Wednesday Open Thread

What's on your mind?

Comments

[Stephen Lathrop]

Trump boasts that billions in tariffs have come into the U.S. from foreign countries. That, of course, is mistaken. The money was already here, in the bank accounts of American companies and individuals who had to pay Trump’s new unilaterally imposed taxes, to import goods from abroad. But I have another question.

Where is that newly-collected tax money deposited now? Has it been deposited in the accounts of the U.S. Treasury, and thus made available for appropriations at the pleasure of Congress? Or has it remained in administrative accounts controlled by the Executive. I have no clue how to find out. Anyone have an answer?

[Kazinski]

I'm not so sure about that, this article seems to indicate that Canada would help Canadian Aluminum producers pay the US tariffs.

https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/canada-could-financially-back-aluminum-producers-if-50-us-tariffs-persist-trade-2025-07-05/

I mean it could be they would just subsidize them when the plants shut down, or scale down, but in that case why not just pay the workers? Looks like they will pay them to keep selling and subsidize the tariffs to keep the plants open. Especially since Rio Tinto isn't even a Canadian corporation.

[Supremacy Claus]

Trump is being smart. Trying to pull the accreditation of Harvard, a treason indoctrination camp.

https://thehill.com/homenews/education/5391630-trump-administration-harvard-accreditation-mcmahon/

Next, investigate Harvard for tax fraud. They promised to provide education on the IRS 990. They provided indoctrination. In education, one provides all aspects of a subject. In indoctrination they only allowed the woke. Woke is a masking ideology for Marxism. It serves the interests of the China adversary. No woke in China. This toxic ideology is promoted only in Europe and in the USA. Seize Harvard's assets in civil forfeiture.

[Armchair]

" The money was already here, in the bank accounts of American companies and individuals"

That of course is misleading. Importers, whether they are foreign companies or domestic companies pay tariffs.

[Krayt]

Tariffs are just another tax form. You'd probably throw a party importing VAT tax from Canada and Europe. What do you care?

It all comes out of the pockets of Americans one way or the other. It's all an accounting gimmick.

It's a tax increase. Remember my prediction: if there's a windfall that balances the budget (unlikely) our politicians will quickly ramp up spending to get us back in the red.

[jb]

Well, of course. Voters (especially Republican voters) consistently reward that behavior.

[Poxigah146]

In this case, it doesn't come out of the pocket of American consumers. It comes out of the pockets of the capital class.

[Michael P]

As a pretty good rule, new taxes on firms either increase prices paid by the firm's consumers or reduce wages paid to the firm's employees. If you want to increase taxes on "the capital class" then increase capital gains taxes, but expect dynamic responses in the form of tax avoidance that reduces investment and productivity.

[minus the clever name]

No, MIchael, that rarely happens and France proves it

" in neighboring France 42,000 millionaires fled the country between 2000 and 2012 to avoid its solidarity wealth tax (ISF)."

[David Nieporent]

No, MIchael, that rarely happens and France proves it

Um, that's literally what he said. "Dynamic responses in the form of tax avoidance."

[jb]

Eh. Firms aren't guaranteed some arbitrary level of profit. They'll raise prices if they can, and an increase in costs will mean that the incentive to do so is stronger. But they can't price things arbitrarily high or people won't buy them (seems pretty obvious that if you expect dynamic responses to taxes that's also going to apply to prices).

Similarly, the labor market is a market. Companies generally pay the wages they need to in order to get the labor they need, not because they have a certain amount of discretionary dollars hanging around for humans.

Normally, if tariffs increased you'd expect some amount of increased prices, some amount of decreased sales as a result, and some amount of decreased profit as a result of more margin pressure as well as declining sales. The exact amount of each will depend on specific market conditions, but it's very rarely the case that it will come all from consumers, all from labor or all from profits.

Random tariffs are a pretty shitty form of taxes, though. You could imagine a strategic tariff policy that might encourage more trade with allies and less with enemies, or focusing in areas where we want to make sure we have domestic production capacity. But Trump fundamentally doesn't understand how trade works or notions like comparative advantage so instead we just get random tariff of the week with no obvious objective other than maximizing the chaos in the system.

[bernard11]

Trump boasts that billions in tariffs have come into the U.S. from foreign countries.

Trump is either lying or he's uncommonly ignorant (por que no los dos?), but a lot of fools believe him. And a lot of toadies pretend to.

[minus the clever name]

This is bernard, who knows he can't write and is not a thinker of any high caliber, trying to elevate himself by insulting the 80 Million who don't agree with him. I am not a Trumper but I am an anti-bernard-er. The Bernards of the world gave us Kamala, who really did milk people of their money and give it to millionaires.

[Bob from Ohio]

"accounts of the U.S. Treasury, and thus made available for appropriations at the pleasure of Congress? Or has it remained in administrative accounts controlled by the Executive."

Bad news, U.S. Treasury accounts are controlled by the Executive.

[Kazinski]

The Supreme Court issued a stay in Trump v American Federation of Government Employees, allowing Trump to continue with the layoffs and reorganization while their appeal is pending.

How many employees?

Hard to say but its "massive".

Jackson has an informative footnote in her (solo)dissent:
"18a. Moreover, the extensive (and unrebutted) record demonstrates that those planned personnel changes are massive. The District Court cited multiple examples to illustrate this point, including proposed reductions in force of approximately 93 percent of employees at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, nearly half the workforce at the Department of Energy, and more than half the workforce of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association. Id., at 18a, 50a. Also in evidencewere proposed cuts of 70 percent of the staff at the Department of Labor’s headquarters and 83,000 workers at the Department of Veterans Affairs, just to name a few. Id., at 18a; see also id., at 82a (Ninth Circuit recitation of agencies proposing to eliminate more than 85 percent of their workforces)."

Sotomayor had a very interesting comments to Jackson in her concurrence, with advice to focus on the current task and not get ahead of herself:
"I agree with JUSTICE JACKSON that the President cannot restructure federal agencies in a manner inconsistent with congressional mandates. See post, at 13. Here, however, the relevant Executive Order directs agencies to plan
reorganizations and reductions in force “consistent with applicable law,” App. to Application for Stay 2a, and the resulting joint memorandum from the Office of Management
and Budget and Office of Personnel Management reiterates
as much. The plans themselves are not before this Court,
at this stage, and we thus have no occasion to consider
whether they can and will be carried out consistent with the
constraints of law. I join the Court’s stay because it leaves
the District Court free to consider those questions in the
first instance."

[Kazinski]

Last week Sarcastro rightly chastised me for unsupported speculation about Jackson not getting any joins to her dissent in CASA:
Kazinski 1 week ago
I think Kagan and Sotomayor not joining her opinion was their own message to Jackson to tone it down.

Sarcastr0 1 week ago

Sure, man.

Keep speculating to align with what you want to be true. You'll be Blackman's mini-mi before you know it!

Maybe I was just a week early?

[Commenter_XY]

Maybe I was just a week early?

No, the 'vibe meter' needs calibration.

As for the decision itself, the RIFs begin imminently.

[Martinned]

Exactly! Purge the competent! Bring in the hacks! Who needs a competent civil service anyway? All that matters is loyalty to the Great Leader!

[Kazinski]

Here's a catchy line he can use in the RIF memo:

"You have sat too long for any good you have been doing lately... In the name of God, go!"

[Martinned]

True! Actual knowledge and experience are unnecessary too! Why not put a 22-year old in charge of anti-terrorism? https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-dhs-thomas-fugate-cp3-terrorism-prevention

Good thing Big Balls is gone now. He was starting to get pretty long in the tooth.

