Lawyer here: that’s not “legal authority.”
Legal humor. Seriously. By Kevin Underhill
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Lawyer here: that’s not “legal authority.”
A WBEZ analysis has found that a three-month summer span saw the fewest murders in 60 years in Chicago while overall violent crime remained near its lowest point in at least four decades. chicago.suntimes.com/news/2025/09...
How about: It killed 11 people in international waters who *might* have been criminals according to an administration that lies habitually and offered no proof or even an explanation of how the victims were chosen.
Pritzker: "Any rational person who has spent even the most minimal amount of time studying human history has to ask themselves one important question: once they get the citizens of this nation comfortable with the current atrocities committed under the color of law, what comes next?"
Yes. This. Please. Having them on these shows is being complicit in spreading their propaganda. Stop helping them.
"Valued users! We understand that over the past 250-odd years, you have come to rely on the services provided by the U.S. of A. ... Well, 250 years of free is enough." @petridishes.bsky.social on the end of America's free-trial period:
A 3-judge panel of the 5th Circuit held late Tuesday that the Alien Enemies Act did not apply to Venezuelan migrants the Trump administration says are members of the Tren de Aragua gang, which they claim is invading the US. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/03/u...
NEWS: For the first time in the U.S., an identical twin has been convicted based on DNA evidence. It comes as DNA analysis and genetic genealogy are playing a greater role in cold and active cases. My latest: www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
NEW: judge box of wine’s office fails to secure yet another indictment from a grand jury. www.nbcnews.com/politics/jus...
Breyer’s in California.
BREAKING: Judge Breyer rules that President Trump's deployment of the military to Los Angeles violated the Posse Comitatus Act, says Trump is using military as a "national police force with the president as its chief." Injunction granted. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
(AP) - A judge in Washington ruled Monday that President Donald Trump’s use of the National Guard during Los Angeles immigration protests is illegal. @apnews.com apnews.com/live/donald-...
Taco Bell rethinks AI drive-through after man orders 18,000 waters
The only concern anyone has about his health is that it might improve.
From the WH pool this morning: Trump left for an “unannounced location” at 9:27 a.m. His motorcade then drove to his golf club in Virginia, arriving at 10:02 a.m. “There was one person in a car who gave the motorcade the middle finger as it drove by,” the pool report states.
Which means he does not have power over it because we have a government of limited powers. That’s what having a constitution *means.*
And here’s an article on a 2019 6th Circuit opinion holding this is protected conduct. firstamendmentwatch.org/sixth-circui...
And here’s something I wrote about it a few years ago: www.loweringthebar.net/2020/06/the-...
Here’s a law-review article explaining why flipping off police and other officials is protected conduct. digitalcommons.wcl.american.edu/facsch_lawre...
This firefighter arrived in the US at age 4, has been here for 19 years, was on track to legal status, and was on a crew trying to contain a major blaze (in Washington state, vs Oregon, fwiw.) h/t @joshuajfriedman.com www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
I can
Today I wrote about a general tendency to accept atrocious premises, and the need to reject fascism's false choices in order to find expansive and imaginative paths forward. Breaking the premise, embracing the obstacles, pursing everything. www.the-reframe.com/there-is-no-...
Keep doing it and also deface the signs while you’re at it
If you're arrested in Illinois protesting the planned ICE HQ in North Chicago, I can represent you pro bono. Email me at sheryl@weikallaw.com. As always, I will take as many cases as I can.
JD Vance: “Trump is a really bad candidate and frankly, I think, a really bad person.” { ht: @patriottakes.bsky.social }
I appreciate the Seattle Times taking the time to report that the (presumably citizen) firefighters who watched the raid as bystanders "requested anonymity because they feared retaliation from federal agencies for talking to the media." What a commentary that makes in itself!... /1
No, that’s *blindly following* experts or anyone else who claims to be infallible—like Trump. Totalitarians *always* attack experts because they are a potential challenge to the State’s effort to control the truth. And that’s exactly what this is.
What. The. Actual. Fuck. “So? Just let it burn. We’re after brown people.”
First Amendment violation. You have a right to flip off government officials and police, as several courts have held. I mean, of course you do. In a very real sense that’s what the First Amendment is FOR.
Sure, that’s what the so-called *experts* or people with *experience* or who *know things* would say.
What, they want to investigate how to do it? Just search “propaganda.” Good luck to Comer and other thugs trying to sneak in propaganda. I once left a meeting to create a temporary article about someone in the meeting for joke purposes, and it was gone before I got back to the conference room.
Right-of-publicity claim (in some states). IF the allegations are true, of course
👍🇺🇸😎🫡 (don’t see a sovcit emoji)
It’s just nonstop bullshit about absolutely everything. It’s really kind of astounding how they don’t even touch base with reality once in a while. But maybe they’re just doing an end-run around the truth, as Politico would say.
