Monday Open Thread

What's on your mind?

Comments

[not guilty]

The U.S. Office of Special Counsel has reportedly launched an investigation into former Special Counsel Jack Smith for potential violations of the Hatch Act during his criminal inquiries into President Donald Trump. This is a steaming load of bullshit.

Nothing about the Hatch Act, 5 U.S.C. § 7321 et seq., purports to prohibit or regulate the acts of a federal prosecutor in determining which cases to prosecute or the manner in which any prosecution is maintained.

And assuming arguendo (without conceding) the existence of any Hatch Act violation, the penalties are mostly inapplicable to someone who has left federal government service and does not seek to return. Per 5 U.S.C. § 7326:

An employee or individual who violates section 7323 or 7324 shall be subject to—
(1) disciplinary action consisting of removal, reduction in grade, debarment from Federal employment for a period not to exceed 5 years, suspension, or reprimand;
(2) an assessment of a civil penalty not to exceed $1,000; or
(3) any combination of the penalties described in paragraph (1) or (2).

[not guilty]

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/08/02/jack-smith-hatch-act-probe-00490405

[Riva]

It would be grossly irresponsible for the U.S. Office of Special Counsel NOT to investigate the thug Smith for wrongdoing during his tenure. And such an investigation is absolutely within the law. This thug should be barred from ever functioning as a federal employee again to say the very least. But don’t worry, plenty of other investigations at play for more serious offenses for this whole corrupt lawfare enterprise, like conspiracy to violate civil rights. Play stupid corrupt lawfare games, win the prizes.

[Michael P]

An employee may not "use his official authority or influence for the purpose of interfering with or affecting the result of an election". 5 US Code section 7323(a)(1). Federal prosecutors are employees.

[not guilty]

Uh, Congress lacks the authority to interfere in a federal prosecutor's discharge of his duties (other than by impeachment). To construe the Hatch Act so broadly would raise significant separation of powers issue about the constitutionality as applied of the statute. As a matter of constitutional law:

The Attorney General and United States Attorneys retain" 'broad discretion'" to enforce the Nation's criminal laws. Wayte v. United States, 470 U.S. 598, 607 (1985) (quoting United States v. Goodwin, 457 U.S. 368, 380, n. 11 (1982)). They have this latitude because they are designated by statute as the President's delegates to help him discharge his constitutional responsibility to "take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed." U.S. Const., Art. II, §3; see 28 U. S. C. §§516, 547. As a result, "[t]he presumption of regularity supports" their prosecutorial decisions and, "in the absence of clear evidence to the contrary, courts presume that they have properly discharged their official duties." United States v. Chemical Foundation, Inc., 272 U.S. 1, 14-15 (1926). In the ordinary case, "so long as the prosecutor has probable cause to believe that the accused committed an offense defined by statute, the decision whether or not to prosecute, and what charge to file or bring before a grand jury, generally rests entirely in his discretion." Bordenkircher v. Hayes, 434 U.S. 357, 364 (1978).

United States v. Armstrong, 517 U.S. 456, 464 (1996).

[Michael P]

Jack Smith was neither Attorney General nor United States Attorney at the relevant time. Quoting a decision about selective prosecution shows extremely little that is relevant to the Hatch Act.

[not guilty]

Jack Smith was the appointee of the Attorney General pursuant to applicable statutes and federal regulations in a matter that the Attorney General found it inappropriate to pursue on his own.

What article and section of the Constitution, if any, do you claim empowers Congress to interfere with the executive branch's selection of what criminal cases to present to a federal grand jury or the manner in which a prosecution is conducted (other than impeachment after the fact)?

[Martinned]

How about:

Congress shall have the power (...) To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof.

(Being, in this case, laws that govern how people deal with classified government documents, laws that govern how federal crimes are investigated and prosecuted, etc.)

[not guilty]

Uh, the micromanagement of criminal prosecutions which are supported by probable cause is not among "the foregoing powers" listed in Article I, § 8, nor elsewhere in the Constitution.

"The actual art of governing under our Constitution does not, and cannot, conform to judicial definitions of the power of any of its branches based on isolated clauses, or even single Articles torn from context. While the Constitution diffuses power the better to secure liberty, it also contemplates that practice will integrate the dispersed powers into a workable government. It enjoins upon its branches separateness but interdependence, autonomy but reciprocity." Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer, 343 U.S. 579, 635 (1952) (Jackson, J. concurring). As SCOTUS has opined recently:

[T]he Executive Branch has “exclusive authority and absolute discretion” to decide which crimes to investigate and prosecute, including with respect to allegations of election crime. [United States v.] Nixon, 418 U.S. [683,] 693, 94 S.Ct. 3090; see United States v. Texas, 599 U.S. 670, 678–679, 143 S.Ct. 1964, 216 L.Ed.2d 624 (2023) (“Under Article II, the Executive Branch possesses authority to decide ‘how to prioritize and how aggressively to pursue legal actions against defendants who violate the law.’ ” (quoting TransUnion LLC v. Ramirez, 594 U.S. 413, 429, 141 S.Ct. 2190, 210 L.Ed.2d 568 (2021))). . . .

