Monday Open Thread

What's on your mind?

Comments

[Stephen Lathrop]

While the Trump administration promotes chaos almost at random, answers to questions about enforcement against government law breaking keep getting postponed. It could be that a baleful pattern is emerging, with the judicial system handing down decisions declaring laws broken, but recoiling from use of judicial orders or penalties to deliver enforcement. It will not take much more of this to confirm a new legal status quo, with administrative power held to the law in principle, and left free to break it in practice.

[Riva]

Hmm… might have to get the federal courts to chime in on that confirmation since their judicial insurrection apparently gives them unlimited authority.

[AmosArch]

A small break from the constant trump obsession. Self Own story of the day: Maryland removes statue of limitations to bring the evil rotten Church to justice. Then has to scramble and amend the law to drastically limit liability once the lawsuits start flying against their own alleged pedo problems.

https://archive.ph/UU4UG

[Brett Bellmore]

Every institution in society that interacts with children has had its own pedo problem; The Church's were many years ago at this point, (The Church is positively obsessive about making sure it doesn't happen again.) but bringing it up frequently serves to distract from the others' problems.

[A Woman of No Importance]

The question is that what extent should past bad behavior be held against persons or individuals and I'm of two minds about it.

Suppose a lawyer is disbarred for stealing from a client. Some states allow him to seek readmission and some don't. I myself am of the view that people who have demonstrated repentance should be given a second chance, but I will acknowledge that there is a rational argument that some types of behavior should be permanently disqualifying. Maybe stealing from a client, and harboring child molesters, should be among them.

But one thing that is crystal clear is that such a disbarred attorney would not be taken seriously if he decided to make a career out of lecturing other people on legal ethics. He would be hooted off the stage, even if everything he said was spot on. So maybe forgiveness for the church does not extend to taking its pronouncements on sexual morality seriously for the same reason. Though again, I will acknowledge that that is a form of ad hominem; that the speaker has a past does not change the truth of what he is saying.

I'm not Catholic. I don't even believe in God. But if I were Catholic I would probably take the position that while I believe in redemption for repentant institutions, it does not mean I take those institutions seriously when they presume to lecture others about how to live. Though the Bible does contain numerous examples of people who did very bad things whom God still used.

[Brett Bellmore]

There's somewhat of a difference here between individuals and institutions, though, isn't there? If you dismiss the institution because of past misbehavior, you're treating individuals who have no personal history of offending the same as individuals who do have such a history.

[Dr. Ed 2]

Particularly when (a) the few abusers were an extreme exception to the norm, and (b) children who had loving parents weren't abused.

No one can ever mention the second one but look at Epstein's girls.
What parent would let a 14-year-old fly down to some island without a chaperone? What Epstein did was criminal but he's not the one who ruined their childhoods -- someone else already had. I have no doubt that there is a lot we aren't being told.

Again, I am not justifying what he did (and still think the CIA was behind him) but where was the "your grandmother is going with you" instinct? How many had a parent who even knew they were going?

[not guilty]

"Particularly when (a) the few abusers were an extreme exception to the norm, and (b) children who had loving parents weren't abused."

Is that as true as everything else you have said, Dr. Ed 2?

[A Woman of No Importance]

Brett, you yourself have criticized Planned Parenthood because Margaret Sanger was a racist and a eugenicist. I repeatedly see conservatives here attempt to tar the Democratic Party with the Klan because of decades old affiliations even though no Klansman would feel at home in today's Democratic Party. It's the same issue.

Is it fair to condemn today's church for what happened in the past? Of course not, but neither is it fair to tar Planned Parenthood and the Democratic Party with what happened in the past. Yet conservatives do it anyway.

So if that's the standard to which you hold Planned Parenthood, maybe don't complain when others apply it to your beloved Catholic Church. It's exactly the same issue.

[Brett Bellmore]

You've got to distinguish between an institution with a history that's clearly trying to fix things and an institution with a history that continues to offend consistent with that history. Any Catholic parent can tell you that the Church today is totally obsessive about security around minors.

The Democratic party has an almost unbroken record of promoting racial discrimination, with the only change being who the designated victims were. Planned Parenthood's current priorities are consistent with its eugenicist origins, too.

[A Woman of No Importance]

The white male grievance industry notwithstanding, the Democratic Party does not have an unbroken record of promoting race discrimination, and giving women freedom over their own reproductive rights is hardly the goal of eugenics. That no woman will ever be a linebacker for the Green Bay Packers does not mean that football is misogynist, even though on that specific issue it has that result.

You're desperately attempting to invent a rationale for why your smearing of institutions you don't like is somehow different from other people's smearing of institutions you do like. And nobody except the already converted takes your arguments seriously. If you get to smear Democrats and Planned Parenthood with their past, do not complain when others do the same to the Catholic church. It really is that simple.

[Riva]

Uh huh. Slavery, insurrection, KKK, Jim Crow, segregation. You might want to take a closer look at that Democrat record.

[A Woman of No Importance]

Of how many decades ago?

[Riva]

You mean slavery happened so long ago it is now irrelevant? Good to know. Now go tell the Reparations crowd and the 1619 project. I sure would like those grifters to shut up.

[A Woman of No Importance]

No, Riva, what I mean is that the Democratic Party abandoned those positions so long ago that it's dishonest for you to continue to pretend it's the current situation. Also, what Not Guilty said.

[Brett Bellmore]

Right, and if the last form of racial discrimination the Democratic party had been pushing was Jim Crow, I'd hardly have bothered bringing it up. The problem is that the modern Democratic party is STILL pushing racial discrimination. You've just changed who gets discriminated against.

[Riva]

They just haven’t gotten around to acknowledging their conduct or even apologizing for their reprehensible history. I’m sure they’ll get around to that soon. After they stop exploiting the victims they’re still exploiting of course.

[A Woman of No Importance]

So Brett, suggesting that people who are currently holding stolen property is race discrimination? (Points and laughs).

[not guilty]

Riva, I am proud of how my political party during the last century repudiated its sordid history of support for slavery and segregation.

Are you proud of how your party has eagerly stepped into the breach?

I recall when then-Governor Ronald Reagan -- to his credit -- repudiated the Ku Klux Klan's endorsement of his 1980 presidential candidacy. The Grand Dragon Bill Wilkinson responded that Reagan could not repudiate the Klan without repudiating the entire Republican Party platform.

[Frank Drackman]

Great, they've "Transitioned" from supporting the KKK (who was the last Senator who was a Grand Kleagle?) to supporting Ham-Ass, and if Cums-a-lot had won, you'd have a Bee-Otch slapping "First Gentleman" (Typical Liberal, he slapped his Girlfriend at the Cannes Film Festival)

[Brett Bellmore]

"The white male grievance industry notwithstanding,"

By which you mean, "I'm not going to count racial discrimination against whites as real racial discrimination."

