Tootfinder

The Constitution was an attempt to solve the oldest political problem:
how to make liberty durable by making power difficult.
A system of government both sufficient to keep order,
but not so overbearing it snuffs out the rights of the people.
The principles behind its design
—divided authority, overlapping ambitions
—was drawn from centuries of failed experiments.
It was also intended to adapt,
to learn, to be amended as needed.
Repairi…

This No Kings Day, The UnPopulist Launches ‘The Reconstruction Agenda’
Liberals need to start planning for a post-authoritarian future and rebuilding stronger institutions that a rogue president can’t so easily take over and weaponize again

The president is doing almost exactly what Charles I did to touch off the English Civil War.
https://prospect.org/politics/2025-10-17-trump-congress-constitution-revenue/

Former Disney CEO thinks Disney and ABC messed up.
Because they did.
source: #USpol

Much like Trump's other hypocritical campaigns against "antisemitism" and "crime" ...
All to seize more power and avoid accountability
https://bsky.app/profile/adamjschwarz.bsky.social/post/3lz5an3gtkk2o

Adam Schwarz (@adamjschwarz.bsky.social)
Trump's vengeful tone shows he genuinely doesn't support First Amendment rights. He's an instinctive tyrant waging war against America's Constitution & founding principles. As Benjamin Franklin warned, "Whoever would overthrow the liberty of a nation must begin by subduing the freeness of speech."

I see nothing in our US Constitution that prohibits a subsequent President from revoking pardons or commutations issued by a prior president.
(Some may claim "due process" - but in many of our current orange clam's pardons there was no "due process" consideration of the needs of the public, such as when when pardoning thousands of J-6 thugs. I'd toss the long repudiated argument that a pardon is a "privilege" and not a "right" at the mag…

One of our friends is the daughter of a Chilean refugee who and here as a young child after the fascist coup in 1973.
Under this Labour government she and her family would have been sent back, probably by 1980 when the dictatorship imposed a new constitution. It was still a highly repressive country. Refugees generally didn't deem it safe to return until the late 1980s. Most made lives here, contributing greatly to this country, as migrant communities always do.

#ShamelesslyStolenFromSomewhereElseOnTheInternetHonestlyICantKeepTrackOfThisStuffAnymore

On October 18, 2019,
protests erupted in Santiago, Chile,
over a hike in the cost of public transportation.
But the demonstrations quickly grew into more than that.
Those in the streets demanded change—real change.
They demanded more rights.
They demanded a new Constitution.
Police cracked down with impunity.
Videos went viral of riot police beating people in the streets.
Chemical water guns.
Shooting rubber bullets at point blank …

The Chilean band overcoming police violence with music
Hasta La Victoria’s music is rock and punk, hip hop, and circus. They have found an outlet to focus their pain and their suffering. To define it, and direct it back. This is episode 72 of Stories of Resistance.

Brazil Stopped Its Trump. It’s Pathetic that We Couldn’t Stop Ours. | The New Republic https://newrepublic.com/article/200428/brazil-bolsonaro-trump-coup-constitution

Brazil Stopped Its Trump. It’s Pathetic that We Couldn’t Stop Ours.
Brazil barred Bolsonaro from running again and is sending him to jail. Other countries have done it, too. Why is the United States a unique failure?

Brazil Stopped Its Trump. It's Pathetic that We Couldn't Stop Ours. (Perry Bacon/New Republic)
https://newrepublic.com/article/200428/brazil-bolsonaro-trump-coup-constitution
http://www.memeorandum.com/250913/p48#a250913p48

For two decades, the media defaulted to portraying
Chief Justice John Roberts as a moderate institutionalist,
pointing to high-profile decisions
—to uphold parts of the Affordable Care Act or striking down President Donald Trump’s attempt to ask about citizenship in the 2020 census
—in which he broke from conservative orthodoxy.
But those decisions were always the exception.
Today, as the Roberts court rewrites the Constitution in the image of Trumpian aut…

