If you think about it, elected officials are given gratuities all the time. Why do you think some people pump money into their campaign coffers? It’s to thank them, whether for doing something specifically valuable to a contributor or just being the sort of politician who will do what they want them to do. Currying favor with people who have the power to do things you want done is as American as apple pie. But that has nothing to do with the holding in Snyder v. United States, which is being roundly misstated to whip up the groundlings against the corrupt Supreme Court.

Held: Section 666 proscribes bribes to state and local officials but does not make it a crime for those officials to accept gratuities for their past acts.

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Congressman Jamaal Bowman lost to George Latimer in NY-16. Actually, Latimer crushed Bowman. People not on the left fringe of the Democratic Party see this as the ousting of one of their crazies, the sort of person who would pull a fire alarm to stall a vote, align so closely with Hamas as to compel the far left J Street to withdraw its endorsement and engage in a profanity laden tirade with AOC and Bernie Sanders at hand in the South Bronx, outside his district.

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Both President Biden and former President Trump are preparing for Thursday’s debate, though in very different ways. According to reports, Biden is at Camp David boning up on policy and practice, while Trump is at rallies and on social media making baseless pre-emptive excuses for losing, from Biden’s getting a shot in his butt to keep him standing up and cogent rather than falling asleep, to the CNN debate moderators, Jake Tapper and Dana Bash, being Trump haters.

Is there any purpose to the debate other than to see which of the candidates blows it? What do you expect to see? Policy discussions? Outrageous lies? Absurd claims? Two old men who could stroke out at any moment? Are you going to watch or get to sleep at a reasonable hour? Or is this like watching a car crash happening in slow motion, wondering who will be driving the car most at fault and waiting to see who walks away from the wreckage?

*Tuesday Talk rules apply within reason.

While the holding fit nicely into a sentence, the Supreme Court’s Bruen decision wreaked havoc on lower courts struggling to figure out how that sentence was applied.

[T]he court articulated a “text, history and tradition” test for evaluating gun restrictions in future federal cases. Under this test, gun control measures were constitutional only if the government could demonstrate those restrictions were “consistent with the nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation.” That was the most significant element of the Bruen case.

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Bail is bad. We know that because all the “abolish bail” reformers say so. They tell us that bail is just a way to oppress poor people, whose only “crime” is not having enough money to buy their way out of jail. And by definition, that makes the bail fund that buys the release of a person too poor to post bail good. Therefore, when Nancy Rommelmann argued that Rachael Abramson might still be alive if the Portland Bail Fund hadn’t paid the $2,000 needed to cover the $20,000 bail set for the release of Mohamed Adan, she was attacked.

Except Nancy Rommelmann was right. Between the threats, arrests and convictions, the evidence was overwhelming that Adan was going to kill Abramson. And after he was bailed out, he did. Continue reading →

I never thought I’d see the day when folks from the West Coast started getting the good sense  to flee that nightmarish part of the country for my beloved American South. And yet it keeps happening. It seemed to really take off during the pandemic when parts of my region embraced liberty while places like California prevented folks from eating outside unless the restaurant of their choosing had pricey outdoor air filters.

Personally, I’m not terribly thrilled at the influx of migrants to Tennessee and the surrounding states from places like California. One of the joys of country life is the lack of people. However, if you’re going to come here, I feel it incumbent upon me to provide you with some tips so some of you might learn the ropes and properly assimilate.

You’re welcome. Continue reading →

Patrick Reidy did well in school, graduating salutatorian of his class at Notre Dame. Later going to Yale Law School and first interning, later clerking, for Judge Thomas Hardiman at the Third Circuit. After doing a fellowship at at Yale Law School’s Center for Private Law, he got a gig as an associate professor at Notre Dame law school. Not too shabby, right?

So why shouldn’t a Supreme Court justice pick Patrick Reidy as a clerk?

After graduation, he entered formation with the Congregation of Holy Cross — the order that founded and continues to serve at Notre Dame — and earned his Master of Divinity from Notre Dame.
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Pamela Paul writes about why she’s not keen on joining protests. It’s not that she doesn’t like the outdoors, or has bladder issues. It’s that they seem kind of ineffective, on the one hand, and intolerant, on the other.

Intolerant?  Try being the skunk at the garden party.

I’ve never been much of a tribalist or a joiner, and have no use for conformity of thought or dress. Unless it’s Halloween or a costume party, I don’t like playing dress-up. Nor do I want to be part of a group where people might think I accidentally left my pussy hat at home. When I see a bunch of white kids wearing kaffiyehs I can’t help wonder whatever happened to the whole anti-cultural appropriation thing. Continue reading →

Over at VC, Ilya Somin has an excellent post about Biden’s “parole in place” policy. which should be about as uncontroversial from a policy perspective as any presidential act could be.

Today, President Biden  announced a policy granting “parole in place” to undocumented immigrant spouses of US citizens who have been in the US for at least 10 years, and meet some other criteria. Those eligible can apply for parole status. If they get it, they will then have a three-year period during which they will have work permits and can apply for “green card” permanent residency (that status will eventually also enable them to apply for citizenship). Currently spouses of US citizens are already eligible to apply for green cards. But if they entered the US illegally, they are required to meet onerous conditions, such as first leaving the United States, and staying away for up to ten years. About 500,000 people could potentially benefit from the program.

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While many people who find Trump so personally repugnant that they could never vote for him under any circumstances, that doesn’t mean that they’re enthralled with the alternative. There is a debate coming up, during which we may learn that neither candidate is fit for office, even if Joe Biden isn’t as bad as Trump. Then what?

I posed the question on the twitters and the responses were . . . interesting.

What do we do when we have a presidential debate and neither one proves capable of coherent thought?

— Scott Greenfield (@ScottGreenfield) June 16, 2024

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