September 25, 2026

Abbie Van Sickle of the New York Times: “The Supreme Court ruled on Friday that the Trump administration can deploy an expansive online system that combines citizenship information, Social Security numbers and other sensitive data about millions of Americans, allowing states to use it to hunt for ineligible voters. Critics fear that states could use the system to purge large numbers of valid voters from their rolls ahead of the midterm elections. The decision is a win for ... [Donald] Trump, who has pressed his administration to find evidence of widespread noncitizen voting, even though such instances are exceedingly rare.* However, it remains to be seen how much enthusiasm there will be among local and state election officials to use the federal system, as it has mistakenly flagged U.S. citizens as noncitizens in past searches. The majority concluded that a lower-court ruling that had blocked the Trump administration from rolling out the system was improper because it inhibited 'the federal government’s efforts to assist state and local agencies in the proper administration of the midterm elections.'

“The emergency ruling was unsigned and gave no vote count, but the court’s three liberal justices joined in dissent. In a 12-page dissent, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson emphasized that the majority’s decision created the conditions for some states to cancel the voter registrations of at least some recently naturalized citizens or to force them to provide proof of citizenship before voting.” The link is a gift link. ~~~

 ~~~ * “From 16,000 to 185 to Zero: Trump’s Claims of Illegal Voting in Nevada Fizzle.” Nick Corasaniti of the New York Times: “... in early September..., the [Department of Homeland Security] reiterated its initial claims ... [that there were] nearly 16,000 noncitizens on [Nevada's voter] rolls and pressured state officials to review each case in a letter to Nevada officials in early September.... [D.H.S. also] sent Nevada a list of 185 names last month that it claimed identified noncitizens who had been improperly allowed to register to vote.... On Tuesday, the state sent a strongly worded rebuke to the federal government:... 'As for the 185 individuals, our records indicate that they were citizens,' Greg D. Ott, a deputy attorney general in Nevada, wrote.... 'You have provided nothing of substance to suggest otherwise.' Mr. Ott also stated that D.H.S. officials had still not provided enough data for election officials to investigate their claims. Nor have they turned over the list of nearly 16,000 individuals they claim may be noncitizens.” The link is a gift link. Thanks to RAS for the link. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: So to the collaborators, the Confederate Supremes, just thanks. Thank you very much, you useless dim bulbs. ~~~

