Monday Open Thread

What's on your mind?

Comments

[Dr. Ed 2]

Fuck the Catholic Church.

Protestants have two rules about funerals -- 1, you don't speak ill of the dead, and 2, you don't badmouth anyone else. And here I was thinking that the Catholics were Christians...

The attack on Trump was beyond the pale.

And the Vatican has walls...

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/trump-gets-called-out-in-front-of-millions-at-pope-s-funeral/ar-AA1DF1y2

[Martinned2]

Lord knows I don't care about the pope's opinion any more than I care about anyone else's, meaning that they're welcome to try to convince me but that's it. That said, it is the consistent view of the Vatican across decades that Trump-style policies are evil, and it seems on brand for them to use the occasion to say so.

https://crookedtimber.org/2025/04/26/popes-vs-philosophers-whose-ethics-of-immigration/

[Dr. Ed 2]

Separation of church and state?!?

[Malika the Maiz]

Has nothing to do with this.

[Dr. Ed 2]

And our flags are at half staff because???

I don't remember this being done for Pope John Paul II.

[Martinned2]

The internet is your friend: https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2005/04/images/20050402-3_w9w6873webjpg-515h.html

[The Margrave of Azilia]

No need for them to re-invent the wheel; the Catechism lays down the following in Paragraph 2241:

"The more prosperous nations are obliged, to the extent they are able, to welcome the foreigner in search of the security and the means of livelihood which he cannot find in his country of origin. Public authorities should see to it that the natural right is respected that places a guest under the protection of those who receive him.

"Political authorities, for the sake of the common good for which they are responsible, may make the exercise of the right to immigrate subject to various juridical conditions, especially with regard to the immigrants' duties toward their country of adoption. Immigrants are obliged to respect with gratitude the material and spiritual heritage of the country that receives them, to obey its laws and to assist in carrying civic burdens."

https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/answers/catechism-of-the-catholic-church-2241-23282

This all seems to contemplate a generally welcoming immigration stance, but it falls short of open borders.

There is room for discussion of the meaning of "to the extent they are able," and of "the immigrants' duties toward their country of adoption," which seems to encompass respecting the receiving country's "material and spiritual heritage."

America's laws on immigration seem to me to be fairly generous, and Congress gave them an overhaul in 1965 to be open to immigrants from all over the world.

One could argue that Congress did its part, but of course if Congress' laws are to have any meaning at all they need to be actually enforced when U. S. capacity, as determined by Congress, is considered as a measure of what we're "able" to accept by way of migration.

And we can certainly argue that among juridical conditions to which immigration is rightly subject, are the requirement to apply for a visa and be subject to vetting based on investigating the suitability of the would-be immigrant and taking into account our capacity to absorb the immigrants.

And conditions on immigration can include things like "don't commit crimes."

[Kazinski]

Current immigration law puts a limit of 675,000 immigration visas a year.

[Martinned2]

Be sure to tell the rest of the world that, so that they can adjust the levels of evil and mayhem to the US preferences.

[Martinned2]

(And, of course, maybe take that into account when deciding which countries to drop bombs on yourselves.)

[Magnus Pilatus, MBA, MD, JD, PhDx2]

This comment breaks EU laws on bullying. Reported to The Hague.

[The Margrave of Azilia]

"Current immigration law puts a limit of 675,000 immigration visas a year."

I would like to see a cite for that, because if the law were like that, then I think I would have seen Somin denounce Congress for their stinginess.

[David Nieporent]

If only there were a service on the Internet that allowed one to put in search terms and get results.

[Jerry B.]

https://immigrationroad.com/visa-bulletin/immigrant-visa-annual-limit-and-cap.php

[The Margrave of Azilia]

"675,000 is a "flexible" cap, with certain categories of immigrants exempted from the limit (for example, immediate relatives of U.S. Citizens and certain special immigrants)"

So, no, 675,000 is not the limit. I thought it was too low a number.

[Brett Bellmore]

In practice it's actually more of a floor than a ceiling.

[Life of Brian]

Hey, here's one -- from Congress itself, no less!

This worldwide limit, however, is referred to as a permeable cap because immediate relatives are exempt from numerical limits that are placed on family-sponsored immigration (described below) and thereby represent the flexible component of the 675,000 worldwide limit. In addition, the annual number of refugees is determined not by statute but by the President in consultation with Congress. Applications for asylum are adjudicated on a case-by-case basis without a statutorily mandated limit (see the "Refugees and Asylees" section). Consequently, the actual total number of persons who receive LPR status annually has exceeded 1 million in all but 3 of the past 20 fiscal years.

[Dr. Ed 2]

And I don't see why that should be binding on a largely Protestant US.

[Martinned2]

By the way, what do you think of Trump falling asleep during the service? I guess it's not his fault, it's not like he's familiar with the experience of going to church. As far as I can tell he goes about as often as I do.

https://bsky.app/profile/mrsbettybowers.bsky.social/post/3lnqbyijdv223

[Dr. Ed 2]

What language was the service in?

[Stephen Lathrop]

Maybe this is a good time to remind that photographs depicting scandalous conduct are no longer worth publication, because who can tell which are the fakes.

That will continue until private editing prior to publication gets restored as a journalistic standard.

[Don Nico]

Amen, Stephen. We all need to become as skeptical was Thomas was 2000 years ago.

And even if your journalistic standard gets back at least in intent, I am afraid that present technology is such that one should "trust no one and assume nothing.

May you have a good week.

[Martinned2]

Yes. Stephen was right to make that comment.

[Kazinski]

Wake me when he throws up on a Cardinal, or a Prime Minister.

[BBSquatter]

Anonymous sources report that Democrats Rep Jasmine Crockett, Sen Chuck Schumer, David Hogg, Rep Frederica Wilson, Rep Maxine Waters, choose a Democrat any Democrat, are calling for "taking down" Catholics, Christians, Heterosexuals, White people and any and all LGBT, Blacks, Latinos and Asians who disagree with DNC Talking Points

Not to worry, Pam Bondi, Kash Patel and DC Interim US Attorney Edward R. Martin are on it, thankfully.

[Brett Bellmore]

He's old enough that I'll cut him a bit of slack.

I'm glad you at least skipped the "blue suit" stupidity. Some idiots published carefully cropped photos and claimed that Trump outraged people by wearing a blue suit to the funeral.

Uncropped photos showed that about 40% of the men in the crowd, including Biden, were wearing blue suits...

[Martinned2]

As long as it isn't a tan suit, I don't care.

[Magnus Pilatus, MBA, MD, JD, PhDx2]

You don't care today. I'm sure you were up in arms yesterday before it was revealed to be yet another TDS hoax

[Malika the Maiz]

The tan suit thing refers to an Obama administration era incident, ya goof!

[jb]

Wait, wasn't being old one of the big knocks against Biden? But now for Trump it's a reason to cut him some slack.

At least the motivated reasoning is really obvious.

[Brett Bellmore]

The slam against Biden wasn't that he occasionally fell asleep at boring events, it was that even when he was nominally awake he wasn't really all there.

[Martinned2]

How is that different from Trump? Or is Trump's defence that he hasn't been "all there" in all the time since he first ran for office, so nobody can really tell the difference?

[jb]

I mean, the sobriquet was literally "sleepy Joe".

[Magnus Pilatus, MBA, MD, JD, PhDx2]

Are you still in a tizzy over the Blue Suit hoax?

[Brett Bellmore]

Oh, wait, he is! He just hadn't mentioned it.

[BBSquatter]

These trolls are beyond pathetic. Clearly they were deprived a Renaissance classical liberal arts education. Instead Act Blue sends trolls with defective minds

[hobie]

‘Build bridges, not walls,’

appears to be all that was said. Still, Ed would rather denounce Christianity than tolerate a slur against the Orange Caligula

[Michael P]

Good fences make good neighbors, but leftists want good (submissive) subjects instead.

[Malika the Maiz]

“Good fences make good neighbors”

Totally worked in Germany for decades!

[Sarcastr0]

Your reaction to "build bridges not walls' is Great Replacement nonsense.

Man I wonder what you'd say to "But whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him?"

[Michael P]

You should comment more based on what people actually write and less based on your fervid imagination.

[Sarcastr0]

"leftists want good (submissive) subjects instead."

That's Great Replacement shit.

You gonna deny it?

[TaioF920]

He didn't denounce Christianity. He denounced the heathen Catholic Church that appointed that commie to pope.

[Thought about __ all my life]

Nobody thinks you ae a nice person, just so you know.

[BBSquatter]

You are citing the Daily Beast. LOL. Was Joyless Reid not available?

