stephenmj.bsky.social

A drawing of mine from long ago that repeatedly seems timely, albeit in curiously different and ever more disturbing ways in ever more places. Copyright Stephen M. Jacoby

www.nytimes.com/2026/10/20/o.... i'm betting that myriads, perhaps 99% of the population has had a similar experience. Fobbing off customer relations on an algorithm not designed to help or an AI agent/chatbot is essentially a big negative. But approach existed before computers, as in health ins.

If president ordered cut off of satellite and info to Ukraine, does that constitute sabotage? does it violate a law passed by congress? does it look like favoring Putin? if so, does it like the diesel deal violated a law passed by congress? is sabotage,law-breaking, threats the way T makes "deals"?

A drawing of mine from long ago that repeatedly seems timely, albeit in curiously different and ever more disturbing ways in ever more places. Copyright Stephen M. Jacoby

i am waiting for a furious judge in one of these situations to either phone under president to order him to comply or order the president in person to appear before the court to explain or face sanctions. I'm not sure the SCt immunity applies to criminal contempt of court.

Seems to me due process should require US to provide those with challenged status all documents and info supportive of legal status wo requiring any FOIA request. Immigrants’ Lawyers Say U.S. Is Redacting Documents Proving Legal Status www.nytimes.com/2026/09/14/u...

will any of these fill the reservoirs: building a superarch? giving felons guns? endless war (with soupçons of promised peace)? defying the courts, misinterpreting the constitution? emoluments and raking in fruits of misuse of power? badmouthing perceived enemies and countries not toeing the line?

How many law “ai assistants” give the user screening control of sources “consulted” (trained on)? For example, can one exclude overruled or reversed cases, cases only in a certain district or judge’s court, or include relevant foreign court opinions?

Perhaps idealist (despite lessons of history)- i believe our system of law has irreducible core of common decency - the "Trump-DOJ-IRS" settlement, agreed to by unitary exec & Republican Senate, is void as patently ag constitution & public good & any taxpayer sh have standing to challenge.

The president has no business telling the public what the views if dead soldiers were. By position he may speak of what he required of them, and how that worked out for them - but not whether or not they supported the war (unless they left explicit voluntary statements to that effect).

AI got you?

This administration (bolstered by a radical SCOTUS majority) is not only about centralizing power in the "unitary executive" (a notion at odds w declaration of independence & the tripartite design of the constitution) but about denying any & all power to people harmed by exec actions

re reflection on reflection pool: did T just admit that his hasty, inexpert repair was vandalism? or is everything someone else's fault?

historically, secret deals sorta settling wars have had, shall we say, a mixed record

Is there any real world research on “ability” of AIs/LLMs to fact check using a controlled “data library” or globally accessible e resources? Is there any theoretical research (like running repeated computer simulations)? If AI were a drug, safety AND efficacy would be tested before release.

My discovery in San Juan, a law school unashamed to teach both lawyers and lawyeresses - I can't tell whether this is a step backwards or forwards

I seem to recall the SCOTUS majority was concerned about sowing chaos by deciding election cases so close to elections. Now it has adopted chaos as a founding legal principle.

Considering massive amount of social media postings by DJT, pervasive quoting of him by all types of media, and massive infusion into the public realm of appointees and supporters who have repeated his words or copied his style, is it safe to say that the LLMsphere is being infected by his “style”?

Trump calls on war; calls off war; calls on peace; calls off peace; calls on war and peace; calls off war and peace...; hires without competitive bidding contractor to call on and off war and peace; declares victory; sues those who doubt; loses; declares victory; etc. Have I got that right?

hypothetical: lawyer describes his client's predicament to AI; response is ingenious way to allow client to continue and lawyer doesn't realize he is enabling a criminal enterprise. Can AI company be prosecuting for masterminding, aiding and abetting crime?

Should the SCOTUS of the major question doctrine have applied to the postal service case? After all, intentional misdelivery, delay, or loss of mail can have a profound effect on elections, contractual relations, insurance coverage, lawsuits…

Given T's assertion that wrt his $ claims ag US he will have to negotiate w himself, it's clear the extreme doctrine of a unitary executive (where all fed employees and officer other than in judiciary and legislative branches, and maybe even them, owe allegiance to Pres) is a formula for kleptocracy

Did I hear the news correctly? Did Bondi just tell Congress that the district courts are conspiring to block administration programs or policies? If she did, perhaps she is also accusing the drafters of the Constitution and of the Bill of Rights of conspiracy against Trumpian tyrrany.

vote NO to Trump imperial naming fetish. It has already gone being sanity.

WH: kindly identify basis in interntl law for a sovereign state closing air space of another state, precedents, established mechanism for it. If none, pl explain why the statement of such closing is not an act of war and why the President can make such a statement without approval by Congress.

www.nytimes.com/2025/11/20/u.... If J Boasberg were correct, ruling would render any distinction between fedral and local courts and judges and jurisdictions in D.C. meaningless. Did Congress so intend? Did decision address rule that statutory construction should try to avoid absurd results?

has BBC suffered a teapot in a tempest? so much of what Trump says (as on Jan 6) is not precisely a direct incitement for violence but is tongue in cheek and indirect suggestion to wreak havoc. is it ever impartial to air what he says either in edited form or in full? without asking what is this?

Definitely read www.nybooks.com/online/2025/...

Many MAGAites trace their joining to the mask mandate, presumably because it appeared to coerce a temporary erasure of identity and invasion of personal space. What will we call the movement reacting to the current wholesale permanent erasure of identity, history, reason, subsistence, compassion?

currently, imo, 2 largest economic impacts in US of crime are from cybercrime (internationally in trillions, in US many billions) & from illegal activities of many types by current administration (my guess is many billions). DOJ & FBI should focus at least on the first (apolitical), not retaliation.

Trump has unilaterally made smuggling cocaine a capital offense punishable at will wo any warning or process, or any authority from, or need to report to, Congress. Military are operating under executive letters of marque and threatening the first war with a western hemisphere nation in 36 yrs. ugh

There will come a time when this administration will argue that whether a crime has been committed (or proven) is an unreviewable political question. We are creeping in that direction now. See harrylitman.substack.com/p/moment-of-...

See bigthink.com/high-culture...

when will administration's actions skirting at or over the edge of legality & constitutionality, causing hardship & threatening health & safety to so many here & around the world, be viewed in the context of history & the country's former ideals and aspirations, be seen as a slow coup?

Trump’s ‘Compact’ With Universities Is Just Extortion www.nytimes.com/2025/10/02/o... There is no basis for this transactional mafia-style govt. Also, this "regulation" flouts/evades all procedural requirements: not based on any act of Congress nor complies w the Administrative Procedure Act.

What do a massive spectacle of a general meeting of generals and an explicit intent to make American cities the situs of armed war games and a demand that the military be politically incorrect remind peo people (including historians) of?

Why isn’t lead in NYT on peace plan for Gaza that Trump is to chair the temporary technocrat “peace” transition commission and that the redevelopment plan is Trump’s 2020 “Riviera” plan? It is all about Trump - a statesman would not glorify himself to make peace. This reality is unbelievable.

was there any earlier year when SCOTUS (a) so dramatically insisted that a president supersedes Congress and the courts and (b) worked its destruction of the separation of powers in such a shadowy way?