I don't know what more can be said about this overwhelming corruption. One of the experts I read yesterday said that the $1.8 billion debacle is so outlandish that there is no law against it - because no one ever conceived of it. Why? Because people who have been elected in the past were not narcissistic sociopaths. Yes, it's overwhelming, but we cannot afford to be overwhelmed. Do what you can and take time off when you need to, because this is a series of battles in what will be a longer war, and we will all be needed.
Looks like the Roxbury NJ ICE facility is close to being DOA, but there are still intrepid NJ folks out there protesting in a very red part of the state. Here at the Jersey Shore, we are expecting increased tourism bc folks are not leaving the country/looking to save $.
Off to make calls, and will include a call to the governor's office regarding WTF we are going to do about the World Cup. Even though Rep. of Congo is not playing in NJ, all the affected governors should join forces and demand travel restrictions for fans & players until we know more.
UPDATE: The Epstein filibuster is still going - live reading of the Epstein files begun yesterday at noon, ends today at noon. https://steveschmidt.substack.com/
To your first point, Lisa, I'm viewing the times we're in as systemic corruption fortified by mental incontinence. In his interview today with Matt Lewis, Simon suggested that Republican entry into Congress has become a get-rich-quick scheme. I've long felt this about the MAGA MoC in my state - Montana. Maybe we need a new motto for this bunch: We're here to serve -- ourselves, not voters. It's disgusting and demoralizing. Time to rid ourselves of these thieves and the Party of Corruption.
i hope the shore doesn't experience blooms due to the early heat....right now there is an odd aqua blue color i have never seen before, due to upwelling; the water remains cold and the fishing is poor as well, with captains reluctant to raise their fares with so few fish around, but they are getting killed on diesel. most of them voted for the shitgibbon and were quite proud of it, but wetting a line on a party boat is a treasured jersey shore tradition, even if it costs a fortune to take home basically nothing. i'd hate to see even more of these boats going under. i think the boardwalks will still be ok, and dry weather helps, but i am having to water the new seedlings like it is late august and not may....we need some rain, badly. trying not to think of ebola just yet; i do remember that it is not as contagious as covid 19, however, it is a hell of a lot more fatal. hard to get excited about the world cup, not just because we have a bad team, but having this guy as president just puts a damper on everything.
Whoever said there were no laws against looting the US treasury is obviously a trump apologist, not to mention a legal nitwit. Of course there are laws against stealing from the US treasury — it’s corruption / self-dealing in plain sight. And there can be no ‘settlement’ in this so-called ‘case’ because it is undeniably bogus under article 3 of the Constitution. The whole thing stinks to high heaven but the idiot republicans won’t do a thing about it because they all plan to stick their greedy snouts into the trump sewage money trough. Make no mistake: republicans are getting rich from trump’s corruption and they like it this way. If they try to say anything else it’s a blatant, bald-faced lie. Anyone who takes any of this tax money — OUR MONEY! — is guilty of ‘bribery, graft, and conflicts of interest’ and can go to prison. Forget about trump; he’s never getting caught thanks to the corrupt fascists on SCOTUS. But anyone who helps him or accepts graft from him is not covered by his so-called criminal immunity. We need to concentrate on scaring the crap out of his minions. When he goes, even his ‘pardons' can be called into question. ALL republicans are cowards and grifters who could stop trump in a day. Call them and ask why they don’t.
I don’t disagree with the big picture, but there are several issues here that I think are being conflated.
It’s more complicated than just looting the treasury. I suggest viewing the discussion by Glenn Kirschner today. If it were just a matter of taking the money and not giving it back that’s one thing, & your points are valid in general.
Unfortunately, the literal banning of the president suing the federal government is not a law that is on the books. That is what I was referring to, and I’m sorry that I was not clear. I am still in the throes of resp. infection. 😵 Of course the courts can & should take care of the bogus case.
And FWIW, Sen. Warren introduced a bill today to fix another one of the issues, it's called the Ban Presidential Plunder of Taxpayer Funds Act, which would outlaw presidents benefiting from lawsuit settlements.
These laws don't exist because no one has ever been corrupt enough to come up with this sh*t. That's really what I was getting at.
1. I’m not sure how you are using the term ‘law’ but as I link to above in my earlier post, the functions of the courts are provided in article 3 of the Constitution which is the SUPREME LAW of the land. It’s not rocket science; it’s all right there in black and white. I was trying to keep it simple but FYI it’s also in article 2, which delineates the functions and responsibilities of the president and in article 1 which lays out the powers of Congress.
2. Under article 2 the president IS the executive branch, which includes the Depts of Treasury and Justice. It should be obvious that the president cannot sue himself. That in itself is ILLEGAL under the Constitution and other federal laws, not to mention what would be the point except to give yourself money by calling it a ’settlement’, which it cannot be because there was no actual lawsuit to settle in the first place. The purported ‘lawsuit’ is nonexistent from the get go; trump and blanche et al pretending it is real does not make it so. Please read the piece by Harry Litman in my link above.