Society has largely rejected that view, even California regularly votes against racial preferences. And the courts are coming around, too.

I'm confident that the Democratic party will eventually, despite nearly 200 years of tradition, finally give up on racial discrimination. After exhausting all other alternatives.

[A Woman of No Importance]

It's more in the nature of the white male grievance industry being asked to return stolen property. We can discuss whether the current holders of the stolen property are or should be legally responsible, but it's not the same as stealing it in the first place.

[Frank Drackman]

Let me know when they give Manhattan back to the Injuns

[Sarcastr0]

By which you mean, "I'm not going to count racial discrimination against whites as real racial discrimination."

Nonsense. You lot are so fragile every change away from white oversaturation in an industry counts as discrimination to you. Which says a lot about your quietly held priors about racial merit.

They're taking down every website that mentions nonwhite luminaries. Don't tell me that's some return to colorblind norm. That's a certain set being unhappy blacks and gays and women are being acknowledged.

Here on the Conspiracy, if someone is going to call someone a slur, or talk about racial IQ, or say blacks are inferior are all MAGA. Not false flags; they are your people.

Yell about the Dems being the Real Racists all you want; it shows you for what you are.

[Drewski]

While it's improved drastically, it's still a thing. The National College of Catholic Bishops reported 17 allegations of child sexual abuse in 2023 and 17 more in 2024. Of the 2023 allegations, they reported 3 as substantiated, 7 still under investigation in 2024, 4 unsubstantiated, and one unexplained "other." That, of course, is just in the US. Importantly, the College reports that it does not have full cooperation from every US church or diocese, so some pedophiles are still likely slipping through the cracks, so to speak.

[Frank Drackman]

Pediofiles “slipping through the Cracks” ???

[Mr. Bumble]

As in ass crack since almost all of the paedo priests where homosexuals, including the recently deceased Arch Bishop/Cardinal of Newark, NJ.

[A Woman of No Importance]

And I would argue that if you're going to require celibacy as part of the job description, you're going to end up with people who disproportionately have issues surrounding their sexuality. By which I do not mean homosexuals, though some are. I mean people who find the priesthood a convenient means to hide who and what they are. There's plenty of abusive heterosexual Catholic priests too.

[Mr. Bumble]

Celibacy may have provided a mask but was not the cause.
See Joe Dallas comment below.

[A Woman of No Importance]

That's true, and it's also a different issue. Pedophiles (whether attracted to male children or female children) will gravitate to where there are children, and every institution that works with children needs to be vigilant. This is not just a Catholic problem.

However, the Catholic church exacerbated it by requiring celibacy, which guarantees that you're going to have a disproportionate number of people with maladjusted sexualities. And some of those people with maladjusted sexualities will be gay, and some will be straight.

[Dr. Ed 2]

Do not underestimate NAMBLA and do not forget where it originated.

Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely -- while there are many advantages to the Catholic model, the advantage of the Congregationalist model is that the congregation votes to hire and fire the minister. I once offered to come back from college if my vote was needed to fire a minister, amongst other things, he was having an affair with the choir director, both were married, unfortunately not to each other. (He counted votes and resigned.)

I look at the Boy Scouts circa 1980, the height of the scandal, and they only caught half of them.

[Frank Drackman]

Lighten up on Francis, He's dead Jim

[Riva]

Classy. Maybe hold off on the Catholic bigotry for just a day or two after the death of the Pope?

[not guilty]

Pope Francis appears to have been a good man, at least compared to his predecessors. But the institution he headed is corrupt and depraved, having facilitated and tolerated the rape of children on a worldwide basis for decades.

To affiliate with the RoCaMBLA reflects moral idiocy.

[Riva]

Go crawl back into the woodwork just for a few days. Then feel free to spout off your ignorant Catholic bigotry to your bigoted heart’s content.

[not guilty]

I'm not speaking ill of the dead. The wretched depravity of the living, however, is fair game.

[Malika the Maiz]

The cover up was pretty bad, and the Church kinda claims a bit more moral authority than the average institution.

[Dr. Ed 2]

Vietnam did an awful lot more damage to this country than people realize. As I understand it, divinity school remained an exception to being drafted when other higher education wasn't -- and hence it attracted a lot of people more interested in not being drafted than in serving the Lord.

I can't see why this didn't happen to the priesthood as well...

[Joe_dallas]

Brett Bellmore 2 hours ago
"Every institution in society that interacts with children has had its own pedo problem;"

That is largely true. Pedos naturally gravitate to professions and / or hobbies that give them access to children. It was estimated that 5-6% of catholic priests were pedophiles during the heyday of the pedo scandals. At the same time, it was estimated that protestant churches had only slightly lower rates of pedophiles in their programs, likewise with organizations such as the ymca, schools etc.

[Krenn]

Hypothetically, what if Trump's administration tried to formally recognize a cartel or gang, such as Tren de Aragua, as either a nation, In the sense of "a large body of people united by common descent, history, culture, or language" , or as a government, or as an indian tribe?

Is there any reason why he couldn't do that? in theory, ANY group of people larger, better armed, and more organized that the ~30 warriors and 110 woman and children who participated in Geronimo's third breakout from the Apache reservation in May 1885 could hypothetically count as a nation, government, indian tribe, or invading army, right?

[A Japanese Student]

I do agree that the President has the sole authority to recognize a nation (though that decision would probably have some unwanted collateral consequences). Zivotofsky v. Kerry, 576 U.S. 1 (2015) (Holding that, under the Reception Clause, only the President can determine whether Jerusalem is part of Israel)

[Stephen Lathrop]

Is there any reason why he couldn't do that?

Sure there is. Because if Trump did that in this context, you can be sure the aim would to define potential deportation victims into the nation, instead of proving they are members of some pre-existing nation to which the law actually applies.

You seem to think there could be a newly created straw man nation, decreed into existence, and decreed into a state of war against the U.S., simultaneously. And that Trump would be empowered to assign allegiance to that warring power to whomever it pleased him to deport.

Do you think any of that gets called legitimate legal procedure in any U.S. court?

[Krenn]

No, the parts about demonstrating a state of war and assigning allegiance to certain deportees would be far more difficult to make work in any court of law, and probably would have to go before a court of law. Certainly with regards to deportees and their allegiance.

However, as an opening bid to attempt to seize control of the conversation, and stake out a major shift in foreign policy, and tee up all sorts of big legal arguments we haven't had in a very long time...

Using the recognition power to recognize, say, every foreign cartel as a de-facto government in it's own right would certainly be a conversation starter.