[Bob from Ohio]

"22-year old in charge of anti-terrorism"

He's not "in charge of anti-terrorism", its a section that gives out grants. Its not an intelligence or law enforcement position.

[Bob from Ohio]

"Who needs a competent civil service anyway?"

Not the USA. We've never had one!

[LawTalkingGuy]

Every time you breath clean air or drink clean water or drive on the interstate you’re doing so because of a competent civil service.

[Bob from Ohio]

Keep thinking that.

[LawTalkingGuy]

I will keep thinking that civil servants are an important part of maintaining public infrastructure and goods, yes. How do you think those things are accomplished Bob? Magic?

[Sarcastr0]

Or...not joining a dissent does not provide any factual support for anyone sub rosa telling their colleague to tone it down?

Blackman-level Court soap opera speculation remains exactly that.

[LexAquilia]

Or, and this is better aligned with reality than your hallucination, the actual text from the opinion that explicitly tells their rogue activist colleague to tone down DOES, indeed, provide factual support for the claim.

It was 8-1 and Sotomayer explicitly dunked on KJB. That comes right on the heels of Kagan smacking KJB down, in writing, explicitly.

[Malika the Maiz]

How many times were there 8-1 decisions with Thomas as the lone dissenter? And often a fellow conservative would address Thomas in the majority or a concurrence.

[Brett Bellmore]

Sure, they'd disagree with him, but I don't recall them having to point out to him that the case didn't have anything to do with what he was dissenting about.

[William of Brooklyn]

The tone was very different, and for good reason.

[Malika the Maiz]

In all those cases?

[RedheadedPharoh]

KJB has clearly signaled she is an activist and not a jurist. This is the second time a Liberal justice dunked on her for being a hack.

[Riva]

She has clearly signaled that she is incompetent and not fit to serve as a S.Ct. Justice. Even Sotomayor, not the sharpest tool in the shed (or any shed for that matter) tried to correct the dimwitted DEI appointment. As noted by Prof. Jacobson:

As the self-described ‘Wise Latina’ pointed out, all the court allowed the administration to do was develop plans. The district court prevented even planning, and ruled that the as-yet non-existent plans needed an emergency injunction.

Jackson simply could not understand the issue.

[Joe_dallas]

concur on KBJ - read her moore concurrance. She grossly distorted the holdings in the cases she cited. You wont find a cpa or tax attorney that would agree with anything she wrote in her concurrance. Granted Kavanaugh mischaracterized the history of pass through entities in the opinion.

[Malika the Maiz]

What a dumb concurrance!

[Joe_dallas]

address the merits -
oops never mind
its beyond your comprehension

[Malika the Maiz]

If you’re going to insult someone’s intelligence you might want to spell the words in your insult correctly.

[tylertusta]

Here's Bill Shipley's observation on KBJ:

I have heard that Justice Jackson's performance on the Supreme Court reflects in many ways her performance as a District Judge on the D.C. District Court, where she served for 8 years.

She served only 1 year on the D.C. Court of Appeals before Joe Biden nominated her to the Supreme Court.

So, what we have with Justice Jackson is a Justice who acts and thinks very much like a district judge.

The positions are very different. District judges spend a lot of time in court, and make many snap decisions without a lot of time to do lengthy legal research and analysis. They get stuff wrong as a result, but the trials they preside over are not intended or expected to be "error free." They are supposed to be "fair" when considered against the backdrop that they will not be perfect.

Being a Supreme Court Justice requires entirely different skills and a more contemplative demeanor. Her "trial judge" tendencies are exposed to the public by the way she questions the attorneys during oral arguments. She is not tugging at the threads of the legal reasoning, searching for boundaries or inconsistencies, she is interrogating counsel in ways that are quite well understood by trial attorneys.

The Supreme Court is more of an intellectual legal exercise. The arguments aren't about "right" or "wrong" in the case before the court in the same way a trial judge deals with "right" and "wrong" with regard to the parties before him/her.

She might grow into it and improve at the things she does not do well. But at this point she is still a trial judge sitting on the Supreme Court.

https://x.com/shipwreckedcrew/status/1938675186204844452

[Joe_dallas]

Bill shipley's observation may be valid - I just note that her concurrence in Moore was horrifically bad with the gross distortions of the prior cases she cited demonstrating complete misunderstanding of tax law. One of the most astonishing items in the case was that the US / India tax treaty prohibited the taxing of India's corporations income in the US. Granted, the treaty was not an issue before the court, therefore it wasnt addressed.

[MaddogEngineer]

Maybe it was him (Shipley), but probably somewhere on the Twitter if not, I saw it observed this can be a indicator of lower quality law clerks being hired. Obviously a SCOTUS clerkship is max prestige, but you have to wonder whether KBJ applicant pool really reflects the best and brightest. Is working for a dullard a poisoned chalice? You clerked at the Supreme Court...excellent! It was for Justice Jackson...meh, never mind.

On these outlier specialty cases (tax, patent) justices themselves are probably not experts or experienced. That's where smart clerks can become especially important, to dig deep into the issue and coach up the justice.

[Joe_dallas]

Maddog
Your observation on the clerks is likely valid, though that is should be a reflection on her competency. How is it possible that she so badly misinterpreted macomber. Had she or any of her clerks never heard of stock splits and the tax treatment of stock splits.

[Joe_dallas]

she cited obear - nester glass which dealt with punitive damages which the opinion cited macomber - but she distorted what the court opinion said about macomber. She then cites us v james to back up what she misrepresented of macomber, yet the US v james case was not even a tax case.

[minus the clever name]

she is not smart and can't talk, that suffices (though Biden is sub-smart and can't talk so there is a counter-example--- but he called her one of the great minds of her generation ...THERE WE GO !!!!

A quarter-ass that looks up to a half-ass.

[Malika the Maiz]

Can she properly use parentheses?

[Bwaaah]

There's a poppy seed or something stuck between your front teeth. (Just trying to help you out.

[Frank Drackman]

Can you properly use a Condom? too bad your old man couldn't

[Malika the Maiz]

I don’t need to know, your mom always puts it on for me.

[Jazzizhep]

A grammar correction and a “yo mamma” joke; what a bright mind you are.

[Malika the Maiz]

As your dad often said watching me and your mom from the crack in the nearly closed closet door, I am a man of many and varied talents.

[jb]

Alito is just as ridiculous as any of the liberal justices, but interestingly you don't see him getting called out by his colleagues for being a hack.

[minus the clever name]

Then --- LOGIC --- maybe he isn't called out BECAUSE he is not just as ridiculous ELSE you are claiming that you are smarter than Alito AND the others. A patent falsehood, just judging by how you yourself write

[Frank Drackman]

Everyone loves a good Cat Fight

[Brett Bellmore]

"The Supreme Court issued a stay in Trump v American Federation of Government Employees, allowing Trump to continue with the layoffs and reorganization while their appeal is pending."

This looks like exactly the error on Jackson's part that Sotomayor rightly criticized her for.

What the Supreme court allowed to continue was the planning of the layoffs and reorganization. Not the actual layoffs and reorganization, which are only in the planning stages.

[Commenter_XY]

RIFs can be executed (heh) quite quickly.

[Brett Bellmore]

Sure, they can be, but it remains a fact that the Court merely allowed the administration to continue planning them. Essentially taking the position that, since the EO had directed that they plan to do them in compliance with the law, you could not assume up front that the plans would, in fact, violate the law.

You'd have to wait until there were plans to look at.

TROs, obviously, can issue quickly, too.