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

2/2 Reflection on #citizenship:
I do not treat the concept of “#democracy" lightly. I was born into the aftermath of centuries of totalitarian oppression that ended suddenly, leaving the nascent Ukrainian state of the late 90s and early 2000s floundering in the turbulent whirlpool of hopes and fears felt by millions of people who were finally allowed to ponder: how to build a free democratic state in the place of Soviet and imperial ruins?
I was taught the words "democracy", "citizen", "freedom", "voting", “liberty" (and more) by people who, less than two decades prior, weren't allowed to leave the borders of their country. I was told about self-determination by people whose political choices were ridiculed, punished, and eviscerated form most of their lives. The duty of governing ourselves felt to us ephemeral - a nice fantasy, akin to a fairytale or a utopia from fictional works.
And then I saw those same people fight with their bodies and souls once the previously unfathomable democracy was threatened. Protests in 2004, then again in 2014, then the unthinkable war against foreign invasion in 2022. Democracy no longer felt abstract or silly. It became as tangible as saying "I love you".
I write of Ukraine as I reflect on becoming a citizen of another country because the history and values of my adopted United States feel as real as the skin on my legs, the significance of its legacy lays as heavy as the weight of my waist-long hair, and the desire to uphold the freedoms of its Constitution burns my throat as harshly as dehydration after a long day in the sun.
People have asked me why I even want to join this country, when the present moment is shrouded in impenetrable darkness. And I answer: because I've felt the warmth of a newly lit fire of freedom breaking through shadows that for centuries looked like solid walls. I have seen kindness, and solidarity heal the fear and hate of oppression. I've seen liberty emerge from nothing but the human soul.
I am not a religious person, but I have faith. Faith in the ideals at the foundation of the American project. Faint but powerful recognition that "we the people" now includes me.
I love #America. And I hope to keep loving my home for the rest of my life.

@… thinks a written constitution would somehow impede a #Fascist takeover of the United Kingdom. I admire his optimism: look how well it's working in the United States.
I mean, a written constitution …

Ecuadorian people, in a referendum, reject the right wing president's proposal to allow US military bases and to replace the 2008 constitution, the progressive one written by a constituent assembly under the leadership of Alberto Acosta.
Ecuador impide en las urnas que Noboa instale bases de EE UU y cambie la Constitución progresista de 2008

Ecuador impide en las urnas que Noboa instale bases de EE UU y cambie la Constitución progresista de 2008
La población ecuatoriana rechaza todas las preguntas de una consulta que pretendía reinstalar bases de EEUU en el país y acabar con la Constitución de 2008, aprobada bajo la gestión de Correa.

If the supreme court can't read the constitution correctly how can anyone think they can write a slack message everyone will understand the same way?
So please just accept my zoom invite.

#Zeteo #AndrewPerez

Trump Says He Won’t Run for a Third Term. Do You Trust Him?
Donald Trump said this week he won’t campaign for a third term in defiance of the Constitution. Here are four ways Trump could still try to hold onto power.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution plans to end its print edition at the end of 2025, despite being profitable; AJC has 115K paid subscribers, 75K digital-only (Katie Robertson/New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/28/business/media/atlanta-journal-constitution-print-edition.html
http://mediagazer.com/250828/p7#a250828p7

'Archivist fired by Trump launches a national effort to strengthen democracy': 'On Constitution Day, Shogan launched a national bipartisan effort called "More Perfect" to work on strengthening democracy' https://www.pbs.org/newsho…

Archivist fired by Trump launches a national effort to strengthen democracy
Colleen Shogan made history when she became the first woman to serve as Archivist of the United States in 2023. In February, President Trump fired her with no reason given. On Constitution Day, Shogan launched a national bipartisan effort called "More Perfect" to work on strengthening democracy. Amna Nawaz reports for our series, Art in Action, and our arts and culture coverage, CANVAS.

There's an article in the Constitution about this
https://bsky.app/profile/acyn.bsky.social/post/3m5uhayi2mg2m

Acyn (@acyn.bsky.social)
Trump: We’re going to make the American Dream a word that—two words that you didn’t have. Remember when Biden said it’s all about three words: The American Dream. You don’t ever want to get in that situation.

Former Republican Geoff Duncan enters Georgia governor's race as Democrat (Greg Bluestein/Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
https://www.ajc.com/politics/2025/09/former-republican-geoff-duncan-enters-georgia-governors-race-as-democrat/
http://www.memeorandum.com/250916/p36#a250916p36

I donated again to the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law School https://www.brennancenter.org/ Due to the dire threats to the USA from the current administration and the Republican party I am double up on my donations to protect us from those threats to our way of life.

Brennan Center for Justice | Home
Defend Democracy. Reform Justice. Protect the Constitution. The Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law works to build an America that is democratic, just, and free.

I just sent the following to my House and Senate Congress Critters:
Please do not vote to approve *any* budget agreement.
Please let our Federal government shut down.
Please do not fall for any “negotiations” or “agreements”: We know that the present administration will simply usurp those funds for whatever purpose they chose.
Our present Federal government is engaged in a near-war against our people. Both the Constitution and the laws are being ignored or twisted.