It may even be true.... "We no longer believe that The State of Mexico has meaningful control or deterrence over the ~six major cartels operating in mexican territory, and from a foreign policy perspective, it just makes more sense to recognize them as six indian tribes with which we're not NOT at war."

THAT would give the State Department something to talk about.

As a bonus, we could finally re-litigate Korematsu. Creating a test case would be EASY.

[Dr. Ed 2]

There is nation and there is government -- and then there are non-state actors. The current law covers all three without a distinction.

[David Nieporent]

Even for this supine SCOTUS that has invented the fake idea that Article II lets the president do whatever he wants just by calling something foreign policy, I would think that "recognizing" something as a nation that doesn't even hold itself out as such might be a bridge too far.

[Riva]

Apparently it’s procedurally more difficult to deport illegal enemy alien gangbangers than the children Biden deported without court hearings during his term. Good thing we have our new judicial co-presidents to control things now. Who knew judicial insurrections could be so helpful?

[ReaderY]

The President can recognize a nation, however, this comes from the President’s power to receive ambassadors, which would seem to undercut the idea that the President has power to unilaterally declare something to be a nation when it is not seeking recognition or sending ambassadors or a diplomatic mission to receive. But separately from that, only Congress can declare war. While a country can invade the United States and create a war without Congress’ say so, the President cannot unilaterally create a war without either a declaration of war by Congress or an invasion.

[Mr. Bumble]

Tell it to those who served (and many who died) in Korea, Vietnam, and the various adventures in the Middle East.

[Mr. Bumble]

I should add, not declaring war means never having to say you're sorry.
Can anyone remember the last time any nation formally declared war against another nation?

[ReaderY]

If a President wans to invole the Alien Enemies Act absent an invasion of the United States, he has to get Congress to declare a war. It was not invoked in Korea or Vietnam.

Also, Congress did pass an authorization regarding Al Qaida.

[Brett Bellmore]

He doesn't, however, plan to invoke it absent an invasion. He plans to invoke it in regards to a disputed "invasion", with is not at all the same thing.

[Sarcastr0]

No. Truth matters.

You don't get to lie and then say 'well now it's in dispute.'

There is no invasion. You do violence to semantics when you say 'no the constitution meant it like a home invasion too.' No one believes this; they just fervently want to believe.
Either they are Trump must win outcome-oriented tools or bigots seeking to reify their fear and loathing by supporting horrible authoritarian things being done to their fellow humans.

It's transparent. It's shameful. And Trump's really revealed a lot of people for who they are at their core.

[Brett Bellmore]

No, this is politics and government. Truth does not really matter, whose opinion is determinate matters.

And "truth matters" coming from a defender of living constitutionalism has a particularly odd sound.

[Sarcastr0]

No, this is politics and government. Truth does not really matter

You duck into nihilism like it's a shield. But it's not; it's just you admitting you're just a tool.

And "truth matters" coming from a defender of living constitutionalism has a particularly odd sound.
You're telling on yourself.
The variation in preferred methods of constitutional interpretation is a great example of a legitimate dispute and really compares favorably to your semantic bullshitting about what's an invasion.

[Dr. Ed 2]

On a practical perspective, who's running Mexico right now?
Who's running Somalia? Or Tripoli circa 1800?

After April 19, 1775, the British were isolated on the de-facto island of pre-landfill Boston, Henry Knox would haul cannons down from Fort Ticonderoga and put them up on the hills that aren't there anymore (used to fill in mudflats to expand the city) and the British evacuated in March of 1776.

Who was the government of Massachusetts, NH, CT after then?
Not the official government. And we never recognized the Confederacy as a government, but it sure acted like one...

[Joe_dallas]

The statute includes "invasion " and "predatory incursion"
by a foreign nation or government.

The focus to discredit Trumps use of the Aliens Enemy's Act has been on the "Invasion " and foreign nation, while ignoring both the predatory incursion and ignoring the assistance and faciliation of the predatory incursion by the various governments of latin and central america

[Kazinski]

In France they shut down an entire windmill farm for a year because it killed.a single Golden Eagle.

https://www.ouest-france.fr/environnement/apres-la-mort-dun-aigle-royal-la-justice-ordonne-larret-dun-parc-eolien-dans-lherault-ba605342-153e-11f0-9759-9654df6b878b

But in the US, they are allowing Windfarms to kill an estimated 270 Golden Eagles per year, which is above the take level the population can sustain according to a peer reviewed study.

"Anthropogenic mortality is the primary cause of death in adult golden eagles and recent trends indicate their population may be declining. If the current rate of growth of the wind energy industry continues, it could have conservation implications for golden eagle and other raptor populations."

https://www.wind-watch.org/documents/estimated-golden-eagle-mortality-from-wind-turbines-in-the-western-united-states/

[Mr. Bumble]

...all in the name of saving the planet.

[Stephen Lathrop]

The link discusses a study by folks who apparently do not know much about golden eagles. I have seen many of them. I know numerous sites in the Rockies where you will always see golden eagles during certain seasons. All those places have two things in common: reliable updrafts; and unusually low wind prevalence.

Maybe there are other places where golden eagles love steady winds, and no updrafts. I doubt it.

Do not use lattice-style towers for wind turbines. Those encourage perching by raptors. During autumn, the Conowingo Dam area in eastern Maryland features gatherings of Bald Eagles—perhaps the most numerous gatherings east of the Mississippi. There, Bald Eagles by the dozens can sometimes be seen perching on lattice-style high-tension towers, where power lines from the dam cross the Susquehanna. The eagles fish from those towers, and carry captured fish up to perches on the towers to pick them apart.

So keep the wind turbines off mountain ridges, and out of mountain passes, where they should not be allowed anyway, and I doubt there is much real conflict between golden eagles and wind turbines. Especially if you do not encourage perching with lattice-style towers, which seem to be obsolete technology anyway.

Other kinds of birds behave differently, and should be analyzed separately.

[Kazinski]

I know I'm making a huge mistake here by making an appeal to authority, but here are study's authors:

Jay V. Gedir, Matthew J. Gould, Brian A. Millsap, Department of Fish, Wildlife and Conservation Ecology, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces

Paige E. Howell, Guthrie S. Zimmerman, Emily R. Bjerre, Hillary M. White, Division of Migratory Bird Management, National Raptor Program, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Washington, DC

And this is journal they published in:
Biological Conservation
Volume 302, February 2025, 110961

[Brett Bellmore]

This is what's called observational bias: Assuming something is mostly present under the conditions that make it easiest to observe.

It's like thinking rainstorms bringing out earthworms mean that water logged soil is where earthworms are mostly found. No, it's just where they're easiest to spot.

