He can’t help it. Everything he does is the biggest, greatest, best, worst, ever. If he didn’t talk in absurd superlatives, he wouldn’t be Trump. But this time, he really means it.

No one has given the Islamic Republic of Iran a greater opportunity to make a Deal than me. TRAGICALLY, for them, they have failed to take it. Therefore, today, I am announcing the MOST CRUSHING ECONOMIC OPERATION EVER TAKEN AGAINST ANY COUNTRY! This will be Economic Warfare and Isolation on an unprecedented scale. Their navy is gone, their air force is destroyed, their military factories are now rubble, their currency is worthless, and their country is hanging by a thread. Today, I am also announcing that ANY country that allows its financial institutions, businesses, airports, or government entities to provide any type of lifeline to Iran will itself face TREMENDOUS Economic Consequences. Oil smuggling, swap lines, cash transfers, exchange houses, ship registries, front companies — It all needs to stop NOW. You know who you are. This will be an ECONOMIC D-DAY, and we need all of our Allies to stand with the United States of America to isolate, and defeat, the Iran threat. These maniacs are on the ropes, and these HISTORIC MEASURES will cripple them and their ability to project terror worldwide. IRAN WILL NEVER HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON. THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER. President DONALD J. TRUMP

Continue reading →

How many federal criminal laws and regulations are there? Nobody knows. It’s not for lack of trying. It’s because nobody in government has the time needed to go through more than three billion words in the federal register. And then there are the multitude of state and municipal laws and regulations, which are often far worse.

Every year, the Federal Reserve’s board of governors sends Congress a report on the Presidential $1 Coin Program. Federal law demands it, even though the coins stopped being minted for circulation in 2011. Since then, the Fed has asked — without success — each year to be relieved of the exercise.

Nobody in Congress sends out a flyer promoting their repeal of archaic, pointless and counterproductive laws as part of their re-election bid. Yes, it can be an achievement if you care about such matters, but most people want forward looking accomplishments to appeal to voters. Cleaning up what’s become known as “policy sludge” just isn’t very sexy, and is really hard work that mostly concerns nerds and policy wonks. Continue reading →

Some learn the hard way that no matter how big a bribe you pay to buy “peace” from someone whose feelings are so fragile, so easily hurt, and so shamelessly dishonorable, capitulation is not going to work. ABC did not learn that lesson easily.

First, there was the $16 million payoff to Trump for George Stephanopoulos saying that Trump had been found liable for raping E. Jean Carroll, a position approved by Judge Lewis Kaplan, noting that while New York criminal law limited rape to the insertion of a penis into a vagina, most legal definitions were broader and included the insertion of any body part, or other physical item. Stephanopoulos’ statement was not just defensible, but accurate. Still, ABC paid Trump off, believing it would buy Trump’s mercy. Continue reading →

The issue had already been decided by eight other circuits, but that’s not good enough in the very self-important Second Circuit Court of Appeals. So when the question arose in Massimino v. Benoit, it appeared that there would finally be an answer to the pressing question of whether there was a First Amendment right to record police activity and, under the specific facts of the case, the exterior of police buildings from a publicly accessible sidewalk.

The court answered the question with a resounding “yes,” even if the court simultaneously granted the officers qualified immunity because no reasonable police officer could have possibly known that there was a clearly established right to exercise free speech after the eight other circuits held exactly that. Continue reading →

Canada hates us. Our former NATO allies no longer trust us. But at least we still have our good, old, 70-year ally in the Pacific, South Korea, providing us with a home base to stand as a bulwark against Chinese and North Korean aggression, right? Oh crap.

This, apparently, popped into Trump’s head all by his lonesome. Continue reading →

It’s one thing to redecorate the Oval Office with garish gold doodads superglued to the walls and fireplace surround. It’s another to build a ballroom to rival the gaudy excesses of the Palace of Versailles, or to have gold gilt applied over statues that were intended to be bronze. Tasteless and wastefully expensive, for sure, but arguably within the constraints of the president’s aesthetic choices. After all, elect a boy from Queens as president and you get the tackiness that comes with him.

But aircraft carriers? Yes. Even aircraft carriers.

The U.S. Navy is considering a major redesign of its new aircraft carriers to better match President Donald Trump’s preferred aesthetic for the warships, according to seven current and former U.S. officials familiar with the matter. Continue reading →

Judge Christopher Cooper held that Congress, and only Congress, can change the name of the Kennedy Center. The Kennedy Center Board, comprised of Trump sycophants, cronies and, as chairman, Trump, after being forced to remove Trump’s name above that of President Kennedy, has come up with a workaround.

The board of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts voted on Thursday to inscribe President Trump’s name on the building beneath the main signage, according to two people with direct knowledge of the proceedings, aggressively testing a federal judge’s order.

The white marble exterior already bears the damage of a name installed and removed above that of Kennedy, but remains hidden behind a tarp to conceal the shame of failure. The next try will be below the Kennedy name, but with a twist. Continue reading →

It might seem counterintuitive, but when Congress eliminated the $200 registration fee under the 1934 National Firearms Act for the registration of suppressors and short-barreled rifles, it rendered the law unconstitutional. So held Judge Jimmy Hendrix*, and the government has not as yet appealed.

House Republicans added a provision eliminating the $200 tax on suppressors and short-barreled rifles when they passed Mr. Trump’s major spending bill last year.

That change triggered the downfall of the law, which had for 92 years required buyers of restricted arms to submit their fingerprints and seek A.T.F. approval. Gun advocacy groups quickly filed several lawsuits seeking to further weaken the law, arguing that the registration process was unconstitutional without the tax component. Continue reading →

She’s unnamed, but described in twits as being a wife, mother and born and raised “near Bailey’s Crossroads in Northern Virginia.” That didn’t stop an unnamed and masked ICE agent from pointing his weapon at her. The official DHS explanation was routine.

Under most circumstances, there would be no way to challenge this official account, even though so many of the DHS claims about ICE interactions have been proven shockingly false. But this time, the driver had a dashcam. Continue reading →

Long time readers may recall a debate I had with Elie Mystal in the early days of what Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez now calls “Woke 1.” This was before the murder of the George Floyd, before the riots in the street, before #MeToo, cancel culture and Defund Police. I shared many of the end goals of those who called themselves “social justice warriors,” until the name became a pejorative. as did “woke” which followed.

Throughout that period of time, I held firm to the liberal principles of free speech, due process and the presumption of innocence. That made me the enemy of the woke. Others went all in. Some no doubt believed it and embraced left wing fascism in their zeal for Utopia, while others played along, mouthing the mantra and joining the mob condemning the heretic du jour. Continue reading →