I have bad news for them concerning Trump’s record on actually paying the people who do project work for him.
Writer on law etc.; Cato Institute. Election law, Maryland civic stuff, cooking. Blogged at Overlawyered back when. No kings, no tyrants.
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I have bad news for them concerning Trump’s record on actually paying the people who do project work for him.
A friend took this at a rally today and I barked laughing.
I have bad news for them concerning Trump’s record on actually paying the people who do project work for him.
Weird, putting tariffs on construction materials and throwing day laborers in concentration camps should have solved the supply problem by now
Just a quarter of an onion, routine for a stew. Also a clove or two of garlic roasted with the eggplant.
It’s one of the trickiest. The old advice to slice, salt, and let sit for 20 minutes as a preliminary can help, although modern varieties are less bitter. Eggplant whips and dips can be one entry point. For curry, our favorite is to roast eggplant cubes separately and add to a lentil dal.
Three hours, and even so some pieces are not so tender. With goat we find there are no guarantees of tenderness, since it’s so lean. We do love smoky eggplant charred on the gas flame. In this case the cubes were seasoned, salted, and roasted in the oven with extra fat at low heat.
Also flavored with a paste cooked down from red bell peppers with two Italian peperoncini added for heat.
Goat stew with cannellini beans and eggplant. The three main components were cooked separately and then combined toward the end. #BlueskySupperClub #FoodSky
We'd go all the way back to the US tariff policy of... 2024. LOL. share.google/Wl2y9fzDRdkA...
The Internet always remembers, unless a high government official decides to level a takedown demand to make it forget.
Labor Day is a great time to recognize we can help workers by breaking down barriers to labor mobility and empowering them to "vote with their feet": both domestically and through international migration: reason.com/volokh/2025/...
Critics of Andrew Bailey, Trump's pick to help run the FBI, say the Missouri AG got the attention of the White House by following Trump’s tactic of targeting political opponents. “What better way to show loyalty than to do exactly what Trump wants,” one said. By @jeremykohler.bsky.social
Internal passports are such an appalling (and pre-modern) insult to human freedom. Most of us in the U.S. have zero experience with how they shape the lives of the people they control.
Sometimes people seem to need reminding.
The people who de-invented the weekend [via @chrisfreiman.bsky.social]
Once again, of the laws creating aircraft carrier-sized loopholes for the president to utter the magic words "national emergency" or "national security" & then rule like a King must go. We can have nuanced discussion about re-delegation later but not now. bsky.app/profile/mcop...
Certain criminal charges such as conspiracy and RICO can give governments a way to prosecute entire protest movements they dislike. Trump plainly intends to go down this path, but "the Supreme Court has held that governments cannot adopt the theory of guilt by association." [Matthew Cavedon, Cato]
They think *we* should pay *them*.
And he is right to be concerned. Glad Maryland election authorities aren't rolling over on this.
No big whoop, just Donald Trump pissing away three decades of U.S. diplomacy due to a fit of personal pique. danieldrezner.substack.com/p/donald-tru...
"Remittance regulations force money service providers to act as law enforcement, collecting detailed personal data, performing extensive customer screenings" and more. Freeing things up would benefit both migrants and their families back home, should we ever go back to wanting that [Jeffrey Miron]
Boston is the safest city in the United States. All this is gonna do is makes Bostonians less safe and less free. www.politico.com/news/2025/08...
❗️The plane Ursula von der Leyen @vonderleyen.ec.europa.eu was on was forced to land in Bulgaria due to suspected Russian GPS interference -FT There are reports that the pilots even had to use paper maps due to GPS jamming as they made the emergency landing.
But you knew this, right? "No First Amendment Right to Spray Paint 'Free Gaza' on State University of N.Y. Buildings." Also, judge declines to entertain "necessity" defense.
happy labor day everyone. now more than ever we got to remember what it's about.
Electricity prices are already on the rise. Trump's latest round of tariffs is sure to make them higher.
Free the Patient: A Competitive-Federalism Fix for Telemedicine - Marginal REVOLUTION
REASON: “Trump's tariff regime is making everything from American-made steel weights, imported yarn, and Amazon's "everyday essentials" more expensive while his immigration crackdown is causing worker shortages in key industries.” reason.com/2025/08/29/t...
