full socrates

As outlandish as this might seem, Trump has now extended clemency to almost all of the Republican congressmen convicted of felonies in the 21st century.

Jun. 8, 2026, 9:27 AM EDT

By Steve Benen

With Donald Trump in the White House, one of the most important times of the week is Friday night. That’s when the president and his team have an unnerving habit of announcing news they hope the public won’t notice.

Take this past Friday night, for example. The New York Times reported:

President Trump has pardoned Stephen E. Buyer, a former Republican representative from Indiana who was convicted of insider trading in 2023. The pardon for Mr. Buyer was endorsed by current and former Republican lawmakers, including Senators Roger Wicker of Mississippi and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, and former House Speaker John Boehner, according to the proclamation, which was dated June 4.

Buyer’s congressional career came to an unfortunate end in 2010, when the Indiana Republican faced allegations that he used a scholarship fund as a front to travel to pricey vacation locales to hobnob with donors. In fact, the fund reportedly never awarded a single scholarship.

Almost immediately after the controversy came to light, Buyer announced his retirement, although he said his decision was related to his wife’s health.

After leaving Capitol Hill and beginning a private consulting career, Buyer’s troubles managed to get worse, and in 2023 he was sentenced to 22 months in prison stemming from four counts of securities fraud related to a pair of insider trading schemes in 2018 and 2019.

John Rogers is the creator of two of my favorite things:

Leverage and Leverage: Redemption, show(s) about criminals who team up to punish billionaires and corporations who take advantage of regular people in ways that the law won't punish. It's a great heist show, it's hilarious, it's satisfying in a vengeance sort of way, it's deeply nerdy in sometimes subtle ways (criminals using aliases from Doctor Who, anyone?), and seeing the characters and relationships develop is really nice, too.

Mr Rogers: Be kind

Steve Rogers: Do the right thing

RFK Jr. Is 'Checked Out,' Keeping Focus On Pet Projects Over Wider Public Health Concerns: Report

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is single-mindedly focusing on his pet projects — like fighting vaccines, pesticides and promoting food recommendations — rather than broader public health concerns and policy issues, The New York Times reported, citing multiple colleagues who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Kennedy surrounds himself with a close circle of handpicked advisers, receives few briefings about the deadly Ebola outbreak, which has been declared a public health emergency by the World Health Organization, and has shown little interest in managing the details of his department work, fellow health department employees told the outlet.

Several described him as "checked out" and often scrolling on his phone when he does attend a weekly department meeting, which is typically once a month.

Read more at The New York Times:

if there is a heaven, and the people who go to heaven are people who are good, then this merciful and loving god would want people to go to heaven.

if the suffering of the world is the fault of both people and the world they live in that was created by god, but people aren't as powerful as god and therefore can't accomplish large scale change alone, and god is a merciful and loving god who wants the suffering of people to end, but feels it's even more important to hold out for the greater good, then who is supposed to end the suffering for those people?

i would posit that the greater good for which a loving and merciful god may be allowing people to suffer is that they are waiting for us, the people, to figure out a way to end the suffering that exists. there are many ways to end suffering. we can cure diseases and deliver medical aid to people in need and give food to people who are hungry and give water to people who can't drink it safely and give shelter to those who don't have it and educate those who want to pursue something of their own that will contribute something to the people in their community and do things that make the world in general a better and safer place to live. but no one person can end all the suffering in the world, no matter how much they try, and so the suffering continues.

in the mean time, if people contributed more to the greater good of humanity than they did the suffering of others, then they can go to heaven. and if they didn't and god is a loving and merciful god who wants people to go to heaven, then those people can go to a place that's not as good as heaven, but it will help the people who are there to be the kind of people who could contribute to making the world a better place and once they are those people, they can join everyone else in heaven.

but in the world, where the living people are, there is still suffering because people are still trying to figure out how to create a better world. so let's look at what has made the world better. we'll start with the basics.

the wheel. the wheel has improved people's lives to the extent that it has because it allows people to get from one place to another without having to cross the distance on their own power. for people who want to go to multiple places, sometimes that are very far away, this was incredibly helpful. they no longer had to worry about whether they can walk that far. the wheel will help them get there more easily. for a species that was largely nomadic for much of their history, this is a huge contribution to the world. and it makes sense that someone figured it out! everyone needs to get places, so everyone is constantly thinking about this problem. and then, one day, someone figures it out! and they use it, and then other people see it and see what it could also do for them, so they make their own for themselves to use. and pretty soon everyone wants in, so they start making their own versions of the wheel and some of them are really, really, really good at it. they are so good at it in fact, that other people want their version of the wheel. so what do they do? they offer that person something in exchange to make it for them. they offer something the person who is making it, who will henceforth be called "wheelie", can use. and because people are giving wheelie things wheelie can use in exchange for something the other person can use, they are both contributing to end the suffering of people. as long as wheelie continues to do that more than they cause suffering, that means that wheelie can go to heaven, whether he cares about that or not, if there is a merciful and loving god.

