CNN’s declining ratings

I stopped watching about 2 years ago. No regrets.
— Harris Levy (@HarrisL585) July 3, 2024

.@CNN's "new" strategy continues to fail, the ratings continue to fall and now they are alienating their most loyal viewers, including me.

"CNN was the third most-watched news network in total viewers in primetime and total day…"
— Don Winslow (@donwinslow) July 2, 2024

We've been saying it for weeks… @CNN, once the most trusted name in news, gave up its journalistic integrity & credibility by platforming a whiny orange criminal. @ChrisLichtCNN threw away their hard-earned reputation for short-term profits and ratings. We hope it was worth it. pic.twitter.com/xpG5bET8rN
— The Lincoln Project (@ProjectLincoln) June 2, 2023

Oh, hey, @CNN . Heard your ratings are at an all-time low. Matches your integrity!

Here's an idea: how about just objectively reporting facts?

How about doing actual journalism and not spinning?

How about not giving established liars and GOP propagandists air time?
— Portia ♍️ McGonagal (@PortiaMcGonagal) July 2, 2024

A Thomas Pynchon reference you would never expect

In which Vice President Joe Biden directly quotes Thomas Pynchon during a rally in Des Moines Iowa on September 17th, 2014 pic.twitter.com/wHsQXKy93w
— remote farmer (@SusNebraska) July 1, 2024

The immunity decision is worse than the “experts” expected

At this point, I assume the worst for anything the Supreme Court does. They work for the Republican party that installed the majority.

This is so much worse than I expected. It is a carte blanche for presidents to abuse power. So long as they conspire with other government officials, they will be immune.
— Wendy Weiser (@WendyRWeiser) July 1, 2024

I don’t know if there’s a stronger Court (non-court) academic critic than I am, if you’re out there show yourself, but this decision is much worse than even I thought it would be.
— Eric Segall (@espinsegall) July 1, 2024

Today’s Supreme Court decision on Donald Trump’s immunity claim is far worse than anything I imagined…

Effectively giving a president immunity for any crimes committed while in office as long as that president can plausibly claim the action was taken in some form of official…
— Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) July 1, 2024

ABSOLUTE IMMUNITY FOR ORDERING SHAM INVESTIGATIONS. HOLY SHXT THIS IS WORSE BY THE SECOND. pic.twitter.com/Z7NwTHl0F3
— Dirk Schwenk (Esq) 🎵 (@DirkSchwenk) July 1, 2024

It’s even worse than I imagined. No President, Democrat or Republican, should have the type of power and immunity SCOTUS has granted. Ironically, the Court has eliminated the rule of law and created the opportunity for a legal dictatorship. https://t.co/vXYzq8ZR6H
— Timothy Schorn (@tjon95) July 1, 2024

The immunity decision is so much worse than any headline will be able to fully convey. Just devastating to the rule of law. A crushing blow to democracy.
— Brett Meiselas (@BMeiselas) July 1, 2024

"This is worse than Dred Scott. This is the darkest day in the long and infamous history of this institution. Richard Nixon’s claim that if the president does it it’s not illegal is now official Supreme Court doctrine" https://t.co/vCsf3vzA78
— Scott Lemieux (@LemieuxLGM) July 1, 2024

The Supreme Court's Trump immunity decision is much worse than I thought it would be. I did not think them so reckless.https://t.co/L3yPnUUM1D
— Ian Millhiser (@imillhiser) July 1, 2024

The Supreme Court’s terrible immunity ruling

The extremist Republican Supreme Court majority continues to help Trump with disgraceful rulings. The immunity ruling delay and the terrible decision ensures a delay in one of the trials.

I don’t see any way to change the direction of the court other than expanding it.

🚨New expert survey data from Bright Line Watch🚨

93% of experts surveyed before the ruling (since June 20) say SCOTUS upholding Trump’s immunity claim threatens democracy

60% say it represents an extraordinary threat
27% say it represents a serious threat

(Report next week.) pic.twitter.com/ECuP7FQXr6
— Brendan Nyhan (@BrendanNyhan on 🟦☁️) (@BrendanNyhan) July 1, 2024

Justice Sotomayor's dissent is one of the most terrified and terrifying pieces of judicial writing I've ever encountered—she lists the criminal acts that presidents can now take with immunity and says "the president is now a king above the law." https://t.co/ovLYlcsF4s pic.twitter.com/6mx4nP0SHE
— Mark Joseph Stern (@mjs_DC) July 1, 2024

I just want to take a step back and say that I think the Supreme Court just fundamentally altered the structure and nature of democracy in America. It awards the president the measure of power and immunity that is much, much closer to a king or emperor than an elected official. https://t.co/HB0Tvb9qvS
— Mark Joseph Stern (@mjs_DC) July 1, 2024

Our democracy has been gravely wounded

The Trump immunity decision says: a president CAN VIOLATE THE CRIMINAL LAW if he acts within his broadly defined “constitutional authority”

Absurd and dangerous

There is no basis in the Constitution for this Court constructed…
— Eric Holder (@EricHolder) July 1, 2024

Today’s Supreme Court decision on Donald Trump’s immunity claim is far worse than anything I imagined…

Effectively giving a president immunity for any crimes committed while in office as long as that president can plausibly claim the action was taken in some form of official…
— Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) July 1, 2024

The Supreme Court invented a new standard for Trump "absolute" immunity for "official" acts. Then left no real way to prove a president acted "unofficially."

One man now exists firmly above the law, and it ain't you or me.

My latest in @thenation https://t.co/jBvJ9OMc36
— Elie Mystal (@ElieNYC) July 1, 2024

On re-reading the decision, I’m all the more convinced that the blow is a devastating one — a “5-alarm fire 🔥 🔥 🔥 🔥 🔥 that threatens to consume democratic self-government,” to quote Justice Jackson’s powerful dissent. https://t.co/HfYHhxiXWL
— Laurence Tribe 🇺🇦 ⚖️ (@tribelaw) July 1, 2024

Covers: FDR in Trinidad

“FDR in Trinidad” is a song commemorating President Roosevelt’s 1936 trip to Trinidad. In 1972, covers by Ry Cooder and Van Dyke Parks were released. Parks played on some of Cooder’s records so this isn’t a coincidence.

Gus Cannon print by Robert Crumb

I just got a signed Robert Crumb print of Gus Cannon.

Cannon led Cannon’s Jug Stompers who recorded the original version of songs in the 1920s that were popular decades later such as “Walk Right In”, “Big Railroad Blues”, and “Viola Lee Blues”