[not guilty]

Fox News is apparently reporting that the FBI has reportedly opened criminal investigations into former FBI Director James Comey and former CIA Director John Brennan. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/fbi-reportedly-launches-criminal-investigations-into-james-comey-and-john-brennan/ar-AA1IdYtI?ocid=msedgntp&pc=HCTS&cvid=1af3af9d75a44c9e977fbad6f8381145&ei=14

MSN attributes the following to Fox News:

Former CIA Director John Brennan and former FBI Director James Comey are under criminal investigation for potential wrongdoing related to the Trump–Russia probe, including allegedly making false statements to Congress, Justice Department sources told Fox News Digital.

CIA Director John Ratcliffe referred evidence of wrongdoing by Brennan to FBI Director Kash Patel for potential prosecution, DOJ sources told Fox News Digital.

The sources said that the referral was received and told Fox News Digital that a criminal investigation into Brennan was opened and is underway. DOJ sources declined to provide further details. It is unclear, at this point, if the investigation spans beyond his alleged false statements to Congress.

As for Comey, DOJ sources told Fox News Digital that an investigation into the former director is underway, but could not share details of what specifically is being probed.

This puzzles me. How is prosecution of anything that DOJ is looking into not barred by 18 U.S.C. § 3282(a):

Except as otherwise expressly provided by law, no person shall be prosecuted, tried, or punished for any offense, not capital, unless the indictment is found or the information is instituted within five years next after such offense shall have been committed.

I would not be too surprised to see the DOJ clowns intentionally bring a time barred indictment for the sake of vomiting out their vitriol onto the public record, knowing full well that a motion to dismiss would be granted forthwith.

[Kazinski]

Because the testimony to congress was in the last 5 years?

[not guilty]

When did James Comey testify before Congress regarding Donald Trump and Russia? He did so in June of 2017. https://www.politico.com/story/2017/06/08/full-text-james-comey-trump-russia-testimony-239295 It looks like he testified again on September 30, 2020, https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/watch-live-former-fbi-director-comey-testifies-over-role-in-russia-investigation , which would leave about 12 weeks to pursue an indictment.

When did John Brennan testify before Congress regarding Donald Trump and Russia? He did so on May 23, 2017. https://www.politico.com/story/2017/05/23/brennan-coats-trump-russia-intelligence-238739 Has he done so more recently?

I am no fan of James Comey -- his October 2016 shenanigans regarding Anthony Weiner's laptop computer may have propelled Donald Trump into office. But I would be quite surprised if he willfully gave testimony which he did not believe to be true about any material matter.

[Brett Bellmore]

"But I would be quite surprised if he willfully gave testimony which he did not believe to be true about any material matter."

I'm not sure why you'd find that surprising. Surely not on account of thinking him particularly honest. Maybe thinking him too careful to do that?

Apparently the specific perjury in question was that he testified under oath of the Steele dossier, “It was not in any way used as a basis for the Intelligence Community Assessment that was done.”

But recently uncovered records revealed that, in fact, not only was it used, it was at Brennan's own insistence.

[Armchair]

You gotta realize Brett,

NG's entire bit here was that the indictments were limited by the statue of limitations. In light of 2020 and 2023 testimony by Comey and Brennan, that's been blow out of the water.

So now all he's playing is the "Comey's a good guy, he wouldn't do that" card. Which...since NG doesn't actually personally know Comey...has the same strength of argument as "He's a good white boy, he wouldn't do that to those girls".

[tylertusta]

Our mutual friend Mr. Guilty's legal analysis and positions are often aspirational.

[Armchair]

Brennan also testified in 2023.

[Armchair]

Comey also testified in September 2020

[Riva]

In your initial comment, you complained of a time barred indictment. Even if we assume the September 20,2020 date controls, an indictment within 3 months is what we call timely, not time barred. Rendering your initial rant horse pucky.

As an aside, i point out you reveled in the prosecutorial abuses of power systematically directed against President Trump. Almost makes one believe your opinions here are based on politics, not the law.

[Joe_dallas]

Comey and Brennan are fortunately off the hook for their actions thanks to the statute of limitations. Perpetuating the russian hoax when it was known the steele dossier was produced through the HRC campaign (granted it was through several layers to hide the hrc sourcing).

[Malika the Maiz]

There was, of course, a lot more to the Russian interference allegations than the Steele Dossier.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Senate_Intelligence_Committee_report_on_Russian_interference_in_the_2016_United_States_presidential_election

[Riva]

Someone didn't get the Brennan memo.

[RedheadedPharoh]

All of a sudden ng thinks the DOJ is filled with hacks. The DOJ he spent years sucking off as they went after Trump.

[Martinned]

Yes, and then the Trump administration purged all the ethical lawyers from (the top ranks of) the department, and replaced them with pliant hacks.

[not guilty]

Actually, Redhead, I was quite critical of Merrick Garland's foot dragging as to investigating Donald Trump prior to the appointment of Jack Smith as special counsel. Smith did an admirable job in the time he had available to him, but if Garland had acted sooner, the outcome could have been very different.

[Commenter_XY]

It would appear that Comey and Brennan will begin to be held to account via a lengthy and expensive judicial process.

[David Nieporent]

It would not.

[Brett Bellmore]

Right, you were critical of Garland not being enough of a hack.

[David Nieporent]

I would not be too surprised to see the DOJ clowns intentionally bring a time barred indictment

I would. Like the whole Epstein thing, this is just political theater to (to steal from the late unlamented Arthur Kirkland) lather the rubes. Contrary to what MAGA pretended with respect to Russiagate, no law in any way restricts the FBI from merely opening an investigation of anyone for any, or no, reason. (Of course, how they can conduct such an investigation is limited by several entries in the Bill of Rights.) "Opening an investigation" is nothing more than bureaucratese. So, sure, they can pretend they're actually considering an arrest and prosecution, but they're not going to follow through.

[A Japanese Student]

News reports say President Trump is suggesting a federal takeover of NYC and DC: https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-suggests-taking-new-york-city-washington/story?id=123581492

Obviously the President has no authority to run a city in New York. What about the DC? Home Rule Act is still alive, and although Congress could veto new legislations, that still doesn't amount to a takeover.

What he can do, however, is to command the US attorney for DC. They have authority to enforce both federal and DC laws - in fact I've seen somewhere that this is why DC law enforcement is clogged. (Other officers of the DC are not "officers of the United States"; the President probably cannot, for example, command the Mayor.)

[apedad]

We should cede most of DC territory back to Maryland (like we ceded parts of DC back to Virginia in 1847), and only have DC limited to the Federal Triangle.

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

Several govt agencies are already outside of DC anyway.

Northern Virginia: Pentagon, CIA, NGA, NRO
Maryland: NSA

[Brett Bellmore]

The problem is that Maryland doesn't want it.

DC was intended as a sort of quarantine zone for the federal government, at least in part. They wanted the capitol to not be within the jurisdiction of any state, but also for no state to have an interest in aggrandizing the capitol.

A success on the first front, but an utter failure on the second.

[Poxigah146]

How was it an utter failure on the second?

[Michael P]

Virginia and Maryland have huge workforces who draw salary from federal spending, both workers who commute to DC and those who work in the DC suburbs.

In addition to apedad's list of IC components, Maryland has NIH, FDA, NOAA and others. Virginia has USPTO, DIA, the Pentagon, TSA, DEA and more.

Those two states get a lot of tax revenue both from those individual employees and from federal contractors, and so benefit from taxes paid by the rest if the country. (To be clear, this is probably unavoidable to some extent with a large central government, but even the Federalists among the Founders wanted to avoid having that large of a central government.)