Here is the official Vatican news source on Trump and Zelensky meeting prior to the funeral of Pope Francis. It was glowing.

Trump and Zelensky discuss peace plans in St. Peter's Basilica

Just before the funeral Mass of Pope Francis, the Presidents of the United States and Ukraine met for a "very productive" discussion on the ongoing war in Ukraine.

By Joseph Tulloch

From the very beginning of Russia's war in Ukraine, Pope Francis continuously offered to mediate to help bring about peace. He appealed for an end to the war at almost every public appearance, and his prayers for "martyred Ukraine" became a familiar refrain.

The late Pope's calls were, above all, calls for dialogue - for key players to come together and find a way to put an end to the conflict.

On Saturday, just before Pope Francis' funeral Mass, such a dialogue took place between US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Photos showed the two Presidents seated face-to-face in St. Peter's Basilica, deep in conversation.

A spokesperson for the White House called the discussion "very productive". President Zelensky, meanwhile, said that it had been a "good meeting," adding that the pair had "discussed a lot one on one."

"Hoping for results on everything we covered," President Zelensky wrote on social media. "Protecting the lives of our people. Full and unconditional ceasefire. Reliable and lasting peace that will prevent another war from breaking out."

Recently, that ceasefire had appeared less and less likely. The last time Presidents Trump and Zelensky met in person, the discussion devolved into an acrimonious verbal brawl. Earlier this month, President Trump and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio threatened to "walk away" from efforts to broker a peace deal. And just two days ago, Russia carried out its deadliest air attack on Kyiv since the beginning of the year.

On Saturday, the discussion seemed far more productive. President Zelensky said it was a "very symbolic meeting, with the potential to become historic, if we achieve joint results."

If those results do manifest themselves - if the 'just peace' so often spoken of by the late Pope is achieved - it might just be Francis' first miracle.

https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2025-04/trump-zelensky-peace-plans-st-peters-francis-funeral.html

[Martinned2]

Funny how talks between Trump and some foreign leader are almost always described as "very productive" "very successful", or something like that by the White House, while the other side tends to be less enthusiastic.

In this case:

Zelensky also called it a "good meeting," noting that they discussed "a lot one-on-one."

https://kyivindependent.com/european-hopes-rise-after-meeting-at-vatican/

[Martinned2]

And the Vatican has walls...

Out of curiosity, have you ever read the treaty that your big hero Mussolini made with the Pope in 1929, which set up the current arrangement? Or is this just a talking point you heard about on Newsmaxxx?

https://www.uniset.ca/nold/lateran.htm

[Riva]

Plenty of TDS inflicted trolls here who share your Catholic bigotry. Looks like you scunge have found some common ground.

[David Nieporent]

The "attack [sic] on Trump."

Also, as pointed out (by me) the other day: the Vatican's walls [which only partially surround the enclave] have gates that — like those of Reagan's city on a hill — are open.

[Riva]

Probably wasting my time, but maybe on some topics, like Catholicism and the Vatican, you should stop commenting due to gross ignorance? Let's add Reagan, otherwise known as Ronaldus Magnus, to that list too. You think one can just move into Vatican City? Maybe a child born there is automatically a citizen? And Reagan's amnesty was a one off (which he later recognized as an error) in exchange for border protection which never materialized because of deceitful democrats. Some things never change I guess.

[Brett Bellmore]

To be fair, deceitful Republicans, too.

[Martinned2]

To start us off, a fun story about Greenland's adventures trying to join FIFA: https://www.ejiltalk.org/greenlands-application-for-membership-to-the-international-football-community/

[SRG2]

Thanks for that!

[Stephen Lathrop]

With regard to many deportations to El Salvador, members of the Trump administration remain in apparent contempt of court. Each day which passes costs at least loss of liberty for victims of no-due-process deportations. Each day which passes ameliorates by one day whatever punishments perpetrators of that contempt will suffer.

It is past time for the courts to act and charge named individuals with civil contempt, and to fine them, or to jail them, until they agree to serve justice according to law.

[Martinned2]

What's your over/under on how much longer it will be before Trump has a Federal judge arrested?

[Stephen Lathrop]

What you posit demands sober reckoning for a whimsical prospect; it is a trick I would pay to see done by someone capable to perform it, but that is not me.

[Riva]

So, are federal judges above the law? Who knew? I thought no one was above the law. Make up your damn minds.

[Dr. Ed 2]

I think that throwing the lawyers bringing these bullshit cases will suffice.

Although throwing a Federal judge or two in jail (in Gitmo) would be nice.

[NvEric]

Contempt is with the wrong courts getting involved.

Due process is according to the situation and the law involved, not a fixed course of action. Illegal aliens have duties to follow and will receive their due process allotted to them by the methods listed in whatever law applies to them. Immigration courts are under the President's branch, not the regular court systems. Obama deported many illegals in abstention which is done when the person does not show up or has not kept in contact with the system as required by law.

Trump is doing the same exact thing as is his duty to do so.

[Malika the Maiz]

“Illegal aliens have duties to follow and will receive their due process allotted to them by the methods listed in whatever law applies to them.”

Like that guy in El Salvador did?

[Michael P]

"Illegal aliens have duties to follow and will receive their due process allotted to them by the methods listed in whatever law applies to them."

Are we talking about the guy with the MS-13 tattoo on his knuckles, who was caught trafficking people multiple times -- at least once in a car belonging to his MS-13-linked supposed boss after he supposedly turned his life around and went straight?

[Martinned2]

We weren't talking about anyone specific, I don't think.

[Malika the Maiz]

“who was caught trafficking people multiple times -- at least once in a car belonging to his MS-13-linked supposed boss after he supposedly turned his life around and went straight?”

Cite?

[David Nieporent]

Are we talking about the guy with the MS-13 tattoo on his knuckles, who was caught trafficking people multiple times -- at least once in a car belonging to his MS-13-linked supposed boss after he supposedly turned his life around and went straight?

No, we're not talking about an imaginary person with a bio you just created in your head.

[Malika the Maiz]

He should collaborate with the guy behind the Drackman persona here.

[A Japanese Student]

Japan's House of Representatives passed the Code of Criminal Procedure Amendments. The bill now heads to the House of Councillors and is expected to pass soon.

The bill allows online proceeding in most criminal matters; it also deals with electronic evidence, and for the first time authorizes a gag order against disclosure of subpoenas.

The main opposition party, CDP, has successfully amended the bill to limit the duration of the gag order. The judge must now include the expiration date in the order, and no order can last for more than a year.

There is also a separate movement among legislators to amend the Code, in order to ensure justice for the wrongly convicted. Suggested reforms include allowing judges to order disclosure of exculpatory evidence in postconviction proceedings, and banning Government appeal of decisions granting postconviction relief. News reports say that the executive is trying to sabotage this effort; they do not want the legislators to mess with the law.

[Dr. Ed 2]

Compare that to Canada where all the press is permitted to report is if the perp who killed (at least) 12 with his assault vehicle (a) got bail or not and (b) how much it was if he got it.

And yes, assault vehicle. 12 dead, 90 injured, that's far more than soime nut with a gun could ever do.

[Martinned2]

Is it? https://www.gunviolencearchive.org/reports/mass-shooting

[Stephen Lathrop]

Note in that report 13 mass shooting instances reported so far this year from Texas, none reported from New England. In fairness, Texas has ~ twice the population of New England.

[Kazinski]

Fun drama over Shadeur Sanders dropping from an anticipated 1st round selection all the way to the 5th round.

former Den Rep Jamaal Bowman said: "Former Democratic U.S. Rep. Jamaal Bowman joined the debate Friday, suggesting the United States fear of 'strong black men' was behind the drop.

Bowman also likened the 23-year-old's predicament to NFL legend Eli Manning, who refused to play for the San Diego Chargers after being selected with the No. 1 pick in 2004.

Bowman said: 'The NFL doesn't like [Shedeur]Sanders because he wears gold chains and talks like a rapper. They don't care that he's a leader, intelligent, tough and completed 77% of his passes with no O-line and no running game. He's entitled but Eli Manning wasn't entitled when he refused to be drafted by San Diego?' Bowman wrote on X.

Steven A Smith said: "This is a damn disgrace,” Smith wrote. “How in the hell is @Shedeur not off the board, not drafted yet. Y’all still think this doesn’t have anything to do with teams hatin on @DeionSanders. This kid is a first rounder. In a different way, this is Kaepernick all over again…..being kept out. A damn disgrace. I don’t care what anyone says!”