Investigative and prosecutorial decisionmaking is “the special province of the Executive Branch,” Heckler v. Chaney, 470 U.S. 821, 832, 105 S.Ct. 1649, 84 L.Ed.2d 714 (1985), and the Constitution vests the entirety of the executive power in the President, Art. II, § 1.

Trump v. United States, 603 U.S. 593, ___, 144 S.Ct. 2312, 2334-2335 (2024).

Goose, meet gander.

[Michael P]

So you agree that the Trump administration's prosecutors are free to take these Hatch Act claims to a grand jury, and then to a petit jury when the former returns a true bill?

P.S. The Hatch Act is not "micromanagement".

[Malika the Maiz]

This Hatch Act?

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/amp/politics/probe-finds-trump-officials-repeatedly-violated-hatch-act

[not guilty]

"So you agree that the Trump administration's prosecutors are free to take these Hatch Act claims to a grand jury, and then to a petit jury when the former returns a true bill?"

Of course I do not agree. The Hatch Act creates no crime and carries no criminal penalties.

The first rule of statutory construction: remove your head from up your ass!

[Michael P]

So ... your complaint is that if the Trump executive branch disbars and/or fines Jack Smith, Congress was micromanaging the executive branch's prosecutions?

You're coming off as pretty unhinged here.

[Michael P]

The entire Constitution is replete with indications that official misconduct may be prosecuted after the individual leaves office or is removed through impeachment. This principle is not limited to prosecutions.

For example,

Judgment in Cases of Impeachment shall not extend further than to removal from Office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any Office of honor, Trust or Profit under the United States: but the Party convicted shall nevertheless be liable and subject to Indictment, Trial, Judgment and Punishment, according to Law.

Generally this lawmaking power is encompassed under this clause:

To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof.

[Martinned]

That can't be right. Presumably you agree that Congress can punish corruption among prosecutors, and similar official misconduct. Why would the Hatch Act be different? As long as Congress makes general rules that govern all prosecutors and/or all prosecutions, I'm not sure what the problem would be.

[Michael P]

He's going to be REALLY surprised when he finds out that Congress tells the judicial branch how to do their jobs, too.

https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/3553

[Frank Drackman]

Uh, a difference of opinion, like when a Prosecutor charged a certain POTUS with 34 bullshit felonies, that’s what we have Courts for

[Malika the Maiz]

“a difference of opinion”

Like how some third graders think every noun gets capitalized but non-disordered adults think differently.

[Martinned]

Tbf, Germans think that too.

[Frank Drackman]

At least I don’t be sayin’ “Nome Sane” every other word like a certain Demographic group do

[Commenter_XY]

Jack better lawyer up with some expen$ive DC counsel. Sounds like a very lengthy (billable hours) process ahead. One weeps.

So no jail time, just a small fine and debarment from federal employment for 5 years. Slap on the knuckle joints of the fingers.

[tylertusta]

Lawfare is pernicious, especially the 'throw everything at the wall and see what sticks' variety.

[Martinned]

Soo... I assume the US now has 0% unemployment and 0% inflation?

[Kazinski]

Well actually its about ~2.7% inflation and 4.2% unemployment.

That gives a "Misery Index" of 6.9%.

Google AI provides a helpful overview of the Misery index and its rather informal benchmarks:

"The Misery Index, a measure combining inflation and unemployment rates, doesn't have a fixed "threshold" for predicting election outcomes or economic sentiment. However, historically, a Misery Index reading above 8 has been associated with a higher likelihood of an incumbent party losing an election. Some analyses suggest a threshold of 7.35% for incumbents to win re-election."

[Martinned]

Maybe next week then.

[Kazinski]

Well if you look at a chart of the Misery Index from the St Louis Fed, you will see its near the bottom 20% of its historic range.

https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/?g=IenV

Its hard to have unemployment ~4% and inflation below 3%, or at least it used to be.

The Phillips Curve isn't quite the economic gospel it once was. It used to be taken for granted that an unemployment rate below 6% was inflationary. The "Non-Accelerating Inflation Rate of Unemployment" (NAIRU) is the lowest unemployment rate an economy can sustain without causing inflation to increase."

[Martinned]

It sounds like Trump should fire some people in St. Louis.

[hobie]

For the next 3-1/2 years, Kazinski's labor statistics will need an asterix because we'll have to assume the numbers have been manipulated to please Dear Leader. You sure owning the libs is worth all this shit, Kazinski?

