JohnC

Witkoff Discusses Ukraine Plans With Key Putin Aide: Transcript The following is a transcript of an Oct. 14 phone call lasting just over 5 minutes between Steve Witkoff, Donald Trump’s special envoy for peace missions, and Yuri Ushakov, Vladimir Putin’s most senio...

EXCLUSIVE: US presidential envoy Steve Witkoff advised Russia on how to pitch Ukraine plans to Trump, in audio files reviewed by Bloomberg

Witkoff has got to go.
www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Yikes.

(via @steverattner.bsky.social)

BRIAN HAGEDORN, J. (concurring). The Wisconsin Supreme Court is composed of seven justices who are supposed to be members of the same team. Unlike trial courts, when we act, we do so collectively. To accomplish this, over the last 175 years, this court has established various practices and traditions, both formal and informal. These practices ensure all voices are heard, create clear lines of decision-making authority, and establish consistent and neutral processes to govern our case-deciding and administrative work. Some of these are reflected in formally adopted Supreme Court Rules, and some in our Internal Operating Procedures. But the true currency of a court like ours is trust. When trust is broken like it has been here, every aspect of our work suffers. ¶2 This all began in the summer of 2023 when four justices wished to make significant changes to how this court functions. Fair enough. These modifications could have been pursued through a process built on collegiality and mutual respect. Instead, my colleagues pursued a more destructive path. ¶3 The morning our then-newest justice was sworn into office——August 1, 2023——my four colleagues at that time set off to reshape our court and the operation of the court system. They had apparently engaged in significant discussions in the months prior and decided to force through these changes during our summer recess, and to do so via email with or without the input of their other colleagues. They issued a press release triumphantly announcing that these changes were all about transparency, accountability, and inclusivity. This was true in the same way

Pearl Harbor was a strike for peace in the Pacific. I will not rehash every detail (Justice Ziegler's excellent writing recounts much of the history), but the reader deserves a taste. ¶4 The first shot sounded when my four colleagues fired the Director of State Courts, who functions as the CEO of administrative matters for the entire judicial branch. Without following any established process, one of my colleagues sent an email proposing that we fire our Director and install a new, preselected interim Director in his place. This happened through email, over the course of two business days, while the Director was out of town on state business, during our summer recess. He never received a performance review indicating concerns; he was simply told his employment was over. This came just months after some of these same colleagues emphasized the importance of having all justices participate in hiring key staff. ¶5 Later that same week, my colleagues proposed dramatic changes via email affecting both our case-deciding and administrative responsibilities. The email invited justices to attend a new, unscheduled meeting of the court later that week to discuss the proposals. One justice said she could not be there; another objected to the meeting as outside our court calendar. The meeting would go forward no matter what, we were told. I implored my colleagues to reconsider, to treat their fellow colleagues with the respect they would want if circumstances were reversed. They refused. The meeting went on as expected, and with only four members present, they voted to fundamentally remake our court.

¶7 Among their changes, my colleagues radically altered the role of the chief justice. They created a new, three-person administrative committee (on which the chief justice would ostensibly sit) to take over nearly all of the chief justice's most important administrative duties. And they did so in the face of serious objections that these changes violated the Wisconsin Constitution, which says the chief justice "shall be the administrative head of the judicial system." Wis. Const. art. VII, § 4. One justice who in the past championed the constitutional role of the chief justice suddenly changed course. Again, these actions stripping the chief justice of powers she had exercised for as long as anyone could remember were proposed via email, and were voted on a few days later during an unscheduled meeting of just four justices during our summer recess. Not exactly transparent, accountable, and inclusive. ¶8 Another significant series of amendments to our internal rules involved modifying the way we consider certain kinds of cases, essentially making it much easier for this court to expedite cases coming to us outside the normal appeals process. Why the change? As everyone understood, my colleagues had the not-sosecret goal of swiftly hearing particular politically charged cases. This was all by design. ¶9 And how did this experiment go? Not well. Administratively, it was not clear who was in charge. We experienced significant breakdowns in communication amidst a lack of clarity about who was doing what. Our staff was often caught in the middle of a court that did not have established lines of

communication and authority. And when the Director of State Courts was unceremoniously fired for what many perceived as political reasons, it sent a shockwave through the system. Furthermore, my colleagues' changes were not one and done. Throughout the past two years, they continued to modify the court's procedures in a similar ad-hoc fashion, often after realizing problems with their earlier ill-considered changes. This only added to the confusion. ¶10 Finally, at one of the court's internal conferences this past June, my colleagues shifted course. One of the four announced she was "withdrawing" her prior votes from the past two years (which, by the way, is not a thing) with the idea that every disputed change was now, all of a sudden, reversed. What changed? Again, it was no mystery. My colleagues wanted to take power away from then-Chief Justice Annette Ziegler. Such a move ensured that my colleagues would run the court through the administrative committee. Following the April 2025 election, they concluded they would have the votes to elect a chief justice of their choosing and have a block of votes to support her, so they no longer needed to seize those powers. This is not a cynical take. It is exactly what happened. ¶11 What's past is past, however. I have no desire to hold this against my colleagues, and I am grateful they have changed course. In fact, I was happy to work collaboratively on many operational changes reflected in this order, most of which I

When liberals secured a majority on the Wisconsin Supreme Court in 2023, they changed internal procedures—over the objection of the conservative chief justice, who claimed they were taking away her power. Today the justices released MESSY details about the affair...
www.wicourts.gov/sc/rulhear/D...

one of the coolest things about ChatGPT is how you can actually just never use it. you can fill your whole entire life with simply not once using it. it's incredible.