And Trump piled on:
"What is wrong with NFL owners, are they STUPID?” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social. “Deion Sanders was a great college football player, and was even greater in the NFL. He’s also a very good coach, streetwise and smart! Therefore, Shedeur, his quarterback son, has PHENOMENAL GENES, and is all set for Greatness. He should be ‘picked’ IMMEDIATELY by a team that wants to WIN. Good luck Shedeur, and say hello to your wonderful father!”

https://athlonsports.com/nfl/dallas-cowboys/dallas-cowboys-donald-trump-shedeur-sanders-draft-controversy-quarterback-snub-conspiracy

[Armchair]

Sigh...

Sanders had a number of issues. It's not some discrimination against "strong black men"... (remember Cam Ward went first, followed by Hunter, then Carter).

1. Sanders interviewed extremely poorly from what I've heard. Just not prepared, didn't seem to care overly. As a QB, that's critical and just a problem.

2. Sanders had fine stats as a QB in college. Most of them do. Under the hood, there were some concerns though. Sanders wasn't really mobile. He took a lot of sacks. He took a long time to throw. He had a high completion percentage, but a lot of it was at, or behind the line of scrimmage. No "elite" athletic traits.

He's now going to be battling for the QB3 spot in Cleveland

[Malika the Maiz]

I don’t think interviewing matters. There’s no lack of NFL quarterbacks who don’t interview well.

[Magnus Pilatus, MBA, MD, JD, PhDx2]

The rumor is Shedeur was intentionally sandbagging interviews with certain teams that he didn't want to play for.

Further, these absurd cries of racism by his camp reveal better reasons to not have drafted him. Who'd want this toxic, self-absorbed landmine in your locker room?

Besides the Browns, of course...

[Armchair]

"I don’t think interviewing matters."

Either did Sanders apparently. See what happened

[Malika the Maiz]

I don’t think many NFL teams would pass on a talented player for wearing bling, anyone who watched the draft should question that. There must’ve been something the scouts didn’t like about Sanders despite his college accomplishments, maybe like Tebow.

[Martinned2]

Didn't the Yankees (different sport, I know) recently drop their "no beards" rule?

[Malika the Maiz]

Iirc the beards have to be well maintained or something.

[Frank Drackman]

like Malika's

[Malika the Maiz]

Related:

“The son of Atlanta Falcons defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich orchestrated Friday’s prank call to Shedeur Sanders amid the quarterback prospect’s fall in the NFL draft.

The Falcons released a statement Sunday apologizing for 21-year-old Jax Ulbrich’s hoax after it was reported that the NFL was investigating the prank, in which the caller purported to be New Orleans Saints general manager Mickey Loomis.”
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2025/apr/27/son-of-falcons-coordinator-admits-to-prank-calling-shedeur-sanders-during-nfl-draft

[Dr. Ed 2]

https://www.bostonherald.com/2025/02/13/massachusetts-school-of-law-affordable-rigorous/

you'd never know that it was NOT ABA accredited...

https://www.mslaw.edu/accreditation-and-bar-eligibility/

[Dr. Ed 2]

China's sea grab is a real problem"

https://archive.is/O0KFK

[Dr. Ed 2]

As is China's cutting cables.
https://archive.is/em1xw

[Kazinski]

This is ridiculous:

"MANDEL: Ontario must cover U.S. surgery for trans patient who wants a vagina — and to keep her penis"

https://torontosun.com/opinion/columnists/mandel-ontario-must-cover-u-s-surgery-for-trans-patient-who-wants-a-vagina-and-to-keep-her-penis

The idea that a country advanced enough to require the state to pay for extra decor fans o be created while leaving the original intact, wouldn't be advanced enough to do the surgery under its own nation canal Health Care system is just ridiculous.

How bad is it when Canada has to send its patients for routine surgery to a country where the health care system is so bad that half the nation applauds when a health insurance executives are summarily executed in the streets?

[Malika the Maiz]

This seems to be an equivocation on “health care system” or “bad,” switching from an assessment of it’s capabilities to its access (when some people say our health care system is “bad” they mean it has crappy access for people, not crappy capabilities for those who can pay).

[Riva]

So then they’d be great if they were really good st tge gender mutilation of mentally disturbed patients?

[Malika the Maiz]

I’m not sure what you’re saying given your mutilated English here. Please perform diagnostics.

[Armchair]

Oh it's bad...

The 15th's leading cause of death in Canada is Euthanasia. It's increasingly rushed.

Can't get to see the doctor because of long wait times for your surgery or cancer? Year plus wait time? No problem. You can see the Euthanasia doctor in less than 90 days.

Once they kill you off, you're not a medical expense anymore.

[Martinned2]

You're also not suffering anymore. Isn't self-determination great? I am personally libertarian enough that I like living in a country where the government isn't going to force me to live on while I'm suffering and want to die.

[Armchair]

You COULD be not suffering if the doctors were actually able to treat you in a timely manner with actual beneficial treatments and medicines for your condition.

But that doesn't seem happen.

[Sarcastr0]

So your thesis is: Canada has bad quality-of-life care, which leads to more assisted suicides.

You've provided zero proof either bad quality-of-life care, no baseline for assisted suicides, nor any causal effect.

This appears to be just the negative hater type of nationalism writing a whole-ass story.

[Michael P]

https://www.fraserinstitute.org/studies/waiting-your-turn-wait-times-for-health-care-in-canada-2024 for wait times, denialist.

Assisted suicide was illegal there until recently -- what do you think the baseline was for that?

Maybe you like sitting there, fat dumb and ignorant, but the rest of us aren't fat or dumb, and we know how to remedy lacking facts.

[Sarcastr0]

So no baseline.

And Americas class-gated care is kinda not mentioned.

You call me ignorant when you don’t even know what your argument is.

[Michael P]

As I suggested before, the baseline (through 2015) was zero. And I said we are all sometimes ignorant, but the rest of us are unlike you in that we can find information like https://www.statista.com/statistics/1189529/total-reported-number-medically-assisted-deaths-canada/ .

Go denialist somewhere else, denialist.

[Sarcastr0]

That's now how baselines work.

A cause is highlighted for driving a rate up. You need a baseline to make that argument.

What do you think I'm denying, even? You don't even have the shape of an argument.

[Malika the Maiz]

Ever notice how MAGAns get so upset at the idea that someone who makes a claim should provide a citation or evidence to back it up? It’s part of the whole Dear Leader cult thing I guess.

[Armchair]

"It isn’t as if the truth isn’t coming out. A recent official report by the Office of the Chief Coroner for Ontario contains many disturbing conclusions that should — but won’t — derail the euthanasia train. For example, a mentally disturbed, suicidal man was euthanized because doctors decided he had a bad reaction to Covid vaccines. From the Vancouver Sun story (my emphasis):

Identified as “Mr. A,” the man experienced “suffering and functional decline” following three vaccinations for SARS-CoV-2. He also suffered from depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety and personality disorders, and, “while navigating his physical symptoms,” was twice admitted to hospital, once involuntarily, with thoughts of suicide

“Amongst his multiple specialists, no unifying diagnosis was confirmed,” according to the report. However, his MAID assessors “opined that the most reasonable diagnosis for Mr. A’s clinical presentation (severe functional decline) was a post-vaccine syndrome, in keeping with chronic fatigue syndrome.”

There were no “pathological findings” at a post-mortem that could identify any underlying physiological diagnosis, though people’s experiences can’t be discounted just because medicine can’t find what’s wrong with them.

In other words, there is a good chance that the poor man was mentally ill and not physically sick."

---Killed off---

[Sarcastr0]

Ah, so an NRO editorial. With an anecdote. By someone who a quick Google turns out to be a big anti-suicide advocate.

I'm not some libertarian who thinks euthanasia must be good policy because freedom. I think it should be carefully regulated to avoid coercion, and be humane, legal, and rare.

I don't know if Canada's policy does that. I do know you're posting zealots and anecdotes doesn't support your 'USA! Because everyone else sucks!!" hater nationalist cheerleading.

[Joe_dallas]

Armchair - Good point

Life expectancy in the US after discovery of disease is typically much longer than in Canada and Europe for most diseases.

[Martinned2]

How about life expectancy in general?

[Frank Drackman]

Youth-in-Asia would be preferable to reading your posts

[Malika the Maiz]

Why don’t you make up a personae that doesn’t read them? Give it a French-Canadian style instead of a person who writes third grade English this time!

[Magnus Pilatus, MBA, MD, JD, PhDx2]

And it's mostly White people.

[Malika the Maiz]

Do you have any citation for Canadians being able to get assisted euthanasia in 90 days?

[Armchair]

Try Google.

[Malika the Maiz]

How about the person making the claim do that?