[Malika the Maiz]

If we don’t like your numbers who do we fire?

[hobie]

We're running out of podcasters to head US secretarial departments. Until last week I would have said the Q Shaman was next in line, but he broke with MAGA over the Epstein scandal.

[Kazinski]

Well since I've been getting some carping about some of the economic statistics I've been posting, things like GDP (3%), CPI (2.7%), Core PCE (2.8%), Consumer confidence (up) and the Deficit (down slightly), what current statistics do you think show the current state of the economy as a whole?

What have I been ignoring?

[Sam Bankman-Fried]

Trump failed to hit 3% GDP in his first term just like the black guy. Lol.

[Sarcastr0]

Your guy Trump says these numbers are all lies now.

Yiu appeared to agree regarding BLS being incompetent for decades and that’s why firing the director was legit.

[not guilty]

R.I.P. Loni Anderson, dead at 79.

[BrotherMovesOn]

https://youtube.com/clip/UgkxYCO2lLAZpKMJfYVJLjLTwHEFHQhEOs7a?si=_qGF7jUbaxF3KfIa

[not guilty]

Senator Ted Cruz has criticized New York Governor Kathy Hochul for wearing a headscarf at the funeral of Didarul Islam, a New York City police officer who was among those killed in the shooting last Monday at 345 Park Avenue. The detective was Muslim, and the funeral was held at his mosque in the Bronx. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/03/nyregion/cruz-hochul-head-scarf-officer-funeral.html

Really?

[Michael P]

What exactly was the criticism that you refer to?

[Michael P]

It would be more accurate to write that "The failing New York Times, a leftwing rag that is no longer capable of even basic journalism, devoted hundreds of words to trying to smear Sen. Ted Cruz over five letters and two punctuation marks."

Also, I cannot think much of a Community Notes system that promotes a note that misspells yarmulke as "yamaka".

[Malika the Maiz]

Cruz reposted this on X:

Why in TF is the Governor of New York wearing a fcking hijab?!

Adding himself, Um, what?

Regarding a head scarf worn by said Governor at the funeral of a slain police officer who was Muslim.

Why would a news organization cover a sitting US Senator’s very public, expletive laden criticism of a sitting state Governor is indeed a mystery that can only be described as a smear campaign.

[Sam Bankman-Fried]

Is there a group of immigrants that are bigger pussies than Cubans?? WTF would we give preferential immigration treatment to a group of people that failed to fight for their island?? And Castro was a clown so it’s not like they were up against a Hitler or Pol Pot…they turned tail and ran from a clown with a boat!?!

[Malika the Maiz]

Are you talking about the Bay of Pigs? There was considerably more on the Castro side than a boat.

[Brett Bellmore]

I have to say that I wouldn't take "um, wut?" as agreement with the quoted question. More like a way of saying, "Are you stupid?"

[Malika the Maiz]

Given Cruz’s response to Hochul’s response you’d be wrong. His um, what was directed at Hochul, agreeing with the WTF of the post he reposted.

[Frank Drackman]

Have you seen Hochul? A Hijab is an improvement

[Kazinski]

The Arab League has come out with a peace plan which, although the details and guarantees may need work, at least seems sane:

“Governance, law enforcement and security across all Palestinian territory must lie solely with the Palestinian Authority, with appropriate international support, in the context of ending the war in Gaza, Hamas must end its rule in Gaza and hand over its weapons to the Palestinian Authority, with international engagement and support, in line with the objective of a sovereign and independent Palestinian State.”

The text also condemned the deadly October 7, 2023 attack by Hamas on Israel, and proposed the deployment of “a temporary international stabilization mission” upon invitation by the PA and “under the aegis of the United Nations.”"

Of course while the PA may need small arms any rockets would need to be destroyed. And there needs to be war crimes trials for Hamas leaders for both Oct. 7th, and their crimes against Gazans.

It certainly seems to be saner than the Anglo-French-Canadian surrender to Hamas plan.

[Commenter_XY]

The PA is no better than hamas; just incompetent and equally corrupt.

[Malika the Maiz]

No better? There was no Oct. 7th attack by them. Why do you hold Israeli lives so cheaply?

[Martinned]

Things change, I guess. Because this is what it said in the Times of Israel in February:

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated in a statement Monday that “there will be neither Hamas nor the Palestinian Authority” in Gaza after the war there ends, responding to unconfirmed Arab media reports that the terror group had agreed to hand over the reins of the Strip to the West Bank-based PA.

According to Sky News Arabia, Hamas made the decision under pressure from Egypt, a mediator of the terror group’s month-old truce and hostage deal with Israel.

Responding to the reports, Netanyahu spokesman Omer Dostri wrote on X: “Not going to happen.”