By a 7-4 vote, the full Federal Circuit has *affirmed* a lower-court ruling holding that many of President Trump’s tariffs exceed his statutory authority. The ruling won’t go into effect until October 14, though—which gives the Trump administration plenty of time to seek intervention from #SCOTUS:
Oh, then I’ve decided not to pay my taxes as an “end-run around” the law requiring me to do that. What? No, it’s not “against” the law. Were you not paying attention? I went around the end of it. Thank you for your attention to this matter
“Frequent handshaking,” lol. Have her demonstrate how he supposedly shakes using the *back* of his hands. Then frame that picture next to the one of Nixon’s secretary acting out how she “accidentally” deleted the 18-and-a-half minute gap.
Privatizing uranium enrichment! Terrific idea. And who better to run it than a guy who named his company after a piece of technology that’s too dangerous to use?
Obvious conflict of interest that encourages rejecting claims. Using AI just makes it worse.
'Embarrassing and funny': Jeanine Pirro brutally mocked after 'sandwich guy' case flops
Hah! Suck it, Pirro. Lawyers aren’t really supposed to tell people about jury nullification, so I won’t. But look it up now in case you get put on a jury in one of these trumped-up cases, and then nullify the crap out of it.
Of course! I like to use mine on alternate days so each one gets some time off.
#ICYMI: Me on Trump's latest request for "emergency" relief from #SCOTUS (on foreign aid impoundment), and how it depends upon an emergency the government manufactured and a claim that DOJ failed to properly preserve below. In other words, it relies upon the justices not caring about being played:
This is insane and will kill people
Again, I’m not saying our current leaders are all being paid by Russia to deliberately undermine our country in every way imaginable, just that if they were, these are exactly the kinds of things they’d be doing.
“The Large Guy”
“.. democracy often erodes slowly at first .. But with each concession, autocrats become bolder.. and reversal becomes harder. Responses that, early on, can feel pragmatic—waiting it out, remaining silent, cutting a deal—only embolden ..” @dziblatt.bsky.social www.foreignaffairs.com/germany/hitl...
Guess they’ve changed their minds about whether it’s wrong for the government to do that kind of thing. Depending on the target, anyway.
A grand jury has rejected federal prosecutors' attempts to indict Sean Dunn, the man accused of throwing a Subway sandwich at a CBP officer. This comes after three OTHER failed attempts to indict another person accused of assaulting a federal agent. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/27/u...
I really need to know if the sandwich was a ham sandwich
“.. the second time in recent days that it was unable to persuade grand jurors to bring an indictment in a felony assault case against a federal agent.” @nytimes.com www.nytimes.com/2025/08/27/u...
A split Federal Circuit panel vacated a trademark tribunal's refusal to register the F-word, saying that the decision lacked sufficient clarity regarding why some commonplace words can function as trademarks while others cannot. www.law360.com/artic...
Then go run the country where a lot of people say that, because it isn't this one, you filth. He also said the other day, I think when Zelensky was here, that gee, you can't really have elections when you're at war, can you? Yes you can, idiot, just like we have during every war in our history.
Somebody will have to tell him because he didn't go, doesn't read, and is a moron.
A president doesn't have to be a genius but it matters if he's a complete idiot. Setting aside that Ukraine didn't start the war, in terms of population Russia's about four times its size, not 15. That's a better ratio than Vietnam was looking at. Somebody tell him who won that war.
Watch the skies www.loweringthebar.net/2025/08/dui-...
Eugene Volokh thinks the flag burning order is unconstitutional even though it does not ban all flag-burning. Even where the order targets unprotected speech, it does so for prohibited reasons. You can ban cross-burning, but—per SCOTUS—not ONLY racist cross-burning. reason.com/volokh/2025/...
LLMs, the technology underpinning the current AI hype wave, don't do what they're usually presented as doing. They have no innate understanding, they do not think or reason, and they have no way of knowing if a response they provide is truthful or harmful. www.theregister.com/2025/08/26/b...
“I would appreciate you taking your father’s U.S. Constitution book, read it, study it, make your own lines underneath it, and get Trump out of office. The man is a dictator.” — a longtime Missouri resident who said he's at risk of losing his family farm. trib.al/Xz2GyVK
This morning in DC: three members of the National Guard spending over an hour so far just standing in front of the Krispy Kreme near one of the Dupont Circle entrances to the Metro
Just received this statement from Lisa Cook: "President Trump purported to fire me 'for cause' when no cause exists under the law, and he has no authority to do so. I will not resign. I will continue to carry out my duties to help the American economy as I have been doing since 2022."
Illegal arrest, First Amendment protects the right to do that in protest, no question whatsoever.
Yep, also for those who are being assaulted, deported, silenced, threatened, terminated, deprived of health care, killed by easily preventable diseases, etc. It’s almost like the country made a terrible mistake.
"Trump puts armed troops in DC and you see people say, 'Well, is this really the best crime fighting remedy?' No, that is not the concern with putting armed troops in DC. The concern is that it is an authoritarian outrage that would have been inconceivable in American politics even six months ago."