[Frank Drackman]

Here's how you do it, take a Bottle of 100 Extra Strength Tylenol 500mg tablets, 50gms of Tylenol total, Lethal dose is 12 gms, you're done without the mess of a gun, and the pollution of Carbon Monoxide

[Joe_dallas]

As always Malika has no intention of becoming self educated.

[Malika the Maiz]

I have no intention of accepting a stated claim that’s not backed up. You should look into that.

[Armchair]

When something like this is easily available online with a minimum effort, you're just wasting people's time.

[Malika the Maiz]

So you have nothing to back up your claim?

[Brett Bellmore]

An Act to amend the Criminal Code (medical assistance in dying)

It would be more accurate to say that the actual killing is to happen "no sooner than 90 days", but access to start the clock ticking is immediate.

[Sarcastr0]

This sets a minimum number of days. It is not relevant to Armchair's thesis.

[Brett Bellmore]

It most assuredly IS relevant, on multiple counts. It's the source of that "90 days", for instance.

[Sarcastr0]

Thanks, I guess, for proving Armchair doesn't understand numbers.

[Brett Bellmore]

Things are maybe not as bad as Armchair is suggesting, (Yet!) but they ARE pretty bad, in that the wait time for killing yourself IS shorter than for a lot of life saving treatments, and they absolutely do push euthanasia as a cost saving measure.

Which is the usual trend you see in countries that legalize euthanasia, I should note.

[Sarcastr0]

The wait time for killing yourself IS shorter than for a lot of life saving treatments

I'm not sure that's going to create the perverse incentive you seem to believe it will.

Also, below: "apparently average wait times for euthanasia are not being tracked in Canada."
So you're going on vibes again, looks like.

But even vibes is miles ahead of Armchair's using numbers flat wrongly, so you got that going for you.

[Malika the Maiz]

Ok, see, that is helpful. I think this shows as a matter of law one *could* get the treatment after 90 days. Now, my question is, are the waits for other procedures Armchair points to, are they by law or by practice? And by practice what’s the wait for assisted euthanasia? And how relatively complex are the respective procedures and resources available for each? Otherwise we’re comparing apples and pineapples.

[Brett Bellmore]

I did some looking around, and apparently average wait times for euthanasia are not being tracked in Canada, which is itself somewhat suspicious given the predilection of bureaucrats to track everything. I'm guessing they're not really eager to have that question be easy to answer.

[Malika the Maiz]

You have a hunch about a coverup, color me shocked!

[Riva]

If they were, would that make them “great” in your broken little mind? You must think Nazi healthcare was really great for the jews.

[Malika the Maiz]

Is this a response to me? I do think respecting people’s autonomy is great.

[Riva]

Respecting people's autonomy is not equivalent to mutilating the mentally disturbed, and that becomes a special kind of evil when children are the victims.

[Jerry B.]

"...trans patient who wants a vagina — and to keep her penis..."

So. If anybody tells them to go fuck themselves, they can.

[Martinned2]

The first names have been announced for the new German cabinet. Shockingly, none of them seem to have been recruited from a job as a shouting person on cable news.

https://www.politico.eu/article/merz-fills-new-german-cabinet-with-conservative-loyalists/

At the Foreign Ministry, Johann Wadephul, a seasoned defense and foreign policy expert, is set to lead Germany’s diplomatic efforts at a time of rising global tensions. In a major economic move, Katherina Reiche — a former energy executive and ex-lawmaker — will head the Ministry for Economy and Energy, overseeing Germany’s reindustrialization plans.
(...)
On European affairs, Merz appointed strong voices from his conservative Christian Democratic Union: Serap Güler joins the Foreign Ministry as state minister for international cooperation, while Gunther Krichbaum, a veteran on EU policy, takes the role of state minister for European affairs.

[Dan Schiavetta]

Just about every country has more competent leadership than we do. And it's our own fault.

[Brett Bellmore]

There are SOME advantages to having everything turned upside down occasionally by massive, bloody wars, I suppose. The last time we did that here was in the 1860's.

[Martinned2]

That depends on how you look at it. In the US the authorities exchange gunfire with the citizenry on a daily basis. And we were talking just the other day about how much military effort was required to get the former Confederate States to even pretend to do some desegregation.

[TaioF920]

And the last 60-70 years have shown that the South was right about desegregation and quote unquote civil rights.

[Martinned2]

But I don't think the US is screwed up because of lack of military occupation. The presidential system, at leat the US version of it, somehow seems to incentivise the appointment of lackeys over competent administrators. It has done that since Andrew Jackson, if not longer.

[Martinned2]

On reflection, I think the issue is that executive branch appointments get little to no scrutiny either formally in the Senate or informally through political pressure. In parliamentary systems they usually don't have confirmation hearings (though the EU does), and theoretically each party in government chooses its own ministers, but there is a heavy political cost to choosing an incompetent bellend, because the other party/parties in government will have no compunction about exposing their incompetence.

In the US, where government officials are rarely pushed into resignation as long as the president still backs them, Senate hearings are supposed to create an incentive to nominate competent people. But that only works if the Senate is prepared to block nominations every once in a while. And they don't seem particularly willing to do that, even if the Senate is controlled by the other party than the president's.

[Brett Bellmore]

My actual claim is that WWII effectively "rebooted" governments in Europe, while the US government and political system is like a computer that's been running continuously without a reboot for 160 years. Everybody knows all the exploits and weaknesses of the system, important safeguards have been subjected to 'work arounds' that people have grown used to over time, and our political class have effectively become a self-perpetuating oligarchy which reacts very badly when outsiders achieve any political success.

While it's nice not to have bloody warfare in your country at intervals, we do need some sort of 'reboot' to reduce the parasite load on government, and flush all those exploits and work arounds.

[Martinned2]

Most European countries didn't get rebooted at all. Germany and Itlay did, of course, and France, but Austria still uses its constitution from 1920, for example. And most countries that were occupied basically kept going as before.

But yes, I have commented in the past on how England and the Netherlands ended up with different constitutional and other legal rules today because Napoleon came and rebooted everything in 1810. The last French law that still applied in the Netherlands was only repealed when I was in law school.

[Brett Bellmore]

I think that, even where the constitution wasn't formally replaced, the war produced a massive turnover in the governing elite.

[Sarcastr0]

While it's nice not to have bloody warfare in your country at intervals, we do need some sort of 'reboot' to reduce the parasite load on government

This is just radicalism for it's own sake. Based on...yep, vibes.
And of course coming from someone comfy and insulated from any chaos.

[Malika the Maiz]

Jesus, that is Ozymandias levels of sociopathy.

[Sarcastr0]

Nice ref.

[Don Nico]

Sure, think again.

[Don Nico]

Martin,
Who will be in charge of rebuilding the Wehrmacht (or Bundeswehr or whatever Germany wants to call the New German army possessing its own nuclear weapons).

[Martinned2]

The assumption is that Boris Pistorius, the incumbent defence minister and presumed incoming SPD leader, will stay on defence. But that hasn't been confirmed yet.

[Don Nico]

Thank you.

[Michael P]

Does the modal German minister still hate free speech?

[Sarcastr0]

Trump today asked to set the DoJ on media companies publishing polls he didn't like.

[Riva]

Yeah, right, little communist girl who never smiled, I’m sure that’s clearly what he said. I do recall though that you bozos couldn’t get enough of the lawfare thugs targeting Brandon’s political opponents, so I don’t understand your objections.

[Malika the Maiz]

You might want to reset your search parameters Riva-bot.

https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/crime-and-courts/2025/02/25/dismissal-sought-donald-trump-lawsuit-pollster-ann-selzer-des-moines-register-iowa-poll/79442387007/

[Riva]

That civil litigation is not lawfare you ignorant parrot troll.

[Martinned2]

No

[Martinned2]

Alba Ribera Martínez is a Spanish academic who does the Lord's work by following every development around the Digital Markets Act closely and by writing about it, so that I don't have to.

Here is her summary of last week's Commission infringement decisions against Apple and Meta: https://competitionlawblog.kluwercompetitionlaw.com/2025/04/28/the-dmas-teeth-meta-and-apple-fined-by-the-european-commission/

[Martinned2]

Here, have a photograph of Mozart's wife: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/5157200.stm

[Martinned2]

Similarly weird, I think there is a sound recording somewhere of Ulrike von Levetzow, the unwilling subject of Goethe's Marienbad Elegy, telling the story of how the poet fell madly in love with her in 1821.

[Dan Schiavetta]

I'd rather think of Elizabeth Berridge in "Amadeus".

