Jack Smith today moved to dismiss federal criminal cases against Donald Trump, cases meant to hold Trump accountable for his efforts to overturn the 2020 U.S. Presidential Elections and for his mishandling of classified documents. Smith is deferring, not to the scandalous Presidential immunity decision handed down by the

We have to read news and commentary quite selectively these days. In both, reliability is essential. But we also need to avoid overwhelming ourselves. Here are three items I recommend. (Publication links go to archived web pages. No paywalls.) “Pam Bondi’s road from Four Seasons Total Landscaping to AG

I spent today unwinding, catching up on life administration, meditating, knitting, and thinking. The thinking was meandering, creative, and constructive. Confronting the state of law, politics, and government in the U.S. is going to call for more days like this. It can be very hard to slow down and

I woke up today thinking about how fascists don’t always call themselves fascists. The Republican Party today is no different in this respect from the fascist National Socialist German Workers’ Party (Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei ) of 1920-45. In Italy, in contrast, the fascist party of the same period called itself,

There are political and legal commentators who I read and learn from. Some, like Dahlia Lithwick of Slate and Anne Applebaum of the Atlantic, have written edifying, if absolutely alarming, pieces since November 5, 2024. But for the most part, commentary isn’t what we need now. We do need

In the aftermath of the 2024 U.S. elections, I’m trying to develop and strengthen habits and practices that help me maintain an even keel and to prepare for the Trump regime. Here is what worked for me over the weekend, in no particular order. A long, somewhat challenging

I began my public online presence in 2007 with a small blog intended to keep interested friends about the volunteer travel I was doing for Hillary Clinton's primary run. That blog gained more notice than I ever could have anticipated, and I kept it going for a number