In a later statement, Netanyahu also said that he was “committed to US President Trump’s plan” to oust Gaza’s roughly two million residents and rebuild the Strip.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/hamas-said-to-agree-to-cede-gaza-governance-to-pa-netanyahu-not-going-to-happen/

[Commenter_XY]

There is nothing to negotiate with a people who gleefully celebrate this, other than terms of surrender or departure.

https://www.breitbart.com/middle-east/2025/08/02/hamas-video-shows-israeli-hostage-forced-to-dig-own-grave/

What we see in gaza is a whole of society effort. A sick society and culture, marinated in Judeocide from cradle to grave.

[not guilty]

XY, do you regard genocide of Arab ethnic groups -- which you have routinely called for on these threads -- as being somehow more noble?

As the novelist Michael Ventura said, “Be careful how you choose your enemy, for you will come to resemble him. The moment you adapt your enemy's methods your enemy has won. The rest is suffering and historical opera.”

You are no better than a Hamas operative, XY.

[Z Crazy]

How did the Soviets behave when they retaliated against Operation: Barbarossa?

[not guilty]

I'm not familiar with that. Please explain how it is germane to this discussion, Z Crazy.

[Frank Drackman]

So you’re ignorant of History, we Jews aren’t

[Malika the Maiz]

Just English!

[Joe_dallas]

NG - cut the crap - There is no Genocide being committed by the Israelis

pure BS -

[not guilty]

Commenter_XY, I see that when you are called out on your vile bloodlust, you run away like Usain Bolt.

Why am I not surprised? Could it be because your people come from a long line of practitioners of genocide?

[Michael P]

not guilty is practicing die große Lüge again.

[Commenter_XY]

What vile bloodlust? There is no compromise to be had. The only genocide happening in gaza is by hamas toward the Jewish hostages.

This is a rough neighborhood, and they don't operate with western rules of engagement. The traditional terms in that region are; surrender, or death. The Juedeocidal terror group hamas (and their direct supporters) have chosen death. I won't weep.

[Kazinski]

Well this is not an Israeli plan, so that may not have changed.

And most Arab states fear the Muslim Brotherhood, of which Hamas is an offshoot more than the fear the Israelis.

I don't deny its a risky plan, for one the most influential Arab States (Egypt and the Gulf States), have distanced themselves from the Palestinian cause significantly in the.last couple of decades, and there is a risk in this plan of them re-engaging.

[Commenter_XY]

The Arab League plan is a non-starter, but represents incremental movement in the right direction.

[Michael P]

How does that path poll with Gazans, though?

https://legalinsurrection.com/2025/08/poll-most-palestinians-say-no-to-peace-if-it-means-weakening-hama/

From the PDF linked from there: "About 1 in 5 Palestinians are satisfied with the performance of President Abbas and 81% want him to resign." (69% also don't think he will carry out promised reforms.) 87% think Hamas did not commit atrocities against Israeli citizens on October 7. On the bright side, a small plurality of Gazans now believe Israel will win the war.

And to answer my original question, Hamas polled better than both Fatah and the PA. The crosstabs on question 1 in section 9 have a marked "grass is greener on the other side" effect.

[Malika the Maiz]

Time to rename those fries again?

[Josh R]

The Anglo-French-Canadian plan to recognize Palestine is not a surrender to Hamas. The Arab League declaration was signed by the UK, EU and Canada (among others).

In the abstract, the plan is fine. But, the PA is corrupt. It's in the interest of the signatories, as well as Israel, to assist the new state in establishing lasting institutions as part of the "temporary international stabilization mission."

[Martinned]

Sure, but why would the signatories want to do that if Israel keeps destroying whatever they build?

[Frank Drackman]

Losers don’t dictate peace terms the Winners do

[Malika the Maiz]

As a Big Loser the Frank character
knows.

[Frank Drackman]

No, I’d call the Blacks who got killed in Detroit, Atlanta, LA, St Louis over the weekend bigger Losers, every Atlanta local news is just a recount of the days murders with nattily attired APD Homicide Detectives (since “the First 48” they’ve all turned into Sam Spade) milling about and local witnesses “didnt see nuthin’”
Let me know when one gets snuffed by a White guy

[Sam Bankman-Fried]

PPP only had $250 billion in fraud that went to buy guns and fentanyl…oops.

[Stephen Lathrop]

Thus far, the media coverage I have seen of Trump's proposed pop-up plutocracy palace has been subdued, bordering on friendly. No sign of critique for the size of the thing. No mention that Congress has a statutory role that Trump seems determined to ignore. No puzzlement about private funding, or comment to suggest private funding to control what happens to the White House is a bad thing, not a good one.

The broadcast-style media, at least, seem to have have learned their lesson. Bad things can happen to good broadcasters.

