Danny Blinderman

“No money shall be drawn from the treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law.”

If you haven't already, you have to listen to "The Age of Napoleon"--a fantastic podcast series on his life and career.

the idea that you could just pass specific bills on specific areas with simple majorities is just beyond the ability and comprehension of most lawmakers in congress it seems

ICE detains Des Moines Superintendent Dr. Ian Roberts Iowa's largest school district had "no confirmed information" on why ICE detained Dr. Ian Roberts, the superintendent since 2023.

Breaking news from Des Moines: ICE has detained Dr. Ian Roberts, the superintendent of Iowa's largest school district.
The Des Moines Public Schools said "We have no confirmed information as to why Dr. Roberts is being detained or the next potential steps."
www.bleedingheartland.com/2025/09/26/i...

Transcript from the age of napoleon podcast

Napoleon: Conquerer, Statesman, and, according to Goethe, A Pleasure to Have In Class

Via the Age of Napoleon podcast, episode 114 "The Limits of Power".

Sen. Ruben Gallego: "Ashli Babbitt was a traitor. She was a traitor to this country. She was part of a violent mob that tried to overthrow our democracy...She didn't die protecting our country. She died trying to turn it down...She wasn't a martyr. She was and is a traitor."

Biden did not literally sell the office, as Trump is doing, but he definitely conceptualized it as belonging to him--as his to keep or give away.

Personalizing this sort of decision, as Biden and his inner circle tried to do, is a symptom of believing that you own the office, rather than it being a trust borrowed and earned from
The people by a party and movement.

Photo of press interviewing Annemarie Gray and Amit Bagga in a hallway

WE WON!!!! @BOENYC just voted UNANIMOUSLY to approve the 4 housing ballot questions!!!

Thanks to hundreds of calls and emails from Open New York members, these historic housing questions will be put to voters—and they’re going to pass.

Mamdani Holds Huge Lead in Mayor’s Race, Times/Siena Poll Finds

New NYT/Siena poll of the NYC mayoral race has-

*Mamdani: 46%
*Cuomo: 24%
*Sliwa: 15%
*Adams: 9%

www.nytimes.com/2025/09/09/n...

Pretty clear at this point that, while the district and circuit courts are functioning in a modestly normal/healthy way, the Supreme Court is fully captured and is simply an extension of the Trump administration.

Biden opposing reform and/or expansion of the Supreme Court is going to cast a long, long shadow.

RIP, Humphrey’s Executor.

I didn’t know a single justice, acting alone, could ignore precedent, but I guess I just lack the imaginative gutlessness of John Roberts.

Testing Marx: Capital Accumulation, Income Inequality, and Socialism in Late Nineteenth-Century Germany Abstract. We study the dynamics of capital accumulation, income inequality, capital concentration, and voting up to 1914. Based on new panel data for Prussian regions, we reevaluate the famous revisio...

Incredible. The authors actually tried to empirically test who was right in the debates between Orthodox Marxists and Bernstein's revisionists!
direct.mit.edu/rest/article...

A lot about Zohran's campaign is new and innovative, but plenty of what has made it successful is not losing sight of the tried and true fundamentals. It is the combination of the two that makes the campaign so impressive.

What's funny is at the time I thought that *Brady* was the one trying to hang on too long in a way that would tarnish his legacy, but the opposite has very much happened!

Topher Spiro & @TopherSpiro X.com Agree with @ezraklein: Democrats must not be party to a government funding bill that does not meet key demands. As a former OMB official, here's what Democrats could demand: Opinion | Stop Funding Trump's Takeover From nytimes.com 10:26 AM • 9/7/25 • 3.3K Views

Topher Spiro & @TopherSpiro • 1h 9 ... 1. Restore Medicaid cuts, or increase other Medicaid funding, so that no one loses Medicaid coverage (as certified by CBO). 172 0 5 ill 401企 Topher Spiro & @TopherSpiro • 1h Democrats have the upper hand politically on this. And this demand leaves a lot of flexibility for negotiation, while fulfilling a core, popular principle. . ... 11 08 il1 345只 Topher Spiro & @TopherSpiro • 1h 2. An iron-clad requirement to spend congressionally-appropriated funds. 09 ill 333只企 Topher Spiro & @TopherSpiro • 1h .... The Impoundment Control Act (ICA) already prohibits the president from withholding funds. The problem is judicial enforcement is too slow. il1 315只企 Topher Spiro @@TopherSpiro •1h Amend the ICA to give the appropriations committees (chair or ranking member) an express cause of action to bring an action in federal district court to enforce the ICA. 9 ...