[Frank Drackman]

me too

[hobie]

On Sunday NPR had a segment on American doctors that had recently worked in Gaza. What the doctors were most disturbed about were all the transcranial head shots of children. They described how invariably the children's pupils were fixed and dilated, meaning they were essentially dead.

Normally this could be explained away as the casualties of war. Except that there have been thousands of videos posted on line from Israeli soldiers. They are not shy about filming their exploits. I've seen a lot of the rummaging about apartments, playing the pianos of the deceased, wearing the women's clothing and doing dance numbers.

But there's also been a large amount of sniper videos; with hundreds involving children. A little child walking alone down the street under the grainy, green filter of the rifle scope, then suddenly falling to the ground.

You stupid hayseeds worshipping the ground Israelis walk on, but they are no less savages than you or I

[Commenter_XY]

Sounds like wishcasting on your part, Arthur.

[Life of Brian]

"Arthur" -- LOL.

[Don Nico]

The Hamasniks can stop this immediately by unconditional surrender.

[Martinned2]

Can they? It sounds suspiciously from statements by Ben Gvir and other Israeli government officials as if unconditional surrender would still result in massive ethnic cleansing of Gaza.

[Don Nico]

You mean like those demanding the "right of return" want to do to Jews? Or like every Arab country ethnically cleansed the Jews in 1947-48?

Maybe you like the idea that Gazans will prefer to live in the rubble for decades. Are you objecting to letting those who wish to leave become true refugees?

[Martinned2]

Gibberish. If you try it in sane English I might be able to work out whether I agree with you.

[Don Nico]

Simple Martin.
Palestinianism is the doctrine that no Jews should live in Palestine, that unlike other refugees who understand that a time comes to move on, the Palestinian position from either the PLA or Hamas, is that Palestinians remain refugees forever as long a Jews live nearby.
And what don't you understand about the idea that some Gazans will prefer not to live in the rubble.

[Malika the Maiz]

“unlike other refugees who understand that a time comes to move on”

Wow. I mean, an oft cited justification for the current state of Israel is that some Jews never moved on from the area after the Romans crushed them, y’know?

[Martinned2]

Palestinianism

This is not a word. (Except in the sense that you've just invented it.)

the doctrine that no Jews should live in Palestine

Which is something that many people believe, and that is very bad. I don't think it's made better by Israeli attempts to genocide and ethnic cleanse the Palestinians out of existence.

other refugees who understand that a time comes to move on

Like who?

And what don't you understand about the idea that some Gazans will prefer not to live in the rubble.

I understand that just fine. That's the whole point of why Israel bombed Gaza into rubble in the first place. (Well, that and killing as many people as possible.)

[Brett Bellmore]

Looking at the Wikipedia entry for it, it's apparently been a word about 40 years now.

[Jerry B.]

"other refugees who understand that a time comes to move on

Like who?"

The ones who have been restricted to camps in the surrounding states by the governments of those countries, who might want to be Egyptians, Jordanians, etc. instead of propaganda tools.

[Martinned2]

Is anything stopping them? One Palestinian in Jordan married the King. I don't think they held her at gunpoint to prevent her leaving the camp.

[Joe_dallas]

NPR is notorious for making shit up.

[Malika the Maiz]

joe_dallas is notorious for making shit up.

[Joe_dallas]

The NPR article cited by Hobie is bull shit. As usual, you display a complete ignorance of historical dishonesty of NPR reporting

[Malika the Maiz]

Didn’t you get caught replying to your own sock puppet here?

[David Nieporent]

He took high school biology, which makes him an expert.

[David Nieporent]

You've seen hundreds of videos of Israeli snipers killing little children? Are you sure you're not mixing it up with video game footage?

[Commenter_XY]

Judge Dugan does a nice perp walk..
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/fbi-director-posts-photo-of-arrested-wisconsin-judge-s-perp-walk-possibly-violating-doj-policy/ar-AA1DG2dB

Does she get jail time?

[Martinned2]

Frogs in boiling water...

[hobie]

...like a magabillie in boiling koolade

[Magnus Pilatus, MBA, MD, JD, PhDx2]

Or your neighbors in boiling grape drank.

[Frank Drackman]

Hey, I'm from the dirty south, where we invented "Drank" (and with Slavery, Coca Cola, and Delta Airlines the "Drank" is looking better and better)
it's "Purple Drank" and it started back when you get still get OTC Cough Syrup with Codeine/Promethazine, mix it with grape Koolaid, Mad-Dog 20/20, and you've got a House Party (and multiple gunshot victims)
Like the Atrocity of the Vodka Martini, it's been molested, now with Dextromethorphan/benadryl containing Cough preparations replacing the Codeine, and do your current Hood Rats even know what brand "Mad Dog" was?
Never sampled the Drank myself, House Parties in the South are like the 3rd rail for white peoples, you go there, you die

Frank

[Malika the Maiz]

“Hey, I'm from the dirty south”

Or at least his made up “gonzo personae” is supposed to be.

MAGA really appeals to sad weirdos!

[Frank Drackman]

she does sort of resemble a Frog

[Michael Ejercito]

That is the situation criminals find themselves in.

[Don Nico]

AG Bondi is going for 6 years.
Then, Dugan can help fellow inmates file their appeals

[Moderation4ever]

No, they charges are quietly dropped. The Trump administration wanted the headlines, not a trial where their tactics could be questioned in court.

[Frank Drackman]

"they" charges??
is this "Watermelon Man"?? you turned Black over night?

[Malika the Maiz]

Need to invent a character with some self awareness….

[Life of Brian]

"Their tactics"? Please say more. The only attempt at substantive (i.e., non-tribal) defense of Dugan I've seen so far grossly misrepresented what she did.

[Riva]

Leftist lunatic trolls oddly silent on Dugan. I thought this was the new poster child for their open borders insanity? Maybe if she joined a gang she’d heighten her appeal?

[Moderation4ever]

You need to broaden the scope of your reading Dugan getting a lot of support.

[Malika the Maiz]

“You need to broaden the scope of your reading”

Bots don’t really “read,” do they?

[Michael Ejercito]

Hard to tell.

We would need to find out what the evidence is.

[Martinned2]

Good little rant on Crooked Timber:

I thought it was a platitude, but given the sea of self-congratulatory discourse about Europe (here’s an example for those who read Italian, but there are plenty) we seem to be surrounded with, maybe it bears saying after all. So here you go.
Europe is not a worthy ideal because the region has had the best art, philosophy, and literature in the world, or because its history and its present constitute a beacon of civilisation, freedom, and rights. It is not the only part of the world that has distinguished itself for amazing creativity and innovation, and it has been on the wrong (very wrong) side of history for much longer than it has not. If Europe is worth championing as a political ideal, it is because, however imperfectly, it represents the quite opposite thought: that we can gather around an acknowledgment of our mistakes, a reckoning with our crimes, and create something better because of it, motivated by the desire not to repeat those mistakes and those crimes. In that, its founding values are unique, and maybe uniquely modest. De facto, that has only happened fairly superficially, very selectively, and often hypocritically – but it has been one central regulative ideal for the past 80 years, and one still worth supporting. If you go on and on about how great Europe is and always has been, you actually betray that very ideal.

https://crookedtimber.org/2025/04/28/which-europe-is-worth-defending/

[Kazinski]

Europe's culture is overrated, if it was all it was cracked up to be Jerry Lewis would not have been awarded France's Legion of Honour.

And there might actually be some watchable European movies.

But certainly Italian food is worth the hype.

[Martinned2]

I recently watched all of Yorgos Lanthimos's movies. Most of them are very weird, and some of them are breathtakingly good.

[Don Nico]

There are definitely more watchable European movies (and TV series) than American ones that are most commonly tripe on toast.

[David Nieporent]

There are definitely more watchable European movies (and TV series) than American ones that are most commonly tripe on toast.

I think revealed consumer preference strongly suggests otherwise.

[Frank Drackman]

Ate Pizza almost every single day of my "Combat" deployments to Italy (unlike Sergeant Pepper Waltz, I did get Hazardous Duty Pay, sleeping in the back seat of an FA-18D was very dangerous) and you only had 2 choices, Pizza Marinara, or one with some Capicola topping, one thing the Eye-talins couldn't really get right was a nice Steak, I tried the "Cavallo" one night
Tastes like Horse

Frank

[Malika the Maiz]

“almost every single day of my "Combat" deployments to Italy”

During the great Final Fantasy police action!