'The Constitution would grant him that grace': Sotomayor harshly rebukes SCOTUS colleagues for refusing to let man die by firing squad instead of 'torturous suffocation'
https://lawandcrime.com/supreme-court/the-constitution-would-grant-him-that-grace-sotomayor-harshly-rebukes-scotus-colleagues-for-refusing-to-let-man-die-by-firing-squad-instead-of-torturous-suffocation/

Je soupçonne de plus en plus Macron d'avoir une nouvelle fois fait un test de robustesse de notre constitution : avoir formé un gouvernement irresponsable sous la forme de gouvernements démissionnaires successifs, avec toujours les mêmes personnes...
#frpol

There are no innocent bystanders in this. As long as TACO remains in power, calling us the 51st state, thundering his 'tariffs' on any any country who displeases him, unleashing the various departments to punish those who oppose him, masked & armed toadies terrorizing your people, ignoring the constitution and laws why the hell should we do business with a dictatorship and populace that allows that.

It's fascinating to see the difference between how those who actually honor their oath to defend the #constitution are treated compared to the way the #fascists in Federal office are. Yet the #GOPCongress

It's fascinating to see the difference between how those who actually honor their oath to defend the #constitution are treated compared to the way the #fascists in Federal office are. Yet the #GOPCongress

New Georgia Project shuts down, ending a decade of political influence in state (Greg Bluestein/Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
https://www.ajc.com/politics/2025/10/new-georgia-project-shuts-down-ending-a-decade-of-political-influence-in-state/
http://www.memeorandum.com/251016/p83#a251016p83

EigenBench: A Comparative Behavioral Measure of Value Alignment
Jonathn Chang, Leonard Piff, Suvadip Sana, Jasmine X. Li, Lionel Levine
https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.01938 https://…

EigenBench: A Comparative Behavioral Measure of Value Alignment
Aligning AI with human values is a pressing unsolved problem. To address the lack of quantitative metrics for value alignment, we propose EigenBench: a black-box method for comparatively benchmarking language models' values. Given an ensemble of models, a constitution describing a value system, and a dataset of scenarios, our method returns a vector of scores quantifying each model's alignment to the given constitution. To produce these scores, each model judges the outputs of other models acro…

"Amendment is a constitution’s mechanism for the prevention of insurrection—the only way to change the fundamentals of government without recourse to rebellion. Amendment is so essential to the American constitutional tradition—so methodical and so entirely a conception of endurance through adaptation—that it can best be described as a philosophy. It is, at this point, a philosophy all but forgotten."

How Originalism Killed the Constitution
A radical legal philosophy has undermined the process of constitutional evolution.

Schumer warned that Donald Trump’s and his threats against people who criticize murdered conservative activist Charlie Kirk “is an assault on everything this country has stood for since the Constitution has been signed”.
“One of the great hallmarks of our country is free speech, whether you agree or disagree, and this administration is trying to snuff it out. They don’t want people to even speak when they don’t like what they said. That is the road to autocracy."
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2025/sep/18/jimmy-kimmel-charlie-kirk-comments-show-cancelled-suspended-monologue-trump-us-politics-live?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

https://apnews.com/article/trump-executive-order-flag-burning-4628d588350db4f6baf10ae1d91f49c1
To be honest, I don't want to burn a flag. I don't believe that liberals should let MAGA get away with appropriating national symbo…

There is nothing in our Constitution that prevents a future president from revoking this award (and also the other ones that El Cheeto granted to highly unworthy people.)
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-set-posthumously-aw…

Trump set to posthumously award Charlie Kirk the Presidential Medal of Freedom
Tuesday marks what would have been Kirk's 32nd birthday.

Marine Colonel Who Resigned Because Of Trump Says Personnel Should Question 'Illegal Orders'
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/doug-kruman-marine-colonel-trump-pete-hegseth_n_68f15eeee4b061265b2c3530

Marine Colonel Who Resigned Because Of Trump Says Personnel Should Question 'Illegal Orders'
Doug Krugman couldn't swear to "follow a commander in chief who seemed so willing to disregard the Constitution,” he wrote in a Washington Post op-ed.

The Constitution is not political.
▶️ BREAKING: Trump tariffs found ILLEGAL by U.S. appeals court
#trump

Trump Is Destroying the U.S. Constitution and Amassing Unprecedented Powers by Sending Federal Troops to Invade American Cities (Chris Edelson/The UnPopulist)
https://www.theunpopulist.net/p/trump-is-destroying-the-us-constitution
http://www.memeorandum.com/251006/p128#a251006p128

When they tell you they plan on throwing out the constitution,
believe them.
https://bsky.app/profile/thetnholler.bsky.social/post/3m324s2k3dc2d

The Tennessee Holler (@thetnholler.bsky.social)
When they tell you they plan on throwing out the constitution, believe them.

