36 Hours

Plus: Inside the DOGE disputes, Day 1 analysis with Mike Pesca, fleeing San Francisco, and more...

Ross Ulbricht walks free: It took President Donald Trump more like 36 hours than his promised 24, but we'll gladly let it slide. Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht, who had been serving double life sentences plus 40 years without the possibility of parole, walked out of prison a free man last night thanks to a pardon from Trump after serving 11 years.

FREEDOM!!!! pic.twitter.com/itRuuyFAxe

— Free_Ross (@Free_Ross) January 22, 2025

"I just called the mother of Ross William Ulbright [sic] to let her know that in honor of her and the Libertarian Movement, which supported me so strongly, it was my pleasure to have just signed a full and unconditional pardon of her son, Ross," wrote Trump on Truth Social. "The scum that worked to convict him were some of the same lunatics who were involved in the modern day weaponization of government against me. He was given two life sentences, plus 40 years. Ridiculous!"

Trump was fulfilling a promise made at the Libertarian National Convention in May last year, deftly brokered in part by current party Chair Angela McArdle, who is wasting no time taking a victory lap on X. But credit is also surely due to Ulbricht's mother, Lyn, who, following her son's conviction and imprisonment, devoted the last decade of her life to publicizing his case, especially possible malfeasance and corruption by the prosecutors who worked on it. Lyn turned her life upside down, moving to Colorado to be able to visit her son in prison (before he was transferred to Tucson) and becoming a passionate advocate for criminal justice reform. The Ulbricht family's love for Ross has always been so clear, I hope they get to spend the coming weeks and months making up for lost time.

Silk Road, of course, earned the ire of the feds because it was an early example of how bitcoin would enable greater financial anonymity than ever before. "Silk Road's innovative mail order using bitcoin, combined with user reviews of sellers, imposed some real market discipline on dealers, kept buyers from the occasional dangers of physically obtaining drugs, and allowed people not violating others' lives and property to buy and sell drugs with less (but not zero) legal risk," writes Reason's Brian Doherty.

And if you go deep down the rabbit hole into all the issues with the case, and the judge presiding over it, oh, and how your favorite libertarian magazine was targeted by the government for our commentariat's creative expression, well…you might just want to crawl into a wood chipper. Full Reason archive here, rich with a decade-plus of Ross coverage.

Double life for making a marketplace is insane, but this detail makes it even more sinister. So glad this evil act has been undone, but Ross can't get the years back. https://t.co/SInGHjHFNX

— nic golden age carter (@nic__carter) January 22, 2025

More on Ulbricht's story from Zach Weissmueller:

For what it's worth, I think this is a way better use of the pardon power than, ahem, Joe Biden's preemptive excusing of Anthony Fauci. God bless Ross, may he live out the rest of his days as a free man, never setting foot inside of a prison again.

Getting the hell outta DOGE: Vivek Ramaswamy was not long for the world of DOGE, reports Politico. Ramaswamy, famed for his appearance on the popular podcast Just Asking Questions (and also, I suppose, running for president), has decided to exit the Department of Government Efficiency and instead run for governor of Ohio.

Though I like that DOGE is already making cuts, it does seem rather odd for the Ramaswamy/Musk team to be touted by Trump for several weeks then quickly scrapped. What happened?

"Musk, the tech tycoon and Donald Trump confidant, made it known that he wanted Ramaswamy out of DOGE in recent days, according to three people familiar with Musk's preferences who, like others for this article, were granted anonymity to discuss them," reports Politico. "An ill-received holiday rant on X by Ramaswamy about H-1B visas apparently hastened his demise."

DEI, time to DIE: "Officials overseeing diversity, equity and inclusion efforts across federal agencies were expected to be placed on leave on Wednesday after the Trump administration ordered their offices to be closed," weeps The New York Times. For the time being, the leave is paid, but agencies have been directed to draw up plans within the next week for staff reductions.

On his first day in office, Trump issued an executive order aimed at immediately dismantling all federal government DEI programs, calling them "radical" and "wasteful". Now, "the Office of Management and Budget and the Office of Performance and Personnel Management will coordinate on changing hiring practices, ending equity-focused programs and grants and terminating 'chief diversity officer' positions designated during the Biden administration," reports the Times.

Such policies "undermine our national unity, as they deny, discredit, and undermine the traditional American values of hard work, excellence, and individual achievement in favor of an unlawful, corrosive, and pernicious identity-based spoils system," reads a related executive order. "We will forge a society that is colorblind and merit-based," Trump said in his Monday inaugural address.

"This is another win for Americans of all races, religions, and creeds. Promises made, promises kept," said press secretary Karoline Leavitt yesterday.

---

Scenes from New York: "A new proposal to ease New York City's housing crisis would make way for nearly 10,000 apartments in parts of Midtown Manhattan that do not currently allow new residential construction, a shift officials hope will reinvigorate an area that has come to represent economic challenge," reports The New York Times. "The plan, which city officials introduced at a Planning Commission meeting on Tuesday, seeks to change the zoning for 42 blocks of the neighborhood. That would allow for some 9,700 additional homes, including 2,900 designed to be affordable for moderate- or lower-income New Yorkers."

I'm sorry, but this will do very little to wind down the cost of living. The issue is rent stabilization and rent control, in addition to too few units; mandating that developers set aside a certain number to rent at a lower rate just means they'll compensate elsewhere when setting prices. And, all these issues aside, 10,000 is just too few!

---

QUICK HITS

• Seriously, please subscribe to JUST ASKING QUESTIONS. Our episode yesterday featured the one and only Mike Pesca and was full of spicy thoughts on Trump's Day 1 in office. We have only good things planned for the coming year, and we're so close to 5,000 YouTube subscribers (at which point we have a special episode planned).
• "I remember that Donald Trump had only one good line during his first (and only) debate against Joe Biden—primarily because he needed do nothing else but remain functional while Biden melted like a wax candle beside him—and it was his point that Biden had never fired anyone for poor performance, not even once in a presidential term that all voters could agree was wrought with massive, avoidable, personally accountable failures," writes Jeffrey Blehar at National Review. "Why not? I flagged it back then (even amidst the chaos of Biden's meltdown) because I felt that it subtly got to the point that Trump, in that debate, was not expecting to deal with: Biden's presidency had been a sham from its very first day, a project managed by a group of advisers rather than an actual president, and that cabal couldn't fire anyone who might reveal the secret. It really boils down to that: We were stuck with the useless administration Biden announced on Day One, because, on Day One, Biden was already mentally unfit for office."
• "Americans should consciously consider who we want to be as a society. Do we want to be the freest country in the world, or the country that imprisons its own people the most and the hardest," writes Dave Smith on X in a post related to the pardon of Ross Ulbricht. "You can't be both and the choice should be obvious."

• "Democratic attorneys general on Tuesday filed lawsuits in Massachusetts and Washington state seeking to block President Donald Trump's attempt to revoke the right to automatic birthright citizenship," reports NBC News. "The proposal faces an uphill battle and strong opposition from not just the 23 Democratic attorneys general but also civil rights groups, who have already filed their own lawsuit."

• A good take (though I think the Musk gesture was fine):

That Musk salute sure seems kind of fascisty, but in fairness so does a mob of masked campus cretins marching through the Upper East Side chanting death to Jews

— David Burge (@iowahawkblog) January 21, 2025

• Tough but fair:

The San Francisco housing shortage is finally starting to turn around, but for the worst possible reason: a lot of people are finally giving up and moving away. pic.twitter.com/ZzZqnNCC8c

— M. Nolan Gray ???? (@mnolangray) January 21, 2025

Comments

[JesseAz (mean girl ambassador)]

This is the media Jeff demands we trust.

ABC News outlets with a hit piece on Hegseth. His sister in law (married to his brother, not sister of ex wife) submits affidavit Hegseth abused his wife. Headline makes this claim. In the story reporter admits they contacted the ex wife who denied it and threatened legal action. Story still published.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/senators-received-affidavit-containing-new-allegations-pete-hegseth-de-rcna188342?cid=sm_npd_nn_tw_ma&taid=678ff942749f2f0001051b76&utm_campaign=trueanthem&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter

Sister in law even admits it was for political reasons.

She adds that part of her reason for coming forward is “because I have been assured that making this public statement will ensure that certain Senators who are still on the fence will vote against Hegseth’s confirmation. But for that assurance I would not subject myself or others referred to in this statement to the public scrutiny this statement is likely to cause.”

You don't hate journalists enough.

[Social Justice is neither]

That is going to make family dinners awkward.

[mad.casual]

You're assuming it isn't more of an "everyone goes their own way after laying their eggs/hatching" situation.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

Are we talking about actual egg-laying people or everyone who claims to be an egg-laying person?

[InsaneTrollLogic (On The List!)]

Time to follow through on legal action for libel. The accusation isn’t true as both parties involved denied it. Make ABC News hurt and squeal like a piggy.

[Mother's Lament (Salt farmer)]

This.

The only way to turn the legacy media into journalists again is to make deliberate slander hurt.

Musk needs to sue CNN and PBS too for what they said about him.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

Let's hope so. Because even if the actual lying sources publicly admitted their lies, the equally partisan and ideological readers would not hear the admission.

[mad.casual]

Further, I'm not a fan of regulating misinformation or labeling an act as terrorism/sedition/insurrection, at the same time, part of my defense of Assange is/was that he wasn't an American citizen. That said, it seems like an American citizen submitting a false affidavit specifically to influence public policy, with assurances, is committing at least a couple crimes as well as part of a conspiracy to commit those crimes.

Much moreso than a past-and-current President leaving the Oval Office with a box of (his own) documents in his possession anyway.

[A Thinking Mind]

Yes, lying under oath should be a crime. At the very least, it opens up the door for defamation, as accusation of a crime are defamation per se, and do not require proof of damages.

[Gaear Grimsrud]

Lying under oath is a crime whether on the witness stand, in a deposition or affidavit. Both parties deny these allegations and seems to me the DOJ could bring charges for perjury not to mention lying to the FBI.

[Rockstevo]

The question is where does she live? If it is DC or New York City (or for that matter any major city) then not gonna happen. I have often compared the chances of a republican getting justice there is the same as a black person getting a fair trial in 1950s Mississippi...not gonna happen. The only way to fix this would require an amendment that puts trials in a randomly selected jurisdiction as most cities are captured by the dems.

[mad.casual]

But I'm saying, if ABC News or someone else assured her that filing the false affidavit would prevent Hegseth from being appointed, that person/organization is engaging in some legally dubious behavior as well.

Again, I'm not a fan of "Wrap it up with an insurrection or terrorism or conspiracy bow and call it a day." litigation but, at the same time, an actual no-shit conspiracy to knowingly defraud the public with the specific intent to influence political decision-making appears to have taken place.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

"Don't forget these people want you broke, dead, your children raped and brainwashed, and they think it's funny."

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

Believe her! (But not her.)

