Jen Wunder

Conservative legal luminary Jack Goldsmith points out that Justice Barrett's opinion in the universal injunction case rests on an error: For the purposes of historical analysis, she looked at the wrong statute and got the relevant date wrong by nearly *a century.*
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

You appear to have used AI for your posts, thereby providing readers with incorrect information. Let me help you with that.

Constituents who “engage” with the AI are “engaging” with a computer much the same way they “engage” with an automated phone tree while trying to reach a human who cares.

Russia's Useful Idiom, John Ratcliffe: Lost in Two Translations - emptywheel The July 26 SVR email that discusses framing Hillary Clinton is almost certainly the first of the emails about a plan cited in John Durham's classified annex. And John Ratcliffe may not know this, but...

Russia's Useful Idiom, John Ratcliffe: Lost in Two Translations

www.emptywheel.net/2025/08/05/r...

CALL FOR PAPERS 39th Annual Conference of the Eighteenth-Century Scottish Studies Society at the Annual Meeting of the American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies, 9–11 April 2026, Philadelphia, PA, USA ECSSS celebrates four decades as an affiliate society of the American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies by holding its annual conference with ASECS in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The site will be the centrally located Sheraton Philadelphia Downtown. On this occasion, as in the past, ECSSS will sponsor its own panels at the ASECS meeting. Papers are invited on any aspect of eighteenth-century Scottish history, thought, and culture, but we would particularly encourage proposals for papers and panels relating to the 250th anniversaries of relevant events that occurred in 1776, such as the role of Scots in the American Revolution (especially in regard to Philadelphia), the publication of the Wealth of Nations, and the death of David Hume. Details of the ECSSS-sponsored plenary speaker and the evening reception will follow in due course, along with information on any other aspects of the programme in which ECSSS are involved. Because the programme for the ASECS meeting goes to press at the beginning of October, we have to put together the ECSSS programme by the end of the summer. Please act quickly in order to help us organize the programme in time. Please email a title and brief abstract of your proposed 20-minute paper, along with a one-page CV, to Rachel Bani (rachel.bani@converse.edu) by 10 September 2025. Those submitting proposals for 3- or 4-paper panels should send the panel title and abstract as well as titles and abstracts of the individual papers and CVs of the presenters by the same deadline. Please ensure that any proposal include ‘2026 conference proposal’ in the email subject line.

CFP: 39th Annual Conference of the Eighteenth-Century Scottish Studies Society
9–11 April 2026, Philadelphia, USA

Papers are invited on any aspect of #C18th Scottish history, thought, & culture, especially the notable 250th anniversaries in 2026

Deadline: 10 Sept. Full details in ALT-text

Seems worth pointing out—

“Crypto Now Accounts For Most Of Donald Trump’s Net Worth”

@danalexander21.bsky.social for @forbes.com

Scoop: Brown interviewing campaign managers for Ohio Senate race Brown would be another key candidate recruit win for Senate Democratic leaders.

Scoop: Brown interviewing campaign managers for Ohio Senate race www.axios.com/2025/08/04/s...

I just want teleportation for everyone, everywhere. I mean, is that really too much to ask?

Hold up, NBC. Pike’s been controversial amongst the Freemasons and members of other degrees/societies since he first began disseminating his views. While it’s fair to say *some* Masons have revered him, it’s over-broad and inaccurate to say all or even most “revere” him or respect his views.

Opposition Party Decides to Oppose Today on TAP: Democrats are fighting in Washington and Austin, denying quick victories to authoritarians.

-Schumer wouldn't advance Trump noms without an end to illegal withholding of federal funds,so Senate Rs left town
-Trump couldn't do recess appointments because House Dems would force an Epstein vote if Rs returned to adjourn
-Texas Dems fled the state to deny Rs a quorum
Is our Democrats learning?

Gives me the chance to post one of my favorite newspaper headlines of all time. I used to have the print copy of this pinned to the wall of my cubicle.

The survey details, findings, and drill-down are here: www.kff.org/health-infor...

Party affiliations correlate pretty strongly w/responses, w/folks who identify as Republican most inclined to make bad decisions regarding their health and that of others.

And ~50% of Americans are just clueless.

As you noted upthread, he is well known amongst some circles in American Freemasonry, enough so that I wonder if he was proposed bc someone came across him via Masonic materials? Even if that’s the conduit, though, it’s an odd choice, even for a member of one of the many, many different degrees.

Before Trump took a wrecking ball to the economy, it was projected to perform much better. But, “actual economic growth rate… [is] barely more than half what the Bureau of Economic Analysis had projected in November 2024, while core inflation came in at about a third higher than projections.”

Oof.

‘He has trouble completing a thought’: bizarre public appearances again cast doubt on Trump’s mental acuity Joe Biden was hounded for his age-related gaffes, but Trump’s increasingly strange behavior has largely been ignored

It's pretty notable to me that it's the US branch of the Guardian publishing this. Most of the other big national papers have been notable in their refusal to acknowledge the president's visible senility

Date Middle Kingdom, Ancient Egyptian Collection World Culture Hollow blue faience spherical bead in the form of a curled-up hedgehog with moulded features and black quills: Ancient Egyptian, probably Middle Kingdom, c.1985 - 1650 BC

Academics in August (blue faience spherical bead in the form of a curled-up hedgehog 🦔) Egyptian, c.1985 - 1650 BCE. www.nms.ac.uk/search-our-c...