~~~ Nicholas Nehamas & Zach Montague of the New York Times: “The Supreme Court’s order on Friday allowing the Trump administration to merge sensitive personal data stored across federal agencies gives the government a wide-ranging tool in its effort to identify noncitizens and ineligible voters. The decision moves ... [Donald] Trump closer to his longstanding goal of creating a national citizenship database, something he has said is essential to identifying people who are in the country without legal status. In advance of the upcoming midterm elections, his administration has also embarked on an intensive campaign to prove that noncitizens are voting illegally, despite evidence that it is very rare. To find such voters, the administration has harnessed a Homeland Security Department system that had been used in the past mainly to help determine whether immigrants were eligible for public benefits and licenses. For years, some state and local election offices also used the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements tool as part of their efforts to identify noncitizen voters, although it has been shown to have made mistakes based on faulty data.” The link is a gift link. ~~~

~~~ Marie: I have perhaps 750,000 ancestors who were born in the U.S. or in what is now the U.S. I was born here, too, on an Army Air Force base when my father was serving in the U.S. military. Donald Trump has one ancestor -- his father Fred -- who was born in the U.S. Trump was born here, too. We're both citizens under the law, and my hundreds of thousands of ancestors don't make me "more" of a citizen than Trump. But I can't stop Trump from voting, and he can stop me just by claiming I'm not on one of his "approved" citizenship rolls. Some are more equal than others.

Marie: I've been trying to avoid linking much news from the big party we threw for U.S. adversary and autocrat Xi Jinping, but this is more about Xi's ignorant host: ~~~

Phillips O'Brien on BlueSky: "Lord, President Xi just insulted Trump and the USA, right to Trump's face-in the White House. Xi referred, yet again, to the 'Thucydides trap'. This is an reference to the US being in decline and China replacing it. And Trump sits their making moo eyes like a lovestruck teenager" Thanks to RAS for the link. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: As O'Brien indicates, this is not the first time Xi has insulted Trump with a reference to the Thucydides Trap. According to this Guardian story, published in May, Xi "for years" has referred to the Thucydides Trap -- coined by U.S. political scientist Graham Allison. It refers to the to the Peloponnesian Wars. Thucydides, an Athenian historian and general, observed that when a rising power (like Athens) threatens to displace an established one (like Sparta), the result is often war. Prof. Allison tested Thucydides' theory when he and his students identified 16 cases over the course of history in which a rising power surpassed the dominant power. Allison found that in 12 of those 16 cases, war broke out. Now, as we see Trump escalate the deterioration of U.S. power and we watch China's international influence rise, Xi is urging the old man not to fall into that Thucydides Trap. One might forgive Trump for not knowing what Xi was talking about when he first heard the term in May, but his failure to grasp what was being said and why it was an insult, his lack of curiosity, his inability to remember anything, and/or his treachery are not excusable.

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Peter Baker of the New York Times: “At the White House gate, a throng of Chinese journalists was being admitted onto the grounds of the Executive Mansion to cover the visit of President Xi Jinping. Out on the street, several American journalists were blocked from entering the White House on the orders of ... [Donald] Trump. The scene on Pennsylvania Avenue on Thursday morning captured a surreal week in the life of Washington. The president of the United States barred American reporters because he labeled them a threat to national security, while welcoming Chinese reporters who answer to the communist dictatorship in Beijing. This would be the same president who is running government-paid television advertising vowing to stop the United States from becoming socialist or communist in the same week that he held a friendly meeting with the democratic socialist mayor of New York and rolled out a literal red carpet for the communist president of China. The same president who is waging economic war against the prime minister of Canada while inviting the president of Russia to visit his Florida golf club.

“In the epic contest between democracy and autocracy, Mr. Trump has long given the impression that he may be on the other side. But rarely has that been brought home as starkly as this week, as he punishes news outlets for being too 'negative' about him while embracing Mr. Xi and President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, two of the world’s leading authoritarians whose governments brutally suppress free speech. 

“Mr. Xi’s arrival at the White House was celebrated with pomp and circumstance that were not covered by American television networks, which were still boycotting the White House press pool until Mr. Trump’s staff commits in writing to letting CNN cameras back into the rotation. Reporters from CNN, MS NOW and Politico who were initially barred from entering the White House on Thursday morning despite a court order were allowed in later in the day, but by late afternoon Mr. Trump’s staff had still not permitted CNN back into the pool that provides footage of the president every day. Even as Mr. Trump fumed that his carefully orchestrated day of pageantry was not shown on air, he basked in Mr. Xi’s presence and lavished him with praise, making no mention of human rights issues that past presidents raised when meeting with Chinese counterparts.” Emphasis added. The link is a gift link.

     ~~~ Marie: It took a blatant attack on the free press to get him there, but Peter Baker -- once and for years the finest exemplar of both-sides "journalism" -- has laid out Donald Trump's position on democratic values. I have been too dismissive of Trump as "Putin's puppet" or as a "possible Russian asset." Trump is worse than that. He is his own man and he believe the U.S. should be a consequential dictatorship in its own right. He believes it is in his personal interest to crush democracies like Canada, to steal other countries' assets and jail their leaders who won't cooperate (Venezuela), to steal vast territories from a democracy (Denmark), and to establish himself not as the leader of the free world -- which he hates -- but as the dictator of the Western Hemisphere. He's a madman and a traitor. I don't believe in capital punishment, so I don't believe he should be hanged. But he should be suppressed; he should be made irrelevant. Let him play golf. And let us hope the same soon will happen to that band of Congressional sycophants who have made Trump's treason possible. 

Michael Grynbaum of the New York Times: “The reporters are back, but the television coverage isn’t. Journalists from CNN, MS NOW and Politico were allowed back into the White House around noon on Thursday. Their return came after a chaotic morning in which the Trump administration had blocked them from entering, despite an overnight order from a federal judge that required the immediate restoration of their access. It was another twist in a nearly weeklong standoff between ... [Donald] Trump and his press corps that has not yet been fully resolved.... As of Thursday evening, the TV pool remained suspended. The networks had indicated that they would not resume coverage of the president until the White House had formally agreed to allow CNN to participate once again in the pool. The result, on Thursday, was a bizarre spectacle: a president hosting China’s top leader, Xi Jinping, for a pomp-filled summit at the White House, with no American network airing any live footage.” The link is a gift link. The article repeats the pinned item in the Times' liveblog of developments, linked yesterday afternoon. ~~~

     ~~~ Trump Bars Reporters from Event, Then Blames Them for Not Covering the Event. Scott Nover & Victoria Craw of the Washington Post: “...  later in the day [yesterday] CNN and MS NOW reported that some of their journalists were denied access to cover the arrival of Chinese President Xi Jinping at the White House for a state dinner. CNN said that a reporter and producer were blocked from the event, while a photojournalist and audio technician were able to attend. MS NOW said its White House reporter Laura Barrón-López was denied entry to President Xi’s arrival ceremony.... Donald Trump berated the two media outlets in a post on Truth Social Thursday, falsely claiming they had 'refused to cover' the arrival. 'The event was magnificent — Actually made for Television but, because they’re Fake News, and because they knew how good it would be, they didn’t want credit to be given to “TRUMP,” they refused to be there,' he said.” ~~~