[Anomalous]

NBC = Never Been Correct.

[damikesc]

Looks like NBC needs a CNN-type lesson to be taught.

And, hell, look into the ex-SIL for perjury.

[Rick James]

A $5 million judgement? No, what they need is an Alex Jones/Donald Trump type lesson: A multi-billion dollar payout.

[Minadin]

The $5m was before punitive damages.

[Weigel's Cock Ring]

The commie scum have been going to this dried-up well so many times now for so long now (he's a rapist, sexual abuser, predator, etc etc etc) I'm surprised that they still haven't managed to figure out that they have absolutely no fucking credibility and nobody believes them, because it almost never works.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

Except in the liberal-progressive echo chambers, where trite cries of "Rapist!" (or racist, chauvinist, capitalist, etc.) feed the emotional needs of the congregation, who in turn eagerly donate, subscribe, and click.

[chemjeff radical individualist]

I prefer this type of reporting over the type of reporting that your preferred media routinely churns out.

Let's take a look at this story: Sister-of-law makes a claim in an affidavit. Reporter contacts the ex-wife. The ex-wife gives her side of the story. Both are reported faithfully. The reader is left to decide what to conclude about it.

Jesse's preferred media: Anonymous source makes bombshell claim about someone in Team Blue. "Reporter" does next to no work to get the other side of the story. Story is reported as-is and repeated until, by sheer repetition, the claim becomes "truth" in the right-wing universe.

You don't want fair media. You want one-sided lopsided media that favors your narrative. And as the other comments demonstrate, a lot of you want to use the government and the courts to generate your biased one-sided result.

Also, I thought an AFFIDAVIT was sacrosanct. That's what I was told for all of the claims about election chicanery in 2020. "Look, some dude saw a election worker shredding ballots and filed an affidavit! MUST INVESTIGATE!" Now suddenly an affidavit means nothing if it makes a claim that you don't like. Typical.

Finally let's look at the particular details of this case. It is possible that BOTH sides are telling the truth here. This is what the sister-in-law claimed in the affidavit (according to your source):

Danielle describes in the affidavit allegations of volatile and threatening conduct by Hegseth that made his second wife, Samantha Hegseth, fear for her safety. Among the allegations are that Samantha hid in a closet once from Hegseth, that she developed escape plans for use “if she felt she needed to get away from Hegseth” that would be activated with a code word and that she did once put the escape plans into action.

This is what the ex-wife said in response:

Asked what information was not accurate and for comment on the affidavit, she replied on Tuesday: “There was no physical abuse in my marriage. This is the only further statement I will make to you, I have let you know that I am not speaking and will not speak on my marriage to Pete. Please respect this decision.”

So, based on what was reported in your own source, it is entirely possible that the ex-wife did "fear for her safety" but nonetheless did not suffer any physical abuse. That is one possibility.

It is possible the sister-in-law is lying. It is possible that the ex-wife is lying. It is possible that they are both lying and something entirely different happened. We don't know a huge amount about this particular scenario, the story only broke today.

[Don’t get eliminated]

“Jesse's preferred media: Anonymous source makes bombshell claim about someone”

If Lying Jeffy’s speaking, he’s lying. And probably projecting for his tribe.

[JesseAz (mean girl ambassador)]

Everything with the shit weasel is projection. It is the very people he hates that have called out dem run media for using anonymous sources lol.

He is just a lying shit weasel.

[chemjeff radical individualist]

lol, what I wrote is true and Jesse knows it. He will cite dodgy reports from right-wing 'news' sites all day long that tell him what he wants to hear. How many times did we hear from the 'anonymous whistleblower' who claimed that Biden directly accepted bribes? That all turned out to be baloney. Did that guy file an AFFIDAVIT too? Should he be punished for lying under oath on an affidavit? I never once heard Jesse or anyone else here claim that people who lied on affidavits in support of a Team Red cause should ever be punished.

[InsaneTrollLogic (On The List!)]

You only like these news sources because they support your lying, idiotic narrative, asshole.

[chemjeff radical individualist]

So, this NBC story:

- reported faithfully on the affidavit and on the sister-in-law's story
- reported faithfully on the ex-wife's response
- provided relevant background information, even information that was not helpful to the sister-in-law's case like the 2021 divorce decree in which the ex-wife claimed no domestic abuse occurred
- doesn't cast judgment on either side

I would like you to compare this story to pretty much any story from any right-wing 'news' site that Jesse or others dredge up and post here, to see if they meet this standard.

[chemjeff radical individualist]

Also I love the lack of critical thinking skills on display with all of these responses. And by "love", I mean "am disgusted by".

Sister-in-law's specific claims (according to your source):
- Samantha hid in a closet once from Hegseth
- she developed escape plans for use “if she felt she needed to get away from Hegseth” that would be activated with a code word
- she did once put the escape plans into action.

Ex-wife's response:
- I do not believe your information to be accurate
- There was no physical abuse in my marriage

And because of that, you all conclude that the affidavit is entirely false, when the ex-wife actually didn't deny the specific claims made in the affidavit. Of course none of you probably even took the time to look at the claims, just saw "someone on Team Blue is smearing someone on Team Red, it must be false and I will defend the Team Red guy". And FURTHERMORE conclude that it is not just libel, but the sister-in-law and NBC should be sued into oblivion. You literally want to ruin someone's life because they said mean things about someone on your team. It's kinda sickening.

[chemjeff radical individualist]

But it is okay to ruin the sister-in-law's life, because she is on Team Blue and she has bad motives. Right?

Do you remember Larry Sinclair? He was the nutjob who claimed that he once met Obama in 1999 and smoked crack with him and then had gay sex with him. It was a completely nutty story. But hey, he probably at some point also filed an AFFIDAVIT or something. As far as I can recall, Obama never paid any attention to this story. But just imagine if Obama or one of his minions had even dared to suggest that Larry Sinclair should be prosecuted for libel and the right-wing media companies that published his stories should be sued into oblivion. You all would have a howling fit about the suppression of free speech AS YOU SHOULD.

[Vernon Depner]

You know none of us is going to read all that, right?

[Spiritus Mundi]

Tl;dr

Jeffy perfers 'news' that promotes the narrative and not facts.

[chemjeff radical individualist]

It is the opposite. Jesse's team wants "news" that promotes his narrative. I prefer news that at least attempts to present all sides.

[Don’t get eliminated]

No you!

[InsaneTrollLogic (On The List!)]

No, you like news that supports your narratives, dip.

[chemjeff radical individualist]

I don't. In fact Jesse is the one who mocks me for citing AP or Reuters because they are insufficiently right-wing for him. I don't want narrative-driven news. I want to try to find the truth behind some story. Narrative-driven news only tells part of the story and deliberately tries to conceal the rest of the story.

[chemjeff radical individualist]

What this really means is, you read it, you can't find a reason to refute it on its merits, so you decide to mock it instead so as to try to discredit a good argument that you can't rebut.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

It doesn't have any merits to refute other than a typical journoscum hit piece.

[chemjeff radical individualist]

So, please tell me what is wrong about my original argument.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

All of it.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

But it is okay to ruin the sister-in-law's life, because she is on Team Blue and she has bad motives

Blue-voting bitches get away with a lot of shit they shouldn't because they're never held accountable by society for it.

[chemjeff radical individualist]

No I get it. It's okay to ruin the lives of Team Blue just for being in Team Blue, because those are the New Rules. Right?

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

"If you fight your enemies and use their tactics against them, they win"

Also, you fat fuck, the sister-in-law was the one who maliciously initiated the slander. So fuck her and fuck you for whining about getting her own medicine shoved back down her throat like Kamala pursuing her next promotion.

It's not "cancel culture," it's "consequence culture," remember?

[chemjeff radical individualist]

No I think I am understanding your point of view a little bit more.

I used to think that when you guys engaged in "whataboutism" it was a type of hypocrisy. That you believe "it's okay if our guy breaks the rules because your guy broke the rules first". But that isn't quite it, is it? Because "breaking the rules" presupposes that the rules ought to be followed in the first place, at least in an ideal world. No, I think your position is close to the idea that there are no more rules anymore. So when Trump does something like issue an executive order to try to overturn a constitutional amendment, it's not that he's "breaking the rules", he is instead demonstrating the absence of the rules that are now long gone. Am I close on this one?

[Don’t get eliminated]

Do think it’s wrong to slander someone?

[JesseAz (mean girl ambassador)]

He is more concerned with slandering his false narratives with facts and evidence.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

I'm definitely understanding yours:

"The left gets to do what it wants with impunity, but the right has to constrain itself by every accepted social norm and regulation. The left can never be criticized for the former, but the right can always be criticized for not adhering to the latter."

[chemjeff radical individualist]

I want a government that is constrained by laws and rules and norms that seek to limit the power of the government over everyone's lives. Is that what you want?

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

No, you want the same two-tier system that lets the left do what it wants with impunity while handcuffing the right from doing the same.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

I used to think that when you guys engaged in "whataboutism" it was a type of hypocrisy. That you believe "it's okay if our guy breaks the rules because your guy broke the rules first".

That's not actually hypocrisy, not even in the lame-ass "just imagine if a liberal did this!" argument The Dispatch crowd always does before shrugging their shoulders and moving on.

[damikesc]

"But it is okay to ruin the sister-in-law's life, because she is on Team Blue and she has bad motives. Right?"

She SAID what her motives were. To get Senators to vote against him. Those were her words.

Yes, it is quite OK to ruin her. Perjury (this is an affidavit, after all) is a crime, no?

[Don’t get eliminated]

Lying Jeffy is going to ignore this comment.

[InsaneTrollLogic (On The List!)]

Too retarded;didn’t read
(tr;dr)

[EISTAU Gree-Vance]

Lol. Replying to yourself. How trite.

You are hurting. That much is clear.

Haha.

[damikesc]

"And because of that, you all conclude that the affidavit is entirely false, when the ex-wife actually didn't deny the specific claims made in the affidavit."

"There was no abuse" disproves ALL of it. WTF is wrong with you? Is your TDS THAT bad?

[JesseAz (mean girl ambassador)]

The ex wife literally denied the claims. In a 2021 signed agreement as well as directly to the reporter. Even the story linked says that. Jeff can't help but lie about everything.

[chemjeff radical individualist]

The ex-wife couldn't have denied claims in 2021 that were just made today.

[damikesc]

If she says "NO ABUSE HAPPENED", then yes, she disproved any allegations to the contrary at any point.

[JesseAz (mean girl ambassador)]

No no. The woman 2 people away knows better than the woman the story discusses.

Ex wife - hegseth - brother - cunt

Ex Wife = Liar
cunt = knows best

That's jeffs argument.

This was also filtered through a dem law firm and to a reporter heavily involved with the Steele Dossier.