He doesn't know what tariffs are or how they work, and how the Constitution works.
Great choice of leader Texas.
#USpol #TXpol #tariffs

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution plans to end its print edition at the end of 2025, despite being profitable; AJC has 115K paid subscribers, 75K digital-only (Katie Robertson/New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/28/business/media/a…

As a security engineer, whenever anyone talks about a control it's always important to ask "by what mechanism?"
> "Oh, that can't happen because we have a system to stop it."
By what mechanism?
> "We have documentation that says...."
Yeah, that's not a mechanism.
People keep saying, "Trump can't do that!" But like... by what mechanism?
> "The constitution says..."
Yeah... a documented list of rules is not self-enforcing. What is the mechanism?
What makes this impossible? Oh, it's possible under certain conditions? Oh, it's always possible and you're completely relying on the idea that there will never be a malicious actor? Yeah, that's gonna get exploited. Oh shit, now you're owned.
What do you do with a system that's completely owned? Once it's compromised it can never be trusted again. What would you tell a client who told you, "Patching is really hard, so we're just gonna ban the attacker's IP."
What, you're not even gonna reinstall?
I assume we've all had the "burn everything down and start again" client. I wonder how many of us thought we would see the US government ask for them to hold it's beer.
#USPol

Is there any reason - apart from the possibility of civil and criminal sanctions - for paying Federal income taxes?
Congress has abandoned "the power of the purse" thus leaving our Federal government treasury outside of the Congress based appropriation machinery created by our Constitution and restated in various laws (such as the "anti-deficiency" act.)
Remember that old phrase - something about "no taxation without representation"? It used to mea…

FWIW: Germany had only been a nominal liberal democracy for a dozen years and had a judicial class trained in the system of the Kaiser and Bismarck, no matter what the Weimar Constitution said.
Also: the vilest sorts of anti-semitism had been mainstream German beliefs since before Luther, who was awful. https://

"The Founders were so concerned about bribery that the Constitution forbids it three separate times.
Two emoluments clauses ban officials—unambiguously including the president—from accepting things of value,
plus bribery is the only named impeachable offense besides treason.
Unprecedentedly corrupt."
-- Nicholas Grossman

Anne Applebaum (@anneapplebaum.bsky.social)
To negotiate a trade deal with the President of the United States, the Swiss government arrived with a "special Rolex desktop clock" and "a 1-kilogram personalized gold bar" https://www.axios.com/2025/11/14/trump-swiss-gifts-gold-rolex

Como vai a América? Oh, lindamente, lindamente.
https://defenseofliberty.social/@MalcolmNance/115100795667422085

The #NixOS moderation team resigns "effective immediately, in protest of the Steering Committee’s ongoing pattern of attempting to interfere with moderation team operation, membership and specific moderation decisions."

Constitution be damned.
Hate Group Backs Trump On "Citizens-Only" Census - Joe.My.God.
https://www.joemygod.com/2025/09/hate-group-backs-trump-on-citizens-only-census/

#Japan 🇯🇵 finally got their first female PM! Unfortunately, I don’t like most of her far-right political views, such as opposition to same-sex marriage, desire to amend Japan’s pacifist constitution, support for anti-immigration policies, and downplaying of Japanese war crimes.

Amy Coney Barret seems to have forgotten the first three words of the US Constitution, "We the People".
Clearly SCOTUS now is nothing but opinion poll - in which the opinions and biases of a gang of five overturns and overrules our Constitution, our principles, and our citizens.
"Amy Coney Barrett says supreme court rulings are ‘not opinion polls’"

CorIL: Towards Enriching Indian Language to Indian Language Parallel Corpora and Machine Translation Systems
Soham Bhattacharjee, Mukund K Roy, Yathish Poojary, Bhargav Dave, Mihir Raj, Vandan Mujadia, Baban Gain, Pruthwik Mishra, Arafat Ahsan, Parameswari Krishnamurthy, Ashwath Rao, Gurpreet Singh Josan, Preeti Dubey, Aadil Amin Kak, Anna Rao Kulkarni, Narendra VG, Sunita Arora, Rakesh Balbantray, Prasenjit Majumdar, Karunesh K Arora, Asif Ekbal, Dipti Mishra Sharma

CorIL: Towards Enriching Indian Language to Indian Language Parallel Corpora and Machine Translation Systems
India's linguistic landscape is one of the most diverse in the world, comprising over 120 major languages and approximately 1,600 additional languages, with 22 officially recognized as scheduled languages in the Indian Constitution. Despite recent progress in multilingual neural machine translation (NMT), high-quality parallel corpora for Indian languages remain scarce, especially across varied domains. In this paper, we introduce a large-scale, high-quality annotated parallel corpus covering 1…

I donated to ACLU https://www.aclu.org/
"For nearly 100 years, the ACLU has been our nation’s guardian of liberty, working in courts, legislatures, and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties that the Constitution and the laws of the United States guarantee everyone in this coun…

Home | American Civil Liberties Union
The ACLU dares to create a more perfect union — beyond one person, party, or side. Our mission is to realize this promise of the United States Constitution for all and expand the reach of its guarantees.

