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United Kingdom

In Defense of Not Mourning Queen Elizabeth

Plus: Aretha Franklin's FBI file is declassified, Coinbase challenges Treasury Department sanctions of cryptocurrency technology, and more...

Elizabeth Nolan Brown | 9.9.2022 9:58 AM

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Queen Elizabeth II | Stefano Spaziani/ZUMAPRESS/Newscom
(Stefano Spaziani/ZUMAPRESS/Newscom)

By now you have surely heard that Queen Elizabeth II has died. Traditional media and social media are full of lovely eulogies, ruminating on her legacy, her "life of diplomacy," her "dignity and dedication," and "grace, humanity and fortitude." Born in 1926 and queen since 1952, her reign has spanned generations. "Only Britons well into their 70s can remember a time before the reign of Queen Elizabeth, who remained a unique symbol of continuity and duty in a period of extraordinary upheaval," notes The New York Times.

That seems like a polite way of saying that Queen Elizabeth II has seen some serious shit go down. She also presided over a country that started or benefited from a lot of it. She inherited the legacy of colonialism and atrocities sanctioned by the British royal family—and perpetuated this legacy. During her 70-year reign, she served as head of state of over 30 countries.

Understandably, many people around the world aren't too keen on mourning the queen's passing. Some are using it as an opportunity to condemn British colonialist activities throughout history (including during Elizabeth's reign). Some are using it as an opportunity to mock or critique the monarchy. Some are using it as an opportunity to celebrate. (See, for instance, the #IrishTwitter, #BlackTwitter, or #ScottishTwitter hashtags right now.)

The queen was "a fixture of stability," but "we should not romanticize her era," writes Harvard history professor Maya Jasanoff in a New York Times op-ed, noting the suppression of anticolonial movements in places such as Kenya, Cyprus, and Aden, Yemen, during Elizabeth's reign and the queen's alleged opposition to Scottish independence. Jasanoff suggests that with Elizabeth now gone, "the imperial monarchy must end too."

All of this seems as healthy, normal, and fair as the glowing tributes.

Any leader—perhaps especially a monarch, extra especially a monarch who reigned for seven decades, and extra extra especially a monarch who reigned for seven decades over a crumbling and often cruel empire—will mean many different things to different people, depending on their vantage points. To some, Queen Elizabeth II is a beloved symbol of British nationalism, refinement, and tradition. To others, she's a symbol of Britain's wretched history of racism, colonialism, and all sorts of atrocious acts. Asking those in the latter group to shut up right now in the name of civility and decorum is no more right than asking those grieving the queen to quiet down.

Yes, Queen Elizabeth II was a mother, a grandmother, a wife, and a friend. But she was also a monarch, not just some nice old lady living a private life. She had subjects. Many of those subjects, or their descendants, have experienced hardship and trauma under her reign or the reign of her family members before her. Even if not all of this is directly tied to her, the British royal family carries some serious baggage and she's a representative of that.

Let people celebrate. Let people grieve. Let people be frank and open in their emotions. There's room in the queen's death discourse for glowing tributes and for honest reckoning, too.


FREE MINDS

Aretha Franklin's FBI file has been unsealed. The declassified documents present a maddening record of how the federal government kept tabs on Aretha Franklin. The agency tracked Franklin's civil rights activism and her friendships with folks like Martin Luther King Jr. and Angela Davis. "The notes on Franklin's friendship with Dr. King include close documentation of her performances at the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), of which King was president," notes Pitchfork:

The FBI characterizes the shows—which took place in Atlanta, Georgia, and Memphis, Tennessee, in 1967 and 1968—as "communist infiltration" events. A subsequent note in the file is titled "Assassination of Martin Luther King. Racial matters." It alleges that Franklin was said to be involved in a free, "huge memorial concert" at Atlanta Stadium, donated by the Atlanta Braves. The show "would provide emotional spark which could ignite racial disturbance this area," according to an FBI source. In the end, the SCLC scrapped that memorial service and held a three-mile procession to Morehouse College instead….

The FBI identified Franklin as a prospective performer at supposedly threatening events far more often than she actually appeared at them. In 1971, for instance, an FBI source infiltrated the Boston branch of the Young Workers Liberation League, which was apparently planning an Angela Davis benefit that "might be held at the Boston Garden with Aretha Franklin." Her planned performance at a Black Panther Party event in Los Angeles, which she cancelled due to timing issues (for which she later apologized), is documented in a file covered in "Top Secret" and "Classified" stamps. "Bobby Seale, Chairman of the Black Panther Party, has directed the Los Angeles Black Panther Party to initiate plans for a major rally culminating in free food distribution to the poor black people in Los Angeles," it reads. "Source also advised that Gwen Goodloe wanted to contact Negro singing stars Aretha Franklin and Roberta Flack to possibly assist in the event."

Find the full FBI file here.


FREE MARKETS

Coinbase is funding a lawsuit that challenges Treasury Department sanctions of Tornado Cash smart contracts. Tornado Cash is a type of crypto mixer—it's "designed to create a disconnect between the cryptocurrencies that a user deposits and withdraws," explains Chainalysis. "At a high level, they work by pooling the funds deposited by many users together, shuffling them in a seemingly random fashion, and then subtracting a small service fee and returning the remaining funds to each depositor." This is done through decentralized, autonomous "smart contracts" and creates privacy in cryptocurrency transactions. (Bloomberg explains it well here.)

In August, the Treasury Department announced sanctions against Tornado Cash, accusing it of laundering "the proceeds of cybercrimes," including "over $455 million stolen by the Lazarus Group, a Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) state-sponsored hacking group."

Coinbase is asking the Treasury Department to remove these sanctions. "We have no issue with the Treasury sanctioning bad actors and we take a hard stance against unlawful behavior. But in this case, Treasury went much further and took the unprecedented step of sanctioning an entire technology instead of specific individuals," Coinbase CEO and co-founder Brian Armstrong wrote on the company's blog yesterday. More:

The problem here is twofold: (1) there are legitimate applications for this type of technology and as a result of these sanctions, many innocent users now have their funds trapped and have lost access to a critical privacy tool, and (2) we believe the Treasury exceeded its authority, given by Congress, by sanctioning a technology.

At Coinbase, we've been fighting illicit activity since the very beginning, and while we share Treasury's commitment to fighting crime, we believe this action harms innocent people and threatens the future of decentralized finance (DeFi) and web3 specifically.


QUICK HITS

• Steve Bannon has been charged with money laundering and conspiracy in conjunction with money he purportedly collected to help build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. "Prosecutors accused Bannon of defrauding donors who contributed more than $15 million to a private fundraising drive, known as 'We Build the Wall,' for the former Republican president's signature wall," reports Reuters. Bannon has pleaded not guilty.

• After a hearing yesterday, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D–Minn.) has pulled her dreadful Journalism Competition and Preservation Act.

https://twitter.com/mmasnick/status/1567905129004924928

• The White House has released a set of dangerous new principles for the internet:

NEW: White House releases a list of tech policy principles, focusing on antitrust, child safety, and "fundamental reforms" to Section 230. pic.twitter.com/PvzOq9PIXv

— Makena Kelly (@kellymakena) September 8, 2022

• The Justice Department will appeal the appointment of a special lawyer to oversee the handling of the documents seized from former President Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago.

• J.D. Tuccille encourages everyone to embrace a little bit of a "prepper mindset."

• The American Civil Liberties Union is seeking an emergency court order to stop a Los Angeles County jail's booking facility from holding people in what it calls "horrific, inhumane conditions."

• The Cato Institute held an interesting panel discussion on the book Classified: The Untold Story of Racial Classification in America.

Racial categorizations attempt to make science sense out of culture, which doesn't make much sense, says @janecoaston. This book provides an opportunity to have an honest conversation about these categorizations, she added.

TUNE IN: https://t.co/LiNa64EZk3 #CatoEvents pic.twitter.com/Jp1q22Nz6L

— CatoEvents (@CatoEvents) September 7, 2022

Start your day with Reason. Get a daily brief of the most important stories and trends every weekday morning when you subscribe to Reason Roundup.

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NEXT: California Demands Everyone Drive Electric Vehicles, but Can't Even Keep the Lights on

Elizabeth Nolan Brown is a senior editor at Reason.

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  1. Fist of Etiquette   3 years ago

    In Defense of Not Mourning Queen Elizabeth

    America!

    1. Mother's Lament   3 years ago

      Queen Elizabeth irritated the kind of people who you want to be irritated.

      1. Earth-based Human Skeptic   3 years ago

        Especially her idiot son.

        1. Ajsloss   3 years ago

          Especially Lisa. But especially Bart.

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      2. Entelechy   3 years ago

        Irritating Maya Jasanoff merits the National Medal of Freedom.
        Her Harvard cohort wants to govern us.
        A lot.

        1. Number 2   3 years ago

          “Jasanoff suggests that with Elizabeth now gone, "the imperial monarchy must end too."”

          Funny. I thought that was a decision for the British to make, not Harvard history professors.

      3. Super Scary   3 years ago

        "the kind of people who you want to be irritated"

        This should go without saying, but these are also the type of people that absolutely love to tell everyone about how irritated they are about X or Y.

      4. Zeb   3 years ago

        Doesn't so much seem like she irritated much of anyone as that certain people are perpetually offended by history and reality.
        Now Charles, I bet he'll be a much more irritating monarch.

    2. JesseAz   3 years ago

      ENB and her defense of CRT based history.

      God damn.

      1. JesseAz   3 years ago

        I will clarify.

        I dont give a fuck she died. Doesn't effect my life.

        But in also not going to use her death to push politics. Whether pro monarchy or as a basis for shit critical theory.

        1. JesseAz   3 years ago

          Australian Green Party leader.

          Mehreen Faruqi
          @MehreenFaruqi
          ·
          Follow
          Condolences to those who knew the Queen.
          .
          I cannot mourn the leader of a racist empire built on stolen lives, land and wealth of colonised peoples.
          .
          We are reminded of the urgency of Treaty with First Nations, justice & reparations for British colonies & becoming a republic.

          Saw a lot of this from blue checks last night.

          1. Red Rocks White Privilege   3 years ago

            Anyone who tweeted about "colonizers" and "oppressors" is just admitting they are losers and the descendants of losers.

            I like my "indigenous peoples" to be those who don't get their asses kicked by invaders, whether they be Europeans or their own ethnic cousins.

            1. Sometimes a Great Notion   3 years ago

              The Mongols!

          2. Earth-based Human Skeptic   3 years ago

            A Green "Republic"? WTF is that?

            1. Yatusabes   3 years ago

              RACIST!!!
              People of Green Color Unite!

            2. Moonrocks   3 years ago

              An Islamic Republic?

          3. Derp-o-Matic 6000   3 years ago

            Then stop putting her on your fucking money, you stupid Aussies.

            1. Ska   3 years ago

              Something tells me the person quoted wouldn't disagree with you.

          4. JimboJr   3 years ago

            These people need to just grow the fuck up already. When you look at everything through the lens of a critical race theorist / 1619 project, nothing is going to be perfect, and you are just looking for reasons to bitch.

            Lots of people alive in Asia are descended from people that rampaged, pillaged, and raped the continent. Indian tribes regularly murdered the shit out of one another. In much of the middle east women are essentially what amounts to sex slaves to their husbands with very little rights. African tribes, even today, respect traditional gender roles and the men hunt while the women birth children, while laughing at the concepts of nonbinary and transgender.

            The slave trade very frequently gets blamed on the whites, but the majority of slaves were not sent west, they were sent east and to the mid east. Also, theres that inconvenient fact that slaves didnt neatly show up on the shores for auction, some of their African brethren caught and sold them.

            Point being, the world has always been a fucked up and shitty place, and lots of bad stuff happened. Stop with this trying to be virtuous by shitting on another time period through today's virtue goggles. Its tiresome and the people that partake in this are insufferable, depressed, useless cunts

          5. Chuck P. (The Artist formerly known as CTSP)   3 years ago

            Australian Green Party leader.
            We are reminded of the urgency of Treaty with First Nations, justice & reparations for British colonies & becoming a republic.

            Reparations for exiled criminals? Well, isn't that an interesting take.

    3. Bubba Jones   3 years ago

      I like how QEII is the scapegoat for the actions of an elected British parliament.

      1. Ronbback   3 years ago

        I was thinking teh same thing I don't think the Monarchy has had any power for a long time now. they are just good will people now

        1. Á àß äẞç ãþÇđ âÞ¢Đæ ǎB€Ðëf ảhf   3 years ago

          Hired hands, about as powerful as sportsball mascots prancing on the sidelines, but less anonymous.