~~~ Holmes Lybrand, et al., of CNN, republished by ABC 10 News (Denison, Texas): "CNN, MS NOW and Politico filed an emergency request for a hearing Thursday morning after reporters were refused access to the White House despite a court order.... CNN reporter Betsy Klein and a photojournalist were denied access to the White House grounds despite multiple attempts, including one after 9:00 a.m. One CNN producer was able to enter the White House using their pass after 6:00 a.m. It was not immediately clear why the person had been able to access the building. Reporters from MS NOW and Politico were also barred from entering the building early Thursday morning, according to the outlets.... [Federal Judge Timothy] Kelly ordered the Justice Department to respond by 12:30 p.m. ET." Thanks to RAS for the link. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Akhilleus has found more on that gummit lawyer Michael Velchik who screwed up the DOJ's response to the lawsuit filed by the three media outlets (stories linked below). See also Akhilleus's commentary in yesterday's thread:

No more of this. Coverage
will now be unfeathered.

~~~ Not to Worry! We'll Be Getting “Unfeathered” and “Unadultered” Coverage of Trump! Will Sommer of the Bulwark: “Into [the] void [created by the White House pools' decision not to produce video feeds] have stepped some ever-entrepreneurial, pro-Trump media outlets, which have decided to launch a White House pool operation of their own. Over the past few days, fledgling operations like Real America’s Voice and LindellTV — yes, from the former MyPillow guy — have been producing their own feed of Trump’s comings and goings.... Real America’s Voice executive Parker Sigg [said] ... the outlet launched its pool after receiving 'a late middle-of-the-night phone call' asking it to cover Trump’s visit to the United Nations. Sigg, who didn’t respond to a request for comment, didn’t explain who made that request, or whether it came from the administration. But he promised to offer an 'unfeathered,' 'unadultered' view of Trump.” (Also linked yesterday.)

Feeling optimistic about the future? This opinion piece should sober you right up: ~~~

~~~ Thomas Wright of the Brookings Institution in the Atlantic: “Donald Trump offered perhaps the clearest summation yet of his worldview in an otherwise discursive address to the United Nations General Assembly yesterday. Defending the American takeover of Venezuelan oil, he invoked an old maxim: 'To the victor belongs the spoils.' He then presented Iran with a choice between accepting his terms and being driven 'into hell with no chance of survival.' These remarks are the latest sign that world politics is entering an era when might makes right. Yet Trump is only one of the leaders driving this rupture from the post–World War II international order. Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping have also broken the order, although their methods differ profoundly.... Since taking office for a second term, in 2025, Trump has turned American power against U.S. allies and partners.... Trump has broken the restraint that made American primacy tolerable to most of the rest of the world. The rupture has produced an international environment that feels ever more like that of a prewar period. This does not mean that a major conflict is inevitable. But if one occurs, future historians will not find its causes sudden or mysterious. They are in plain sight.” Thanks to akaWendy for this gift link. (Also linked yesterday.)