[Kazinski]

Texas Democratic State Legislators have fled to Illinois to deny a quorum in the Texas legislature to stop a new redistricting plan that would:

"create one new majority Hispanic district and two new majority Black districts."

I guess the objection is that it would dilute the White Liberal vote.

https://www.texastribune.org/2025/08/01/texas-redistricting-gop-gains/

It is interesting that the redistricting map, which to be sure is intended to give the GOP an advantage, depends in large part on Hispanics to provide that enhanced majority:

"If the districts were in place during the 2024 election, Trump would have carried each by at least 10 percentage points, according to a Texas Tribune analysis.

Such margins depended, in large part, on Hispanic-majority counties whose voters have been moving rightward since 2016. And in 2024, when the vast majority of U.S. counties shifted right, predominantly Hispanic counties saw even more pronounced movement.

Trump carried all four counties in the Rio Grande Valley after failing to crack 30% in the region during his first presidential bid, and he won 14 of the 18 Texas counties within 20 miles of the border.

But Trump’s coattails extended only so far down the ballot, with Democrats winning numerous local races in the same counties that recorded eye-popping shifts at the top of the ticket. Cuellar and Gonzalez secured reelection even as Trump carried their districts, and even with Cuellar also facing down an indictment for alleged money laundering and bribery."

https://www.texastribune.org/2025/08/03/texas-redistricting-congressional-map-latino-hispanic-voters-gop/

[Malika the Maiz]

REPORTER: Are you calling, then, for a complete redrawing of the congressional map ahead of next year?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: No, no, just a very simple redrawing. We pick up five seats.

[Kazinski]

There isn't any need to make it anymore complicated than that.

[Malika the Maiz]

Then why guess the objection?

[Brett Bellmore]

You know, under state law, legislators who refuse to show up in order to prevent a quorum can be dragged in by force. I wonder if the federal government can assist in this if the state where they hole up refuses to extradite?

[Kazinski]

I doubt it, not without legislation, and even then it seems a 10th amendment problem.

[Brett Bellmore]

Google Gemini suggests "18 U.S. Code § 3182 - Fugitives from State or Territory to State, District, or Territory" might be applicable depending on the details of Texas law on the subject.

I think they ought to consider amending the state constitution to establish that refusal to show up for a session of the legislature is considered to be constructively resigning the seat.

[Mr. Bumble]

"In other words, Democrats hatched a deliberate plan not to show up for work, for the specific purpose of abdicating the duties of their office and thwarting the chamber’s business.

That amounts to an abandonment or forfeiture of an elected state office. When the Governor calls a Special Session, our Constitution provides that the “Legislature shall meet.” TEX. CONST. art. III, § 5 (emphasis added). It’s not optional. It’s a duty. The absconded Democrat House members were elected to meet and vote on legislation—not to prevent votes that may not go their way. Every session, legislators on both sides of the aisle find themselves on the losing side of a legislative vote. And every session, most of those legislators find a way to disagree agreeably and behave like adults, rather than going AWOL."
More at link:
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2025/08/breaking-gov-abbott-says-he-will-remove-office/

[Malika the Maiz]

The behaving like adults here would be state officials kowtowing to their national party’s interests and drawing districts based on partisan interests?

[Mr. Bumble]

Isn't that what parties always do?

[Malika the Maiz]

Parties do a lot of non-adult behavior, though they usually at least pay some homage to adult behavior, unlike here.

[Mr. Bumble]

So Texas Dems should man up and return to their job?

[Malika the Maiz]

Their job doesn’t involve blatantly partisan redistricting at national party leader’s command.

[Sarcastr0]

Democrats doing quorum-based tactics in Texas have been a thing since I've been paying attention.

It's never been considered constructive resignation before, and I have a hard time seeing that applying this time - it's a negotiating tactic, and if Texas doesn't like it they've had a long time to change the rules.

But these are partisan days, maybe Texas will pull that trigger. It'll be an open lie, but maybe that won't matter in Texas.

[defaultdotxbe]

The irony of fleeing to Illinois to protest gerrymandering is not lost of me.

[tylertusta]

I think it's hilarious that they fled to Illinois of all places.

[Mr. Bumble]

Safety in the arms of Jabba the Prickzter.

[Malika the Maiz]

I think it’s hilarious you made the same point as defaultdotxbe forty minutes later.

[Malika the Maiz]

A key Senate committee on Wednesday approved legislation that would bar members of Congress, the president and the vice president from trading stocks, after its Republican sponsor changed the bill to ensure that a divestment requirement included in the measure would not apply to President Trump.

The legislation, sponsored by Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri, attracted an unusual coalition of supporters, winning approval from the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee with every other Republican on the panel in opposition and Democrats unanimously in support.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/30/us/politics/senate-stock-trading-bill-congress-trump-carveout.html

[Malika the Maiz]

Yet another instance of innumeracy or lying from Trump

Trump claims the U.S. gave $60 million in Gaza aid. It’s $3 million so far.