      2. JFree   3 years ago

        For the same reason that the declaration of independence talks about king George rather than Parliament

        1. Number 2   3 years ago

          Interesting that she utterly failed to mention that we fought a war of independence from Queen Elizabeth’s ancestors.

          1. Mike Laursen   3 years ago

            Why is that interesting? Is there somebody who didn’t already know that?

            1. JesseAz   3 years ago

              Why are you ankle biting?

            2. R Mac   3 years ago

              Caw caw!

        2. Zeb   3 years ago

          Not sure that reasoning still applies. George III had a whole lot more power over those things.

          1. JFree   3 years ago

            Not at all. Read the actual grievances in the Declaration.

            The first one - He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good

            No King had refused assent to an act of Parliament in 80 years before the American Revolution. The refusal of assent is about COLONIAL assemblies.

            Those colonial assemblies and the governmental structure of the colonies were the result of legislation by Parliament. They were essentially a department of government called the Board of Trade and a cabinet minister - and ultimately the Prime Minister - not the King.

            It is Parliament that refused assent to proposed laws of those assemblies. It is Parliament that then eliminated those assemblies and instituted absolute rule by a Governor.

            The DoI is not complaining about the tyrannical power of a King. It is complaining about the lack of a ROLE for a head of state because the colonial legislative was subordinated to bureaucrats of the English legislature. THAT is what is meant by independence. The only independence that was necessary is independence from a Parliament that doesn't include representation by colonists. The King didn't even have the power by then to recognize any other form of governmental relationship between the UK and the 'colonies'.

            It is one of the reasons the American flag is a copy of the British East India Company flag. Franklin believed that the two entities had the same aspirations, problems, and relationship with the UK government. Others of course just dumped their tea in a harbor and then copied the flag of that hated tea owner (?).

        3. EISTAU Gree-Vance   3 years ago

          Perhaps king George had more power to levy taxes on colonies and such back then.

          Idiot.

  2. Fist of Etiquette   3 years ago

    Understandably, many people around the world aren't too keen on mourning the queen's passing.

    But your roads.

  3. Mother's Lament   3 years ago

    Unpopular opinion, but the American President is more of a true monarch than the British decorative ones.

    1. Don't look at me!   3 years ago

      And far more dangerous.

    2. Moonrocks   3 years ago

      True as long as the president is selected rather than elected.

      1. Brandybuck   3 years ago

        Current president was elected. Yeah I double checked. He was.

        1. JesseAz   3 years ago

          And on the cleanest election ever. No irregularities. No illegal changes to election rules. Not abnormal signature verification. No late night vote count stops. No thousands and thousands of double voters. Cleanest ever. So clean youre a white supremacist for questioning it.

          And the time fortification story is fake news.

          1. Moderation4ever   3 years ago

            The problem with your assertion is that we have not tested it against other elections. The question is were people to look at a set of recent elections say last 50 years would there be more or less of the problems identified in 2020. The fact is that it is not even tested against uniformly across the 2020 election. Had there been a review of the election in all fifty states? What about across the field of offices? What are the implications for Congressional, Senatorial, and local elections? Were they OK and only the Presidential election was in question.

            The real question is any of your assertions driven by facts or more by the fact that you did not like the outcome?

            1. Don't look at me!   3 years ago

              Moar testing needed!
              Thanks, Bailey.

            2. R Mac   3 years ago

              I was alive during previous elections. I never received 3 or 4 unsolicited absentee applications while my SOS was instructing election workers to accept absentee ballots whose signatures don’t match.

              1. Moonrocks   3 years ago

                I don't remember any election where it took a month to "count" the votes and it wasn't considered shady as shit.

                1. Chuck P. (The Artist formerly known as CTSP)   3 years ago

                  Or where they counted ballots received after election day.

            3. JesseAz   3 years ago

              Your argument is elections have never been tested in court prior to 2020?

              1. Moderation4ever   3 years ago

                My argument is no one worried about the small stuff that made little difference. It was only after Trump lost that some people started to go nuts about everything. Worried that a spouse taking an absentee ballot to the mailbox was vote harvesting. Worried that putting a missing zip code on the envelope was ballot tampering. The little stuff has been going on for years, but Trump loses, and people are "shocked".

                1. Livemike   3 years ago

                  Keeping poll watchers from watching the poll isn't "small stuff" and I doubt it happened before. I also doubt it make "little difference" since who would risk prison if that was the case? You claim this was "going on for years" but don't show it. I think you know you don't know this is true.

                2. bobodoc   3 years ago

                  Yeah, Al Gore and the Democrat party didn't in 2020 and in 2016 Hillary didn't complain for 4 years nor did some Congresspeople who said that they would not respect Trump as president, nor did Stacey Abrams not respect her loss. Yeah, "only after Trump lost". Please, I've said it before to you, see a therapist. You'll be happier and so will those around you. And you'll lead a more productive life.

            4. Derp-o-Matic 6000   3 years ago

              Yeah, i totally remember all those other elections where the vote-counters got super-tired around 10:00, kicked out the media and poll-watchers, then realized, "hey, we're not so tired after all. Let's keep counting, but I don't think we should call back the media or poll-watchers, they probably don't want to stick around for this. Oh yeah, and let's not forget those suitcase of ballots under the table!" and then all of them, miraculously, went 100% for one candidate.

              1. R Mac   3 years ago

                They weren’t actually suitcases. Checkmate bitch.

                — Mike Liarson

            5. Outlaw Josey Wales   3 years ago

              Here are a couple of comparisons that took place.

              https://www.westernjournal.com/gen-flynn-exclusive-10-indisputable-facts-2020-election-argue-audits/

              https://thenationalpulse.com/2020/11/09/case-against-biden-win/

              1. Mike Laursen   3 years ago

                OMG, the first article led with the “bellwether” county/state argument, which is an incredibly weak argument that nothing can ever change.

                1. Outlaw Josey Wales   3 years ago

                  The assertion was that the 2020 election had not been tested against others. I gave two examples of it being compared to other elections and the anomalies that presented themselves. Believe what you want about the bellwether argument. It is clear where you have always stood on the issue.

              2. Mike Laursen   3 years ago

                The second article, in its own words, “does not prove fraud”. Then it goes on with a bunch of hyperbolic subjective judgement that the statistics it presents are “utterly” an indication of something funny about the election.

                My dad used to fill in the Presidential vote on his ballot all them time, leaving the rest blank.

                1. Derp-o-Matic 6000   3 years ago

                  95,801 Biden-only ballots -versus- 818 Trump-only ballots?

                  That's a large difference. One would expect that those numbers would be roughly similar, no?

                  1. JesseAz   3 years ago

                    Not if you're defending the left at all costs.

                  2. Moderation4ever   3 years ago

                    Why? What is the hypothesis that says they have to be equal? This is not coin flipping. People here made a deliberate choice to vote for one office only and there is nothing to suggest that group may have been biased one way or another.

                2. Outlaw Josey Wales   3 years ago

                  As I said above, the assertion was that there had not been a comparison done. Here is one. Lots of indicators of anomalies in comparison to say, the elections of the last 50 years.

                  But your dad. Good argument.

                  Him and his friends must have all sent in their ballots on the same day so they could be counted at the same time to keep it simple for the pollsters.

        2. TrickyVic (old school)   3 years ago

          So was Bush jr.

          But I still find people who thinks FL did not get a recount and Al Gore really won.

          1. Cyto   3 years ago

            They only got 2 gerrymandered recounts designed to overturn the election (in countervention of state law.... sound familiar?). And a third post election statewide recount.

            So, near as makes no difference, there was no recount.

            1. markm23   3 years ago

              The only recount completed was by journalists months after the election. The conclusion: by any non-biased standard (that is, any standard that didn't count Buchanan punches for Gore, or selectively count incomplete punches depending on who they were for), GW Bush won.

              It's likely that if a certain large Democrat-run city hadn't chosen the inherently inaccurate method of hand-punched card ballots, and furthermore chosen a ballot design that was known to mislead voters into punching the square for the minor third party candidate at the top of page 2 (Buchanan) when they meant to vote for the second from the top candidate on the first page (Gore), Gore would have won. (This had been noticed in a previous election, but it was Republicans who were misled into voting for a random third party that time, so it wasn't considered a problem.) But there was no way to take even one punch card and show that the anonymous voter who punched for Buchanon meant to punch for Gore, so there was no legitimate way to change Buchanon votes to Gore votes. As slim as Bush's lead was, it was enough to keep him in the lead in any recount that didn't do that or worse.

        3. Yatusabes   3 years ago

          Current president was elected demented Yeah I double checked. He was.

          And still is demented today

        4. Derp-o-Matic 6000   3 years ago

          Most popular president in the history of all elections, with not a single irregularity or questionable event. The mere suggestion of something amiss is absurd on its face! Clearly, Biden is the most popular president in history.

      2. Zeb   3 years ago

        Elected monarchs are a thing. I'd say it's true in any case.

    3. genXer   3 years ago

      We definitely have an imperial presidency.

      1. Mike Laursen   3 years ago

        And have had since at least Teddy Roosevelt.

        There are so many people in America who treat Presidents as if they were our kings. They are supposed to be mere chief executives.

        1. Don't look at me!   3 years ago

          So why are you so scared of only one of them?

          1. Earth-based Human Skeptic   3 years ago

            Mean tweets.

            1. Yatusabes   3 years ago

              Wife looks great in sexy lingerie and, according to thousands of biologist, a certifiable woman

              1. NOYB2   3 years ago

                Many biologists believe that it is necessary to investigate the person in question in the flesh to make that determination, and are volunteering to do so.

                1. R Mac   3 years ago

                  I identify as a biologist.

        2. Ronbback   3 years ago

          Not so much royalty but more as a father figure and this mistake happened when they call edPresident George Washington the father of the country, now every one looks to the president as the all knowing father figure from some fictional tv show who knows all and controls all

        3. Derp-o-Matic 6000   3 years ago

          You misspelled "Thomas Jefferson."

        4. genXer   3 years ago

          Yep. TR was the first truly progressive president.

          At the time of the founding they specifically chose “president” because it meant the equivalent of a glorified clerk.

      2. Moderation4ever   3 years ago

        I remember when Jimmy Carter tried to roll that back and people did not seem to like it enough to reelect him.

        1. JesseAz   3 years ago

          By creating two new departments for federal government.

      3. Fats of Fury   3 years ago

        No Imperial ,an Incontinental.

        1. The Encogitationer   3 years ago

          C'mon, Man! Sometimes the Jello Pudding piles up in him! 🙂

    4. Earth-based Human Skeptic   3 years ago

      Pen and sword, er, phone.

      But only taking 10%, probably a record low for monarchs.

      1. Derp-o-Matic 6000   3 years ago

        Biden gets 50% of Hunter's cut, as well. The 10% for the big guy was just ownership in a specific joint-venture with several other people.

        1. ElvisIsReal   3 years ago

          And 10% was also going to his brother, with Hunter getting 20%. In other words, 40% for the Bidens.

    5. Kungpowderfinger   3 years ago

      the American President is more of a true monarch than the British decorative ones

      Ouch

  4. Fist of Etiquette   3 years ago

    Some are using it as an opportunity to mock or critique the monarchy.

    "No matter how silly the idea of having a queen might seem to us..."

    1. Earth-based Human Skeptic   3 years ago

      How about if we focus our mocking on the people who like monarchs? And especially the idiots who collect commemorative plates?

      1. Mother's Lament   3 years ago

        https://www.hamiltoncollection.com/products/135872001_president-biden-official-election-porcelain-plate.html

        1. R Mac   3 years ago

          Over/under 2 Reason employees own one?

          1. Earth-based Human Skeptic   3 years ago

            Only two? I bet half have gone to events where these plates were handed out.

            1. Earth-based Human Skeptic   3 years ago

              But still not as cherished as Obama plates.

          2. Mother's Lament   3 years ago

            Does Shikha still count?

            1. This Is The Zodiac Speaking   3 years ago

              Haaaaaaaaaa....funny

        2. NOYB2   3 years ago

          "Satisfaction Guaranteed: Free Returns for 365 Days"

          I wish our elections worked that way.

        3. Kungpowderfinger   3 years ago

          President Joe Biden Heirloom Porcelain Collector Plate

          Perfect for eating bugs off of.

    2. TrickyVic (old school)   3 years ago

      Monty Python will do their new God Save The Queen tour

      1. Fat Mike's Drug Habit   3 years ago

        She's not dead, just pining for the fjords.

