clutching about the sanctity of the White House and the Democrats’ disrespect seems like it’s from another world now. There was a whole scandal because Al Gore made fundraising calls from inside the building. They investigated the Clintons’ cat!

I made a joke about the metaphors being heavy-handed yesterday, but this somehow encapsulates everything. The president is wrecking a structure he does not understand and does not appreciate and does not value to build something ugly and self-serving in its place.

Whew!

I've got it, universe. Enough with the heavy handed metaphors.

Wow. Sidney Reid, the DC woman just found not guilty of assaulting an FBI agent, issues a withering and gutsy statement on Trump through her attorneys. "I feel sorry for the prosecutors really, who must be burdened by Trump's irrational and unfounded hatred for his fellow man." It's a must-read:

this also drives me insane, this idea that it is the most normal thing in the world for a young (white) man to have a nazi curious phase. it isn’t!

University of Arizona also rejects the Trump administration's "Compact" 💪 president.arizona.edu/news/update-...

This is wrong up close. No one will be in trouble for using a Generative AI assistant? Obviously someone might be in trouble if their AI helper hallucinates or misrepresents key facts, sources, or ideas they pass along to others. Then, of course, someone could be in trouble.

Students don’t want this. Students want to learn things.

Austin Texas representating!

Denver, Colorado

Trump justified the killings calling unknown people terrorists and narco-traffickers. When two “terrorists” survive, they are released. Something is wrong here! www.nytimes.com/2025/10/18/u...

Purdue to the rescue of IU student newspaper, whose institution was attempting censorship. Details in alt!

Love this story so much. Student journalists ftw 💪

This is the sign that moved me most today. The simple message. The homemade lettering. She seemed tired, but resolute. Saw so many people from that generation today. People whose parents lived through WWII, who know what fascism looks like, and who may not be around to see us get out of this.

Los Angeles came out in droves. #NoKings

Minneapolis is showing up and showing out. #NoKings

No Kings in Seneca, SC.

From the South to the North and East to West: people EVERYWHERE are declaring #NoKings. 📍Durham, NC

The crowd stretched across the west Colorado Capitol lawn as part of a No Kings demonstration against the Trump administration in Denver. 📷@kevinmohatt.bsky.com #NoKings

SWEET HOME CHICAGO!!! #NoKings

Nashville Tennessee: #NoKings awesome attendance especially for a red state!

MSNBC captured the crowd from the Boston "No Kings" rally:

Thank you, Daily Texan editors, for taking this stand Thank you, @thedailytexan editors, for taking this stand. thedailytexan.com/2025/10/16/a...

Good.

You won’t get any of them to answer this question because there isn’t an answer. I have assessed several “prompt” courses. They are very poorly watered-down writing instruction. Similar to how some professional programs strip radical theory for their purposes.

I concede up front I'm not a lawyer, but the text of the 15th Amendment seems clear to me. It recognizes a right to vote that cannot be abridged on account of race by states or the federal government and empowers Congress to enforce it. It's explicitly, specifically "race conscious," so to speak.

This is a very good paragraph. From "The Last Days of the Pentagon Press Corps" in The Atlantic. www.theatlantic.com/national-sec... By Nancy A. Youssef

UPDATE: Following the firing of the director of the student newspaper, Indiana University has now cut the print edition of the newspaper entirely. www.idsnews.com/article/2025...

The president either has authority to do something or he doesn’t. He does not get to do expand his powers with his pen.