Under Heck v. Humphrey (1994), an unlawfully prosecuted plaintiff can win damages only if “the conviction… has been reversed on direct appeal.” Cato brief argues that the Heck bar should not apply where the plaintiff never had access to federal habeas relief or seeks purely prospective relief.
Denver’s restaurants are dying
Compare her accomplishments to those of the “Aryan future” lunkhead who took a swipe at her: www.dailydot.com/viral-politi...
She's got a BS (summa cum laude), an MBA (w/distinction), a JD (summa), clerked for federal district & circuit court judges & a SCOTUS justice, worked in civil division of DOJ, went private, made partner, went back to DOJ as dep assoc AG, then principal dep AAG of Civil Rights Division. She's 42.
I imagine lawyers have been at work figuring out how to structure things.
Fifty-one of the 85 Federalist papers were written by a guy born in Nevis.
To adapt an old line, the man who has never gazed on Niagara may be said to have no idea of a cataract; and he who has never listened to Kristi Noem may be said not to know what it is to lie.
If you thought America was a country of stable and reliable property rights, Trump's team has decided to alter the deal. Pray they do not alter it any further.
Lutnick probably assumes it’s easy to tell what products and/or services sales are covered by which US patents, and then just say the patent is “worth” a share of the sales revenue, and…what if I told you that’s completely wrong
In retrospect, Trump's early move to create a sovereign wealth fund was an ominous sign of his interest in developing a sort of personal piggy bank to hold the proceeds of corporate shakedowns and expropriations [Tad DeHaven, @cato.org]
NEW: Analysis finds UK's age verification rollout is producing exactly the opposite of the desired effect: Driving traffic non-compliant adult sites. Which punishes compliant ones. Entirely predictable. That's not the worst part 1/ By @drewharwell.com www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...
Self-recommending: Isaac Chotiner interviews Paul Offit on RFK Jr.'s campaign against vaccines
NEW from me at The Dispatch. Imagine if a president could just eliminate border spending on a whim. Or gut defense, Medicaid or veterans spending. Even defund SCOTUS after a decision, or end SocSec in blue districts. This is the power Trump seeks with impoundment. 🧵 thedispatch.com/article/trum...
Memoir and mini-history of The Great British Baking Show by Ruby Tandoh in the @newyorker.com is sufficiently sprightly and puckish that my croquembouche began cracking up and my meringues forgot to weep. #BlueskySupperClub #foodsky
"Trump’s Intel Deal Is a Threat to US Economic Liberty" [Michael Strain, AEI]
“One of the core functions of trial courts is to separate truth from falsehood. They are pretty good at this. But you can evade this function if you avoid or bypass adjudication in court.” There are many reasons to hope that the allegations against UCLA will at some point be tested in court. /3, end
“…that they were not, in fact, being blocked from entering the library, but instead, were being blocked from entering a fenced area in the middle of a grassy quad. They were free to simply walk around that fenced area and enter any campus building they liked.” /2
“Sometimes they said things like ‘let me through, I’m trying to enter the library,’ which I assume they said for the benefit of those viewing the video online from places outside of UCLA, because a viewer of the video familiar with the geography of the campus could readily observe….” /1
This child deportees case started ugly, and it's getting uglier fast. DOJ blows off deadline for status report confirming that they took all the Guatemalan children off the planes in Texas. Docket: www.courtlistener.com/docket/71240...
ABC News is still calling RFK Jr. a “vaccine skeptic.” The dude was one of the most prominent anti-vaccine activists for decades. There’s video of him in 2023 saying that there’s no vaccine which is safe and effective. You can call him an anti-vaccine activist!
Serial plagiarizer and MAGA mouthpiece Benny Johnson recently claimed he fled DC after “my home was burned to the ground” and that “people were murdered in my front yard.” Neither of those things actually happened @kenbensinger.bsky.social found www.nytimes.com/2025/08/30/b...