3. Under article 3 of the Constitution, for there to be an actual case there must be a ‘case or controversy’, in other words, there must be at least two different parties in conflict that are asking the courts to decide by filing a lawsuit. Again, it should be painfully obvious that no one — not even the president — can have a conflict with him- or herself that a federal court can decide.
4. The tax dollars that have been collected from us and stored in the Treasure Dept can ONLY be spent by Congress under article 2 of the Constitution. Period. trump has absolutely NO AUTHORITY to just take tax dollars and give them to whomever he wants. Congress has not said trump can spend this money. Therefore it is ILLEGAL under the Constitution and other federal laws cited in the Litman piece that I link to.
5. I don’t know where anyone would get the idea that there is no law preventing trump from doing this and making it illegal if he carries through, but that’s a complete and total LIE. kirschner must be either a legal nitwit if he thinks this or maybe he just wants to keep the clicks going on his ‘expertise’. Please look at the links in my earlier reply and see some reputable websites.
6. It’s actually NOT more complicated than looting the treasury. It’s there clear as day in black and white in the Constitution. And although kirschner is not a Constitutional law expert, I’m pretty sure he knows better. It’s every law student’s first exposure to Constitutional Law. I don’t know what his schtick is, but this alone would make me not trust anything he says. Sounds like he’s just trying to muddy the waters so people will be confused, which is exactly what trump wants so I have my suspicions about kirschner’s motivations and loyalties. Being an ex-federal prosecutor and TV talking head that kirschner is does not make one an expert in Constitutional law, no matter what he tries to project. Harry Litman is a real Constitutional law professor and has argued in the Supreme Court many times.
7. There are laws, alright, it’s just that trump chooses not to follow them and the fascist republicans in the courts and Congress don’t make him do so like they would if it were you or me who made that choice.
8. The bill you mention is just to specifically establish a process for implementing the Constitutional provisions, not to replace them. It’s not that what trump is doing is not illegal it’s that the process for actually holding him accountable through the federal courts has been taken over by the rabid venal fascist republicans in Congress and on SCOTUS. In America, aside from elections our only recourse for holding a criminal president accountable is through the courts or in Congress through impeachment, which is never gonna happen with this bunch of republican jackass clowns in the majority. I applaud the Democrats for making corruption a front-and-center issue but the laws already exist if there was a will among cowardly reprehensible republicans to enforce them. Since there is not that will, another law will be of use in later administrations but probably not now as, again, the will to hold him responsible by enforcing the existing law is simply not there and will unlikely to be there with a new law. FYI laws are not self-enforcing; it takes an honest criminal justice system to enforce laws ‘without fear or favor’ and we no longer have that in America. That’s the crux of the problem.
At the very least, read your Constitution. EVERY AMERICAN LAW IS GROUNDED IN THE CONSTITUTION.
Ok. got it - and yeah, we can have all the laws we want, they need to be enforced. I am not an attorney, nor am I a legal scholar. But as Simon says, not helpful to argue amongst ourselves. Thanks for the info. And PS, I have a degree in poli sci and grew up in DC. I am not a con law scholar but I have read it once or twice. ;)
I guess I don’t see it as an argument when we are actually agreeing; I’m just trying to refine and clarify and maybe not succeeding. But I do have a real issue with the (intentionally?) shallowly informed talking heads (not you) who are just trying to get clicks. Uuuugggrrr. The problem with new laws is that they are just doing the same thing as the old laws that are not enforced either and we risk mentally let ourselves off the hook because we feel like we are doing something when we really may not be. I have nothing against trying some other legal mechanisms and we certainly need to put some teeth into the Hatch Act for example, but we should start by finding out what is already available and not take our eye off the ball right now.
Here's the thing: the new laws will not help us with the current criminals as the new laws are future focused. But we can use the current laws that are already in effect so why would we not? Because depraved republicans will not enforce the existing laws, so they will try to not enforce the new laws and we should not let them get away with it.
We are in the cold light of day, folks; it’s the deep freeze out here. We need to face this head on with no illusions or distractions, or they will run us over. That’s why I add links and clarifications to my posts and why I loathe people like this kirschner who apparently use their listeners' questions to cause confusion while trying to make themselves sound like an expert. I have never listened to him and I don’t know whether he does it intentionally but there is no excuse for not getting it right at his claimed level of expertise. It’s a disservice to his listeners. The two most invaluable skills I learned in law school were how to find out things and how to not be afraid to find out things. We will not get everything right but this is no time to be tentative or worry about someone’s wounded feelings if they are called out (again, not you). If I can help someone have the correct information so they are not confused or demoralized, that’s something I can try to contribute. Correct, factual information is power.
