Immediately after the Supreme Court's ruling at the beginning of July last year, this page said,

"But now, this Court has bestowed immunity on the one potential president most likely to commit illegal acts."

Sure enough, Donald Trump has gone on to break so many laws it has become difficult to count. That this citizen, no law degree, writing the above from way west in North Carolina, foresaw what would obviously happen and the chief justice did not, makes him a fool. Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the opinion and engineered the 6-3 decision and now will reap what he has sown when Trump commits the ultimate crime of refusing to abide by a Court decision. The Court has tied its own hands by giving Trump the immunity to do so.

And Trump is grateful. After the joint session of Congress last month, he stepped off the stage to shake Roberts's hand saying, "Thank you , thank you, I won't forget it." (He later claimed that he was thanking Roberts for swearing him in on Inauguration Day. Sure. We're that dimwitted, he thinks).

It may be that it is dawning on the justices, who surely follow the lawless conduct of the new administration, that "they're not any safer from the chainsaw than the rest of us", as Heather Digby Parton writes at Salon.

D.C. District Court James Boasberg's requirement that the plane carrying members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua and of MS-13 be returned to the U.S. and the Justice Department's refusal to cooperate is like to be the first case for the Supreme Court to deal with. The desirability of expelling immigrant gang members is undisputed, but our country prefers constitutional due process that at least determines that they are actual members of those gangs and not… Read More »

Donald Trump is incessantly irate at Democrats and liberal media for probing his ties and flattering deference to Vladimir Putin, calling it a “Russia, Russia, Russia” obsession and a hoax. In office a little over a month, let’s see what transpired:

  Vice President JD Vance went to the Munich Security Conference to tell European governments that their greatest threat was not Russia but “from within” – their migrant problem and curtailment of free speech that shuts out extremist rightwing parties such as AfD.

  Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told a Brussels meeting of almost 50 of
Rob Dobi, Washington Post.

Ukraine’s Western backers that a return to Ukraine’s pre-war borders was “unrealistic,” that NATO membership for Kyiv was off the table, and that…

"We're also here today to directly and unambiguously express that stark strategic realities prevent the United States of America from being primarily focused on the security of Europe.”

It was a thunderclap, a reversal of 80 years of American policy in a single stroke.

  Hegseth further announced the halt of offensive cyberoperations against Russia by U.S. Cyber Command, notwithstanding Russia’s continuing cyber activity against the U.S.

  Trump called Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy “a dictator” and said it was Ukraine that started the war.

  The U.S. delegation to the United Nations followed up by voting against a resolution condemning Russia for its aggression against Ukraine. America thus took Russia’s side and joined North Korea, Belarus, Israel (yes, Israel), fourteen other countries in Russia’s orbit, and of course Russia.

  In an Oval Office meeting that played like the ambush it surely was, Trump and Vance attacked Zelenskyy, accusing him of not being sufficiently grateful for U.S. support.

  For Zelenskyy’s not being respectful enough, Trump “paused” any further shipments of weapons to Ukraine, creating an opening for Russia to gain more ground.

  In a deadly betrayal, Trump then denied the intel we've always provided to help Ukraine down incoming Russian missiles, resulting in Putin going all out to kill the civilian population.

So it’s finally out in the open. In actions he has directed, Trump has confirmed that it really was and continues to be Russia, Russia, Russia. On his own, without any referendum or “mandate”… Read More »

Days ago the House came forth with a budget resolution that makes clear that Republicans have no concern at all for the nation’s future. Given how subservient Speaker Mike Johnson is to President Trump, we can be sure that the House plan is closely aligned with the president’s often expressed desires. Trump bellowed on Truth Social,

"We need both Chambers to pass the House Budget to ‘kickstart’ the Reconciliation process, and move all of our priorities to the concept of, 'ONE BIG BEAUTIFUL BILL.'”

With the country flying past $36 trillion in debt, Trump plans still more tax cuts, beyond extending his 2017 cuts, which will be the fourth set in this quarter century, all by Republican administrations.
The House resolution obliges Trump by deliberately allowing for cuts costing an alarming $4.5 trillion over the decade to come.

Money in the budget cannot be found to backfill that bunker busting crater, and the plan hasn’t figured out where to start. Johnson has simply directed the various committees to come up with $1.5 to $2.0 trillion in savings across the next ten years. Even if that were somehow possible, it still leaves as much as a $3 trillion shortfall. And, by the way, committees, stay clear of defense because, to make your task a bit more difficult, the House is voting for an added $100 billion, up from this year’s $849.9 billion defense budget.

Most significantly, the Energy and Commerce Committee, which handles health care spending, is asked to cut $880 billion over the decade and that unmistakably takes aim at Medicaid at least. Trump has vowed many times over that Social Security and Medicare will… Read More »