The All Things Political Topic - Nothing strengthens authority so much as silence

[Gromnir]

shadow docket, so we got no explanation for the Court's decision.

unlike the situation where venezuelans were on buses heading to an airport or to halt an imminent execution, am not seeing the exigent circumstances regarding trump's desired transgender ban for the military. the status quo were that transgendered people could serve in the military and am having heard no genuine argument that the presence o' a very small percentage o' trans people in the military somehow threatened situational readiness o' the armed forces. even if you think that trans people shouldn't serve in the military, do you honest see the kinda emergency scenario akin to executing an innocent woman or "deporting" people sans due process when the government insists there is no practical way to retrieve those people post "deportation"?

again, justices alito and thomas were baffled and outraged 'caues the Court granted emergency habeas relief to venezuelans who had been loaded on buses and were headed to an airport. nevertheless, somehow they sees tragedy inducing exigency if trump's trans ban were halted while the ordinary and admitted slow legal process worked in its usual manner. full oral argument before the appellate court with possible appeal to scotus in regards to the trans ban woulda resulted in an irreparable injury to the federal government? how?

am knowing am having said this a few times, but the new scotus reliance on the shadow docket to avoid accountability is one o' those under-the-radar issues we believe deserves attention.

aside, for those hopeful the Court stands up to the trump administration, am warning that history is not on your side. there is a long and storied/sordid history o' scotus cowardice. if there is genuine fear a chief executive will ignore or undermine a Court decision, the safe money bet is that the Court will cave.

every american school kid hears about marbury v. madison at least a couple times before they finish mandatory education. the detail from marbury which is glossed over or poor remembered is that the Court in that case surrendered to thomas jefferson, arguable our nation's first authoritarian wannabee. anybody recall who were marbury? john adams, the President before thomas jefferson, made a whole lotta last minute judicial appointments before he left office, more than fifty, which considering the size of the fed government at the time, that was a noteworthy amount. william marbury were one o' the individuals who had received a late term appointment from john adams, but he were amongst a not insignificant number o' appointees who, while they had been gained senate approval, had not physical received their commission. thomas jefferson refused to deliver the commission to marbury... and he also threatened to undermine the Court in a number o' creative if they tried to order him to do what he did not wish to do.

John Marshall bravely stands up to thomas jefferson and establishes judicial review. 

"Judicial review is the idea, fundamental to the U.S. system of government, that the actions of the executive and legislative branches of government are subject to review and possible invalidation by the judiciary . Judicial review allows the Supreme Court to take an active role in ensuring that the other branches of government abide by the Constitution."

huzzah. 

that means marbury received his commission and served as a judge, right? 

nope.

Justice Marshall found a standing argument which simultaneous allowed him to establish judicial review, but also extricated the Court from the danger o' needing order President jefferson to deliver the commision to marbury and others like him. actually, james madison as secretary o' state woulda been ordered to deliver marbury's commission, but that is kinda beside the point. regardless, one o' the most well known scotus decisions were an example o' the Court finding a technicality which would allow them to avoid a direct confrontation with the chief executive.  as such it should come as no surprise that the Court routine finds a way to knuckle under when a direct confrontation with the President is threatened.

expecting J. Roberts to be one o' the few Chief Justices in US history to show real courage is not a safe bet... God help us all.

HA! Good Fun!

 

[majestic]

India launches missiles at Pakistan

Nice. Here's a 2019 paper about the consequences of a potential nuclear conflict between India and Pakistan in 2025.

[Malcador]

31 minutes ago, majestic said:

India launches missiles at Pakistan

Nice. Here's a 2019 paper about the consequences of a potential nuclear conflict between India and Pakistan in 2025.

Would never have happened with Kamala in office.

[uuuhhii]

8 hours ago, Malcador said:

Would never have happened with Kamala in office.