New post: Impeach FCC Chairman Brendan Carr #ImpeachCarr https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/9/23/2345185/-Now-House-Dems-…

Now, House Dems, force an impeachment vote for FCC Chairman Brendan Carr
Congressional oath of office, Article VI The Senators and Representatives […] and all executive and judicial officers […] shall be bound by oath or affirmation, to support this Constitution[.] Grounds for removal from office, Article II, Section 4 The...

“security” is not a magic word that suspends the Constitution.
https://www.thebulwark.com/p/locking-down-the-pentagon-press-is-dangerous

Locking Down the Pentagon Press Is Dangerous
Pete Hegseth’s proposed restrictions would harm the people whom both the military and the press are meant to serve.

Trump's 'Compact' With Universities Is Just Extortion (Erwin Chemerinsky/New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/02/opinion/trump-compact-universities-constitution.html?unlocked_article_code=1.qU8.W3Gm.Xj_cpa8z10YR&smid=nytcore-android-share
http://www.memeorandum.com/251002/p134#a251002p134

The second amendment is a cancer on the Constitution. Its primary objective is to preserve to the states the ability to raise militia to act as slave patrols.

A democratic nation actually can overcome deep polarization and division
and punish politicians who undermine democracy.
Just not the United States,
even though our leaders have spent decades beating their chests about the wonders of American democracy.
The Brazilian Supreme Court’s recent conviction of Jair Bolsonaro
on five charges related to his attempt to overturn the 2022 election results there and stay in power
is a great illustration that democrat…

Brazil Stopped Its Trump. It’s Pathetic that We Couldn’t Stop Ours.
Brazil barred Bolsonaro from running again and is sending him to jail. Other countries have done it, too. Why is the United States a unique failure?

Link to download:
Judge Young’s 161-Page Love Letter to the Constitution Shreds Trump Admin, Defends First Amendment
https://michaelpopok.substack.com/p/judge-youngs-161-page-love-letter

Art 3, Sec 3 of US Constitution: “Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying war against them…”
Potus, today: “I told Pete [SecDef], we should use…cities as training grounds for…military National Guard, but military, because we’re going into Chicago…soon…” & “I signed an executive order…for quick reaction force that can help quell civil disturbances…because it’s…enemy from within, & we have to handle it…”
🧵1/2

A Third Trump Term Is Not the Charm (Jamelle Bouie/New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/01/opinion/trump-third-term-constitution.html?unlocked_article_code=1.x08.ntwd.INF5ebpMAeg4&smid=url-share
http://www.memeorandum.com/251101/p33#a251101p33

The Supreme Court upended the constitutional separation of powers on Friday afternoon
with a brief order allowing Donald Trump to unilaterally cancel
$4 billion in foreign aid appropriated by Congress.
In an apparent 6–3 decision, the conservative supermajority greenlit Trump’s so-called “pocket rescission"

The Supreme Court Just Rewrote the Constitution to Give Trump Terrifying New Powers
The conservative supermajority's lawless shadow docket decision let the president unilaterally cancel $4 billion in foreign aid.

Hmmm, this would seem to run afoul of the Constitution's ArtI.S10.C1.6.1 Contract Clause - except that that part of our Constitution applies only to States.
Personally, I do not understand why any international body would schedule events - like the World Cup or the Olympics - in the US.
"Trump warns he’ll move World Cup soccer games out of ‘unsafe’ cities like … Santa Clara? "

Trump warns he’ll move World Cup soccer games out of ‘unsafe’ cities like … Santa Clara?
The president rips San Francisco’s ‘radical left lunatic’ leadership, but games are set for Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, 44 miles away.

History Shows Why Birthright Citizenship is so Important | TIME
https://time.com/7300066/why-birthright-citizenship-is-important/

History Shows Why Birthright Citizenship is so Important
The 14th Amendment aimed to overturn restrictive state laws while making the Constitution more inclusive.

The conservative majority on the Supreme Court has repeatedly signaled that it plans to adopt the
“unitary executive theory,”
which says the original understanding of the Constitution demands letting the president remove executive branch officials as he sees fit.
But a new article, from a leading originalist law professor, has complicated and perhaps upended the conventional wisdom.
The legal academy treated the development like breaking news.
“Bombshell!” Willi…

Originalist ‘Bombshell’ Complicates Case on Trump’s Power to Fire Officials
As the Supreme Court seems poised to expand the president’s power, a leading scholar whose work the justices have often cited issued a provocative dissent.

I would not be unhappy if the Federal shutdown goes on through noon (EST) on January 20, 2029.
It may be a pain to many of us - and we should be charitable and understanding when dealing with people who are being hurt.
But at least if there is no money being appropriated to the Executive, it's ability to do damage will be somewhat (but only somewhat) constrained.
(I fully anticipate El Cheeto going outside of our Constitution [again] and pulling money directly from the …

As the Watergate revelations piled high, many Republicans abandoned Nixon. In Minnesota, Republicans were so embarrassed by the criminality they rebranded as the "Independent Republican Party."
When will we see today's Republicans stand up for the Constitution and the rule of law?