[chemjeff radical individualist]

Clearly Jesse has me on ignore again or something, because he didn't read what I wrote. I wrote that it is possible that both sides are telling the truth. I also wrote:

It is possible the sister-in-law is lying. It is possible that the ex-wife is lying. It is possible that they are both lying and something entirely different happened. We don't know a huge amount about this particular scenario, the story only broke today.

[chemjeff radical individualist]

But that isn't exactly what she said. She said "no physical abuse".

Also, in the 2021 divorce document, she claimed she was not the victim of "domestic abuse". That is probably a term with a specific legal definition.

So again it's possible that the ex-wife did suffer some type of abuse, just not physical abuse, and not the type that would meet the legal standard therein.

And again I'm not saying that this is what happened. I'm simply saying it is possible. You however seem very certain that absolutely nothing happened. That type of certainty seems unwarranted.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

And again I'm not saying that this is what happened. I'm simply saying it is possible.

Yeah, you're defending your lefty boos again because the lefty cunt got refuted by her own sister, on the record, and you don't like it.

[chemjeff radical individualist]

I said, she didn't deny the specific claims made in the affidavit. That statement is true.

[damikesc]

NO ABUSE means no abuse. Not sure what part of those two words is getting lost in translation with you.

[JesseAz (mean girl ambassador)]

Truthful things always confuse Jeff.

Can't wait for tomorrow for jeffs 4th embarrassing outburst in a row.

[chemjeff radical individualist]

Also, do you think NBC should have published this story? If not, why not?

[damikesc]

They probably could have just gone ahead and paid Hegseth several million dollars and saved the middle man.

No, they should not post lies from a bitter hag who is doing it for political reasons.

[Don’t get eliminated]

Lying Jeffy is pro-lying for team blue.

[chemjeff radical individualist]

So, let me see if I understand your standard here.

If a person makes some allegations that are of questionable truthfulness, but are nevertheless sworn to in an affidavit, you want a news media organization that is considering reporting on those allegations, to decide on behalf of the reader whether those claims are true or false, to try to determine the person's true motivations and judge them as either good or bad in THEIR opinion, and then decline to report on that story for those reasons. Do I understand that correctly?

What I've just described there, is essentially the fact-checking industry. You basically want the media to be "fact checkers" but aligned with your ideology.

[damikesc]

"If a person makes some allegations that are of questionable truthfulness, but are nevertheless sworn to in an affidavit, you want a news media organization that is considering reporting on those allegations, to decide on behalf of the reader whether those claims are true or false, to try to determine the person's true motivations and judge them as either good or bad in THEIR opinion, and then decline to report on that story for those reasons. Do I understand that correctly?"

If the woman involved is not involved --- her ex sister-in-law? Really? --- no, they should not report on it. She does not know what she is talking about and provided zero evidence of her claim.

[chemjeff radical individualist]

She provided a sworn affidavit. That's her evidence.

Once again, your desired news organization is one that fact-checks stories and inserts its moral judgment about the validity of the motives involved before deciding on whether the reading public is entitled to learn about the story. You want a fact-checking biased opinionated gatekeeper for news - of course, biased to the right. You literally are endorsing news as propaganda here.

Your preferred news organization would not report on James O'Keefe's investigations, because his motives are suspect and his methods are questionable. Isn't that right?

[JesseAz (mean girl ambassador)]

Jeff, ironically, dismissed every affidavit regarding voter issues seen forst hand during the 2020 elections.

Here the affidavit 2 people removed is proof.

Jeff is an amazingly hypocritical shit weasel.

[chemjeff radical individualist]

Jesse, unsurprisingly, treats claims of questionable truthfulness that are sworn to in an affidavit as IT'S A HOLY AFFIDAVIT IT MUST BE INVESTIGATED (when they are favorable to his team), and IT'S A BUNCH OF FUCKING LIES THROW THE AUTHOR IN JAIL FOR PERJURY (when they are not favorable to his team).

But it's never about trying to assess the claims themselves. They are always about who they benefit or who they don't.

This whole exercise with Jesse is like playing Calvinball. There are no rules. That is why I said above to RRWP that I really do think that for a lot of you, you have just completely tossed out the rulebook.

[chemjeff radical individualist]

Jeff, ironically, dismissed every affidavit regarding voter issues seen forst hand during the 2020 elections.

And let's just be real clear on the record here. I never "dismissed every affidavit regarding voter issues seen f[i]rst hand during the 2020 elections". I simply didn't treat them as HOLY UNIMPEACHABLE EVIDENCE OF VOTER FRAUD as you and your team did. And I'm not treating this affidavit as HOLY UNIMPEACHABLE EVIDENCE either. I'm saying it's worth discussing, just like your claims were worth discussing. Your team's claims didn't amount to anything.

[damikesc]

Sister in law did it for purely political reasons.

But that is, of course, (D)ifferent.

[Fist of Etiquette]

FREEDOM!!!!

Greatest. President. Ever.

[Commenter_XY]

We need a scorecard to keep track of what POTUS Trump is delivering upon. Somebody, somewhere must have one.

[JesseAz (mean girl ambassador)]

Didn't you see the TooSilly article? Trump is a monarch.

[InsaneTrollLogic (On The List!)]

TooSilly is a retard. He equates EOs that remove regulations and cancel older, heavy-handed EOs with EOs that are decidedly dictatorial in nature, like those of Obama and Biden.

[With Trump in, "now Lord you can let your servant go in peace"]

This is the situation of Lincoln with habeas corpus. Follow one law and lose the entire legal system or;Do the Trumpian common sense thing.
I ahve no doubt that Trump the businessman LOATHES ruling by EOs if for no other reason than it loads the work of his cabinet and appointees onto his plate. Biden let Tren de Aragua and a small army of terrorists, druggies, and perverst into the country --- the hugest disservice to the needy immigrant that has happened in our history.

[Weigel's Cock Ring]

Virtually the entire Reason staff, upon hearing that Ulbricht was freed:

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/61Yzyq+ZnxL._AC_SY535_.jpg

[Fist of Etiquette]

The scum that worked to convict him were some of the same lunatics who were involved in the modern day weaponization of government against me. He was given two life sentences, plus 40 years. Ridiculous!

Watch out, scum. He's coming for you.

[Sometimes a Great Notion]

Housing will also get more affordable in Mos Eisley.

[Minadin]

"…you might just want to crawl into a wood chipper."

This doesn't make me want to put myself in a wood chipper.

[damikesc]

And, largely, because he was white.

How is that judge STILL a judge?

[Ersatz]

like this

[Fist of Etiquette]

"You cur!"

[JesseAz (mean girl ambassador)]

Federal Court forced to tell a school once again that parents have a right to speak at school board meetings.

https://justthenews.com/nation/free-speech/judge-smacks-down-florida-school-district-censoring-parents-after-higher-court

[But SkyNet is a Private Company]

Sometimes it’s hard to believe Liz writes for the same rag as Sullum

[InsaneTrollLogic (On The List!)]

Liz is the odd one out here from what I’ve seen, and the only one who seems to have any common sense at all.

[JesseAz (mean girl ambassador)]

She is the token non liberaltarian. They always have one. Harsanyi as an example.

[Rick James]

She's the token libertarian.

[VinniUSMC]

Mediocre Liz is definitely Liberaltarian, just not Leftitarian like most of her peers. Certainly not Libertarian. Big or little "L".

[tracerv]

She's Reason's tallest midget.

[Zeb]

Well, that's obviously true. Every libertarian knows there is only one true libertarian.

[Minadin]

Because the individual is the smallest minority?

[JesseAz (mean girl ambassador)]

Only one of them took an online test to prove it.

[A Thinking Mind]

Robbie is pretty good most of the time. He tends to hedge and plays the "both-sides" game a lot, but I find his commentary valuable. Soave is actually the one writer who convinced me to subscribe to Reason about a decade ago.

[Don’t get eliminated]

Agreed. And he does a good job expressing libertarian ideas when I see him on tv appearances. He still frames most issues from a leftist establishment bias though.

[rbike]

He can't change a tire. My wife and daughter both can.

[Zeb]

Hopefully all the shit he got about that encouraged him to learn how.

[Zeb]

Yeah I like Robby. I like anyone who shows they can learn and improve.

[Minadin]

It's interesting to see him on his Hill show with a parade of retarded leftist co-hosts (the new guy is not as bad as the rest we've had this year), where he's almost the token conservative as far as viewpoint representation, and then later the same day he's got his ReasonTV show, with Amber Duke, where he practically flips roles.

[DeAnnP]

Some grownups need to learn how to behave in public.

https://www.propublica.org/article/georgia-dei-crt-schools-parents

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

LOL, as if your side doesn't indulge in chimpouts to advance a political agenda. Shove that dialectic up your ass next to your head, shitlib.

[Don’t get eliminated]

Wait, I didn’t click the link, but I assumed she was referencing Democrat’s goons in the Minnesota House. Are you saying that’s not what shrike is talking about?

[DeAnnP]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOEZefk2ztw

[Truthfulness]

You do not believe in parents' rights.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Silk Road, of course, earned the ire of the feds...

And got Chuck Schumer's ample tits in a knot.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

I wonder if Chuckie got ripped off trying to make a purchase on Silk Road.

[Quicktown Brix]

Well...my life is ruined now.

[Anomalous]

I can't find any comment from the judge in the case.

[Fist of Etiquette]

NO REFERENCING THE JUDGE HERE.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Vivek Ramaswamy was not long for the world of DOGE...

The Indian nudged out by the African American. Typical.

[Knutsack]

DEI still running rampant.

[Longtobefree]

Ever consider that his work is done?
The savings have already been identified; all that remains is implementation, which Elon can handle alone.

[Ra's al Gore]

https://www.nationalreview.com/carnival-of-fools/its-finally-over/

Instead, I am struck by an observation that few others seem to have made about the Biden era: Nobody really ever got fired. (Yes, the luggage thief with nuclear top-secret clearances got canned, but he was a low-level appointee, caught on camera, and also shudderingly disturbing in all respects.) It is, in fact, a historically remarkable milestone; further, most of his cabinet remained constant from start to finish.

And surely it was not due to his cabinet’s peerless performance — Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas would have been sacrificed ten times over in any prior administration over the border situation alone. Instead, while Biden was in office, cabinet officials seemed to be capable of getting away with murder, just so long as they stayed loyally onside: The secretary of defense, General Lloyd Austin, quite literally went AWOL for several days to deal with a medical issue he had concealed from his own president and was welcomed back into the fold by the administration with no questions asked. Why?

I remember that Donald Trump had only one good line during his first (and only) debate against Joe Biden — primarily because he needed do nothing else but remain functional while Biden melted like a wax candle beside him — and it was his point that Biden had never fired anyone for poor performance, not even once in a presidential term that all voters could agree was wrought with massive, avoidable, personally accountable failures. Why not? I flagged it back then (even amidst the chaos of Biden’s meltdown) because I felt that it subtly got to the point that Trump, in that debate, was not expecting to deal with: Biden’s presidency had been a sham from its very first day, a project managed by a group of advisers rather than an actual president, and that cabal couldn’t fire anyone who might reveal the secret.

