Lawyers, Guns and Money

Lawyers, Guns and Money is a blog focused on politics and culture, primarily authored by a team of eight scholars. The blog was established in May 2004 by David Watkins, Rob Farley, and Scott Lemieux.

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Mission Accomplished

5 days ago | lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com | Cheryl Rofer

In his short address Saturday night on the strikes against Iran, President Trump said “Iran’s key nuclear enrichment facilities have been completely and totally obliterated.”Of course, at that point it’s unlikely that the military had a firm assessment of the damage done by the strikes. But Trump had tried negotiating, he had threatened Iran, Iran had not bowed to his magnificence, and so “obliterated” they were. Not so fast.
Lawyers, Guns & Money

6 days ago | lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com | Cheryl Rofer

I was thinking about changing the format of my weekly summaries before yesterday afternoon. It seemed to me that we have more continuing stories, rather than the three categories I’ve been using. But. My real life has been becoming more demanding, and I have computer outages ahead, one of them next week. The big story this week, up until yesterday, was ICE’s raids on farm workers, nannies, and construction workers.
Thank You For Your Attention To This Matter

6 days ago | lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com | Cheryl Rofer

Home / General / Thank You For Your Attention To This MatterThank You For Your Attention To This Matter / On June 21, 2025 / At 7:59 pm / 2 Views Those B-2s headed west from the US? Yeah. Fordow is the underground site with the more advanced centrifuges. Natanz, another centrifuge site, had already been hit by Israel, but the extent of damage was not known.
Lawyers, Guns & Money

1 week ago | lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com | Cheryl Rofer

Donald Trump’s coalition contains many possible points of conflict and fracture. Cracks are beginning to show. Possible break points can be wedged by the opposition. It would be good for a unified Democratic opposition to strategize in the way I am doing in this post, and maybe they are! That strategizing might well be done quietly. But we are the opposition, too, so perhaps we can begin to use these wedges.
Lawyers, Guns & Money

1 week ago | lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com | Cheryl Rofer

When Donald Trump came into office in 2017, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action was in force, and working as expected/ hoped. It was a far better agreement than most of us wonks had expected or wished for. When its draft came out earlier, we were dancing in the streets. It was carefully done and extremely specific about limitations on Iran’s nuclear program. And Iran was working to the plan. IAEA inspectors installed sensors that sent information on how enrichment was working to their computers.
Birthday Parade Open Thread

1 week ago | lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com | Cheryl Rofer

There are even fewer people anticipating the tanks and planes and soldiers and bands and all that good stuff than anyone expected. And thunderstorms are predicted. When I supervised outdoor workers, our rule was that if you could hear thunder, work stops and you come inside. I suspect that the military participants may have heard something like that at one time or another. Oh well, one more breaking of norms.
Week 21 - No Kings Edition

1 week ago | lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com | Cheryl Rofer

I went to the Santa Fe No Kings demonstration this morning. It was at the state capital building, affectionately called The Roundhouse, for its shape in a modified Zia symbol. My neighbors drove, and we managed to find a parking space in the rapidly filling state government lot. It was scheduled to start at 10 am, with a march to the Plaza at 10:45. It was an older-skewing crowd, but there were plenty of young-uns too. Largely Anglo, but others too. The signs were great.
Week 21 Post Will Be Delayed

2 weeks ago | lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com | Cheryl Rofer

Week 21 Post Will Be Delayed / On June 14, 2025 / At 10:00 am / 1 Views My Week 21 post will be delayed, as I attend Santa Fe’s No Kings protest. It’s from 10 to 12:30, but I’ll be leaving earlier with neighbors and have no idea what time I’ll be back. I hope to get photos and may be posting on Bluesky while I’m there, but I am a lousy real-time correspondent because I get caught up in things.
Middle East Alert

2 weeks ago | lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com | Cheryl Rofer

Lots of happy talk from TACO Don and his golfing buddy Steve Witkoff about how they have this business about Iran’s nuclear program all wrapped up, but today the State Department is ordering all embassies within striking distance of Iran to convene Emergency Action Committees to assess and mitigate risks. The Defense Department has authorized the departure of family members from installations across the Middle East.
Joining The Discourse

2 weeks ago | lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com | Cheryl Rofer

I loathe the “One Weird Trick for Democrats to Win” discourse. I hate to contribute to it, but I am also getting fed up with its stuckness. Donald Trump’s win in November was narrow: a 1.5% plurality. This does not set up a requirement for Democrats to reconsider everything they’ve ever done wrong. The agonizing over the loss and making it seem much bigger than it was (repudiation! mandate!) plays into Trump’s lies about his power. You are giving him power. Stop it.