Author Archives: SHG

Tuesday Talk*: What Did The “No Kings” March Accomplish?

Despite efforts to denigrate it, ridicule it, mischaracterize it and reframe it, the “No Kings” march was peaceful, broad-based and huge. Whether it was 7,000,000 people as estimated can’t be said with certainty, but there were marches all over the country and they were well attended by a vast array of patriotic Americans who love their country as well as the occasional inflatable frog.

Contrary to the efforts of Republicans, it was neither hateful nor communist nor antifa and paid Soros agitators. It was as American as apple pie.

They were teachers and lawyers, military veterans and fired government employees. Children and grandmothers, students and retirees. Continue reading

It’s Murder Or Else For Colombia (Updated)

Trump says they were “narco-terrorists.” Colombia says it was a fishing boat. Trump has offered no evidence other than his say-so. Colombia had the audacity to complain. How dare they, Trump says.

President Gustavo Petro of Colombia accused the United States of murdering an innocent fisherman in an attack on a boat that the American authorities claimed had been carrying illicit drugs, prompting President Trump to declare on Sunday that he would slash assistance to Colombia, one of Washington’s top aid recipients in Latin America, and impose new tariffs on the country’s goods.

That Trump believes he can murder at will is bad enough, although for the most part the boats he’s been blowing up are from Venezuela, and everybody hates Venezuelan dictator Maduro, who should not be confused with Argentinian President Javier Milei, to whom Trump promised $40 billion (up from $20 billion) in aid provided he gets re-elected. Trump likes Milei, who likes Trump back. Continue reading

A Fabulous Commutation Of A Fabulist Liar

Was George Santos, if that really is his name, really a Trump and MAGA supporter? Who would know? Given his proclivity to saying anything that serves his interests at any given moment, and given that it’s in his interest at the moment to claim to be a Trump supporter, he says he is. And for Trump, that’s good enough.

Former Representative George Santos of New York, the disgraced Republican fabulist whose lies made him an object of national scorn, was released from a federal prison on Friday night after President Trump commuted his seven-year sentence for fraud.

It’s hardly surprising that Trump commuted his sentence, and he’s hardly the first person to be pardoned or have his sentence commuted who wasn’t exactly deserving of presidential mercy. That goes for Democratic as well as Republican presidents. Remember Marc Rich (Clinton)? And then there was Crazy Joe Arpaio (Trump)? And Joe Biden’s autopen pardons on the way out the door raised serious concerns. Continue reading

Admiral Holsey Hits The Wall

Admiral Alvin Holsey was put in charge of the United States Southern Command, which is responsible for bombing boats from Venezuela that are allegedly carrying drugs and run by drug smugglers who are now characterized as “narco-terrorists” to make their high seas murder less offensive, at least to those who aren’t troubled by murders of those claimed to be drug smugglers if you’re inclined to trust the Trump administration.

They could have been interdicted. They could have ascertained whether they were, in fact, carrying drugs and then had the drugs seized and the people on the boat prosecuted. Instead, they were just murdered, the only evidence of their conduct based on trusting the Trump administration not to lie or be wrong. Continue reading

Has Hamas Already Broken The Deal?

It’s bad enough that Hamas is executing people, claimed to be collaborators, in the streets of Gaza City with a bullet to the head in front of crowds. After all, how better to teach the natives to fear you and not resist than a bullet to the head?

Despite the fact that the Trump peace plan required Hamas to lay down its arms and relinquish control of Gaza, this doesn’t appear to bother Trump, who calls them “gangs” of “very bad people.” Continue reading

Will Prof. Caleb Nelson Save Humphrey’s Executor?

In response to Adam Liptak’s New York Times article extolling UVA Law Professor Caleb Nelson’s essay doubting the originalist interpretation of the Constitution, Josh Blackman questions why the mainstream media only cares about originalist scholars when they buck the trend.

I think there is something of a pattern. The mainstream media will elevate originalism when it bucks conservative orthodoxies. But when originalism unquestionably supports a conservative position, it is described as fringe and radical.

Josh’s observation isn’t necessaryily wrong, but it’s easily explained by the old adage that it’s not news when dog bites man, but it is news when man bites dog. And Caleb Nelson’s post is man biting dog, good and hard. Continue reading

Tuesday Talk*: Answers, Spin And Winning

George Stephanopoulos had Yale Law School graduate, hillbilly, one-time Trump hater and now Vice President, J.D.  Vance on his ABC television show, This Week. It was an interesting interview, to say the least.

At the 9 minutes mark, Stephanopoulos asked Vance whether immigration Czar Tom Homan, who was recorded taking $50,000 in cash from the FBI, kept the money or gave it back. The balance of the interview had Stephanopoulos repeating the question as Vance did everything possible not to answer. Eventually, the interview was ended without Vance answering the question. Continue reading

The Last 20 Living Hostages

Thank God, the last 20 living hostages have now been released and returned to Israel, 737 days after they were taken hostage. Remember the hostages who did not survive, who did not come home. Remember the hostages who came home, only to learn that the rest of their family were murdered. Remember the people who were murdered and raped on October 7th.

Remember the people who justified, applauded and supported these acts of terror and barbarism. Continue reading

A Nobel Peace Prize Dilemma

Why did Barack Obama win a Nobel Prize? Maureen Dowd writes that it’s because he was a “cool dude.” That’s as good an explanation as any, as there is no substantive explanation for why Obama, after only eight months in office, deserved the prize. But he got it nonetheless and it infuriates Trump, who desperately needs validation.

His longing is partly inspired by his jealousy of Barack Obama, who absurdly got a Nobel Peace Prize after only eight months in office for just being a cool dude. Our 79-year-old president admitted recently that he also envies Obama for the way he airily bopped down the stairs of Air Force One, while he himself has to slowly creep down, grasping the railing, worried that he’ll fall and look as unsteady as Joe Biden.

Continue reading

The Surprise And Unsurprise Of James’ Indictment

It was anticipated that the indictment of New York Attorney General Letitia James, as directed by Trump in a message to Attorney General Pam Bondi that was meant to be private but was somehow transmitted by twit, related to a house she purchased for her niece in Norfolk, Virginia in 2023.

That was the mortgage Bill Pulte, director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency who went digging for crimes with which to charge Trump’s enemies, referred to the Justice Department for prosecution. It was also the mortgage for which there was overwhelming exculpatory evidence that no crime occurred. Except that was not the mortgage with which James was charged. That’s the surprise. Continue reading