Sean Bakker Kellogg
@probonogeek.bsky.social
I've been following the National Guard federalization cases since it started in California, and even back then I thought (a) regular forces = military and (b) regular forces can only be used in very limited situations, thus (c) the federalization statute must be similarly narrow.
NEW: By a 6-3 vote, the Supreme Court blocks Trump’s deployment of the National Guard to Chicago to assist immigration agents. A majority holds that he likely lacks authority to do so. Thomas, Alito, and Gorsuch dissent. www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25p...
![The Government asked this Court to stay the District Court's order. After the response and reply were filed, JUSTICE BARRETT referred the application to the Court. We directed the parties to file supplemental letter briefs on an issue that the District Court had addressed but the parties' initial briefs had not: the meaning of the term "regular forces" in §12406(3). In its supplemental brief, the Government argues that the term refers to civilian law enforcement officers, such as those employed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement or the Federal Protective Service.
Respondents, echoing the District Court, maintain that the term refers to the regular forces of the United States mili-tary.
We conclude that the term "regular forces" in §12406(3) likely refers to the regular forces of the United States mili-tary. This interpretation means that to call the Guard into active federal service under §12406(3), the President must be "unable" with the regular military "to execute the laws of the United States." Because the statute requires an assessment of the military's ability to execute the laws, it likely applies only where the military could legally execute the laws. Such circumstances are exceptional: Under the Posse Comitatus Act, the military is prohibited from "execut[ing] the laws" "except in cases and under circumstances expressly authorized by the Constitution or Act of Congress."
18 U. S. C. §1385. So before the President can federalize the Guard under §12406(3), he likely must have statutory or constitutional authority to execute the laws with the regular military and must be "unable" with those forces to perform that function.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:6h7b2i6ttw3l4t7pvbvxdith/bafkreiftbhzwvn3vgwhqsi7k2paizvdw4t26ailljvovso3chqupnmj364@jpeg)
December 24, 2025 at 3:58 AM
I've been following the National Guard federalization cases since it started in California, and even back then I thought (a) regular forces = military and (b) regular forces can only be used in very limited situations, thus (c) the federalization statute must be similarly narrow.
Reposted by Sean Bakker Kellogg
get in bitch we doin Y2K
The atomic ensemble time scale at the NIST Boulder campus has failed.
December 21, 2025 at 2:52 AM
get in bitch we doin Y2K
The real question I have, based on the Court's separation of powers precedents, is what could anyone do about it? I'm reasonably certain that impeachment is the only remedy the Court would endorse, which means we live in a world where laws require 2/3rds of the Senate to *enforce*.
December 19, 2025 at 7:18 PM
The real question I have, based on the Court's separation of powers precedents, is what could anyone do about it? I'm reasonably certain that impeachment is the only remedy the Court would endorse, which means we live in a world where laws require 2/3rds of the Senate to *enforce*.
Reposted by Sean Bakker Kellogg
The malwarebytes Google opting-your-emails-into-ai-training thing is not true. The post is based on one bad tweet.
I know anti-tech lamenting is a Bluesky core principle, but please use the same judgement you would for any other clickbait.
www.theverge.com/news/826902/...
I know anti-tech lamenting is a Bluesky core principle, but please use the same judgement you would for any other clickbait.
www.theverge.com/news/826902/...
Google denies ‘misleading’ reports of Gmail using your emails to train AI
Google says “we do not use your Gmail content for training our Gemini AI model.”
www.theverge.com
November 22, 2025 at 8:58 AM
The malwarebytes Google opting-your-emails-into-ai-training thing is not true. The post is based on one bad tweet.
I know anti-tech lamenting is a Bluesky core principle, but please use the same judgement you would for any other clickbait.
www.theverge.com/news/826902/...
I know anti-tech lamenting is a Bluesky core principle, but please use the same judgement you would for any other clickbait.
www.theverge.com/news/826902/...
Reposted by Sean Bakker Kellogg
![[Scene is a kitchen - a middle aged woman called JANET is boiling peas at the stove. A younger more colourfully dressed woman named LIZ approached her.]
JANET:
Ugh...
LIZ:
What's up?
JANET:
I am so bored of cooking peas!
LIZ:
Have you tried...
AI peas?
JANET:
AI peas?