 

last pope would still be alive too

[BruceVC]

7 hours ago, Malcador said:

Would never have happened with Kamala in office.

https://edition.cnn.com/world/live-news/india-pakistan-attack-kashmir-tourists-intl-hnk

It seems this latest conflict was caused by the massacre of Indian tourists in Kashmir 

[BruceVC]

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/5/6/trump-says-bombing-of-yemen-to-stop-as-oman-confirms-us-houthi-ceasefire

This should be a win for Trump as far as international geopolitics is concerned

The Houthis have agreed to stop attacking ships in the Red Sea  and the US will end its military campaign

Lets hope it maintains and its  an  example of where sometimes you need a military solution to see results 

[Malcador]

7 hours ago, BruceVC said:

https://edition.cnn.com/world/live-news/india-pakistan-attack-kashmir-tourists-intl-hnk

It seems this latest conflict was caused by the massacre of Indian tourists in Kashmir 

Went over your head.

Seems a poor result for India, https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/06/world/asia/india-pakistan-attacks.html

 

[Gromnir]

keep in mind that Gromnir is old, so is maybe not a shock that when trump shared his thoughts on the need for doll sacrifice...

...we recollected an old bloom county contribution.

and by the way o' explanation, in an earlier bloom county release, trump's brain had been transplanted into the body o' a cat.

by education and experience am personal embracing free market ideology far more than am seeing any kinda benefit from trump's central planning model. even so, am recognizing that given the rampant corruption o' this administration coupled with how outta touch is folks like djt and musk, we would not be surprised if all the young people who currently thinks crypto fueled get rich quick schemes and tate brother tutorials is the future will wake up to terrible reality and go to the other extreme...

 

am not even convinced such would be a bad outcome.

HA! Good Fun!

ps @Azdeus kudos to sweden where tesla sales for the year has dropped by 81%.

 

Edited 18 hours ago by Gromnir

[Zoraptor]

6 hours ago, Malcador said:

Seems a poor result for India, https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/06/world/asia/india-pakistan-attacks.html

A search for 'indian rafale shot down' is extremely funny at the moment. All the top results are Indian fact check sites insisting it hasn't happened while it's blatantly obvious they've lost at least one since there's a Rafale engine sitting randomly in a field all over social media. Stupid approach, since it just ends up making you suspect that the Pakistani claims are entirely accurate.

If it's done one thing it's made it a lot more likely for India to buy stealth jets as a matter of urgency, and ones that cannot be turned off by the US if they don't like the targets.

[rjshae]

8 hours ago, BruceVC said:

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/5/6/trump-says-bombing-of-yemen-to-stop-as-oman-confirms-us-houthi-ceasefire

This should be a win for Trump as far as international geopolitics is concerned

The Houthis have agreed to stop attacking ships in the Red Sea  and the US will end its military campaign

Lets hope it maintains and its  an  example of where sometimes you need a military solution to see results 

For now. There was a ceasefire declared in January as well. Peace overtures rarely seem to last long in that part of the world.

[Gromnir]

Some Giant Law Firms Shy Away From Pro Bono Immigration Cases Fearing the wrath of President Trump, some elite law firms are declining pro bono work on lawsuits challenging the administration’s policies.

"Lawyers from Gibson Dunn explained that it was afraid of incurring Mr. Trump’s wrath if the firm was associated publicly with a lawsuit that sought to restore legal representation for unaccompanied immigrant children, the five people said. Gibson Dunn is not the only large law firm shying away from immigration litigation."

...

"Groups like the Amica Center have long relied on big law firms to provide legions of young lawyers and paralegals who can help prepare cases free of charge. Traditionally, pro bono work has been intended to help the poor and defenseless."

...

"Sirine Shebaya, executive director of the National Immigration Project, a nonprofit that litigates cases for immigrants and pushes for their rights, called the large firms’ recent pivots “part of the chilling effect” of Mr. Trump’s executive orders.

“It has gotten much harder to get law firms to take a case on pro bono,” Ms. Shebaya said."