Johnson Dismisses Trump 2028 Talk -- But Applauds the 'Trolling' (Annie Karni/New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/28/us/politics/johnson-trump-2028-constitution.html
http://www.memeorandum.com/251028/p134#a251028p134

#Drumpf demands US #AttorneyGeneral show loyalty to tyranny instead of #Constitution and prosecute his personal political foes in #DJT

Antifa manual

"Perry, a former Army National Guard brigadier general and combat veteran, said in an interview on “The Chris Stigall Show” last week that Democrats in Congress don’t care about the Constitution or the nation’s defense and suggested they only join the military when they want to run for office. "
Perry's comments roil Democratic veterans - Roll Call
https://rollcall.com/2025/10/22/perrys-comments-roil-democratic-veterans/

In upset, Democrats win in PSC races that could affect Georgia Power bills (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
https://www.ajc.com/business/2025/11/georgians-wait-for-results-in-psc-races-that-could-affect-georgia-power-bills/
http://www.memeorandum.com/251105/p7#a251105p7

The Supreme Court upended the constitutional separation of powers on Friday afternoon
with a brief order allowing Donald Trump to unilaterally cancel $4 billion in foreign aid appropriated by Congress.
In an apparent 6–3 decision,
the conservative supermajority greenlit Trump’s so-called “pocket rescission,”
ensuring that the money will expire before its intended beneficiaries receive it.
It offered a single page of vague, threadbare justification,
suggest…

The Supreme Court Just Rewrote the Constitution to Give Trump Terrifying New Powers
The conservative supermajority's lawless shadow docket decision let the president unilaterally cancel $4 billion in foreign aid.

The Trump administration has vowed to crack down on what it calls hate speech. It has labeled antifa, a loosely organized anti-fascist group, a terrorist organization.
And it has sought to punish figures such as TV host Jimmy Kimmel for statements perceived critical of conservative activists.
What the First Amendment makes clear is that it does not just protect the rights of speakers who say things with which Americans agree.
Or, as the Supreme Court said in a separate deci…

How the First Amendment protects Americans’ speech − and how it does not
Free speech is not absolute, nor does the Constitution protect only speech Americans like.

This seems to be a fair piece about Cheney senior and Cheney daughter.
I have long held the Cheneys in contempt. And I still feel that way about the freshly dead dad.
But the daughter, Liz, seems to be a better blend. I still disagree with her on almost everything except on the critical point that we are (supposed to be) a democratic nation of people with equal rights governed by a system of laws under a relatively stable Constitution.

A provision in the recently passed Wisconsin state budget that diverts $2.2 million annually from schools to fund 12 Milwaukee County prosecutors may violate the Wisconsin Constitution.
The positions had previously been paid for with federal funding that is set to expire.
The budget act redirects all traffic fines and forfeiture revenues in Milwaukee County to the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office to fund 12 positions.

State Budget Shifts Money from Schools to Milwaukee Prosecutors
$2.2 million per year diverted from city schools could violate state constitution.

When your opponent is Donald Trump you escalate in response to threats;
you don’t try to appease him.
Jerome Powell must do everything in his power to compel the conventional wisdom of market traders to more adequately “price in” the degradation of the rule of law.
This must include tying the rule of law and the threats to the constitution to the credibility and standing of the Federal Reserve itself.
Powell’s term expires in less than a year anyway.
If defe…

Powell Will Hang Separately: The Federal Reserve Has Already Failed its Duty to Lisa Cook and the Constitution
This is a free Notes on the Crises article. A reminder to readers that the various activities run out of the still-new Notes on the Crises office cost money, while an enormous amount of time and effort goes into my writing and my constant dedication to refresh and deepen my

Kehoe calls lawmakers to redraw congressional map, make it harder to amend constitution (Kurt Erickson/St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/government-politics/article_34cd0710-36ea-4d6b-bff4-2e62c876e286.html
http://www.memeorandum.com/250831/p17#a250831p17

OMG PEOPLE!! STOP LETTING THEM INTO YOUR HEAD!!
THERE WILL NOT BE A THIRD PRESIDENTIAL TERM!
NOT NOW, NOT IN 2028, NOT IN ANY OF OUR LIFETIMES
The ONLY way for there to be a third presidential term is by *AMENDING THE CONSTITUTION*!!
https://bsky.app/profile/annepmitchell

Anne P. Mitchell, Esq. (@annepmitchell.bsky.social)
OMG PEOPLE!! STOP LETTING THEM INTO YOUR HEAD!! THERE WILL NOT BE A THIRD PRESIDENTIAL TERM! NOT NOW, NOT IN 2028, NOT IN ANY OF OUR LIFETIMES The ONLY way for there to be a third presidential term is by *AMENDING THE CONSTITUTION*!!

