Open thread 6/29/2026
Crown vetch. It’s an invasive weed. But it’s pretty and there’s a lot of it around right now:
The New Neo
A blog about political change, among other things
Crown vetch. It’s an invasive weed. But it’s pretty and there’s a lot of it around right now:
Visegrad 24:
https://x.com/i/status/2071412862833344833
Video clip at link.
ScotusWire:
https://x.com/i/status/2071595631349530711
J. Barrett wrote the opinion, CJ Roberts, J. Kagan, J. Sotomayor, anf J. Jackson joining.
J. Alito wrote the dissent, J. Thomas, J. Gorsuch joining, with J. Kavanaugh joining in part.
That’s absolute madness, given that it has been widely demonstrated that such a policy encourages and promotes electoral fraud. Big time.
Might as well just firm up the election laws by declaring loudly and clearly that electoral fraud is absolutely LEGAL and JUSTIFIABLE, and PRECISELY what the Founders intended….
I mean, why beat around the bush?
(On second thought, that’s exactly—or essentially—what SCOTUS did.)
As long as we’re kvetching (about this, that and the other)…here, discuss amongst yerselves…
“A Top Nuclear Expert on What the Iran War Accomplished”—
https://what-the-iran-war-accomplished.tiiny.co/
H/T Powerline blog.
Key blurb:
@Barry Meislin:Key blurb: You’d have to be delirious to think that’s the case
If the Iran War were a football game, Iran would need four downs just to get back on the field. Friends of Iran and enemies of Trump have had to heavily redefine “winning” and “losing”, and have different definitions for Iran than they have for the US and its allies.
The SC outdid it’s self today. Approving Fraud, and not taking up the bogus case against Trump by Carroll.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qr5djzzeA3M
There’s been a whole lot of redefining going on of late.
(No doubt, pace Orwell, there always has…)
E.g., in the Middle East—or more accurately, GLOBALLY—“genocide”, “starvation”, “aggression”, “self defense” and “casualties”, for starters.
(Essentially, Humpty Dumpty’s rules, juxtaposed to that of Goebbels’, ad infinitum.)
Rule of thumb? If the definition helps to weaken and ultimately lead to the destruction of Israel, then it’s the very definition of virtue.
Wash, rinse, repeat…until the sacred goal is achieved.
And then generally, there’s “Human Rights”, in all its glorious, perverse pecking order.
And—almost forgot, how could I???—RACISM, which has become the Key to the Kingdom…
A whole
legionlitany of lurid lies.It’s become a real growth industry…
Morality, unbound.
(Actually, make that “Reason, untethered”…)
As I understand it, California law currently permits counting ballots which arrive dated by the mailer but without postmark. Presumably that part at least of the California process is not valid, despite this ruling.
ACB is a disappointment, and Roberts has always been a squish. With friends like these…..
— physicsguy
I have no inside info, but I wouldn’t be surprised if this is a result of a trade off to get the wins Trump received earlier this week.
Cynical much?
Re: “Citizen Vigilante”
You can watch it here with Elon’s blessing:
https://x.com/D_Tarczynski/status/2071163180139561304
It is a genuinely dangerous film. But necessary.
— Barry Meislin
If you’re referring to my speculation about a SCOTUS tradeoff…no, it’s not cynical. Just pragmatic realism.
The SCOTUS is a group. Nine people, and decisions usually require a vote of 5. Under those circumstances, tradeoffs and deals are inevitably going to happen.
Israel & Lebanon are making progress against Hezbollah, in the news because Iran wants time to rearm.
Iraq maybe pushing for the disarming of pro-Iran militias is not yet in the news. This tweet says a Sep. deadline has been set.
https://x.com/EYakoby/status/2071747672441082110
The ME is changing, hugely, with little loss of US lives.
Bush’s expensive nation building in Iraq is kinda a success, a democracy mostly run by the majority Arab Shia Muslims, with some but without many of the Liberal freedoms so many Americans enjoy. Not a failure.
OK.
“We’ll mortgage the country’s future if you give us a few WINS for The Donald.”
Right.
Fair enough.
(After all, it’s only the country…)
But what then would be the point of, say, Alito writing a forceful dissent after making such a “deal”?
Cover?
Histrionics?
Smoke and mirrors?
Misdirection?
Let the show go on?
A mere intellectual exercise?
Gotta earn one’s salary?
Or perhaps…the Art of the Deal…is contagious?
— Tom Grey
The nation-building part, not so much, but the state building (which is what should have been focused on anyway), yeah. On balance, America succeeded in Iraq, and had the potential to do so in Afghanistan with the right political leadership at home.
But our current ruling class (not just the politicians but the academy, the press, etc.) hate their own country and civilization too much to admit it.
— Barry Meislin
What’s the alternative? The only way to get anything done, good or bad, at the SCOTUS (or any committee) is cutting deals. Whether we like it or not, we don’t have a majority on the SCOTUS. There are 3 conservatives (Alito, Kavenaugh, and Gorsuch (who is wobbly sometimes), a right-leaning swinger (Barrett), a swinger who I suspect at heart is with the left (Roberts), and three fairly hard-core lefties.
With that composition, no deals means no wins at all.
See this post by Jeff Childers on the interplay of the Monday decisions.
Overall, he sees a big win for Trump & conservatives.
https://www.coffeeandcovid.com/p/slaughtered-tuesday-june-30-2026
“Three SCOTUS decisions. One is historic. Two are misreported. Here’s what actually happened — and what it means for the Deep State and the SAVE Act.”
Thanks AesopFan, a fine post about the recent SCOTUS decisions.
A Big Win, and two small losses which might be temporary.
Maybe now we’ll get to a lot more of Trump’s You’re Fired. I hope so.
Funny how the initially heavily reported story about the General and other scientists and technicians–either dead or missing–all apparently involved in some form of high level classified aerospace research (and perhaps dealing with UAPs and/or reverse engineering)–has just faded from the news.