It really boils down to that: We were stuck with the useless administration Biden announced on Day One, because, on Day One, Biden was already mentally unfit for office. His aides and family hid him, and every single person who accepted a berth working for this fraud of a team inevitably realized it (or came to realize it) as well. That’s why nobody could be fired or let go. Keep your friends close and your enemies closer. Remember when America’s entire transportation infrastructure, from plane to highway to rail, suddenly convulsed early in the term under Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, who at one time happened to be secretly vacationing? Of course you don’t, because no disciplinary action was taken after that PR malfunction. Ask yourself why. The obvious answer is that a Buttigieg cashiered for political purposes would be a Buttigieg free to remark about how he suspected Biden to secretly be a mental vegetable. (Mayor Pete has ambitions, so perhaps he could be trusted to maintain omertà; how about Lloyd Austin?) That’s why they were all forgiven, I suspect. How nice it must have been to work in a presidential administration run with the same mindset as a failing Mafia enterprise, where you weren’t even expected to “produce numbers”; only loyalty to the secret of the dying don was required to keep your sinecure.

[Commenter_XY]

Our long national nightmare is over -- Gerald Ford

Who knew POTUS Ford was also talking about Biden back then, who he knew (and dismissed as a useless dumbass).

[Minadin]

His memoir could be titled 'Failing Upwards'.

Unless he and Dr. Jill have decided to reserve that title for Kamala's.

[InsaneTrollLogic (On The List!)]

Kamala’s would be Sucking Your Way To The Top.

[Quo Usque Tandem]

Going down to get up.

[JesseAz (mean girl ambassador)]

Wouldn't this be the memoir of most democrats?

[Don’t get eliminated]

“Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas would have been sacrificed ten times over in any prior administration over the border situation alone”

Some people are so close, but still don’t quite get it.

[With Trump in, "now Lord you can let your servant go in peace"]

He had a most disgusting homosexual as an ineffective Secy of Transportation and regardless your view on homosexuality , both he and Pete knew it was because he was gay that he kept his postion despite horrible performance.

He speaks well, okay get a job as a professional orator
Maybe he is Beto's half brother, both have that same "I dare you to say I have a problem" attitude 🙂
Watch: Beto O'Rourke Instagrams His Dental Visit To Highlight People At The Border
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nOtoYpj77A

[Fist of Etiquette]

Officials overseeing diversity, equity and inclusion efforts across federal agencies were expected to be placed on leave...

Trump is going bring about the most monumental cultural shift in recent history. Whatever other garbage he does, he's accomplishing this necessary correction.

[Gaear Grimsrud]

^^^^

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

Yeah, this is the most fundamental issue and (I hope) outcome. Our federal system, and its progressive-authoritarian state supporters, needs a fire storm. When people criticize Trump for contradicting norms they deny the necessary cure.

[Zeb]

YEah, I don't expect a lot from Trump really. But he is providing the best chance to correct a number of the more egregious things. And I remain mildly optimistic about some other things he's promised as well.

[Ra's al Gore]

https://x.com/awstar11/status/1881908181452083594

150 police officer were injured in the May 2020 riots at the WH. How many rioters were charged and convicted?

There simply cannot be two tiers of justice depending on the political alignment of the offenders for the exact same offenses.

[Michael Ejercito]

I wrote before that the Capitol rioters deserve the same fate as these rioters.

The pardons virtually guarantee that.

[DeAnnP]

https://data.theprosecutionproject.org/?tab=Summer-Fall+2020+Protests&currentPage=1&numShown=50&sortBy=Length+of+prison+sentence+%28months%29&order=asc

[Minadin]

So, just browsing through, none of those arrests happened at the White House riots?

[Minadin]

Also, the list is a lot shorter if you filter it a bit:

https://data.theprosecutionproject.org/?tab=Summer-Fall+2020+Protests&currentPage=1&numShown=50&sortBy=Length+of+prison+sentence+%28months%29&order=asc&Jurisdiction=Federal&Location%3A+state=District+of+Columbia

[JesseAz (mean girl ambassador)]

I see a lot of 0 days on your filter.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

DeeAnn seems to be from the Buttplug school of links--drop one blind in the comments that doesn't actually confirm her argument.

[Rick James]

Ha:
Rightist: Always known affiliation.
Leftist: wha?

[Fist of Etiquette]

...Biden had never fired anyone for poor performance, not even once in a presidential term that all voters could agree was wrought with massive, avoidable, personally accountable failures...

One can't fire one's bosses.

[Fist of Etiquette]

...Biden's presidency had been a sham from its very first day, a project managed by a group of advisers rather than an actual president, and that cabal couldn't fire anyone who might reveal the secret.

A scandal in plain sight, that will go unexamined for various reasons.

[Don’t get eliminated]

All the journolists were shocked to learn what the staff were hiding!

[Fist of Etiquette]

Americans should consciously consider who we want to be as a society. Do we want to be the freest country in the world, or the country that imprisons its own people the most and the hardest...

Like that's up to the general American.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

General American: "Huh? I just want more free stuff, and to shit on those bad people."

[Quo Usque Tandem]

That would be a progressive American; most cities are infested with them.

[With Trump in, "now Lord you can let your servant go in peace"]

YOu could be a boatload more specific

27 of Top 30 Crime-Ridden Cities Run by Democrats
COngressional paper on this
https://docs.house.gov/meetings/JU/JU00/20230417/115663/HHRG-118-JU00-20230417-SD001.pdf

[Minadin]

St. Louis got rid of our Soros-funded non-prosecutor, and arrests and convictions went up, even as violent crime dropped.

Weird.

[VinniUSMC]

They seem to think "freest country" means freedom to rob, loot, vandalize, kill, rape, etc?

Some people should be in prison, and we have a large number of people who think that they shouldn't ever have to take responsibility for their actions. I'm not surprised that we have large numbers of people in prison. They certainly shouldn't be on the streets. Who could possibly think otherwise?

[Don’t get eliminated]

Dave’s pretty consistent that he’s against criminals with actual victims. He’s actually defending Trump’s pardons here.

[VinniUSMC]

Poor editing on Liz's part then.

[mad.casual]

Once again:
Trump went to the LP and said "Nominate and vote for me and I'll free Ross." He was booed off-stage and the LP nominated Chase Oliver, who had one of the worst LP showings in over a decade, if not longer, while Trump had one of the most disruptive re-elections in recent history, aside from his previous election. Trump then, despite being booed off-stage at the LP, Trump went on to free Ross either out of some personal ethos or, similarly likely, campaign financing from Crypto and Tech enthusiasts and entrepreneurs.

Ultimately, Ross is free *because* of Trump and *in spite of* the 'current era', progressive-Left, identity politics LP that pushed out the Tech-and-Liberty entrepreneurs *in exactly the same way* the DNC pushed out Trump, Musk, etc.

[But SkyNet is a Private Company]

This

[Ken Shultz]

Either Trump is showing a Christ like love for those libertarians who hate him, or he's giving the deep state the finger.

My money's on the latter.

[Sometimes a Great Notion]

Or he seeks justice for a party wronged, regardless of other considerations.

[Ken Shultz]

I think Trump empathizes with someone who set up by federal law enforcement--because Trump himself was set up by federal law enforcement over the big Russian collusion lie.

In other words, I think Trump was giving the deep state the finger.

[Sometimes a Great Notion]

I think it helps but he's got a good head for just responses. Like when he didn't bomb Iran, because they hadn't harmed any of ours. It's one of his better qualities.

[Rick James]

by federal law enforcement over the big Russian collusion lie.

And the ___________ lie, and the ___________ lie, and don't forget the ________________ lie, and then there's the ________________ lie plus the ___________________ lie, and who could forget the ___________________ lie... and not to be outdone, the ________ and __________ and ___________, __________, ___________ and ____________ lies.

[Gaear Grimsrud]

Trump is pals with Blago for the same reason and has nice things to say about Eric Adams.

[InsaneTrollLogic (On The List!)]

Blago, for all his faults, did get railroaded by Madigan and Obama for what was an iffy crime (no money had changed hands yet). I thought Blago was slimy, and I always voted against him, but this play was political.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

That's really more of a projection here on his part than anything else, given he stated explicitly that Ross was prosecuted with the same intensity that he was. It's probably more coincidental that he's cutting off every federal DEI office the same day that he freed a guy who was given the harshest sentence possible specifically because of his racial and socio-economic status.

Which is all fine, since the sentence was absolute bullshit, and is famous here for being the case that started the L'Affaire Woodchipper running joke.

[Don’t get eliminated]

I think it’s a bit of both.

[mad.casual]

That said, "By our fruits, you'll know us." - Mises Caucus

[Rev Arthur L kuckland (5-30-24 banana republic day)]

I would assume that quote is more directly related to the big Ls that voted for chase

[mad.casual]

Why would you say that? Do you know something about Chase that no one else does? Something potentially more important than his skin color?

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

I'll take it.

[Sevo, 5-30-24, embarrassment]

"Either Trump is showing a Christ like love for those libertarians who hate him, or he's giving the deep state the finger."

Like the "libertarian" writers and commentors here who hate him?

[A Thinking Mind]

It's worth recognizing that libertarians voted much more heavily for the Republican candidate than they have in previous elections. So he got what he wanted from them, and in return, he needed to deliver on his campaign promise.

[Mother's Lament (Salt farmer)]

He's can't run again, so he didn't need to, but he did. And that's good.

[A Thinking Mind]

Well if he didn't deliver on his campaign promise to libertarians, it would really make things more difficult for subsequent libertarian-minded Republicans.

But this is part of a larger point I've been making to people who claim libertarians did very poorly in the election. They did not. Chase Oliver did poorly, but libertarians shifted to voting for Trump more than they did previously, and they've already gotten some of their requests answered. Trump is always going to be a mixed bag and I disagree with things he's already done through two days, but libertarians getting one of the big two party candidates to respond and deliver is the biggest win the party has had since...well possibly ever.

[Don’t get eliminated]

^

[Mother's Lament (Salt farmer)]

Well said.

[With Trump in, "now Lord you can let your servant go in peace"]

Being a Christian I can see you are judging this from the outside.
It is most Christian to do BOTH

ST Theresa of Avila out of love of God used to give the devil the figOne confessor was so sure that the visions were from the devil that he told her to make an obscene gesture, the fig, every time she had experienced a vision of Jesus.

The fig is a mildly obscene gesture, traditionally used since the Roman age to “ward off the evil eye,” insult someone, or turn down a request.

As her hagiography tells:

“She cringed but did as she was ordered, all the time apologizing to Jesus. Fortunately, Jesus didn’t seem upset but told her that she was right to obey her confessor. In her autobiography she would say, “I am more afraid of those who are terrified of the devil than I am of the devil himself.” The devil was not to be feared but fought by talking more about God.”