Gerrit De Vynck of the Washington Post: “After chief executives at top artificial intelligence companies called on the U.S. government to cooperate with China to contain the dangers of the technology..., Donald Trump began the day of his summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping by suggesting that he wasn’t interested. 'Super Intelligence (SI) will be a big topic of discussion, but I want to leave it exactly where it is,' Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social on Thursday.... The president did not mention the technology in his brief remarks at the White House later that day before his talks with Xi. But when Xi spoke after Trump, the Chinese president ... said the technology needed to be stewarded responsibly. 'Both China and the United States are leading nations in artificial intelligence,' Xi said. 'We have both the capability and responsibility to develop and manage AI for good, and ensure that the development of AI is always under human control and serves the well-being of the people.'

“Trump and his allies in Silicon Valley have aggressively rejected recent calls from some AI executives for a slowdown in AI development by arguing that China would respond by racing ahead of the United States. But public pronouncements from Xi and other Chinese officials suggest the picture is more nuanced. Although the idea of a slowdown has been met with skepticism by commentators in China aligned with the government, Xi and other prominent voices are beginning to express concern about the technology becoming dangerous or disruptive to society.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Of course Xi's prepared remarks could be so much P.R. hoohah, but it's worth noting that China's ruthless dictator at least pretends to be more responsible than our aspiring ruthless dictator.  

Marie: The other day I goofed off doing one of these "tests" where the challenge is to find three differences between the two pictures:

     ~~~ While I was goofing off, Donald Trump was busy hustling over to Joint Base Andrews to greet Xi Jinping. The temperature during this little excursion, BTW, was pleasant: 64 degrees and no precipitation. 

     ~~~ Just as this CBS News photo was being taken, a jet flew low overhead, its engines roaring. In video I saw, Trump could be seen flinching noticeably while Xi stood unmoving beside him. You can see the plane (or some plane) in the photo of the same scene that the White House distributed. Forget the captions and the wider shot, taken from a slightly different angle, in the White House photo. Now, can you see a curious difference in the scene depicted in the two photos?  

White House photo.

     ~~~ If you see the difference yourself, let us know in the Comments. (If you already know what it is because you've heard or read commentary about it, don't tell, please.) 

Farnaz Fassihi & Pranav Baskar of the New York Times: “Iran’s foreign minister said Thursday that Tehran had proposed to Washington a seven-day plan to cease hostilities, reopen the Strait of Hormuz and then begin comprehensive talks on his country’s nuclear program. Abbas Araghchi, the foreign minister, told reporters at a press briefing at the United Nations General Assembly that the proposal closely mirrored the commitments laid out in a so-called memorandum of understanding that was struck between the United States and Iran in June but quickly unraveled. He said Iran was ready to begin putting the plan into effect as soon as Washington agreed to it.... Though Iran’s proposal contains many of the same conditions of the deal that fell apart, the behind-the-scenes diplomacy suggested that both sides may see much to gain from finding an off-ramp from the war.” The link is a gift link.

