Very Very Common Mike Dunford 's avatar

Very Very Common Mike Dunford

@questauthority.bsky.social

8173 followers 292 following 7387 posts

Father, Army Husband, lawyer. Chronic student recently dragged kicking and screaming into the practice of law. Litigation disaster tour guide. Proud member of the terminally online community since 1993. he/him

Very Very Common Mike Dunford 's avatar Very Very Common Mike Dunford @questauthority.bsky.social
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Yes. I think the argument that the SCOTUS decision on Presidential immunity means that all the laws get thrown out and the President just does whatever he wants are overblown to nearly the point of insanity, are irrational doomerism, and people need to take a walk and touch some grass.

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Very Very Common Mike Dunford 's avatar Very Very Common Mike Dunford @questauthority.bsky.social
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Voting matters. P.S. If that statement makes you angry, feel free to express that anger at me so I know to block you. kthxbye

5 replies 9 reposts 78 likes

Reposted by Very Very Common Mike Dunford

Hens Breet's avatar Hens Breet @monospace.com
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The key to defeating Trump and fascism is turnout. More specifically, it's overcoming voter suppression in battleground states. There are way more of us than there are of them, and that's why they are obsessed with making voting as difficult as possible.

4 replies 23 reposts 70 likes

Reposted by Very Very Common Mike Dunford

Stephen Hardwick's avatar Stephen Hardwick @nonfinality.bsky.social
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Want to know the daily grind of a state supreme court? OK, only a few of you care that much, but those people, the Ohio Supreme Court maintains a list of all filings for the previous 5 days—every single one. A few may be sealed, but you'll get the general description. #AppellateSky #LegalWriting ⚖️

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Very Very Common Mike Dunford 's avatar Very Very Common Mike Dunford @questauthority.bsky.social
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LLMs have some use cases. They are few and far between, and bear very little similarity with any of the hyped uses.

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Reposted by Very Very Common Mike Dunford

Angry Staff Officer's avatar Angry Staff Officer @pptsapper.bsky.social
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In 1924, the local American Legion post of WWI vets invited him for his 80th birthday Invited to speak, he harangued them for not being real soldiers because modern war was for wimps - evidence that older generations always call the next gen weak The WWI vets gave him a standing ovation

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Angry Staff Officer's avatar Angry Staff Officer @pptsapper.bsky.social
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Right about now, in 1863, came one of my favorite moments of the Battle of Gettysburg. Division commander Maj Gen Alex Hays, of Pittsburgh, seeing that his division had smashed the rebel attack, kissed his aide-de-camp, grabbed a reb flag, mounted his horse, and rode his line dragging it behind him

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Very Very Common Mike Dunford 's avatar Very Very Common Mike Dunford @questauthority.bsky.social
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My understanding from relatives there is that this is a pretty common and expected thing to happen there - right does well in round 1, but not after that.

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Very Very Common Mike Dunford 's avatar Very Very Common Mike Dunford @questauthority.bsky.social
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As far as the sentence goes, my expectation based on looking at a smattering of prior cases involving the same offense has been that he'd get substantial (2-5 year) probation plus significant (several hundred hour) community service.

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Very Very Common Mike Dunford 's avatar Very Very Common Mike Dunford @questauthority.bsky.social
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You can believe what you want. The reality is that courts don't get to just blow off SCOTUS rulings, no matter how much they want to. And if Merchan does not do basic factfinding on the new immunity rule, it's a certain reversal on appeal. The briefing schedule to accomplish that is reasonable.

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Very Very Common Mike Dunford 's avatar Very Very Common Mike Dunford @questauthority.bsky.social
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If that's the scenario, criminal liability - particularly given that the President can pardon criminal (but not civil) contempt and was already immune from prosecution while in office - was never going to be a restriant.

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Very Very Common Mike Dunford 's avatar Very Very Common Mike Dunford @questauthority.bsky.social
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Merchan is giving an appropriate and entirely normal amount of time for briefing under the circumstances.

