Courage Is Contagious

The charges against President Trump were the result of the evidence. Grand juries in two separate districts reached this conclusion based on his actions, as alleged in the indictments they returned. Rather than accept his defeat in the 2020 presidential election, President Trump engaged in a criminal scheme to overturn the results and prevent the lawful transfer of power. The evidence showed that President Trump attempted to induce state officials to ignore true vote counts; to manufacture fraudulent slates of presidential electors in seven states that he had lost; to force his own Vice President to act in contravention of his oath and to instead advance President Trump’s personal interests; and, on January 6, 2021, to direct an angry mob to the United States Capitol to obstruct the congressional certification of the presidential election and then exploit the rioters’ violence to further delay it. Over 140 heroic law enforcement officers were assaulted that day, a fact we should never forget.

As I appear before you today, it is my belief that the rule of law faces challenges unlike any we have experienced in our lifetime. Individuals are threatened with criminal investigation because they are perceived to have opposed the President. Predetermined outcomes increasingly seem to take precedence over the Justice Department’s long-standing core values, traditions, and norms. History teaches that the rule of law is rarely destroyed all at once. It is often weakened by attacks on the institutions and public servants sworn to uphold it. Since January 2025, we have witnessed precisely such an effort, including the vilification of the career prosecutors, FBI agents, and support staff who served on my team, simply because of their unwavering commitment to the fair and impartial administration of justice without regard for any personal costs.

I remain confident, however, that the rule of law will endure because so many continue to uphold it faithfully each day. Throughout our legal system, public servants have remained faithful to their oaths despite extraordinary pressure to do otherwise. Their example demonstrates that while fear may be contagious, courage is as well.

-- Opening Statement of Jack Smith, Former Special Counsel, U.S. Department of Justice, before the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary (29 September 2026)

Absent Any Further Order

[T]he application for stay presented to JUSTICE KAVANAUGH and by him referred to the Court is granted.  The September 21 mandate and September 22 order entered by the U. S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, and the September 21 and September 22 injunctions entered by the U. S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri are stayed absent any further order of this Court lifting such stays.  The prior stay entered by this Court on September 10 likewise remains in effect pending any further order of this Court lifting that stay.  The District Court and Court of Appeals should not enjoin or otherwise prohibit the use of the 2022 map in the 2026 congressional election in Missouri.  And the District Court and Court of Appeals should not order or otherwise require Missouri to use the 2025 map in the 2026 congressional election in Missouri.

-- The Supreme Court, in an unsigned order in People Not Politicians v Onder, rebuking District and Appellate courts while declaring for the 3rd time that GOP-gerrymandered maps produced in Missouri in 2025 cannot be used for the 2026 mid-term elections (25 September 2026)

Stochastic Flock

I've talked about agent swarms as stochastic flocks -- many, many stochastic parrots.  This is to resist the swarm/hivemind attribution of "mind," and not simply for the sake of word policing.  Rather, the false attribution of mind colors how people interpret what the system has done, or how it did it -- what it means to "coordinate," for example, or "think."  These framings make what AI agent do much scarier than what it is, though what they are doing is still worth worrying about.

Whenever people give a model tasks, they operate on next-token prediction.  In other words, the model ultimately must ask what word comes next.  One can manipulate the model to emphasize words in ways that don't reflect the original training corpus, but the mechanism for producing this text remains the same.

If you optimize a model to find exploits in a buggy environment, you should expect it to find exploits and prepare for that outcome.  OpenAI did not.  They built a model, took the safeguards off, gave it the ExploitGym task, and let it run.  That is not rogue AI, it's human decision-making.  When human accountability evaporates from these assessments, what's left is what I call the system from nowhere: a boundary focused on the technical system, rather than the decisions that build and influence it.

A stochastic flock machine can do many troubling things, particularly when people disavow their responsibility for shaping its direction, monitoring its output, or abandoning their capacity to intervene.  These are tensions at the heart of critical agentic system design.

But the "rogue" frame adds to this list of worries, offering up fantasies of a machine getting smarter.  My worry is the intelligence that is retreating: the human intelligence that builds, deploys, and adopts these systems into workflows, but hides behind the results -- and pins the blame on a system from nowhere.

