Dennis Bullock

Gerrymandering in an Age of Legislative Obstinacy | RealClearPolicy Gerrymandering is a bane to America’s system of governance at all levels. Gerrymandered districts — purposefully engineered to assure the geographic dominance of faithful party constituencies...

My essay is once again relevant. I am opposed to gerrymandering no matter who's doing it. I propose possible, tho admittedly imperfect, solutions. That said, I support CA's response TX in the short term. Ultimately, only Dems seek to abolish it federally: www.realclearpolicy.com/articles/201...

Second, any argument that the Government’s motion to unseal merits substantial deference is weakened by a host of irregularities with respect to that motion. That motion was not made, nor has it been joined in, by any member of the Government’s trial team—the DOJ lawyers presumably most familiar with the Maxwell case and the broader Epstein-Maxwell investigation. The motion was filed by the DAG alone, without any signatory from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in this District. And it was made under circumstances suggestive of haste rather than reflective deliberation. The motion was three-and-a-half pages in length; there were no supporting materials filed, under seal or otherwise; the motion did not disclose (or reflect awareness of) the summary-witness nature of the Maxwell grand jury testimony; and the motion was made without advance notice to Epstein’s and Maxwell’s victims, a fact which, as reviewed below, has alarmed numerous victims. Only after the Court inquired on that point was notice to victims given. See Dkt. 789; Dkt. 796 at 9. Finally, the Government’s highlighting of the grand jury transcripts did not suggest close familiarity with the Maxwell trial record, because a number of details that it identified as non-public in fact had been testified to during the trial. See note 16, supra.

oops! storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

4.6 Billion Years On, the Sun Is Having a Moment In the past two years, without much notice, solar power has begun to truly transform the world’s energy system.

Globally, roughly a third more power is being generated from the sun this spring than last. If this exponential rate of growth can continue, we will soon live in a very different world, @billmckibben.bsky.social writes.

An image with a black and white background and a Latin American immigrant and a title Schröinger's Immigrant. On the left, it reads, "Lazily collecting all the welfare." On the right, it reads, "But also somehow taking all the jobs."

Alina Habba in Feb: “On Epstein, it’s incredibly disturbing. We have flight logs, info, names that will come out. There were so many names hidden who had not been held accountable. Now it’s time for accountability. I really believe with Kash and Pam there will be accountability.”

(24/24)
Governments don't have rights, they have duties. People have rights. On Independence Day, we must always continue to be wary of those enamored with the efficiency of executive power. Our concept of government is one of service, not rulership.

(23/24)
It's wording: "The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex...." The amendment assumes the right always existed; now that it is acknowledged, government must recognize/enforce it.

(22/24)
The wording in the Constitution affirms the underlying assumption that rights exist, and government is compelled to recognize them. The 19th Amendment is an example that the Constitution does not confer rights.

(21/24)
The Bill of Rights and the Constitution were assumed to only apply to the national government until the end of the Civil War. The 14th Amendment applied the Federal Constitution's list of rights to the states; we have applied that through the courts in myriad ways since.

(20/24)
The 9th Amendment acts as an insurance policy, declaring that the list may not be definitive, so other rights can be assumed to exist. The 10th is about power, & the assumption that powers not already delegated to the national government belong to the states or people.

(19/24)
The first 8 Amendments name as many of the rights that could be thought of at the time. But, they are expressed on the one hand as specific restraints on the government, and on the other as rights the government is responsible for preserving and protecting.

(18/24)
He collected over 200 proposals from across the states, narrowed them to 17 amendments, of which 12 were passed by 2/3 of each house of Congress. Ten were ratified by the states (and another one of the 12 became our 27th Amendment 200 years later).

(17/24)
The Bill of Rights was not authored by the Framers at the convention, but by the first Congress, under the ironic guidance of the Bill of Right's most vehement and vociferous opponent, James Madison.

(16/24)
It also divides those same separated powers in important ways between the national government's responsibilities and to the states for what the federal government is not recognized to be able to do.

(15/24)
legislative - crafting laws deliberatively,

executive - carrying out and enforcing those laws, and

judicial - carrying out trials and interpreting laws and activities as to their adherence to the Constitution.

(14/24)
It assumes government has responsibilities, and it draws out the contours of the powers government has to carry out its responsibilities. Its structure intentionally separates the fundamental powers of government:

(13/24)
Government is duty-bound to recognize, adhere to, and enforce those rights when necessary. As such, the Constitution is a restraint on governmental power more than anything else.

(12/24)
Any Constitution is an architecture for government. It is a mistake to state that our rights are "from" the Constitution.

The US Constitution does not confer rights. Rather, it assumes all people have rights that cannot be arbitrarily violated.

(11/24)
The Preamble to the Constitution confirms that our government is born of the people it serves, and its power emanates from its people. The Preamble lists the government's responsibilities - what it must do and what ends it must serve.

(10/24)
Through such claims, the Declaration justified the revolution: a government that did not acknowledge its people's rights unjustly held the people's power, and was thus invalid. To that end, a political separation by force was justified - and necessary.

(9/24)
According to Locke, all people have the same natural rights by virtue of being born, and governments can only behave in ways that acknowledge those rights for anyone under their governing jurisdiction.

(8/24)
Two-thirds of our Declaration of Independence is a set of grievances about British government failing to recognize and behave in accordance to the colonists' natural rights.

(7/24)
But, unfettered government does not need to recognize rights - the government is seen as the source of all rights, and thus can choose to eliminate rights. That flies in the face of our system.

(6/24)
Diffusing power restrains power, and that is what our system does within the governmental system itself. Yet, humans admire efficiency, and that is why so many admire dictatorship, even when they pay lip service to our system.

(5/24)
That seems attractive to many people because power is uninhibited. Action is swift. But, that's rarely desirable. Power is easier to wield without the need to conflict, which means rights are as easy to prop up as they are to violate.

(4/24)
Governments are inherently powerful. They can aggregate a society’s resources to make things happen, and can prevent other things from being done. When power is centralized, government is efficient.

(3/24)
The cost of wielding power in one area is giving up the will or ability to wield it in some other. No entity is immune from the limitations of choice. But choices reveal priorities, and assumptions about rights.

(2/24)
First, it is important to think about the nature of power. It must be recognized that if something is possible, then power exists - abstractly. The question becomes who is able and willing to wield it.

(1/24)
On this 4th of July, it seems like a good time to remind ourselves of the principles of - and assumptions about - government that undergird our Republic, which are enshrined in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.