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson said on X on Saturday that Trump’s threats
“are beneath the honor of our nation,
but the reality is that he wants to occupy our city and break our Constitution.”

“We must defend our democracy from this authoritarianism
by protecting each other and protecting Chicago from Donald Trump,” Johnson wrote.

Largely peaceful protests broke out across the city on Saturday,
with thousands of marchers taking over Michigan Avenue demandin…

Trump border czar warns sanctuary cities nationwide to ‘expect action’
The Trump administration plans federal action in cities with immigrant-friendly policies nationwide to support immigration enforcement, according to border czar Tom Homan.

In 2022, Oregonians narrowly passed Measure 111,
⭐️amending their constitution and guaranteeing affordable health care as a fundamental right to every resident of the state.
Through years of organizing, coalition building and planning,
💥Oregon may enact its Universal Health Plan as early as fall 2027. 
In the face of extreme Medicaid cuts from the Trump administration
-- which will leave roughly 16 million people without health coverage by 2034
-- a state-l…

Could Oregon chart the course for universal health care in the US?
Oregon is on the verge of enacting a single-payer health care plan, but continued organizing is needed to secure this historic victory.

Supreme Court justices like to talk about the Constitution's separation of powers
and how it limits the exercise of official authority.
But Chief Justice John G. Roberts and his conservative colleagues have given no sign so far they will check Donald Trump's one-man governance by executive order.
To the contrary,
the conservative justices have repeatedly ruled for Trump on fast-track appeals
and overturned federal judges who said the president had exceed…

Tariffs and birthright citizenship will test whether Trump's power has limits
The Supreme Court's conservatives have yet to put limits on Trump's broad claims of executive power.

Trump moves to ban flag burning despite Supreme Court ruling that Constitution allows it (Darlene Superville/Associated Press)
https://apnews.com/article/trump-executive-order-flag-burning-4628d588350db4f6baf10ae1d91f49c1
http://www.memeorandum.com/250825/p98#a250825p98

Supreme Court judges and federal judges will continue to be paid due to Article III of the U.S. Constitution that specifies
judge’s compensation “shall not be diminished” during their term. 
https://scdailygazette.com/2025/10/03/

Look at what Supreme Court Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and Stephen Breyer said about 𝘊𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘻𝘦𝘯𝘴 𝘜𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘥. >>
🔴 “The Court’s ruling threatens to undermine the integrity of elected institutions across the Nation.” 
🔴 “A democracy cannot function effectively when its constituent members believe laws are being bought and sold.”  
🔴 “Legal entities like corporations … are not ‘We the People’ for whom our Constitution was established.”  
𝗪𝗲 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗻…

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Reminder that most of our political rules & institutions are purely extra-constitutional norms,
held together by shared beliefs in democracy & a lot of duct tape,
& we’re all out of shared norms
& have shredded our last rolls of tape.
“Democracy is a system in which parties lose elections”
h…

Norm Ornstein (@normornstein.bsky.social)
The constitution does not explicitly say that members have to be sworn in by the Speaker. [contains quote post or other embedded content]

As the Trump administration cracks down on both environmental policies and progressive activism,
the Sunrise Movement,
the youth-led climate justice organization that popularized calls for a Green New Deal,
is widening its mission to fight authoritarianism.
“Every day, Donald Trump is seizing power and shredding the Constitution,”
Sunrise’s executive director, Aru Shiney-Ajay,
wrote in an open letter to Sunrise members, funders and allies.
“What ordi…

Imagine if the dumbest person in the world and humanity’s biggest asshole were the same person,
and that guy was president.
It’s a pretty simple lens through which to both view Trump’s lawless, Constitution-shredding rampage of revenge and self-enrichment
while never succumbing to the idea that what’s happening to the country is somehow within bounds.
It is only from this standpoint that one can write the straight story about this administration.

This Is the Media’s Worst Euphemism for Trump’s Tyrannical Abuses
Readers beware—and be on the lookout for the “departure.”

Prop. 50 looks likely to face a barrage of legal challenges
David A. Carrillo, executive director of the California Constitution Center at Berkeley Law,
said that if Proposition 50 passes, he expects a barrage of “see what sticks” lawsuits raising California constitutional claims.
They stand little chance of success, he said.
“Voters created the redistricting commission,” he said.
“What the voters created they can change or abolish.”
Attorneys might also br…

Donald Trump, the report’s two authors, Michael Sozan and Ben Olinsky, wrote:
is aggressively implementing a far-right, multipronged plan to create an imperial presidency.
Acting far more aggressively than he did in his first term,
Trump is casting aside the U.S. Constitution and federal laws,
shattering long-established guardrails designed to protect the system of checks and balances and using government power to stifle dissent.
Trump is asserting his primacy o…

Objectively the only possible correct answer to the question,
"can States sue the President for refusing to provide them with mandatory Congressional appropriations?"
No injunction yet,
TRO held under advisement to see if Trump admin, y'know,
follows the Constitution,
because it hasn't so far.