[Frank Drackman]

I know, it was sort of an open joke, but during William Juffuhson Clintons term, the US flew over Bosnia to make sure the Serbs (was it the Serbs? I never understood that whole conflict) weren't flying or doing meany things on the ground, if you flew 1 mission in a month, that month's pay was not only tax free ("Combat Tax Exclusion") but you got "Hazardous Duty Pay" that month, some $400 if I remember correctly, real Shekels in 1996.
It was an open Joke because there was a mad dash of the Headquarters Weanies trying to get on an EC-130 Flight the first week of every month, Air Farce Colonels would fly over from the Pentagon for the same reason,
as a "Flight Surgeon" (No, you don't do Surgery in flight) I was "required" to fly 4 hrs a month, is it my fault I made sure it was a flight that qualified for the Bennies????
Is that enough of an "elaborate back story" for ya?

Frank

[Malika the Maiz]

It’s exactly the amount that I’d expect from a sad desperate person.

[Dan Schiavetta]

Europe is composed of countries that have a history of internecine warfare against each other. They act more or less as a unit now. This is something for the rest of the world to emulate.

[Brett Bellmore]

The upside of one world government, (Which is what you're suggesting here, I take it.) is no more refugees.

The downside is that it's because there's no refuge.

The more centralized policy making becomes, the more likely it becomes that some awful mistake will be imposed universally, instead of just locally.

[Martinned2]

Hence subsidiarity.

[Brett Bellmore]

Indeed. Or as we call it here, federalism.

But central governments in federations have a regrettable tendency to centralize power and subvert subsidarity. It's tough designing counter-measures that prevent the balance from tilting one way or the other over time.

I think we had a pretty good design until the direct election of Senators removed the last theoretical lever state governments had to push back against the federal government.

[Malika the Maiz]

Are you claiming to be back into subsidiarity now? How about all those GOP state governments telling localities what to do on so many issues these days?

[Brett Bellmore]

There's subsidarity as a policy, and subsidarity as a constitutional mandate, you know. Almost no US state has the latter, the way the federal Constitution does.

And the federal Constitution explicitly prohibits subsidarity in respect to decisions as to whether or not to respect constitutional rights.

[Malika the Maiz]

I’m talking about things from fracking to Confederate statues, where GOO state legislatures have told what local governments they can or cannot do in their localities and don’t involve constitutional rights.

[Brett Bellmore]

And I pointed out that subsidarity is a constitutional principle between the federal Constitution and the states, but is NOT a constitutional principle within most states.

So the failure to properly have subsidarity between the states and the federal government is a constitutional violation much of the time, but not so much within the states.

[apedad]

Earth just had COVID without a centralized govt.

[Magnus Pilatus, MBA, MD, JD, PhDx2]

... caused by central governments, then mismanaged by central governments

[Martinned2]

Fortunately there's always the WHO to coordinate when a pandemic breaks out. O, wait.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/withdrawing-the-united-states-from-the-worldhealth-organization/

[TaioF920]

Like the European Central Bank's deranged monetary policy, for example.

[Don Nico]

Led by a EC unelected by the people of Europe.
When the EU finally commits to and begins to build a true Armed Forces, I'll listen to you.

[Martinned2]

Led by a EC unelected by the people of Europe.

WTF are you talking about? They are all at least as democratically elected as Elon Musk.

When the EU finally commits to and begins to build a true Armed Forces, I'll listen to you.

The whole reason why the US encouraged the Europeans to integrate is to *avoid* them building armed forces. Make up your minds, what do you want? World conquest or peace?

[Magnus Pilatus, MBA, MD, JD, PhDx2]

That comment is illegal. Why do you commit so many of the same crimes that you cheer on when your own White countrymen are getting jailed over?

[Martinned2]

Since you asked, conveniently the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute published its annual data today:

World military expenditure reached $2718 billion in 2024, an increase of 9.4 per cent in real terms from 2023 and the steepest year-on-year rise since at least the end of the cold war. Military spending increased in all world regions, with particularly rapid growth in both Europe and the Middle East. The top five military spenders—the United States, China, Russia, Germany and India—accounted for 60 per cent of the global total, with combined spending of $1635 billion.
(...)
Several countries in Central and Western Europe saw unprecedented rises in their military expenditure in 2024 as they implemented new spending pledges and large-scale procurement plans. Germany’s military expenditure increased by 28 per cent to reach $88.5 billion, making it the biggest spender in Central and Western Europe and the fourth biggest in the world. Poland’s military spending grew by 31 per cent to $38.0 billion in 2024, representing 4.2 per cent of Poland’s GDP.

https://www.sipri.org/media/press-release/2025/unprecedented-rise-global-military-expenditure-european-and-middle-east-spending-surges

[Frank Drackman]

What hallucinogen are you on? lets see, the UK certainly isn't part of the "Unit", Northern Italians don't like the Central Italians, who really don't like the Southern Italians, and the Sicilians? they run everything. And when Germans talk about the "NFL" they aren't talking about how Deion's kid outsmarted himself, they mean the "Neue Funf Lander" the 5 States that used to be part of East Germany and how they're still pulling the country down, Austria doesn't belong to NATO, and the Swiss stay out of everybodies business.
Other than that, intelligent comment!

[Malika the Maiz]

The Mad King: “as you know, the cost of eggs has come down like 93, 94% since we took office.”

Yeah, I know I bought eggs for 40 cents a dozen this week!

[Magnus Pilatus, MBA, MD, JD, PhDx2]

That's still pretty expensive where you live. What's that? like a months wages?

[Malika the Maiz]

Magnus has no grasp of costs. Living in your mom’s basement does that.

[Magnus Pilatus, MBA, MD, JD, PhDx2]

I've read the data on Qinghai, where you live.

[Malika the Maiz]

With the controls your mom has on your internet access you really can’t be sure of the limited information you get.

[Frank Drackman]

No, it's your nappy haid', you won't clean out the cobwebs, I'm subletting the place

[Malika the Maiz]

I like to laugh at crazy, sad people who invent detailed backstoried personae to comment on a legal website, I admit it.

MAGA really attracts the desperate nuts!

[grb]

Frank always reminds me of the character Buckaroo Banzai. If you don't recall the 1984 film, Banzai was simultaneously a physicist, neurosurgeon, test pilot, and rock star. Of course the movie was a comedy, but that also fits. After all, Frank's only a joke.

[Malika the Maiz]

Trump’s dropping poll numbers were in the news over the weekend, especially regarding immigration. It seems to me a majority of the American public wanted something to be done about immigration, but Trump has overreached and is now undermining that support. Will the undermining last?

On the flip side think of the incredible success of the movement for civil rights for gays and lesbians in recent decades. How much did adding the T and Q to that movement overextend and threaten to undermine it?

[Magnus Pilatus, MBA, MD, JD, PhDx2]

Those polls were fake & gay, a hacky psyop to smear his "First 100 Days".

[Malika the Maiz]

And Magnus knows fake and gay!

[Magnus Pilatus, MBA, MD, JD, PhDx2]

Yes, I'm very familiar with Chinese/Democrat politics.

[Malika the Maiz]

His mom brings him Panda Express sometimes and he watches Fox.

[Magnus Pilatus, MBA, MD, JD, PhDx2]

I'm reporting you to Teemu for your insult of Ji.

[Malika the Maiz]

Is Teemu one of your dolls, I mean “action figures,” your mom got you?

[Frank Drackman]

No TEMU's this site that sells Dildos made by Slaves in Chy-na much cheaper than the ones you get from "Adam & Steve.com" you should check it out

[Malika the Maiz]

His made up personae knows a lot about dildos. Method acting?

[Sarcastr0]

I'm not a big poll watcher, but Trump seems to be aware, and would like to persecute the media about it:

"Great Pollster John McLaughlin, one of the most highly respected in the industry, has just stated that The Failing New York Times Poll, and the ABC/Washington Post Poll, about a person named DONALD J. TRUMP, ME, are FAKE POLLS FROM FAKE NEWS ORGANIZATIONS. The New York Times has only 37% Trump 2024 voters, and the ABC/Washington Post Poll has only 34% Trump Voters, unheard of numbers unless looking for a negative result, which they are. These people should be investigated for ELECTION FRAUD, and add in the FoxNews Pollster while you’re at it. They are Negative Criminals who apologize to their subscribers and readers after I WIN ELECTIONS BIG, much bigger than their polls showed I would win, loose a lot of credibility, and then go on cheating and lying for the next cycle, only worse. They suffer from Trump Derangement Syndrome, and there is nothing that anyone, or anything, can do about it. THEY ARE SICK, almost only write negative stories about me no matter how well I am doing (99.9% at the Border, BEST NUMBER EVER!), AND ARE TRULY THE ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE! I wish them well, but will continue to fight to, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!"

[Magnus Pilatus, MBA, MD, JD, PhDx2]

He makes a pretty good point. These organizations should be investigated for any illegal actions.