[Krayt]

When judging the ranked importance of fighting Democratic factions, the one that's more likely to funnel money into suing lawyer pockets wins. Wind farms for environmentalism clean energy vs. killing endangered animals.

God help the golden eagles if one flew into the head of a kid in a wheelchair.

[Frank Drackman]

As an Auburn fan, I’m partial to the Eagles. That being said, they’re scavengers, and will attack any weak target of opportunity(ironically, also describes the F-15 “Eagle” still the worlds best pure Air Superiority Fighter, but primarily attacks the weak and vulnerable from behind)
And no crap please about whether Auburns the Tigers or War Eagles, its the same as the Yankees are also called the “Bronx Bombers”

[Malika the Maiz]

So is Frankie a psychotic troll who invented an elaborate backstory or is he really an immigrant’s kid who has lived in the US over fifty years attending English speaking schools (including Auburn) but somehow never learned third grade English writing skills?

These are the kinds of nuts and/or poorly educated Trump loves!

[Frank Drackman]

I done tole you, lost my job, how I sposed to get money to pay dis rent? Can ya let me slide it along? I’ll have it for ya tomorrow, next week, I don’t know,

[Malika the Maiz]

lol, the kind of pathetic weirdo that MAGA attracts and emboldens, folks!

[Frank Drackman]

You be talkin bout the back rent, you ain’t getting no front rent, you ain’t gettin none of it! So I packs up my Johnny Lee Hooker record collection and out the door I went,
I’m outdoors, yknow

[Malika the Maiz]

The kind of nut or dolt the MAGA cult appeals to, folks.

[Dr. Ed 2]

Steven might want to look at the permits that the Obama admin gave the windill farms to kill eagles. Yes, they are given a kill quota, they have the right to "take" a not insignificant number of them.

[hobie]

Glad to see you MAGAs taking up the cause of conservation over industry. Now do coal!

Oh wait...it's about a 'progressive' industry. I see what you're doing here, Kaz

[Dr. Ed 2]

It's an asinine industry.

[apedad]

Glad to see Kaz is so concerned about the environ.....

Oops.....

Trump Allows Migratory Bird Killings, Cancels Further Protection

https://news.bloomberglaw.com/environment-and-energy/trump-allows-migratory-bird-killings-cancels-further-protection

[Dr. Ed 2]

They also are killing Bald Eagles.

[Commenter_XY]

The Pope has died. Any Catholics on hand to tell us the legal process the College of Cardinals uses to pick his successor? Will the next pope be european?

[Frank Drackman]

Dammit, I'm not up on my Cardinals

[Brett Bellmore]

The only cardinals I have any familiarity with are the ones at our bird feeder.

On the one hand the Church hierarchy is increasingly derived from South America and Africa. OTOH, the European/Western Cardinals really want to retain control of the Church. It's likely to be a fight, but of course we won't get to observe it.

I'm just hoping for somebody more like John Paul II, than like Francis.

[Krayt]

American Catholics prefer liberalization. Most of the rest (aforementioned Africa and South America) are still very old school. Who to please?

Well, most growth are in those places. Drying up North America is most donations. Money or future population?

[Kazinski]

Francis was from.South America, he didn't seem very old school to me.

[Mr. Bumble]

Old school communist.

[Riva]

Not too classy. How about refraining from the Catholic bigotry for just a few days?

[Brett Bellmore]

I'm not sure how that's anti-Catholic bigotry. A lot of Catholics would agree with that assessment.

[Riva]

Then they’re as disgraceful as this commenter.

[Mr. Bumble]

Sorry you're offended by a Catholic's comment on the now departed Pope, but as Brett said, I am not alone.

[Riva]

If anyone really prefers something other than a Pope chosen after a conclave guided by the Holy Spirit, then they’re not really Catholic anymore. It’s their and your choice.

[not guilty]

Guided by the Holy Spirit?? Be careful and pay heed to the words of Jesus recorded at Matthew 12:30-32 (RSV):

31 Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven.
32 And whoever says a word against the Son of man will be forgiven; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.
33 "Either make the tree good, and its fruit good; or make the tree bad, and its fruit bad; for the tree is known by its fruit.

The fruit of the Roman Catholic Man-Boy Lust Association is corruption, perversity and bigotry.

[Moderation4ever]

John Paul II was a man for his time. That time no longer exists. What the Catholic church needs is a Pope that can maintain faith in the institution of the Catholic Church in a time when people are retaining ties to spirituality but shunning religious institutions.

[Frank Drackman]

Saw JP2 at St Peters 1997(yes I’m Jewish, It’s what you do when you go to Rome, you go to Yellowstone you see Old Faithful, in Rome you see the Pope at St Peters)
Cool thing is you could drink the Heiniken you bought from the vender right outside the square, 90% of the service was recognizing various youth groups “and from Udine, “Our Blessed Maria Maria Roseannadanna” Yayyyyyyy!!!!!!!”
If you go, do the Catacombs, gotta do the Catacombs

Frank

[Dr. Ed 2]

What about Pope Benedict? Isn't he still alive?

Pope Francis has appointed enough cardinals to ensure the next one will be far worse than he was.

[Frank Drackman]

Pope Benedict died in 2022, I know, you didn't even know he was sick.

[Kazinski]

Let me be the first to one to accuse JD Vance of the hit on the Pope, because I know i won't be the last to make the accusation.
This can't be coincidence:

VATICAN CITY (AP) — U.S. Vice President JD Vance met briefly with Pope Francis on Sunday to exchange Easter greetings, after they got into a long-distance tangle over the Trump administration’s migrant deportation plans.

Francis, who is recovering from a near-fatal bout of pneumonia, received Vance in one of the reception rooms of the Vatican hotel where he lives. The 88-year-old pope offered the Catholic vice president three big chocolate Easter eggs for Vance’s three young children, who did not attend, as well as a Vatican tie and rosaries.

“I know you have not been feeling great but it’s good to see you in better health,” Vance told the pope. “Thank you for seeing me.”

https://apnews.com/article/pope-vance-us-migration-c9fc577cabff138de7bd8026133994fc

And yeah I am kidding, and about a dead pope, so I am probably going to hell.

[Frank Drackman]

JD missed the perfect opportunity to say…..

“Lighten up Francis!”

Frank

[hobie]

Francis was a good pope. He decreed that all dogs do indeed go to heaven.

[Riva]

You are truly a disgrace. Congratulations. I’m sure your parents are proud.

[hobie]

Not a dog lover, eh? Not surprised

[Frank Drackman]

what about Cats? Ferrets? Goldfish? Turtles?
OK, the Snakes I can do without, sorry Snakes.

[SRG2]

For DnD purposes I invented the Pope hammer, which causes no damage to live entities, but when applied to a dead body prevents respawning.

