DL Open Thread: Friday, June 21, 2024

A Rogue Judge–From The Beginning.

Shortly after Judge Aileen M. Cannon drew the assignment in June 2023 to oversee former President Donald J. Trump’s classified documents case, two more experienced colleagues on the federal bench in Florida urged her to pass it up and hand it off to another jurist, according to two people briefed on the conversations.

The judges who approached Judge Cannon — including the chief judge in the Southern District of Florida, Cecilia M. Altonaga — each asked her to consider whether it would be better if she were to decline the high-profile case, allowing it to go to another judge, the two people said.

But Judge Cannon, who was appointed by Mr. Trump, wanted to keep the case and refused the judges’ entreaties. Her assignment drew attention because she has scant trial experience and had previously shown unusual favor to Mr. Trump by intervening in a way that helped him in the criminal investigation that led to his indictment, only to be reversed in a sharply critical rebuke by a conservative appeals court panel.

The result?:

Over the past several months, Judge Cannon, who was appointed by Mr. Trump in his final days in office, has made a number of decisions that have prompted second-guessing and criticism among legal scholars following the case. Many of her rulings, on a wide array of topics, have been confounding to them, often evincing her willingness to grant a serious hearing to far-fetched issues that Mr. Trump’s lawyers have raised in his defense.

The issue that will be discussed on Friday in Federal District Court in Fort Pierce, Fla., is a motion by the defense to dismiss the charges in the case on the grounds that Jack Smith, the special counsel who filed them last spring, was improperly funded and appointed.

A key reason why democracy hangs by a thread?  Justice, as we’ve come to understand it, hangs by a thread.

AI And The Power Grid.  Yet another problem nobody thought of.  Well, at least I never thought of it:

In fact, the voracious electricity consumption of artificial intelligence is driving an expansion of fossil fuel use — including delaying the retirement of some coal-fired plants.

In the face of this dilemma, Big Tech is going all in on experimental clean-energy projects that have long odds of success anytime soon. In addition to fusion, they are hoping to generate power through such futuristic schemes as small nuclear reactors hooked to individual computing centers and machinery that taps geothermal energy by boring 10,000 feet into the Earth’s crust.

Tech companies had promised “clean energy would be this magical, infinite resource,” said Tamara Kneese, a project director at the nonprofit Data & Society, which tracks the effect of AI and accuses the tech industry of using “fuzzy math” in its climate claims.

“Coal plants are being reinvigorated because of the AI boom,” Kneese said. “This should be alarming to anyone who cares about the environment.”

There’s a great plot for an apocalyptic movie in there somewhere.  If you agree, send me money, and the idea is all yours.

Plutocrat Of The Inherited Wealth, Wait For It,  Ilk Gives $50 Mill To Trump Campaign:

Billionaire businessman Timothy Mellon, the grandson of Gilded Age plutocrat Andrew Mellon, made a $50 million donation to a pro-Donald Trump super PAC last month, a day after the former president was convicted by a New York jury on 34 felony counts.

The Times reported that “within days of the contribution,” the super PAC “said in a memo that it would begin reserving $100 million in advertising through Labor Day.”

Mellon is one of at least a dozen billionaires supporting Trump’s bid for another four years in the White House. The former president has solicited donations from fossil fuel executives and hedge fund investors, promising to deliver regulatory rollbacks and more tax cuts if he defeats President Joe Biden in November.

Hmmm, wonder if there is more than mere coincidence involved between this gift and the new Trump Delaware LLC…

WaPo To Would-Be Managing Editor: “Cheerio, chap”:

In recent weeks, both Lewis and Winnett have faced critical reporting from the Washington Post’s own journalists over their links to past British media scandals. Lewis has been accused in court filings of engaging in a cover-up at Rupert Murdoch’s News UK in the wake of the phone-hacking scandal, while Winnett has received scrutiny over allegations that he used the work of a self-confessed blagger as a young Sunday Times journalist.

They were also criticised for their role in the MPs’ expenses scandal, when the Daily Telegraph paid £110,000 for a disk of stolen data. The story was seen as a public interest story by many in British media but would have broken strict rules in many US newsrooms on paying for information.

Winnett will likely remain ‘The Demon Wordsmith Of Fleet Street”.

Delaware’s Community Gardens.  Especially welcome in urban communities:

As Delaware becomes increasingly urbanized, the presence of gardens may seem contradictory. However, a careful examination of the metropolitan landscape reveals there are numerous unassuming gardens scattered throughout the area: tucked between buildings, nestled on a corner or even in a simple container on the sidewalk of a yardless house.

Many of these urban patches are community gardens. For some, these shared spaces allow gardening enthusiasts to collectively enjoy their favorite hobby. For others, community gardening represents a needed lifestyle change. These modest plots offer access to organic fruits and vegetables, affordable nutritious ingredients or a chance to “touch grass” for therapeutic purposes.

Now, this would be a great place for local and state government to invest a little to yield a lot.

What do you want to talk about?