[Mother's Lament (Salt farmer)]

Lol, wut?

Did you just read some reformation Catholic manuscript, Shrike?

[Gaear Grimsrud]

I think McCardle deserves some credit and I'm pretty sure she, correctly, convinced Trump that both big and small L libertarians would vote for him. But Trump was asking for the party's endorsement and they jeered him. Trump didn't owe the Libertarians anything.

[Ra's al Gore]

Tech CEO says people will enjoy paying a monthly fee to use a mouse. ‘You’re going to really love that.’
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/tech-ceo-says-people-will-enjoy-paying-a-monthly-fee-to-use-a-mouse-you-re-going-to-really-love-that/ar-BB1qZ08g

Logitech’s new CEO has grand ideas for the computer hardware company, and one of them is a “forever mouse” that you’d never have to replace but that you may have to pay for every month.

The CEO, Hanneke Faber, told the Verge’s Decoder podcast that the immortal mouse is still just a concept, but that one day Logitech could create a mouse that, like a nice watch, is useful in perpetuity—with the help of software updates.

“I’m not planning to throw that watch away ever,” Faber said. “So why would I be throwing my mouse or my keyboard away if it’s a fantastic quality, well designed, software enabled mouse.”

[But SkyNet is a Private Company]

Does that idiot pay for his watch every month?

[Don’t get eliminated]

This. Plus it’s just a mouse, it’s already dirt cheap to just buy another one when it wears out.

[Mother's Lament (Salt farmer)]

Plus, I foresee the use of mice lasting only another 25 to 30 years, max. Maybe less.

I know people with touchscreens that haven't touched a mouse in several years (not me, I hate finger oil smears on my laptop screen), and then there all the VR hand movement stuff, and a whole bunch of other avenues, and then if Musk's brain/chip integration takes off...

[VinniUSMC]

Her watch.

[InsaneTrollLogic (On The List!)]

Uh no. Enough of this subscription shit. All this will do is to make non-Logitech mice more appealing and create a market for fixing older mice instead.

[mad.casual]

Everything on the command line, the way God intended.

[Don't look at me!]

DOS is the true path to productivity.

[Dillinger]

I liked BASIC lol. goto 10

[Zeb]

BASH

[Hank Ferrous]

Arch Linux for everybody... Subscriptions for hardware and commenting on websites are stupid.

[mad.casual]

Logitech’s new CEO has grand ideas for the computer hardware company, and one of them is a “forever mouse” that you’d never have to replace but that you may have to pay for every month.

The board should really shitcan a CEO that doesn't know what the words "forever" or "month" mean.

[JesseAz (mean girl ambassador)]

Sadly most people already do this for printer ink. So he isn't wrong. Monthly fee for set number of printed pages but they send free ink!

[mad.casual]

Sadly most people already do this for printer ink. So he isn't wrong.

No, the article does a pretty good job of lampooning the distinction. HP *tried* to do the vertical-integration/subscription lock-in and got soundly trashed for it. People may buy a printer and voluntarily opt in to a program to get free ink or free software updates for a year but or a subscription to monthly ink and maintenance services, unless everyone in risk management who abhors single points of failure and a couple people in finance who like saving money was tied up, taken to the nearest broom closet, and shot twice in the back of the head, any device that's in any way mission critical, or even peripheral, is going to work without the subscription or get nixed up front.

As Bambu Labs just demonstrated, you're playing with fire even obliquely teasing such ideas to your customer base.

[rbike]

Get the Brother laser printer. $200 and just goes. I think I have had mine for 10+ years.

[Medulla Oblongata]

I've still got mouse and trackballs from 1990's that I'm actively using (I bought several Trackman Marble/FX off of ebay 15 years ago or so). Why on earth would I need a subscription for a mouse?

The enshittification continues.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

Is this that "you will own nothing and be happy" thing I read about?

[InsaneTrollLogic (On The List!)]

Yes. My suspicion as to why they do this is two fold:

1. Control. They can remove you from the system at will.

2. Money. This may actually be the more important and bigger one. These guys make money once when they sell something to us, but if we have to rent it from them, we have to pay them forever, thus they always make money off us.

[Rick James]

“I’m not planning to throw that watch away ever,” Faber said. “So why would I be throwing my mouse or my keyboard away if it’s a fantastic quality, well designed, software enabled mouse.”

Faber noted that Logitech was not “necessarily super far away” from making the forever mouse a reality, but added that the high price of its extreme durability may require the company to add a subscription model to help make it profitable.

What a bullshit analogy. Watch companies exist. Many of those watch companies make watches that, under reasonable use will last a lifetime and with even semi-regular maintenance can be handed down to your children. They don't charge a monthly fee and few watch owners (I know something about this) get service from the watch manufacturer. Most send them to a good watch maker. Yet they're able to remain profitable.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

It's a disingenuous argument, too, because people will pay top-end prices for something they think will last for years, if not decades.

Toyotas, for example, were actually pretty pricey, even in inflation-adjusted terms, for years specifically because of this. Even rather goofy-looking models like the Previa--a 1996 model that cost about $28K in 1996 was over $57,000 inflation-adjusted. That's actually more expensive than a 2024 Sienna that has a hybrid engine.

If Logitech was really worried about losing money on a forever mouse, the solution is either to charge a top-self price for it, consider it a loss leader to establish a loyal customer base for other business like Costco does with its rotisserie chickens and $1.50 hot dogs, or simply don't release the fucking thing.

[mad.casual]

Ultimately I hear two things:
1. Logitech *still* doesn't have any innovation going on and is kinda hoping that, one way or the other, AI will solve their problem of making things to sell to people without emitting any carbon.
2. Hanneke Faber isn't hot enough to pull off the Findom game required to get people to embrace the requisite enshittification up front.

[chemjeff radical individualist]

For once I agree with you. I am honestly very disturbed by the idea of all of our services and software and products being converted into "subscriptions" rather than things we actually own. I don't like the way how much software nowadays can't really be bought, it comes with a subscription fee.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Democratic attorneys general on Tuesday filed lawsuits in Massachusetts and Washington state seeking to block President Donald Trump's attempt to revoke the right to automatic birthright citizenship...

It was a bad move by Trump, although these Democrats just want the votes. They haven't figured out that Trump will transform the GOP into the party with the machismo to which latinX voters are drawn.

[InsaneTrollLogic (On The List!)]

It’ll be interesting to see how it plays out at the Supreme Court. This may be very deliberate on Trump’s part to create a court case to settle the debates over birthright citizenship permanently.

[Don’t get eliminated]

I haven’t read this yet but thought I’d throw it out there anyway:

https://mises.org/power-market/birthright-citizenship-isnt-real

[Chuck P. (The Artist formerly known as CTSP)]

mises.org? Sarc is gonna be so pissed.

On second thought, he will probably just pretend it doesn't exist and get pissed.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

Or call them Nazis.

[Chuck P. (The Artist formerly known as CTSP)]

The courts themselves have historically recognized this distinction, noting that the whole purpose of the Fourteenth Amendment was to grant citizenship to former slaves who obviously were not connected to any other country or sovereign. In the Slaughter-House Cases, 83 U.S. 36 (1872), the court ruled:

That [the Fourteenth Amendment’s] main purpose was to establish the citizenship of the negro can admit of no doubt. The phrase ‘subject to its jurisdiction’ was intended to exclude from its operation children of ministers, consuls, and citizens or subjects of foreign States born within the United States.

Gee, exactly what I wrote about extensively yesterday, and I don't even get paid to write.

https://reason.com/2025/01/21/trumps-birthright-citizenship-order-doesnt-just-apply-to-undocumented-immigrants/?comments=true#comment-10879544

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

Yeah, the arguing over "jurisdiction" could be interesting (and entertaining). Like I wrote yesterday, can a person declaring sanctuary from the federal government, aided by cities, states, churches, etc. or just doing a Michael Scott-style vocal declaration, at the same time claim to be under federal jurisdiction?

[Gaear Grimsrud]

Interesting point and not inconsequential.

[Zeb]

I'm sure that was the primary purpose. But that doesn't mean it was the entire effect. If they wanted the effect to be limited to ensuring former slaves had citizenship, then they should have made that explicit. As it is written, it sure seems to me, and to a lot of other people, that it does imply birthright citizenship, excluding diplomats and other foreigners with particular status like that. What people wrote about it at the time can help with interpreting the text, but it doesn't allow us to add meaning that is not contained in the actual text of the amendment. I do think that the best policy would be not to grant citizenship automatically to absolutely anyone born on US soil (like children of tourists and other temporary visitors, illegal immigrants, etc.). But I'm not convinced that the 14th allows that.

[JesseAz (mean girl ambassador)]

The link goes through multiple cases regarding jurisdiction and how it didny apply to other classes not in the amendment.

[mamabug]

I don't think this is 4D chess in any way, just performative signaling to the part of the base that really, really, *really*, hates immigration in nearly all forms.

Dubiously constitutional EOs that make your base happy but will ultimately fail in the courts seems to be the norm now.

[VinniUSMC]

What's with all of the new Leftists in the comments? Is this Soros' payment for his Medal of Freedom? Send out a flood of Lefty bots?

[Chuck P. (The Artist formerly known as CTSP)]

This "mamabug" post may be lacking some context. This is not a new poster. And I have appreciated her well reasoned comments on other issues.

I understand that a lot of people have never been exposed to the history of the 14th amendment. For some people it is personal because of their family history. It will take time to overcome the propaganda that has surrounded it.

[VinniUSMC]

I've only been here since the VC move, but in that time, I'm certain I've never seen this poster. I'll take your word for it, this time. But I'll keep my eyes on you! >.<

lol

[Zeb]

Taking a position that leftists also commonly take is not sufficient to make one a leftist.

[Sevo, 5-30-24, embarrassment]

"I don't think this is 4D chess in any way, just performative signaling to the part of the base that really, really, *really*, hates immigration in nearly all forms."

I think you're a steaming pile of TDS-addled shit.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

It’ll be interesting to see how it plays out at the Supreme Court. This may be very deliberate on Trump’s part to create a court case to settle the debates over birthright citizenship permanently.

This is actually the whole point of it. It's not like Wong Kim Ark can't be overturned or re-interpreted like Plessy vs. Ferguson or Roe v. Wade was.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

Not just machismo, but (to indulge in some racial profiling for a group that does not exist) those ex-LatinX folks have different ideas about family, work, religion, and immigration than the AWFLs and other progressive activists running Massachusetts.

[Ra's al Gore]

https://townhall.com/columnists/tomknighton/2025/01/21/guns-dont-kill-people-canada-kills-people-n2650897

Close to 15,500 people died waiting for health care in Canada between April 1, 2023 until March 31, 2024, according to data compiled by SecondStreet.org via Freedom to Information Act requests across the country.