[ducksalad]

As far as the process, they have a great rule: if the College of Cardinals fails to come to a decision, they can be sequestered under increasingly unpleasant conditions to encourage them to do their duty. We should consider that for Congress.

Random selection of the voting cardinals from among themselves would give odds of roughly 40% European, 30% N&S America, 30% Africa and Asia.

(You asked for a Catholic: haven't been to mass other than weddings and funerals for 25 years but I could in theory still show up, confess and take communion.)

[A Japanese Student]

In an opinion issued today, Tokyo District Court recognized the right to know one's parents as an unenumerated constitutional interest.

The 67-year-old plaintiff was accidentally swapped at birth in a public hospital. Although he did receive compensation back in 2006, he never discovered who his actual parents are. As a remedy, the court ordered the Tokyo government to facilitate the investigation.

Here is a hypothetical question - under this decision, is it unconstitutional for municipal hospitals to set up a baby hatch? (I guess someone has already written a law review article in some journals.)

[Vryedni]

How was the fuck-up discovered?

[A Japanese Student]

DNA testing during a medical exam, according to news reports.

[Frank Drackman]

Because all Japanese look alike, I get it

[Dr. Ed 2]

Someone who is 67 would have been born in 1958, only 13 years after 1945. What was Japanese medicine back then it what was a country recovering from near-total destruction?

[ReaderY]

The US Marshalls Service, which enforces federal court orders, is part of the executive-branch Department of Justice under the Attorney General. In the event the Attorney General were to instuct the U.S. Marshall for the district to ignore a court order, or to fire U.S. marshalls or deputies for attempting to enforce it. what would happen?

Would the courts have any other means of enforcing their orders? Do judges have any statutory or common-law power to order the formation of a posse? Could courts enlist another law enforcement agency?

Could U.S. marshalls simply ignore instructions? Could they ignore purported firings?

[not guilty]

Fed.R.Civ.P. 4.1 provides:

(a) In General. Process—other than a summons under Rule 4 or a subpoena under Rule 45 —must be served by a United States marshal or deputy marshal or by a person specially appointed for that purpose. It may be served anywhere within the territorial limits of the state where the district court is located and, if authorized by a federal statute, beyond those limits. Proof of service must be made under Rule 4( l ) .

(b) Enforcing Orders: Committing for Civil Contempt. An order committing a person for civil contempt of a decree or injunction issued to enforce federal law may be served and enforced in any district. Any other order in a civil-contempt proceeding may be served only in the state where the issuing court is located or elsewhere in the United States within 100 miles from where the order was issued.

So yes, courts could specially appoint other persons, including law enforcement officers, to execute the processes of court. As to criminal contempt, the commentary to Rule 4.1 states:

The new rule does not affect the reach of the court to impose criminal contempt sanctions. Nationwide enforcement of federal decrees and injunctions is already available with respect to criminal contempt: a federal court may effect the arrest of a criminal contemnor anywhere in the United States, 28 U.S.C. §3041, and a contemnor when arrested may be subject to removal to the district in which punishment may be imposed. Fed. R. Crim. P. 40. Thus, the present law permits criminal contempt enforcement against a contemnor wherever that person may be found.

[Mr. Bumble]

"...or by a person specially appointed for that purpose."
Where does that say that person may be appointed by a court?

[apedad]

Rule 4 (c) (3) By a Marshal or Someone Specially Appointed. At the plaintiff's request, the court may order that service be made by a United States marshal or deputy marshal or by a person specially appointed by the court.

[Dr. Ed 2]

And the FBI could arrest these persons. It may lead to a Waco, but we know who left Waco alive and who didn't.

[not guilty]

The FBI could arrest those persons for having committed what criminal offense(s)?

[not guilty]

Rule 4 refers to a summons, which may also be served by any person who is at least 18 years old and not a party. Rule 4.1 refers to process other than a summons or subpoena.

[not guilty]

Don't be silly. Who other than a court would make that appointment?

[ReaderY]

Could a court appoint a posse comitatus?

I mean, if it comes to it, if you’re going to enforce a court order on, say, the Secretary of Homeland Security, you might need a bit more force than a single individual. And, given the Posse Comitatus Act, you couldn’t use the military.

[Brett Bellmore]

Well, they could try, anyway. Never bet on a judge thinking that he doesn't have the authority to do something.

[not guilty]

A court that can appoint one person can appoint more than one person. I agree that the armed forces are not to be used.

[not guilty]

[duplicate comment deleted]

[William Cheswick]

There is a lot of talk about emergencies these days. In my view the US has two emergencies. The first is the burgeoning debt, a decades long problem that has not been addressed. No, Clinton and Gingrich did not balance the budget, they lowered the “debt held by the public,” an accounting dodge that would embarrass an Enron CFO. That doesn’t count the pending payments “owed” to the citizens who are counting on Social Security and Medicare some day. It was a start, but not nearly enough. In the coming decades our aging population can look forward to eating cat food and skipping the doctor visits.

Trump’s tariffs are the second emergency. They severely damage the current world economy, destroy our savings, and make solving the first emergency that much harder.

The first step is to take FDR’s image off the dime. He started the Ponzi scheme. Then start dealing out the pain to repair all this. The pain is inevitable, and will only continue to get worse.

[Mr. Bumble]

"... In the coming decades our aging population can look forward to eating cat food"
Have you seen the price of cat food?

[Brett Bellmore]

Yeah, that was my reaction. Dog food, maybe. But not cat food!

[Mr. Bumble]

Dog food is even worse.

[SRG2]

SS was not originally a Ponzi scheme at all. What has hurt it is that life expectancy has extended - fwiw a standard risk of defined benefit funds.

If we consider it immoral to unilaterally modify the terms of SS to those who are already receiving it, and those close to, nonetheless there are ways to stem the bleeding before a full reengineering. First, continue to raise the retirement age for SS purposes, but to a schedule depending on your current age.

Second, introduce a special working visa for immigrants below a certain age which has them paying into SS but limits their other benefits. and make this working visa readily available to illegal immigrants of otherwise good characte r. You halt a demographic time bomb by changing the demographics, obviously.

[Sarcastr0]

Or just slightly reindex to reflect people living longer. Or change the cap on contributions.

This is not actually a hard problem.

[Malika the Maiz]

“The National Intelligence Council, drawing on the acumen of the United States’ 18 intelligence agencies, determined in a secret assessment early this month that the Venezuelan government is not directing an invasion of the United States by the prison gang Tren de Aragua, a judgment that contradicts President Donald Trump’s public statements, according to people familiar with the matter.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2025/04/17/us-intelligence-tren-de-aragua-deportations-trump/

[ReaderY]

Why do I suspect people in the National Intelligence Council are about to be fired?