In fact I was using the recipe from Rancho Gordo's Bean Book. They promote the Rio Zape for its coffee and chocolate undertones, and refritos did indeed showcase those because the bean taste is so exposed. I also endorse the RZ in Bean Book's creamy bean dip with herbs. #BlueskySupperClub #foodsky
Henry Oliver is lately arrived from the U.K., and among his favorable impressions of America are Baltimore's Otterbein's cookies. They are "devilishly good," aren't they?
Made refried beans from scratch for the first time, using Rio Zape dried beans fully boiled, then lard, onion, bean broth, a bay leaf, and that’s about it. Finished in time to make a breakfast tortilla with Oaxaca cheese. This one I did all by myself. #foodsky #BlueskySupperClub
Let's start with the "best" scenario right now: that the US. remains a "competitive authoritarian" system. We have elections that are unfree and unfair, but not total and complete shams. This means that:
This article mentions the paper ballots nonsense and nowhere does it note 99%+ of votes in the United States, including all of them in all but a couple of (deep red!) states, are already cast using paper ballots. That's much worse than the bad subhead.
"New Cato Paper: Immigrants Cut Victimization Rates, Boost Crime Reporting" www.cato.org/blog/new-cat... via @CatoInstitute @David_J_Bier
On the dismissal of Trump's suit against the Maryland federal judges, the "logic of this should extend to Trump's threatened suit against the Senate over blue slips--a combination of Speech or Debate immunity and Debs not authorizing a suit against Congress." [Howard Wasserman, PrawfsBlawg]
"Going beyond direct spending, being a top destination for international talent is great for the country in the long term, helping especially to fuel cutting-edge innovation. Meanwhile, the primary concern about admitting Chinese students—espionage—seems to be overstated."
The new Pulte-Trump crackdown on mortgage occupancy fraud is nothing if not selective.
I'm not actually going to take any of the speculation seriously unless Fox News replaces its regular lineup with Swan Lake and somber music.
In other words, this was one of the very few cases where the Senate actually did its job under Trump II and blocked a lunatic from getting an important office. RFK and the White House (and Trump, wherever he is in this) accepted that outcome for less than a month before nullifying it.
"Trump’s life and career are based on discrediting the distinction between right and wrong, and on convincing himself and others that the only reality is who screws whom. As of right now, he’s winning that messaging debate." www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
“Golden shares” at home, grand bargains abroad. In this episode of the Cato Podcast, Cato scholars unpack Trump’s push for equity stakes in US firms under the CHIPS Act and his Putin deal-making on Ukraine. What do state capitalism & deal-making diplomacy mean for US liberty? Listen now:
Montgomery County takes small steps to allow more housing construction, Radley Balko on medical examiner scandal, solvency of state unemployment fund, politico released from incarceration lands right back in county government job, and more in my new Maryland policy roundup at Free State Notes.
If wildfire crews, who carry out essential, demanding and apolitical jobs for which they are almost universally admired, fear being retaliated against for talking to the media, imagine the climate of fear this administration has been able to create among others who provide public services. /2, end
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
This deserves notice and applause: "2025 isn’t 1991. And although we haven’t changed [IJ's] principles in those 34 years we realize that highlighting liberalism, the rule of law, and the justice that is part of our namesake is something that makes more sense and is, frankly, more important today."
If wildfire crews, who carry out essential, demanding and apolitical jobs for which they are almost universally admired, fear being retaliated against for talking to the media, imagine the climate of fear this administration has been able to create among others who provide public services. /2, end
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
It's only a guess, but the relative ease of transferring light tiny innocent objects across the U.S./Canadian border might lead to rapid growth in subterfuge which could in turn prompt U.S. retaliation against the company or its legit distributors in Canada.
Dear Americans, welcome to the thrilling game of ‘Did this dictator die or just disappear for a day?’ We’ve been playing it with Putin and Lukashenko for decades. Enjoy the suspense.
Why are federal agents hiding their face with masks? Public servants should face the public. Take off the masks! Check out our posters plastered around the District!
And part of a mob that was trying to hunt down members of Congress and the Vice President.
When the history of our present moment is told, historians will struggle to come up with more evocative illustrations than the scene described by @aselrod.bsky.social here. They hate immigrants more than they love the country. They would rather let it burn than let immigrants put out the fire.