However, SecondStreet.org says the exact number of 15,474 is incomplete as Quebec, Alberta, Newfoundland and Labrador don’t track the problem and Saskatchewan and Nova Scotia only provided data on patients who died while waiting for surgeries – not diagnostic scans.

SecondStreet.org says if it extrapolates the unknown data, then an estimated 28,077 patients died last year on health care waiting lists covering everything from cancer treatment and heart operations to cataract surgery and MRI scans.

Holy cow!

But it gets worse. About the same number of people were euthanized in Canada in 2023. Some asked to be lethally jabbed because they couldn’t access health care in a timely fashion.

[JesseAz (mean girl ambassador)]

Died from Canadian Healthcare or with Canadian healthcare?

[Commenter_XY]

Sounds like covid...

[InsaneTrollLogic (On The List!)]

And this is what the progtards want to implement here.

[Quo Usque Tandem]

We can all be equally poor and dead; it's called "equity"

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

Um, except for the elites, who deserve more. Because they do.

[DeAnnP]

My sister who has UAW insurance has to wait until the middle of March for a surveillance MRA due to a brain aneurysm. In U$A.

[InsaneTrollLogic (On The List!)]

Good thing she’s on this side of the River. In Canada, that wouldn’t be until March 2026.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

While pushing MAID on her in the meantime.

[Quo Usque Tandem]

UAW insurance ain't what it used to be [a "Cadillac" plan]

[Don’t get eliminated]

Yeah, it really sucks what the corrupt union leadership is doing to its members.

[Chuck P. (The Artist formerly known as CTSP)]

It is even more about the Obamacare mandates for free preventative care and coverage of preexisting conditions. Prices skyrocketed and care declined. In 2008, a "Cadillac" plan with $0 deductible and 100% coinsurance cost $1200/mo for the entire family. That is full coverage for a maximum cost of $14K.

Now, a $3K deductible plan with 80% coinsurance ($9K deductible and $18K max OOP for a family) will set you back $1800/mo for a family. That is a guaranteed cost of $22K with a potential for up to $40K.

People have health coverage, but they still can't afford to use it.

Who could have possibly foreseen that in getting those preexisting conditions covered, you would still never actually get the treatment you need? (Me. The answer is me.)

[Don’t get eliminated]

Agreed Obamacare is primarily to blame, but the insurance I have through my wife’s employer wouldn’t make us wait that long for something like that.

[VinniUSMC]

What the fuck is UAW insurance? She works for UAW and they offer shitty insurance?

The company I work at recently unionized (UAW) and we still have the same insurance offered by the company as before (really good BCBS plans).

I think it's a case of "you get what you pay for" or "the chickens come home to roost". ACA did that, not Trump. Still better than Canada though, lol, losers.

[TrickyVic (old school)]

Had to wait due to the insurance or the availability of a facility?
If the latter, did she want to go to a specific facility or would any facility that provides the service and accepted insurance have worked?

Reason I ask is once my Dr told me to see a urologist ASAP. I called the person he recommended and it was a two month wait. So I just started calling places saying my doc say ASAP can you see me ASAP. It took about four or five calls before I found a place that said come in tomorrow.

[Sevo, 5-30-24, embarrassment]

"In U$A."
Fuck off and die.

[Small w woodchippertarian]

Interesting episode of Triggernometry about this on YouTube, with Kelsi Sheren. She's pretty emotional about it (and this was apparently her toned-down self), which made me think she was a bit too over-the-top, but she's been personally affected by it so I get the concern. I found out an ex-gf in Canada who always touted the Canadian health care system is now in the hospital for major cancer surgery; I'm wondering if they approached her with a MAID offer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBgh-yxZtzY

[mad.casual]

I found out an ex-gf in Canada who always touted the Canadian health care system is now in the hospital for major cancer surgery; I'm wondering if they approached her with a MAID offer.

The kneejerk reactionary part of me says, "Dude, that's pretty cold." The non-reactionary part of me retorts: "Yeah, but he is talking about someone who was effectively cheering on the undertaker right up until they turned up on her doorstep."

[Small w woodchippertarian]

Poor writing on my part; I meant it out of concern, not out of spite. She is not a person I would wish any harm on.

At the same time, she could say great things about free healthcare in Canada while she had to pay for insurance in the US, but immediately switch to talking about her best friend who died of pancreatic cancer because the Canadian healthcare system didn't discover it until the friend had about four months to live.

[Mother's Lament (Salt farmer)]

It really depends, because each province has it's own healthcare system, with it's own rules and different coverages. There's no actual "Canadian" healthcare system.

For example, if you live in Alberta, the level of healthcare is comparable to the US, and any delays in treatment are because potential young doctor hires don't want to live in Edmonton in January no matter how much money the province throws at them.

On the other hand, if you live in Nova Scotia or Manitoba, you'd be better off finding a witchdoctor or performing your own surgery.

If she lived in Alberta and her friend lived in Manitoba, she could be telling the truth.

[InsaneTrollLogic (On The List!)]

There are some similar issues with small, rural towns in the US like that as well. Hell, that was the whole premise of “Northern Exposure”, to get and keep a doctor in a small Alaskan town.

[Zeb]

People have some big blind spots about their national health systems. The love people in the UK have for the NHS is just nuts (though I think it's starting to break down a bit as it gets worse and more expensive).

[Medulla Oblongata]

Does that constitute MAID?

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

More fun with numbers. Scaling up 30,000 dead in Canada to the equivalent for the US population would be 250,000 dead. That's almost COVID numbers.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

'"I just called the mother of Ross William Ulbright [sic] to let her know that in honor of her and the Libertarian Movement, which supported me so strongly, it was my pleasure to have just signed a full and unconditional pardon of her son, Ross," wrote Trump on Truth Social.'

Is the Reason HQ in party mode now? I mean, how often does a US President celebrate libertarians?

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

'And if you go deep down the rabbit hole into all the issues with the case, and the judge presiding over it, oh, and how your favorite libertarian magazine was targeted by the government for our commentariat's creative expression'

Well, at least we commentarians should celebrate.

[Mother's Lament (Salt farmer)]

"in honor of her and the Libertarian Movement"

So sorry this is happening to you, Sarcasmic. Thoughts and prayers.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

?

[InsaneTrollLogic (On The List!)]

It’s snark. Sarc’s head is probably on the verge of exploding after the past two days.

[Mother's Lament (Salt farmer)]

Trump keeping his promise was the absolute last thing on earth Sarcasmic wanted.

[Ken Shultz]

I don't buy that Ulbricht was completely innocent of everything, but he didn't get a fair trial.

Trump's comments were poignant about Ulbricht's treatment by Justice presaging how Trump himself was treated. All the old libertarian saws about how no one's rights can be violated by the government without everyone's rights being denigrated apply.

Anyway, this one seems to have been personal for Trump. He knows what it's like to be railroaded by those guys.

[Ken Shultz]

Ulbricht didn't get a fair trial:

https://reason.com/2017/05/31/ross-ulbricht-loses-his-appeal-over-conv/?comments=true#comment-6860373

My understanding is that the agents that investigated him tried to blackmail him. They said they would frame him if he didn't pay them off. My understanding is that the agents in question were disciplined for that, and the jury wasn't aware of that when they were judging the credibility of the evidence against him--some of which was collected by those two agents.

There's a chance for reasonable doubt there.

I wouldn't put it past Trump to use this to score some points with libertarians who might swing Republican, but I still think it was personal for Trump. Here's a guy that was railroaded by the same bunch who tried to railroad me for collusion with Russia. This is Trump giving a middle finger to the deep state.

[Ken Shultz]

You can find a lot of the information about the undercover agents investigating Silk Road blackmailing Ulbricht here:

https://slate.com/technology/2015/03/dea-agent-carl-force-charged-with-acting-as-paid-mole-for-silk-road-online-drug-market.html

[Sometimes a Great Notion]

DEA and Secret Service agents went to jail for money laundering (stole from the Dread Pirate account, while posing as him).

Also the judge also used a rumor of a murder for hire plot against him in sentencing, even though he'd never been charged let alone convicted of said crime. Which SCOTUS (less Brown I believe) should be shamed over for punting on hearing his appeal over.

[Ken Shultz]

The evidence they had showing that he solicited help to build the site in the first place was persuasive. Maybe even enough to convict him of facilitating or conspiracy or something.

But his trial was fundamentally unfair, and it should have been a cautionary tale about how out of control federal law enforcement had become. That only really came to light with the absurdity of the Trump collusion with Russia investigation.

[Sometimes a Great Notion]

Oh he's guilty of drug dealing charges. Just flushing out some of the details.

[Ra's al Gore]

https://x.com/varadmehta/status/1881833982582735048

The moment a J6er got a longer sentence than a guy who murdered someone in a BLM riot by setting his shop on fire and leaving him to die, what Trump did last night was written in stone. It was a done deal, and there was no other outcome. I tried to warn you all. Here we are.

[Mother's Lament (Salt farmer)]

The two antifa-LARPIng lawyers who firebombed a police car got a whole year almost.

[JesseAz (mean girl ambassador)]

But any J6 trespasser could have been shot* - Jeff

*only applies to J6

[mad.casual]

It's interesting how the Progressive Hatred of the White Race goes hand-in-hand with their inability to conceive of anyone else thinking any differently than they do.

[Ra's al Gore]

An upside to the Fauci pardon is Dems own him now. If Dazik is convicted with Fauci as an unindicted coconspirator, the left owns Fauci.

[Longtobefree]

Just a federal pardon.
No effect on state charges of conspiracy to violate civil rights, or even world court charges of crimes against humanity (biological warfare).

[Sometimes a Great Notion]

USA isn't part of the world court. And even to nail scum like Fauci, our government should never hand over one of ours to the UN.

State charges will hve to suffice.

[Super Scary]

"DEI, time to DIE: "Officials overseeing diversity, equity and inclusion efforts across federal agencies were expected to be placed on leave on Wednesday after the Trump administration ordered their offices to be closed," weeps The New York Times."

Remember when even mentioning DEI meant you were some sort of unhinged tin-foil wearing conspiracy theorist? We've come a long way.

[mad.casual]

We've come a long way.

Just an advanced destructive social theory we teach to kindergartners, like Snow White.

[Mother's Lament (Salt farmer)]

weeps The New York Times

The sweetest music ever played. Like Adagio in G Minor meets Pachelbel's Canon.

[Rick James]

Critical Race Theory isn't real and it's not being taught in schools.

Great, then we're going to make sure it doesn't get taught in schools.

YOU CAN'T DO THAT... TO NOT TEACH CRITICAL RACE THEORY IS TO ENABLE WHITE SUPREMACY!

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

Dude, learn to cognitive dissonance. How else can you comprehend (and embrace) progressive "logic"?

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

"A new proposal to ease New York City's housing crisis would make way for nearly 10,000 apartments in parts of Midtown Manhattan that do not currently allow new residential construction, a shift officials hope will reinvigorate an area that has come to represent economic challenge"

Hobo camps in Central Park?

