Today federal court rightly ruled Trump's imposition of $100,000 fee on H-1B work visas is illegal usurpation of Congress' power to tax. It relied, in part, on Supreme Court ruling in tariff case (which I helped litigate) See my analysis here for more: reason.com/volokh/2026/...

JUST IN: 111 former federal prosecutors who served in the Northern District of Illinois have issued a statement about Chicago U.S. Attorney Andrew Boutros' office, expressing concern about an exodus of talent, grand jury irregularities, collapsed cases and a breach of trust with judges:

Fuck it. I've decided I know about composing music cos I watched Mr Bean do that skit on Beethoven's 9th. Cos that's what applying western logic to predicting the Kremlin's move sounds like.

Fed. judge holds (1) that Trump's $100,000 H-1B visa fee is a tax; and (2) that Congress did not delegate this taxing power to the president. Accordingly, the policy is vacated and a declaratory judgment issues. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

Cautionary thread: do not confess to AI lawyers devised by professionally stupid techbros

I am uneasy with calling prosecutorial discretion to not enforce certain laws "nullification," given that I wholeheartedly supported Georgia DAs who said they would not prosecute abortion crimes. If folks want centralized prosecution decisions, then Commonwealth's Attorneys should not be elected.

Holy shit (to be clear: this is not privileged. This will never be privileged. Confessing to the robot is ... unwise)

the weird recurring brand of anti-agriculture claims is just an Eden myth in a faintly new costume. there was a Perfect World in which You Did Not Have to Work and there was No Suffering and then original sin (farming) was commited.

As international coverage of Ukraine declines, we remain committed to bringing independent, on-the-ground reporting to readers around the world. Today, we’re aiming to welcome 4,000 new members and show that independent journalism from Ukraine can thrive when readers choose to support it.

"The world would be better if everyone was food insecure all the time"

DHS orders "had frozen nearly all legal immigration benefits—everything from work permits to visa petitions and naturalization—for citizens of 39 countries, primarily affecting people already in the U.S." On Friday a federal judge found the orders unlawful. [@davidjbier.bsky.social]

If only we could go back to a desperate struggle to survive nobody would be exploited. Oh, for the happy days when we could struggle for life only to die of an infection at 32. So much better.

In all seriousness: religious freedom only works when it is a common project of defending everyone's freedom of worship and belief. It doesn't work as an individual project of asserting your own freedom to be religious how you like. Senator Lee is learning a hard lesson here. Hope he remembers it.

we’re still hovering at 95%!!!

Read this whole piece.

If we don't impeach and remove him soon, we'll be irrigating our crops with Gatorade® by 2028

The hard part about propaganda is that the past changes so quickly you have no idea what will happen yesterday.

Cc the west

"Behind the outrage lies a sense of wounded pride: during Japan’s boom years in the 1970s and 1980s, it was Japanese men who went abroad for sex." www.economist.com/asia/2026/06...

“I can’t make any coffee now because my espresso machine installed a VPN”

"Your social media feed is dominated by the loudest, best-connected nodes. Their opinions can feel like the majority consensus even when it’s not."

Unless you have a theory for why Fifield would have been politically motivated to lie about Platner in 2016, you need to accept that she sincerely believes he was "literally abusive" to her.

Keep seeing people say that the woman accusing platner of domestic violence isn't credible because she's involved in republic politics. Here's what she wrote about him in 2016, about a decade before platner had any political salience:

More on Texas AG Paxton's lawsuit ("quo warranto") seeking to revoke a nonprofit's charter on grounds that it engaged in political activity prohibited by the IRS /2, end

Among Ken Paxton's tactics against groups trying to bring out the Latino vote in Texas: door-busting raids to seize computers and phones, lawsuit seeking dissolution of Houston nonprofit and injunction prohibiting it from operating /1

D-Day belongs to those that gave their last full measure of devotion in service of their country. A time marked by sacrifice for the greater good of humanity and freedom from tyranny. As we reflect on the this anniversary, let us honor the fallen and embrace those still with us.

