It's Wednesday! Which Means #RRF Prep!
Added 2025-02-12 20:21:34 +0000 UTCYou know the drill - tell us what kind of legal goings-on have been on your mind that you need answers to ("all of them" is a totally fair response because what is this world anymore), and be sure to heart the others in the thread that you're eager to hear us tackle as well!
Comments
DoD & other departments are trying to restrict pride flags even from personal vehicles & cubicle spaces. The memo from Hegseth to VA (full memo read on Daily Beans) orders no flags except the USA flag. It is severely restrictive & also doesn’t use any blatant discriminatory words, so there is much to do in those cases. The order lists VA spaces, including medical centers, so those need be monitored for appeal to heavens, MIA, branch or state flags, all need to be taken down. I propose reporting any display other than current USA flag to the agency. Including reporting to local admins, on the ground, the GAO & maybe reps. Email signature text that includes pronouns are targets but biblical quotes are allowed Schools w religious texts need quotes from every single solitary xtian denomination & as many non-xtian religious traditions imaginable. Promote the 4 minute video explaining CRT concept that was suppressed by the court from showing in a Virginia school during black history month (last year)) & was successfully “cancelled” by the Right. They brag about coordinated efforts to kill the brands of DEI & CRT as terms *and* concepts since nobody understands the reality if they only learned the successful colonization side of history with minimal to no attention or respect paid to the impacts to indigenous, for example. I’d like to see any propaganda regulated to some degree, and/or liars held responsible somehow, civilly maybe, for doing it from positions of power. Duty to inform is a thing. Or was a thing.
dddebz
2025-02-16 22:36:29 +0000 UTC...Your comment makes me picture something like "The Special Potato" as a concept for a niche food truck. Pittsburgh has lots of stuff like that, as do the neighboring states where so many of those folks live! I don't know if this thing / place -exists- but now I'm picturing hungry people in rumpled suits noticing this food truck and queueing up pretending nothing is weird or punny as they scan the menu that is absolutely deliberately in plain sight *both* of those things. Anyone who's at all adjacent to that space, whether by blood or background, or who grew up around adults who didn't dumb down the news, ... probably gets this rapidly degrading attempt at humor. Anyway! Yeah, multiple prosecutors resigning should be more shocking than my shattered nerves can process right now. o.O The 80s called...they want their cheesy cinema tropes back, please.
Tetra and Blossom
2025-02-14 10:41:44 +0000 UTCYes everyone is quitting and the next person down the line keeps refusing to dismiss the case. It's prosecutor hot potato
Vehicular Man's Laughter's topical car references are running on empty, so the preference for the Lydia edit stays ... for now
2025-02-14 02:36:53 +0000 UTCI thought everyone quit
Kat -- A liberal weed in conservative country
2025-02-14 02:16:41 +0000 UTCI think it boils down to the fact that checks and balances won't work as long as the Executive can collaborate with one other branch to do evil. So you hedge your bets.
Alex Dunn
2025-02-13 22:01:46 +0000 UTCLate breaking refusals to dismiss the Adams prosecution?!
Vehicular Man's Laughter's topical car references are running on empty, so the preference for the Lydia edit stays ... for now
2025-02-13 21:16:45 +0000 UTCThere are a lot of us; we need to find one of us with mad people organizing skills!
Kat -- A liberal weed in conservative country
2025-02-13 19:24:26 +0000 UTCI realize MAGA folks aren't known for their consistency, but I'm wondering why they even needed to bother packing the Supreme Court if they were just going to ignore the judicial branch anyway.
All-inclusive Gender Resort
2025-02-13 18:34:36 +0000 UTCNew Executive Order from Feb 10th "Pausing enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act". Paused enforcement of 15 U.S.C. 78dd-1 et seq. 1) Does the administration have authority not to enforce this law? 2) What effect does this have? It sounds like it will encourage bribery of foreign officials.
Shad Riley
2025-02-13 16:12:31 +0000 UTCSo, obviously this is not our most pressing issue, likely the opposite. If we are to succeed in limiting the scope of the Executive's power, it will likely be through the Judiciary at the moment. Given the seemingly, but not entirely, contradictory views held by the conservative justices about the Unitary Executive and also the total annihilation of the administrative state: do you see a path forward that limits a president's power and preserves some semblance of an administrative state? It seems like there's a bit of a catch 22 here in that if the maga wing prevails, we have a king in all but name, but if the conservative wing wins we end up with a deadlocked government destined to encourage the populace to seek another strongman in short order. Am I missing an off-ramp or other 3rd path/outcome that would be stabilizing in the short term at the expense of stability in the long term?
