Do I Look like a “Radical Left Lunatic” Vandal?

Source: JimBovard.com
by James Bovard

“I blundered on Saturday by failing to check the latest updated terrorist profile before visiting Washington, DC. How was I to know that National Guard troops would be on the lookout for 60ish bicyclists who are too damn curious about algae? I went riding around downtown Washington to check the latest Trump administration efforts to make Washington ‘safe and beautiful’ for the 250th birthday celebration next month. … I wanted to see the Reflecting Pool that President Trump boasted was twice as long as the Empire State building—except that the pool is flat. Arriving at the Pool, I was stunned to discover that that waterway was almost as heavily militarized as the Strait of Hormuz. National Guard troops swarmed the scene. The heavy troop presence reminded me of what I saw on the streets of East Berlin in 1986.” (06/24/26)

https://jimbovard.com/blog/2026/06/24/do-i-look-like-a-radical-left-lunatic-vandal/

Thomas L. Knapp

GOP Claims of “Massive Fraud” Imply the Musk is a Moron

Source: CounterPunch
by Dean Baker

“Remember Elon Musk running around in his DOGE garb with sunglasses and a chainsaw? The Republicans are hoping that you don’t. The ostensible point of Musk’s ‘Department of Government Efficiency’ was rooting out trillions of dollars of government waste, fraud, and abuse. Musk gathered together a group of “super-high-IQ” MAGA boys who worked 80 hours a week ransacking all the various government agencies and departments in this effort. … when Tennessee Senator Marsha Blackburn claimed a few months back that 12 million people were fraudulently added to the exchange created by the Affordable Care Act, she was claiming that Elon Musk and his super-high IQ boys were too incompetent to find 12 million fraudulent enrollees. That is roughly half of all the people on the exchanges.” (06/25/26)

https://www.counterpunch.org/2026/06/25/gop-claims-of-massive-fraud-imply-the-musk-is-a-moron/

Thomas L. Knapp

OH: DeWine vetoes bill requiring photo ID for mail voting

Source: SFGate

“Gov. Mike DeWine has vetoed a new Republican-passed bill that would have required Ohioans to show a photo ID to vote by mail. DeWine announced late Wednesday that he had vetoed House Bill 472, which expanded the strict photo ID requirement Ohio has had for voting since 2023. The Republican governor issued an unusually lengthy statement explaining his decision. He said the requirement would pose an unwieldy challenge for voters without providing any real benefit. ‘This bill is not needed, because Ohio does an excellent job running elections,’ DeWine said. ‘We know who wins on election night and not weeks later!’ In vetoing the bill, DeWine noted complaints from bipartisan elections officials, who said lawmakers passed the bill too quickly during a busy legislative session earlier this month, as well as from the Ohio chapter of the American Association of Retired Persons.” (06/25/26)

https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/dewine-vetoes-bill-requiring-photo-id-for-mail-22320527.php

Steve Trinward

The Easy Originalist Case for Birthright Citizenship

Source: Checks & Balances
by Evan Bernick

“Most constitutional questions that reach the Supreme Court are difficult. But there’s an exception to every rule. The birthright citizenship case, Trump v. Barbara is an easy one—especially if one cares about the original meaning of the Fourteenth Amendment. Donald Trump’s executive order purporting to end birthright citizenship for the children of temporary visitors and unlawful entrants defies the original public meaning and function of the Citizenship Clause – its letter and spirit. A decision to uphold it would discredit originalism, which has always been advertised as a distinctively powerful means of keeping judges faithful to the law of the land.” (06/24/26)

https://chkbal.substack.com/p/the-easy-originalist-case-for-birthright

Thomas L. Knapp

The SAVE Act Comes for Everything

Source: The American Prospect
by David Dayen

“Donald Trump has found a way to soothe Democratic fears that Republicans in Congress will continue to savage the poor, funnel money to the rich, and make the nation safe for corporate dominion. He’s effectively shut down Congress until it passes an unpassable bill. Trump is demanding that the SAVE America Act (a voter suppression bill he thinks will save his hide in the midterms) reach his desk first before he’ll take care of any other congressional business. First it was Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, the warrantless spying program that the intelligence hawks were poised to ram through again until Trump said SAVE had to be attached. Then a signing ceremony for the ROAD to Housing Act, a bipartisan agreement that passed with over 90 percent of Congress in both chambers, was abruptly canceled Wednesday because Trump asked for SAVE first.” (06/25/26)

https://prospect.org/2026/06/25/trump-save-act-housing-bill-congress-republicans/

Steve Trinward

Steiner: US Snail will violate 18 US Code § 1702 to help Trump rig midterms

Source: Politico

“The U.S.’[s] chief mailman told lawmakers Wednesday that his agency would restrict the delivery of mail-in ballots in states that don’t hand over a list of eligible voters, in line with proposed rules ordered by President Donald Trump. Postmaster General David Steiner dismissed Senate Democrats’ concerns that the floated regulations are an attempt by Trump to federalize elections, instead characterizing the proposal as an assurance that ‘the right ballots are going to the right people’ during an appearance before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.” [editor’s note: Per 18 US Code § 1702, “Whoever takes any letter, postal card, or package … before it has been delivered to the person to whom it was directed, with design to obstruct the correspondence … shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.” – TLK] (06/24/26)

https://www.politico.com/news/2026/06/24/usps-mail-in-voting-state-voter-rolls-00974142

Thomas L. Knapp