[Malika the Maiz]

“School officials in one part of the Lone Star State are no fans of the lone nipple on the Virginia state flag, so they have nixed an online lesson that included a picture of the banner.

Virginia’s flag and state seal feature Virtus, the Roman goddess of virtue, whose name suggests a buttoned-down gal but whose toga tells another story — draped so low on her left that one breast is fully out there for God Almighty and everybody else to see.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2025/04/20/virginia-flag-texas-school-district-breast/

[The Margrave of Azilia]

The article was paywalled, but here are the flag and seal of Virginia:

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

[SRG2]

...such firings to be cheered on by the cultist, because there is no greater crime than disloyalty to Dear Leader.

[dwb68]

It is extremely difficult to automate making shoes.

https://www.wsj.com/economy/trade/why-its-so-difficult-for-robots-to-make-your-nike-sneakers-47b882b5?mod=hp_lead_pos8

"robots struggled to handle the soft, squishy and stretchy parts that are integral to shoemaking. Shoe fabrics also expand and contract depending on the temperature, while in shoemaking no two soles are exactly alike."

Gluing soles proved to be difficult, as did sewing the swish on the shoes.

Nike gave up in 2019, as did Under Armor.

[Frank Drackman]

Same with Baseballs, it’s why MLB Beisbols are made in Costa Rica (used to be Haiti, sad when someone will work cheaper than Haitians) almost all the others in Chy-Na (is there anything they don’t make? Electronics, Clothing, Gain-of-Function Respiratory Viruses?

[Armchair]

" (used to be Haiti, sad when someone will work cheaper than Haitians)"

Not necessarily cheaper, but more reliable.

[hobie]

Watched Brokeback Mountain again after 15 years. Man, that last 60 seconds is a crusher. I remember reading the short story in the New Yorker when it came out in 1997 and I thought then, as I do now, that it is the greatest piece of literature I have ever read.

Back then, like any annoying new parent, I felt the need to show it off. I gave it to a large redneck buddy who began reading it in front of me. After a few minutes, he got red in the face and threw the magazine on the ground. He then spat, 'Why do these faggots always gotta be pushing their lifestyles on everyone?!' And then he stormed off.

I was think about that incident yesterday. It's basically how you rubes deal with the world and all the hatreds you have to maintain. Even a piece of tender fiction can be a real world threat. Whether it is real of not is immaterial

[Malika the Maiz]

You want to know about hatred, I’m one of the few people who liked Ang Lee’s Hulk 😉

[hobie]

Oh, I agree. Like all of Ang Lee's work, it was simply gorgeous

[Frank Drackman]

We know, but what about his movies?

[Frank Drackman]

Why do you faggots always be pushing your lifestyles(I prefer Trojans, “Lifestyles” were the ones the Military bought, low bidder and all that that entrails)?
I don’t go around, be like me! Make tasteless insensitive comments! Drive a Vette! Ogle underage girls! Oh wait, I just described Joe Biden

Frank

[hobie]

I've got you pegged as an IROC kind of guy, Frankie.

[Mr. Bumble]

Don't think Frank would appreciate being "pegged".

[Frank Drackman]

4th Gen actually, you know anyone who’s got an OEM Optispark?

[hobie]

No douchebag racists have ever driven IROCs.

[Malika the Maiz]

Frankie doesn’t have a car. His shopping cart full of stuff wouldn’t fit in it.

[Malika the Maiz]

Here’s a person who is either psychotic and desperate enough to invent an elaborate backstory to interact with strangers on a website comment board or who, according to said backstory, has lived in the US starting as a child for over fifty years and has not been able to learn to write third grade level English.

Delusional, desperate, dumb…MAGA!

[Frank Drackman]

Most people’s lives seem “elaborate” if you get to the granular level, the details of mine are insignificant really, Summers in Rangoon, Luge lessons, when I was insolent I was flagellated with my mothers wet thong Bikini….

[Malika the Maiz]

Most people’s lives seem “elaborate”

Especially the ones made up by desperate psychotics to interact with strangers on a website comment board, like Frankie’s!

[Frank Drackman]

Project much? And think you could get someone in to cleanup? Lot of cobwebs in your haid’

[Malika the Maiz]

Project? I’ve no detailed backstory I offer here that suggests I lived in this country for fifty plus years and yet write like a third grader. That’s you, buddy.

[Dan Schiavetta]

“How much contempt is stirred up at times towards the vulnerable, the marginalized, and migrants!” he wrote. “On this day [Easter], I would like all of us to hope anew and to revive our trust in others, including those who are different than ourselves, or who come from distant lands, bringing unfamiliar customs, ways of life and ideas!”

[hobie]

Jesus and his progressive gang of thugs illegally immigrated into the Roman Empire and held too many protests. Like and subscribe for more MAGA history revisions

[Malika the Maiz]

They may have blocked the road on Palm Sunday!

[not guilty]

What if Mary, Joseph and their infant had been turned away at the Egyptian border and sent back to King Herod?

[Frank Drackman]

Hey-Zeus would have done his magic tricks sooner

[hobie]

Wouldn't anchor baby Jesus have gotten the family a couple of green cards?

[Frank Drackman]

He could have miracled a few, he was Hey-Zeus for his sake!

[The Margrave of Azilia]

"There is no God, but if there were She would have been a good progressive."

[Frank Drackman]

"You have to consider the possibility that God does not like you. He never wanted you. In all probability, he hates you. This is not the worst thing that can happen." Tyler Durden

[ducksalad]

In true Christian spirit, our President reaches out to his enemies on Easter Day:

Happy Easter to all, including the Radical Left Lunatics who are fighting and scheming so hard to bring Murderers, Drug Lords, Dangerous Prisoners, the Mentally Insane, and well known MS-13 Gang Members and Wife Beaters, back into our Country. Happy Easter also to the WEAK and INEFFECTIVE Judges and Law Enforcement Officials who are allowing this sinister attack on our Nation to continue, an attack so violent that it will never be forgotten! Sleepy Joe Biden purposefully allowed Millions of CRIMINALS to enter our Country, totally unvetted and unchecked, through an Open Borders Policy that will go down in history as the single most calamitous act ever perpetrated upon America. He was, by far, our WORST and most Incompetent President, a man who had absolutely no idea what he was doing -- But to him, and to the person that ran and manipulated the Auto Pen (perhaps our REAL President!), and to all of the people who CHEATED in the 2020 Presidential Election in order to get this highly destructive Moron Elected, I wish you, with great love, sincerity, and affection, a very Happy Easter!!!

[Malika the Maiz]

But her emails!