        1. The Encogitationer   3 years ago

          This is an Ex-Monarch!

    3. Ronbback   3 years ago

      "Some"
      ENB trying to be above the fray by claiming others are critiquing while critiquing her herself

      Yesterday morning when i heard the Queen was ill all I could think of was let the poor old lady die, burt i understand she didn't want her son to be king and thats why she played like Ginsberg, she could have given up the thrown a long time ago. Now she rest in piece lets let her be.

  5. Don't look at me!   3 years ago

    White House releases a list of tech policy principles, focusing on antitrust, child safety, and "fundamental reforms" to Section 230

    Is there anything that the government can’t fuck up?

    1. NOYB2   3 years ago

      White House releases a list of tech policy principles, focusing on antitrust, child safety, and "fundamental reforms" to Section 230

      Is there anything that the government can’t fuck up?

      They aren't "fucking up", they are consolidating power.

      It's good for them, it's bad for you.

  6. I, Woodchipper   3 years ago

    Aretha Franklin's FBI file has been unsealed.

    Has the FBI done anything good or positive in it's entire existence? Seriously wondering.

    1. Don't look at me!   3 years ago

      Blazed a trail for cross dressers

    2. Moonrocks   3 years ago

      I'm sure they accidentally caught some real criminals every so often.

    3. Demosthenes of Athens   3 years ago

      They put Blagojevich in jail.

      1. InsaneTrollLogic   3 years ago

        He kind of earned his way there.

        1. HorseConch   3 years ago

          Hard to call that a great piece of investigative work. The guy was literally trying to sell a Senate seat. Barney Fife would have had him dead to rights.

          1. Fats of Fury   3 years ago

            And one of the buyers is now the Governor of Illinois and the other is prosperous and retired in D.C., Hawaii and Martha's Vineyard,

    4. JesseAz   3 years ago

      6 years they have gone after Trump which is good.

      1. NOYB2   3 years ago

        Yes, it's good: we now know with absolute certainty that there are no skeletons in Trump's closet, not just figuratively but even literally.

        Trump has been the most thoroughly examined presidential candidate in US history.

    5. mad.casual   3 years ago

      Almost, but then they decided that the delicacies of women's hands were more important than stopping criminals and decided to go with the .40 S&W and then the 9mm.

      1. Agammamon   3 years ago

        Yeah, it turns out the terminal effectiveness of handgun rounds vs humans peaks at 9mm and everything larger is just wasted noise and recoil.

        1. Ronbback   3 years ago

          didn't the Marines recently switch back to 45 since it takes fewer bullets to stop a threat. those 9 mm travel so fast they just go thru people

          1. Fat Mike's Drug Habit   3 years ago

            I have it on good authority that 9mm blows the lungs clean out of the body.

          2. Agammamon   3 years ago

            No. The Marines are now using switching to the Sig Sauer M17. The services are I producing hollow points now though.

        2. mad.casual   3 years ago

          You're confusing/conflating a couple of issues and allowing the FBI to put a couple of carts before horses for you.

          First, neither an AR pistol nor a Mossberg 590 offers any more stopping power than a 9mm pistol and stopping power is just a myth, right? The laws of physics don't apply because the FBI says so?

          Second, the FBI starts off saying agents miss 80-90+% of the time, goes on to 'solve' the problem with more bullets (It could be higher!), and then biases all objective facts and opinions in support of that assessment. I could agree that 9mm vs. .45 ACP, vs. .40 S&W is a bit of pussy footing around in the margins, but none of that matters if you plan miss 90+% of the time and address the issue with 'just carry more bullets' as policy.

          1. mad.casual   3 years ago

            Sorry, Mossberg 590 Shockwave, we are talking handguns after all. 😉

          2. Agammamon   3 years ago

            I've not said a thing about 'stopping power'. I said 'terminal effectiveness'.

            It takes, to within a half a round, the same number of shots to incapacitate whether you're using 9, 40, 10, whatever.

            Given that stat show even trained shooters miss 70 percent of the shots, higher capacity, lower recoil 9mm gets the job done for less.

            1. Agammamon   3 years ago

              Even if you accept 'train more so you don't miss' the 9mm is still a better round. Less recoil means quicker back-on-target after each shot.

              1. Agammamon   3 years ago

                And regarding more training - it's all a tradeoff.

                For a soldier whose primary job is shooting people it makes sense to spend a lot of time and money training to do that.

                For a cop -whose primary job is *not* shooting people - it doesn't.

                1. mad.casual   3 years ago

                  For a soldier whose primary job is shooting people it makes sense to spend a lot of time and money training to do that.

                  I don't necessarily agree that a soldier's primary job is shooting people. Blowing shit up is a significant part of the job too.

                  For a cop -whose primary job is *not* shooting people - it doesn't.

                  Right. Police should be more exacting in their use of force than soldiers. Further, it's not like they're going to use the extra time off the range to do a better job investigating sources of their affidavits, discovering whether a mass shooter was politically motivated, or figuring out if their co-workers have committed a crime or not.

                  1. Chuck P. (The Artist formerly known as CTSP)   3 years ago

                    I have decided that no one with qualified immunity should have a gun. The police can carry tasers and call in bounty hunters who have liability for killing innocent persons (and dogs!), destroying homes and detaining the wrong people. Do that and magically every shoot would be a good shoot.

                    FFS, it worked for the first 150 years.

    6. Brandybuck   3 years ago

      The few good things could have been done by Federal Marshalls, rather than having a dedicated domestic espionage agency. Our own MI5. Gosh.

      1. R Mac   3 years ago

        I haven’t seen any evidence the Marshals would be willing to lie on FISA warrants to save us from Orange Hitler.

        1. Chuck P. (The Artist formerly known as CTSP)   3 years ago

          Ask Randy Weaver's boy.

    7. JasonAZ   3 years ago

      I forget, is this Reason saying FBI good or FBI bad? Make up your mind Reason...

    8. Rex L'Amoureaux   3 years ago

      Created the X-Files?

  7. Earth-based Human Skeptic   3 years ago

    Yup, the queen is dead. Just curious: how many corgis and house servants need to be put to death and mummified in order to staff her burial chamber in the pyramid?

    1. Moonrocks   3 years ago

      Monarchs were so much cooler in the olden days.

      1. Yatusabes   3 years ago

        Beheading insurrectionists appears apropos in Biden's world.

        In 1586, a major Catholic plot to murder Elizabeth was uncovered, and Mary was brought to trial, convicted for complicity, and sentenced to death. On February 8, 1587, Mary Queen of Scots was beheaded for treason at Fotheringhay Castle in England. Her son, King James VI of Scotland, calmly accepted his mother’s execution, and upon Queen Elizabeth’s death in 1603, he became James I, king of England, Scotland and Ireland.

        https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/mary-queen-of-scots-defeated

    2. NOYB2   3 years ago

      You'd be amazed how beneficial such policies are to the longevity of monarchs.

  8. Don't look at me!   3 years ago

    The time is right for a full reconsideration of the law of racial classification.

    Skin color is the important thing

    1. InsaneTrollLogic   3 years ago

      Of course. Never mind that race is far more a cultural construct than sex.

  9. Fist of Etiquette   3 years ago

    Aretha Franklin's FBI file has been unsealed.

    They wanted to sock it to her?

    1. Don't look at me!   3 years ago

      Have some respect.

      1. Chuck P. (The Artist formerly known as CTSP)   3 years ago

        The FBI wouldn't know the word respect if you spelled it out for them; let alone care what it meant to Aretha.

        1. JasonAZ   3 years ago

          Well, Aretha did spell it out for them. They still didn't get it.

    2. JesseAz   3 years ago

      Do they tell us what is in her underwear drawer?

      1. Earth-based Human Skeptic   3 years ago

        Her son's balls?

    3. Ska   3 years ago

      Is there a section about her being the Acid Queen?

      Really one of my favorite cameos.

      1. JFree   3 years ago

        Tina Turner is not Aretha Franklin

        1. Ska   3 years ago

          D'oh! JFC, my bad.

          1. JFree   3 years ago

            Hey - apparently the two had a huge lifelong feud about which one could claim the title of Queen. And it's entirely possible the FBI gathered files on that too.

      2. Rev. Arthur L. Kuckland   3 years ago

        Please blues brothers

    4. Fats of Fury   3 years ago

      They discovered she really was The Dairy Queen of Soul.

    5. Utkonos   3 years ago

      She made out the feds immediately—they looked like hassidic diamond merchants!

  10. Mother's Lament   3 years ago

    Reason Rundown

    Will to power.

    Mar-a-Lago Raid: Feds Ask Judge To Partially Stay Special Master Order, Will Appeal If Don’t Get Their Way

    1. Moonrocks   3 years ago

      If the FBI has nothing to hide, then they have nothing to fear, right?

      1. Earth-based Human Skeptic   3 years ago

        Consistent logical argument is racist!

      2. JesseAz   3 years ago

        The best part of Cannons order is her showing the FBI team collected far more documents they were not entitled to than they did that was covered under the warrant. They truly treated it as a general warrant. 500 pages of legal documents, tax returns, medical records, and even took some random clothes.

        It also included the taint team misclassifying at least 2 legal privileged documents making it to the investigatory team and they didn't even wall off the agents who saw those documents.

        Everything after the raid has shown corruption by the FBI.

        1. R Mac   3 years ago

          “some random clothes.”

          Gotta be honest, I’d probably grab a pair of Melania’s panties if I had the chance.

          1. Chuck P. (The Artist formerly known as CTSP)   3 years ago

            Isn't she from Eastern Europe? What makes you think she wears panties?

            1. KARi lake   3 years ago

              At least she doesn’t wear pervy garments.

              Speaking of pervy:

              https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/utah-rep-told-mormon-bishop-not-to-report-abuse-docs-show/ar-AA11BPb4?fullscreen=true&cvid=230b37cc1d0c4ab88e2dbcf9dc805ac9#image=1

              I find it cowardly that you Mormons are trying to hide behind priest-penitent privilege. When a priest hears a confession he doesn’t call a help line staffed by lawyers whose biggest concerns are avoiding bad publicity and lawsuits.

              Shame on you for financially supporting the cover up of sex abuse.

              You Mormons love telling non Mormons what to do and how to live. Why don’t you clean up your own house before criticizing others for once?

              1. Super Scary   3 years ago

                Oh, it's the guy that has a hate boner for mormons. I thought you raged yourself to an aneurysm or something.

              2. Chuck P. (The Artist formerly known as CTSP)   3 years ago

                When a priest hears a confession he doesn’t call a help line staffed by lawyers whose biggest concerns are avoiding bad publicity and lawsuits.

                Why on Earth would you assume something so utterly stupid?

                And I appreciate how you keep posting different stories about a single incident while pretending it is a bunch of separate incidents. Smart propagandists are better at hiding how much they are exaggerating, but you make it so obvious that a child could discern your agenda.

                The sanctity of confession is not debatable. Without it, there is no freedom of religion.

                1. The Encogitationer   3 years ago

                  No sympathy for the resident would-be Mormon butcher, however, uh, no. You can still live and worship any illusion you choose without a privilege not even granted to Doctors, Attorneys, or Psychotherapists.

        2. Derp-o-Matic 6000   3 years ago

          Everything after the raid has shown corruption by the FBI.

          No way, man! ENB assures me that their intentions are as pure as the untrodden snow.

      3. Ronbback   3 years ago

        Been thinking the same, whats wrong with having another party watch. Probably too late though since the FBI probably already inserted what they want.

    2. JesseAz   3 years ago

      Whoops. Posted this lower. Don't know how accurate.

      Harmeet K. Dhillon
      @pnjaban
      Special master appointments are not subject to interlocutory appeal, at least in the 11th Circuit. And when reviewed, it is only for abuse of discretion. Barr is displaying DOJ-itis, with a complicating attack of TDS making it worse.

      1. NOYB2   3 years ago

        The judge is still subject to IRS audits and sexual harassment claims, is he not?

  11. Moonrocks   3 years ago

    Not Mourning

    In this context, does that mean "not caring" or "celebrating"?

    1. Fats of Fury   3 years ago

      The only queens ENB respects are drag queens.

  12. Mother's Lament   3 years ago

    Reason Rundown

    The Empire Strikes Back

    'They Are Getting Ready for Trump’s Second Term': Former Pentagon Brass Encourage Military to Disobey Orders

    1. JesseAz   3 years ago

      There is no deep state!

