Once again, Trump says he will unilaterally repeal the 14th Amendment by executive order

But don’t you dare call him a proto-fascist!

Donald Trump says he will sign executive order to end birthright citizenship “on day one” (video)

Kinetic Sculpture Water Crossing Shots

Redwood Wonk – We discuss all the latest moving parts to the debt ceiling hostage crisis; the growing crowd of Republican Presidential candidates; and why the pending supplying of F-16s to Ukraine isn’t front page news

Excellent documentary on early all-girl band Fanny

Great documentary on one of the first all-women bands in which every member was considered first rate talent, but did not receive the recognition at the time. They’ve reunited in their 70s and there’s a push to include them in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Here they did a great cover of the Beatles song.

Great visual history of the chess world championship

Doesn’t include the informal champions Paul Morphy or Adolph Anderson.

Redwood Wonk 5/17/23 – Big day for Democrats in Tuesday’s elections; Durham’s Dud, and the Debt Ceiling vs. the 14th Amendment

And if you’re interested, I had an interesting discussion with callers and my producer Tanya about how religion informs our politics on All Things Reconsidered last night.

Is Biden’s immigrant asylum policy working?

Since Title 42 ended, border encounters have dramatically reduced by more than half.

Durham is a tool, but there may be a silver lining

I have no idea how many tens of millions he spent on two failed prosecutions, one no-prison guilty plea, and a big finger wag, but maybe the Progressive Caucus can sway the morons in the Freedom Caucus and some others to kill one of the worst aspects of the Patriot Act – which was forced through Congress within days after 911 (hundreds of pages having been written years before just waiting for the right moment). It’s always been a potential bane to the 4th Amendment, and I really question whether it’s used as much to detect terror as much as to undermine internal political dissent. At the very least, maybe Jim Jordan can be goaded into calling hearings on the subject in a kind of sequel to the CointelPro hearings of the 1970s.

From this article on the Durham report “takeways”:

Lurking in the report and the FBI’s response to it is a key fear for law enforcement and the intelligence community: that Durham’s withering conclusions about the bureau’s handling of the Trump-Russia probe will prompt Congress to kill off a key surveillance authority when it expires in December.

Durham does not mention the so-called Section 702 authority explicitly, but he does say he is not recommending anything “that would curtail the scope of reach of FISA or the FBI’s investigative activities … in a time of aggressive and hostile terrorist groups and foreign powers.”

Harvey Milk would have been 93 years old today

The Briggs Initiative was an abomination which was defeated soundly in California thanks in large part to Harvey Milk’s campaign into Republican areas of the state to attack it directly on libertarian grounds and appeals like this one to President Carter. Laws much like it are being passed in Texas, Florida, and other states.

Here’s a speech against the initiative a few months before his assassination.

It’s what’s known on the left as a “radicalizing experience”