Ivan Penn & Peter Eavis of the New York Times: Donald “Trump is considering banning or restricting exports of diesel fuel to the rest of the world. It’s an effort to bring down surging prices that have become a major concern for many voters. An export ban, as some Republican lawmakers and candidates see it, would lower costs by keeping more diesel at home. That would reduce fuel costs for farmers, truckers and other businesses. But many energy experts say a ban would not lower prices for long and could ultimately backfire. That’s because a ban could prompt U.S. oil refineries to make less diesel, which would cause the fuel’s price to rise again. Restrictions on diesel exports could even reduce the supply of gasoline, jet fuel and other fuels that are made alongside diesel in refineries.” The link is a gift link. ~~~

~~~ Todd Frankel of the Washington Post looks at who is benefitting from Trump diesel prices. 

Monica Hesse of the Washington Post reviews Trump TV. It's worse than you might have thought possible: “Trump TV has no news anchors or reporters. It has no chyrons or voice-overs. There is no host to explain to you what you are seeing, or why you are seeing it. When I nodded off in the middle of the night, the channel was showing a military exercise involving Navy SEALs on dirt bikes; when I jolted awake a few hours later, the total viewership for this landmark project was now about 400 people, and we were all watching five-month-old footage of the White House Easter Egg Roll. All of this was in response to the question: What happens when the most television-obsessed president finds himself without a direct line to network television?” MB: I doubt most of that huge audience of 400 was actually watching; they too were probably asleep or in the kitchen staring at the inside of the fridge to see if any of the leftovers looked edible. ~~~

~~~ Marie: I just want to remind you that you're paying for this slop. But wait! It gets worse: ~~~

~~~ Benjamin Siegel & Steven Portnoy of ABC News: "The Trump administration is running a new pro-Trump advertisement on cable news featuring ... Donald Trump boasting about his record and vowing the United States 'will never be a communist country.' The 30-second spot, which is labeled 'Paid for by the U.S. Government,' ran repeatedly this week on conservative cable news channels Fox News and Newsmax across several media markets..., and cost roughly $14,000. The White House told ABC News the ad is a 'public service announcement' and argued that it is 'educational' and not political.'... Rep. Jamie Raskin, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee..., condemned the ad on X. 'This may be felony criminal theft and conversion of government property for political campaign purposes,' Raskin wrote. 'It is a Hatch Act violation for any government employees who worked on it or used government resources to make it. It is blatantly unethical under numerous federal ethics provisions proscribing the use of government resources for political campaigns.'... The ad appears identical to a 30-second video uploaded to the White House YouTube page on Sept. 13, titled 'America Will Never Be a Communist Country,' that is not labeled as it was when it aired on Fox."

Michael Bender of the New York Times: “The Justice Department said on Thursday it had ended its watchdog role in more than 50 cases enforcing racial desegregation in schools, mostly in the Deep South, a significant milestone in the Trump administration’s bid to overhaul civil rights enforcement in America. Justice Department records showed that 57 desegregation orders have been dismissed since the start of ... [Donald] Trump’s second term, although it could not be verified late Thursday that a judge had ruled in each one. Nearly 80 percent of the cases were in five Southern states — Alabama with five, Georgia with 15, Louisiana with 11, Mississippi with 13 and South Carolina with one. 'This is just the beginning,' Steve Marshall, the attorney general of Alabama, said in a social media post thanking Harmeet K. Dhillon, the assistant attorney general for civil rights, for ending 'outdated orders' in his state....

“The federal government’s policy pivot has been deeply polarizing, particularly among civil rights advocates and legal scholars who have opposed the shift.... 'Schools are just as segregated today as they were in the late 1960s,' Democrats on the House Education and Workforce Committee said Thursday in a social media post, adding that the Trump administration was 'turning us back toward the Jim Crow era.'” The link is a gift link.

“Everywhere, All at Once.” Jazmine Ulloa, et al., of the New York Times: “The most effective escalation of ... [Donald] Trump’s mass deportation campaign happened quietly. Unlike earlier high-profile raids that drew thousands of protesters into the streets of Chicago, Los Angeles and Minneapolis, the surge in arrests in June, July and August was captured mostly by grainy security camera footage, through cracked blinds and from behind closed doors. Arrests by Immigration and Customs Enforcement this summer soared to record highs since the start of this Trump administration — with 43,000 in June, more than 49,000 in July and nearly 51,000 in August — as officials cut or narrowed the pathways to legal residency in the United States and expanded the pool of people eligible for deportation. Federal agents appeared in nearly every corner of daily life, carrying out operations at hospitals and airports, outside suburban schools and along rural construction sites and truck stops. They fanned out from coastal cities in Maine to desert towns in Arizona, across the open plains of Wyoming and down through the southern borderlands.... Those arrested were accused of violating civil immigration laws, but most had not been charged with or convicted of a crime.” The link is a gift link. Read on. ~~~