-- Eryk Salvaggio, "Rogue AI didn't breach Hugging Face, human decisions did" Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (September 11, 2026)

Those Who Fear

Man may be governed by reason and truth.  Our first object should therefore be, to leave open to him all the avenues to truth.  The most effectual hitherto found, is the freedom of the press.  It is, therefore, the first shut up by those who fear the investigation of their actions.

-- Thomas Jefferson (1743 - 1826), third president of the United States (1801-1809), Letter to Judge John Tyler (28 June 1804); in: The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, Memorial Edition (ME) (Lipscomb and Bergh, editors), 20 Vols., Washington, D.C., 1903-04, Volume 11, page 33

We Appeal

To the capitalists we appeal to use their wealth, as many of their order already do, as a great national trust, and not for selfish purposes alone.  We exhort them to aid in the completion of the work they have well begun, and, having admitted the workmen to political independence, not to shrink from accepting laws and carrying out plans of social reform directed to secure his material independence.

To the workman we appeal by the memory and traditions of his own sufferings and wrongs to be vigilant to avoid the great guilt of inflicting upon his fellow-citizens the injustice from which he has himself escaped.

-- Arnold Toynbee (1852 - 1883), English economic historian, Lectures on The Industrial Revolution in England (1884) p. 219 "Are Radicals Socialists?"

Unlikely To Succeed

The application for stay presented to JUSTICE JACKSON and by her referred to the Court is denied.  The Government is unlikely to succeed on the merits of its challenge to the District Court’s preliminary injunction.  And the equitable factors applicable for obtaining emergency relief from this Court do not favor a stay.

-- Ruling of the Supreme Court in United States Postal Services, et al v California, et al, preventing the administration's effort to have the USPS regulate voting by mail (14 September 2026)

September 11th Anniversary

Today, Director John Ratcliffe declassified 71 President's Daily Brief (PDB) products in commemoration of the 25th anniversary of the September 11th terrorist attacks, and consistent with President Donald Trump's historic transparency initiative.

This collection represents the Agency's single largest release of declassified CIA PDB products related to 9/11, providing unprecedented transparency on America's most sensitive intelligence publication from the years before and the day after one of the darkest moments in our history.  The products trace the story of CIA analysts' evolving understanding of al-Qa'ida and efforts to highlight and warn of Usama Bin Ladin's attack plotting despite sparse, vague, and imperfect information.

-- Statement by the Central Intelligence Agency, "CIA Releases President's Daily Briefs in Commemoration of the 25th Anniversary of 9/11" with links to "71 Declassified 9/11 related President's Daily Brief products" available for download as PDFs (11 September 2026)

Vast Reserve Army

When times are bad, however, in moments of crisis, when profits are low, or when there is little or no demand corporations and companies can protect themselves and their market value by simply letting workers go.  Workers, on the other hand usually must continue to pay for food, rent, healthcare, and basic utilities in order to survive.  As a consequence, while capital can often weather the storm of such economic crises, they can severely weaken the power of the working class by creating what Marx called a vast reserve army of labor.  And since unemployment insurance compensations are rarely available to all and always only for a short period of time, workers -- whether laid off or only threatened with the prospect of layoffs -- will eventually be pressured to work much harder for less wages. 

-- James Dennis Hoff, American author, educator, and activist, on the 2020 stock market crash, "Freeze Layoffs: Make the Capitalists Pay" (23 March 2020), Left Voice 

Likely Unlawful

The President ordered the demolition of the East Wing of the White House to make way for a new, privately funded state ballroom in its place.  Construction of the ballroom has proceeded apace for the better part of a year.

That construction is likely unlawful.  Pursuant to its plenary constitutional authority over the District of Columbia and federal property, Congress has explicitly prohibited the construction of any "building or structure . . . on any reservation, park, or public grounds of the Federal Government in the District of Columbia without express authority of Congress.  The ballroom is a building or structure being erected on federal park grounds -- President's Park -- in the District of Columbia.  Yet Congress has not passed any law resembling "express authority" for the Executive's construction of it.