Hegseth team gets new jolt with more allegations involving Signal app
The embattled defense secretary is accused of sharing pre-operational details involving a Yemen bomb strike with a group of close associates and family.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2025/04/20/pentagon-signal-leak-hegseth-ullyot/

[Ed Grinberg]

https://jonathanturley.org/2025/04/18/washington-state-university-instructor-arrested-for-allegedly-assaulting-trump-supporter/
https://jonathanturley.org/2025/04/19/when-must-we-kill-them-george-mason-phd-student-captures-the-growing-violent-ideation-on-the-left/

https://reason.com/volokh/2025/04/11/friday-open-thread-15/?comments=true#comment-10998950

[Moderation4ever]

It has been 37 days since the Trump Administration arrested and deported Kilmar Abrego Garcia. A mistake they have admitted but have made no effort to correct.

[Malika the Maiz]

They don’t care. He’s an illegal alien so therefore of no moral weight.

There must be in-groups whom the law protects but does not bind, alongside out-groups whom the law binds but does not protect.

[Frank Drackman]

Where’s he being held, a resort? What prison let’s you wear sports clothes and drink Margaritas?

[Moderation4ever]

The Trump Administration has changed the COVID web site to now support the lab leak theory. It really doesn't matter what the source of the pandemic was, because the first Trump Administration showed itself to be incompetent in addressing the pandemic. There is little to suggest that they could address a new pandemic any better.

[Brett Bellmore]

I'm not entirely clear what you wanted Trump to do that he didn't do.

He cleared the obstacles to accelerated vaccine development/deployment. That was pretty critical, actually.

He at least tried to block entry by carriers, the courts got in the way.

He let the states do destructive lockdowns. In retrospect a mistake, but if he'd fought them you'd have been even more pissed off.

What exactly were you looking for, that was actually within his constitutional powers? Refraining from blue skying in public? I'll gladly grant you that much.

[hobie]

During 2020 I don't think Trump did anything wrong policy-wise regarding the pandemic. He was personally ridiculous promoting bleach and whatnot. But that's just his vast ignorance showing. Otherwise, everything took its own course...in my opinion

[Brett Bellmore]

That's the blue skying I was talking about. It wasn't remotely as ignorant as it was made out to be, if you had a biology background, and made a habit of following the relevant research; He was obviously getting some good briefings.

But Presidents should better watch what they say in public, and I feel like he's properly dinged for that, even of a lot of the complaints were ignorant.

[Frank Drackman]

Wasn't ignorant at all, there's a Medical Procedure called "Pulmonary Lavage" where the lungs are flushed with Saline (OK, not Bleach), sounds crazy if you haven't heard of it before.

[Brett Bellmore]

Extreme blue light sterilization, too. It's used on transplanted lungs, but I expect you could adapt it to in vivio use.

And good success was had with sinus irrigation using very low concentrations of, yes, bleach.

So, no, not ignorant, but I don't think we want Presidents engaging in blue skying in public.

[Malika the Maiz]

“if you had a biology background”

During a medical crisis we don’t need an official espousing things that “aren’t as ignorant as made out to someone if you had a biology background,” we need directives based on the latest best review of the evidence by experts in the relevant fields. Trump shouldn’t have made himself the focus at those briefings.

[Don Nico]

No do Gavin Newsom. He did a daily brief every day at noon for at least 2 months.
I my opinion the briefing were well done; the policies promoted were questionable at best.

[Malika the Maiz]

I didn’t see Newsom’s, as you say his were well done so that itself could be a relevant difference.

[Dan Schiavetta]

He forced states to bid against each other for masks. He kept undercutting the CDC. He kept blaming people and pointing fingers instead of being the unifying force his office called for in such a national crisis. Don’t you remember ?

[Brett Bellmore]

In retrospect, he didn't undercut the CDC enough.

[Dan Schiavetta]

He sure did. Most damaging was his downgrading respect for medicine, or at least well informed medicine.

[Sarcastr0]

Trump's shitty leadership was nonfeasance more than malfeasance.

But hey now we're stupid about Covid in a way that drove some folks to the anti-American MAGA movement. Yay.

[Don Nico]

"we're stupid about Covid "
What do you mean by that?
And did you mean the Wuhan and delta variants, or the variants now prevalent?
Please clarify.

[not guilty]

Slate.com has an excerpt from a new book by Professor Mary Ziegler, a legal historian who has written extensively about abortion rights in the United States, discussing the "fetal personhood" movement in the wake of Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, 597 U.S. 215 (2022). https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2025/04/supreme-court-abortion-fetal-personhood.html

The fetal rights claims have long puzzled me. About 1/3 of genetically normal embryos naturally fail to implant into the uterus and are washed away with the menstrual flow. Do the proponents of "fetal personhood" give their feminine hygiene products a Christian burial on the chance that one may contain a microscopic "human being"?

[Malika the Maiz]

Some people do hold a service for miscarriages.

[Frank Drackman]

If you were a Chick, you’d know, forget the “Trimester” (normal pregnancy is 40 weeks, so a “Trimester” is 13.33333333333333… weeks) Bullshit, from that first missed period it’s a baby

[hobie]

How do we know if all these blastocysts have been purged from the voter rolls? Huh?!

Also, could menstruation in an ICE holding center confer citizenship?

[The Margrave of Azilia]

At what point does a living human being acquire the rights of personhood?

[A Japanese Student]

That was actually the first topic discussed in my class. A nurse brings a hammer and smashes the head of a baby boy as he peeks out from the mother. In Japanese criminal law, a person is born when any part of the baby becomes visible, so the nurse is guilty of murder. In civil law, a person is born when the entire body is visible. (Though, in this particular example, it doesn't matter because "an unborn child is deemed to have been already born with respect to the claim for damages." Civil Code §721)

[Malika the Maiz]

Is a person in a terminal, irreversible vegetative state a person with the rights that accompanies that status?

[Frank Drackman]

in most civilized countries, yes (in the spirit of friendship (no Homo) I'll omit the "DUH!")

[hobie]

It was explained yesterday somewhere that due process is a right given to a person, not just a citizen. So it seems brown people can LOSE personhood. But why would anyone want to dehumanize them?

[Armchair]

Historically, nearly 50% of children failed to reach adulthood. Does that make them "not really human beings"?

[Brett Bellmore]

And we all die in the end.

[Frank Drackman]

What did Hey-Zeus say to the guy being crucified next to him? (not the Bible version, it’s a joke)

[Malika the Maiz]

He said, hey, you’re not a sad weirdo who invented a detailed backstory to tell strangers on a comment section on the internet or someone so unintelligent that they couldn’t learn third grade English writing skills in fifty plus years of living in an English speaking country are you? Because either way that’s pathetic!