Pete Hegseth eyes investigation into Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly over 'illegal orders' post Pete Hegseth eyes baseless investigation into Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly In response to a video warning troops not to follow illegal orders, the Trump administration's hyper-aggressive response has gone from bad to worse.

As Hegseth advances an investigation into Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly, remember:

- Kelly didn’t do anything wrong
- This sends an unsubtle signal to active-duty servicemembers
- With Jan 6 in mind, Team Trump shouldn’t be so casual about throwing around the word “sedition” www.ms.now/rachel-maddo...

Its name was RICO it was a statute
and while there used to be a bar
it could only sink so far

Bluesky needs a 'saved draft' folder. Too many bangers get deleted because I don't want to hit publish...just yet. Need a place to keep 'em on ice until it makes sense to unleash to the world.

"Scoop: Dems eye ranked-choice voting for primaries" #ELB Axios: Democratic politicians and activists are quietly lobbying to upend the way the party picks its presidential nominee by urging the use of ranked-choice voting. Driving the news: Democratic Natio...

“Scoop: Dems eye ranked-choice voting for primaries” electionlawblog.org?p=153200

This is all John Roberts’ fault Trump owes his corrupt and abusive reign to one man.

"The Roberts court has spent Trump’s second term not applying the law so much as clearing it out of his way." 🎯

YouTube video by Vinyl From The Crates Andrea Martin - Most Depressing Songs (Canada, 1981)

youtu.be/x7nFIpLp6Gk?...

It’s time for Austria’s Krampus Parades 🖤

Major insurers have recently sought permission from US regulators to offer policies excluding liabilities tied to businesses deploying AI chatbots and agents (Financial Times)

Main Link | Techmeme Permalink

According to insurance companies, AI is like if the entire business world decided to make their office buildings out of unexploded munitions.

🫂

YouTube video by BumCustard Jurrasic Bark Ending.

youtu.be/AK3PWHxoT_E?...

The oldest brewing school in the U.S. is leaving Chicago for Canada, citing Trump visa restrictions. blockclubchi.co/4oaLGmn

A movie that takes place where you are from. (also Risky Business, Ferris Bueller's Day Off)

Sarah Hurwitz Profanes the Holocaust Holocaust education has worked too well for the Obama speechwriter, since when she rationalizes Israel's genocide, "I sound obscene." Maybe sit with that, Sarah

www.forever-wars.com/sarah-hurwit...

Case in point:

Black and white photo of James Boggs, wearing a light-colored sweater, seated with his forehead resting in his hand.

"If the black revolt does not succeed... Americans are going to discover what it is like to live as the black man has been living all these years, in constant terror of violence from the mob & from the police, never certain what rights he can exercise under the law & under the Constitution."

The exceptional physical quality of paper currency is real. Happy to hear that you didn’t lose the value.

'Why won't you help me?' Pregnant women and their babies are dying in jail Dozens of pregnant women locked up in county jails described excruciating pain, saying their cries for help were ignored as they miscarried or gave birth into cell toilets or on filthy jail floors.

Big, yearlong investigation from @NBCNews.com landed today:

"Dozens of pregnant women locked up in county jails described excruciating pain, saying their cries for help were ignored as they miscarried or gave birth into cell toilets or on filthy jail floors."

www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...

the only way we can do that is if we have leaders who can play multiple roles - who can offer the nation the avenging angel we need, and purge the actual evil, and who can then pivot to being a dull, boring beaureacrat who says the time of indulging our desires of revenge is over. not too soon.

we need a revitalization of our country through righteous moral condemnation of evil and protection of the weak from the strong. we need someone to take from the rich and give to the poor and we need to give people a feeling of catharsis. and then we need things to calm down.

"I chose to have faith people can be better" so do I. But that faith is rooted in the knowledge that politicians can use coalition politics and convenient just-so stories to placate the hatred of the common person long enough to achieve durable coalitions, not that people are magically nice

The Stock Market Is Not a Bubble, It’s Just a Clear, Hollow Orb That Is Rapidly Expanding Calm down, Chicken Little. The stock market is not a bubble. Just because it’s a thin sphere of liquid that expands every second of every day doesn...

"Maybe you need to get your eyes checked. Not every air-filled spherical cavity is a bubble. That happens all the time in nature for all sorts of reasons. In this particular case, it’s because the American economy is 100 percent healthy and has no underlying issues."

Reuters has confirmed that President Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner and his special envoy Steve Witkoff held a private meeting in Miami with a sanctioned Kremlin proxy to help shape the new "peace plan" for Ukraine. www.reuters.com/world/europe...

really, not just the liberal media, but the "liberal establishment", to the extent such a thing can be meaningfully articulated; as with so many understandings of elite vs. everyone else, the margins blur & the opportunities for exploitation by bad actors are pervasive

The Nuzzi story is in this sense the Epstein story, & the J6 story, & the Supreme Court protests story, & the Palestine protests story, & the BLM story, & the MeToo story: that much of what we consider liberal media believes in Wilhoit conservatism as strongly & unhesitatingly as any Trumper