To be fair, I was already aware of what the New York Times was talking about before I read its headline.

Hours After Biden Inauguration, Federal Agents Use Tear Gas in Portland

Did federal agents go off on some random gassing spree in Portlandia? Not quite.

Protesters who spent months in the streets over racial injustice and inequality said they don’t expect immediate change from President Biden, who they declared “will not save us.”

No, they aren’t insurrectionists, as they did not attempt to breach the Capitol and prevent Congress from performing its duty. But no, they weren’t quite protesters either, not that the Times concerns itself with such nuance. Continue reading →

Eric Posner makes a point, both accurate and disturbing, arguing that Democrats, and thus President Biden, should not shy away from the unilateral use of Executive power to get things done.

This discomfort with the “imperial presidency,” as the historian Arthur Schlesinger Jr. called it, is not new. Liberals have worried about an excessively powerful presidency since at least Richard Nixon.

But Democrats should be careful what they wish for. While undoubtedly many reforms of the presidency are overdue — including elements of the Protecting Our Democracy Act, which would increase congressional oversight and reduce conflicts of interest — a weakened presidency would hamper national governance, and Democratic policies in particular.

Continue reading →

It remains unclear to me whether Joe Biden was elected president or whether Trump was not. Biden, who tried and tried back when he had a bit more spring in his step to be the Democratic nominee for the presidency couldn’t get any traction. He was an uninspiring speaker, prone to gaffes, without much of a vision beyond himself sitting in the Oval Office.

This time, he was the default, not Trump and yet not the craziest of the left. To some, Joe Biden was the least offensive choice. To others, he was the last chance to return to moderate politics, to reject the extremes. Maybe he was the best choice, as the last liberal left in the Democratic Party, if only he was strong enough to fend off the most radical of his left wing that left us with Trump last time. Continue reading →

An interesting debate appeared at Arc Digital between L.D. Burnett, a history professor at Collins College, and Cathy Young on the subject of Cancel Culture. Burnett was the target of cancellation a few months ago for an unpleasant but otherwise unremarkable twit about Mike Pence. Nonetheless, she took the position that cancel culture doesn’t exist.

There is no such thing as “cancel culture” — there is only culture.

There are social mores, norms of public behavior and expression, norms and customs that both exert and absorb constant pressure and negotiation in the public square. One of the tactics of negotiation, one of the sources of pressure that shape these social norms, are public denunciations for shameful behavior.

Continue reading →

The New York Times reports that Trump plans to issue perhaps 100 pardons on this, his final day in office.

As President Trump enters the final hours of his term, he has been intently focused on who should benefit from his clemency power. Along with the White House counsel, Pat A. Cipollone, and advisers including Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, his daughter and son-in-law, Mr. Trump has spent days sifting through names and recommendations, assembling a list that officials say he intends to disclose on Tuesday, his last full day in office. Continue reading →

It was possibly correct that the plea deal for misdemeanor criminal mischief was a good outcome, with some caveats. But beyond that, Louisville defense attorney Shameka O’Neil’s conduct, toward her client, toward the court and, ultimately, in her infantile self-defense, goes from shocking to an honest-to-god holy shit moment. No, wait. See for yourself.

pic.twitter.com/zdROIwITpD

— Bad Legal Takes (@BadLegalTakes) January 19, 2021

The video speaks for itself, from O’Neil’s disparagement of her client to her ultimately hanging up on the judge. If your face didn’t mirror Tracy Davis’ face, then watch it again. Continue reading →

Last call, everyone!” Tulip O’Hare, the Grassy Knoll pub’s newest bartender shouted.

“It’s nine thirty,” a man at the end of the bar muttered in complaint.

“Private function tonight, Arseface,” said Jesse Custer, the Knoll’s owner, as he left the pub’s spartan “office” area. “You pay to shut the Knoll down so you can drink in peace and we’ll talk.”

The man grumbled, paid his tab and left. Continue reading →

People often invoke the words of Dr. Rev. Martin Luther King in support of their positions now based upon his words uttered at a time that wasn’t anything like now. What would he think? I certainly don’t know, and doubt that anyone, even his progeny, could say, even though they do. They know their mind and get to invoke his legacy by virtue of ancestry, but they don’t know.

MLK isn’t alive today because he was murdered, assassinated. His spirit lives on in some ways, but not others. He spoke about his vision for the future, where he “dream[ed] that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.” If MLK were alive today, perhaps that would still be the dream. But he’s gone, and the dream has been subsumed by those who demand hyper-racialism in lieu of a colorblind society. Continue reading →

Most lawyers wouldn’t find themselves in this position. But then, most lawyers aren’t Rudy Giuliani, having two key differences: First, they’re competent. Second, they insist on getting paid for their services. To be fair, Rudy hasn’t done too poorly over the years, bootstrapping his credibility from having been United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York and then America’s Mayor, even if New Yorkers didn’t like him all that much, to making decent money by bringing business into the firm that other, more competent, lawyers would then work.

But having gone all in on his failed gig as Trump’s beleaguered election fraud lawyer, informing United States District Judge Matthew Brann that only “normal scrutiny” applied, he now says he’s back for a Mulligan in defense of Trump in the trial of Impeachment 2.0. Continue reading →

She’s white, so she’s Karen and, well, tolerated to the extent of not beating her. But if cops have to debate the merits of their actions with every person who refuses to comply with their commands, or people only have to comply when they approve of the cops’ actions, what comes of it.

But the kicker is when she says “I can’t breathe,” which has become the go-to phrase for obvious reasons. Pour another cop of joe, then sit back. Watch, There’s a lot to unpack here. Continue reading →