but what happens when wheelie decides that they are going to demand more in exchange for their wheels? they start to demand things they don't need to not suffer, but things they just want in order to feel good. well, that's not so bad. if the wheel wheelie is making is truly good and the best there is, then people will still be willing to give wheelie what wheelie wants because having the wheel will do more to end their suffering than parting with whatever they give wheelie. therefore, both wheelie and the people who are buying wheels from wheelie still benefit from the exchange and so they both have contributed to easing the suffering of others, so when they die, they both get to go to heaven, if there is a loving and merciful god.

but what happens when someone can't afford to pay wheelie's price? there are two options. wheelie could simply not make the exchange and therefore neither party contributes to the suffering of the other, so both have a better chance of going to heaven in the end. but what about the person who still needs a wheel to end their suffering who will henceforth be known as neelie? they can't afford the best one, but they still have places to go. so neelie decides to make their own to use. they do okay. actually, they do better than okay. they make one that rivals the one they were going to buy from wheelie. perhaps they've even improved it? then people want to buy neelie's wheels for themselves as well. wheelie does not care about this because wheelie has everything they need and more. both wheelie and neelie are therefore contributing to ending the suffering of others and they still both get to go to heaven in the end as long as the suffering they ease outweighs the suffering of they caused, whether they care about going to heaven in the end or not. heaven was created to be good and people who helped ease more suffering than they created are good so they get to go to heaven.

but what happens when another person, called evilie, wants to make their own wheels because it's clearly a good way for wheelie and neelie to get what they need while giving what others what they need as well, so why can't it work out for evilie, too? so they start making wheels. they do their best and even get some people to exchange things evilie needs for the wheels. but they don't make exchanges as often as wheelie and neelie, so while they get everything they need, they don't, as wheelie and neelie sometimes get, the things they want. this makes evilie upset. what's so wrong with evilie's wheels that more people don't exchange anything for them? this causes evilie to suffer himself, but it is not causing anyone else to suffer, so evilie's chances of getting to go to heaven in the end are still pretty good, whether he cares about it or not.

but in life evilie's suffering continues. as hard as they try, they cannot make a wheel as well as wheelie and neelie can, even tho they want to. the knowledge of this is causing wheelie to suffer, but the more they focus on trying to be as good as wheelie and neelie and continue to fail, the more they increase their own suffering. still evilie is not contributing to the suffering of anyone else, so they still have a chance to get into heaven. but one day, evilie's suffering becomes so big, that it must end now; therefore, something has to change. there are two things that could change in order to ease evilie's suffering: evilie could stop trying to make a wheel and focus on something they are better at and that more people will want to exchange things for; or they can make more people buy their wheels by making them more valuable, which they can do by making wheelie and neelie's wheels less valuable, either by damaging wheelie and neelie's wheels, or by lowering the perceived value of wheelie and neelie's wheels by raising the percieved value of evilie's own wheels so more people want to buy evilie's wheels. evile doesn't think intentionally damaging wheelie and neelie's wheels is a good thing to do. it would be destroying something wheelie and neelie need in order to get other things that evilie needs, which would increase the suffering of wheelie and neelie. that would mean evilie is contributing to the suffering of others and would hurt his chances of getting into heaven. if wheelie doesn't care about getting into heaven tho, this options seems much better. actually lowering the value of wheelie and neelie's wheels would be the best way to make their own wheels more valuable and make more people buy them so evilie can get continue to get the things they need and hopefully even the things they want. but evilie isn't sure what they care more about: getting into heaven or easing their suffering? so evilie considers it.

there's also the possibilty of lowering the perceived value of wheelie and neelie's wheels and there are multiple ways to do this. evilie could make their own wheels stand out more from wheelie and neelie's, like painting it a cool color or carving a nice design in it, or they could make people think that there is something wrong with wheelie and neelie's wheels so that people won't trust the wheels they get from wheelie and neelie and therefore more people will trust evilie's wheels and buy them instead. if evilie decides to try to improve the percieved value of their wheels by making them more special, evilie is not hurting wheelie and neelie's chances of selling their wheels, but rather increasing the chances of selling their own. this does not contribute to the suffering of anyone, but merely eases evilie's suffering. if evilie chose this option, then it would not hurt their chances of going to heaven in the end and they would still ease their suffering. so evilie considers it.