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

'Such policies "undermine our national unity, as they deny, discredit, and undermine the traditional American values of hard work, excellence, and individual achievement'

Look at the white supremacist here.

[Ra's al Gore]

https://x.com/Jasmine_Keith1/status/1881862066782581165

Imagine for a moment that you go in for a simple blood and it comes back with an early detection of cancer. Now imagine United Healthcare says “if you refuse this mRNA vaccine to preemptively prevent/treat your cancer, we will deny any future treatment for that cancer.” Because it feels like that’s where we’re heading

[Longtobefree]

I do wonder how they will get around 'testing' a unique vaccine.

[mad.casual]

Holy Fuck!

He's talking as though cancer itself is a contagion. Vaccinating women, not for HPV but because of some uniquely-detected DNA or gene sequence associated with (e.g.) somebody, who is completely unrelated's, prostate cancer.

This is the same insanely pseudo-religious tech worship that made people think we were just going to inject paralyzed people and amputees with embryonic stem cells they were suddenly going to grow back limbs and start walking again.

Along similar "I wanted to be wrong." lines, from about the early 20th Century onward, the greatest threat to the continued existence of the human race is and was this sort of stupid insanity from other humans.

[Mother's Lament (Salt farmer)]

I don't know enough about viral cancers like HPV, Canine transmissible venereal tumors, or devil facial tumour.

I suppose I better start learning now, with this on the horizon.

[mad.casual]

The guy must be Ron Bailey's younger brother or something.

The whole thing is like a mashup of Ron Bailey's "With lab-grown meat, we'll be able to return ranch land to nature." and MOAR TESTING!

The guy's basically laying out a monitoring scheme to justify the mRNA vaccination technology (which doesn't and isn't guaranteed to work) as a forgone conclusion.

It's like the insanity of COVID turned up to 11.

[Medulla Oblongata]

Is this the same thing?

https://reason.com/2025/01/22/brickbat-back-of-the-queue/

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

Stuff like this is why the alt-right isn't all that upset about their CEO getting domed.

Keep in mind that there was a lot of talk during COVID that people should be denied any hospital treatment or insurance payments if they didn't lock down or take the coof shot, and hospitals were deliberately killing otherwise eligible organ donees by denying life-saving transplants if they didn't get those stupid shots.

[Ra's al Gore]

Blame Amazon and only Amazon.

https://x.com/PolitlcsUK/status/1881693078341447896
NEW: Home Secretary Yvette Cooper says Axel Rudukabana was found to have carried a knife more than 10 times, including one that was bought on Amazon

"The fact that he was just 17, he was easily able to order a knife on Amazon. That's a total disgrace and it must change."

[Super Scary]

Now you're going to need to a license to receive mail.

[InsaneTrollLogic (On The List!)]

Why not? They already need a license to have a TV or radio there. It’s ass backwards.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

Always remember, the Brits are officially "subjects".

[Rick James]

A monthly fee, to make it profitable.

[mad.casual]

Home Secretary

National Wife and Mother proceeds to nag, infantalize, and micromanage.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

'I'm sorry, but this will do very little to wind down the cost of living. The issue is rent stabilization and rent control, in addition to too few units'

No, the issue is millions of people who want to live on a tiny island, with many of those people belonging to the richest tier on the planet.

Whining about the lack of "affordable" housing in Manhattan is like whining about the lack of affordable first class seats on a plane.

[JesseAz (mean girl ambassador)]

Don't forget the tens of thousands entering illegally getting subsidized living in nyc.

[TrickyVic (old school)]

^This

[TrickyVic (old school)]

Imagine an entity that would call first class "affordable" because they subsidized half of the cost.

[Sometimes a Great Notion]

Getting the hell outta DOGE

Once again Rendezvous with Rama fails to deliver a working script.

[Stupid Government Tricks]

That was a great book. But I can't see Hollywood ever making a good movie out of it.

[Sometimes a Great Notion]

Yup on both. I know Morgan Freeman has been trying for around 20 years to get one written. That's a tough one to adapt for the screen.

[Stupid Government Tricks]

They'd throw in some romance, of course, but worse, they'd patch on some terrible ending. It's been a while since I read it, but as I remember it now, Rama just slingshots out and away, and Hollywood is terrible at that. One of the terrible things about Nimoy's remake of Invasion of the Body Snatchers was adding an ending to it! The guy must have been tone deaf to not remember how terrifying that original ending was.

[Sometimes a Great Notion]

There was a romance angle in the book if I recall, briefly about polygamy or something given space travel distances - so of course they'd make that a huge central part. And the Venetian (Venus) government lead by a Trump stand in would succeed in blowing up Rama because he hates illegal aliens.

[Fist of Etiquette]

That Musk salute sure seems kind of fascisty, but in fairness so does a mob of masked campus cretins marching through the Upper East Side chanting death to Jews...

But those marching Nazis are what the Dems think is their base. That's the difference.

[InsaneTrollLogic (On The List!)]

But that’s (D)ifferent.

[mad.casual]

Goddamned corporate Nazi sympathizers! Throwing up the Sieg Heil while their Führer pardons non-violent protesters and longstanding victims of wrongful prosecution! You think they would've learned after 2020 when he tried to Holocaust everyone by letting them out of their homes during a Pandemic.

[Medulla Oblongata]

Bee:

Journalists Horrified As Village People Perform Double Hitler Salute
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Village People stirred up controversy with their performance at the inauguration of Donald Trump yesterday, with many media sources accusing the group of doing a double Hitler salute during their performance.

According to journalists from sources like the Washington Post, CNN, Huffington Post, and ABC, the band's gestures during the performance could be ominous indications of latent fascist support for Trump.

"It's not just one Hitler salute, either," warned CNN's Jake Tapper. "We're seeing these people literally double Trump's Nazism with two whole Hitler salutes. This could be the most dangerous threat to democracy we have ever seen in human history, besides Trump."

While some commentators have pointed out that the gesture seems to have been meant to depict the letter "Y" as part of the group's famous song "YMCA," the suggestion has been taken as an even more foreboding indication of potential fascism from Trump.

At publishing time, several media sources had begun reporting that the acronym YMCA is actually a secret fascist dogwhistle.

[Mother's Lament (Salt farmer)]

"Double Hitler"

That's what everyone needs to start calling these phony accusations of Nazi saluting.

[Chuck P. (The Artist formerly known as CTSP)]

Most of Reddit has taken to banning any and all links to X. The lack of critical thinking skills is appalling. It never occurs to anyone that Musk's associations and political philosophy are completely outside the realm of anything associated with Nazis. Or that the othering, scapegoating , and calls to dispossess Musk is exactly the kind of thing that the Nazis actually did.

I have never subscribed to X, but I have now deleted the Reddit app on my phone. I will look elsewhere for a forum to discuss books and boardgames.

[Sevo, 5-30-24, embarrassment]

Satire still IS possible.

[Don't look at me!]

We need common sense gesture controls.

[Vernon Depner]

Nazi leader at DC rally

[JesseAz (mean girl ambassador)]

Actual libertarian analysis on birthright citizenship.

https://mises.org/power-market/birthright-citizenship-isnt-real

[JesseAz (mean girl ambassador)]

erroneously believe that anyone present in the United States has “subjected” himself “to the jurisdiction” of the United States, which would extend citizenship to the children of tourists, diplomats, and illegal aliens alike.

But that is not what that qualifying phrase means. Its original meaning refers to the political allegiance of an individual and the jurisdiction that a foreign government has over that individual.

The fact that a tourist or illegal alien is subject to our laws and our courts if they violate our laws does not place them within the political “jurisdiction” of the United States as that phrase was defined by the framers of the 14th Amendment.

This amendment’s language was derived from the 1866 Civil Rights Act, which provided that “[a]ll persons born in the United States, and not subject to any foreign power” would be considered citizens.

Sen. Lyman Trumbull, a key figure in the adoption of the 14th Amendment, said that “subject to the jurisdiction” of the U.S. included not owing allegiance to any other country.

[InsaneTrollLogic (On The List!)]

If that doesn’t bring out the rage in Jeffy this morning, nothing will.

[JesseAz (mean girl ambassador)]

I went back into the thread yesterday and saw many "lawyers" from Volokh and our favorite not a lawyer equating jurisdiction to meaning any legal jurisdiction. Legal degrees are worthless at this point.

They couldnt seem to understand there are different layers to jurisdiction. In any city you may fall under 3 or more jurisdictions from a legal perspective.

[mad.casual]

Not to mention that reality holds domain over the law, not the other way around. The 14A doesn't dictate whether, e.g., Elian Gonzalez is an American citizen or not and if it did, it is/was wrong. Someone may feel one way or the other about what was done, but that's reality and their feelings, not the law.

[Mother's Lament (Salt farmer)]

"and our favorite not a lawyer"

Windybay not-an-Attorney or British Shrike?

[JesseAz (mean girl ambassador)]

I thought British shrike claimed to be a banker.

Mean the Chicago not a lawyer.

[Mother's Lament (Salt farmer)]

Apparently he studied law at Oxford.

[Sevo, 5-30-24, embarrassment]

If turd had the required reading comprehension skills, he'd be pissed too!

[Ra's al Gore]

subject to the jurisdiction

That term means something if everyone born here is a citizen, why is that phrase there?

[Chuck P. (The Artist formerly known as CTSP)]

It is there because in the Constitution slaves were identified and so were "subject to the jurisdiction thereof," but were specifically singled out as not being citizens. It is there so that the states could not deport the freed slaves. The 13th freed them, but did not make them citizens.

The debate over the 14th is recorded in the congressional record and they specifically mentioned, multiple times, that it does not apply to foreign nationals. SCOTUS brought it up in the n the Slaughter-House Cases.

[Vernon Depner]

And Native Americans were born here but not born citizens—not "subject to the jurisdiction thereof".

[chemjeff radical individualist]

You've been told the answer. It does not include invading foreign armies, it does not include children of diplomats, and at the time it did not include Native Americans.

[Vernon Depner]

Doesn't Chemjeff Libertarianism reject the concept of an "invading army"? People have the right to go to any country they wish any time, right? And, they have an inalienable right to keep and bear arms. So, how can a group of people entering a country bearing arms be "invaders"? They're just exercising their rights.

[Yuno Hoo]

Only in the United States does there appear to be widespread confusion about this.

One trusts that when the many lawsuits being submitted against Trump's EO make it to SCOTUS this albatross will be released.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

Like I asked above, can somebody simultaneously claim to be under federal jurisdiction while claiming sanctuary from federal jurisdiction?

[chemjeff radical individualist]

This amendment’s language was derived from the 1866 Civil Rights Act, which provided that “[a]ll persons born in the United States, and not subject to any foreign power” would be considered citizens.