LIZ:
They're peas with AI!
[Liz holds up to us a packet of peas labelled: Pea-i AI - Peas with AI].
LIZ:
Al-powered peas harness the potential of your peas
JANET:
What
LIZ [Now a voiceover as we cut to a whizzy technology diagram of peas all connected by meaningless dotted lines]
Why not take your peas to the next level with Al Peas' new Al tools to power your peas?
[Show a techno diagram of a pea with a label reading 'AI' pointing to a random zone in it]
LIZ:
Each pea has Al in a way we haven't quite worked out yet but it's fine
[Show Janet and Liz now in a Matrix-style world of peas]
LIZ:
With Al peas you can supercharge productivity and make AI work for your peas!
JANET:
What
LIZ:
Shut up
LIZ:
Our game-changing Pea-Al gives you the freedom to unlock the potential of the power of the future of your peas workflow
From opening the bag of peas
to boiling the peas
to eating the peas
To spending millions on adding Al to the peas and then having to work out what that even means.
JANET:
Is it really necessary to-
LIZ [Grabbing Janet by the collar]:
THE PEAS HAVE GOT AI, JANET
[Cut to an advert ending screen, with the bag of peas and the slogan:
AI PEAS: Just 'Peas' for god's sake buy the AI peas.
[Ends]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:4m3we4apbjayclzcnhwe3pfp/bafkreiayqa37f7kik7l7s7fbtfp2sir5ckb662ry2lylinyjrfa2rkvvka@jpeg)
Reposted by Sean Bakker Kellogg
I never knew that my emails, filled to the brim with complete sentences and a coherent narrative, were such a work of art. I'm bout to start printing these out and hanging them on the walls.
November 13, 2025 at 2:45 AM
I never knew that my emails, filled to the brim with complete sentences and a coherent narrative, were such a work of art. I'm bout to start printing these out and hanging them on the walls.
I endorse this analysis of the shutdown deal 100% -- open.substack.com/pub/joshhude...
An Entirely too-early Assessment of the Senate Shutdown Deal/Vote
Democrats may have over-performed on policy and underperformed on politics.
open.substack.com
November 10, 2025 at 5:12 PM
I endorse this analysis of the shutdown deal 100% -- open.substack.com/pub/joshhude...
Reposted by Sean Bakker Kellogg
What happens when you distill 2025 into a single social media post?
This.
This is what you get.
This.
This is what you get.
November 4, 2025 at 8:05 PM
What happens when you distill 2025 into a single social media post?
This.
This is what you get.
This.
This is what you get.
Reposted by Sean Bakker Kellogg
The way you know public opinion on social welfare is complicated is that every Halloween some people seem to want to means test who gets candy.
October 31, 2025 at 11:45 AM
The way you know public opinion on social welfare is complicated is that every Halloween some people seem to want to means test who gets candy.
Seriously, you got to go all the way to the end. There's a real tonal shift.
Scroll down to the "Major Events Timeline." Then read through it. Make sure you get all the way to the end. www.whitehouse.gov/about-the-wh...
The White House Building
Every president since John Adams has occupied the White House, and the history of this building extends far beyond the construction of its walls. From the Ground Floor Corridor rooms, transformed from...
www.whitehouse.gov
October 25, 2025 at 5:26 PM
Seriously, you got to go all the way to the end. There's a real tonal shift.
Reposted by Sean Bakker Kellogg
Updating my LEGO White House
October 23, 2025 at 2:51 AM
Updating my LEGO White House
Reposted by Sean Bakker Kellogg
Good evening. We estimate that between 4.2 and 7.6 million people turned out for the No Kings Day demonstrations held around the country on Saturday. This makes Oct 18 very likely the biggest single-day U.S. protest event since 1970. www.gelliottmorris.com/p/second-no-...
Second "No Kings Day" protests likely the largest single-day political demonstration since 1970, with 4.2-7.6 million participants
Here are the initial results from our crowdsourced crowd-counting estimates
www.gelliottmorris.com
October 19, 2025 at 3:17 AM
Good evening. We estimate that between 4.2 and 7.6 million people turned out for the No Kings Day demonstrations held around the country on Saturday. This makes Oct 18 very likely the biggest single-day U.S. protest event since 1970. www.gelliottmorris.com/p/second-no-...