You sound like you are very interested in what is going on legally and you have an excellent basis for understanding the law. My thought is go ahead and kick it up a notch by reading the Constitution again (it’s an amazing read!) and subscribing to Harry Litman’s substack. Also recommend Heather Cox Richardson, Joyce Vance, Andrew Weissman, Ruth Ben-Ghiat, Jessica Valenti, Paul Krugman, and Steve Vladeck — all straight shooters. Contact your state democratic party and find out how you can help. Pick a local democratic candidate and work for her. We need all hands on deck for this one. Nobody gets to sit it out. Pass it on.
I'm reminded of a sign my brother had in his boat: "Nothing is foolproof. Fools are too ingenious." We now need to pass laws against a long list of actions that no previous president was so brazenly corrupt, greedy and egomaniacal to even think of, let alone pull off.
The numbers are encouraging, but the preventable deaths due to this reckless, lawless, bigoted and ignorant bunch in MAGA World are unforgivable and must be defeated. I began the morning with tears in my heart. It's a beautiful, warm May morning here after yesterday's fierce windstorm. A better world is possible, and we cannot let the haters dictate the terms as they have been doing. Taking action, even small actions, every day is what keeps me sane as the mad "king" continues to writh and froth at the mouth. His powers are ebbing, but he will lash out with every last bit of lies and cruelty left in his sad sack body and shrinking excuse for a mind.
Daily calls are in to all elected members regarding the Ukraine Support Act and other items from our agenda. I usually pick 3 to highlight each call. My 2 Republican members are not at all responsive but will keep trying.
That’s great news! Even though some experts scoff at the value of early vote analysis, right now I’ll take any hint of good news I can get. What are the chances we win both election races for Georgia’s Supreme Court tonight?
It is technically a nonpartisan race and an open primary, and no doubt Democrats are the ones who are eager to win today. I like to check their SOS site and follow the local news, like Atlanta News First https://www.atlantanewsfirst.com/politics/elections/
Georgia has a truly-excellent Election Data Hub, thanks to Brad Raffensperger and his team. But for some reason I haven’t been able to pull up a running live count of Election Day Only votes.
I don't think they can release that data until the polls close. Otherwise it creates a bias in the remaining hours of the election. Counties are processing absentee ballots at 1:00 p.m. EST, so that is in process.
I seem to recall that Georgia in past elections released hour-by-hour reports on how many had voted, in each county/district as well as statewide. Or perhaps I’m misremembering and that was only on days of in-person early voting?
There is so much tragedy and hardship in Our Country and World right now, and most of it is because of our Fucking, Corrupt, sick President DJT!! Everything he touches, he wants it to be gold, but instead it turns to destruction and something that makes us cringe! Look at what Just not being part of the WHO has done with this horrible Ebola Outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda!! All of the Deaths will be on his hands! He will Pay!
All we can do is stay strong, be optimistic, make calls and look forward to Our Victory in November. Thank you Simon, for all the great Polling!
I am sure he is ignorant of the King Midas myth. He was happy until he turned his beloved daughter into gold. The problem is that Trump is so very broken and sick, he would probably choose the golden statue over a loved one.
I am curious to see whom the administration will tap to head the Ebola response. The guy selected to lead the hantavirus task force is a urologist specializing in penile implants. I don't know about you, but if I had a male loved one sick with hantavirus (or any other infectious disease), ED would not make the list of my concerns!
GE Morris’ post is paywalled, so I can’t ask my question there: what is our understanding of voting patterns of presidential year non-voters in midterm elections? It’s a big D+ with that group, but historically do they turn out for midterms?
The way to think about this is that all the data is pointing to a single election - our heightened overperformance, strong polling, candidate fundraising, and all the measure of intensity, likelihood to vote favor us. The data is all point in one direction - a very good election for us. Can it change? Of course. But everything is remarkably consistent right now, with no discordant data.
And some pretty good polls from FL, too, in the Governor and Senate races. Hoping Trump's long-delayed endorsement of Paxton in TX Senate Primary on R side will give Talarico a big boost if Paxton is his R opponent.
Here's what Morris wrote about that (after the paywall I guess):
And the GOP’s deficit among 2024 non-voters really matters, for two reasons. First, because many of them will vote this year. Midterm turnout always falls short of presidential years, but tens of millions of 2024 non-voters will still cast ballots — and Democrats have held an enthusiasm advantage in our polling all year. Nine in ten registered voters in the Times poll say they plan to participate in November, and Democratic voters are eight points more likely than Republicans to say they are “almost certain” to turn out. Second, the non-voter shift represents a huge swing from 2024.
Last cycle, according to Pew, non-voters leaned toward Trump over Harris by four percentage points, 44% to 40%. Pew arrives at this number by surveying thousands of Americans on their vote intention before the election. They later grouped respondents by whether they actually voted in the election, based on public records published by individual states.
Today, the Democratic margin among non-voters is +20 points — a 24-point shift since 2024. That is the largest pro-Democratic swing in any subgroup of the electorate we measure, and it has been at or above double digits in nine of our eleven monthly polls.
