Music: Bill Laurance & Michael League — ‘Duo’
The Supreme Court just made the president a king
Mark Joseph Stern writes: The Supreme Court’s conservative supermajority fundamentally altered American democracy on Monday, awarding the president a sweeping and novel immunity when he weaponizes the power of his office for corrupt, violent, or treasonous purposes. This near-insurmountable shield against prosecution for crimes committed while in office upends the structure of the federal government, elevating the presidency to a king-like status high above the other branches. The immediate impact of the court’s sweeping decision will be devastating enough, allowing…
Trump’s election subversion case heads back to Judge Chutkan. But it may never reach a jury
Politico reports: Donald Trump may never see the inside of a criminal courtroom again. The Supreme Court’s sweeping ruling that Trump — and all presidents — are immune from prosecution for their “official” actions immediately gutted some of the central allegations that special counsel Jack Smith leveled against Trump a year ago, when he charged the former president with conspiring to subvert the 2020 election. And it may eventually sink the rest of them, too. Constitutional experts digesting the breathtaking…
Democrats vow to get ‘aggressive’ with Supreme Court after Trump ruling
Axios reports: House Democrats are previewing plans for a forceful legislative and investigative push against the Supreme Court’s ruling that presidents have legal immunity for “official acts.” Why it matters: It is part of House Democrats’ effort to frame themselves in the 2024 election as a potential bulwark against unified conservative control of a federal government led by former President Trump. “Everyone is making that argument with donors” after President Biden’s poor debate performance last week, one House Democrat told Axios. “The only thing more…
Whitmer disavows ‘draft Gretch’ movement — and delivers a warning to Biden
Jonathan Martin writes: When Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer telephoned a senior official with President Biden’s campaign on Friday night, she wanted to convey a clear message: She hated the way her name was being floated as a replacement for Biden and she wasn’t behind the chatter. Whitmer’s conversation with the official, campaign chair Jennifer O’Malley Dillon, was cordial but awkward by its very nature. In the aftermath of the president’s disastrous debate performance last Thursday, no would-be replacement has been…
Democratic-leaning voters less likely to choose Biden after debate, survey finds
Politico reports: “Confused.” “Frail.” “Dementia.” Those were a few of the words used to describe Biden’s lackluster performance and appearance at Thursday’s presidential debate by Democratic-leaning voters, who were less likely to say they’d vote for him after it was over, according to a new survey and virtual focus group. The president’s cognitive and physical fitness left more of an impression on respondents than anything else, according to the survey, which was spearheaded by former Bill Clinton pollster Stan Greenberg…
Biden’s core Democratic support takes big hit after debate, poll shows
USA Today reports: President Joe Biden’s core support has been shaken by his stumbling performance in last week’s debate, an exclusive USA TODAY/Suffolk University Poll finds, fueling a furor over whether he should continue his candidacy. More than four in ten Democrats, 41%, said the Democratic Party should replace Biden as its presidential nominee. That included 37% of those who say they plan to vote for him. The survey found broad discontent with both major-party candidates, but Republican Donald Trump’s…
Macron sought clarity – and has brought his centrist project tumbling down
Angelique Chrisafis writes: When Emmanuel Macron strolled through the seaside resort of Le Touquet on Sunday afternoon, near his holiday home, dressed in a leather jacket with his collar up and aviator shades, smiling and asking passersby how they were doing, he seemed a world away from the fact that his gamble of a snap election was about to dramatically backfire. Macron had said he needed “clarity” three weeks ago, when he shocked even his own government ministers by calling…
Music: Four80East — ‘Straight On Till Sunrise’
Leading Democrats need to ‘have the guts’ to urge Biden to drop out, says ex-DNC vice chair
Politico reports: A former Democratic National Committee vice chair wrote Sunday that leading Democrats must be pushed to urge President Joe Biden to withdraw from the 2024 presidential race or history will judge them harshly. “Our elected officials,” wrote former Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak on Facebook, “are staying shockingly silent in public, especially considering how many of them acknowledge privately that this has to happen.” “They fear political retribution but they should really fear that if we lose this election…
Reckless loyalty: Biden’s family blame the president’s staff for his abysmal debate performance
The New York Times reports: President Biden’s family is urging him to stay in the race and keep fighting despite last week’s disastrous debate performance, even as some members of his clan privately expressed exasperation at how he was prepared for the event by his staff, people close to the situation said on Sunday. Mr. Biden huddled with his wife, children and grandchildren at Camp David while he tried to figure out how to tamp down Democratic anxiety. While his…
What was revealed during Thursday’s debate had until then been carefully hidden from most of Biden’s own staff
Axios reports: Joe Biden’s close aides have carefully shielded him from people inside and outside the White House since the beginning of his presidency. Why it matters: The intermittent access has resulted in many current and former White House aides being shocked at the 81-year-old president’s limitations at the debate Thursday night. Driving the news: Current and former White House aides are feeling whiplash — and now questioning whether Biden could fulfill a second term. “It’s time for Joe to go.” That’s…
For Biden to stay in the race would be pure vanity
David Remnick writes: There is an immense bounty of bunk about the wisdom of age available to all of us who require it from time to time, but, as the pitiless Mark Twain put it in his autobiography, “It is sad to go to pieces like this, but we all have to do it.” On Thursday night, it was Joe Biden’s turn. But, unlike the rest of us, he went to pieces on CNN, in front of tens of millions…
The U.S. and Israel missed many opportunities for peace with Hamas
Sandy Tolan writes: The continued failure of the Biden administration to secure a full and lasting ceasefire in Gaza may go down as the most terrible and deadly diplomatic catastrophe of our time. The principles have been in place for weeks; Hamas has agreed to the general terms, and endorsed the June 10 ceasefire resolution by the UN Security Council. Yet US deference to Israeli intransigence – no matter that it stubbornly blames Hamas – is costing thousands of Palestinian…
Israel: Police launch probes into cops who told protester ‘I’ll rape your mother,’ shoved Knesset member
The Times of Israel reports: The Department for Internal Police Investigations (DIPI) said Sunday it had opened probes into a police officer who was filmed telling a demonstrator that he would rape his mother, and other officers who clashed with a lawmaker. In a statement, the DIPI said it would contact the protester and Labor MK Naama Lazimi, and that the incidents would be investigated in depth. At the weekly protest at Jerusalem’s Paris Square, near Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s…
Is conscious AI possible?
Andrew Maynard writes: It seems that barely a week goes by these days where there isn’t some degree of speculation that the current crop of large language models, novel AI systems, or even the internet, are showing signs of consciousness. These are usually met with a good dose of skepticism. But under the surface there’s often a surprisingly strong conflation between advanced artificial intelligence and conscious machines — to the extent that much of the current wave of AI acceleration…