Karl Appuhn

@appuhn.bsky.social

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Historian of Renaissance Italian trees, critters, medical practitioners, and assorted other stuff. Californian in exile. Veteran. Semi-pro Curmudgeon.

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Karl Appuhn

These bullet-point summaries are circulating

The worm told him to do it.

Extremely normal election we keep having, huh?

RFK Jr. denies eating a dog while sidestepping sexual assault allegations in Vanity Fair article | CNN Politicswww.cnn.com Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has denied allegations made in a new Vanity Fair report that he had previously eaten a dog while sidestepping accusations of sexual assault lev...

Yeah, this one aged like room temperature milk. Marcus should definitely write a public retraction of this one, even if it is from two years ago.

“It is not far-fetched to imagine that Roberts was mourning the decisive end of his vision of presiding over an institution seen as operating above the partisan fray.” Actually, in light of his recent votes and opinions, it is entirely far-fetched to believe that.

A more crafty autocrat would realize that he needn't exercise the full range of powers that Roberts just handed him because the fear that he might would be enough. But Trump will be unable to resist playing with his toys, and the project 2025 assholes who will surround him won't care to stop him.

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Karl Appuhn

Watch for the American Right to begin to make claims that by overreacting to and mischaracterizing the Trump immunity decision, critics are causing “unrest”, and then watch for them to use that to justify the things Trump does.

I think it is hilarious that any reporter ever took the idea that Roberts is deeply concerned about the court's reputation. Or his own, for that matter. He never gave a fuck.

Roberts has made his choice. He'd rather go out like Cromwell than More.

That didn't take long.

Loper Bright fallout: In Missouri, a federal judge asks parties in the challenge to the Biden administration's Title IX rules to brief the effect, if any, of Loper Bright on the case. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

Anyway, it's usually in the second or third generation that tyranny gets really bad. So we'll have to wait for The accession of Don Jr, or maybe Barron (after Jr ODs in the oval) before Democratic Party will be ready to do something.

That's Roberts's goal, of course. He's been busy creating an entirely separate sphere of action for the Supreme Court. Now he's positing the same for the President. Lower courts, federal agencies and the entire legislative branch can go pound sand. President+SCOTUS majority=King and Privy Council.

roberts essentially ignores the purpose of separation of powers, which was not to create entirely separate spheres of action but to prevent the emergence of unchecked authority. instead, he says, separation of powers *demands* unchecked authority.

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Karl Appuhn

It's just hilariously disingenuous. Imagine looking at, say, ALL OF HUMAN HISTORY and concluding that the biggest threat to liberty isn't abuse of power, but powerful people refraining from sufficiently wielding their authority out of fear that they might one day be held accountable.

It's not the worst of it, but what I may be actually angriest about (right now) is Roberts' smarmy smugness and dismissiveness in the final two paragraphs of section IV and the whole of section V. "Fear mongering," "extreme hypotheticals," "our perspective must be more farsighted," and this.

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Karl Appuhn

throughout the Trump immunity decision, the Court champions the idea of an unfettered, uninhibited President. the darkest part of the opinion isn’t that it paves the way for an authoritarian leader, it’s that it yearns for one

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Karl Appuhn

Not one more minute of defensiveness from the Biden campaign, please. Not one more question answered about age or debates. All day, every day, a referendum on Trump's criminality and assault on the constitutional order, on what he would be like with blank check for his lawlessness.

I'm sure we'll get a sternly worded expression of concern from the NYT Editors soon. That'll show 'em.

This just about sums up the outcome of this SCOTUS term.

Federal agencies can't do anything, but a president can do anything.

Also, doing this for a piece of shit like Trump is the ultimate demonstration of their power and impunity. They'd try to throw the election to a golden retriever just to show how little they care about how any of it looks.

They won't. They have lifetime appointments and there's no fucking way they'll ever be impeached. This is a consequence free decision for them.

Seriously! THIS is the guy you pull the trigger for! THIS is the guy you give up everything for! It's absolutely insane. They can see how he treats his subordinates and enablers -- all of them ultimately get thrown in the trash. And yet.

They are the autocracy at this point. Anyway, it makes sense for an unelected group of philosopher kings with lifetime appointments and de facto absolute immunity (given that they are not impeachable) to think their boy should enjoy the same.

SCOTUS is telling us that it has completely signed on to the project of a second Trump administration, which is establishing an elected autocracy.

what is your favorite black and white movie?

I am just refusing to accept that it is July. Problem solved.

Wanna see something fun? Find your nearest academic, tell them it's July 1st, and then ask them how their writing project is going.

If this were still available, I would totally have one in honor of Steve Bannon Goes to Prison Day.

Oscar Mayer Sack o' Sauce in a Can o' Meat (1948-circa 1955): A novel innovation, in which a meat product was sealed in a can, along with a separate bag of sauce to accompany it. The idea was to package both together for convenience, but separate to retain flavor and texture

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Karl Appuhn

New York Times: Obi-Wan Kenobi Is Too Old For This Fight And Should Drop Out And Let Luke Or Possibly C3PO Replace Him For The Good Of The Galaxy

That Bannon interview with Brooksie is quite something. But the idea that Turmp is some kindhearted softie was maybe the most frightening thing he said.

Predictable, but still a fucking gut punch.

BREAKING: The Supreme Court overrules Chevron on a 6-3 ideological vote.

I guess I'll be caling my assemblyman's office. But given that his name is all over this thing, I'm guessing I won't get far. When he decides to hang it up, his son will step right into the seat. Ain't democracy grand?

"#UnMaskHateNY is a full-fledged campaign focused on supporting a strong, fair, comprehensive bill that civil rights leaders, faith leaders and other advocates hope will be passed on day-one of the next legislative session ... and that can serve as a model for the rest of the country."

She really believes he's going to put her on the Supreme Court.

U.S. District Judge Aileen M. Cannon said she will hold a hearing for Donald Trump’s lawyers to challenge some of the evidence gathered against him for alleged mishandling of classified documents and obstructing government efforts to retrieve them.

Judge Cannon orders hearing for Trump to challenge Mar-a-Lago searchwapo.st U.S. District Judge Aileen M. Cannon rejected one request by Donald Trump but said “further factual development is warranted” related to the search warrant.

Popular histories in 400 years: People in the early twenty-first century just didn't write anything down.

A lot less so. Digital preservation plans are complicated, and a shocking number of institutions don't have any in place.

One of the interesting things about the Internet is that we’re actually living through a dark age. Future historians are unlikely to have records of this period. Paper and ink last. Digital storage, less so. variety.com/2024/tv/news...

Comedy Central’s Website Purges 25 Years of Video Clips and Other Contentvariety.com The vast repository of content on Comedy Central's website has been removed by Paramount Global, in a move to push fans to Paramount+.

Nobody in the history of Texas has ever died of heat exhaustion is certainly an opinion.

Thrilled to know we got water in the woke wars.

People definitely fear the wrong things a lot of the time.

People's objections to research on potential climate solutions are often based on irrational fears. There are already a lot of sea salt aerosols, as evidenced by the existence of clouds, and the ocean ain't running out of water. www.ft.com/content/7...