Postcard writers: stamps will go up 4 cents in July. I bought mine today. Postcards to Swing State voters wants us to send 15 million GOTV postcards this fall. Please help if you can!
I'm in a blue district with two D senators. I use Five Calls on average three times a week. Before I call, I check the news to see what they are talking about. I've been pretty polite in the past but in the past two weeks I can barely contain my fury. I told them I just came back from door knocking for Graham Platner in Maine and I speak for a lot of Democrats who are enraged that our Dem leadership is not speaking with one voice about the loss of voting rights and the corruption. It is beyond shocking to me. They should be on the steps of Congress, on every platform, on every cable news channel talking about what we are seeing.
Simon, thank you for the update! Hope you can keep cool in our current heat wave. I'm crossing my fingers for our Georgia Supreme Court candidates. I donated to them and wrote some postcards the other week.
I called Congressman Raskin and Senators Alsobrooks and Van Hollen to say that the president is not in touch with reality and must be removed. I'm writing postcards to Ohio voters today.
So important, as done in today's post, to tie the Ebola crisis to the cruel and thoughtless cuts made by trump and his band of destructive goons. I hope the Dems+11 NYT poll, as further analyzed by G. Elliott Morris, is a sign of just an epic, Mavericks level big wave. https://www.surfer.com/news/mavericks-100-foot-wave-23-year-olds-ride-into-legend
Today is Day 8 of the 12 days of political donations my wife and I have committed to in May, front loading our 2026 political donations. Today’s donation went to Hopium's Winning the House in 2026 campaign https://secure.actblue.com/donate/winningthehouse26, because I'm really excited to have President Jonathan Nez of the Navajo Nation included. We need the Navajo and rural Arizona perspective in Congress, especially, as pointed out in the interview with him, at a time of increasing water scarcity. https://www.hopiumchronicles.com/p/meet-jonathan-nez-our-terrific-candidate.
Fingers crossed for Georgia. What a huge win that would be. And I'd also like to see Massie come through so he can keep (figuratively) poking the rotten mango man in the eye.
I so agree about Jonathan Nez. What a wonderful day it will be when our indigenous peoples are represented in Congress. Native/Indigenous people account for 2.3% of our total American population.
Just called Warren and Markey; Still focused on Ukraine ,but adding corruption & Ebola nightmare, to my list. Also I emailed them and got into it about the 1.8 b slush fund - still saying I think he needs to be removed. And I'm getting less polite. Except I always thank them for what they are already doing since the are rock solid DEMS fighting right with us. BTW- Robert Hubbel'ls post is good today about corruption. And HCR had a good post yesterday about the mosque shooting and white Christian nationalism. Keep Calm and Carry On!!
My Substack focuses on the intersection of hunger and provides details of how the changing climate is raising rates of hunger in the US and the world with well sourced articles on climate, hunger, what is already happening and the world is going from here. https://markroberts995.substack.com
1. I encourage all my fellow Hopium-mates to look at their most recently filed tax return to understand the amount you pay in federal income taxes. I quoted mine when I called my rep in outrage over the 1.8 billion dollar slush fund.
2. Does anyone know what were the contents of the Louisiana amendments that voters overwhelmingly rejected?
Good luck to Thomas Massie today (never thought I’d say that) and the ladies in Georgia!!
I don't know what more can be said about this overwhelming corruption. One of the experts I read yesterday said that the $1.8 billion debacle is so outlandish that there is no law against it - because no one ever conceived of it. Why? Because people who have been elected in the past were not narcissistic sociopaths. Yes, it's overwhelming, but we cannot afford to be overwhelmed. Do what you can and take time off when you need to, because this is a series of battles in what will be a longer war, and we will all be needed.
Looks like the Roxbury NJ ICE facility is close to being DOA, but there are still intrepid NJ folks out there protesting in a very red part of the state. Here at the Jersey Shore, we are expecting increased tourism bc folks are not leaving the country/looking to save $.
Off to make calls, and will include a call to the governor's office regarding WTF we are going to do about the World Cup. Even though Rep. of Congo is not playing in NJ, all the affected governors should join forces and demand travel restrictions for fans & players until we know more.
UPDATE: The Epstein filibuster is still going - live reading of the Epstein files begun yesterday at noon, ends today at noon. https://steveschmidt.substack.com/
Keep going!