[apedad]

One note: DIA is located on Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling (JBAB) in DC.

And while the rest of the country pays taxes that runs these agencies and pays employees' and contractors' salaries, the rest of the country also receives the benefits these agencies provide, e.g., no hijacked planes since 9/11, no foreign military invasions, foreign intelligence operations which disrupted/destroyed hostile actions, etc.

[Brett Bellmore]

If the left can treat expenditures on military bases as a benefit to Southern states, the right can treat expenditures on federal agencies as a benefit to states surrounding DC.

The fact is that, if the federal government vanished tomorrow, a substantial chunk of the neighboring states' economies would vanish with it. So both states have a serious interest in preserving and enlarging federal expenditures.

Just as the states where military bases are situated have an interest in increased military spending...

[apedad]

"If the left can treat expenditures on military bases as a benefit to Southern states . . . . "

The top ten states for total Defense spending in Fiscal Year 2023 were:

Rank State Defense Spending (billions)
1 Texas $71.6
2 Virginia $68.5
3 California $60.8
4 Florida $32.2
5 Maryland $27.8
6 Connecticut $25.3
7 Pennsylvania $21.8
8 Arizona $17.0
9 Massachusetts $16.8
10 Washington $15.5

Seems rather mixed to me.

[Dr. Ed 2]

There is a sub base in Bangor, WA but I suspect most of that state's spending is Boeing. CT also has a sub base but a lot of that state is Electric Boat (subs) and Sikorsky (helicopters).
Massachusetts is high tech weapons and parts for them, mostly along Route 128 (I-95) that loops around Boston.

Massachusetts is proximity to MIT in Boston. CT & WA are locations of specific companies -- e.g. periscopes for US subs have been made in Northampton, MA since before WWII.

[Dr. Ed 2]

Benefits would be the same if the DEA were in Detroit -- Michigan or Maine.

[William of Brooklyn]

It doesn't really matter if Maryland doesn't want it. Congress has the power to do it. It may be the case that no State can *lose* territory without its consent (per the Constitution, and pace West Virginia,) but there's no bar on regaining its lost territory or expanding into new territory (if not obtained from another State. Moreover, all Congress would have to do would be to include residents of DC into MD for purposes of House apportionment and voting for Senators and representatives. Best though would be a repeal of the 23rd amendment as part of the process.

[Dr. Ed 2]

Brett, what was never anticipated was DC becoming a residential community -- there are parts of DC where one side of the street is DC and the other MD -- to the point where the DC and Tacoma Park PD share jurisdiction and both patrol it.
See: https://safetakoma.org/

[Malika the Maiz]

“what was never anticipated was DC becoming a residential community”

Huh, I agree with Ediot on something.

[Poxigah146]

Also, NIH is in Maryland and CDC in Atlanta.

[Bob from Ohio]

"We should cede most of DC territory back to Maryland (like we ceded parts of DC back to Virginia in 1847), and only have DC limited to the Federal Triangle"

Yes but you need to repeal the 23rd amendment.

Otherwise the incumbent president would control 3 electoral votes.

[Poxigah146]

He doesn't need authority to run a city in New York. All he needs to do is get Congress to condition their federal funds on their doing what he wants. Under South Dakota v. Dole, a travesty, that's perfectly constitutional.

[Dr. Ed 2]

That appears to be what Trump was alluding to.

Don't forget that NYC needs to replace those train tunnels to NJ, and this being NYC, it ain't gonna be cheap...

[Dr. Ed 2]

"he President probably cannot, for example, command the Mayor.)"

Sure he can.

Read Harvey Silverglate's Three Felonies a Day -- as Harvey points out, the USA can indict almost anyone for something, and the US Attorney for the SDNY answers to Trump.

[Martinned]

I guess Trump is now a shoe-in for the Nobel Peace prize, given that he's now been nominated not only by the Pakistani military junta and the Congolese strongman, but also by an indicted war criminal.

https://time.com/7300791/trump-nobel-peace-prize-netanyahu-nominations-obama-flattery-history-explainer/

[minus the clever name]

Martin still kisses his picture of that great genius Al Gore getting hte Nobel Prize, sooooo go from there 🙂

[Joe_dallas]

along with kissing the picture of obuma getting his nobel prize.

[Bwaaah]

Because in the world of the Nobel committee, peace is not a state of affairs, but merely an aspiration and good words.

[Dr. Ed 2]

Preventing a nuclear war between India & Pakistan itself is worthy, even if Pakistan were run by the Jolly Green Giant.

[Kazinski]

I didn't think Trump was serious about a third term, but now we know he is serious:

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/tsa-shoes-rule-expires

[TwelveInchPianist]

Sounds like he's a shoe-in.

[Commenter_XY]

The right shoe can make everything different.
- Jimmy Choo

[Martinned]

A nice example of how the meaning of the law only crystallises when the judges are done with their work:

https://administrativecourtblog.wordpress.com/2025/07/09/the-building-services-act-and-the-presumption-against-retrospectivity/

The facts of Adriatic Land 5 Limited v Long Leaseholders at Hippersley Point [2025] EWCA Civ 856 are straightforward enough. The applicant landlord owned a large building. That building needed significant works to restore and update its cladding and other materials to meet relevant safety standards. These works were carried out in 2020. In 2022 the Building Safety Act (BSA) was passed by Parliament. That Act contained a section (paragraph 9 to Schedule 8 of the Act) which states that “no service charge is payable” in respect to the services undertaken by the applicant.

The question for the Court of Appeal in this case was whether paragraph 9 of Schedule 8 operates retrospectively i.e. does it apply to the taking of a service charge for works carried out before the BSA came into force? Or does it only prevent the taking of a service charge for works carried out following the enactment of the Act? If it was the former, the applicant landlord was out of luck: they would be prohibited, by statute, from reclaiming the costs of the works.
(...)
Statutory presumptions are tricky things. All three judges in this case agreed that the presumption is important, and that it can be displaced by contrary Parliamentary intention. As Lord Hughes said in R v Hughes, “the general rule of English law… is that a statute is prospective rather than retrospective in effect unless it distinctly says otherwise” (R v Docherty [2016] UKSC 62 at [17]). Newey LJ and Nugee LJ disagreed over what “distinctly saying otherwise” looks like in this case. Should the judges look for clues in the words used, or instead focus on Parliament’s underlying meaning?

[David Nieporent]

For those of us who don't speak British law, what is the actual issue? Is it whether the landlord can raise rents to cover the upgrade costs?

[Martinned]

Service charge, but yes.

(We're talking about leaseholds here, i.e. appartments that are technically being leased, but on contracts that run more than 100 years, at a "ground rent" of usually a few hundred pounds per year, that are protected by the law of property, are transferrable at will, etc. The leaseholders pay a service charge for the upkeep of the common areas of the building, but the law restricts how that service charge is calculated.)

[Michael P]

Where did Parliament expect money for those upgrades to come from, the landlord's sofa?

[Martinned]

The freeholder, yes. They own the building, so Parliament made the judgment that they should pay for upgrades to the building. The whole system is weird, so all the legislation around ground rents, service charges, lease extensions, and mandatory purchase of the freehold is based on eyeballing the balance of equities.

If Parliament overshoots and puts too much of a financial burden on the freeholders, they end up sued in Strasbourg, because the European Convention for Human Rights, unlike the US Constitution, does have a right to property. Eg. James v. United Kingdom (1986), where the UK actually won.

[Brett Bellmore]

So, similar to a condominium here?

