As it so happens, today marks the 13th anniversary of the last cigarette I ever smoked. Or my first day without a cigarette... I can't quite remember. But an important day! I would be remiss not to mention that it wouldn't have happened if I hadn't access to ecigarettes.

Bob Bauer and I write on OLC's strange opinion extending the presidential communications privilege to private advisors. "Why did the White House ask, and why did OLC publish? We are not sure."

If, as seems likely, there is a majority for Chief’s position, why not issue per curiam order for Court, with dissents to follow? Maybe because some members of majority want to respond to dissents *at same time* they’re issued?

It’s not the first column of his to be spiked and while I strongly disagree with all of the columns the Times didn’t run, they should have published them. Unless these columns were factually inaccurate or not meeting journalistic standards, run it and deal with the fallout. If people get pissed, so be it. Let him have to defend his shitty opinions in the public square. I totally get why he resigned.

As everyone argues about the $40 trillion debt threshold, remember: Its 100% the other party's fault. Your side has never hiked spending or cut taxes. And if they did it was for a good reason and paid for itself. And we can fix deficits entirely by going after the bad people.

This is a good statement. You can be suspicious about the merits of the guy's research and what motivations might lie behind it - whether it's fair or not, I have my own suspicions - but that's a separate issue. The basis for suspending him and carrying out a disciplinary investigation is somewhere between flimsy and non-existent. The actions here by Ghent University are very concerning. This is exactly the sort of situation where a university should be giving support to a staff member who is under attack. This is what academic freedom is for. Contrast the situation with Arday at Cambridge where there were credible allegations of extensive plagiarism, research fraud, etc., and Arday's position was clearly no longer tenable. There's nothing like that with Cofnas.

Bad books have consequences. “Every villain in Zinn's story wielded political privilege, not market competition…. Zinn never engaged with that argument, because engaging with it destroys his entire thesis.”

I can't say I'm entirely persuaded. Don't get me wrong. On the merits, Sauer is right; at least, the plaintiffs' standing theory is rubbish. It's just that for me there's no getting around the fact that Trump wantonly demolished part of the White House. That taints it all.

Folks, I wasn't letting Obama or anyone else off the hook. The whole point is that everyone is on the hook (including voters who let this happen too). Here are the numbers for the last day in office of each president since Reagan. RR $2.7 Trillion GHWB $4.2 BC $5.7 GWB $10.6 BO $19.9 DJT $27.7 JB $36.2