~~~ Amy Howe of ScotusBlog: “Telling the justices that it had been deprived of 'an essential tool to remove certain aliens, including some of the worst criminal aliens,' the Trump administration came to the Supreme Court on Thursday afternoon. Specifically, U.S. Solicitor General D. John Sauer asked the court to clear the way for the government to deport noncitizens to countries that are not identified in their removal orders – a procedure known as 'third-country removals.' The 42-page filing was the third time that the Trump administration has asked the Supreme Court to intervene in the battle over third-country removals. Sauer told the justices on Thursday that '[t]he latest order' by U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy barring the third-country removals 'rests on the same fundamentally flawed legal premises as the previous rulings.' Sauer also asked the court to enter an 'immediate administrative stay' – an order that would allow the government to continue deportations while the justices consider his request. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, who has initial responsibility for emergency appeals from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit, from which the case hails, directed the immigrants in the case to respond to the government’s request by 4 p.m. EDT on Monday, September 28.” ~~~

David A. Kaye, on BlueSky: "to be clear, the admin is alleged to have deported AT LEAST 25,447 individuals TO COUNTRIES THAT ARE NOT THEIR OWN with, evidently, ZERO PROTECTIONS. this is a scandal and crime of historic proportions." Thanks to RAS for the link. MB: Do click on the link Kaye provides. If this information is accurate, it is indeed "a crime of historic proportions." And major media have not been reporting it. Rather, they stick with individuals of small groups whom the Trump people have dumped in dangerous hellholes. I'll write to the Times & the WashPo and bitch about it, but a lot of good that will do. ~~~ 

~~~ Eileen Sullivan of the New York Times: “The Trump administration wasted millions of dollars in its swift effort to drastically expand immigration detention, including nearly $3 million on tents to house migrants at Guantánamo Bay that were never used, according to a review by the Government Accountability Office released on Thursday. The camp in Cuba, planned near the prison that held suspected terrorists in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, was built to hold 5,000 detainees. As of June, the average daily population of detainees there was 16, G.A.O. said. The administration also spent $20.5 million on administrative costs and utilities on the seven warehouses the government purchased in haste and later decided to sell. And it squandered $7.1 million for food it did not need at one of its new detention camps in Texas, the review found.... The report is the latest indictment of the spending spree by federal officials to follow through on ... [Donald] Trump’s pledge to detain and deport record numbers of immigrants. Officials have poured billions of dollars into hiring immigration enforcement officers, purchasing unused warehouses to convert into detention centers and expanding other enforcement operations.” The link is a gift link.

Some people can admit their mistakes. Here's Josh Johnson. Thanks to akaWendy for the link: ~~~

I love Josh Johnson. Watch video 🤣

[image or embed]

— MadGreek 🧿 (@madgreek2024.bsky.social) September 23, 2026 at 2:51 PM

Robert Jimison of the New York Times: “The Senate on Thursday narrowly rejected an effort to direct ... [Donald] Trump to end the war in Iran unless he wins authorization for it, defeating a measure aimed at rebuking his handling of a conflict he has continued to wage despite repeated votes by Congress to halt it. The resolution, which passed the House over the summer, failed 50 to 49, with four Republicans — Senators Susan Collins of Maine, Rand Paul of Kentucky, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Thom Tillis of North Carolina — joining Democrats in support. Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania was the lone Democrat to oppose the measure. Mr. Tillis was the newest Republican to break with his party over the war, joining a small bloc that has challenged Mr. Trump’s authority to continue directing the conflict without congressional approval. But Senator Bill Cassidy, the Louisiana Republican who had previously voted with G.O.P. defectors to curtail Mr. Trump’s war powers, switched his position and sided with the majority of his party on Thursday, leaving the resolution short of the support to pass.” The link is a gift link. MB: Looks as if Tillis & Cassidy, neither of whom is running for re-election, are taking turns sitting in the asshat box. ~~~