or evilie could raise the percieved value of their wheels by lowering the perceived value of wheelie and neelie's wheels. there are many ways to do this, such as starting a rumor that wheelie and neelie's wheels break easily or insulting wheelie and neelie's character so that people will think less of them and are then less likely to buy their wheels from wheelie and neelie and therefore more likely to buy their wheels from evilie. evilie doesn't actually dislike wheelie and neelie and doesn't think they are bad people or that their wheels are bad, evilie just wants to sell more of their own wheels. saying something about wheelie and neelie and their wheels that evilie doesn't actually believe in would be a lie, and even more than that, it would be a lie that would lead to suffering for wheelie and neelie because less people would trust wheelie or neelie or their wheels, so wheelie and neelie would have less opportunity to exchange their wheels for things wheelie and neelie need to ease their own suffering. this would hurt evilie's chances of going to heaven in the end, whether evilie cares about it or not, but it would help to ease evilie's suffering right now, so evilie considers it.

then there's the last option. evilie could stop making wheels. this option makes evilie feel bad about themselves. they don't like the idea that as hard as they try there is something they cannot do as well as wheelie and neelie. but if they did do it, they could spend more of their time on something that they are good at that other people will want to exhange things for, which would make evilie feel good and ease evilie's suffering. it would not inflict suffering on anyone else. this option does not only not hurt evilie's chances of getting into heaven, but it helps them. when evilie is doing something that they are good at and enjoy in exchange for things they need, it makes them feel really, good. so good in fact, that when they get the chance, and it's not too much trouble, they do something to ease the suffering of others in exchange for nothing at all and this is good and good people go to heaven so this option would improve evilie's chances of getting into heaven. but, in order to do it, evilie would have to do something that causes them a little bit of suffering: they have to give up on something they want. so evilie considers it.

which options have the most potential to help evilie? the one where evilie damages wheelie and neelie's wheels eases evilie's suffering, but causes wheelie and neelie to suffer more than they would otherwise which hurts evilie's chances of going to heaven which would be good for evilie, whether they care about it or not. the one where evilie lowers the percieved value of wheelie and neelie's wheels by telling lies about wheelie and neelie and the quality of their wheels would help evilie sell wheels, which would ease evilie's suffering while not causing as much suffering for wheelie and neelie as destroying their wheels would, but this option still hurts wheelie and neelie's chances of selling as many wheels as they normally would, which causes them some suffering, which can hurt evilie's chances of getting into heaven which would be good for evilie whether they care about it or not.

the final option is the most unique. rather than try to ease their suffering by selling more wheels, evilie could try to ease their suffering by doing something else that they like and are good at and then exchange it for other things that evilie needs, which would ease evilie's suffering and give someone else something they do need which would ease their suffering, and, furthermore, by creating something that fewer other people can also create, evilie is solving another problem for people that they could not otherwise solve, which would ease their suffering while wheelie or neelie could ease those people's suffering also by helping them travel. however, this option requires something of evilie that is very hard to do. it requires evilie to make a change for themselves rather than merely changing the circumstances under which evilie can operate. it is very difficult and can cause evilie some suffering at first: evilie doesn't know what they like and are good at, so they have to find something. it could take a lot of time to find something that works, but if evilie keeps trying to do something they like, which eases suffering by causes enjoyment, evilie could get very good at it and then other people may want to exchange things for it so that not only would it ease the suffering evilie felt from having to make a change, it could also ease the rest of their suffering as well as the suffering of a lot more people who do not yet have what evilie can make but are in need of.

so which should evilie do?

and which option actually leads to more innovation?

—Did you know that Juneteenth is also celebrated in a part of Mexico? Nacimiento Mexico was once home to thousands who escaped slavery in the US. As many as 10,000 slaves followed a clandestine Southern Underground Railroad to Mexico. —To date, many Black Mexicans from the Texas area retrace a portion of the same route their African American ancestors followed in 1850 when they escaped slavery. —Descendants of slaves who escaped across the southern border observe Texas’s emancipation holiday with their own unique traditions in the village of Nacimiento. —Slave hunters would patrol the southern border for escapees, led by the Texas Rangers but the Mexican army would be there waiting for them (the slave hunters) to turn them away.

I've gone. Not one for goodbyes, I thought it best to slip out quietly. Love to you all, Giles.

It's terribly simple. The good guys are always stalwart and true. The bad guys are easily distinguished by their pointy horns or black hats. And we always defeat them and save the day. No one ever dies and everybody lives happily ever after.