To create fairness, our legal system and the federal government have grown increasingly complex. My question is whether the complexity has grown beyond too many people’s capacity to tolerate it. Q: Can democracy survive in America? A: (Spoiler) I don’t know. Can people tolerate this much complexity? I begin with history and facts about our current system because […]
Can Democracy Survive in America? Read More »
The Members of the GOP who Sympathized with the Insurrection and Helped Spread Trump’s Election Lies are now in Control of the House of Representatives In a nutshell, what happened this week in the House was that Kevin McCarthy had difficulty securing enough votes to become Speaker of the House because a small group of
An Insurrection by Any Other Name Read More »
Spoiler: People are evaluating the various Twitter alternatives as separate entities, but if Post.news and Meta’s Threads, follow through with their promise to federate, the way to think of the platforms will be “walled gardens” v. platforms that are connected to the fediverse. If you know what these words mean and how they relate to
Twitter Alternatives: Mastodon, Post.news, Threads, Bluesky, and others Read More »
(Note: Beginning next week, on January 7, I will return to posting each Saturday.) You can read the full January 6 Report here. Introduction I assume you all know the basics about the report contents, but if you’d like a brief overview here you go: The January 6 report, like the televised hearings, are organized around
(Because of holiday plans, this week and next week I will post on Thursday instead of Saturday.) About the title: During Trump’s first impeachment, I was offering summaries and commentaries of the legal documents. I asked my readers what I should call them. My favorite suggestion was “Over the Cliff Notes.” On Monday, the House Select
Over the Cliff Notes: Criminal Referrals for Trump and Others Read More »
First, some housekeeping: For the next two weeks, I will post on Thursday evenings instead of Saturday because of the holidays and my travel plans. “Free Speech Absolutism” Elon Musk abolished Twitter’s moderation policies and allowed “America’s most prominent Nazi,” Andrew Anglin back onto Twitter along with Donald Trump. He declared himself a “free speech absolutist” and said all voices
Elon Musk, Fox News, and Free Speech Absolutism Read More »
Last week Trump expressed solidarity with the insurrectionists and had dinner with two fans of Adolph Hitler. On Sunday, December 4, he announced that the constitution should be “terminated” so that he can be reinstated as president. On Tuesday, the Trump Organization was convicted on all counts of tax fraud. The Republican leadership remained largely silent. One
Disillusioned With Democracy Read More »
This was a good week for the Department of Justice. It was a bad week for Trump and the seditionists. 1. Trump’s Special Master Lawsuit Bites the Dust First, a procedural overview: August 8: The FBI, pursuant to a search warrant, searched Mar-a-Lago and seized boxes of government documents including documents marked classified. August 22:
A Bad Week for Seditionists Read More »
Spoiler: Maybe Musk did us a favor by disrupting Twitter and forcing us to consider better social media alternatives. Warning: This may get gossipy with some of my personal social media anecdotes. I: Social Media Encourages Demagoguery Democracy Needs a Functioning Public Sphere Definition: The public sphere is composed of voluntary associations that promote social cohesion
Curing the Ills of Social Media Read More »
The big news this week was that Merrick Garland appointed veteran prosecutor Jack Smith as Special Prosecutor overseeing the January 6 probe and the investigation into the Mar-a-Lago documents. Garland skeptics celebrated because they understood this was a clear sign that this investigation is leading toward major indictments. If you’ve been reading this blog, you’ve
The Georgia Criminal Case against Trump and his Pals Read More »
I. Reflections on the 2022 Midterms Before the election, we were hit with a barrage of warnings that we were in for a red wave. This was from 538: In fact, as of this writing, the Democrats: Are holding the Senate and may pick up an extra Senate seat, As of tonight, it looks like
Reflections on the Midterms, Arrogant and Entitled White MAGA Men, and more Read More »
This page has been updated, and all the material moved to a new page here.
Mastodon v. Post v. Twitter v. Everything Else Read More »
First, some business. Sometimes I think, “Elon Musk would not drive Twitter into a brick wall.” Other times I think, “OMG Elon Musk is driving Twitter into a brick wall.” I have therefore opened accounts at Mastodon and Counter Social: Counter Social = @Teri_Kanefield Mastodon= @Teri_Kanefield@mstdn.social If you’re trying to decide which to join, it seems
Reflections on the Midterms (and more) Read More »
Politico reported that when Trump announced a rally in Florida with Rubio — but not DeSantis— the “apparent snub” angered some people within DeSantis’ orbit, who complained that it mean fewer people would pay attention to DeSantis. This tells us that even with everything we know about Trump’s lawbreaking and attempted coup, he is still
The Person Putting forward Simplifications Has an Advantage Read More »
When Trump is gone—and one day he will be—another would-be Trump will arise to take his place. We will have a DeSantis or Hawley or Stefanik. If a major political party and half of the American voters want leaders who will defy the laws, you can’t solve the problem by putting all of their leaders
The criminal justice system cannot solve a political problem Read More »