    2. Brandybuck   3 years ago

      Trump has already claimed to have won the 2020 election. Which means he CAN'T run again in 24, because that would be against the US Constitution that limits presidents to only TWO terms. So by running he admits he did NOT win the 2020 election.

      1. JesseAz   3 years ago

        This could be the dumbest thing ever said here. And we have Tony, white Mike, and Jeff.

        1. Chuck P. (The Artist formerly known as CTSP)   3 years ago

          Actually, that one was pretty funny.

          Brandy consistently maintains himself a level above jeffy and Sarcasmic while White Mike runs interference as the retarded cousin humping the sofa cushion.

          1. R Mac   3 years ago

            I don’t know. Brandy has claimed that everyone who wants the border protected is racist. That’s pretty retarded.

      2. Don't look at me!   3 years ago

        Serving two terms, not elected twice.
        Kinda different.

      3. Agammamon   3 years ago

        Is he President?

      4. Mother's Lament   3 years ago

        "won the 2020 election... only TWO terms."

        Let's see if Brandy can see the flaw in his statement.

      5. JimboJr   3 years ago

        what is "stupid shit that sounds like it came from a stoned college freshman"

        1. This Is The Zodiac Speaking   3 years ago

          Very good. +1

        2. Chuck P. (The Artist formerly known as CTSP)   3 years ago

          I will take "stoned college freshman" over "hyperbolic pants-shitter" all day long.

    3. mad.casual   3 years ago

      RFLMAO! "Fuck Trump! We're going back to Afghanistan!"

    4. R Mac   3 years ago

      Definitely not insurrection.

    5. Ronbback   3 years ago

      Read the article it doesn't appear to say that it more or less says to watch what they and to take special care

  13. Mother's Lament   3 years ago

    Reason Rundown

    Over 1 million use firearms to protect themselves yearly

    1. rbike   3 years ago

      My use in practice protects me, my family and neighbors.

      1. Chuck P. (The Artist formerly known as CTSP)   3 years ago

        My gun protects you, your gun protects me. Wait, that is actually true.

        1. JasonAZ   3 years ago

          Haha, this logic finally works on a subject!

  14. Mother's Lament   3 years ago

    Reason Rundown

    "Muh private company"

    Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) is urging credit card companies to “do their part” for gun control.

    From the responses: "Gov Hochul isn’t stupid, she knows criminals don’t use credit cards to buy guns. This is yet another step to go after the law abiding citizen."

    1. InsaneTrollLogic   3 years ago

      She's really begging for another SCOTUS smackdown.

      1. JesseAz   3 years ago

        Cue the "libertarians" claiming banks are doing this on their own.

      2. Earth-based Human Skeptic   3 years ago

        Is that like a rape fantasy?

  15. OpenBordersLiberal-tarian   3 years ago

    "The White House has released a set of dangerous new principles for the internet"

    Let's give Biden the benefit of the doubt. Democrats have every reason to be skeptical of an insufficiently regulated Internet after RUSSIA HACKED THE ELECTION in 2016.

    #LibertariansForBiden

    1. Earth-based Human Skeptic   3 years ago

      Careful. Somebody might take you for an evil election denier.

      1. OpenBordersLiberal-tarian   3 years ago

        "Election denier" only applies to people who deny 2020 was literally the most secure election in history.

        It's entirely appropriate to deny the legitimacy of 2016, 2004, 2000, and whatever year strong beautiful Black woman Stacey Abrams was cheated out of Georgia's governorship.

        #ElectionsAreOnlyLegitimateWhenDemocratsWin

        1. Moonrocks   3 years ago

          and whatever year strong beautiful Black woman Stacey Abrams was cheated out of Georgia's governorship.

          It's the little touches that bring these comments to life.

  16. Mother's Lament   3 years ago

    Reason Rundown

    AOC Is Afraid She Won't Live Through September Because You Hate Women

    "my experience here has given me a front-row seat to how deeply and unconsciously, as well as consciously, so many people in this country hate women. And they hate women of color. People ask me questions about the future. And realistically, I can’t even tell you if I’m going to be alive in September."

    1. John C. Randolph   3 years ago

      Oh no! How will the USA get by without AOC to snivel at fences and pretend to be handcuffed?

      -jcr

    2. Earth-based Human Skeptic   3 years ago

      OK, I assume there is a name for the psychological disorder that makes a person think they are symbolic for entire genders and races.

      Or AOC is just a whiny, lying cunt.

    3. Anomalous   3 years ago

      Crowder had a good one about AOC's "eyes from Michael's."

    4. Bubba Jones   3 years ago

      "I can’t even tell you if I’m going to be alive in September."

      That's the person I want shaping long term policy!

      lol

      1. mad.casual   3 years ago

        Good news is, apparently, having a vagina is more deadly than COVID now.

        Wear a mask people...

        1. kcuch   3 years ago

          I use a panty shield for my mask

      2. Ajsloss   3 years ago

        Exactly. Reminds me of a conversation between my grandma and mom many, many years ago.

        Grandma: If I'm alive next year, I'm going to get rid of the grape vines by the garage.
        Mom: Well, don't do it if you're dead.

    5. mad.casual   3 years ago

      Wait, in September she said "I can’t even tell you if I’m going to be alive in September."?

      1. JesseAz   3 years ago

        Interview was over the summer.

        1. mad.casual   3 years ago

          That's not really any better.

    6. Moonrocks   3 years ago

      She's doing a great job at fighting the "hysterical woman" stereotype.

    7. Dillinger   3 years ago

      is she a woman of color?

      1. R Mac   3 years ago

        You can tell by the big booty.

        1. Dillinger   3 years ago

          that dude was hilarious

          1. R Mac   3 years ago

            He was on Dave Smith’s podcast a couple weeks ago. Worth the listen.

    8. VinniUSMC   3 years ago

      Well, shit. I didn't realize Occasional-Cortex achieved godhood. I suppose as long as she tickles the balls while she's at it.

    9. Fats of Fury   3 years ago

      Holy Shit, Gay Queerly has gone full Evita with this broad. She'll be 35 in 2024, eligible to run for President but too old for prom queen.

    10. Number 2   3 years ago

      Seriously though; why does anybody give this idiot the time of day? The average six month old child throwing a temper tantrum has more of substance to say than she does.

    11. JimboJr   3 years ago

      "so many people in this country hate women. And they hate women of color. "

      Nah, I love women, and love women of color. I just hate insufferable, entitled, unintelligent cunts who spread marxism

    12. BYODB   3 years ago

      Of course, it's obvious to her that if you hate her in particular it must therefore be because she is a woman not that she's a sanctimonious cunt that shit talks over half the country.

    13. Chuck P. (The Artist formerly known as CTSP)   3 years ago

      Leave it AOC to figure people hate for being Puerto Rican or a woman when they simpler hate her for being a socialist looter.

  17. Mother's Lament   3 years ago

    Reason Rundown

    Rand Paul Thinks Fauci Is Hiding Something

    He's hiding $193,000,000 things

    1. JesseAz   3 years ago

      The amount of money government employees at the NIH and CDC got from big pharma during covid should be a scandal. It should be called out by libertarians. But Reason invested in crickets instead.

    2. mad.casual   3 years ago

      diminutive celebrity medical spokesmodel

      More edgy and libertarian than Reason.

      1. R Mac   3 years ago

        It’s a pretty low bar.

    3. Chuck P. (The Artist formerly known as CTSP)   3 years ago

      Fauci is hiding his cat. People who run secret world-wide networks with evil plans always have a cat.

      1. R Mac   3 years ago

        Does he have any sharks with laser beams attached to his head?

        1. Chuck P. (The Artist formerly known as CTSP)   3 years ago

          Yup. We will eventually discover that SARS-COV-2 jumped the shark from the bats in his cavernous underground lair and then to his Chinese minion who was sent to the market to pick up the endangered panda that Fauci wanted to serve at the annual meeting.

          The Wuhan Institute of Virology lab leak will be revealed to be a deception within a deception to protect Fauci from being censured by the Proggies for eating baby pandas. His buddy Xi Jinping ordered the Chinese to act all suspicious about it because Xi is just the kind of guy that can't resist a good practical joke.

          "Sure, we had to weld a few families into their homes, but, HAHA, look at stupid Americans stand in line for toilet paper! Now we get Taiwan, and Putin gets Ukraine, yes?"

          1. R Mac   3 years ago

            Sounds believable.

          2. Utkonos   3 years ago

            DOCTOR, NO!!!!!!

  18. Fist of Etiquette   3 years ago

    Steve Bannon has been charged with money laundering and conspiracy in conjunction with money he purportedly collected to help build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.

    So suddenly politicians and their aides aren't allowed to dupe the little people with false promises?

    1. Sometimes a Great Notion   3 years ago

      Its the method of colleting the funds, its totally fine when done by gun point; for reasons that allude me at the moment.

  19. Earth-based Human Skeptic   3 years ago

    "The declassified documents present a maddening record of how the federal government kept tabs on Aretha Franklin."

    That will be nothing compared to how the federal government keeps tabs on everyone, and especially on one-third of Americans flagged as undesirable. But that's OK to save Democracy!, right?

    1. R Mac   3 years ago

      Any idea where I can get a black market “Don’t Tread On Me” flag? Asking for a friend.

  20. Fist of Etiquette   3 years ago

    The White House has released a set of dangerous new principles for the internet...

    To be fair, there is a lot of dissent and otherwise unregulated exchanges that emanate on the internet.

  21. Fist of Etiquette   3 years ago

    The Justice Department will appeal the appointment of a special lawyer to oversee the handling of the documents seized from former President Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago.

    It's not at all suspicious that they are eschewing oversight.

    1. JesseAz   3 years ago

      Every liberal or libertarian who has ever decried overly broad warrants or illegal searches cheering this on is just exposing their true selves.

    2. Bubba Jones   3 years ago

      While I wish the judge weren't someone appointed by a lame duck Trump, I do agree with the idea.

      There's no scenario where Trump followers accept any real consequences for Trump, unless ...

      Oh, who am I kidding?

      1. Moderation4ever   3 years ago

        Right the fact is that Trump followers have joined the cult and are never giving it up.

      2. Azathoth!!   3 years ago

        There's no scenario where Trump followers accept any real consequences for Trump, unless ...

        Oh no, I think most people who voted for Trump would want consequences for him if he did anything wrong.

        That's the point though. You all keep going after him and even when you control literally every facet of the process you still cannot find a crime to actually charge him with.

        And you've been trying for quite a while now. Isn't it about time to consider that maybe it's you all that are wrong?

        1. Rev. Arthur L. Kuckland   3 years ago

          Honestly when trump ran in 2016 I thought he was as much of a criminal as Hillary, after 6 years of intense hard core investigations, he is looking to be one of the cleanest polititions out there

    3. Moderation4ever   3 years ago

      I have not seen anyone suggest the idea of a special master is in any way required. When you cannot even get your own AG to support you don't seem to have much to stand on.

    4. JesseAz   3 years ago

      Well this is interesting. I dont know the case law...

      Harmeet K. Dhillon
      @pnjaban
      Special master appointments are not subject to interlocutory appeal, at least in the 11th Circuit. And when reviewed, it is only for abuse of discretion. Barr is displaying DOJ-itis, with a complicating attack of TDS making it worse.

      1. This Is The Zodiac Speaking   3 years ago

        Land,,,Land, See Snatch

  22. Fist of Etiquette   3 years ago

    J.D. Tuccille encourages everyone to embrace a little bit of a "prepper mindset."

    ...with his new line of 3D-printed Claymore mines.

    1. Earth-based Human Skeptic   3 years ago

      Do they have "This Side Towards Enemy" printed on the right side?

      1. Agammamon   3 years ago

        Honestly, doesn't matter - if you're close enough to read that you're gonna have a bad day.

    2. JesseAz   3 years ago

      None of the reason writers would last a week in a prepper situation.

      1. Earth-based Human Skeptic   3 years ago

        What about GQ/Vouge prepping?

      2. R Mac   3 years ago

        I feel like ENB would figure out a way to survive.

        1. mad.casual   3 years ago

          Pretty sure, even post-apocalypse, eating aborted fetuses would be almost guaranteed to get you murdered.

          Oh, you meant sex work? As continues to get pointed out around here, ENB doesn't actually do any sex work.

          Maybe she could get by making sandwiches.

          1. Azathoth!!   3 years ago

            post apocalypse, all women do sex work.

            1. kcuch   3 years ago

              Like the first 100,000 years of human development?

