Dan Williams

I’m only gonna do this once, because there’s only so much time one can devote to bad faith attacks, but The Bulwark overall has been extremely Platner-skeptical, while still endeavoring to analyze his popularity with Maine voters. I disagreed with this take at the time, but JVL is clear in this piece that he doesn’t like Platner and worries about populist movements in general. As he says in this piece: “That’s a powerful thing but I will be honest: I do not like it. Not one bit. I’ve seen that movie before.” He also makes clear at the top of the piece: “This is not a brief for (or against) Platner. I’m only trying to analyze what likely will happen, I’m not arguing for what should happen.” This is also annoying to me personally since I’ve taken so much heat for being unwilling to get on board with Platner from the Left. Anyone who has actually listened to us wrestle with the Platner dynamic knows that this characterization of The Bulwark is a lie.

NEWS: Supreme Court overrules a 90-year-old precedent and frees the president to fire independent agency heads The Supreme Court ruled today that President Trump can remove Federal Trade Commission members at will, and in doing so it overruled Humphrey's Executor, the 1935 decision that has protected independent agencies for nine decades. The case is Trump v. Slaughter, and it reshapes the federal bureaucracy. The fight began when Trump fired the FTC's two Democratic commissioners, Rebecca Slaughter and Alvaro Bedoya, early in his second term. He did not claim cause. He simply said their service no longer fit his administration's priorities. Federal law says FTC commissioners can be removed only for inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance. Slaughter sued to get her job back and won below. The Court reversed. Chief Justice Roberts, writing for the majority, said the Constitution vests executive power in one president who must be able to remove the officers who wield that power on his behalf. Because the FTC clearly exercises executive power, he wrote, its commissioners answer to the president. Humphrey's Executor, he said, has long been a result in search of a rationale, and the Court let it go. The vote was 6 to 3. Roberts was joined by Thomas, Alito, Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, and Barrett. Sotomayor dissented, joined by Kagan and Jackson. It's worth noting alongside the Cook decision handed down the same day. The Court protected the Federal Reserve's independence there while stripping it from the FTC here, drawing an explicit line around the central bank as a historical exception. So independent agencies lose their shield, but the Fed keeps its own.

Darializa Avila Chevalier lead grows to 1,963 votes with 88.5% of precincts reporting. We are on the brink of an earthquake.

I covered DoorDash discourse, the fact that people have confused "ideal weekday lunch" with "bare minimum for human survival," and how this revolution of rising expectations impacts our decisions about marriage and children. Link in replies.