"Newey LJ and Nugee LJ disagreed over what “distinctly saying otherwise” looks like in this case."

I would tend to think that the very appearance of such a disagreement is a good indication that retrospective application wasn't distinctly stated. The presumption against retrospective application is pretty strong, I understand. At least it is here.

[Martinned]

That's basically what they disagreed about, how strong that presumption is at (English) common law.

More from the blog post:

Newey LJ began by quoting extensively from the case law which emphasised the importance of the presumption against retrospectivity. He kicked matters off by straightforwardly citing Lord Rodger’s famous dictum in Wilson that “at common law there is a presumption that a statute does not have ‘retrospective’ effect”: [53], citing Wilson v First County Trust Ltd (No 2) [2003] UKHL 40 at [186]. He also cited authority that there will be, in some cases, “a very strong disposition” that a statute should not have retrospective effect for reasons of “simple fairness”: [55]. Finally, he quoted the old case of Lauri v Renad in which Lindley LJ stated that “it is a fundamental rule of English law that no statute shall be construed so as to have a retrospective operation unless its language is such as plainly to require such a construction” ([56], citing Lauri v Renad [1893] 3 Ch 402 at 421).

Nugee LJ, by contrast, highlighted Lord Neuberger’s assertion in a previous case that the rule against prospectivity does not operate as “some sort of substantive or even procedural legal right” nor is it even really a “a rule of construction” but rather a mere “factor to be taken into account when interpreting a statute or rule”: [135], citing Odelola v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2009] UKHL 25 at [55]. He also highlighted that retrospectivity rarely operated in an all-or-nothing fashion, in a way that could be turned on or off, but rather applied in a spectrum of ways: [136]-[137]. He further pointed out that the presumption may be overcome not only by express words as well as wider circumstances: [138].

[Brett Bellmore]

I tend to regard how seriously the presumption against retrospective application is taken, as one of those barometers of where a state is on the free/unfree axis, as being able to undertake actions at a time they are legal without later having consequences imposed on you after it's too late to refrain is a basic element of the rule of law.

We're not doing so great in that regard ourselves, (See, for instance, the ex post facto application of the Lautenberg amendment.) but better than England, anyway.

[Martinned]

Let's not exaggerate. No one is suggesting that leaseholders can claim back money from years ago. Normally freeholders charge the money before they spend it, or shortly after, so this case really only affects a small number of situations.

[Martinned]

It seems like the future of American Democracy is in good hands, or at least it will be once Elon Musk is finished arguing with his own AI chatbot and goes back to challenging Donald Trump for leadership of the American alt-right.

Unrelated: Tesla loses $68 billion in value after Elon Musk says he is launching a political party

Will he ever learn? Every time he picks a fight with Trump the Tesla stock price plummets, out of a combination of a) Musk fanboys who are upset he is distracted and b) Wall Street who think Trump will retaliate against Tesla by putting up its tariffs, reducing its subsidies, getting rid of EV mandates, etc. Because that's how America works now.

Off the top of my head Musk has come crawling back to Trump twice already this year. Is there any doubt he will be back in the fold by the end of the month?

[apedad]

‘Not Refundable’: Federal Judge Shuts Down Jan. 6 Rioter’s Request to Claw Back Fines and Restitution After Pardon From Trump

Hector Vargas Santos thought a presidential pardon would wipe his slate clean—and maybe even his wallet. But when the former U.S. Marine tried to claw back the money he paid in fines and restitution after his conviction in the Capitol riot, a federal judge made clear that forgiveness doesn’t come with a refund.

[I]n a nine-page ruling issued last Friday, U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss sent the defendant packing with a legal precedent established 148 years ago.

“As the Supreme Court explained in Knote… once a conviction has been ‘established by judicial proceedings,’ any penalties imposed are ‘presumed to have been rightfully done and justly suffered,’ regardless of whether the defendant later receives a pardon,” he wrote, citing the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1877 Knote v. United States decision. That ruling described a pardon as “an act of grace” that does not restore “rights or property once vested in others in consequence of the conviction and judgment.”

https://atlantablackstar.com/2025/07/04/federal-judge-shuts-down-jan-6-rioters-request/

Didn't know that.

[Krayt]

I wouldn't expect a refund of fines any more than I'd expect a million dollars for spending some years in jail wrongly. Because none of that is wrongly. It's just a weird leftover power from sovereign kings.

"Grace" is an excellent term for it. You aren't un-convicted, just the sovereign forebears any further downside.

[Brett Bellmore]

Sometimes pardons are issued as an act of grace, sometimes due to the belief that the recipient is actually innocent. The failure to refund fines makes a pardon look more like a commutation, and they are different actions, or at least are supposed to be.

However, I wouldn't expect the judiciary to give pardons any more effect than they can possibly avoid because pardons compromise their own power to convict, which they're jealous of.

[Malika the Maiz]

“Sometimes pardons are issued as an act of grace, sometimes due to the belief that the recipient is actually innocent.”

And currently sometimes because someone’s mom donated a million bucks to the pardoner!

[Joe_dallas]

paging marc rich

[Malika the Maiz]

Bookkeeper doesn’t notice detail of or meaning of “currently” in that sentence. Also, whataboutism.

[Joe_dallas]

accusations of "Whataboutism" is piss poor defense of your double standard.

[Malika the Maiz]

Still struggling with “currently?”

[Joe_dallas]

Your comment is inane -

using the term "currently " is your effort to hide your double standard.

[Malika the Maiz]

No, it’s my effort to keep it current. We can’t travel back in time and punish Clinton for his corrupt pardons but condemning the current President for the same makes sense.

[Joe_dallas]

Malika the Maiz 12 minutes ago
Flag Comment
Mute User
No, it’s my effort to keep it current.

contraire - an effort to hide your double standard while refusing to engage in the merits.

[Malika the Maiz]

Simply repeat your initial argument based on a misunderstanding pointed out to you between now and then without addressing the latter.

[Brett Bellmore]

I think that was actually a pointed response to that "currently", instead.

[bernard11]

What about Marc Rich? So Clinton did something similar. Does that make what Trump did OK?

If not, why is it a defense?

[hobie]

So you don't like when wealthy cronies get a pardon, eh?

[hobie]

That doesn't seem right to me. I think they should get their money back. If not, he can always sue like the other cop beaters have to receive what are basically backhanded bounties for services rendered

[Martinned]

The European Court for Human Rights has unanimously found that Russia violated the Convention by shooting down the MH-17 in 2014.

More details to follow, but the main thing to note is that Russia has withdrawn from the Convention in 2022, has not participated in the case, and has presumably also not taken advantage of its right to have its "national judge" sit on the case. (I don't even think it still has a judge on the Court.) Also, this is an interstate case (Ukraine and the Netherlands v. Russia), which is also quite rare. I'm not sure whether the claimants asked for anything other than a legal finding, but if they did the Russians wouldn't pay any damages. (Though of course there might be a way to get any damages paid from Russian assets abroad.)

https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2025/07/09/top-european-court-rules-russia-violated-international-law-in-ukraine

[Martinned]

The judgment is now available: https://hudoc.echr.coe.int/fre?i=001-244292

(Apologies if the link doesn't work. HUDOC is a nightmare.)

The most interesting conclusions:

5. Holds, unanimously, that there has been a violation of Article 2 of the Convention under its substantive limb in respect of the downing of flight MH17; [Russia shot down that plane and therefore killed the passengers.]