    3. InsaneTrollLogic   3 years ago

      It's actually pretty amazing that Tuccille managed to have an entire article devoted to prepping, and not once did he bring up what some LDS do in Utah, storing up to two years of nonperishable foodstuffs.

      1. JesseAz   3 years ago

        Isnt just Utah. It is a common doctrine of the church. Largely derived to the many times they were forced to leave states early on in the religion and move west.

      2. The Encogitationer   3 years ago

        The FLDS of Warren Jeffs were a bunch of Welfare Queens. How else do you think they could afford their "Quiverful" of Bicycle Boys and Girls for Jesus and Joseph Smith?

    4. Dillinger   3 years ago

      play more with Claymore.

  23. BillBrennan   3 years ago

    Having a monarchy next door is a little like having a neighbor who’s really into clowns and has daubed their house with clown murals, displays clown dolls in each window and had an insatiable desire to hear about and discuss clown related news stories.
    More specifically, for the Irish, it’s like having a neighbor who’s really into clowns and, also, your grandfather was murdered by a clown.

    1. Mother's Lament   3 years ago

      Until the presidents start handing the power that they stole from congress back, America can't criticize the concept of kings.

      1. Mickey Rat   3 years ago

        Did not exactly steal. Congress has been willingly abdicating authority to the executive and the bureaucracy for decades.

      2. Sometimes a Great Notion   3 years ago

        By that logic, shut up about America, Canuck. You got King Charles and King Trudeau, ruling over you. We at least had the decency of overthrowing the British monarchy before installing an American one.

        1. Mother's Lament   3 years ago

          King Charles is less of an issue than Emperor Biden, but touché on Fidel Castro's son.

          1. This Is The Zodiac Speaking   3 years ago

            Civility

          2. Utkonos   3 years ago

            Well, there was that ONE time Canada abandoned the monarchy…
            https://youtu.be/IloIoGj5Mj0

            1. Mother's Lament   3 years ago

              "Without me and the French you are just Americans"

    2. Fats of Fury   3 years ago

      The Irish just jailed a teacher for misgendering a pupil. They have their own clown show going, evil clown. Someone should take away their potatoes.

    3. This Is The Zodiac Speaking   3 years ago

      That may be the funniest comment ever to grace these annals of pedestrian thought comment and sock puppet gallery.

  24. Fist of Etiquette   3 years ago

    The American Civil Liberties Union is seeking an emergency court order to stop a Los Angeles County jail's booking facility from holding people in what it calls "horrific, inhumane conditions."

    What are the courts going to do? Let them out? This is just business.

    1. Moonrocks   3 years ago

      What are the courts going to do? Let them out?

      Worked for the wuflu lockdowns.

      1. JesseAz   3 years ago

        Worked for memphis over the last week.

  25. Earth-based Human Skeptic   3 years ago

    "Steve Bannon has been charged with money laundering and conspiracy in conjunction with money he purportedly collected to help build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border."

    But I thought the wall was hateful and racist. And taking money from MAGA types serves the public good. Shouldn't Bannon get a freedom medal or something?

    1. Moderation4ever   3 years ago

      The wall wasn't hateful and racist, it was just stupid. The people you gave money to Steve Bannon were stupid. Being stupid is not illegal, but taking money from people is illegal and Bannon should be held accountable.

      1. Moderation4ever   3 years ago

        Sorry, should be "people who". That one needed a second edit check.

        1. JesseAz   3 years ago

          So BLM founders should be indicted. Good to know.

      2. Moonrocks   3 years ago

        Leftists are stupid. Being stupid is not illegal, but taking money from people is illegal, and every Democrat should be held accountable.

      3. Earth-based Human Skeptic   3 years ago

        Like taxes for public redistribution?

      4. kcuch   3 years ago

        taking money from people is illegal

        So you are against the college loan shakedown?

  26. John C. Randolph   3 years ago

    I will never forget the Cold Stream Guards playing the Star Spangled Banner at Buckingham palace the day after the 9/11 attacks. QE2 was always a true friend to us.

    -jcr

  27. Sheldonius Rex   3 years ago

    British colonialism is the single best thing that has ever happened to Africa, and every honest African wishes desperately for colonialism to return. Hopefully the Chinese remain immune to Huite guilt. Them being communists who generally fund the organizations pushing the lie of Huite guilt, they are probably going to be ok. Ideally the blacks who fall under their rule will be able to enjoy stability once again.

    1. NOYB2   3 years ago

      Both the old British empire and the new Chinese empire are racist, in that they view other peoples as inferior.

      The difference is that the old British empire believed that through education and Christian teaching, people could be uplifted and become civilized, turning their nations into prosperous and civilized copies of England.

      The Chinese have no such interest. They believe that they are destined to be permanent masters of the world because of their inherent superiority. They aren't trying to teach Chinese language and civilization to the countries they dominate. The Chinese really do just subjugate and exploit.

  28. Jerryskids   3 years ago

    The Queen has never done anything good in her life and neither did any of her ancestors. King George II, for example, never supported transgender rights and King Charles I never supported women's right to vote for King. Queen Elizabeth II never supported independence for any of the Commonwealth nations, either, nor did she support freeing the slaves in England. Quite right that we should shit on her grave.

    1. Mother's Lament   3 years ago

      "King George II, for example, never supported transgender rights"

      WTF, I hate the British monarchy now.

      Does chemjeff know?

      1. Fats of Fury   3 years ago

        Is it too late to nominate Obama as their next queen? After all Obama senior was British citizen at the time.

        1. This Is The Zodiac Speaking   3 years ago

          Oh Holy Shit.....this is funnier than the one above

    2. This Is The Zodiac Speaking   3 years ago

      +3

  29. creech   3 years ago

    According to many network news readers, the Queen "ruled" her empire of commonwealth nations, etc. Maybe to the same extent many might say "Miss America rules the U.S." Elizabeth II gave out ostentatious medals and titles, cut the ribbons to open hospitals and public housing, flitted about with her dogs and big hats, gossiped and was gossiped about, signed some documents that by tradition the monarch was supposed to sign. Good for her. Glad the British people loved her. Wish our presidents would do their duty as the Constitution requires and stop trying to act like imperial monarchs.

    1. Earth-based Human Skeptic   3 years ago

      OK, so here's an idea I have thought about for years.

      Most Americans, like people everywhere, crave a pompous national figurehead, like a prom king and queen. Why not provide that Dear Leader, but with no actual power? Give the rubes some distraction they can shout about and fight over, especially during prom election season. And maybe governance can be more effective run by "boring" officials.

      1. BYODB   3 years ago

        Amusingly this is precisely what the founding fathers presumed the Presidency to be.

        Turns out a few hundred years can result in some changes, huh?

      2. Chuck P. (The Artist formerly known as CTSP)   3 years ago

        And maybe governance can be more effective run by "boring" officials.

        Only if we start electing the cabinet members. Which is actually a pretty good idea, all things considered. It doesn't have to be a popular election; Congress could do the voting. But they would need to have terms and be limited to actual enumerated powers. I mean, they already should be limited to enumerated powers, but, as the OSHA debacle demonstrated, they don't. Let the President hold his football and play at being CINC.

        Unaccountable entrenched bureaucrats are even worse than an imperial President.

    2. A Thinking Mind   3 years ago

      Yup. She's a better president than any president we've had in the interrim.

    3. Ajsloss   3 years ago

      "According to many network news readers, the Queen "ruled" her empire of commonwealth nations"

      I saw a headline that said she was "the longest running monarch"... like she was a tv show or something.

      1. Fats of Fury   3 years ago

        When Castro died the MSM smirked that he outlived 10 presidents, well, Lizzie outlived Fidel.

      2. markm23   3 years ago

        That's the modern journalist for you - an idiot with a 4-year college degree that didn't even learn the difference between "reign" and "run".

        Elizabeth was only the second longest reigning of all monarchs, after Louis XIV, who inherited the crown at the age of 5 and reigned for 72 years, but, IIRC, ruled for about 60 years. (Elizabeth was an adult over 21 when her reign began - but she never ruled.) She was the longest reigning monarch in several ways: the longest reigning in England or the UK, the longest reigning woman in the world, or the monarch with the longest reign as an adult and free from a regency.

  30. NoVaNick   3 years ago

    Her successor is a complete dipshit-as are her other kids (royal inbreeding?). that alone is reason enough to mourn for the queen.

  31. Brandybuck   3 years ago

    Queen Elizabeth may have been a monarch, but she did NOT wield a monarch's power. She is notable in that she did have immense power but used almost none of it, to the point that people thought she was merely the titular Head of State. Not true.

    So rather than shitting all over her in a eulogy, I would like to praise her for her restraint. We can debate the continued existence of the monarchy later, but right now let's not forget how much better she was than her predecessors. Let's not forget that she was a monarch that deliberate chose not to exercise her authority and pretty much stuck to ceremonial roles.

    1. Agammamon   3 years ago

      You must be thinking of a different country. The Monarch's power in the UK is tightly limited - since long before the US existed. And she failed to exercise the power she did have - this losing that power.

      1. Zeb   3 years ago

        It is limited, but it was limited quite a bit less before Elizabeth.

        I'm not entirely convinced that the UK has done better with a less powerful monarch, though.

    2. markm23   3 years ago

      The last time a British monarch made a decision for the country was 1940, when the MacMillan government resigned in disgrace and Elizabeth's father reluctantly picked Winston Churchill to form a new governing coalition. (His first choice was different, but could not have picked up enough support from other parties.) I don't know if this decision was as obvious then as it is in hindsight, but everyone knew that Churchill had been right about Hitler and the lack of British military readiness when everyone else had been wrong for 7 years, whether they liked him or hated him for it.

  32. Mickey Rat   3 years ago

    The United Kingdom and its antecedents also gave us classical liberalism, constitutional limitations on government and a whole bunch of things that libertarians supposedly favor. To throw those babies out with th bathwater and disparage a woman who was for the most part decent in her conduct in what is largely a ceremonial position now is to be a horse's ass. It is part of the Western and Anglosphere's strange self-loathing which is becoming a cancer, perhaps a terminal one, on our civilization.

    Also, about Scottish independence, the Scots are part of the United Kingdom because their royal family inherited the English throne. There is also the matter that the Scottish electorate rejected independence in a vote a few years back.

    1. InsaneTrollLogic   3 years ago

      ENB is a twit. Instead of acknowledging this, she acts like a jerk over it. I guess we should all consider the source when ENB writes.

    2. Demosthenes of Athens   3 years ago

      +1

    3. Zeb   3 years ago

      Yeah, it's not as if the rest of the world was full of states and people who respected individual rights and the sovereignty of nations. The British empire was nasty in many ways, but so was everyone else. In a world largely dominated by colonialist empires, they were least worst in many ways.

  33. MatthewSlyfield   3 years ago

    Aretha Franklin's FBI file has been unsealed.

    But we should just take the FBI/DOJs word that everything is above board and legit in their investigation of Trump.

    The FBI has never been apolitical.

    1. HorseConch   3 years ago

      The fact that 50 years later they are releasing files on people who were never criminals probably means that they only investigate the worst of the worst these days.

      1. This Is The Zodiac Speaking   3 years ago

        +1

    2. Mike Laursen   3 years ago

      Nobody needs to take the FBI at their word. What is irrational, though, is when knee-jerk Trump defenders go beyond reserving judgement and being skeptical (perfectly rational) to making excuses for Trump, and treating those made-up excuses as factual.

  34. F.D. Wolf   3 years ago

    There’s a 1619 Project vibe to this article, which could have just as easily have been penned by a far Leftist. For one, colonialism ended on her watch. Blaming her for colonialism is like blaming Lincoln for slavery. Or Biden. Oh, she opposed Scottish independence (as did the people of Scotland when they voted on the issue in 1997)? I guess that puts her in the category of those American monsters that opposed Confederate independence, though she did not send in troops to prevent it.

    Are all U.S. Senators responsible for the acts of John Calhoun and Joe McCarthy or just the ones who occupy the seats they one held? Perhaps it’s best not to mourn anyone because he or she probably did something bad, and if not, one of his ancestors certainly did.

    1. InsaneTrollLogic   3 years ago

      Considering that this is ENB, this article was penned by a progressive Democrat in all but name.

      1. JesseAz   3 years ago

        ENB rundown are summaries of her blue check Twitter from the night before.

    2. A Thinking Mind   3 years ago

      Yeah, this article put such a sour taste in my mouth. It's so disconnected.