The State Department has allocated $30 million in U.S. food donations to Gaza, half what Trump has claimed. But only 10 percent has been disbursed to the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2025/08/01/ghf-trump-gaza-aid-millions/

[Martinned]

He also claimed that the US was the only country giving money to Gaza, so I think reality wasn't really a factor in that conversation anyway.

[Z Crazy]

Back during World War II, the Soviets were actually supplying the Germans with weapons and materiel, until the morning of Operation: Barbarossa.

They effectively fed the monster that turned on them.

History rhymes.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/10/world/middleeast/israel-qatar-money-prop-up-hamas.html

[Kazinski]

Sen. Mike Lee Is proposing that Congress go into A formal adjournment is August to allow President Trump to fill the 120 or so vacancies he has nominees pending for but the Senate hasn't votes on yet. The Recess appointments would be good until the end of December 2026.

Both the Senate and the House would have to vote for adjournment, or just one of them, and then the President can break the tie and adjourn both houses:

"and in Case of Disagreement between them, with Respect to the Time of Adjournment, he may adjourn them to such Time as he shall think proper;"

Although that could be interpreted as both houses have to vote to adjourn, but disagree on the date. I think that could also be arranged.

I think what Trump should do is come up with a list of his nominees that would be confirmed if a vote were held and restrict himself to nominating just those nominees. That would give the Senate the confidence to use this procedure in the future, when a minority party is obstructing nominees favored by the majority. Although a rules change would also work to streamline the voting process.

[Martinned]

If Congress is going to be a waste of space, it might as well vote to abolish itself for all the good it's doing. That way its members can spend all their time collecting bribes instead of just half their time.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enabling_Act_of_1933

[Z Crazy]

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14965757/new-jersey-sanctuary-state-illegal-migrant-kills.html

A mother and her 11-year-old daughter were killed in a head-on crash after an illegal immigrant allegedly drove drunk into oncoming traffic in New Jersey.

Why cant people see that the proliferation of illegals is a threat to public safety, just like the proliferation of guns is a threat to public safety?

[Michael P]

And New Jersey has blood on its hands:

Raul Luna-Perez, 43, a Mexican national living in the US illegally has a long rap sheet and two DUI arrests in just the last four months together with multiple arrests for drunk driving, domestic violence, and hit-and-run.

Luna-Perez had been living illegally in Red Bank since early 2023 and was able to remain free under New Jersey's sanctuary policies.

[Sam Bankman-Fried]

AOC has blood on her hands. We had record illegal immigration because Trump failed to build his wall and she should have known we would have a backlash. So progressives should have been passing legislation to increase funding of ICE in order to remove violent illegals because that was the best way to eventually get asylum for the vast majority of the illegals that came here in the last 4 years. So if most illegals remain then Trump’s presidency will be a failure even if he serves 8 years because he ran on stopping illegal immigration and then we had record illegal immigration.

[Sam Bankman-Fried]

Trump helped an American that killed a Brit in a car accident flee prosecution in England. Trump inexplicably allowed an Iraqi intent on assassinating Bush into the country during a pandemic with a Muslim ban!?! WTF???

[Frank Drackman]

Most people do, it’s why “45” is “47”

[Sam Bankman-Fried]

Trump failed to build the wall and then we had record illegal immigration. Let me guess—you also opposed his surrender to the Taliban and his Covid vaccine?? Hopefully you support his $8 trillion in debt?? WTF??

[Sam Bankman-Fried]

There was a coup attempt to oust Trump and install Pence as president…and it has nothing to do with Democrats. Rodentstain is at the center of the conspiracy and everyone knows that he appointed Mueller…and he also discussed removing Trump via the 25th Amendment.

[Mr. Bumble]

...meanwhile, thanks to Herr Stormtrooper, what remains of freedom of speech is being suffocated in the UK.

[Martinned]

And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.

[Brett Bellmore]

In terms of freedom of speech, though, we'd be the ones with the mote, and the UK, the beam.

[Sarcastr0]

No, America is explicitly targeting all sorts of groups for their speech. Well beyond Europe.
You just don't count it as an infringement on freedom if it's not speech you agree with.

[Kazinski]

CNN is reporting that net migration to the US is plummeting and that this could be the first year in at least 50 years that net migration is less than zero.

Since we get about 1 million legal migrants a year then that would mean that people out migrating would be greater than 1 million.

Based on news reports, I am guessing the largest categories of out-migration are:
Self deporting Illegals
Involuntary deported illegals
Social Science professors at liberal arts universities
Hollywood actors who no longer have careers

https://x.com/RapidResponse47/status/1952065321889902682

[Sarcastr0]

This is not a good headline for the US, your weak joking aside.

