As I was writing this the Supreme Court issued a decision that slaps down Trump’s scheme to take over mail-in voting to rig the midterms. The decision was 7-2, Thomas and Alito dissenting. However, I’m hearing this decision only stops the scheme for the midterms but leaves a door open to re-activate it in future elections. I haven’t had a chance to read it myself.
Earlier today there were stories that federal agents may have broken state laws in their search for voter fraud.
Investigators may have broken state laws under the direction of top Homeland Security leaders as part of an expansive effort to find noncitizens on the nation’s voter rolls, according to a federal whistle-blower’s account released on Monday.
The authorities also required agents to examine at least 40 voters each day, the account said, suggesting a rushed pace that raises questions about the thoroughness of the investigation. The effort has relied on questionable data, and has likely improperly flagged U.S. citizens who are eligible to vote, the whistle-blower said in a nearly 30-page report.
The first news headline I noticed this morning was E.P.A. Expected to Erase Limits on Climate Pollution From Power Plants in the New York Times.
The shift by the Environmental Protection Agency would complete the administration’s erasure of the most consequential climate policies of Presidents Joseph R. Biden Jr. and Barack Obama. If the move survives expected legal challenges, it could also prevent future administrations from regulating greenhouse gas emissions from power plants.
Also in the Ny Times, I saw U.S. Health Officials Move Quickly to Deploy Medical A.I. Despite Concerns.
The Trump administration is accelerating efforts to make artificial intelligence an integral part of medical care in the United States, throwing the resources and support of the federal government into projects that deploy A.I. agents to diagnose and prescribe treatments to patients..
Paul Krugman has a must-read substack column headlined The MAGA Plot(s) to Destroy Humanity: On AI and climate, it’s the same story of mass destruction. Yeah, pretty much.
My impression is that Trump got it in his head that AI is going to make a lot of money. On his first day back in office he overturned a President Biden executive order that called for a whole-society effort to mitigate its dangers.
I’ve been something of an AI luddite all along and believe everybody is rushing too fast to cash in on the big bucks everyone thinks will materialize. I think it was rolled out too soon. It makes mistakes, and they don’t call it “AI slop” for nothing. No way would I accept medical treatment from an AI agent. And AI is being integrated into a lot of military operations. What could possibly go wrong?
Another must read is Judge Michael Luttig’s piece at The New Republic, The Final Battle for American Democracy. And I haven’t had a chance to read it myself, but I understand Anne Applebaum’s MAGA Is Making the World Safe for Corruption at The Atlantic is very good.
It's reasonable to be a luddite for awhile about AI and medical diagnoses, but the accuracy is only going to get better, eventually winning over peoples' trust. There is far too much money to be saved this way, for the medical industry to not go down this route. Same thing for autonomous vehicles, way too much money to be saved, by the trucking industry for example.
I think all the noxious rulings – by the EPA for example are going to be overturned when the Democrats take over. The fascists are grabbing all they can, while they can, before the adults return. This is why the big urgency for data centers, and why Trump is green lighting them. The parents are going to be coming home soon.
Way too much money to be made by eliminating employees…worthless eaters!
The force of denial is strong in the demented one. Not so in Krugman who took on AI and climate change. As future global threats, I got the idea Krugman rated them both at about the same level of threat for the future of our species. I respect his view highly, as he is humble enough to be self- critical, yet seems to have quite a lucid view of the big picture few others seem to see as accurately.
Locally, we are hoping yesterday was the last day of the year the thermometers hover around the 100 mark. Days are getting noticeably shorter (in daylight). We will see what record levels of El Nino (squiggle over the second n) brings.
The USSC, like any institution is concerned with its own survival. The proposal to expand the Supreme Court to 13 Justices is no secret and last month gained steam with the endorsemt of the idea by a James Clyburn, a long-standing moderate congressman. This month a GOP move to constitutionally fix the court at nine members failed by only six votes.