Why aren’t habeas petitions public?
Police shouldn’t get ‘open-book’ access to your phone. In a major boost for digital privacy, Michigan now demands tailored warrants. www.eff.org/deeplinks/2...
We’re 7 months in, and “Pentagon plans military deployment in Chicago” is a headline in the Washington Post. And because it’s city number three, we’re already numbing to it. If you read this about any other democracy in the world, you’d conclude that it was well on the road to a dictatorship.
I’m surprised we’re not seeing more incidents where people shoot masked men dressed like cops but with no badges or warrants or even names who assault and kidnap people in broad daylight—even if they do turn out to be cops. How are you supposed to know?
Young people need hobbies then, or maybe should develop a concern about democracy or something important.
Nothing the guy can’t ruin
Holy shit. This legit gave me chills. Texas State Rep. Ann Johnson clapped back at GOP members amid Wednesday's redistricting vote. WHITE WOMEN, this is the model. We have more power than others. We are the last to be silenced. We have a responsibility to SPEAK so others are HEARD.
Lawyers for Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who has been released, have been informed by ICE that he could now be subject to deportation to Uganda, and he's been told to report to ICE next week, a source confirms to me. A few points about this, because there will be a lot of bullshit about it. 1/
Fighting back www.sfchronicle.com/sf/article/s...
theonion.com/atrocities-k...
Putin meets alone with Trump. A week later, US intelligence is gutted by Tulsi Gabbard. FBI goes after John Bolton. Had Putin ordered it through Amazon, could not have been more efficient.
This is getting very bad: *FBI raids top Trump critic's home *Trump loyalist gins up "mortgage fraud" pretexts for DOJ probes of Schiff, Letitia James, Lisa Cook *Bannon says ICE will monitor 2026 voting *DHS memo vows LA operations "for years to come" New from me: newrepublic.com/article/1994...
If you’re planning to use it to threaten and intimidate a nation of 350 million people, that’s how.
Luttig is communicating vastly more clearly and honestly about Roberts and Scotus than most Democratic officials are. It’s absolutely flabbergasting.
The Texas GOP has just completely abandoned even the slightest pretense of being a pro-democracy political party.
Can you imagine a US envoy handing a Nazi medal to the family of an American who died fighting for Hitler? Because this just happened: www.cnn.com/2025/08/20/p...
Hero iconography. How a thrown sub made ‘Sandwich Guy’ a resistance icon in Trump’s D.C. www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/202...
Frank Caprio, US judge who found fame online for his compassion, dies aged 88
Ignore them and walk on. They do not have the right to do this. It isn’t the border. If they won’t let you leave that’s a 4th Amendment violation. www.acludc.org/know-your-ri...
Do vehicle wraps like that burn well? Asking for a friend.
She’s lucky if that’s her only punishment. Probably left her in Alaska
Frankly, speaking to even one would be pretty impressive
Except that the same network you’re on said Putin “steamrolled” that dumpy, senile old man—or has that reporter been taken out behind the chemical shed and her words sent down the memory hole?
“In a far-flung province known for its extreme right-wing politics, the ruling party is holding an opposition party official hostage in the Capital building. The lawmaker, who is a member of the Black ethnic minority, has been told she’d be arrested if she leaves the building.”
Pretty sure this guy can only communicate with a banjo. Anyway, their little mini-Confederacy is obviously illegal and they’re just openly counting on the racists in power to ignore the law. An embarrassment to the Ozarks.
i say let these degenerates have their little ku klux klavern www.nytimes.com/2025/08/19/r...
THAT was a show of force? Even Fox News was appalled by how Putin “steamrolled” him. For the love of God, please quit inviting these people on your news shows when all they do is bleat out propaganda.
CHOOSE YOU THIS DAY WHOM YE WILL SERVE…. BUT AS FOR ME AND MY HOUSE, WE WILL SERVE THE LORD. (We will also serve the defendants, but not personally, probably by certified mail or something)
🎉👍
Not constitutional. Even DUI checkpoints only cleared USSC 5-4, and those have a clear public-safety rationale. Of course they’ll make the same argument here, it’ll just be complete bullshit. If “safety” just means whatever the State says it means, then you’re not safe from the State.
My 8th grade history teacher did this too. One of my classmates started crying. It has stuck with me my whole life
"Remember, the States are merely an 'agent' for the Federal Government ... They must do what the Federal Government, as represented by the President of the United States, tells them" Hoo boy...
When a man watering his neighbor's flowers declined a cop's demand that he produce ID, he was placed under arrest. @cato.org joins an amicus brief urging the Alabama supreme court to make clear that state law does not require residents to carry ID or produce it on demand. [Matthew Cavedon, Cato]
And nobody knows more about honest elections than Vladimir Putin
Oh, and South Carolina. Definitely South Carolina.