Charles Coalson
2025-02-13 06:18:57 +0000 UTCMore good-ish news? https://www.boston.com/news/local-news/2025/02/12/worcester-sanctuary-city-transgender-community/?amp=1
Gamers4DorknessFallsIsFilmingSoonHYPE
2025-02-13 05:03:16 +0000 UTCTrigger warning, this video will probably enrage you in the beginning, but it gets a little better. https://youtu.be/ne06XQj4H3s?si=-Ad2GcYFD64BCrLn Ok, my memory is not ready for the test. It was a UVisa as a way to get a green card?
Meridaandmouse
2025-02-13 02:14:24 +0000 UTCHopefully this is an easy yes or no. Saw a video where a guy was detaining a truck of people. He reached in and grabbed their keys. All the wile talking about how they don’t have a license to drive and that they will be deported. The guy ended up going to prison for false imprisonment or something. Apologies, doing this from memory, if I can find the video will post it as a reply. In a follow up video it was said that people who are trying to become citizens can find a path if a crime has been committed against them. A schedule U or something? Is this really a thing, if so can you explain it, please.
Meridaandmouse
2025-02-13 02:06:28 +0000 UTCAaahhhhh! I'm not rural exactly - Pittsburgh - but sensory disabilities and autism make it so I may as well live on a desert island. But I've got Internet and smarts and curiosity and energy and TIME and I wanna help! I got through some pre-med and pre-law stuff before all my shit blew up. I have a weird nerdy seemingly useless heap of interests and skills and urges and would looooove someone to give me something to DO. Even if it's, "Can you listen to me vent for an hour?" or "Make me some yummy food cuz I'm too tired after all this shit today." or even "You're a law nerd...read this crazy pile of stuff and make an itemized list so the folks with creds and degrees can more easily tackle it. (probably multitasking that with making yummy food for them too and catching a vent)" Feel free to DM if you need to vent or whatever. <3 I'm SO SORRY you're in a rough spot too Kat.
Tetra and Blossom
2025-02-13 01:17:37 +0000 UTCGot any links to read up on this? Yeah, that's some scary crap worth highlighting.
Tetra and Blossom
2025-02-13 01:11:54 +0000 UTC1. What acts of civil disobedience can we conduct and what recourse or due process rights can we expect (hope for) if/when we are held as political prisoners? 2. Can you analyze (a) the constitutionality and federal legality of Musk and Trump confiscating FEMA funds in NY bank accounts (not that it matters as no enforcement will be forthcoming); and (b) any state law analysis relevant (not that it matters because constitutional crisis)?
Vehicular Man's Laughter's topical car references are running on empty, so the preference for the Lydia edit stays ... for now
2025-02-13 00:51:15 +0000 UTCI hate to add to the massive pile of crap lately, but I'm seeing rumors that HR 8281 (national voter ID bill) is problematic. I'm sure we're all shocked. I'm hearing that the voter registration name must match a person's original birth certificate and does not make allowances for name changes due to adoption, marriage, birth certificate typos, etc. This would effectively make millions of people - mostly women - ineligible to vote. I have no idea if this is true or not, and if it is I think it's a subject that should be highlighted.
Tara Churchill
2025-02-13 00:11:35 +0000 UTCI'm concerned about the media reaction to this too. In reporting, writers say such and such an EO was blocked so Trump lost that one, but as I understand it, the executive branch just keeps doing what they want to do and those blocks are not permanent and there will be appeals.
Kat -- A liberal weed in conservative country
2025-02-12 23:53:09 +0000 UTCAnd yet his "spiritual advisor" basically says he's Jesus.
Kat -- A liberal weed in conservative country
2025-02-12 23:49:03 +0000 UTCRight on! I hear you! I finished my first degree before I had to bail on my education and end up on disability. I'm not qualified to help but I've got all the time and the curiosity and the will and the smarts. Is frightening and it's frustrating. I'm glad when the podcasts I listen to say these are the people to write to. But I think I could write to my representative all day without making a difference. I'm also in a very rural area so there's not a lot of organizing going, now that this part of California isn't trying to be its own hyper conservative, tax-free state.
Kat -- A liberal weed in conservative country
2025-02-12 23:47:14 +0000 UTCplus the press sec chiding the media for calling it that?
