The botched attempt to prosecute the lawmakers for what was essentially an act of political dissent, critics say, was an egregious misuse of the grand jury system even for a Justice Department that has repeatedly trampled over prosecutorial norms in its efforts to satisfy Mr. Trump’s pursuit of vengeance against his adversaries.

But it also stood as an example of the chaos that has roiled the department as it has grappled with the president’s increasingly erratic demands, even in the face of little evidence. Time and again, prosecutors have been caught between the president’s insistence that they undertake weak or baseless cases and the necessity of having to go to court to push those cases past the justice system’s institutional guardrails.

Tara Siegel Bernard: How does the sweeping tax law passed last summer — and that takes partial effect during the current tax season (for tax year 2025) — fit into the big picture?

Bridget J. Crawford JD PhD: I think it’s the ultimate example of technocratic changes being a veil to what’s really going on. And what’s really going on are continued tax benefits for the wealthy, minor reform at the margin for people like tipped workers, but extraordinary cruelty toward families and people living in poverty.

But let’s be clear here, every call for a “Sister Souljah Moment” is really a call towards bigotry. The original SSM was Clinton repudiating Black oprganizers to appeal to racists, the calls for Biden to do so were also calls for him to appeal to racists.

The call today is for Democrats to repudiate trans people, and come out in support of Republican policies on trans issues. Trans issues are the new Sister Souljah, in a way. This year, it’s a call to appeal to the transphobes who dominate the mainstream press.

Knitting is the future of coding. Nobody knits because they want a quick or cheap jumper, they knit because they love the craft. This is the future of writing code by hand. You will do it because you find it satisfying but it will be neither the cheapest or quickest way to write software.