The 14th Amendment was passed by Congress after the 1866 Civil Rights Act. If the authors of the 14th Amendment had wanted to use the phrase "not subject to any foreign power" instead of "subject to the jurisdiction thereof", why didn't they do that?

[chemjeff radical individualist]

The authors of the amendment used the phrase "subject to the jurisdiction thereof". They did not use the phrase "political allegiance" or "total and complete jurisdiction" or "loyalty to a foreign power" or any other term.

Besides, I fail to see how arguing over jus soli vs. jus sanguinis citizenship is "libertarian" or not. The rules for citizenship are frankly not that relevant when it comes to *natural rights*, because EVERYONE has natural rights regardless of what their citizenship papers say. If Trump waved a magic wand and created jus sanguinis citizenship tomorrow, all of those babies born to immigrant parents would still have all of the same natural rights as they would have today.

[Medulla Oblongata]

https://www.spiked-online.com/2025/01/20/her-name-is-emily-damari/

There is a British woman who survived 15 months at the hands of a neo-fascist militia. A woman who was cruelly deprived of her liberty and dignity by racist monsters and yet who emerged from that hell smiling and defiant. A woman who spent her 28th birthday in the bondage of an army of bigots. A woman who was subjected to the most intolerable persecutions for one ‘crime’ and one ‘crime’ only – she’s a Jew.

And yet the unhappy truth, the truth we cannot ignore, is that beyond these pockets of moral clarity there was little concern for Emily’s fate. On the contrary, ‘progressives’ seemed more sympathetic to the Islamist tyrants who so horrifically violated her security and liberty than to Emily herself. They called their barbarism ‘resistance’. Nothing better captured the moral decay of the modern left than the fact that a British leftist from eye-watering privilege referred to the day Emily Damari was seized by racist invaders as a ‘day of celebration’. Meanwhile, the true day of celebration – yesterday, when Emily was released – has merited not one mention from these self-styled anti-fascists.

Britain’s left did cheer someone’s release from captivity yesterday – not Emily Damari’s but Chris Nineham’s. He’s the impeccably upper-class founding member of the Stop the War Coalition who was arrested on Saturday’s ‘pro-Palestine’ demo in London and held overnight. His ridiculous tweet about feeling ‘dishevelled’ but ‘safe and well’ following his release from captivity has been liked thousands of times. I don’t think I have ever felt as despairing of the British left as I do right now, watching them hail Nineham as some kind of posh Mandela on the very day a British Jew was released from whatever dank lair her fascistic oppressors held her in for more than a year.

[Commenter_XY]

Winston Chruchill weeps from above, looking upon England today.

[Chuck P. (The Artist formerly known as CTSP)]

Joseph Stalin points and laughs from below.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

The issue is never the issue; the issue is whatever advances the revolution towards a marxist utopia.

[Sevo, 5-30-24, embarrassment]

"...On his first day in office, Trump issued an executive order aimed at immediately dismantling all federal government DEI programs, calling them "radical" and "wasteful"..."

Not to mention unconstitutionally racist.

[Yuno Hoo]

I saw an editorial to the effect that dismantling DEI is a slap in the face of MLK Jr.

[Sevo, 5-30-24, embarrassment]

Written by someone who never listened to 'the speech'.

[Yuno Hoo]

Exactly. "How could *anyone* believe Dr. King, of all people, would be against *diversity*?!"

[Medulla Oblongata]

Last year I had to sit through a 30 minute DEI on “microagressions” video to check a box at work. Terrific, we’ve progressed to the point where significant effort is needed to parse out unintended insults so that EVERYONE can be offended.

A few observations:

* Among the people identified in the video as a “DEI expert” (various titles, but they boiled down to that), there was ZERO diversity; every single one of them was (or at least presented as) a black woman

* Within the panel talking about microaggressions and how they made them feel, there was not a single person who “looked like me”

* On a couple of occasions, I felt that I had been the victim of a microaggression by just watching the video; e.g., one character chastised the viewers who might be dismissive of the idea of the damaging effects of microaggressions to “not be fragile”, which of course invokes “white fragility” and is therefore clearly a racist comment

* The film noted that microaggressions are “usually unconscious,” meaning they are not intentional, but then continues to use terms like “the people targeted”, which implies intent

* The film promoted “microinclusions”, which seemed to be nothing more than demands that we intentionally should treat people of specific races, religions, orientations, and gender identities differently–with kid gloves, but somehow not in a patronizing way.

[Yuno Hoo]

"GOTCHA!!"

And that you're applying critical thinking to the video just makes you a worse person.

[Vernon Depner]

Thinking is white supremacy.

[Minadin]

That certainly explains how most progressive leftist policies only make sense if you don't think about them much.

[Dillinger]

>>not a single person who looked like me

here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_bSzsvlg2M

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

Among the people identified in the video as a “DEI expert” (various titles, but they boiled down to that), there was ZERO diversity; every single one of them was (or at least presented as) a black woman

Not a surprise, since black women are the most kept demographic in American political history, are almost all aggressively and radically left-wing in their politics (the exceptions prove the rule here), and are particularly prominent within the NGO grift industry that do little except jawbone governments and corporations into giving them money that provides no actual benefit to the entity paying them.

The "Race to Dinner" concept and BLM epitomizes the black female grift industry--convince people to pay them to scold the people paying them for whatever particular marxist sin they're being accused of committing.

[Super Scary]

"ZERO diversity; every single one of them was (or at least presented as) a black woman"

That is, and this is not an exaggeration in any capacity, what a diverse group of people look like in the mind of these people. They have been telling this to our faces for years now.

[MWAocdoc]

"Americans should consciously consider who we want to be as a society."

Not just no, but HELL no! First of all, the words "consider" and "Americans" do not EVER belong in the same concept. And secondly, to the extent that Americans CAN do the consideration thing it is clear that they want free stuff at someone else's expense while they sit at home and TikTok. A free society would mean that they would be expected to contribute to production of the goods and services that they want to consume. Incarceration is simply a side effect of the unbridled power wielded by the officials they keep voting into office to provide them the right to sit at home and consume the fruits of other peoples' labor.

[Mother's Lament (Salt farmer)]

"Musk, the tech tycoon and Donald Trump confidant, made it known that he wanted Ramaswamy out of DOGE in recent days, according to three people familiar with Musk's preferences who, like others for this article, were granted anonymity to discuss them," reports Politico."

That's how you know it isn't true. Not just the now standard "anonymous sources" lie, but the fact that nobody in Trump or Musk's camps would talk to Politico to begin with.

Even if they're on the outs with Musk or Trump they aren't going to run to fucking Politico. May as well just call up Nancy Pelosi.

Expect four years of making shit up as the legacy's access becomes increasingly curtailed.

[Chuck P. (The Artist formerly known as CTSP)]

Expect four years of making shit up as the legacy's access becomes increasingly curtailed.

This is straight out of the Marxist playbook. Even if they don't have embedded imposters, they will lie about sources to try to make the administration believe that they have traitors in their midst. The problem is that they actually have to be right for the lie to work its magic, and they engage in too much projection to get it right. Unless the admin is actually doing what they would, it falls flat.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

It's way too easy to find these people's social media accounts to see what they really think. Thanks to the NSA, it doesn't matter what kind of handle you try to disguise yourself with, they can still trace any accounts back to you if desired. There's no anonymity on the internet if the government wants to fuck you.

The Obama and Biden administrations figured this out and exploited it on Americans to the greatest extent they could. Now it's their team's turn to get Special Treatment.

[Chuck P. (The Artist formerly known as CTSP)]

It's way too easy to find these people's social media accounts to see what they really think.

No shit, they simply do not possess the ability to keep their opinions to themselves.

The boardgame and videogame forums that I had been perusing on Reddit both proposed banning links to X and the response was 40-1 in favor with anyone who suggested that it was not appropriate for the forum immediately being called out as a Nazi sympathizer and downvoted to hell. I didn't engage and just deleted the app from my phone. The pants-shitter's veto is not just for SQRLSY anymore.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

To be fair, Reddit's been a blue sewer for well over a decade now, especially after it achieved supremacy over Digg. Along with Something Awful and NeoGaf/ResetEra, the forums got taken over by a bunch of tranny jannies who provided a preview of how Bluesky works today.

[Super Scary]

"according to three people familiar with Musk's preferences "

Oh boy, we're back to this huh?

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

These people are like a football team running vanilla I-formation plays from 1980 in 2024. They really think no one recognizes the playbook by now, but can't figure out why they're getting stuffed at the line of scrimmage now.

[Dillinger]

Amy Klobuchar and John Riggins ever been photographed together?

[tracerv]

"Lighten up Sandy baby!"

Drunk Riggo to Day-O'Connor.

[Dillinger]

>>"An ill-received holiday rant on X by Ramaswamy about H-1B visas apparently hastened his demise."

it can also be true the Ohio governor requires replacement with extreme haste. backdated if possible.

[Weigel's Cock Ring]

I really want to like Ramaswamy, given that he usually says the right things, but there's something about the guy that just seems a little off to me that I can't quite exactly put my finger on. He often gives me a "be very careful about trusting this guy" kind of vibe.

[Dillinger]

it must be a strange existence to be a billionaire amongst nons ... I don't know if any of them can pull off "dude"

[Dillinger]

>>"The scum that worked to convict him were some of the same lunatics who were involved in the modern day weaponization of government against me. He was given two life sentences, plus 40 years. Ridiculous!"

truth is beauty, beauty truth.

[Super Scary]

So I had a small question about those preemptive pardons Joe handed out. Why do they go back all the way to 2014? If I understood the reasoning behind the pardons correctly, they were to protect those people from Trump retaliating against all the stuff that happened 2020-2024 (Jan 6th committee, Fauci lying, etc). Why do the pardons stretch all the way to before Trump was even in politics?

Was 10 years just a good round number? I can't imagine it's that simple.

[Dillinger]

attempts to cover Brandon, Inc.'s crimes while selling his warm bucket of spit?

[Don't look at me!]

Hunter was on the board of directors of a gas company in Ukraine. There is currently a war in Ukraine that Joe financed.
Coincidence? I think not.

[Don’t get eliminated]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revolution_of_Dignity

It’s when CIA inc started setting up bioweapons labs in Ukraine.

[Dillinger]

>>"The proposal faces an uphill battle and strong opposition from not just the 23 Democratic attorneys general but also civil rights groups, who have already filed their own lawsuit."

idk, looking downhill at 23 (D)AGs and some civil rights groups seems like not an uphill battle.

[mad.casual]

I'll be damned, Robby wasn't entirely wrong.

[Dillinger]

hilarious. the Inigo Montoya scene would also be acceptable

[Dillinger]

>>writes Dave Smith on X in a post related to the pardon of Ross Ulbricht.

Israelis shooting babies in the head thing still bothers me.

[Dillinger]

>>writes Jeffrey Blehar at National Review. "Why not? I flagged it back then

ya but you said nothing, jornolist.