To your first point, Lisa, I'm viewing the times we're in as systemic corruption fortified by mental incontinence. In his interview today with Matt Lewis, Simon suggested that Republican entry into Congress has become a get-rich-quick scheme. I've long felt this about the MAGA MoC in my state - Montana. Maybe we need a new motto for this bunch: We're here to serve -- ourselves, not voters. It's disgusting and demoralizing. Time to rid ourselves of these thieves and the Party of Corruption.
i hope the shore doesn't experience blooms due to the early heat....right now there is an odd aqua blue color i have never seen before, due to upwelling; the water remains cold and the fishing is poor as well, with captains reluctant to raise their fares with so few fish around, but they are getting killed on diesel. most of them voted for the shitgibbon and were quite proud of it, but wetting a line on a party boat is a treasured jersey shore tradition, even if it costs a fortune to take home basically nothing. i'd hate to see even more of these boats going under. i think the boardwalks will still be ok, and dry weather helps, but i am having to water the new seedlings like it is late august and not may....we need some rain, badly. trying not to think of ebola just yet; i do remember that it is not as contagious as covid 19, however, it is a hell of a lot more fatal. hard to get excited about the world cup, not just because we have a bad team, but having this guy as president just puts a damper on everything.
Whoever said there were no laws against looting the US treasury is obviously a trump apologist, not to mention a legal nitwit. Of course there are laws against stealing from the US treasury — it’s corruption / self-dealing in plain sight. And there can be no ‘settlement’ in this so-called ‘case’ because it is undeniably bogus under article 3 of the Constitution. The whole thing stinks to high heaven but the idiot republicans won’t do a thing about it because they all plan to stick their greedy snouts into the trump sewage money trough. Make no mistake: republicans are getting rich from trump’s corruption and they like it this way. If they try to say anything else it’s a blatant, bald-faced lie. Anyone who takes any of this tax money — OUR MONEY! — is guilty of ‘bribery, graft, and conflicts of interest’ and can go to prison. Forget about trump; he’s never getting caught thanks to the corrupt fascists on SCOTUS. But anyone who helps him or accepts graft from him is not covered by his so-called criminal immunity. We need to concentrate on scaring the crap out of his minions. When he goes, even his ‘pardons' can be called into question. ALL republicans are cowards and grifters who could stop trump in a day. Call them and ask why they don’t.
https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution-conan/article-3/section-2/clause-1/overview-of-cases-and-controversies
https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?path=/prelim@title18/part1/chapter11&edition=prelim
https://harrylitman.substack.com/p/trump-reaches-a-new-low?publication_id=3375056&post_id=198452956&isFreemail=false&r=5z5c3w&triedRedirect=true
I don’t disagree with the big picture, but there are several issues here that I think are being conflated.
It’s more complicated than just looting the treasury. I suggest viewing the discussion by Glenn Kirschner today. If it were just a matter of taking the money and not giving it back that’s one thing, & your points are valid in general.
Unfortunately, the literal banning of the president suing the federal government is not a law that is on the books. That is what I was referring to, and I’m sorry that I was not clear. I am still in the throes of resp. infection. 😵 Of course the courts can & should take care of the bogus case.
And FWIW, Sen. Warren introduced a bill today to fix another one of the issues, it's called the Ban Presidential Plunder of Taxpayer Funds Act, which would outlaw presidents benefiting from lawsuit settlements.
These laws don't exist because no one has ever been corrupt enough to come up with this sh*t. That's really what I was getting at.
1. I’m not sure how you are using the term ‘law’ but as I link to above in my earlier post, the functions of the courts are provided in article 3 of the Constitution which is the SUPREME LAW of the land. It’s not rocket science; it’s all right there in black and white. I was trying to keep it simple but FYI it’s also in article 2, which delineates the functions and responsibilities of the president and in article 1 which lays out the powers of Congress.
2. Under article 2 the president IS the executive branch, which includes the Depts of Treasury and Justice. It should be obvious that the president cannot sue himself. That in itself is ILLEGAL under the Constitution and other federal laws, not to mention what would be the point except to give yourself money by calling it a ’settlement’, which it cannot be because there was no actual lawsuit to settle in the first place. The purported ‘lawsuit’ is nonexistent from the get go; trump and blanche et al pretending it is real does not make it so. Please read the piece by Harry Litman in my link above.
3. Under article 3 of the Constitution, for there to be an actual case there must be a ‘case or controversy’, in other words, there must be at least two different parties in conflict that are asking the courts to decide by filing a lawsuit. Again, it should be painfully obvious that no one — not even the president — can have a conflict with him- or herself that a federal court can decide.
4. The tax dollars that have been collected from us and stored in the Treasure Dept can ONLY be spent by Congress under article 2 of the Constitution. Period. trump has absolutely NO AUTHORITY to just take tax dollars and give them to whomever he wants. Congress has not said trump can spend this money. Therefore it is ILLEGAL under the Constitution and other federal laws cited in the Litman piece that I link to.
5. I don’t know where anyone would get the idea that there is no law preventing trump from doing this and making it illegal if he carries through, but that’s a complete and total LIE. kirschner must be either a legal nitwit if he thinks this or maybe he just wants to keep the clicks going on his ‘expertise’. Please look at the links in my earlier reply and see some reputable websites.
