30 July 2026

Modern Russian Stalin ixonography

I still have one or two friends on the "left" who are apologists for Russia, amazingly enough. But this bas-relief (with actual statues sort of emerging from it) in the Moscow Subway wasn't installed in the Soviet era. It was just unveiled... Putin sees himself as a modern Stalin, whom he admires greatly. That should tell you all you need to know.  Not that there isn't plenty of other evidence of who he is and what his country has become under his rule. 
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How to get smart by Stephan Patsis

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Thanks to Rick M. for this. Made me laugh out loud. 
 

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28 July 2026

Court Reform for the Post Trump Era

I have been advocating for some time that the Congress, when under Democratic Control with a D president, should explicitly, to the extent possible, legislatively overrule Citizens United, Buckley v. Valeo, Shelby County, Brnovich v. DNC, Trump v. US (on immunity), & Louisiana v. Callais. Thereby establishing as law progressive policy on money in politics, fair elections, and the principle that no one is above the law. I'm quite sure there are many others that need this treatment, but these seem most urgent. They should also by legislation, not requiring a Constitutional Amendment, add four new justices to the Court (to make 1 for each of the 13 Appellate circuits, which the D president will duly appoint immediately. The need to rebalance the court's ideological biases should be obivous. There should also be legislation requiring that the Supreme Court must issue rulings in writing, with explanatory opinions of sufficient clarity and substance to explain the basis of their decision. (No shadow docket rulings, if any disputed principle of fact or law is at issue). Further, if there is any way to "retire" justices into senior status, and be able to appoint their full time replacements, within the confines of the Constitution (also without having to amend it), they should pass that into law as well. Moreover, a rigorous anti-corruption law applicable to all Federal officers and employees, including judges, should be enacted as soon as possible. 

I would love to see all this, and especially the anti-corruption reforms, made retroactive, so that while the prohibition of ex post facto penalties would have to be finessed, it might be possible to claw back thinly disquised bribes and proceeds of extortion not only of Trump but also people like Homan and Justices Thomas and Alito. That may be hoping for a bit too much, but it's actually pretty important to establish that people who use the law to cheat the people are not entitled to protection of the fruits of their corruption.

 

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19 July 2026

Re: 4 Presidents

Yes me too & I hope you can continue to love & not be distracted by what all is will live thru and it will pass maybe rot rot even more than he is rotting now
Guy
Guy

On Sun, Jul 19, 2026, 11:49 PM David Studhalter <oldionus@gmail.com> wrote:
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Have to admit I kinda love this. 

 

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4 Presidents

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Have to admit I kinda love this. 

 

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18 July 2026

Abject criminality

How is attacking desalination plants in a war of choice not a war crime? I find this beyond disturbing. 

 

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11 July 2026

Proof of Capacity, tout de suite, s'il vous plait

Tick tock. It's time for Andy Basheer to deman immediate proof that McConnell is not incpacitated or dead. If not forthcoming within 24 hours, he should call an election to replace him in the Senate. You're not allowed to be a vegetable or dead and keep it secret when you hold high office. Periodunk. It falls within the purview of a governor to protect his state's citizens' rights to choose their own representatives. 

Of course it strains the power of a governor, blah blah. But this is how this is played now: they overrule the law and order shit, and our governors need to do whatever they have to to prevent the Republicans from imposing power undemocratically. But we also need to promise... and mean it... that restoration of rules in politics to prevent this kind of nonsense are part of our program. 

 

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10 July 2026

Court decision on presidential firing power has dire unanticipated consequences.... unsurprisingly

An obvious flaw in the Supreme Court's generally awful Slaughter decision (providing that the president has almost unlimited power to fire members and commissioners of Federal agencies Congress explicitly intended to be independent) is that it does nothing to prevent a president with contempt for the rule of law from just firing everyone and thus effectively nullifyng a fundamental enactment of the Congress. It is beyond any plausible "unitary executive" theory to allow a president the dictatorial power of simply firing an entire agency so as to prevent it from fulfilling its Congressionally mandated purpose. Trump has now done this to the Election Assistance Commission. The inference can't be avoided that the Rightist majority on the Court is either not too bright or simply does not care, since this could easily have been anticipated as a consequence of their ruling. Either alternative is very bad news for our country. (I suspect that, in the various instances, it's a bit of both). 

03 July 2026

Watch Katie Phang on her Epstein files litigation

I am grateful that we have superpatriotic supersmart lawyers like Katie Phang trying to defend the Constitution agasint this fascist regime. 


 

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Musing on Musk


 Sometimes there seems to be a sort of arc to insanity. At first, it can be profound creativity and energy, but it inevitably devolves into delusion. Tesla, Starlink, even SpaceX reflect real brilliance (now mostly in the past), in an Ayn Randian sort of way. But delusion takes hold. Ally with the Right, openly. Embrace racism and side with the greatest threat to democracy (Russia). Buy a propaganda platform for an amount of money that teetered the economy for a minute. Cancel the "Ford Falcon of our era," which is what the sub $30K Model 2 Tesla could have been, in favor of huge investments in automotive autonomy and AI... technology to drive our cars for us. Which most of us do not want. Trump is pretty far gone, but for sheer ornery nutcasery, Elon is not far behind. 

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01 July 2026

Celebration? Well...

Well, now. The Supreme Court, barely, interpreted an absolutely clear sentence added to our Constitution in the wake of our Civil War, upon well documented deliberation, to mean what it says in plain English.*  I suppose the Overton Window has progressed far enough that we're supposed to sing Hallelujah! unto the Name of the Lord. I take somewhat the opposite tack. What this 5-4 decision means is that we absolutely must reform the Court after taking power in 2029 as a top priority. My favorite reform plan is to simply increase the number of justices to the number of Appellate Circuits, which is 13. Oh, and if catastrophe strikes and Democrats do not regain control of the Leglislative and Executive Branches, my friends, Hallelujah is not our song. It will be Dies Irae, Dies illa, solvet saeclum in favilla ("Day of Wrath, that terrible day, will dissolve the world to ash")...  because our republic only has the one chance left to save itself. Pretty danm sure of that. 

 
* "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside." U.S. Const. amend. XIV, § 1.


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