The Logan Act Rises Again: Maia Johnson and Trump's Favorite Law

A sideways look at Washington’s favorite toothless statute and its latest cameo

 The Logan Act is a U.S. federal law from 1799 that makes it a crime for unauthorized private citizens to conduct diplomacy with foreign governments in disputes involving the United States. The core idea: foreign policy is the exclusive domain of the U.S. government, and private interference could undermine national interests. 

Maia Johnson has barely hung her coat on the hook of her new political post, and already the whispers have begun. In the dim hallways of Washington, where gossip travels faster than self-indulgent legislation, her name is now being murmured alongside one of America’s most theatrical, toothless statutes: the Logan Act. 

The Woman in the Pre-Legal Cannabis Smoke‑Den

 

A West Hastings memory from the days when cannabis culture lived behind a cloudy door

I met a woman in a Vancouver cannabis smoking facility, one of my favorite haunts in 2010 — a little storefront on West Hastings with more infamy than square footage. More on that in a moment. She came through the smoke‑heavy doorway, settled onto a stool, and began rolling a joint with the kind of calm that only comes from long practice.

Rome’s Two‑Stage Meltdown: How an Empire Overkilled Judea and Became the Capital of the Religion Built Around Its Own Execution

The empire that killed Christ, crushed Judea, renamed the land. . .

. . . only to become the headquarters of Christianity

A weekend contemplation from the event horizon of ancient politics, where Judea, Rome, and Christendom collide
 
Historians often describe catastrophe with the emotional neutrality of a census taker. Ask them what happened to Judea and they’ll say, “Rome destroyed Judea in 70 AD,” as if the empire misplaced a folder. But when pressed, the truth is blunt: Rome didn’t sack Jerusalem — it unhinged Judea.