6. It’s actually NOT more complicated than looting the treasury. It’s there clear as day in black and white in the Constitution. And although kirschner is not a Constitutional law expert, I’m pretty sure he knows better. It’s every law student’s first exposure to Constitutional Law. I don’t know what his schtick is, but this alone would make me not trust anything he says. Sounds like he’s just trying to muddy the waters so people will be confused, which is exactly what trump wants so I have my suspicions about kirschner’s motivations and loyalties. Being an ex-federal prosecutor and TV talking head that kirschner is does not make one an expert in Constitutional law, no matter what he tries to project. Harry Litman is a real Constitutional law professor and has argued in the Supreme Court many times.
7. There are laws, alright, it’s just that trump chooses not to follow them and the fascist republicans in the courts and Congress don’t make him do so like they would if it were you or me who made that choice.
8. The bill you mention is just to specifically establish a process for implementing the Constitutional provisions, not to replace them. It’s not that what trump is doing is not illegal it’s that the process for actually holding him accountable through the federal courts has been taken over by the rabid venal fascist republicans in Congress and on SCOTUS. In America, aside from elections our only recourse for holding a criminal president accountable is through the courts or in Congress through impeachment, which is never gonna happen with this bunch of republican jackass clowns in the majority. I applaud the Democrats for making corruption a front-and-center issue but the laws already exist if there was a will among cowardly reprehensible republicans to enforce them. Since there is not that will, another law will be of use in later administrations but probably not now as, again, the will to hold him responsible by enforcing the existing law is simply not there and will unlikely to be there with a new law. FYI laws are not self-enforcing; it takes an honest criminal justice system to enforce laws ‘without fear or favor’ and we no longer have that in America. That’s the crux of the problem.
At the very least, read your Constitution. EVERY AMERICAN LAW IS GROUNDED IN THE CONSTITUTION.
https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution
https://harrylitman.substack.com/p/trump-reaches-a-new-low?publication_id=3375056&post_id=198452956&isFreemail=false&r=5z5c3w&triedRedirect=true
Ok. got it - and yeah, we can have all the laws we want, they need to be enforced. I am not an attorney, nor am I a legal scholar. But as Simon says, not helpful to argue amongst ourselves. Thanks for the info. And PS, I have a degree in poli sci and grew up in DC. I am not a con law scholar but I have read it once or twice. ;)
I guess I don’t see it as an argument when we are actually agreeing; I’m just trying to refine and clarify and maybe not succeeding. But I do have a real issue with the (intentionally?) shallowly informed talking heads (not you) who are just trying to get clicks. Uuuugggrrr. The problem with new laws is that they are just doing the same thing as the old laws that are not enforced either and we risk mentally let ourselves off the hook because we feel like we are doing something when we really may not be. I have nothing against trying some other legal mechanisms and we certainly need to put some teeth into the Hatch Act for example, but we should start by finding out what is already available and not take our eye off the ball right now.
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/5/7323
(Hatch Act)
Here's the thing: the new laws will not help us with the current criminals as the new laws are future focused. But we can use the current laws that are already in effect so why would we not? Because depraved republicans will not enforce the existing laws, so they will try to not enforce the new laws and we should not let them get away with it.
We are in the cold light of day, folks; it’s the deep freeze out here. We need to face this head on with no illusions or distractions, or they will run us over. That’s why I add links and clarifications to my posts and why I loathe people like this kirschner who apparently use their listeners' questions to cause confusion while trying to make themselves sound like an expert. I have never listened to him and I don’t know whether he does it intentionally but there is no excuse for not getting it right at his claimed level of expertise. It’s a disservice to his listeners. The two most invaluable skills I learned in law school were how to find out things and how to not be afraid to find out things. We will not get everything right but this is no time to be tentative or worry about someone’s wounded feelings if they are called out (again, not you). If I can help someone have the correct information so they are not confused or demoralized, that’s something I can try to contribute. Correct, factual information is power.
You sound like you are very interested in what is going on legally and you have an excellent basis for understanding the law. My thought is go ahead and kick it up a notch by reading the Constitution again (it’s an amazing read!) and subscribing to Harry Litman’s substack. Also recommend Heather Cox Richardson, Joyce Vance, Andrew Weissman, Ruth Ben-Ghiat, Jessica Valenti, Paul Krugman, and Steve Vladeck — all straight shooters. Contact your state democratic party and find out how you can help. Pick a local democratic candidate and work for her. We need all hands on deck for this one. Nobody gets to sit it out. Pass it on.
I'm reminded of a sign my brother had in his boat: "Nothing is foolproof. Fools are too ingenious." We now need to pass laws against a long list of actions that no previous president was so brazenly corrupt, greedy and egomaniacal to even think of, let alone pull off.
Point is that the laws are already there. They just are not enforced against the depraved trumpies.