Reposted by Sean Bakker Kellogg
The most disconcerting thing about this comes when you start to consider what the enforcement mechanisms are for Congress's power in the face of an executive determined to ignore it and you begin to realize that it is norms all the way down.
The executive branch not spending the money that Congress has told them to spend is bad. The executive branch spending money on things for which Congress has not given them money is also bad (and, arguably, worse).
President Trump on Wednesday signed a memorandum expanding his administration’s authority to repurpose unspent federal funds to pay members of the military during the government shutdown, escalating his challenge to the authority of Congress on spending matters.
October 16, 2025 at 1:14 AM
The most disconcerting thing about this comes when you start to consider what the enforcement mechanisms are for Congress's power in the face of an executive determined to ignore it and you begin to realize that it is norms all the way down.
My alma mater!
Wow, the University of Washington's Psych 201 class does *not* play
go fuckin Huskies
Nazi UW students fuck off
go fuckin Huskies
Nazi UW students fuck off
October 2, 2025 at 3:26 PM
My alma mater!
If you've been following the agency heads removal cases going through the Supreme Court this year, this piece by Caleb Nelson is a great contribution to possible originalist interpretations: democracyproject.org/posts/must-a...
Special Feature: Must Administrative Officers Serve at the President’s Pleasure?
A broad range of views on democracy to help break the stalemate caused by partisan conflict.
democracyproject.org
September 29, 2025 at 7:50 PM
If you've been following the agency heads removal cases going through the Supreme Court this year, this piece by Caleb Nelson is a great contribution to possible originalist interpretations: democracyproject.org/posts/must-a...
Reposted by Sean Bakker Kellogg
Per capita CO₂ emissions have declined in every state in America. Between 2005 and 2023, energy-related CO₂ emissions per person declined in all 50 US states. The nationwide average drop was 29%, a major structural change in the world’s second-largest emitter. buff.ly/GOf44Ie
#ShareGoodNewsToo
#ShareGoodNewsToo
Per Capita Energy-Related CO2 Emissions Decreased in Every US State between 2005 & 2023 - CleanTechnica
Support CleanTechnica's work through a Substack subscription or on Stripe. Per capita CO2 emissions from primary energy consumption decreased in every state from 2005 to 2023, according to recently…
buff.ly
September 27, 2025 at 1:50 PM
Per capita CO₂ emissions have declined in every state in America. Between 2005 and 2023, energy-related CO₂ emissions per person declined in all 50 US states. The nationwide average drop was 29%, a major structural change in the world’s second-largest emitter. buff.ly/GOf44Ie
#ShareGoodNewsToo
#ShareGoodNewsToo
Reposted by Sean Bakker Kellogg
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert just dropped its first response to ABC, FCC chair, and Disney firing Jimmy Kimmel.
This is a must-watch. 🔥 #cdnpoli
This is a must-watch. 🔥 #cdnpoli
September 19, 2025 at 8:46 AM
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert just dropped its first response to ABC, FCC chair, and Disney firing Jimmy Kimmel.
This is a must-watch. 🔥 #cdnpoli
This is a must-watch. 🔥 #cdnpoli
I am very excited to see what sort of product comes out of the Searchlight Institute -- searchlightinst.substack.com. The past several years I have struggled to see any sort of durable path forward for the country given our partisan divide. If this is such a path, I'm all for it!
Searchlight | Searchlight Institute | Substack
Disrupt rigidity. Think Big. Spark a Realignment. Click to read Searchlight, by Searchlight Institute, a Substack publication.
searchlightinst.substack.com
September 17, 2025 at 9:07 PM
I am very excited to see what sort of product comes out of the Searchlight Institute -- searchlightinst.substack.com. The past several years I have struggled to see any sort of durable path forward for the country given our partisan divide. If this is such a path, I'm all for it!
Today I participated in a local parade celebrating Latin American Independence that marched through Richmond and San Pablo. It was an opportunity to see parts of the Bay Area I rarely visit, despite living so close. There is an amazing community all around me and I should take more advantage of it.
September 13, 2025 at 7:43 PM
Today I participated in a local parade celebrating Latin American Independence that marched through Richmond and San Pablo. It was an opportunity to see parts of the Bay Area I rarely visit, despite living so close. There is an amazing community all around me and I should take more advantage of it.