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Very Very Common Mike Dunford 's avatar Very Very Common Mike Dunford @questauthority.bsky.social
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This - Thomas and Alito will dissent from the order dismissing Missouri v. New York because they don't believe that SCOTUS has the authority to decline to hear state-versus-state cases. They do in every such case, regardless of what the case is about.

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Very Very Common Mike Dunford 's avatar Very Very Common Mike Dunford @questauthority.bsky.social
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I ask myself that nearly every day.

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Very Very Common Mike Dunford 's avatar Very Very Common Mike Dunford @questauthority.bsky.social
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Also, civil contempt can't be pardoned. The presidential immunity decision ranks high in the pantheon of terrible SCOTUS decisions - for many reasons. But a lot of the scenarios that are being floated are "total collapse of democracy" scenarios, not ones that are tightly linked to that case.

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Very Very Common Mike Dunford 's avatar Very Very Common Mike Dunford @questauthority.bsky.social
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Irony is, of course, that this is the guy devaluing the degree and student loan relief fell based on the innovative concept that Missouri had standing because of MOHELA.

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Very Very Common Mike Dunford 's avatar Very Very Common Mike Dunford @questauthority.bsky.social
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Metal go up. Metal go down. Me simple person. Me like. And, yeah, I'm way overdue for a gym day....

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Reposted by Very Very Common Mike Dunford

John Annese's avatar John Annese @johnannese.bsky.social
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The decision to open the pod bay doors will be based entirely on a Reddit post from 2017.

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Very Very Common Mike Dunford 's avatar Very Very Common Mike Dunford @questauthority.bsky.social
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Yeah, he might become Trump's AG if Trump wins.

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Very Very Common Mike Dunford 's avatar Very Very Common Mike Dunford @questauthority.bsky.social
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Sure. But: (1) They exist. (2) If they're being blown off, there's little reason to believe that attempts at criminal enforcement would fare any better.

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Very Very Common Mike Dunford 's avatar Very Very Common Mike Dunford @questauthority.bsky.social
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The State of Missouri is suing New York, in an original action in the United States Supreme Court, seeking an injunction to lift Trump's gag order and postpone his sentencing until after the election. Yes, I typed that. Yes, it's a real thing that a real lawyer filed in actual court.

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Reposted by Very Very Common Mike Dunford

The future producer of “Himbo Heist”'s avatar The future producer of “Himbo Heist” @legalminimum.bsky.social
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“It is not far-fetched to imagine that Roberts was mourning the decisive end of his vision of presiding over an institution seen as operating above the partisan fray.” Actually, in light of his recent votes and opinions, it is entirely far-fetched to believe that.

4 replies 12 reposts 91 likes

Reposted by Very Very Common Mike Dunford

Very Very Common Mike Dunford 's avatar Very Very Common Mike Dunford @questauthority.bsky.social
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At the point that we're into that territory, we're past the point where the potential threat of personal criminal liability was ever going to be a deterrent, especially since it was already established that the President is immune from prosecution during their term in office.

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Very Very Common Mike Dunford 's avatar Very Very Common Mike Dunford @questauthority.bsky.social
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Aside from civil liability, including both money damages and equitable relief.

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Very Very Common Mike Dunford 's avatar Very Very Common Mike Dunford @questauthority.bsky.social
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Thing is, they would still be illegal. And while pardons are possible, the pardon power does not extend to civil liability.

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Very Very Common Mike Dunford 's avatar Very Very Common Mike Dunford @questauthority.bsky.social
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I'm far less worried about the military than about the police. I'm not not worried about the military.

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Very Very Common Mike Dunford 's avatar Very Very Common Mike Dunford @questauthority.bsky.social
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Authors sharing lessons learned through hard-won experience. That's one of the things that makes this site great.

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Very Very Common Mike Dunford 's avatar Very Very Common Mike Dunford @questauthority.bsky.social
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Can NaNoWriMo apply its code of conduct to all interactions with them including respinses to private messages they send you? Probably yes. Is it catastrophically stupid to try to do so on almost literally countless levels? Absolutely yes.