The numbers are encouraging, but the preventable deaths due to this reckless, lawless, bigoted and ignorant bunch in MAGA World are unforgivable and must be defeated. I began the morning with tears in my heart. It's a beautiful, warm May morning here after yesterday's fierce windstorm. A better world is possible, and we cannot let the haters dictate the terms as they have been doing. Taking action, even small actions, every day is what keeps me sane as the mad "king" continues to writh and froth at the mouth. His powers are ebbing, but he will lash out with every last bit of lies and cruelty left in his sad sack body and shrinking excuse for a mind.
I feel like Frodo in the depths of Mordor. Although I’m not alone with only Sam. I have all of you!
Beware the Comb Over of Sauron.
Hair Furore’s comb-over is proof that if you’re gonna do a hair transplant, it’s a really bad idea to use your pubic hair.
OMG you are going to the dark side...Actually, I think if we can't be outrageously funny and irreverent, we'll never make through this deep muddy...
David Pepper had some Brezhnev jokes on his substack (below). It is essential. If the citizens of the USSR did it, so can we. Here’s one:
“An official says to Brezhnev, “Comrade General Secretary, today you are wearing one black shoe and the other is brown.”
“Yes,” Brezhnev answers, “I’ve noticed it myself.”
“Why didn’t you change?”
“I went to change, but when I looked in the closet, there was also one brown shoe and the other was black.””
https://davidpepper.substack.com/p/americas-brezhnev-era
hilarious. thank you. i even signed up for his substack.
🤣
😂
Nerds of the world unite!
It would be super-cool to yeet some of these people into the sun for crimes against humanity. Let's send Musk there -- we don't want to ruin Mars!
Daily calls are in to all elected members regarding the Ukraine Support Act and other items from our agenda. I usually pick 3 to highlight each call. My 2 Republican members are not at all responsive but will keep trying.
NPR has an encouraging report on the GA elections, with 15% higher turnout for Dems than their opponents, an election record!
https://www.npr.org/2026/05/18/nx-s1-5822479/2026-midterms-georgia-primary-election
That’s great news! Even though some experts scoff at the value of early vote analysis, right now I’ll take any hint of good news I can get. What are the chances we win both election races for Georgia’s Supreme Court tonight?
It is technically a nonpartisan race and an open primary, and no doubt Democrats are the ones who are eager to win today. I like to check their SOS site and follow the local news, like Atlanta News First https://www.atlantanewsfirst.com/politics/elections/
Georgia has a truly-excellent Election Data Hub, thanks to Brad Raffensperger and his team. But for some reason I haven’t been able to pull up a running live count of Election Day Only votes.
https://sos.ga.gov/page/election-data-hub-unofficial-turnout
I don't think they can release that data until the polls close. Otherwise it creates a bias in the remaining hours of the election. Counties are processing absentee ballots at 1:00 p.m. EST, so that is in process.
I seem to recall that Georgia in past elections released hour-by-hour reports on how many had voted, in each county/district as well as statewide. Or perhaps I’m misremembering and that was only on days of in-person early voting?
not sure, but here is some discussion https://www.cbsnews.com/atlanta/news/georgia-sees-record-breaking-early-voting-numbers-ahead-of-tuesdays-primary-election/
Live updates page https://www.cbsnews.com/atlanta/live-updates/georgia-primary-elections-2026/?intcid=CNR-02-0623
I'm sending so much focused energy to those two gals ALL DAY TODAY. GO WOMEN GO!!! Go VOTERS GO!!!
There is so much tragedy and hardship in Our Country and World right now, and most of it is because of our Fucking, Corrupt, sick President DJT!! Everything he touches, he wants it to be gold, but instead it turns to destruction and something that makes us cringe! Look at what Just not being part of the WHO has done with this horrible Ebola Outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda!! All of the Deaths will be on his hands! He will Pay!
All we can do is stay strong, be optimistic, make calls and look forward to Our Victory in November. Thank you Simon, for all the great Polling!
I am sure he is ignorant of the King Midas myth. He was happy until he turned his beloved daughter into gold. The problem is that Trump is so very broken and sick, he would probably choose the golden statue over a loved one.
I am curious to see whom the administration will tap to head the Ebola response. The guy selected to lead the hantavirus task force is a urologist specializing in penile implants. I don't know about you, but if I had a male loved one sick with hantavirus (or any other infectious disease), ED would not make the list of my concerns!
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2026/05/16/hantavirus-health-brian-christine/90116228007/
He's a conspiracy theorist too. The penile implant thing isn't the problem. He'd at best be unqualified for the job, but it's worse than that.
GE Morris’ post is paywalled, so I can’t ask my question there: what is our understanding of voting patterns of presidential year non-voters in midterm elections? It’s a big D+ with that group, but historically do they turn out for midterms?
The way to think about this is that all the data is pointing to a single election - our heightened overperformance, strong polling, candidate fundraising, and all the measure of intensity, likelihood to vote favor us. The data is all point in one direction - a very good election for us. Can it change? Of course. But everything is remarkably consistent right now, with no discordant data.