[Riva]

What has the media honestly reported lately? The “Maryland man” distortions? Biden’s decline? The Russian collusion hoax? The laptop lie? The Charlottesville lie? The Covid lies? And, closer to home here, the fraudulent Iowa poll. It’s rather hard to find something they were honest about.

[jb]

Even if you just assume (arguendo) that all of Riva's examples are good job of media inaccuracies, that's what, six bad story lines over as many years?

Seems like there's a lot of room for honest reporting in the middle of that, on the order of thousands of stories.

[jb]

I decided to go take a look at the data for the NYT poll, which is here:

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/04/25/us/elections/times-siena-poll-toplines.html

Looks like they have 38% Trump voters, 38% Kamala voters, 16% "did not vote" voters, and 7% "someone else/don't remember/etc.". So that doesn't seem crazy. They also have slightly more people that solidly identify with the Republican party (30%) than Democrats (28%), although once they try and get the Independents to choose a major party Democrats end up with a 46/44 edge.

Overall, doesn't look like a particularly unrealistic panel at first blush.

[Brett Bellmore]

"They also have slightly more people that solidly identify with the Republican party (30%) than Democrats (28%),"

That actually checks with recent polling ; The Democratic party is suffering badly lately.

CNN Poll: Democratic Party’s favorability drops to a record low

Trump still has time to pull it out, but he needs to, or he'll be a drag on the party come the midterms. But political capital has to be spent to be retained, and if a year from now he's racked up some serious wins, he won't be in bad shape.

[Sarcastr0]

Favorability != identify with.

Schumer's been shitting the bed in how to oppose Trump.

Not to say the Dems are sitting pretty, but you need to be careful with your terms.

[Michael Ejercito]

Wait until they hear about Judge Hannah Dugan.

[Don Nico]

Meanwhile in Israel, the PM still cannot fire the head of the secret police, who did not even inform the PM when the initial movements of the Oct pogrom were detected.

[Martinned2]

No, the PM cannot fire the head of the secret police without the consent of the Attorny-General. Does compliance with the law as a concept somehow confuse you?

And no, even if the head of the secret police refuses to drop investigations into the PM and his friends, that still isn't enough reason to fire him.

[Ed Grinberg]

Martinned2 wants to see Israel destroyed ... but while it still exists, he wants it to be corruption-free!

[Frank Drackman]

We survived Pharoh and Hitler, we'll survive Martinned2

[Armchair]

Question for the legal proletariat.

Had an interesting discussion with Mr. Nierporent a couple days ago.

He felt that it was entirely legal and legitimate for a academic journal to reject the articles submitted by certain people, based purely on the color of their skin. Not based on the content of what was said, mind you, but based on the color of the skin of the author. Something about editorial discretion.

Now of course, Mr Nierporent has argued in the past that the social media organizations like Facebook and Twitter also have editorial discretion. So they could, for example, simply ban any African Americans from being able to post anything, ever. Even on the marketplaces. Under the auspices of "editorial control"

I believe this would be illegal and violate civil rights, despite any arguments about "editorial control" and that that editorial control arguments should apply purely to the content...and not the race of the author.

But what do all you say?

[Magnus Pilatus, MBA, MD, JD, PhDx2]

I say his legal principles are as gerrymandered as his Democrat voting district.

[Malika the Maiz]

I doubt VDare has to post articles by blacks or The Final Call ones by whites, but colleges that get federal money probably have to play by different rules.

[Armchair]

The particular journal in this case was the Harvard Law Review that was discriminating on the basis of the author's race.

Last time I checked, Harvard got quite a bit in federal money.

(OK, last time I checked that was money was suddenly frozen....but you get the point)

[Malika the Maiz]

You asked for what I’d say, I said.

[David Nieporent]

Harvard Law Review and Harvard University are different institutions. HTH.

[Zarniwoop]

I think that you're doing you usual pseudo-legalistic schtick, namely setting up an under-determined hypothetical so that you can cry "gotcha, libz!"

In your hypo, in what ways is a generic, no-other-details "academic journal" the same or different from bookface? Or are they identical for your purposes? What same or different laws and regs might apply to one and not the other?

[David Nieporent]

He felt that it was entirely legal and legitimate

Can't keep from lying, can you?

[Sarcastr0]

Do you find clumsy JAQing off to be a useful rhetorical tactic elsewhere?

Because this boils down to a lame attack on DMN based on you writing his arguments for him.

Expressive association brings in the 1A here, so long as they prove their choice of who to invite is an integral part of the journal's identity.

[Moderation4ever]

I read, in my local newspaper The Wisconsin State Journal, about another voting scheme to try to address they current state of two-party domination of our politics. Called Fusion Voting, the idea is to have a moderate centrist party that would select candidates from existing parties to form a new slate of candidates under a United Wisconsin party. In effect candidates could be listed under two parties. Their own and the United Wisconsin party. I don't know that it will work, doubt it will be allowed, but good to see people trying to improve our politics and get more voice to centrists.

[Magnus Pilatus, MBA, MD, JD, PhDx2]

That's a pretty interesting idea. For me, that would turn into a Uni-Party who not to vote for list, but our current electoral system needs legit competition.

But, nonetheless, I like the idea of new parties, or other innovations that aren't specious subversions like ranked choice voting.

[Brett Bellmore]

I think there's basically no solution to the evolution of a political duopoly save some form of proportional representation. All the other schemes are too easy to game, or actually are ways to reduce the duopoly to a monopoly.

[Malika the Maiz]

Meh, we got pretty darned close when Perot ran. He should have kept in the race that first time.

[Brett Bellmore]

Perhaps he should have. Though he was actually an independent candidate, not third party, despite the fact that he had to create a 'party' in order to get on the ballot in some states.

But Perot is something of a sore spot for me, because the same year that Perot was gifted ballot access in numerous states, by having the legal requirements waived, my party at the time, the LP, was required to comply with those rules, at ruinous expense.

Perot got ballot access as a gift, because he was seen by Democrats as a useful spoiler. We accomplished it the hard way.

[Krayt]

Perot's goal was to get Bush the Elder unelected, not to push any particular philosophy. I don't know what drove it, but they had both been big players for decades.

Drops out the night before Clinton is to give his acceptance speech at the D convention, so everyone has to tune in to see what he says.

Gets back in later to re-split the ticket just in case. That plus "It's the economy, stupid!" to divert from the fading big mo of Gulf War I did the trick.

And the lesson of all of it? That your successful war you glow from should not be done too early in your administration. If it is, e.g. Afghanisan, do another one a year and a half later that'll make it to your re-election.

Anyway, I leave you with that cynical thought of the day.

[Frank Drackman]

Voted for Perot in 92' and would have in 96'(only erection I missed) and no, I didn't make George Herbert Bush lose, Clinton was my second choice.

[Martinned2]

Meanwhile, recent UK polling for some local elections suggest that the new mayor* of Western England could end up being elected with 27% of the vote, representing less than 10% of the electorate. Isn't first-past-the-post great?

https://www.somersetlive.co.uk/news/local-news/greens-lead-labour-tight-race-10132789

* The English seem willing to call all sorts of directly elected executives "mayor", even if the place they're in charge of is plainly not a city. The West of England Combined Authority runs both Bristol and Bath, as well as a bit of land in the wider area.

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

[Frank Drackman]

Sucks when the people don't choose who you think they should choose, doesn't it?

[jb]

In some states, something like this is already possible. For example, in New York, the Working Families Party routinely chooses candidates from a mainstream party (typically the Democrats in this example) so someone could just vote the Working Families line and end up casting votes for whatever mainstream candidates the party had elected to include on their ballot line.

I'm skeptical this would actually change anyone's voting behavior, though, especially for high-visibility races.

[Brett Bellmore]

It mainly makes it easier for a third party to retain ballot access, (For which you typically need a minimum vote percentage for some particular office.) while still running its own candidates in some races.

[David Nieporent]

New York has fusion voting, has for a long long time. It doesn't really function the way you describe, and doesn't have any meaningful impact. You don't have any centrist parties nominating some Republicans and some Democrats. Instead, what you have is some relatively fringe left/right parties nominating the Dem or GOP candidate, respectively, for a few offices, which allows the particular candidate to appear on the ballot twice, giving him/her an advantage, while allowing the fringe party to run up vote totals for that one race which allows the party to keep its all-important ballot access.

[Krayt]

I keep saying the exec signing laws is so important, all mini-parties must band together into giant ones to try to seize that brass ring.

We have coalition government. They just have settled it all out before the election, not after. Party planks? Those are just the mini party central goals.

As long as the exec signs the law, this process, two giant parties, will form naturally.