      If you're going to blame her for every bad thing that happened under her rule, might as well praise her for every good thing that happened. She brought down the Soviet Union. She helped kill Osama Bin Laden. She freed Nelson Mandela. She gave her subjects access to the internet. She oversaw massive improvements in burning coal cleaner, and using cleaner energy sources. Looked at that way, she's a freaking superhero.

      1. R Mac   3 years ago

        “She gave her subjects access to the internet.”

        Do NOT take that credit from Al Gore.

        1. This Is The Zodiac Speaking   3 years ago

          That was funny +2

    3. Red Rocks White Privilege   3 years ago

      Eh, like the 1619 Project, it's just Hegelian/Marxist dialectism packaged in cloak of non-white ethno-nationalism.

      Just remember that nothing is ever good enough for these people, meaning anyone with marxist-inspired proclivities. They're agitating for a utopia that will never exist, and what's more, they KNOW it will never exist, which is why their only form of engagement is endless complaining about how things aren't good enough. Once you realize that leftists never argue in good faith and that their only motivation is a nihilistic hellscape of anarcho-tyranny, it makes it a lot easier to dismiss their assertions for the insincere garbage that they are.

      1. Earth-based Human Skeptic   3 years ago

        Don't forget about making omelettes even now and then.

        1. Longtobefree   3 years ago

          Who can afford eggs these days?

      2. EISTAU Gree-Vance   3 years ago

        “….. endless complaining about how things aren’t good enough.”

        Yup. EISTAU. (Tm) T shirts and bumper stickers now available. Hats are still too dangerous however. Maybe a blue version will work better.

    4. R Mac   3 years ago

      Nuh uh.

      — Mike Liarson

  35. USA_Jew   3 years ago

    Speaking of colonialism and Cyprus, Turkey invaded Cyprus in the 1970's, and the country still isn't unified.

    1. Moonrocks   3 years ago

      That's different!

    2. Seamus   3 years ago

      I wonder how often the Turks engage in the kind of stolen land acknowledgements that woke Americans feel obligated to do every time they turn around.

      1. Fats of Fury   3 years ago

        Not once since 1453.

    3. Utkonos   3 years ago

      That’s nobody’s business but the Turks’

  36. Agammamon   3 years ago

    "All of this seems as healthy, normal, and fair as the glowing tributes"

    Yeah, of you ignore the fact that she *inherited* this, was a driving force behind the defacto switch to republicanism in the UK, and presided over the divestment of the British empire and return to local rule . . .

    Then I guess you could say she's been a horrible bint. It would just betray your ignorance though.

    I'm not mourning her any more than any other rando's passing - but she's not got any reason for people to be particularly pissed at her life. I mean, especially not fucks who push Marx and his disciples.

  37. Agammamon   3 years ago

    "queen's alleged opposition to Scottish independence"

    For fuck's sake - even the Scott's we're opposed to Scottish independence. How many votes have they had on it?

    1. Red Rocks White Privilege   3 years ago

      LOL, yeah, anyone making this assertion that the Scots want independence has no fucking clue about Scotland; they think the Scots are like the hyper-masculine William Wallace/Robert the Bruce era Scots that Hollywood glorifies.

      Scots today are de-nutted, bitch-made jobbers who are massively dependent on UK welfare programs, and were wildly against Brexit because they prefer being under the thumb of a giant, unaccountable globalist bureaucracy as opposed to being self-reliant.

      1. Earth-based Human Skeptic   3 years ago

        But at least some Scots now want separation from England so they can latch back onto the EU teat.

        1. Red Rocks White Privilege   3 years ago

          Yeah, it's not even "independence," they just want to be attached to a globalist welfare state.

  38. USA_Jew   3 years ago

    A race is a group of people with perceived biological features. Race is a social construct.

    1. Earth-based Human Skeptic   3 years ago

      Yeah, never mind that DNA shit. That's just white supremacy "science".

      1. R Mac   3 years ago

        Where’s Misek when we need him?

      2. Dillinger   3 years ago

        >>that DNA shit

        which DNA shit demarks races?

  39. Naime Bond   3 years ago

    R E S P E C T is one word that no one should ever use when talking about the FBI.

    1. R Mac   3 years ago

      I wish Reason would Think about this when discussing the Trump raid. It really makes them look like a Chain of Fools.

  40. Bill Dalasio   3 years ago

    Understandably, many people around the world aren't too keen on mourning the queen's passing. Some are using it as an opportunity to condemn British colonialist activities throughout history (including during Elizabeth's reign). Some are using it as an opportunity to mock or critique the monarchy. Some are using it as an opportunity to celebrate. (See, for instance, the #IrishTwitter, #BlackTwitter, or #ScottishTwitter hashtags right now.)

    Nice job dancing on the grave before her body's even grown cold. I'll note that at least half of the complaints about her are things that happened before she was even born. I guess basic respect for the dead is now something reserved for homicidal leftists.

    1. Commenter_XY   3 years ago

      It really is incredible = a lack of respect for the newly dead

      It is a symptom of societal decay.

  41. Moderation4ever   3 years ago

    I hope at the end of the Steve Bannon case people will reconsider Presidential pardons. I support the idea of Presidential pardons but believe they should only be permitted after cases are adjudicated. No one should be permitted to escape adjudication, either through trial or plea. Only after adjudication can a pardon be granted.

    1. A Thinking Mind   3 years ago

      You're quite free to argue against the presidential pardon power. We just need a constitutional amendment to change it.

      1. Moderation4ever   3 years ago

        I agree it would likely take an amendment and I don't support eliminating the power, just modifying when it can be applied.

  42. A Thinking Mind   3 years ago

    Many of those subjects, or their descendants, have experienced hardship and trauma under her reign or the reign of her family members before her.

    And a very large number of her subjects prospered in ways unrivaled by the vast majority of history. Poverty was greatly diminished, the advance of knowledge was much greater, and people had happier and more fulfilling lives than probably under any previous monarch.

    But of course, some bad things happened so we need to focus on those, I guess.

    1. Bill Dalasio   3 years ago

      I guess the new libertarian ethos is to assign genetic collective guilt to the families of people who did something wrong. Cripes, this borders on the deranged.

    2. Fat Mike's Drug Habit   3 years ago

      Did the Queen do any of that or was it mostly a consequence of post war Britain being on the winning side?

      Britain can be a good thing and royalty can be a bad thing simultaneously.

      1. A Thinking Mind   3 years ago

        ENB bashed a lot of things the Queen had zero involvement in, so I though I'd point out a lot of the good stuff that the Queen also has no involvement in. She was a symbolic head of state, not an acting one, and she was head of state during a time of ridiculous prosperity. I think it feels a bit shitty to sprinkle in "All this bad shit happened" without acknowledging just how good things have been for the UK.

    3. JasonAZ   3 years ago

      "But of course, some bad things happened so we need to focus on those, I guess."

      Well, ENB is a far left progressive. Which means she focuses on the victim instead of ANYTHING else. Some people in the past made decisions and those decisions didn't perfectly work for everybody. Oh, the horror!!!

      1. EISTAU Gree-Vance   3 years ago

        Mm hmm. Shout it with me, brother!

        EVERYTHING IS…… c’mon you all know the words.

  43. JesseAz   3 years ago

    Judge who initiated Al Gores attempt to take 2000 election rules against Trumps Russia Hoax collusion claims.

    https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/all-things-trump/judge-dismisses-trumps-russia-collusion-lawsuit-against-hillary

    1. Moderation4ever   3 years ago

      This will free up Trump's time for the lawsuit against the Lincoln Project.

      1. This Is The Zodiac Speaking   3 years ago

        That was funny +2

  44. Dillinger   3 years ago

    >>Asking those in the latter group to shut up right now in the name of civility and decorum ...

    one of the groups would have the civility and decorum to shut up for twenty minutes after the most famous lady in the world dies

    1. Red Rocks White Privilege   3 years ago

      Hell, why even bother asking? Just tell them, "Shut up or you'll get what your loser ancestors got."

      1. Dillinger   3 years ago

        lol. I did pull out Never Mind the Bollocks yesterday for the treadmill

        1. This Is The Zodiac Speaking   3 years ago

          Glen Matlock tweeted about it last night

        2. EISTAU Gree-Vance   3 years ago

          She was already queen for like 25 years when they wrote that 45 years ago.

          Damn.

  45. Red Rocks White Privilege   3 years ago

    Cripple fight!

    People with disabilities sue over blocked Portland sidewalks
    PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — People with disabilities in Portland, Oregon, have sued the city, saying they can’t navigate its sidewalks because of sprawling homeless encampments.
    The federal class action lawsuit says the city has violated the Americans with Disabilities Act by allowing homeless people's tents to block city sidewalks, making it difficult for people using wheelchairs, walkers or canes to use them.
    “The entire class of persons with disabilities are regularly deprived of the benefits of services of the city of Portland,” said John DiLorenzo, lead counsel for the plaintiffs.
    The suit was filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Portland.
    The plaintiffs include nine people with disabilities and a caretaker. Among the plaintiffs is Keith Martin, a 71-year-old Portland resident who has used a wheelchair since having a stroke three years ago.
    “I couldn't get to my breakfast in the morning because there was a tent covering the whole sidewalk," Martin said. “I was forced onto the street and narrowly missed a streetcar that came around the corner.”
    Oregon’s homelessness crisis has been fueled by a housing shortage, the coronavirus pandemic and high drug addiction rates. Federal data from the latest National Survey on Drug Use and Health found that 9% of teens and adults in Oregon had illicit drug use disorders in 2020. That year, the state also ranked last in access to drug addiction treatment, according to the survey.

    Portland needs to be declared an EPA Superfund site at this point.

  46. Dillinger   3 years ago

    >>Classified: The Untold Story of Racial Classification in America.

    gotta be a way to reset the race nonsense. people aren't races.

    1. Fat Mike's Drug Habit   3 years ago

      I think that ship has sailed, too many people have figured out how to grift on it. With as much money as there is in being a victim no one is going to want to give it up.

      1. Dillinger   3 years ago

        guess I'll keep yelling at clouds about it

        1. tracerv   3 years ago

          Agreed. I've pretty much become Abe Simpson nowadays.

    2. EISTAU Gree-Vance   3 years ago

      The last thing they want is for people to start thinking of themselves and others as individuals. Just think of the massive grievance hierarchy that would be left wanting for a cause!

      There’s always climate catastrophism, I guess.

  47. Derp-o-Matic 6000   3 years ago

    Many of those subjects, or their descendants, have experienced hardship and trauma under her reign or the reign of her family members before her.

    No.

  48. Dillinger   3 years ago

    >>maddening record of how the federal government kept tabs on Aretha Franklin

    sent Duane Allman in undercover as her session guitarist.

  49. Mac61   3 years ago

    Yes, Queen Elizabeth is covered in blood from all that colonization, like when numerous nations were given independence something like 60 years ago.

  50. NOYB2   3 years ago

    The queen was "a fixture of stability," but "we should not romanticize her era," writes Harvard history professor Maya Jasanoff in a New York Times op-ed, noting the suppression of anticolonial movements in places such as Kenya, Cyprus, and Aden, Yemen, during Elizabeth's reign

    And how have those anticolonial movements worked out for those countries?

    and the queen's alleged opposition to Scottish independence

    Scotland became part of Great Britain because it was an economic basket case. And nothing has changed there.

    Yes, the British Empire committed atrocities and participated in slavery, at a time when every nation and empire did such things routinely. And in that, it followed the Roman empire.

    The real reason people like Jasanoff and ENB despise these empires isn't because of atrocities or slavery (there would be much bigger fish to fry), but because those empires created the capitalist, liberal, Western modern world, something these writers hate with a passion.

    1. Red Rocks White Privilege   3 years ago

      Scotland became part of Great Britain because it was an economic basket case. And nothing has changed there.

      There hasn't been an independent Scotland since James VI took over from the first Queen Elizabeth. Any pretenses at some sort of Scottish independence has been thoroughly heeled ever since Bonnie Prince Charlie lost at Culloden, and that was really a familial succession dispute over who would rule the UK, rather than an actual Scottish independence movement. The Irish Catholics in Northern Ireland took the idea of independence far more seriously, for far longer, than the Scots ever did.

      Scottish nationalism has been a nostalgia exercise for a long time, not a serious movement towards independence.

      1. NOYB2   3 years ago

        Scottish nationalism has been a nostalgia exercise for a long time, not a serious movement towards independence.

        I think parts of nation states should be able to split of if the people in them desire that. If the good people of Scotland want to return to being an economic basket case, be run by socialists, and be dominated by the Germans, that ought to be their right.