And some pretty good polls from FL, too, in the Governor and Senate races. Hoping Trump's long-delayed endorsement of Paxton in TX Senate Primary on R side will give Talarico a big boost if Paxton is his R opponent.
Here's what Morris wrote about that (after the paywall I guess):
And the GOP’s deficit among 2024 non-voters really matters, for two reasons. First, because many of them will vote this year. Midterm turnout always falls short of presidential years, but tens of millions of 2024 non-voters will still cast ballots — and Democrats have held an enthusiasm advantage in our polling all year. Nine in ten registered voters in the Times poll say they plan to participate in November, and Democratic voters are eight points more likely than Republicans to say they are “almost certain” to turn out. Second, the non-voter shift represents a huge swing from 2024.
Last cycle, according to Pew, non-voters leaned toward Trump over Harris by four percentage points, 44% to 40%. Pew arrives at this number by surveying thousands of Americans on their vote intention before the election. They later grouped respondents by whether they actually voted in the election, based on public records published by individual states.
Today, the Democratic margin among non-voters is +20 points — a 24-point shift since 2024. That is the largest pro-Democratic swing in any subgroup of the electorate we measure, and it has been at or above double digits in nine of our eleven monthly polls.
Postcard writers: stamps will go up 4 cents in July. I bought mine today. Postcards to Swing State voters wants us to send 15 million GOTV postcards this fall. Please help if you can!
Thanks for the heads-up!
I'm in a blue district with two D senators. I use Five Calls on average three times a week. Before I call, I check the news to see what they are talking about. I've been pretty polite in the past but in the past two weeks I can barely contain my fury. I told them I just came back from door knocking for Graham Platner in Maine and I speak for a lot of Democrats who are enraged that our Dem leadership is not speaking with one voice about the loss of voting rights and the corruption. It is beyond shocking to me. They should be on the steps of Congress, on every platform, on every cable news channel talking about what we are seeing.
Simon, thank you for the update! Hope you can keep cool in our current heat wave. I'm crossing my fingers for our Georgia Supreme Court candidates. I donated to them and wrote some postcards the other week.
I called Congressman Raskin and Senators Alsobrooks and Van Hollen to say that the president is not in touch with reality and must be removed. I'm writing postcards to Ohio voters today.
So important, as done in today's post, to tie the Ebola crisis to the cruel and thoughtless cuts made by trump and his band of destructive goons. I hope the Dems+11 NYT poll, as further analyzed by G. Elliott Morris, is a sign of just an epic, Mavericks level big wave. https://www.surfer.com/news/mavericks-100-foot-wave-23-year-olds-ride-into-legend
Today is Day 8 of the 12 days of political donations my wife and I have committed to in May, front loading our 2026 political donations. Today’s donation went to Hopium's Winning the House in 2026 campaign https://secure.actblue.com/donate/winningthehouse26, because I'm really excited to have President Jonathan Nez of the Navajo Nation included. We need the Navajo and rural Arizona perspective in Congress, especially, as pointed out in the interview with him, at a time of increasing water scarcity. https://www.hopiumchronicles.com/p/meet-jonathan-nez-our-terrific-candidate.
Fingers crossed for Georgia. What a huge win that would be. And I'd also like to see Massie come through so he can keep (figuratively) poking the rotten mango man in the eye.
I so agree about Jonathan Nez. What a wonderful day it will be when our indigenous peoples are represented in Congress. Native/Indigenous people account for 2.3% of our total American population.
Just called Warren and Markey; Still focused on Ukraine ,but adding corruption & Ebola nightmare, to my list. Also I emailed them and got into it about the 1.8 b slush fund - still saying I think he needs to be removed. And I'm getting less polite. Except I always thank them for what they are already doing since the are rock solid DEMS fighting right with us. BTW- Robert Hubbel'ls post is good today about corruption. And HCR had a good post yesterday about the mosque shooting and white Christian nationalism. Keep Calm and Carry On!!
Anyone who wants to learn about the fertilizer shortage caused by Trump's irrational war with Iran can find answers here: https://markroberts995.substack.com/p/fertilizer-famine-the-strait-of-hormuz?r=1mi3pt
My Substack focuses on the intersection of hunger and provides details of how the changing climate is raising rates of hunger in the US and the world with well sourced articles on climate, hunger, what is already happening and the world is going from here. https://markroberts995.substack.com
1. I encourage all my fellow Hopium-mates to look at their most recently filed tax return to understand the amount you pay in federal income taxes. I quoted mine when I called my rep in outrage over the 1.8 billion dollar slush fund.
2. Does anyone know what were the contents of the Louisiana amendments that voters overwhelmingly rejected?
Good luck to Thomas Massie today (never thought I’d say that) and the ladies in Georgia!!
https://www.wwno.org/politics/2026-05-16/may-16-election-results-louisiana-voters-reject-all-5-amendments-see-full-results