"Ranked: The Prices Surging Fastest in 2026" www.visualcapitalist.com/ranked-price...

New election roundup from me at Cato, "Target-Hardening the Midterms," on some of the ways state and local authorities can and should prepare for last-minute disruptions and federal interference in the upcoming elections.

In this post, I explain why Bernie Sanders' plan to expropriate 50% of the value of major AI producers is unconstitutional, dangerous, and has much in common with Trump's awful policies. Another example of "horseshoe theory" at work: reason.com/volokh/2026/...

“If the government decides, very quickly, to bulldoze the Statue of Liberty... nothing can be done?” asked Judge Patricia Millett. “I think that’s right, yes,” responded DOJ attorney Yaakov Roth www.politico.com/news/2026/06...

None of my exes would be able to say I repeatedly talked about raping intruders as a show of dominance

I don't know if anyone I ever dated would have "nothing but good things" to say about me, but I know for sure that none would say that I assaulted them or locked them in a room overnight because I was mad.

OMB is forcing “the Smithsonian to spend congressionally appropriated funding in a way that’s ‘consistent with the FY 2026 President’s Budget’ in order to receive it. The president’s budget differed widely from what Congress ultimately chose to fund.” www.notus.org/trump-white-...

Mini Popehat Signal in MA: a defamation defendant is seeking pro bono advice and perhaps representation. The defendant described sexual assault by another person in their community, and that person has sued them. Middlesex County.

JUST IN: Judge Mary McElroy (Trump/RI) refers DOJ attorneys to the court discipline committee over handling of fight over trans medical care subpoenas to RI Hospital. Earlier she agreed that presumption of regularity for govt 'no longer holds.' storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

This goes beyond contempt or some in-court remedy; McElroy is initiating disciplinary proceedings under the local rules. Also: This does not stop and in-court remedies addressing the DOJ lawyers' actions.

BREAKING: Following DOJ's defense earlier this week of its attorneys' actions in the Rhode Island Hospital subpoena case — www.justice.gov/opa/pr/state... — Judge Mary McElroy has referred the DOJ lawyers involved for disciplinary proceedings. Background: www.lawdork.com/i/198583977/...

this may not be popular but in actual fact quite literally /nothing/ in Russo-Ukrainian relations was caused by the United States of America as the primary cause

but the truth is this is more important than you, actually, it wildly predates your existence as such

they want to believe that modern russia was caused by the united states because they, in their wellmeaning paternalistic generosity, want to believe that they are the source of all the world's problems and as such can resolve all of them with an appropriate amount of penance

you can't actually spend time retelling the entire history of russian-eastern european relations to someone who has bought into that worldview, because you would literally have to start in the year 1368 to even identify where the disinfo virus infected their bloodstream

the thing about "russia was provoked into starting the war" mythology is that it's an amazing example of The Big Lie, in that it's literally impossible to disprove something so ridiculous

Refusal to acknowledge that Russia and the USSR are/were colonial powers and Eastern Europe is a post-colonial region is the rake that a lot of people insist they should stomp on

You can read the full piece here for FREE: thereload.com/wayne-lapier...

The NRA's internal drama isn't over yet. In fact, it's ramping up.

The fact it managed to burn atleast 2,5h before emergency services arrived is both funny and demonstrates classic russian bardakk

One of the fascinating things about the arguments with the Platner Panzers is they have this headcanon of him as some person who has gone through some deep and sincere repentance that is not only completely unsupported but constantly belied by new things he does.

The more context you add, the worse this gets. Fuck’s sakes.

1) the way he reportedly did it would be abusive to a child as well but also 2) physically moving my six year old from outside to inside our house against her will and keeping her there is legal while doing so to my adult partner is a felony for reasons immediately obvious to basically everyone.