[Frank Drackman]

Wow, now you’re pretending to be (your) Lord and Saviour, in the old days you’d be hung as a Witch, not too long ago they’d stick pointy rods in your frontal lobe, today you’re an “Influencer” and you think I’m the strange one?
Oh hey, think you can get someone to vacuum these Neurofibrillary tangles?

Frank

[Malika the Maiz]

I’m just giving you the punchline: yourself!

[hobie]

Frankie is trying hard to hide that his great, great....grandpappy Drack the Fig Squeezer was handing out nails

[Frank Drackman]

He (notice the "He" not "he") said
"I can see your house from here!"

[John 4]

For someone who spends so much damned writing on the internet, why don't you have at least passable English skills? Are you an immigrant?

[apedad]

Trump Policies Add to Farming Distress as Bankruptcies Increase

Farm bankruptcy filings soared in 2019 during the height of Trump’s trade war with China, which targeted US agriculture with a sweeping retaliatory tariff regime mirroring the response China is pursuing today. Trump’s administration sent farmers an estimated $23 billion covering export losses to try to stop more farms from going under.

Following the bailout, family farm bankruptcies—filed under Chapter 12 of the US bankruptcy code—declined each year until 2024, when the number of new cases jumped to 216 from a near 20-year low of 139, according to court records. Filings have continued to speed up this year, with 82 cases filed over the first three months of 2025, nearly doubling the figure for the same period a year ago.

Billions of dollars in economic and disaster assistance sent to farmers under the December American Relief Act of 2025 (Public Law 118-158) could reverse declining net farm income, according to a USDA forecast. But Trump’s deportation plans and tariffs threaten to cause further budgetary pain for farmers reliant on migrant labor and international markets.

https://news.bloomberglaw.com/bankruptcy-law/trump-policies-add-to-farming-distress-as-bankruptcies-increase

MAGA screws MAGA and then turns to Socialism.

[hobie]

And who bought up all them farms in 2019? Trumps private equity buddies. You don't think Trump would actually manipulate markets to enrich his circle, do you?

[Joe_dallas]

Cherry pick your start date - Why?

The number of U.S. farms filing for Chapter 12 bankruptcy during 2021-23 were in sharp contrast to previous years, when filings hit 599 in 2019 and 560 in 2020. Previous high filings hit 723 in 2010, 712 in 2003 and 637 in 2011.Feb 22, 2024

[Armchair]

Time to predict the next crisis...and it is..

The Chinese invasion of Taiwan in 2026-2027.

https://www.brookings.edu/articles/will-2027-invite-conflict-for-taiwan-and-china/

One of the big questions in any such conflict is "How does the US respond?"

Now currently, the US has a policy of strategic ambiguity. The US may or may not intervene. Should it? Will it? And what does the political situation in the US do to influence any such intervention?

I think it's fair to say that Trump isn't a friend of China, and would intervene militarily, and fairly quickly. Question comes from the surrounding political situation. If Democrats took the House and/or Senate, would they oppose a military intervention? As an additional concern, there are quite a number of Chinese nationals living in the US. While nearly all are fine, a small minority may actively oppose US interests. What would be the concerns with regard to this population?

[Brett Bellmore]

I don't think we have a lot to worry about the Chinese nationals here in the country legally. The ones here illegally might be a serious problem, though.

As I see it, the biggest problem is that we've left our infrastructure terribly exposed, and stocks of long lead time transformers are still utterly inadequate. A fairly small number of saboteurs equipped with anti-materiel rifles and drones could bring our entire electrical grid down in the space of a couple days, and getting it up and running again could take months.

Then there are all those utility system which shouldn't be in any way connected to the internet, but are anyway.

A lot of Chinese products that can connect to the internet are equipped with backdoors, and could be deployed in a coordinated fashion against our IT systems.

In fact, I've come to expect that, as our first sign that China was about to invade Taiwan, a systematic attack on all sorts of infrastructure in the US, to give us bigger things to worry about at home.

[apedad]

The Chinese nationals here in the country legally are just as bad - if not worse - than the ones here illegally because they sometimes have legal access to sensitive data or are able to directly influence adverse operations.

Chinese National Pleads Guilty To Illegally Exporting Semiconductor Manufacturing Machine

Chinese National Convicted of Acting Within the United States as an Unregistered Agent of the People’s Republic of China

Chinese Telecommunications Company Pleads Guilty to Conspiring To Steal Technology From Illinois-Based Motorola Solutions

Private Investigator Sentenced to Prison for Interstate Stalking and Harassment of Chinese Nationals on Behalf of the People’s Republic of China

[Sarcastr0]

there are quite a number of Chinese nationals living in the US. While nearly all are fine, a small minority may actively oppose US interests

X set will contain Y subset that are bad is always going to be true.
It should take a pretty big Y for us to start treating X as a collective.

[Dr. Ed 2]

No it shouldn't in time of war.

[Longtobefree]

" . . . The ones here illegally might be a serious problem, though."

Just over three divisions, based on published data about the border.
Think about it. Three divisions of infantry already inside our borders. Aided and abetted by democrat policies and by the judiciary.

[Sarcastr0]

Infantry divisions!

LOL what the fuck are you talking about?

[tylertusta]

So long as it was politically tenable, I would expect Democrats to oppose any action taken by Trump to defend Taiwan while blaming him for the crisis and how it came about. If it's politically untenable to oppose defending Taiwan, then they'll bite their tongue until they can find something else to criticize or undermine.

Here's a fun thought: will a Democratic judge issue a TRO to block Trump from undertaking a military intervention? Will someone do a "Boasberg" and order the (stealth) planes to be turned around to be followed by contempt proceedings when the administration balks at providing any operational information?

[Frank Drackman]

Just saw that Pope Francis wore an "Iron Cross" (OK haters, I know it was supposedly tarnished Silver)
Lets see, Iron Cross, Argentina.....
Hmm, what other Catholic World Leader wore an Iron Cross???
and Francis made his last pubic appearance on the guy's birthday???

Frank

[Ska]

Anyone here play Blue Prince? It's on Game Pass and PS Plus if you want to try a great mystery game embedded in a roguelike wrapper. Solid puzzles that go several layers deep the further you go with an overarching mystery that expands its reach as you explore further. Really impressive environmental story telling that's constantly asking you to think about what you've seen and read in-game so you can track down the next set of clues.

[Dr. Ed 2]

Why Easter and Passover don't match:

https://getpocket.com/explore/item/the-ancient-math-that-sets-the-date-of-easter-and-passover?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-us

[Keldonric]

It can't be true that the Secretary of Defense has his wife sitting in on some of these alleged Signal chats.

[rloquitur]

https://www.al.com/news/birmingham/2025/04/theyre-trying-to-shut-him-up-activist-arrested-after-social-media-posts.html