Topher Spiro @TopherSpiro • 1h Require the court to hold a hearing and issue a ruling within 30 days, and allow for direct appeal to the Supreme Court within 10 days. セマ Ill 374 贝 Topher Spiro @TopherSpiro •1h In addition, make the OMB Director personally liable (civil penalty up to $50,000) for withholding funds. 172 il1 381贝企 Topher Spiro & @TopherSpiro • 1h g... Ban "pocket rescissions." Under the ICA, the president can propose rescissions (cancellation of funds) and withhold the funds for 45 days; but if the proposal is transmitted <45 days from the expiration of funds, the funds will expire! This is a pocket rescission. 17 ill 859工 Topher Spiro & @TopherSpiro • 1h 3. Provide for fast-track congressional review of tariffs that increase prices for consumers (as determined by the CBO). This can be modeled after the Congressional Review Act (i.e., disapproval can't be filibustered).

Topher Spiro @@TopherSpiro •34m 4. Require insurance coverage of all vaccines recommended by the CDC as of September 1, 2025. Parents and doctors must retain choice. E71 il1 840贝工 Topher Spiro &@TopherSpiro • 12m 5. Provide funding for states and localities to hire and train local police officers, and prohibit the president from deploying the National Guard for local law enforcement purposes.

Interesting shutdown politics thread by health policy expert and former OMB official Topher Spiro.

It's incredibly weird that folks have convinced themselves that the Covid vaccines - which had an ~82^% take up rate - were unpopular.

Louis Philippe, King of the French 1830-1848. Came to power after the July Revolution of 1830. Overthrown by the February revolution in 1848

Also, it isn't going to work. People have phones! If there are protests or booing, someone will record it and post it online.

Another example of civil society censoring itself, creating a simulacrum of normality when things are not normal

Congress was supposed to be the sovereign branch! The president was envisioned as basically the chief clerk, charged with executing congressional mandates. The courts were, and are, a creation of congress via the judiciary act of 1789.

Media elites, they're days defined by an imperial presidency and overbearing high court, are starting to forget that congress *ever* played a central governing role.

More and more people are saying that Thaddeus Stevens was right.

The logic endpoint of a servile, cowardly legislature is an imperial presidency.

I would sincerely like to hear from labor leaders who have been tariff sympathetic about whether these numbers might change their minds.

This has been a fairly consistent finding from studies of European politics for years now. It should give pause, I think, to people who want the Democratic Party to run to the right on the issue.

N.Y.C. Elections Board May Block Ballot Proposals on Housing

This would be an outrageous abuse of the Board of Elections role in order to override the democratic process.

Yaroslav Trofimov on X: "Quite a hot mic moment on CCTV in Beijing today as Putin and Xi, both 72 years old, are caught casually talking about living to 150 and maybe forever thanks to organ transplants. (As picked up by Bloomberg.) https://t.co/kC4VTRaobq" / X Quite a hot mic moment on CCTV in Beijing today as Putin and Xi, both 72 years old, are caught casually talking about living to 150 and maybe forever thanks to organ transplants. (As picked up by Bloomberg.) https://t.co/kC4VTRaobq

Nice to know where we are in our current season of Revolutions. Vernon Byrd makes an appearance @mikeduncan.bsky.social
x.com/yarotrof/sta...

Relatedly, the fact that Schmitt's speech, and any reply, will likely be given in some windowless ballroom rented out by some dark money non-profit, rather than on the floor of congress, is one more barometer for the decline of congress as an institution.