This past week, ICE seized people while they were fighting a wildfire in Washington State. Today, this report about hospitals and surgical centers in California. calmatters.org/health/2025/...
Livia is enjoying the bookshelf project. #Caturday
It’s not just that every accusation is a confession; every accusation is also a rationalization. Trump constantly pretended Biden was personally directing prosecutions of Trump & allies, when of course DOJ norms would have made it unthinkable for the White House to have any direct contact.
If the Supreme Court decides against him, obviously a big if, I do think he probably retreats on this one issue. A chief reason is that he can’t just order troops to collect tariffs; lots of functionaries are involved and some of them are likely to obey court orders as to who doesn’t owe what.
“The Happiest Place On Earth” is a trademarked phrase of the Disney company. Otherwise I might be tempted to use it to describe Cato today after the appeals court struck down the tariffs. @cato.org
Three cheers, Ilya!
n this post, I summarize key points from the Federal Circuit ruling against Trump's massive IEEPA tariffs, in our case against them: reason.com/volokh/2025/...
Scroll to empanadas de platano at lunch time.
"January 6 survivor and former MPD Officer Michael Fanone launches a campaign demanding that federal officers remove their masks, advocating for transparency." Check out our new D.C. campaign demanding federal agents take off their mask! @ofthebraveusa.bsky.social www.wusa9.com/article/news...
Public servants should face the public. So why are federal agents wearing masks to hide their faces? Check out our mobile billboard driving around Washington, D.C. right now demanding federal agents take their masks off!
Trump take LEGO. (Let's hope the courts can use the Federal Circuit's decision as the basis for a speedy resolution of remaining procedural and merits questions that just tells him NO.)
Sorry, my mistake: the number of dissenting judges was four, the same as the number who concurred but would have gone further. /5
Very likely the Administration will seek Supreme Court review.
I'm proud that the court on p. 13 cited the amicus brief filed by my @cato.org colleagues Thomas A. Berry, Brent Skorup, and Charles Brandt. You can read that brief here. /4, end
Four judges joined the majority opinion in full but wrote separately to argue additionally that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (“IEEPA”) does not authorize the President to impose any tariffs, period. /3
Three dissenting judges believed the plaintiffs had not established the illegality of the tariffs to a summary judgment standard and favored remanding for further proceedings. Full decision and opinions are here: /2
Hurrah for the Constitution of the United States and hurrah for the Article III federal courts: by a 7-3 margin, Federal Circuit in V.O.S. Selections v. Trump upholds Court of International Trade decision striking down most of Trump's tariffs as not authorized by IEEPA. Per curiam (unsigned). /1
keyless ignition is one of the all time worst technological trade-offs ever
Unless otherwise noted, all food is cooked by Steve and photographed by me. He is a fantastically talented cook and is retired aside from teaching a course or two. #BlueskySupperClub
Martin O’Malley, former Social Security Administrator, says the DOGE bro upload of SSA to cloud is the biggest data theft in history and could maybe lead to need to mass issue new SSA#s. 🤯 www.msnbc.com/the-last-wor...
Chantilly is a main processing facility for those arrested by ICE during Trump's DC crackdown. ACLU attorney Sophia Gregg told @msnbc.com: Conditions are "rapidly degenerating" & "ICE is holding up to 80 people in a single room for more than a week at a time" w/no access to lawyers
*half and half dough
I generally prefer without and that’s how Steve made it. But the plantains were quite ripe and contributed their own sweetness.
Lunch at home: Empanadas de platano con picadillo, dumplings made from a half and dough of flour and cooked plantain, stuffed with savory ground meat #BlueskySupperClub #foodsky
Tariffs are a tax... on American manufacturing: "Caterpillar Says Higher Tariff Costs May Reach $1.8 Billion" www.wsj.com/business/cat...
Texas House GOP lawmakers have passed a bill that would allow anyone to sue Drs, abortion med manufacturers, & companies like FedEx & UPS, through which these meds are mailed, in a fanatic effort to limit access to these medications. #Pinks