Upshot: the GOP is concerned about this happening in 2029. The vote was not an endorsement by Democrats to pack the court, but they are willing to consider it. The USSC can affect the shift in opinion at the voter and the congressional level by not handing down verdicts that conflict with precedent and a clear reading of the Constitution.
It's a fine point, but I think crucial, that the decision to pack the court may depend on the perception that verdicts by the USSC clearly contradict the text of the Constitution itself. Supporters of the Constitution don't want a partisan USSC, but they should not tolerate the assault and rape of the highest document in the US. The court has gone there repeatedly, sometimes inventing ficticious excuses, sometimes ruling with proper respect for the law. (Like the decision re the USPS) How often they violate the Constitution, not just hand down an unpopular decision, will determine the outcome of the vote to pack the court.
This will be the 'final battle', I think. Trump will go far in the midterms, but Trump will let Congress fall in the midterms before he will exhaust all resources. Trump is also concerned, as the USSC should be, about 2028 and a voter rebellion. Which is all but certain if we have two years of economic hell with Trump at the helm and the GOP Congress firmly behind him telling voters that we are in the Trump Golden Age.
If Trump thinks the only way to avoid prison soon after 2028, he will try a coup even if the overwhelming majority are praying Trump has a heart attack. The key factor will be whether the military will actually mobilize when the Pentagon tells them to.
I saw this today:
"The End Of The American Age: The US In Retreat Militarily, Diplomatically And With The Markets"
https://phillipspobrien.substack.com/p/midweek-update-28-the-end-of-the?utm_campaign=1970s-gas-lines-redux&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=heymistermix.com
Reading an article this AM on CNN:
"The Fed was bullied into hiking rates. Now it hopes it didn’t royally screw up"
Economics is normally about as appetizing as sand with ketchup. But the premise suggests that the "bond market" was the bully. Treasury Bonds are a loan to the US government for a fixed period and a fixed rate. I understand it's an auction – how that works is a mystery to me and irrelvant. The point is the US plans to borrow some amount (in billions) and they sell them for variable rates, as low as possible. In the risk v return calculation, investors pass if they think the risk is too high or the return too low. The government has to keep raising the rate until investors see a "fair" return.
Generally, US Bonds are considered good as gold or better. That's why foreign governments put their money in T-bonds. The return is not great – the appeal is security. It's safer than any bank, much safer than Wall Street. The variable is inflation. If the rate of inflation is greater then interest, your investment lost money. The article suggests the worry of the market is inflation because that's usually the only consideration. But what if the Bond Market is getting worried about security?
The national debt just went over 41 Trillion, a number to big to wrap your head around except as a ratio of the GNP. The GNP is 32 trillion. We've blasted past a debt considerably greater than our annual "earnings." Anyone who has declared bankruptcy (including me) can tell you that the earnings to debt ratio is the biggest gage of solvency.
This conclusion is arithmatic even Trump can understand. The GOP invariably concludes we have to cut spending. But the other option is to raise taxes, exactly the opposite of Trump's only legislative achevement. The Fed raised rates to get the interest rate on T-bills down because you know what a gamble a variable interest rate is on a mortgage.One you always lose.
The bond market is not a single group – it's all investors from big players to mere millionares. There's no poll of what has recently spooked them into hesitating on bonds, driving the interest rate up. But banks stop offering credit when they see the debt to income ration out of whack. Maybe fear of inflation is NOT the main driver. Maybe the bond market wants to see the debt going down, and we can do that with tax reform. The growing debt is a bubble that WILL burst.
Watch the T-bill rate. If inflation eases and the rate on T-bills stays high, that's an announcement by borrowers that they don't think the US will pay them back. And that's a problem.
https://edition.cnn.com/2026/09/17/economy/fed-bullied-into-hiking-rates-analysis?iid=cnn_buildContentRecirc_end_recirc&recs_exp=most-popular-article-end&tenant_id=popular.en
PS If you suffer from insomnia, this is probably a cure. But it's the elephant in the room.