Monday, September 8, 2025
Johnson backs off claim that Trump was an ‘FBI informant’ in Epstein case
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/09/07/trump-epstein-johnson-fbi/
Last week, Johnson told reporters on Capitol Hill that Trump cares deeply about the crimes Epstein committed and said that Trump “was an FBI informant to try to take this stuff down.”
“The Speaker is reiterating what the victims’ attorney said, which is that Donald Trump — who kicked Epstein out of Mar-a-Lago — was the only one more than a decade ago willing to help prosecutors expose Epstein for being a disgusting child predator,” the statement from Johnson’s office read.
Sunday, September 7, 2025
Saturday, September 6, 2025
Experts skeptical of legality of Trump’s strike on alleged drug boat
https://edition.cnn.com/2025/09/06/politics/venezuela-boat-strike-trump-legality
The president has the authority under Article II of the Constitution to use military force when it is in the national interest, and when it does not amount to “war” in the constitutional sense, which requires an act of Congress. Past administrations have interpreted these standards fairly broadly — especially in the decadeslong war against al Qaeda, ISIS and other evolving Islamist terror groups — and Trump officials have also claimed the president was exercising his inherent Article II powers here.
But again, legal experts say, there is a wrinkle: That amorphous power still requires that the president establish that its targets are legitimate military targets who should be treated as combatants under both international and domestic law. Cartel members and drug smugglers have traditionally been treated as criminals with due process rights — not enemy combatants — and the Trump administration has yet to offer a justification beyond the FTO defense that it is in a state of armed conflict with Tren de Aragua.
Finucane and others pointed to Rubio’s admission that the boat could have been interdicted rather than destroyed — as has been done in the past — but that the president ordered a lethal strike as a matter of first, not last, resort.
Friday, September 5, 2025
Harvard Beats Trump Admin—Judge's 5 Key Takeaways
https://www.newsweek.com/harvard-trump-admin-judges-takeaways-2124329
A federal judge on Wednesday ordered the Trump administration to reverse its cuts of more than $2.6 billion in funding for Harvard University.
U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs ruled the cuts amounted to illegal retaliation for Harvard's rejection of the Trump administration's demands for changes to its governance and policies.
The Trump administration had tied the funding freezes to Harvard's delays in dealing with antisemitism. But Burroughs, an appointee of Democratic President Barack Obama, said in her ruling that there was "little connection between the research affected by the grant terminations and antisemitism."
She wrote: "In fact, a review of the administrative record makes it difficult to conclude anything other than that (the government) used antisemitism as a smokescreen for a targeted, ideologically-motivated assault on this country's premier universities."
Burroughs said it resulted in the government terminating Harvard's grants without complying with the law and retaliating against the school in violation of its free speech rights under the First Amendment.
Burroughs said that it was "clear, even based solely on Harvard's own admissions, that Harvard has been plagued by antisemitism in recent years and could (and should) have done a better job of dealing with the issue."
Thursday, September 4, 2025
DC sues Trump administration over National Guard deployment
https://edition.cnn.com/2025/09/04/politics/washington-dc-sues-trump-national-guard
Washington, DC, officials are suing the Trump administration, accusing the president of violating the Constitution and federal law by sending thousands of National Guard troops into the city without consent from local leaders.
The lawsuit, filed Thursday by DC Attorney General Brian Schwalb, claims the troops – many from out of state – have been deputized by the US Marshals office and are patrolling neighborhoods, conducting searches and making arrests, despite federal laws that generally bar the military from acting as local police.
The lawsuit argues that the deployment undermines the city’s autonomy, erodes trust between residents and law enforcement and damages the local economy by discouraging tourism and hurting businesses.
Federal judges anonymously criticize Supreme Court for overturning decisions with emergency rulings
A group of anonymous federal judges is criticizing the Supreme Court for overturning lower court rulings and siding with President Donald Trump's administration with little to no explanation, NBC News reported Thursday.
NBC spoke with 12 federal judges, appointed by Democratic and Republican presidents including Trump, who pointed to a trend of lower court decisions being overturned by emergency rulings from the high court. These cases often see prominent members of Trump's administration lashing out at lower court judges before their cases are overturned.
Ten of the 12 judges argued the Supreme Court should offer more explanation when overturning such decisions, saying emergency rulings in such cases imply poor work on the part of lower court judges.
Expressing Hostility through being overly helpful
I recently heard of a situation where a devoted mother took her obese daughter shopping to help her deal with disappointment in shidduchim. She found a beautiful skirt that her daughter liked and it was 50 off. but it was too small for her daughter. Trying to be helpful the mother loudly called out - "Is this available in extra large!" The daughter was embarrassed and is now angry with her mother but the mother felt she was being helpful. How would you handle this?