        And 45% of Scots voting for independence is a pretty serious expression of a widespread desire to leave the UK.

      2. Seamus   3 years ago

        There hasn't been an independent Scotland since James VI took over from the first Queen Elizabeth.

        Scotland may have had the same king as England ever since 1603, but it was still an independent country until the Act of Union took effect in 1707. (Similarly, Great Britain and Hanover had the same ruler between 1714 and 1801, and the UK and Hanover had the same ruler between 1801 and 1837, yet Hanover was always independent.)

        1. Red Rocks White Privilege   3 years ago

          I was speaking in the de facto sense, not the de jure sense.

  51. Diane Reynolds (Paul.)   3 years ago

    Aretha Franklin's FBI file has been unsealed. The declassified documents present a maddening record of how the federal government kept tabs on Aretha Franklin. The agency tracked Franklin's civil rights activism and her friendships with folks like Martin Luther King Jr. and Angela Davis.

    You know who else the FBI tracked?

    1. Derp-o-Matic 6000   3 years ago

      Hitler?

    2. R Mac   3 years ago

      All of us?

    3. Fats of Fury   3 years ago

      Hey! Hey! He's the Monkee, Mickey Dolenz.

      1. Utkonos   3 years ago

        “Hey Hey he’s the monkee…”
        Why, because he got that frizz? Racist!!

  52. Diane Reynolds (Paul.)   3 years ago

    (See, for instance, the #IrishTwitter, #BlackTwitter, or #ScottishTwitter hashtags right now.)

    No, because one cannot get the "pulse of a nation" by following hashtags, despite what the under-30-journo set believes.

    1. Utkonos   3 years ago

      ^ Possibly THE subversive comments of the day!

      1. Utkonos   3 years ago

        Comment

  53. Á àß äẞç ãþÇđ âÞ¢Đæ ǎB€Ðëf ảhf   3 years ago

    1. (Aretha Franklin) But the FBI is still to be trusted when it comes to Trump ... and only when it comes to Trump. And when they cover up for Hunter, and Hillary, and Bill.

    2. (Steve Bannon) But there has been no corruption found with Hillary's charity foundation soliciting donations from foreigners while she was SoS, and distributing jack shit. The wonderful thing about corruption and politicians is that even the FBI can find it when it wants to, and miss it when it wants to.

  54. Diane Reynolds (Paul.)   3 years ago

    To some, Queen Elizabeth II is a beloved symbol of British nationalism, refinement, and tradition. To others, she's a symbol of Britain's wretched history of racism, colonialism, and all sorts of atrocious acts.

    If Queen Elizabeth II inherited the legacy of racism, colonialism, and all sort or atrocious acts, she's also the inheritor of the End of Slavery, decolonization and all sorts of other wonderful acts.

  55. Diane Reynolds (Paul.)   3 years ago

    Let people celebrate. Let people grieve. Let people be frank and open in their emotions. There's room in the queen's death discourse for glowing tributes and for honest reckoning, too.

    Let the tech companies ban anyone critical of Elizabeth because they're private companies.

  56. Diane Reynolds (Paul.)   3 years ago

    Tornado Cash is a type of crypto mixer—it's "designed to create a disconnect between the cryptocurrencies that a user deposits and withdraws," explains Chainalysis. "

    Remember when crypto was fully anonymous out of the box?

    1. Diane Reynolds (Paul.)   3 years ago

      "At a high level, they work by pooling the funds deposited by many users together, shuffling them in a seemingly random fashion, and then subtracting a small service fee and returning the remaining funds to each depositor." This is done through decentralized, autonomous "smart contracts" and creates privacy in cryptocurrency transactions.

      Who knew that a unique set of numbers could be tracked?

    2. NOYB2   3 years ago

      Remember when crypto was fully anonymous out of the box?

      I can't tell whether you are trying to be funny or are just plain ignorant.

      Cryptocurrencies are, by design, a public ledger, meaning that every transaction is recorded on them in perpetuity.

      1. Diane Reynolds (Paul.)   3 years ago

        I can't tell whether you are trying to be funny or are just plain ignorant.

        I am telling you how it was generally sold to the public. You can go into lawyerly descriptions of how it is a "psuedonymous" system and was never "anonymous" like how a car dealer will explain that the car never technically went from 0-60 in 3.9 seconds. But the fact of the matter is, in the early days we were assured that anonymity required "very little effort".

        And in fact, it was right around the time that Silk Road was in the news that a paper was released that showed that Bitcoin transactions could be traced which sent alarm bells through the crypto community.

        I'm not claiming it was literally always anonymous, I'm merely pointing out how it was sold. You know, like how we were sold on the vaccines stopping both infection AND transmission.

        Also, the underlying point about my post is that I'm repeatedly told that crypto will be widely adopted on its own terms and regulation can't get in the way of that. Yet repeatedly, we discover that yes, in fact, regulation can quite effectively get in the way of that- by doing exactly what I predicted would happen: Squeezing the pressure points on the legitimate businesses that spring up designed to facilitate crypto transactions, such as crypto exchanges.

        1. NOYB2   3 years ago

          Crypto got hyped up by hucksters and managed to get people like you completely confused. And then the anti-crypto hucksters confused you even more with their b.s.

          So what? What do you actually want? I mean, right now, you are just putting your ignorance on full display. It's not like you are actually providing insights into how crypto works or what it can and cannot do, since you obviously still don't understand that yourself.

          1. Diane Reynolds (Paul.)   3 years ago

            Here's Brian Doherty in Reason:

            I should have been: Dozens of smart people with sympatico worldviews to my own eagerly explained to me how the creation of an online "blockchain"—a reliable yet anonymous ledger of transactions—had the potential to change the world.

            Again, I am the listening public. The car was advertised and sold as going from 0-60 in 3 seconds. You can wave engineering documents in front of me all day telling me "it was never anonymous and this proves it" which aggressively misses the point. And if by "hucksters" promoting it, if you mean Reason writers, then yes, we're in agreement.

            1. NOYB2   3 years ago

              There is nothing incorrect in that paragraph: the Bitcoin ledger is reliable and anonymous. In fact, Bitcoin enables the ability to engage in completely anonymous financial transactions. If your Bitcoin transaction are not anonymous, it is for reasons other than the Bitcoin ledger.

              But newer technologies (mixers, new protocols, ...) are addressing that as well, making all transactions anonymous, without exception, regardless of how ineptly you use crypto.

              So, we have technologies now that give us the ability to perform completely permissionless, private, decentralized financial transactions. That's something we've never had before. Libertarians should rejoice.

              The only way for governments to interfere with those kinds of technologies is to outlaw them, just like they can outlaw transacting in gold, mandate the use of a government issued CBDC, or simply impose socialism outright.

              So, my question to you again is: what the f*ck do you want? What purpose are your half-informed rants against Bitcoin supposed to serve?

      2. Diane Reynolds (Paul.)   3 years ago

        Here's Jerry Brito in a 2013 Reason article:

        Bitcoin is an even bigger deal than I thought. While the currency is best known as a censorship-resistant and somewhat-anonymous payments system, it has the potential to be so much more.

        Like "safe and effective" we keep finding out how narrow that definition is shrinking.

        1. NOYB2   3 years ago

          Brito is correct: Bitcoin is "somewhat-anonymous". Specifically, you can use it and remain completely anonymous if you observe certain rules.

          Nothing is "shrinking" there: Bitcoin works the same way and makes the same privacy guarantees it has always made and that were designed into it from the start. If your understanding of the meaning of those privacy guarantees changes over time, that's nobody's fault but your own.

          The creation of mixers actually has broadened the availability of anonymity and privacy for cryptocurrencies, so the situation is now better than it was when Bitcoin first came out. Furthermore, Treasury only managed to sanction a single mixer; there are many more.

      3. Diane Reynolds (Paul.)   3 years ago

        Here's a 2018 article on Bitcoin by Tuccille:

        "The core technology underlying cryptocurrencies, known as blockchain, is premised on anonymity," Richard Holden, an economics professor at the University of New South Wales, and Anup Malani, a law professor at the University of Chicago, explain. "But anonymity is also the main fuel for the underground economy, which is now conducted largely via cash." They add, "If cryptocurrencies were to replace cash as the preferred anonymous medium of exchange, they could significantly expand the underground economy because they are so much more convenient than cash."

        Now, you can keep explaining to me (correctly, and truthfully, I might add) that Bitcoin isn't anonymous, and anyone who said it was was ignorant. I'm merely pointing out that I'm a member of the "listening public" and what I kept hearing from the Bitcoin Car Dealership is that "hey, keep your transactions private and anonymous! GO BITCOIN!"

        1. NOYB2   3 years ago

          Now, you can keep explaining to me (correctly, and truthfully, I might add) that Bitcoin isn't anonymous, and anyone who said it was was ignorant.

          Bitcoin is neither anonymous nor is it not anonymous; Bitcoin doesn't concern itself with real names at all. It is a public cryptographic ledger. How you use that ledger is up to you.

          I'm merely pointing out that I'm a member of the "listening public" and what I kept hearing from the Bitcoin Car Dealership is that "hey, keep your transactions private and anonymous! GO BITCOIN!"

          Yes, and they are right: Bitcoin allows you to engage in completely anonymous transactions. But you can also use Bitcoin to perform transactions that are tied to your identity, and that's what most people choose to do, either out of ignorance or because it's convenient.

  57. Diane Reynolds (Paul.)   3 years ago

    The time is right for a full reconsideration of the law of racial classification.

    In his new book, @ProfDBernsteinR addresses possible reforms to the current arbitrary system of racial classification.

    Good luck with that, Cato. You're swimming against the current, like up a waterfall against the current.

    1. Diane Reynolds (Paul.)   3 years ago

      And when did Libertarians become interested in this topic?

      1. Moonrocks   3 years ago

        Libertarians?

    2. NOYB2   3 years ago

      In his new book, @ProfDBernsteinR addresses possible reforms to the current arbitrary system of racial classification.

      "Reform" doesn't cut it. Anything short of "the government must not classify people by race, nor use such classifications in any decision making" is morally reprehensible.

  58. Sarah Palin's Buttplug 2   3 years ago

    Steve Bannon has been charged with money laundering and conspiracy in conjunction with money he purportedly collected to help build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.

    This makes eleven Trump criminals indicted or convicted including his personal lawyer and campaign manager.

    Obama = Zero in eight years.

    The Trump administration is easily the most corrupt administration ever.

    Yet the cultists here defend the Con Man.

    1. Dillinger   3 years ago

      If cronies charged their buddies with crimes H would be in prison.

    2. Mother's Lament   3 years ago

      "Obama = Zero in eight years"

      And that doesn't alarm you? All these ham sandwich indictments against people who worked with Trump, but next to nothing against known criminals who worked with Clinton, Bush and Obama?

    3. Commenter_XY   3 years ago

      Others might call it deliberate lawfare, SPB2.

    4. Derp-o-Matic 6000   3 years ago

      Eat shit, kid-diddler

    5. Tom Parsons' kids   3 years ago

      If you were a libertarian what you wrote would alarm you.

    6. R Mac   3 years ago

      Here’s the thread where Overt posted the evidence that Sarah Palin’s Buttplug was banned for posting links to child pornography.

      https://reason.com/2022/08/06/biden-comforts-the-comfortable/?comments=true#comment-9635696

      Turn yourself in for your crimes against children.

    7. Mike Laursen   3 years ago

      I’m no fan of Trump, but Nixon still exceeds him for corruption.

      1. This Is The Zodiac Speaking   3 years ago

        "You don't have Nixon to kick around anymore."

    8. Sevo   3 years ago

      turd delivers one more "orangeman bad 'cause someone who worked for him is charged with an unpaid parking ticket!!!!!!!!"

      Eat shit and die, turd.

  59. Seamus   3 years ago

    . . . and the queen's alleged opposition to Scottish independence. Jasanoff suggests that with Elizabeth now gone, "the imperial monarchy must end too."

    What the fuck? How in the world was it wrong for Elizabeth to oppose Scottish independence? I think the UK would be better off without those socialist plaid-asses, but that's just me. But if she was against Scottish independence, that just means she shared the views of most Scots, as expressed in the 2014 referendum and most recent polls. And it's not like it really matters what she thought in private, because she adhered to her constitutional responsibility to keep her mouth shut about her private views. (if only people like Maya Jasanoff would be equally taciturn.)