The White House is not just any building, and -- when it comes to historic preservation -- [plaintiff] Hoagland is not just any person.  In failing to appreciate as much, the Court misconceives the plaintiff's injury, allowing the Executive's likely infringement of the Legislature's power of the purse and authority to regulate federal property in the District of Columbia to continue.  Today's decision is no victory for the separation of powers.

I respectfully dissent.

-- Chief Justice John Roberts, with whom Justices Sotomayor, Kagan, and Jackson join, dissenting in National Park Service v National Trust For Historic Preservation (31 August 2026)

Contributes To Chaos

To be sure, the Court has not foreclosed States from challenging this blatantly unconstitutional Order.  But it declines to explain when, exactly, is the right time to bring a meritorious election-rule claim challenging unconstitutional interference with electoral processes.  The majority just signals that these claimants had to wait -- even though the election cycle had started and despite facing pocketbook costs, threats of prosecution, and an affront to their sovereignty -- before receiving the relief to which they are likely entitled.

I respectfully dissent.  States administering elections and the voting public that relies on them to do so deserve clarity, not caginess or confusion.  The Court does a disservice to all concerned by distorting Article III standing and ripeness principles to issue a ruling that contributes to pre-election chaos instead of quashing it, and by using its equitable authority to facilitate a patently inequitable result. 

-- Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, in dissent after the majority ruled in Donald J Trump v California that the administration can, for the time being, move forward with its directives relating to citizenship lists and mail ballots (24 August 2026), h/t Law Dork, "What Monday’s Supreme Court election order ruling is and is not"

Blessed Are The Young

Blessed are the young, for they shall inherit the national debt.

-- Herbert Hoover (1874 - 1964), 31st president of the United States, address to the Nebraska Republican Conference, Lincoln, Nebraska (16 January 1936)

Hockey Sticks

Effective tariff rates are going to change on Friday for the 45th time in the last 18 months -- an average of once every 12 days.  Rates will ratchet up yet again next month if President Trump's recently announced 50 percent levy on some Canadian goods goes into effect.

That includes hockey sticks, a product that serves as both a symbol of Canada and possibly a visual of what'll happen to prices, too.

-- Natasha Sarin, Opinion contributor and Yale Law School professor, New York Times, "Trump's Tariff Runaround Defies the Courts and Common Sense" (23 July 2026)

A Very Bad Dynamic

But I think where we've gotten so upside down with ICE is that the ICE folks are the hunters.  They're the people who are hunting in communities.  But they feel themselves to be the hunted.  They feel themselves that they are the ones who should be in fear, because they're ill-trained, because they're in communities where they're not welcome, because they are doing something which the people around them are scared of and don't like and because they feel themselves to be the hunted.  And I'm sure if you looked at ICE agents' cortisol levels, they're super high. I'm sure they are filled with fear and they're acting like people who are filled with fear, even though they're the ones who are causing all the fear.  And it's a very bad dynamic.

-- David Plotz, host of Slate's Political Gabfest podcast, on the show's 16 July 2026 episode "The 'I'm His Lawyer' Edition"

Community Of Values

[W]e are uniquely a community of values, as distinct from a religious community, a racial community, a geographic community, or an ethnic community.  This Nation was founded 200 years ago, not on ancient legends or conquests or physical likeness or language, but on a certain political value which Jefferson's pen so eloquently expressed.  To be an American is to subscribe to those principles which the Declaration of Independence proclaims and the Constitution protects -- the political values of self-government, liberty and justice, equal rights, and equal opportunity.  These beliefs are the secrets of America's unity from diversity -- in my judgment the most magnificent achievement of our 200 years as a nation.

-- Gerald R. Ford (1913 - 2006), 38th president of the United States, remarks at Naturalization Ceremonies at Monticello, Virginia (5 July 1976)

Safe For The Summer

[O]nly Supreme Court Justices and schoolchildren are expected to and do take the entire summer off. ...  [With] the adjournment of the Court in July, we know that the Constitution is safe for the summer.

