Squandering public money on vanity projects, from a ballroom to an Arch, is bad enough, but at the very least it’s obvious. We know the monies are being spent. We know there are other things the money could be spent on. We know a choice was made and we can either be for it, against it, or ignore it. But there is a significant difference in kind when resources are diverted from their integral purpose to unadulterated vanity out of public view.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is assigning an army of 260 investigative analysts to a “priority” investigation related to the 2020 election in Fulton County, Ga., a reflection of President Trump’s ongoing push to prove his baseless claims that the 2020 election there was rigged.

The effort is outlined in an internal memo obtained by The New York Times and confirmed by a person familiar with the investigation. The memo says that the surge is part of a “priority” effort by Kash Patel, the director of the F.B.I. The analysts will work to complete “approximately 708 records checks,” according to the memo. The type of records being checked is unknown.

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Over the years, I’ve decried efforts to redefine words and concepts in order to horseshoe current ideological shifts onto long-settled concepts. These ranged from the meaning of rape to the meaning of sex. It’s not a matter of whether these shifts were good policy, or desirable outcomes per se. They may well be, or not. That’s a separate debate. What mattered was that these were not what these words or concepts meant when they were used in the Constitution or laws. This was not our law, whether you liked it or not.

When Trump signed his Day One Executive Order redefining birthright citizenship, it received near-universal ridicule. Outside of a handful of radicals, it was a laughable effort to change what was unquestionably settled law as to the meaning of the Fourteenth Amendment. To add insult to injury, Trump tried to change it by presidential fiat, the absolute dopiest mechanism for trying to ram a spurious reinvention of the meaning of birthright citizenship down the throats of America. It was considered a joke, as was he for, inter alia, signing it. Continue reading →

It’s not that government by unaccountable bureaucracy is acceptable. It’s not, and over the years, as federal administrative agencies have been captured by the very people they were created to regulate, strayed from their legislated purpose into politicized realms to pursue ideological goals far beyond anything Congress authorized and grew into untouchable fiefdoms of their own that sneered at the idea that either court or public could hamper their total control over some niche of American society, it became clear that something had to change.

The first change was the Loper Bright decision, ending Chevron Deference. The next change was Trump v. Slaughter, holding that the president, as executive under Article II of the Constitution, had the inherent authority despite whatever limitations were crafted by Congress in the creation of a board, agency or commission to dictate who could hold a position in the Executive Branch. Continue reading →

Contrary to the fevered dreams of the woke, everything isn’t racism. That doesn’t mean, however, that a particular thing that the government does isn’t racist. Distinguishing between the two matters, the Supreme Court’s decision in Mullin v. Doe fails miserably to accomplish this critical task.

This case involves a challenge to the Trump Administration’s decision to terminate Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for hundreds of thousands of Haitian and Syrian migrants in the US. TPS status protects from deportation migrants who entered the US from countries where conditions such as war, violence, or natural disaster make it dangerous for them to return home.

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He passed the audition, and Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, conflicted as he is between his criminal client and the nation he would putatively serve, awaits his confirmation hearing to replace the fired Pam Bondi who failed to successfully indict and prosecute Trump’s enemies. But then, it would ordinarily be expected that the auditioning attorney general would comply with the law. When it came to the Epstein Files Transparency Act, Blanche just couldn’t bring himself to do it.

“The Attorney General does not respond substantively to any of these arguments,” Sullivan, an appointee of President Bill Clinton, wrote in the opinion. “The Attorney General has conceded that he is in violation of the Act.”

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Not to insult feral cats, but it’s not easy to get more than 100 judges to agree on anything. It’s something of an occupational hazard. Yet, former California Superior Court Judge Brett Alldredge has been part of a group of former judges, the Retired Judges Initiative, standing together to uphold the rule of law and judicial independence. Judge Alldredge was kind enough to send over their efforts. They call it the Wall of Justice.

The accompanying press release fleshes out their goals. Continue reading →

There were only two candidates on the primary ballot on Tuesday, one of whom was Tommy Suozzi, the former Nassau County Supervisor who served in the House until he ran against Kathy Hochul for governor. He lost that primary, while an unknown Republican took his former House seat. That was George Santos, a lying fabulist who was expelled from the House in short order, criminally convicted and then had his sentence commuted by Trump after he expressed his undying devotion.

Suozzi, who is what he calls a pragmatic Democrat, won the primary. He’s a liberal, not a progressive. While I don’t agree with him about everything, I appreciate his refusal to succumb to the progressive ideology, standing his ground rather than going along. It’s probably the most important thing a politician can do, stand for something. It was rare before. It’s exceptionally rare now. Continue reading →

I am not a loyal viewer of The View. Indeed, what little I’ve seen of The View makes me want to watch Pickleball TV or Velocity MotorTrend Turbo. Others, however, disagree and watch five women (nary a man) regularly prove that one can hold strong opinions about politics and law without having any corresponding knowledge of politics or law. This has made Trump angry, which in turn means that Federal Communications Commission chair Brendan Carr mad.

The regulatory filing marked the latest stage in a confrontation between the broadcasting networks and Carr, who has used his tenure atop the nominally independent FCC to wage a series of fights against perceived foes of President Donald Trump.

In this case, the dispute involves Carr’s efforts to wield a decades-old “equal time” rule to demand that broadcast talk shows such as ABC’s “The View” offer equal time to both parties when interviewing political candidates. Such shows had previously relied on the FCC’s exemption for what it calls “bona fide” news interviews — but now, their ability to air those interviews is in doubt, ABC wrote.

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Love him or hate him, it’s undeniable that New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is about as likeable and charismatic as it gets. With that behind him, he took the city by storm with his childlike fantasy of free stuff and smiles. After all, who doesn’t want free stuff from a happy guy, right?

But if he gets his way, his endorsed candidates for Congress, comrades Claire Valdez and Darializa Chevalier, Democratic-Socialists both, will fracture the Democrats into the ineffectual party that gave rise to the MAGA delusions. And Mamdani is good with that.

The mayor’s support goes further than mere endorsements. With his popularity never higher, Mr. Mamdani has personally involved himself in everything from candidate recruitment and fund-raising to ad shoots and private strategy sessions. A pair of his top political aides are helping run two of the campaigns. And the mayor attempted to push labor unions into backing at least one of his candidates.

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Within days, the reflecting pool went from blue to light green, then bright green. As it turned out, the color American flag blue might not have been a wise choice, no matter how much it appealed to the president’s aesthetic, as dark colors heat water, and warm water breeds algae. In another time, someone might have brought this up before the decision was made, but this was an emergency as it had to get done before the birthday celebration, too quickly for such reflection or bidding.

Then there were pieces of blue material, sheets of it, floating up from the bottom. It was the very dark blue material that was just painted on the bottom of the drained pool for more than $14 million, up from the original pricetag of $1.8 million, Reporters touched these floaters on air so viewers could see how the paint failed to adhere. This did not please the president. Continue reading →