We don't have the hard numbers yet, but US foreign STEM student enrollment is looking to be a horror show.

The competition for talent is global; snarking as we quit the field is truly ignorant.

[Brett Bellmore]

It would be a shame if foreign STEM students fell for the media's conflation of illegal and legal immigrants. As a STEM student you're pretty safe if you're not promoting Hamas or acting as a spy for the Chinese.

[apedad]

The MEDIA'S conflation?!?

You spelled MAGA wrong.

[Brett Bellmore]

No, I spelled "media" right.

[Sarcastr0]

Read the news, Brett. Social media vetting. Pulling visas for speech. An God forbid you come from China!

Blaming the students is impressively ignorant of what the administration is doing, and as apedad noted what MAGA believes.

And what you've said about nationalism, and America for Americans. Do you think that's helping?

[Brett Bellmore]

I do read the news, and what you're describing is exactly what I was talking about: Support for Hamas, and being a spy for the Chinese.

I mean, they're not exactly vetting social media to exclude people who like Taylor Swift, now, are they? They're looking for support for terrorist organizations and their fellow travelers like Students for Palestine.

Now, I get that you think that foreigners here on our sufferance should be as free to support heinous causes as American citizens are. I don't agree. I think that when you're a guest in somebody else's country you need to be on your best behavior, instead.

[Malika the Maiz]

Yeah, how could they not have complete faith in this administration to carefully, clearly and consistently target only a small sub-set of foreign students clearly established by a fair and due process?

[Martinned]

The Opinio Juris blog just published a relatively sane post considering whether Israel's behaviour in Gaza amounts to genocide, which is obviously a question that a lot of people are wondering about at the moment. The author is an Associate Professor of International Law at the University of Western Australia, President of the International Association of Genocide Scholars, and Visiting Scholar with the Human Rights Center at the University of Minnesota Law School. She brought A Lot Of Sources.

https://opiniojuris.org/2025/08/04/is-genocide-happening-in-gaza/

[Sam Bankman-Fried]

Both sides in America suck—the progressives that started attacking Israel on 10/8 and the Republicans that attacked Biden for attempting to build a dock to deliver food to Gaza. Btw, America has islands and the Navy needs to be able to build docks and so why not support the mission if anything as training?? I feel sorry for the Palestinians that got caught up in dumb and dumber engaging in partisan bickering.

[Joe_dallas]

A -The article is BS
B - there is no genocide being committed by the Israelis

Its a pure propaganda piece

[Malika the Maiz]

Quid or quo?

Jeffrey Epstein's former girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell, has been moved from a federal prison in Florida to a prison camp in Texas as her criminal case generates renewed public attention….

Minimum-security federal prison camps house inmates the Bureau of Prisons considers to be the lowest security risk. Some don't even have fences.

The prison camps were originally designed with low security to make operations easier and to allow inmates tasked with performing work at the prison, like landscaping and maintenance, to avoid repeatedly checking in and out of a main prison facility.

https://www.npr.org/2025/08/01/g-s1-80655/ghislaine-maxwell-epstein-prison-transfer

[Sam Bankman-Fried]

Barr took pEestain off the board…Ghizzstain will remain on the board as long as she is useful to the Deep State. The CIA’s motto should be “always tie up loose ends” and pEestain was the loosest of loose ends!!

[JoeFromtheBronx]

Loni Anderson's death was referenced.

She is best known for her classic role in WKRP In Cincinnati.

“I was against being like a blonde window dressing person, so I made my feelings known,” she said on Australian television in 2017. “And as we know, Jennifer was the smartest person in the room.”

https://archive.ph/SjPsk#selection-739.0-746.0

As is often the case, the blonde look was not her natural color:

Her trademark blond locks were not her natural hair color, and she initially had conflicted feelings about them. Ms. Anderson had been a brunette for most of her life, including during her early acting career, and worried that she would not be taken seriously as an actress if she dyed her hair.

Over the decades, Ms. Anderson has amassed more than 60 acting credits, continuing to appear in roles in recent years.

[JoeFromtheBronx]

Farmer was the first transgender plaintiff known to have a case heard by the Supreme Court, and her lawsuit was the first time that the court addressed the issue of sexual assault in prison. And it laid the groundwork for the landmark Prison Rape Elimination Act in 2003.

The case arose from her pro se petition. The 1990s case was an important case concerning prisoner treatment.

The Court politely treated Dee Farmer with Justice Souter noting in his opinion announcement that "The prisoner here is a federal prisoner who is a transsexual and respondent, federal prison officials agree, projects feminine characteristics."

The opinion carefully references her as "petitioner," though two of the concurring opinions used masculine pronouns.