12. Holds, unanimously, that there has been an administrative practice of extrajudicial killing of civilians and Ukrainian military personnel hors de combat in violation of Article 2 of the Convention;

13. Holds, unanimously, that there has been an administrative practice of torture and inhuman and degrading treatment in violation of Article 3 of the Convention;

14. Holds, unanimously, that there has been an administrative practice of forced labour in violation of Article 4 § 2 of the Convention;

15. Holds, unanimously, that there has been an administrative practice of unlawful and arbitrary detention of civilians in violation of Article 5 of the Convention;

16. Holds, unanimously, that there has been an administrative practice of the unjustified transfer and displacement of civilians and application of filtration measures in violation of Article 8 of the Convention;

22. Holds, unanimously, that there has been an administrative practice of the transfer to Russia and, in many cases, the adoption there of Ukrainian children in violation of Articles 3, 5 and 8 of the Convention

26. Holds, unanimously, that the respondent State must without delay release or safely return all persons who were deprived of liberty on Ukrainian territory under occupation by the Russian and Russian-controlled forces in breach of Article 5 of the Convention before 16 September 2022 and who are still in the custody of the Russian authorities;

27. Holds, unanimously, that the respondent State must without delay cooperate in the establishment of an international and independent mechanism to secure, as soon as possible and with due consideration of the children’s best interests, the identification of all children transferred from Ukraine to Russia and Russian-controlled territory before 16 September 2022, the restoration of contact between these children and their surviving family members or legal guardians and the children’s safe reunification with their families or legal guardians;

As expected, no request for damages.

[Frank Drackman]

Interesting,
how many Divisions does the European Court for Human Rights have?

Frank

[Bob from Ohio]

"in 2014"

Timely decision!

[Aladdin's Carpet]

Finally back in NYC. Car caught fire in the Lincoln tunnel yesterday, so I had to spend ~2 hours commuting in total, going to Port Authority, waiting for the bus, they announced the buses aren’t coming, going to the bridge, jitney … (yes this would be easier if I wasn’t temporarily staying in NJ whilst locking down the apartment).

Why is the commuting infrastructure of the wealthiest city in the world like this??? I love NYC but there is this capacity New Yorkers have to just accept, and even celebrate, mediocre processes I don’t get.

And, say, in Boston, this stuff happened too, but there will be a shuttle bus. Or the apps know the train is down and give you another route. Here they were like, oh you can use PATH, but the path goes to a different place! And Google Maps is saying wait 15 for another bus even though they aren’t coming at all.

And a point I keep making is I don’t care too much how much a bus ticket is, I only care that it exists as a legible transaction, which would allow me to claim a tax deduction. Or it’s a business expense. Or if this shit I can dispute it later. Or something. The financial capital of the world ought to understand …

[Martinned]

In short: Because on the other side of the Hudson River is a different state, while all of Boston's wider metropolitan area is still in Massachusetts.

[Brett Bellmore]

"Why is the commuting infrastructure of the wealthiest city in the world like this???"

The very existence of NYC was predicated on limitations in communications and transport that no longer exist, and the need to have a huge number of people in close proximity to minimize the expense of both. Since the justification for NYC's very existence is gone, so is the sort of cash flow that would be required to keep it working properly.

NYC is obsolete, and obsolete things don't get maintained properly.

[apedad]

"The very existence of NYC was predicated on limitations in communications and transport that no longer exist . . . . "

Tell that to all the bosses that demanded back-to-work.

[Brett Bellmore]

The cost per person of keeping a city viable goes up with increasing population density. Everything gets harder. NYC had a sky high population density because the value of having those people close enough to meet in person was high enough to justify that cost.

Improving technology has reduced, though not eliminated, the gains from physical proximity, and so NYC level population densities are no longer cost effective.

[Malika the Maiz]

“Everything gets harder.”

Like counting votes.

[Brett Bellmore]

I'm pretty sure counting votes isn't relevantly analogous to bringing in water or taking out sewage, but rather is actually one of those things where physical proximity brings (diminishing) advantages.

[Malika the Maiz]

Sure. You stumbled into an inconvenient truth and want to get out of it now. Cities are robustly more complex and everything-from traffic to vote counting-naturally takes more time.

[Brett Bellmore]

Well, more complex. The actual complaint above was that they weren't robustly so...

[apedad]

You can't enjoy healthcare, education, culture, etc., from afar.

And NYC is steadily rebounding its population after decreasing due to COVID.

Seems like many people don't agree with your assessment.

[Brett Bellmore]

"And NYC is steadily rebounding its population after decreasing due to COVID."

New York City Metro Area Population

Of course, that's the "metro area". Back when I still lived on 16 acres in Michigan, surrounded by corn fields, I lived within the "Detroit metro area"... At least according to Detroit.

[apedad]

I used this source for NYC: https://www.nyc.gov/assets/planning/downloads/pdf/our-work/reports/new-york-city-population-estimates-and-trends_may-2025.pdf

[Martinned]

Detroit is a special case. I can't find a source now, but my understanding is that local areas could add themselves to Detroit more or less at will, without the city being able to stop them.

[Brett Bellmore]

LOL! Man, did you ever get that backwards. Nobody on God's green Earth has wanted to add themselves to Detroit in living memory. East Detroit actually changed their name to East Pointe just so people would stop thinking it was part of Detroit, the city was and is so toxic.

No, I just meant that the government of Detroit had some rather exaggerated notions of their position in the state. The toilet bowl wanted people to think of the whole house as "Greater Toilet".

[Swede425]

The internet doesn't exist there?
Telehealth. Need to physically see a doctor? 25 minute drive.
Online education has been a thing for a while now. Covid helped make it super neat-o.
Culture? If I want to see a museum/gallery/concert, it's a 75 minute drive. I don't have to live there. Hell, I can see more culture on youtube than in any city.
I live on 20 acres and can't see, smell, or hear my closest neighbor.

[Malika the Maiz]

There are some that would argue you have to see certain sights and works in person to fully appreciate them.

[Swede425]

And I would probably be one of those people.
My argument would be that you don't have to live in it.
Visiting it from time to time scratches the itch for most people.
If you want to live in it, that's fine, too.
I personally don't think that benefit outweighs the negatives of big city living.

[Malika the Maiz]

Meh, there’s costs and benefits to living anywhere.

[minus the clever name]

ALL WRONG

From Thomas Sowell's recommended readings

City Economics by Brendan O’Flaherty (2005, Harvard University Press)
This work makes economic theories applicable to real-world urban issues. Though it’s mostly accessible, some sections might prove challenging for readers with no prior knowledge of economics.

[jb]

LOL. And yet, it somehow remains unambiguously the financial and cultural capital of the country, and in the case of finance, the world. So it seems like lots of people whose opinions actually matter disagree with you.

The actual answer is, of course, complex. As Martinned points out, you've got complicated politics between states and also between NYC and NY state government. You've got a big river between NY and NJ of the sort that very few other large cities need to deal with (i.e., it is *much* easier to build a bridge across the Thames or the Seine or the Sumida or even the Hangpu) so there's fewer crossing points. And there are surely cultural issues as well. But New York is probably mostly a harbinger of the lack of infrastructure investment that seems endemic across the country. Everything is stressed out to the max so relatively minor failures can have huge cascading effects, whereas if a whole bridge falls down in Minneapolis or they have to close one for three months in Memphis because it's about to do so, there's enough other capacity to work around the problem for a while.

[Poxigah146]

"Cultural capital" is in the eye of the beholder. Financial? Maybe, but Wall Street doesn't exactly have a good reputation among Americans, so I don't think subsidies are forthcoming on that basis.

The financial services industry being heavily concentrated in NYC is more about momentum than anything else.