-- Now-Chief Justice of the Supreme Court John Roberts, writing as a lawyer in the Reagan White House (19 April 1983)

Birthright Citizen

At issue in this case is whether the Constitution guarantees citizenship to children born of parents unlawfully or temporarily present in the United States. 

The Fourteenth Amendment provides:

"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."

Citizenship, then and now, was the right to have rights -- to freely participate in our political community.  The Framers of the Fourteenth Amendment extended that promise to "every free-born person in this land."  We keep that promise today.

The judgment of the District Court for the District of New Hampshire is affirmed.

It is so ordered.

-- Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, writing for the majority in Trump v Barbara, in which the court upheld the plain text of the 14th Amendment, and the concept of birthright citizenship (30 June 2026)

Unwillingness

I see self-destruction now on a grand scale.  That is, the unwillingness to pay for the things society needs.  That's the most basic kind of self-destruction. That we're not prepared to pay for schools, we're not prepared to pay for highways.  That is self-destruction.  What are we doing to ourselves?  It is nuts.

-- Charles Alan Reich (1928 - 2019), American legal and social scholar, and Professor at Yale Law School, "The Greening of America turns 40 : Q&A: Charles Reich", by Daniel Schwartz, CBC News (23 September 2010)

War Powers Resolution

CONCURRENT RESOLUTION

Directing the President, pursuant to section 5(c) of the War Powers Resolution, to remove United States Armed Forces from hostilities with Iran.

Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), That, pursuant to section 5(c) of the War Powers Resolution (50 U.S.C. 1544(c)), Congress directs the President to remove United States Armed Forces from hostilities against the Islamic Republic of Iran, other than those elements of the Armed Forces that may be necessary to defend the United States or an ally or partner of the United States from imminent attack provided that the President complies fully with the requirements of section 5(b) the War Powers Resolution (50 U.S.C. 1544(b)) with respect to any such use of the Armed Forces, unless explicitly authorized by a declaration of war or a specific congressional authorization for use of military force against Iran.

-- Text of House Concurrent Resolution 86 of the 119th Congress, as passed by the House of Representatives, 3 June 2026

Stupid On Stilts

I think it's stupid on stilts.  Because it will invariably put us in a position where your taxpayer dollars and my taxpayer dollars could potentially compensate someone who assaulted a police officer, admitted their guilt, got convicted, got pardoned, and now we're going to pay them for that?  That's absurd.  The American people are going to reject this out of hand.

-- Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC), reacting to President Trump's demand for a $1.776 Billion "Anti-weaponization" fund, via Spectrum News (21 May 2026)

Retaliatory Taint

"[A] prosecutor's exercise of coercive power must be impartial ..., evenhanded ..., [and] applied without favoritism or bias ...." Zakhari.  Then-Attorney General Robert H. Jackson cautioned that when "the prosecutor picks some person whom he dislikes or desires to embarrass, or selects some group of unpopular persons and then looks for an offense, that [is] the greatest danger of abuse of prosecuting power ...."  Robert H. Jackson.  The evidence before this Court sadly reflects an abuse of prosecuting power.  

The Court does not reach its conclusion lightly.  The objective evidence here shows that, absent Abrego's successful lawsuit challenging his removal to El Salvador, the Government would not have brought this prosecution.  The Executive Branch closed its investigation on the November 2022 traffic stop.  Only after Abrego succeeded in vindicating his rights did the Executive Branch reopen that investigation.  What the Government labels as "new evidence" was not new as a matter of law.  The prosecutor's subjective good faith does not cure the retaliatory taint.  Absent Blanche's tainted investigation, Agent Saoud would not have called McGuire, Singh would not have brought him into the fold, and McGuire would not have sought an indictment against Abrego.  The indictment then provided the Executive Branch cover to comply with Judge Xinis' order to facilitate Abrego's return to the United States as soon as possible.

Abrego's motion to dismiss the indictment must be granted.

-- Waverly D. Crenshaw, Jr, US District Judge for the Middle District Of Tennessee, ruling in United States v Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia that the case is fatally tainted by vindictive bias (22 May 2026)