Reposted by Sean Bakker Kellogg
If you think about it, his murder being completely forgotten about in less than a week because the shooter didn’t fit the political agenda that would allow Republicans to attack marginalized groups is the most fitting tribute imaginable for Charlie Kirk.
September 12, 2025 at 3:36 PM
If you think about it, his murder being completely forgotten about in less than a week because the shooter didn’t fit the political agenda that would allow Republicans to attack marginalized groups is the most fitting tribute imaginable for Charlie Kirk.
This is 100% my type of book! But as someone who does all their non-fiction reading in audio form, it is unlikely something I will ever get to read. I am not fan of GenAI, but if there was a way to compensate the author and have a passable audio reading done by GenAI, I would seriously consider it.
"A tour de force-a strikingly original and ambitious account of the partisan evolution of the U.S."
Steering the Senate: The Emergence of Party Organization and Leadership, 1789–2024 by Gerald Gamm & @profstevensmith.bsky.social | Out Now
#BookSky #PoliSci 🗺️ 🗃️
https://cup.org/3VARhGK
Steering the Senate: The Emergence of Party Organization and Leadership, 1789–2024 by Gerald Gamm & @profstevensmith.bsky.social | Out Now
#BookSky #PoliSci 🗺️ 🗃️
https://cup.org/3VARhGK
September 10, 2025 at 11:22 PM
This is 100% my type of book! But as someone who does all their non-fiction reading in audio form, it is unlikely something I will ever get to read. I am not fan of GenAI, but if there was a way to compensate the author and have a passable audio reading done by GenAI, I would seriously consider it.
Reposted by Sean Bakker Kellogg
The US picked up on calling the newly unified department (War Dept. had only ever been the Army) "Defense" from the British, where the position Minister of Defence had been created for himself in 1940 by the famously woke, politically correct war-loser Winston Churchill.
Trump: "We could've won every war, but we really chose to be very politically correct, or wokey."
September 5, 2025 at 8:45 PM
The US picked up on calling the newly unified department (War Dept. had only ever been the Army) "Defense" from the British, where the position Minister of Defence had been created for himself in 1940 by the famously woke, politically correct war-loser Winston Churchill.
Reposted by Sean Bakker Kellogg
Again, a reminder that the law of the United States creates and names executive departments, not the president at any given time.
"The Department of Defense is an executive department of the United States." 10 U.S.C § 111
"The Department of Defense is an executive department of the United States." 10 U.S.C § 111
NEW: Donald Trump to rename the Department of Defense the “Department of War”
“Restoring the name Dept of War will sharpen the focus of the Dept on our national interest and signal to adversaries America’s readiness to wage war to defend its interests.”
“Restoring the name Dept of War will sharpen the focus of the Dept on our national interest and signal to adversaries America’s readiness to wage war to defend its interests.”
September 4, 2025 at 10:51 PM
Again, a reminder that the law of the United States creates and names executive departments, not the president at any given time.
"The Department of Defense is an executive department of the United States." 10 U.S.C § 111
"The Department of Defense is an executive department of the United States." 10 U.S.C § 111
Reposted by Sean Bakker Kellogg
trump can issue as many executive orders as he wants, perhaps coverage should reflect the fact that a lot of these have the legal force of a child's wishlist for santa
August 31, 2025 at 1:16 PM
trump can issue as many executive orders as he wants, perhaps coverage should reflect the fact that a lot of these have the legal force of a child's wishlist for santa
Reposted by Sean Bakker Kellogg
My product is so good you guys we have to literally monitor everyone using it in case it drives them to psychosis or suicide. It only costs $100 billion to operate per quarter but don’t worry there is no road to profit
NEW: After numerous tragedies, OpenAI says it's scanning users' conversations, escalating to human readers, and contacting law enforcement where necessary
futurism.com/openai-scann...
futurism.com/openai-scann...
OpenAI Says It's Scanning Users' Conversations and Reporting Content to the Police
OpenAI has authorized itself to call law enforcement if users say threatening enough things when talking to ChatGPT.
futurism.com
August 28, 2025 at 2:57 AM
My product is so good you guys we have to literally monitor everyone using it in case it drives them to psychosis or suicide. It only costs $100 billion to operate per quarter but don’t worry there is no road to profit