Comment on Mueller, Epstein, and the rule of law

Los Angeles has been hit with its worst-ever wildfires, which continue to blaze, already claiming at least ten lives and devastating air quality—just as a spate of mask bans have been enacted or proposed around the country, including in LA itself. Since authorities began issuing evacuation orders across the area, Joaquín Beltrán, a community organizer and software engineer, has been visiting centers to hand out masks.

January 10, 2025, marks the second anniversary of the death of Tyre Nichols, a 29-year-old Black man who was restrained and fatally beaten by five now-former Memphis police officers during a traffic stop. After countless marches, talks with politicians, and pending court cases, his family are still fighting for justice for their loved one. “This year has been unbearable,” said his mother, RowVaughn Wells, at a vigil on Tuesday.

Lynn Levin-Guzman spent her Tuesday night within spitting distance of SUV-sized flames, trying to salvage her 90-year-old parents’ home with a mere garden hose. As the Eaton Fire devastated the Hastings Ranch neighborhood in Pasadena, California, the family seemed especially screwed: Their insurance provider had recently canceled their fire coverage. “I know I’m not supposed to be here, but this is my parents’ home,” Levin-Guzman, an emergency room nurse, told a local ABC News station reporter, explaining why she’d chosen to defy evacuation orders.

Donald Trump’s criminal case ended with a sputter on Friday morning as a New York City judge sentenced him to no jail time and discharged his case. While the incoming president received no actual punishment for his 34 convictions for concealing hush money payments to adult film actress Stormy Daniels, the sentencing did formalize his status as a felon—a first for any American president.

By LINDSAY WHITEHURST, Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The law that could ban TikTok is coming before the Supreme Court on Friday, with the justices largely holding the app’s fate in their hands. The popular social media platform says the law violates the First Amendment and should be struck down. TikTok’s parent company is based in China, and the U.

By MICHAEL R. SISAK, JENNIFER PELTZ, JAKE OFFENHARTZ and MICHELLE L. PRICE, Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump was sentenced Friday in his hush money case, but the judge declined to impose any punishment, an outcome that cements his conviction while freeing him to return to the White House unencumbered by the threat of a jail term or a fine. The punishment-free judgment marks a quiet end to an extraordinary case that for the first time put a former president and major presidential candidate in a courtroom as a criminal defendant.