[Swede425]

No no no.
You can get authentic Chines food.
It's totally worth the homeless, mentally ill, and getting mugged by all the culture.

[Malika the Maiz]

This is what happens when you experience cities through YouTube or Fox.

[Swede425]

Exactly how many bites out of a shit sandwich do you need to take before you realize that it isn't any good?

[Malika the Maiz]

I don’t eat these shit sandwiches you seem familiar with, what’s up with that? Is it because you live too far from other sources of food?

[Brett Bellmore]

I'd rather get authentic Greek food in Detroit. Easier to get into and especially out of, and the lines between the safe areas and where you'd get mugged in a heartbeat are pretty obvious.

[Malika the Maiz]

I find this usually true in most cities (or places for that matter).

[Bob from Ohio]

"somehow remains unambiguously the financial and cultural capital of the country"

Inertia and existing infrastructure.

[Poxigah146]

Interesting take, and one I hadn't thought of before. NYC really needs tens, probably hundreds of billions more in federal money to be maintained properly, but without the "need" for NYC in terms of banking that may have existed in the past, Congress would never vote to spend the money that way.

[bernard11]

May I gently point out that Brett does not exactly have an unbiased view of cities in general, or their residents, and that no doubt influences his opinions.

[Commenter_XY]

So you made the jump to the new job?

[Aladdin's Carpet]

Made a jump to a different team in the same org in the company, still kinda stuck in my career but I think it’s better? Idk.

I interviewed at Meta 9 months ago I’ll try again when the cooldown ends in 3 months, and I interviewed with *well known for generating controversy but really just data engineering* tech company a few months back, thought I did really well, but *shrugs*.

I’ll keep trying, think job change is really the best or only option at this point.

[Commenter_XY]

Stay put, and save like mad for early retirement: Roth IRA, 401K and Taxable. You want all three. You will thank me later for the tax flexibility you'll have.

[Longtobefree]

"Why is the commuting infrastructure of the wealthiest city in the world like this???"

Democrats.
Democrats and unions.
Democrats, unions, and God hates you.
But stay there, keep voting for democrats (even the communist ones), and don't be surprised when no one else gives a damn.

[Malika the Maiz]

Cities have been congested long before Democrats unions, but I get when all you have is a Newsmax hammer….

[John F. Carr]

The MTA is a much deeper money pit than the MBTA.

[Armchair]

Just as an reminder what pieces of crap Hamas is...Two items

1) Recently, Hamas placed bounties on the aid workers delivering food to starving Gazans. That's right...Hamas put rewards on killing GHR workers...the very people donating their time and resources to feeding the people Hamas is supposedly protecting.

2) Hamas has one sticking point in the peace negotations...they wand the GHR (Gaza Humanitarian Foundation) out of Gaza and the UNRWA returned. That "must" be done for peace

Besides the utter evilness of putting bounties on aid workers, it all has a twisted logic to it. See, Hamas has utterly infiltrated the UNRWA (the UN agency previously giving aid to Gazans). All the aid to Gaza's Palestinian residents...went through Hamas. And Hamas could take that aid and siphon off resources...siphon off concrete meant for building homes and use it to build tunnels. Siphon off food, and sell it to gain resources. And of course, since all the aid went through Hamas...if you were a poor Palestinian, you were dependent on Hamas. Irritate them, and you'd see your food (or your family's food) suddenly get cut off. Hamas was terrorizing its own citizens, through the UNRWA aid.

The GHR cut out the Hamas middleman. The GHR gave the food directly to the Gazans. Suddenly, Hamas wasn't getting their cut. Suddenly Hamas couldn't use the threat of food being cut off to keep Palestinians who didn't agree with Hamas in line. And that was a mortal threat to Hamas.

When people say "Free Gaza"...and want to return the UNRWA, what they actually effectively do is say "We want the terrorists back in charge, keeping the people under, using our aid to make themselves powerful at the expense of the poor Gazan people."

[apedad]

You had me right up to the last paragraph.

Then you went nuts.

[Martinned]

It was pretty nutty before that too, because describing GHR as "people donating their time and resources to feeding the people" is a pretty rose tinted way of saying "this is what Israel does instead of properly feeding the people".

[Armchair]

Are you one of the ones who wants the UNRWA back? So Hamas can continue to act as terrorist overlords?

[Martinned]

The claim that UNRWA is run by Hamas is complete horseshit, used to justify Israeli control over the food supply in Gaza without, inexplicably, accepting the status of occupying power.

That said, I don't care who runs the food supply in Gaza as long as they know what they're doing and as long as they're not motivated by ulterior goals.

[Brett Bellmore]

Nobody is claiming that UNRWA is run by Hamas as a general matter. It's different local despots depending on where the aid is being delivered.

[Armchair]

"The claim that UNRWA is run by Hamas is complete horseshit, "

Really....think about it. Why does Hamas want the UNRWA back so much that they're willing to kill the entire peace deal for it? Why does Hamas hate the GHR so much that they're putting bounties on aid workers.

Think....

[Martinned]

Far be it for me to speculate on the motivations of some profoundly evil people, but just off the top of my head: They want the Israelis out of Gaza, and they consider GHR to be an instrumentality of the Israeli government.

[Armchair]

So...they're willing to kill the entire peace deal (which of course has Israel in Gaza)...to keep out aid organizations run by the US and Israel from giving out free food in Gaza?

Think about that.

[Martinned]

Why does that surprise you? The foreseeable consequence of the October 7 attackes was lots and lots of Palestinian casualties, and Hamas clearly didn't give a jot about that. They're religious and ideological crazies, they don't care about innocent civilians.

[Brett Bellmore]

I think it's more a matter of him being automatically opposed to anything Israel does, but functionally it amounts to the same thing.

[Martinned]

Not automatically. But true, it's been a while since Israel has done something high profile that I've approved of. The same goes for Donald Trump. That's not because I'm prejudiced, but because they're evil.

[Brett Bellmore]

You think your conviction that they're evil doesn't color your evaluation of everything they do? Think again.

[Martinned]

No, my evaluation of everything they do results in my conviction that they're evil. It's called evidence-based judgment. You should try it.

[minus the clever name]

NOt because of an intellectual fault of yours but due to a moral fault of his, hmmmm , does that even make sense. You can't know WHY he does what he does any more than he or us can know why you think as you do.

[Malika the Maiz]

Postmodern moral relativistic bs.

[minus the clever name]

As I would tell my philosophy students, 4 errors in just the phrase

1) the temporal position of an agurment is never a judge of its veracity
2) moral ! but you eschew morality in your other posts, so we would have to say that is just a lie

3) relativistic, well everything is so that is just logically NA

4) BS is a conclusion and not part of a syllogism

Assh the joy of well-stated kind putdowns of --- and I here I use the word rightly ---BS

[Malika the Maiz]

“but you eschew morality in your other posts, so we would have to say that is just a lie”

For it to be a lie I’d have to have an intent and HOW do you KNOW I have that intent by what I write/say, lol?

Other than that, super agurment!

[Magister]

Did "minus the clever name" previously comment as "bye"? They seem similarly enamored of misusing logic.

[Bob from Ohio]

"they're evil"

The only Jewish state is not wrong but "evil".

Yet you get defensive when people accuse you of supporting Hamas or hating Jews. Interesting lack of self reflection.

[hobie]

"Hamas put rewards on killing GHR workers..."

Not if the IDF doesn't snipe them first, or massacre an entire ambulance team and mass grave them to cover up, or...well, let's just say Hamas is going to have to work extra hard to get a crack at the aid workers first

[Armchair]

That's the effect though. They want the UNRWA back. Despite it being utterly corrupted by Hamas. And it's going to be the same situation...an "aid" organization, acting as a front to siphon off resources to terrorists overlording over a poor people.