...

from a may 1 post by yours truly"

"so even if trump keeps losing in court, he has effective reduced the pool of potential lawyers willing to take on cases, which makes future trump loses less likely. who do you think is representing the undocumented immigrants in most o' the fed cases? you might be surprised to learn just how much o' pro bono work the big firms do, and the big washington and new york firms trump targeted is known for taking on a noteworthy proportion o' immigration cases as part o' their pro bono portfolios."

am aware that the stoopid of trump and his most visible cronies, coupled with repeated examples o' trump 2.0 buffoonery, has made a few people dismissive of this administration's efforts to dismantle a system which took 250 years to build, a democratic republic which were only recent approaching the promise of founding documents such as the declaration of independence and the bill of rights. 

the sh!te going on in plain view is serious, sinister and surprisingly well organized. hopefully the all too numerous indifferent, cynical and uninformed US citizens wake up before they realize that what is broken cannot always be fixed.

and no, biden requesting and scotus allowing the fed to regulate ghost guns is so not analogous to what is going on in trump 2.0... just in case @Guard Dogis still following this thread. maybe gd don't like what biden did and he likely disagrees with the outcome by the Court, but the feds didn't resort to dirty tricks and the Court didn't create new law just to punish gd. so not the same.

and speaking of...

Federal court rules Rümeysa Öztürk must be transferred to detention in Vermont

trump 2.0 has been using bs excuses to transfer detainees to louisiana and texas where there is judges more accommodating o' the administration. by physical moving individuals such as rumeysa, asap and just before judges and lawyers in ny, maryland and vermont may react, trump 2.0 has been, until now, successful avoiding the jurisdictional limits o' court orders.

am knowing that with all the bad news coming day after day, forcing the return o' the tufts student to vermont doesn't feel like a major win, but it is a bigger deal than it seems, particular if other courts follow suit. the trump 2.0 habeas shell game shennanigans were something we foresaw, but perhaps courts will prevent that kinda thing from happening henceforth.

HA! Good Fun!

 

 

Edited 8 hours ago by Gromnir

[Gorth]

As bad as all this sounds and as many lives are affected negatively, I take slight comfort in this being for a limited time thing. Either term limits or end of lifespan, whichever comes first will put an end to this. What does scare me is the example it sets for those who eventually follow, especially if there are actually smart people among those vying for absolute power without accountability 

[BruceVC]

1 hour ago, Gorth said:

As bad as all this sounds and as many lives are affected negatively, I take slight comfort in this being for a limited time thing. Either term limits or end of lifespan, whichever comes first will put an end to this. What does scare me is the example it sets for those who eventually follow, especially if there are actually smart people among those vying for absolute power without accountability 

Yes, as I have maintained from the beginning 

Trump will be gone in 4 years. There is only 1 Trump and his personality is a big part of his  popularity. You wont find another GOP candidate who has Trumps influence and ideas once his term is over

There is lots of unnecessary fearmongering and drama around the long-term and current impact of Trump

Its clear lots things he claimed he was going to do  arent going to happen 

But he will have an impact while he is US president, we just want to curtail his  bad ideas and policies 

[uuuhhii]

4 hours ago, Gorth said:

As bad as all this sounds and as many lives are affected negatively, I take slight comfort in this being for a limited time thing. Either term limits or end of lifespan, whichever comes first will put an end to this. What does scare me is the example it sets for those who eventually follow, especially if there are actually smart people among those vying for absolute power without accountability 

 

it will not end with one life

the thousands of crony still hold powerful position

the 80 million idiot voted for this will vote in someone worse in another 4 year

the damage is beyond unrecoverable

it will deteriorate with time no matter what anyone do

other than nuclear apocalypse nothing can change this trajectory

[Hurlshort]

1 hour ago, uuuhhii said:

 

it will not end with one life

the thousands of crony still hold powerful position

the 80 million idiot voted for this will vote in someone worse in another 4 year

the damage is beyond unrecoverable

it will deteriorate with time no matter what anyone do

other than nuclear apocalypse nothing can change this trajectory

Yeah, except for all those terrible times in history, this is definitely the most terrible time.

[ShadySands]

We just need a giant mutated psychic squid dropped into NYC to unite us

[rjshae]

5 hours ago, BruceVC said:

Yes, as I have maintained from the beginning 

Trump will be gone in 4 years. There is only 1 Trump and his personality is a big part of his  popularity. You wont find another GOP candidate who has Trumps influence and ideas once his term is over

Yes, that is the "best case" scenario. In my mind it depends on what happens with the mid-term elections. If they are fair and represent the majority view, I'll feel more optimistic.