    And what is Jasanoff talking about when she says "the imperial monarchy must end"? There hasn't been an imperial monarchy in Britain since there was a British Empire.

    1. Mother's Lament   3 years ago

      The stupid part of ENB and Jasanoff's inference that Scotland is somehow a victim of imperialism, is that the union between Scotland and England occurred because the king of Scotland inherited the English throne from Elisabeth I.
      The Scottish monarchy took over England which led to the United Kingdom. Although no conquest was involved it was literally Scottish imperialism.

      1. Mickey Rat   3 years ago

        The Scottish government allowed itself to be incorporated into a United Kingdom government because the Scottish Parliament blew their treasury investing in a failed attempt to build a canal across the Ismus of Panama. It is some interesting history. By all accounts, the current Scottish Parliament is even less competent for self-rule.

        1. R Mac   3 years ago

          Never heard that.

        2. Sevo   3 years ago

          Better have a very good cite for that claim.

  60. Stolid Citizen   3 years ago

    "In Defense of Not Mourning Queen Elizabeth":
    Reason, cynically contrarian to the bitter end.

    1. Mike Laursen   3 years ago

      One writer’s opinion is not Reason’s official editorial stance.

      1. Union of Concerned Socks   3 years ago

        Just another turd in a punch bowl full of turds.

        1. R Mac   3 years ago

          Wait, are you talking about Dee or Reason staff?

  61. Jerry B.   3 years ago

    Look at this list of former British colonies for those that have become independent since 1953, and tell me how many have improved since independence.

    https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/former-british-colonies.html

  62. SRG   3 years ago

    The Queen, etc

    She was much better than we had any right to expect from someone who assumed the position by inheritance.

    She cannot be blamed for the general failings of British Empire and colonialism. It should also be noted that unlike all previous empires in history, when the colonies threw off their colonial yokes they were still willing to remain together, here via the Commonwealth of Nations. If Britain had been so bad to the colonies all these years, do you think that the independent ex-colonies would have so happily joined and wished to remain part of an organisation that was the effective successor to the empire? And the queen was Head of the Commonwealth not ex officio but by agreement (just as Chaz3 is now head - it's not an inherited position). I don't see the Democratic Republic of the Congo being as eager to maintain relations with Belgium, or Indonesia vis a vis the Netherlands...This is of course an argument in mitigation.

    But it's ridiculous for the US to devote any great amount of time to mourn the Queen. Yes, she was head of state of what, in the last 120 years or so, has been a very friendly nation, and many Americans may feel at least some loss, the way they would if any popular (with Americans) long-lived foreign celebrity had died - like Sean Connery, for example, but beyond that? Nah.

  63. Union of Concerned Socks   3 years ago

    Well there's five minutes I'll never get back.

    1. Derp-o-Matic 6000   3 years ago

      That's what she said!

      To you. Not to me.

  64. David1234   3 years ago

    "The queen's death discourse"? What is wrong with this writer?

    1. Derp-o-Matic 6000   3 years ago

      ENB? She's functionally retarded.

  65. Anastasia Beaverhausen   3 years ago

    Ugh - that first piece defending the right to be offensive and disrespectful sounds just like a Mises Caucus press release.

    1. Sevo   3 years ago

      "Disrespectful" of someone deserving such? The karens are off to the left.

  66. The Margrave of Azilia   3 years ago

    The thing I like about QEII is not that she was extra-special, but that she publicly personified good qualities from the WWII generation which are notably absent from modern Britons (including her own kids and in-laws).

    And there sure are a lot of Commonwealth countries which recognize Elizabeth as queen, despite their population being darker in hue then her. The very oppressed populations which you would have thought would run screaming from any symbols of monarchy.

    I won't deny that during her reign, there were a few countries which broke relations with the British Commonwealth and declared themselves republics.

    One of these countries was Ireland. Duh. (they didn't even wait for her accession, actually.)

    Another country was apartheid South Africa. In 1960 it was tired of being hassled by other Commonwealth countries for apartheid so it declared itself a republic. Post-apartheid South Africa came back to the Commonwealth. Fit *that* into the narrative!

    Jamaica renounced the jurisdiction of the British Privy Council as a court of appeal, but not for reasons the wokerati would approve of. The Privy Council tried to stop Jamaica from using the death penalty, so Jamaica pulled out so it could keep executing convicted murderers.

    These are the examples which occur to me; maybe others could fill the gaps in my knowledge.

    1. Utkonos   3 years ago

      Not just Apartheid South Africa but also Rhodesia. Their white racist leader Ian Smith had some very nasty things to say about her. I remember hearing one of his rants on the news (as I recall, in reaction against some act of the British Parliament but he dragged her name in to his hissy fit as well).

  67. Marshal   3 years ago

    The queen was "a fixture of stability," but "we should not romanticize her era," writes Harvard history professor Maya Jasanoff in a New York Times op-ed, noting the suppression of anticolonial movements in places such as Kenya, Cyprus, and Aden, Yemen, during Elizabeth's reign and the queen's alleged opposition to Scottish independence. Jasanoff suggests that with Elizabeth now gone, "the imperial monarchy must end too."

    All of this seems as healthy, normal, and fair as the glowing tributes.

    It's revealing ENB chooses not to include the actual comments people find offensive before pronouncing the criticism "healthy, normal, and fair". For example the one hoping her death was excruciatingly painful. By doing so she claims the critics of the critics wrong without honestly addressing what they object to. Of course she does this because the culprits are her woke allies, and this is her method of protecting them.

    She is truly the worst commenter at Reason.

  68. I'm Just Say'n   3 years ago

    Some of the comments in this thread are horrible. Stuff people say when they are anonymous is really shocking. Blaming Elisabeth II for actions that started hundreds of years ago is ignorant. British monarchs have not had a direct say in foreign policy, fiscal policy or anything meaningful for centuries, basically back to 1689 or so.
    Colonialism swiftly ended during her reign. She basically did good things and people with mean things to say about a dead person are, well, mean themselves.

  69. LeGaston   3 years ago

    Does the author understand the difference between a reigning Monarch and a ruling one? Because she had literally zero power, at any point during those years, to decide colonial policy, deploy military forces, or engage in any kind of independent diplomacy with foreign powers. A British Monarch is, at this point, basically the libertarian ideal of a head of state, the exact opposite of Hobbes' leviathan.

  70. Earth-based Human Skeptic   3 years ago

    Did you say fucking up(wards)?
    - Kamala Harris

  71. mad.casual   3 years ago

    You say that like they aren't currently fucking up "The 1A of the internet".

  72. Earth-based Human Skeptic   3 years ago

    As if. For both establishment Democrats and for progressives, Trump is the gift that keeps on giving. He inspires all sorts of leftist action and fund-raising, and justifies breaking an endless numbers of laws and principles.

  73. Idaho Bob   3 years ago

    Quite possible.

    I fully expect him to be arrested and perp-walked if he announces his candidacy. Even likely if he doesn't run. Somewhere along the line he fucked with the wrong people.

  74. Earth-based Human Skeptic   3 years ago

    Don't forget turning angry people into criminals by infiltrating their basement bitch sessions with FBI informers who can encourage the "next step".

  75. JesseAz   3 years ago

    Fingers crossed.

  76. InsaneTrollLogic   3 years ago

    If only we'd be so lucky.

  77. Brandybuck   3 years ago

    Section 230 makes Baby DeSantis cry.

  78. JesseAz   3 years ago

    Glad you've fully dropped your mask.

    Talk more about jose ole. Especially their fake marketing narratives.

  79. mad.casual   3 years ago

    I don't understand. Are you trying to tell us you birthed Ron DeSantis' love child?

  80. Mike Laursen   3 years ago

    And whatever makes baby DeSantis cry makes baby Jesus cry.

  81. JesseAz   3 years ago

    Sorry. I forgot threats now include talking badly of democrats. Sarc will be here soon to call me a mass murderer.

  82. InsaneTrollLogic   3 years ago

    We should ask Willie Brown about that.

  83. JesseAz   3 years ago

    I wonder what exactly Brandy thinks the monarchs power in Britain is.

  84. InsaneTrollLogic   3 years ago

    The British Sovereign has several constitutional roles and limitations.

    The Wiki articles do a bit of a short rundown of them: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monarchy_of_the_United_Kingdom

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_prerogative_in_the_United_Kingdom

  85. Bubba Jones   3 years ago

    yeah, this is hilarious.

    The British monarch is entirely ceremonial. On paper, she appointed the Prime Minister of the UK (and several other countries), but in reality if she ever stepped out of line she'd lose everything. Perhaps even her head.

  86. Mickey Rat   3 years ago

    The ornery spirit of freethinking and the rights of Englishmen which developed into our concept of inalienable rights was because the interactions with the Monarchy, which often used documents enshrining such rights, like Magna Carta, to bolster their own legitimacy (often cynically, or with great resistance). This helped create the unique climate of Anglosphere political culture, which I submit is superior to the rest of the world for fostering liberty.

  87. JesseAz   3 years ago

    Not entirely. But it is extremely limited. She can overturn a PM election for example.

  88. Ajsloss   3 years ago

    No Trump tanked Samantha Bee's show. (thank goodness).

  89. R Mac   3 years ago

    Biden’s last speech made that clear.

  90. Derp-o-Matic 6000   3 years ago

    I've already seen some MSNBC types claiming that DeSantis is worse than Trump. It will never end.

  91. ElvisIsReal   3 years ago

    Yep. This is the point of Biden's recent speech. He's equating "MAGA Republicans" with all sorts of stuff, not just being Trump. This means that if DeSantis is the candidate, they can simply claim he has the support of the MAGA Republicans, making him *surprise!* the most dangerous politician ever.

  92. R Mac   3 years ago

    Maybe he’ll be run over by a self-driving red SUV.

  93. Mother's Lament   3 years ago

    "Prison would make him a martyr."

    Yes, but they don't understand that, and the idea of Trump being led away in handcuffs before the cameras is to juicy for them to pass up.

  94. Idaho Bob   3 years ago

    Either way he's a martyr. If he's killed no one on the right will believe the published narrative. If he's imprisoned, everyone (on the right) will think it is a frame job.

  95. Earth-based Human Skeptic   3 years ago

    And the people doing the questioning are government-licensed agents or on the approved media list.

  96. Syd Henderson   3 years ago

    Even if Scotland were to become independent, they'd likely keep Charles as King, like Canada and Australia.

  97. Yatusabes   3 years ago

    Not possible given he/she/it takes gender affirming hormones which prevent fertilization

  98. Fat Mike's Drug Habit   3 years ago

    What are you, a biologist?

  99. R Mac   3 years ago

    Poor sarc. (I use sarc so when he uses control-f to find all mentions of him I don’t show up)

  100. Mother's Lament   3 years ago

    Sarcasmic, sarcasmic, sarcasmic.. Now you're fucked.

    He's got accusations of "ad hominem" and "strawmen" in his holsters, and he may not know how to use them, but he ain't afraid to try.

  101. The Team Struggling   3 years ago

    Funny how repeated unjust persecution tends to create martyrs.

  102. R Mac   3 years ago

    Susan Rice does seem pretty boring.

  103. SRG   3 years ago

    She can try to, but the British have a subtle approach to these kinds of things.

    Case 1: Shortly after the Falklands War, Thatcher, riding high in the polls, considered holding an unusually early election. Through the usual channels (which is the correct technical term - srsly) the question was passed to the Queen, what would she do if Thatcher asked her to dissolve parliament? Back came the response, that the Queen felt that she could not, as a constitutional monarch, reject Thatcher's request, but she strongly disapproved of it because it seemed to be taking too much advantage of the war victory, and if Thatcher did proceed to ask for dissolution, it would be granted, but the Queen's disapproval would be made known. That was enough to put the kibosh on the idea.

    Case 2 (not about the Queen, but it shows how we handle this stuff) - before recent reforms, the highest court in the UK was the House of Lords sitting as a court. There were law lords - qualified judges - who sat in judgment, and although technically any member of the Lords could join the panel of law lords at a trial, by convention they didn't. One day, some peer decided to say "pah!" to convention and attempted to sit as one of the trial lords. He was not removed, nor silenced. When the time came to vote on the decision, his vote was simply ignored.

  104. EISTAU Gree-Vance   3 years ago

    How in the world is the daily show still on? It’s almost like the writers are sabotaging the chia pets reign as host.

  105. R Mac   3 years ago

    Jokes on you! I’m trying to get back to the top of the list!

  106. Utkonos   3 years ago

    And the moral of the story: Sell Your Soles Now!!!!

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