Chris Geidner (@chrisgeidner.bsky.social)
BREAKING: Federal judge rules that the Trump administration likely illegally suspended SNAP benefits, ruling that at least reduced distribution is required to go forward under law using the $6 billion reserve fund. Judge gives the Trump admin until Monday to respond as to whether it will act.

Russell T. Vought spent years drawing up plans to expand presidential power and shrink federal bureaucracy.
Now he is well on the way to making that vision a reality
-- tearing up the constitution's system of checks and balances.
https://www.

The Man Behind Trump’s Push for an All-Powerful Presidency: Russell Vought
Russell T. Vought spent years drawing up plans to expand presidential power and shrink federal bureaucracy. Now he is moving closer to making that vision a reality, threatening to erode checks and balances.

The Federal Reserve System has not been the most craven of the powerful institutions who have attempted to placate Trump to defend themselves,
but it has not been the bravest institution either.
They were quick to concede to Trump on financial regulatory issues in the hopes that would get Trump off their back.
They also ignored the attack on the legal architecture propping up independent administrative agencies in the hopes that other agencies would receive the brunt of Tru…

Powell Will Hang Separately: The Federal Reserve Has Already Failed its Duty to Lisa Cook and the Constitution
This is a free Notes on the Crises article. A reminder to readers that the various activities run out of the still-new Notes on the Crises office cost money, while an enormous amount of time and effort goes into my writing and my constant dedication to refresh and deepen my

Donald Trump is gravely serious about running for a third term
in violation of the US constitution,
California governor Gavin Newsom said on Wednesday,
warning Americans to “wake up” to what he described as
the president’s flagrant disregard for democratic norms.
“I don’t think Donald Trump wants another election,”
Newsom, a Democrat, said during a live interview at a summit hosted by Politico in Sacramento.
“This guy doesn’t believe in free, fair el…

The U.S. Constitution (1789-2025) has had a pretty good run

A US appeals court ruled on Friday that most of Donald Trump’s new tariffs are illegal,
upholding a ruling from the federal court of international trade
that the president’s declaration of an economic emergency to justify sweeping tariffs violates a 1977 law and the US constitution,
which reserves taxation for the Congress.
The New York-based US court of international trade previously ruled against Trump’s tariff policies in May,
saying the president had exceede…

Like all the rest of the lawless authoritarianism,
this Article III constitutional crisis is really an Article I crisis.
Congress could end it all at literally any time,
through normal legislation.
Doing that must be item #1
https://skywriter.blue/pages/did:plc:q…

In Hungary, the government has passed legislation limiting the rights of LGBTQ people and dual nationals.
The Hungarian news site Telex reports that the Fidesz majority in the National Assembly approved the 15th amendment to the Constitution by 140 votes to 21. 
Nepszava, a leading social-democratic daily in Hungary, headlines with comments from the Hungarian Helsinki Committee.
The human rights organisation says the amendment aims to "sow fear and divide society&quot…

Press Review - 'Sow fear and divide society': Papers react to Hungary's anti-LGBTQ amendment
PRESS REVIEW – Tuesday, April 15: The press are marking the two-year anniversary of the deadly civil war in Sudan. Also, papers in Hungary react to an amendment limiting the rights of LGBTQ people and dual nationals. Next, two teenagers are arrested in Kenya for attempting to smuggle 5,000 ants out of the country. Finally, Catalan architect Gaudi gets holy recognition on his path to becoming a saint.

Fundamental rights and democratic principles are being undermined by those who swore to protect them
Working families are struggling while special interests profit from corruption and chaos
America is retreating from moral leadership as global challenges demand principled action
https://www.thesaveamericamovement.org/

A senior CIA officer who oversaw Russia analysis
has been stripped of her security clearance,
part of a sweeping removal of
37 serving and former officials accused of "betray[ing] their oath to the Constitution," the Economist reported on Aug. 21.
The officer, who served as the CIA’s top Russia and Eurasia analyst during the 2016 election
and helped produce the report detailing Moscow’s interference on behalf of Donald Trump,
was among the most s…

Trump administration escalates purge of senior US intelligence officials, Economist reports
The officer, who served as the CIA’s top Russia and Eurasia analyst during the 2016 election and helped produce the report detailing Moscow’s interference on behalf of Donald Trump, was among the most senior career officials targeted.