     ~~~ An ABC News report is here. 

Marie: I don't know if this pirated copy of Chris Hayes' show will stay up, but Hayes hosted William Turton, the lead reporter on the stories of Susan Collins' very shady "fundraising," and then the lies she told to cover up her dealings and to distort facts about the FBI's investigation. I've linked the stories here, but Turton & Hayes provide kind of a highlights reel. I've started the video where Hayes' interview of Turton begins: ~~~

Chris Nesi of the New York Post: “Alabama Senator Tommy Tuberville claimed the airline industry is full of members of the 'furry' subculture in a bizarre speech from the Senate floor connecting transgenderism to mental illness.” According to Senator Potato Head, you'd better check the cockpit next time you get on the plane because the outfit the pilot is wearing might not be a Delta uniform but an animal costume. MB: Mr. Potato Head says “you can't make this up.” But I would guess he did. (Also linked yesterday.)

Abbie Van Sickle of the New York Times: “Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson on Thursday criticized the Supreme Court’s use of its emergency docket, saying that the court’s willingness to fast-track high-profile cases posed a threat to its standing among the American public. The court, she said in a speech, 'cannot expect the public to have faith in our judicial system if, without clear explanation, we are consistently greenlighting harmful acts' without a full hearing. Justice Jackson told the audience that there was 'a serious concern' that the Supreme Court’s handling of its emergency docket was 'having an enormously disruptive and potentially corrosive effect' on the federal court system. Her remarks came during an annual lecture hosted by the University of the District of Columbia’s law school aimed at honoring a commitment to civil rights and civil liberties....

“The Trump administration has flooded the court with applications for emergency action — about 30 in ... [Donald] Trump’s first year in office alone. The court has granted many of those requests, allowing Mr. Trump to implement policies, technically on a temporary basis, while their legality is considered by lower courts.... [Justice Jackson also] criticized what she called the court’s willingness to jump into cases before lower courts had decided them. The court’s 'new approach,' she said, 'often lacks any acknowledgment of the harms that follow when the Supreme Court consistently and casually divests the lower courts' of their authority.” The link is a gift link. A Courthouse News Service report is here. Politico's report, by Josh Gerstein, is here.

Amy Wang of the Washington Post: “Nearly 170,000 pounds of raw meat products are being recalled because they were falsely labeled as having gone through federal inspection, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. North Carolina-based Star Meat Delivery is recalling about 167,639 pounds of raw, pork, beef and goat products that were shipped to A&D Foods in Georgia and then distributed to retailers and restaurants across the United States, the agency’s Food Safety and Inspection service said Tuesday. The affected products were produced before Sept. 22 and may have false USDA inspection labels that say 'EST. 1363.' They include cardboard boxes of individually vacuum-packed sliced rib-eye, beef short ribs, pork chorizo and goat. A full list of products and labels is available here.”

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Is this a sort of NYT mea culpa for tough -- and one would hope, accurate -- reporting? Or what? See yesterday's page for context. ~~~

~~~ Alaska: “A Special Brand of Coarseness.” Carl Hulse & Adam Sella of the New York Times: “Revelations about the conduct of former Representative Mary Peltola, a Democrat, toward her staff — including angry outbursts and the use of slurs — drew criticism on Thursday from Republicans who suggested they showed her unfitness for the Senate seat she is seeking. But it was not clear whether Alaskans, who for decades have elected abrasive, bellicose and occasionally violent individuals to represent them in Congress, would find it disqualifying. Alaska’s representatives on Capitol Hill have long brought a special brand of coarseness to Washington, part of a frontier mentality and a rough-and-tumble political tradition that comes with a bare-knuckled approach to securing federal resources for their remote state. They often seem to operate with a chip on their shoulder, arguing that their state’s distance leads to its getting short shrift.... Here is a look at a few of the state’s more aggressive characters.” The link is a gift link. 