Yosemite employees worked for weeks with no pay before the government hired them Seasonal employees counting on housing at Yosemite were asked to volunteer for the park while the government was unable to onboard them at the start of the summer.

Seasonal employees counting on housing at Yosemite were asked to volunteer for the park while the government was unable to onboard them at the start of the summer.

US government now adopting Trump’s trick of not paying its employees. While paying others billions to do nothing until their resignation kicks in.

Trump Went to War With the Ivies. Community Colleges Are Being Hit.

the trump administration is selling its war on higher education as a strike against the elites who have disadvantaged ordinary americans. in actuality, the administration is destroying advanced education for *everyone* in pursuit of its effort to deskill the american public

Welcome to Jurassic Pork 🦕🥟🦖
#Delicious #Dinosaur #Dumplings

Yes

They would rather rule a poorer US

Than democratically govern a rich US

When the cryptocurrency entrepreneur Eric Schiermeyer heard that President Trump was holding small group dinners with major donors, he saw opportunity. Mr. Schiermeyer reached out to a lobbyist with connections in Mr. Trump’s orbit, who arranged for him to attend a dinner with the president at his private Mar-a-Lago club on March 1 in exchange for donations to a pro-Trump PAC called MAGA Inc. totaling $1 million. The personal and corporate donations were among dozens of seven- and eight-figure contributions to MAGA Inc. from crypto and other interests revealed in a campaign finance filing on Thursday night that hinted at the access Mr. Trump accords those willing to pay. At the dinner, Mr. Schiermeyer, who had never given a federal political donation before, presented an idea for a cryptocurrency called “U.S.A. Token” that would be distributed to every citizen, according to interviews and a flier he distributed to attendees that sets out details of the proposal. He hoped it could be su

Cryptocurrency interests, which have benefited from the Trump administration’s dismantling of a yearslong government crackdown and from the Trump family’s financial interest in the industry, appear to have been the most generous industry, accounting for nearly $45 million in donations to MAGA Inc.An affiliate of the exchange Crypto.com gave $10 million, while the crypto services company Blockchain.com donated $5 million. The venture capitalists Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, who are heavily invested in crypto, gave $3 million each. Ondo Finance, which has a partnership with the Trump family’s crypto company, donated $2.1 million to MAGA Inc., on top of $1 million to Mr. Trump’s inauguration.

The scale of Trump's pay-for-access scheme outlined by the @nytimes.com is mindblowing. Crypto contributions resulting in business deals with the Trump family crypto businesses, oil companies buying influence and later reaping benefits from friendly policies, and a $1 million pardon.

University sidelines scientist who exposed toxic metals in Lake Maurepas The SELU scientist who discovered alarming levels of toxic chemicals in Lake Maurepas was abruptly removed from her research position without explanation.

A university scientist who discovered alarming levels of toxic chemicals in a lake in southeastern Louisiana was abruptly removed from her research position this week without explanation

I mean. I know presidents paid that 190 for midsize schools in the 10,000-15,000 range, with campus residences, and good gods, No.

Sigh. If only Karl had the wherewithal to actually both read and understand the documents they linked to.

'DOGE lied': Expert floored as blistering report finds Musk team blew billions The Department of Government Efficiency wasn't so efficient after all. In fact, was extraordinarily wasteful, according to a Thursday report by the U.S. Senate's investigations subcommittee.When Elon ...

A Senate report reveals Elon Musk’s DOGE agency burned through $21B in six months. Cost-cutting moves like mass layoffs and axing programs like CFPB and USAID backfired—causing major losses and harsh humanitarian fallout.
www.rawstory.com/doge-2673797...

newspaper cutting of the case detailing that she was charged for being a suspicious person. The highlighted text notes that she wore male attire "so that she could earn much higher wages as a man than she could have done otherwise".

#OnThisDay, 2 Aug 1855, Elizabeth Ann Holman goes on trial in Plymouth, UK, for being a suspicious person because she was discovered to be a woman disguised as a man. The case is dismissed. As is a second charge against her in 1858.

#WomenInHistory #OTD #History #WomensHistory #BritishHistory 🗃️

Just so we’re clear, the proposed White House ballroom will cost about half CPB’s annual budget.

Trump fired the Commissioner of Labor Statistics by tweet just now, in case you're wondering about how reliable job numbers might be getting over the next 3.5 years

Ghislaine Maxwell quietly moved to cushy new Texas prison as she pushes for deal to tell-all on Epstein, his associates Ghislaine Maxwell has quietly been moved to a far more favorable Texas prison camp as she hashes a possible deal to divulge secrets about her sex-crimes accomplice Jeffrey Epstein.

Trump transfers Ghislaine from Florida to cush Texas club fed camp as initial inducement to exonerate Trump as negotiation for pardon/commutation continues nypost.com/2025/08/01/u...

Today, Prof Michele Dougherty CBE FRS FRAS became the first woman appointed Astronomer Royal in the UK.

238 yrs ago, in 1787, the German astronomer Caroline Herschel became the first woman to receive a salary as a scientist.

More in the latest in our Now and Then series...