citationy stuff
2025-02-12 22:33:17 +0000 UTCA convo I've been having with ketchup-stained fedup peeps in my life is: I have NOTHING BUT TIME while you all are absolutely DROWNING in all this ICK designed to chew up time and energy. I don't have formal credentials or anything that would make most people take me seriously, but i've got TIME, damnit, and a fierce love of the law, and am good at research, synthesis, curation, etc. Due to multiple disabilities and poverty I haven't been able to complete schooling or get into a traditional career or do much physically in the way of organizing like protesting or making calls. But I've got TIME. I can read things. I can write stuff up. I think folks like me who feel useless might be good force multipliers for folks out there doing the work getting shat on for doing it who don't have TIME to get everyone else up to speed. Perhaps folks like me could take up paralegal 101 as a hobby? A little structure goes a long way! I'd love a citizen 101 primer on how to do legal research, such as finding text of documents, how to brief cases, how to do basic paralegal stuff to help the people close to me with actionable info they can trust and easily verify. On paper, this administration says I'm trash. But I think we all know paper isn't the be-all-end-all. Some folks fall between cracks, but we develop collections of skills, urges, and insights that can be HELLA USEFUL when shit gets weird. Shit got weird a while ago. Folks like me who've been facing it our whole lives are good at trucking on through. We just need some structure about how to do so in a way that is supportive and aligns and uplifts. I'm one of those vulnerable disabled folks on government assistance, and I'm Scared. But I'm still HERE and I wanna HELP and this might be how? I love this show. I love learning about the law. I love nerding out with woke nerdy smart sparky folks. Not sure if this fits in here, but I'm tired of feeling useless and seeing all you awesome folks out there in the world getting shat on for showing up. That's...so fucked up. I wanna help. That's all this humble hermit has to say, I see the world is broken, I hate that, and I wanna help any way possible. Thomas, Matt, Lydia, Heather, crew, you are FUCKING AWESOME! Like high holy spaceballs defying words and rewriting gravity awesome. Thank you for this community. Podcasts like this are how I've supplemented the schooling I was blessed enough to go through and I still love learning and this specific podcast has inspired me to keep going. THANK YOU. I'd love to help back, any way I can, even if it's just a few bucks here now and then. I'd love to align that with actions too.
Tetra and Blossom
2025-02-12 22:11:17 +0000 UTCThis administration is bad enough to get a dressing-down from the Pope in the first 90 days. Not really a legal thing but I find it morbidly entertaining and you've gotta take the laughs where you can get them, these days
Gamers4DorknessFallsIsFilmingSoonHYPE
2025-02-12 21:45:12 +0000 UTCAny plans to cover Texas v Bacerra? It's yet another of the challenges to EMTALA
Philip Kizer
2025-02-12 21:24:55 +0000 UTCHi Thomas and Matt! A bit ago we talked about potentially bringing in a trans lawyer to be a guest on the show, and I think I found a good candidate. His name is Shannon Minter from the Equal Justice Works organization and he specializes in LGBTQ+ cases. He worked on Doe v. Trump in the original trans military ban (as I understand it), so he'd probably have a great perspective if that's something you're still interested in. His website is here: https://www.equaljusticeworks.org/fellows/shannon-minter/#:~:text=Shannon%20is%20the%20legal%20director,employment%20discrimination%2C%20and%20HIV%20criminalization.
Melody Woodward
2025-02-12 21:21:55 +0000 UTCSo I have been engaging in this convo with people all over different social media. Specifically, the interaction between judicial orders and the executive branch. I'm convinced we're already at "the Rubicon" and need to be talked off the edge. So, reporting is showing that Trump is still freezing federal funds that judges have told him to unfreeze. He is seemingly defying judicial orders. My understanding is that judges can declare these things illegal, and can send monitors or US marshals to "enforce this." However, that just means arresting people in the Executive breaking the law. They can't actively make someone in the Executive *do* something. The reason the Executive feels a need to do what judges say is because the Legislative can impeach them. When the law they're breaking is withholding legislatively-assigned funding, one would think the legislative is happy to impeach. But, that's not going to happen. So is that it? If the legislative won't impeach, judges can't actually do anything about this? Can Trump just withhold funding forever? Am I missing something?
Alex Dunn
2025-02-12 20:44:21 +0000 UTCThere's so much I would love to hear about. However, I saw today that 17 states want to eliminate 504 plans for kids in public school and have filed a lawsuit that says they are unconstitutional. This one caught me off guard, although the states participating in the lawsuit are not surprising. Where does this legislation sit and/or what are the likely outcomes at this time? This would hurt so many children with learning disabilities on the left and right. I think they forgot to think of the children.
Can't Sleep, Clown Will Eat Me
2025-02-12 20:38:14 +0000 UTCThe Treasury clawing back $80 Million from NYC for reasons. Per the comptroller it was FEMA funds that are no longer there, and the funds were in a commercial bank account. Beyond being illegal (which I'm sure it is) this seems like it's TERRIBLE policy generally.
Wishing every Elon Musk a very God rest his soul
2025-02-12 20:29:26 +0000 UTCWould love to hear Matt's take on JD Vance's infamous "Judges aren't allowed to control the executive's legitimate power" tweet. Full blown constitutional crisis? Am I overreacting?
Liam Child
2025-02-12 20:29:11 +0000 UTCJudge Beryl Howell's recent footnote calling out those who are currently "just following orders" is *chef's kiss.*
G. T. Blackwell
2025-02-12 20:24:11 +0000 UTC
