I read the whole opinion and it reveals a fundamental lack of understanding of both the free speech clause of the First Amendment and how the media world world works. Specifically the relationship between the press and the White House. nytimes.com/2023/07/05/us/… There were plenty of times when I was editor of Time that I got an angry request from the White House to kill or hold a story. That's their right. And my right was to disagree with them or ignore the request. Which I often did.

We can't say we haven't been warned. The opening assumption of this important piece is that Trump will not willingly concede. Under any circumstances. And that he will be aided in this by compliant Republicans. /1 The story suggests that Republicans are planning what might be called a constitutional coup. Trump will dispute the results, allege fraud, and Republican-led legislatures in swing states will assign their own electors regardless of how the state voted./2

So, Mitch McConnell wants states to declare bankruptcy and not get what he calls federal "bailouts" for what they're spending to combat the virus. The irony is rich here because one of America's top ten "debtor" states is none other than Kentucky. Kentucky gets back $2.35 for every $1 it contributes to the federal treasury in taxes. It is also in the top ten of states that get federal money from the SNAP program for "food stamps."

With all the debate about process, let's point out that even though this is a "trial," it is not a trial like any other in our justice system. As Rehnquist said, the Senate is not the jury, it is the court. The Senate makes the rules, decides on the evidence, votes to convict or not convict. This doesn't happen anywhere else under any other circumstances but this one.

At the Constitutional convention, Madison argued that the impeachment of a president should be tried in the Supreme Court. Hamilton countered that the Court was too small and it was susceptible to corruption as there would be justices appointed by the then sitting president. Hamilton argued for the Senate, asserting that it was larger, less susceptible to corruption, more independent and impartial. Fair enough. But let's remember how the Senate was elected in 1789: Not by popular vote, but by State legislatures.

Jan. 1, 2020. The Enlightenment model of liberal democracy, as embodied by the American experiment, has had a pretty good run. Longer than the Framers thought it would. Their idea was that human beings—the People—could rule themselves. That was—and still is—a radical idea. Ever since WWII, we've all pretty much assumed that this liberal world order of pluralistic democracies would continue to grow and expand. We saw it as inevitable. That was naive. Just like the idea that the fall of the Berlin wall was "the end of history." It wasn't.

--> Extremely important story. Connects the dots behind Trump's obsession with the Ukraine conspiracy theory. washingtonpost.com/national-secur… Officials believe Putin planted this theory in Trump's ear in their private sessions in Hamburg in 2017. Putin's dream has always been a US president who disdains facts as well as his own intelligence community.