James Fallows

Opinion | I was a red state governor. What I saw at Harvard surprised me. The spirit of association remains alive in unexpected places.

Column worth reading, by former two-term GOP governor who discovers that Harvard is not the hellscape of intolerance and group-think that the MAGA and its media are constantly telling him about.

(Think of parallels in so many other realms.)

www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...

His father did.

Interesting. I have only had blood drawn from my arm, on the inboard side of the elbow joint.

(Including when we lived in China, where standard practice is *not* to use those elastic straps to make your veins more prominent. And I was getting weekly draws, for calcium levels. Fun times.)

Actual question, for medical professionals:

If you need to be hooked up for regular IVs, why not in your arm? Or some place that, except for your face and neck, is the most unavoidably visible part of your body?

Not snarky; just wondering why it couldn't be in arm, leg, abdo, etc.

This line in the Trump administration National Security Strategy is explicit pro-white prejudice as policy www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/u...

The Cruelty Is the Point (™Adam Serwer).

How can it *possibly* bother a grown-up person that someone else has chosen a different path?

I can understand, though I strongly disagree with, anti-abortion rights fervor. But this? How does it hurt anyone else? Jeesh.

And not Navarro?

Where is the justice....

I have reason to believe that several of the "reasonable" ones live exclusively within the right-wing infosphere.

2/2

Once, in recent years, I had occasion to sit *immediately* behind John Roberts, like 18 inches directly behind him, at a ceremony. When it was over he was instantly whisked away, before I could ask, or say: WTF???

I agree. This is "actually" important.

Can't at the moment think of any episode in my (long) journalistic experience of comparable interference with results.

(George Will sharing debate notes with Bush campaign microscopic, by comparison.)

John Roberts has been a GOP operative, in "institutionalist" clothing, through all of his career.

Chapter and verse, here: www.harvardmagazine.com/legal/suprem...

He was on GWBush team during the 2000 Florida recount battles.

Think: Mike Johnson, with Harvard vs LSU pedigree.

You're in the sprightly class of '71, right? Actuarially I think I am in your group. And planning to be there with Deb this coming summer... Inshallah.

Actual question: When did the Dems last have a "unified gov" that included the Court?

Democrats Need to Treat the Supreme Court Like the Villain It Is The Court is out of control, and we'll never see reform unless we build the case for it. Starting now.

Democrats need to lay the groundwork for reform by attacking the villains on the Supreme Court - loudly, angrily, personally, relentlessly. And they should start now.

paulwaldman.substack.com/p/democrats-...

Every legal story now is either

Ancient Circuit Judge Delivers Crystal Clear 100 Page Rebuke To Trumpist Overreach

or

In Unsigned Shadow Docket Decision, 6-3 Majority Declares Trump Can Hunt People For Sport

I am not a "China expert," though lived there for four years.

BL has no known expertise about the place.

Yes, the Supreme Court has failed to protect us from Trump. But it’s worse than that: The Supreme Court is imposing its own fascism. It invented presidential immunity. It has gutted the Voting Rights Act, passed by a bipartisan Congress. It’s as bad as Trump, and moving in the same direction.

I've posted this a million times, but here is the million-and-first:

In 2000, these people were all on GW Bush's "Florida Recount" team:
- John "Just Calling Balls and Strikes" Roberts
- Brett "Roe is 'Settled Law' " Kavanaugh
- Amy "Confirmed 1 week before election" Barrett

In 2025 ... they rule

2/2

I am really old. (Though still younger than all US prez except Obama.)

But not *within my lifetime* has a Democratic president appointed a Chief Justice of Supreme Court.

The most recent one was almost *eighty* years ago — Fred Vinson, appointed by Harry Truman, in 1946. Before my time.

It will probably make you feel better to know that Roberts, Kavanaugh, and Barrett were all part of GWB's "Florida Recount" team in 2000. (And that Gorsuch has Merrick Garland's seat.)

Dem gov in NC. We'll see.

There is no reason to be polite or decorous about this any more.

The current Supreme Court is corrupt.

US democracy cannot survive unless it is reformed.

California: See if you can grind out any more Dem seats.

VA / NC / MD / NY: Do your part.

I can only have one. (Scottish provisions, via my mother, are surprisingly tough.)

All four of my wife's grandparents were immigs from what is now Czech Repub/"Czechia." But because *when they emigrated* it was still part of "Austria-Hungary," she can't get Czech passport.

We're all in, as Yanks.

Yup. The nightmare that has haunted John Roberts.

He wanted to be remembered as one of the great Chief Justices.

He has now displaced Roger Taney as the worst.

2/2

To say this for the 50th time, for anyone who doesn't know:

Three young conservative lawyers were part of the GOP "Florida recount" team that led to GWB becoming president, via Bush-v-Gore.

They were: John Roberts. Brett Kavanaugh. Amy Coney Barrett.

Small world.

I mean, in notoriety.

The current Supreme Court has forfeited all legitimacy.

Democrats (and everyone) need to address that reality.

John Roberts > Roger Taney.

Court needs to expand. And have fixed terms—like *every* other supreme court in developed world. And have ethics rules, like all normal organizations.

People of Virginia:

Go ahead with the 10-1 Dem-Rep gerrymander of your commonwealth.

It's the only fair thing to do. It's your duty to history.

(My home state of Calif pioneered non-partisan re-districting commissions, but that was then.)

Top Virginia lawmaker delivers cryptic retaliation threat as TX GOP maps get green light A top Virginia lawmaker uncorked an eyebrow-raising response after the conservative-leaning Supreme Court issued an unsigned order Thursday night allowing Texas to use a Trump-backed redrawn congressi...

Virginia's Democratic Senate leader Louise Lucas answers SCOTUS' biased Texas gerrymander with her own promise: '10-1.' Virginia is currently 6-6.
www.rawstory.com/texas-suprem...