California. Tim Arango & Soumya Karlamangka of the New York Times: “The California Supreme Court on Thursday ordered a county sheriff to return about 650,000 ballots he had seized from election officials as part of an investigation into voter fraud that state officials said had no basis in fact. The state’s highest court in April had ordered Chad Bianco, the Republican sheriff of Riverside County, to halt his investigation as the court case challenging the seizure proceeded. The court determined on Thursday that Sheriff Bianco had no authority to take the ballots on congressional redistricting that were cast in Riverside County during California’s 2025 special election. The decision could have implications for the midterm elections in California, where many are concerned about misinformation and tampering with the vote-counting process. Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, signed legislation last week that was intended to further block local officials from interfering in ballot counting. Sheriff Bianco, who was running for governor when he began his investigation this year, said he started looking into the recent election after complaints by activists in the county....” The link is a gift link. 

Nevada. Stolen Valor. Again. And Again. Dan Merica of the Washington Post: “David Flippo, a Republican congressional candidate in Nevada, inflated his military record multiple times in recent years by falsely claiming he received a Bronze Star 'for valor' during his two-decade Air Force career. Flippo received a Bronze Star in 2004 for his service, but not the Bronze Star with valor, a much rarer distinction that recognizes heroism in direct combat with an enemy. Experts on military awards say such exaggerations are tantamount to lying. The Flippo campaign acknowledged the misrepresentations but downplayed them as 'honest mistakes' by staff members.”

New Jersey. Tracey Tully of the New York Times: “New Jersey’s lieutenant governor, Dale G. Caldwell, twice sought to have his girlfriend promoted to a state job, made a sexually charged comment to a staff member and ignored warnings to adjust his behavior, according to a report Gov. Mikie Sherrill released Thursday evening. Ms. Sherrill called on Dr. Caldwell to resign by Friday, noting that investigators concluded that his behavior constituted sexual harassment and violated state ethics rules. A lawyer for Dr. Caldwell, however, gave no indication that a resignation was imminent. In written statements, the lawyer, Thomas Calcagni, called the investigation one-sided and said that it 'lacked the requisite due process.' The report’s findings, Mr. Calcagni added, were 'palpably deficient and create a dangerous and challenging precedent for anyone who wishes to defend against anonymous conjecture and character assassination.'” The link is a gift link. Here's Politico's story.

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Israel, et al. Isabel Kershner, et al., of the New York Times: “Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel gave a combative speech to the United Nations General Assembly on Thursday in which he defended the wars in Gaza and in Iran as a 'battle against barbarians' and accused his country’s many critics of being hypocrites. Directly addressing the protesters who were outside the building, he demanded to know where they had been when Iranian security forces killed thousands of people demonstrating against the regime in Tehran in January.... Mr. Netanyahu also directly criticized Mayor Zohran Mamdani of New York, the city’s first Muslim leader, who has called Mr. Netanyahu a 'war criminal' and at one time called for him to be arrested.... Mr. Netanyahu addressed the General Assembly just hours after the Palestinian leader, Mahmoud Abbas, delivered a recorded video address in which he condemned Israeli actions in Gaza and the West Bank as 'a malicious colonial scheme' aimed at forcing Palestinians to leave their homeland.” The link is a gift link. ~~~

     ~~~ Liam Stack of the New York Times: “Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel again attacked Mayor Zohran Mamdani during a speech to the U.N. General Assembly on Thursday, accusing the mayor of antisemitism and saying his criticism of Israel had endangered New York’s Jewish population.... In response, Mr. Mamdani accused the prime minister of using his U.N. speech 'to repeat baseless lies meant to sanitize his genocide of Palestinians.... Yet no lie can change the fact that he remains the subject of an International Criminal Court arrest warrant alleging war crimes and crimes against humanity,' the mayor said in a statement.” The link is a gift link.