9 replies 10 reposts 40 likes

Reposted by Very Very Common Mike Dunford

Popehat's avatar Popehat @kenwhite.bsky.social
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Classic American political dialogue is premised on the idea that we share fundamental values but disagree on how best to promote them. I haven’t believed this for a while. Other than “I prefer to be alive and not dead” and “I like pudding,” I do not share values with these people.

52 replies 275 reposts 1611 likes

Reposted by Very Very Common Mike Dunford

Katie Mack's avatar Katie Mack @astrokatie.com
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I don’t know what you expect the presidential election to accomplish exactly but it’s not a miracle drug to fix all problems. It’s just oxygen to keep breathing while the real work happens on the ground. That work is a heck of a lot harder to do without air.

5 replies 40 reposts 343 likes

Reposted by Very Very Common Mike Dunford

Michael Tae Sweeney's avatar Michael Tae Sweeney @mtsw.bsky.social
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He's right. They're stealing the country from us and ending democracy. "Bloodless if the left allows it to be" is a threat to kill anyone who fights back

60 replies 514 reposts 1643 likes

Very Very Common Mike Dunford 's avatar Very Very Common Mike Dunford @questauthority.bsky.social
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Oh, I'm in Honolulu. Lab opened at 8. Problem was that I was up at 4:30.

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Very Very Common Mike Dunford 's avatar Very Very Common Mike Dunford @questauthority.bsky.social
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Work our asses off. Every state. Every election. Every time. It's the only solution.

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Very Very Common Mike Dunford 's avatar Very Very Common Mike Dunford @questauthority.bsky.social
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Block button is getting a workout.

3 replies 1 reposts 69 likes

Reposted by Very Very Common Mike Dunford

Kashana's avatar Kashana @kashana.bsky.social
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Everybody freaking out about extrajudicial killings is going to lose it when they find out about the existence of cops.

36 replies 552 reposts 2988 likes

Very Very Common Mike Dunford 's avatar Very Very Common Mike Dunford @questauthority.bsky.social
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OK, tell you what. How about you pack the defeatist up, take it over in a corner somewhere, and stay out of the way of people who are interested in helping.

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Very Very Common Mike Dunford 's avatar Very Very Common Mike Dunford @questauthority.bsky.social
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You're going to have to give me some detail. I blocked that schmuck several months back.

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Very Very Common Mike Dunford 's avatar Very Very Common Mike Dunford @questauthority.bsky.social
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Y'know, I'm tired. I'm cranky. And at this point I think I might actually be more tired and angry with the defeatist shits yammering about how nothing works and nothing will work and doom doom doom than I am with the ones who have been actively breaking the system.

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Very Very Common Mike Dunford 's avatar Very Very Common Mike Dunford @questauthority.bsky.social
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The "Sorry to say" response I got from this person focused exclusively on voting. And nothing else I said.

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Very Very Common Mike Dunford 's avatar Very Very Common Mike Dunford @questauthority.bsky.social
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Did y'all actually read my original post, which was focused on involvement in more than voting?

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Very Very Common Mike Dunford 's avatar Very Very Common Mike Dunford @questauthority.bsky.social
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And abandon those who can't? You seem nice.

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Very Very Common Mike Dunford 's avatar Very Very Common Mike Dunford @questauthority.bsky.social
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The argument is that some of the evidence comes from when he was in the White House, and was official acts, and therefore shouldn't have been evidence based on the Court's decision yesterday. Pretty poor argument, but his team has to make it and it has to be addressed.

3 replies 0 reposts 18 likes

Reposted by Very Very Common Mike Dunford

Alex Lamers's avatar Alex Lamers @alexlamers.bsky.social
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BREAKING: Hurricane #Beryl becomes the earliest Category 5 on record in the Atlantic basin.

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Very Very Common Mike Dunford 's avatar Very Very Common Mike Dunford @questauthority.bsky.social
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Dealing with it now means that you probably don't have the appeals court remand for factfinding in a few months.

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Very Very Common Mike Dunford 's avatar Very Very Common Mike Dunford @questauthority.bsky.social
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Deal with it now. Makes for simpler appeals process.

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