One notable thing was the long prison sentence she received:

In 1985, she was arrested and charged in state and federal courts with separate crimes related to the scheme: theft, burglary and passing bad checks in state court; credit card fraud in federal court. She pleaded guilty, thinking the judge would order her various sentences to run at the same time. He did not. At 21, Farmer was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison, to be followed by 30 years in Maryland state prison.

https://www.themarshallproject.org/2025/07/17/farmer-brennan-transgender-prisoner-supreme-court

https://www.oyez.org/cases/1993/92-7247

[not guilty]

I represented a prisoner who had been sentenced as a habitual criminal to life imprisonment without possibility of parole. She had a long history of criminal convictions pursuant to prior guilty pleas, but the LWOP sentence was imposed following a jury trial for forgery.

I filed a petition for post-conviction relief on equal protection grounds. The sentencing scheme then in force provided that any felony designated as an infamous crime could trigger application of the habitual criminal statute. Under Tennessee law, forgery was an infamous crime, while the related offense of uttering forged paper (without which no "victim" would suffer any pecuniary loss) was not an infamous crime. Thus a person with the requisite criminal history convicted of forgery was subject to an LWOP sentence, while a person with the selfsame prior history convicted of uttering forged paper was not.

I argued that Skinner v. Oklahoma ex rel. Williamson, 316 U.S. 535, 62 S.Ct. 1110, 86 L.Ed. 1655 (1942), mandated a finding that this disparate sentencing treatment of offenders who were convicted of offenses of equal gravity violates constitutional equal protection guaranties. The Court of Criminal Appeals disagreed. State v. Russell, 866 S.W.2d 578 (Tenn.Crim.App. 1991).

[Brett Bellmore]

It seems to me that the problem with your argument in this case was, who gets to decide if offenses ARE of "equal gravity"?

Arguably, the same legislature that made them "offenses" in the first place, and apparently it had decided they weren't.

Anyway, your client sure sounds like a habitual criminal. Did she at any point consider, (I know this sounds crazy...) just going straight?

[not guilty]

She was eventually paroled pursuant to a measure designed to alleviate prison overcrowding. I don't know what happened following her release.

The legislature did not decide what crimes are infamous; the judiciary did. In the case of forgery and uttering (that is, passing) forged paper, the equivalency thereof is a no brainer. The offenses are two sides of the same coin -- without both offenses having committed, no victim suffers any pecuniary loss.

"When the law lays an unequal hand on those who have committed intrinsically the same quality of offense and sterilizes one and not the other, it has made as invidious a discrimination as if it had selected a particular race or nationality for oppressive treatment." Skinner v. Oklahoma ex rel. Williamson, 316 U.S. 535, 541 (1942). Any distinction between forgery and uttering forged paper is even finer than the larceny and embezzlement offenses compared in Skinner.

[hobie]

Was this case pre or post Apprendi?

[Mr. Bumble]

...and in case you missed it:
Northern NJ hit by 3.0 magnitude earthquake at 10:18 PM Saturday. The quake was located six miles beneath Hasbrouck Heights in Bergen County NJ.
No tsunami warnings were issued.

[hobie]

You have to ask yourself, are these the true measurements, or have they been manipulated to please Trump?

[hobie]

So far this term, MAGA's pretext for destroying an American institution (press, immigration, universities) has been MAGA's performative, cynical exploitation of Jews/Antisemitism as a political weapon. So I've been waiting to see what the next target is going to be. Then here is this article in National Review:

A Plague in the Healthcare Profession.
https://www.nationalreview.com/2025/08/a-plague-in-the-health-care-profession/

Basically this breathless, hyperbolic, citationless article boils down to the same weak sauce bullshit employed before: Some students have 'overheard' others saying Free Palestine or Stop Zionism, claimed it made them 'uncomfortable, and when they reported feeling uncomfortable, they were told to stop being so uncomfortable. This last part National Review says equates to monstrous antisemitism by itself.

But my question for the hayseeds here is this: what's your beef with the healthcare industry? We already know your fear of medicine, but why the industry as a whole?

[Brett Bellmore]

My chief beef with the healthcare industry is that it's not treated like any other industry: Providing products and services to customers who are free to buy or not buy what they want, so long as they can afford it. Essentially all the pathology of the health care industry would go away if it were treated like a normal industry.

[Michael P]

https://www.pennlive.com/crime/2025/07/woman-calls-police-to-report-nuisance-child-lemonade-stand-the-officer-found-it-refreshing.html

Thank you to "Mrs. Anonymous" for calling to complain about a kids’ lemonade stand. We responded and enjoyed a refreshing cup while making some new friends!

Um, wut? (To coin a phrase.)

[hobie]

I take it you are posting this because the kid was an illegal or antisemitic or something?

[Michael P]

As usual, you are wrong. There's a selfie at the link. The only jerks here were "Mrs. Anonymous" and you.