[Frank Drackman]

White House placed dozens of posters of Ill-legal Aliens who've committed violent crimes on White House lawn, MSNBC already saying they're going to censor it by blurring the photos, you know, like they did with the people jumping to their deaths on 9-11.

[Moderation4ever]

It has now been 44 days since the Trump Administration mistakenly deported Kilmar Abrego Garcia to an El Salvator prison. The administration has not moved to correct its mistake.

[Frank Drackman]

for the gazillionth time, it's not a "mistake", they sent Kill-more Garcia's back to his home country, as the Techno-Nerds love to say
"It's a "Feature" not a "Bug"

[Malika the Maiz]

“But in court papers filed Monday, the government admitted that "on March 15, although ICE was aware of his protection from removal to El Salvador, Abrego Garcia was removed to El Salvador because of an administrative error."

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcna199010

Btw-since you’re making up a backstory to periods gonzo routine here why don’t you add something about doing a vaudeville circuit with your parents when you are young? More entertaining.

[Frank Drackman]

Why don't so add something about doing it with your parents?
I mean vaudeville, not "doing it"

Frank "I don't know Mr. Bones, what IS in the bag???"

[tylertusta]

Well, maybe they haven't. Maybe they have. Discovery was stayed until the 30th.

[Michael Ejercito]

Here is Jack Marshall's take on the arrest of Hannah Dugan.

https://ethicsalarms.com/2025/04/26/pssst-somebody-tell-sen-klobuchar-that-she-neednt-work-so-hard-at-embarrassing-minnesota-with-gov-walz-doing-such-a-bang-up-job-of-it/

[Sarcastr0]

25% of community college applicants in California are now AI bots scamming the Pell Grant system.

https://calmatters.org/education/higher-education/2024/04/financial-aid-fraud/

I know the housecats around here are not in favor of Pell Grants, but for those of us aware of their value, this is a problem I'm not sure how to address.

[Brett Bellmore]

Require applicants to show up in person at their local DMV to fill out a hardcopy application?

[Sarcastr0]

Like, hand written?

Captcha still works for now, I think.

[ducksalad]

I'm pretty sure that a good AI can now do better on a captcha than the average person. Unless it's so hard that some real community college applicants are failing it.

Have you noticed that a lot of them have just gone back to a simple "I am not a robot" checkbox? They're just so that, if necessary, the site can make a case that the bot operator committed fraud.

[jb]

The "I am not a robot" checkbox is actually checking a lot of things:

https://medium.com/a-dose-of-curiosity/how-does-the-i-am-not-a-robot-checkbox-work-c24d426a82a1

Having said that, Captchas are just designed to filter out relatively high volume bots. For something like a Pell Grant, actually making someone show up in person seems reasonable.

[Brett Bellmore]

Hey, it's at least hard to bypass, at least until the androids get really good at passing in a few years. Captcha is getting to be a joke; As ducksalad says, by the time you make it hard enough to weed out the AIs, it's failing a substantial percentage of the humans, and that's only going to rapidly get worse over time.

[Frank Drackman]

18 U.S. Code § 1071 - Concealing person from arrest
U.S. Code
"Whoever harbors or conceals any person for whose arrest a warrant or process has been issued under the provisions of any law of the United States, so as to prevent his discovery and arrest, after notice or knowledge of the fact that a warrant or process has been issued for the apprehension of such person, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than one year, or both; except that if the warrant or process issued on a charge of felony, or after conviction of such person of any offense, the punishment shall be a fine under this title, or imprisonment for not more than five years, or both."

[Michael Ejercito]

What Hannah Dugan is accused of doing (accused being the key word here) meets this definition.

[Malika the Maiz]

If Duggan did what’s being alleged-knew a federal agent was there to investigate or arrest a person-and helped them get away I’m fine with her being arrested and charged.

[Frank Drackman]

I'll let Pam know you approve

[ducksalad]

So if a federal judge issues an arrest warrant for a illegal alien, and then ICE agents spirit him or her off to El Salvador, the ICE agents can be sentenced to up to five years.

Is that what you and Frank are saying?

[apedad]

Here's the DOJ press release.

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-announces-two-cases-involving-judicial-misconduct-and-obstruction-law

As M-the-M says, if the allegation is true then I don't have a problem with the arrest.

[Zarniwoop]

DOJ memo on application of AEA (obtained by public records request). From USA Today:

Trump administration officials directed law enforcement nationwide to pursue suspected gang members into their homes, in some cases without any sort of warrant, according to a copy of the directive exclusively obtained by USA TODAY.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/04/25/trump-venezuelan-gang-deportations-alien-enemies-act/83253074007/

https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/25915967-doj-march-14-memo-alien-enemies-act/#document/p1

[Sarcastr0]

It's like they're going through the Constitution to try and abrogate every amendment except the 2nd and 3rd.

[Dr. Ed 2]

They can take their children with them -- or give them up for adoption.

https://edition.cnn.com/2025/04/27/us/children-us-citizens-deported-honduras/index.html?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-us

[Martinned2]

So I guess I'll have to quote the ECJ's Ruiz Zambrano judgment to you people again, for what must be the 100th time. Something, something, definition of insanity...

Article 20 TFEU precludes national measures which have the effect of depriving citizens of the Union of the genuine enjoyment of the substance of the rights conferred by virtue of their status as citizens of the Union.

43 A refusal to grant a right of residence to a third country national with dependent minor children in the Member State where those children are nationals and reside, and also a refusal to grant such a person a work permit, has such an effect.

44 It must be assumed that such a refusal would lead to a situation where those children, citizens of the Union, would have to leave the territory of the Union in order to accompany their parents. Similarly, if a work permit were not granted to such a person, he would risk not having sufficient resources to provide for himself and his family, which would also result in the children, citizens of the Union, having to leave the territory of the Union. In those circumstances, those citizens of the Union would, in fact, be unable to exercise the substance of the rights conferred on them by virtue of their status as citizens of the Union.

https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=celex:62009CJ0034

[ReaderY]

Professor Volokh and other Conspuracy members have made vigorous defense of broad interpretations part of their life’s work. The theory is that human beings are perfectly capable of sorting out honest people from predators and truth from fiction.

But a great deal of the history of the last century or so suggests that this is not so. Propaganda efforts in totalitarian countries have been highly successful. And social science experiments that are now over half a century old designed to explore this success largely repeated and confirmed it. Festinger and colleagues’ cognitive dissonance experiments, Stanley Milgrim’s obedience to authority experiments, the Stanford prisoner experiments, and others all showed that people will believe, or say they believe, things one might think they ought to know to be lies and engage in behavior one might think they ought to know to be wrong, under certain conditions.

These conditions include a monopoly on communication and authority. When people hear everyone around them saying the same thing, they are loathe to contradict it. When they hear autjority saying it, they are loathe to disobey.

These conditions include traditional answer to this has been to have a cacaphony of voices, to ensure that people arenmt always exposed to the same consistent message. But modern technology and social patterns have enabled the creation of social niches that are in effect cognitive and communications bubbles in which people are exposed to monologues in a manner that more or less mimics the effects of bubbles created by totalitarian propaganda.

Further, a number of recent decisions that are presented as pro-free speech, including First Amendment restrictions on government applying limits to campaign spending, ownership by conglomerate media and social media companies, treating social media as publishers and owners rather than transmitters of their users’ messages, and the increasing influence of for-profit considerations on the content of messages.

My question is, what if anything can be done about this? Well-intentioned First Amendment arguments, combined with increased control of communications by completely unregulated mega-oligopolists who bend to political pressures due to government’s ability to manipulate their profit potential (Think Jeff Bezos), seem to be moving us in a direction where we are more controlled by propagandists telling us whatever will advantage them than by speakers interested in being honest with us.

[Sarcastr0]

Will Baude for a while had a pretty interesting podcast called 'Dissenting Opinions' where lawyers talked about their nonstandard takes on well known cases.

There were a number of bangers, including the inaugural episode on speech.
https://dissenting-opinions.simplecast.com/episodes/free-speech-capitalism-with-genevieve-lakier

It advocates for treating political speech like commercial speech. After all, isn't politics in a republic basically someone selling themselves as a product?

[Dr. Ed 2]

Spain has found out that Pixie Dust doesn't firm the electrical grid.

[Martinned2]

So your theory is that Spain's grid failed because they used it to transport the wrong kind of electricity?

[Dr. Ed 2]

Amherst College has to obey the law...
https://www.boston.com/news/local-news/2025/04/28/with-black-enrollment-down-amherst-college-faces-an-identity-crisis/?p1=hp_secondary

Poor, poor Amherst College....