[Brett Bellmore]

The situation you're describing with UNRWA and Hamas is actually the dynamic behind almost all 'famines' in the world: Outside aid gets routed through local government, and so makes the local population mortally reliant on local government. So local government sees to it that the need for the aid does not end.

[Martinned]

True. It's much better to let people starve.

[Brett Bellmore]

That's your take away from what I wrote?

[Martinned]

Yes. You're giving yourself an excuse for letting people starve by spouting nonsense that makes you feel better.

[Brett Bellmore]

Whether local despots use foreign aid to secure their rule, and so encourage the need for it, is a distinct question from how to respond to that.

When you blind yourself to reality because you think seeing it might drive some decision you disapprove of, you still blind yourself to reality.

[minus the clever name]

Martin, there you go again, meeting an intellectual statement with a statement about someone morally. YOU CAN HAVE NO IDEA WHY SOMEONE SAYS WHAT THEY SAY>

[Malika the Maiz]

We can have very good guesses about people’s motivations for what they say. Most relationships are based on this.

[minus the clever name]

Not true at all....on both counts

1) a guess is not anything but a guess and that would be related to 2) and why serious relationships like marriage break up, because a guess about a serious matter will prove wrong over the long term

2) Most relationships of any perdurance are based on the first principles of a person's motivations and not on the motivations themselves, Who has pure motives anyway?? Do you 🙂

[Malika the Maiz]

“because a guess about a serious matter will prove wrong over the long term”

That’s ridiculous, with other people are guesses are usually quite accurate, it’s why most human interactions are smooth.

[Armchair]

Martinned...I'm going to give you two options.

Option 1: Directly hand out food to starting people, ignoring and fighting off those "people" who say it needs to go through them (but take a big cut).

Option 2: Give in to those "people" who say aid needs to go through them, and take a big cut of the aid, use it to support their reign of terror.

Which do you pick.

[Michael P]

Martinned knows for sure that Brett wants Option 3: Let the brown people starve. That is Martinned's answer.

[Martinned]

Is either of those options relevant to the discussion we were having?

[hobie]

"Besides the utter evilness of putting bounties on aid workers..."

So you don't like bounties being placed on doctors and aid workers, eh?

[Malika the Maiz]

There was also a report put out recently about how Hamas sexually abused their hostages. Thugs.

[Frank Drackman]

OK, Otter, we get it, Ham-Ass can't sexually abuse their hostages, only you can sexually abuse their hostages.
Ironically, if you or any of your ilk (an underused word if there ever was one) were to practice your Pre-versions (HT Col. M. Bat-Guano) in Gaza, Ear-Ron, Saudi Arabia, or Yemen, your Testicles would be nailed to the doors of a Mosque, like they did with Cicero's hands (HT M. Antony).

Frank

[Malika the Maiz]

More Gibberish than Usual from )the Writer of the Frank Fakeman Character performed
Here

[Sarcastr0]

No one around here needs a reminder Hamas sucks. Not even the MAGA antisemitic cohort you studiously ignore then you aren’t agreeing with them.

But you weren’t really here for that. You just posted to go after the left.

Israel remains a righteous cloak for your partisanship and nothing more for you.

True friends are not blindly strident.

[Armchair]

Hey, look who is suddenly saying "We don't need a reminder about Hamas...just...don't think about it."

[hobie]

Jews are indeed the latest MAGA exploitation for scoring political points on MAGA's hate lists like universities and immigrants. It's actually kinda sickening

[Armchair]

If you "actually" care about hate crimes and things like that.

Antisemitic incidents have skyrocketed over the last 10 years in the US. Up over 900%. Antisemetic hate crimes make up a majority of ALL hate crimes in the US now. More than all other races/ethnicities/sexual orientations combined.

https://www.axios.com/2025/04/22/adl-survey-antisemitc-incidents-record-level-2024

That is worth fighting against. Unless...you, like Sarcastr0, just kinda say ..."eh, not important. Let's move on".

[Martinned]

SQUIRREL!!!

[hobie]

I know, right?! Like, where's the concern for all the gay bashing and antigay legislation? Make's Armchair's outrage look selective and disingenuous, or....dare I say...exploitative.

Sell your concern for all of God's creatures somewhere else, bro

[Malika the Maiz]

“Antisemitic hate crimes make up a majority of ALL hate crimes in the US now.”

Where does your source claim this?

[Frank Drackman]

Well we did play a big role in Executing Hey-Zeus (but wasn't that the whole point of His coming to Earth? "Hey-Zeus went to Prison for Life without Parole for your Soul!" just doesn't have the same panache.)

Frank

[hobie]

King of the Jews, baby!

[tylertusta]

You must feel morally superior given that leftists have never stooped so low as to use people as political pawns before.

[hobie]

I think you should expound for us on this whatabout, tyler. I'd like to hear more

[tylertusta]

"Sickening."

Your shit stinks, so don't come here and pretend that it doesn't.

[minus the clever name]

No . you are sickening. Jews are people and you obviously don't like them at all. And that adds 'hypocrite' to your other list of qualities

[hobie]

Points out rightwing hypocrisy on antisemitism. Get's reflexive 'no, you're the antisemite' MAGA race card pulled. You boys sure do love proving me right.

[Bob from Ohio]

"No one around here needs a reminder Hamas sucks."

You can tell this is true from this very thread! Well, no, but you be you.

[Malika the Maiz]

Is anyone defending Hamas here today?

[Commenter_XY]

There is nothing to negotiate with hamas, which is a modern manifestation of Amalek; hamas will leave gaza, or die.

Israel must finish the job of destroying hamas in gaza. And then hunt them down wherever they are in the world, and kill them.

[Josh R]

That means no permanent ceasefire which Trump might view as an impediment to his Nobel Peace Prize.

[Malika the Maiz]

“How can people be expected to have faith in Trump if he won’t release the Epstein files?” Mr. Musk posted on social media on Tuesday afternoon.

[hobie]

Next to Hunter's hog, the most talked about thing in MAGA world was Epstein and all the juicy tidbits he surely had on the libs. But since it turned out Trump was probably his bestie, we all need to drop the subject...and pronto!

[Brett Bellmore]

Hunter had a hog? Are we talking motorcycle, or potbelly pig?

[hobie]

Surely you remember MTG revenge porning Hunter's hog on the house floor

[Brett Bellmore]

Apparently I don't keep up with that sort of slang, or just associate too much with farmers and motorcyclists. Honestly, I have so little to do with "MTG" that every time I see those initials I see "MGM" instead. Love those classic movies.

[hobie]

Yes, you need to keep up with America's euphemisms for the penis. I think Stormy described one as being a mushroom

[Brett Bellmore]

No, I'm pretty sure I don't need to keep up with that sort of thing, and one of the bestest parts of Trump being President is Hunter disappearing into well deserved obscurity.

[Malika the Maiz]

Yeah, Trump has several kids raking in money off his position and name to replace Hunter.

[hobie]

It is like a whole troop of Hunters, isn't it? Except these Hunters are trading national assets for billions, whereas (if a single email is to be believed) the OG Hunter traded the big guy's name for a few mil. Fucking amateur.

[Brett Bellmore]

Wake me when anybody catches one of them doing drugs while shagging their brother's widow before the grass is growing on the grave. Hunter is a particularly sick piece of work, and I will be glad to stop hearing of him.

[hobie]

Why Brett, you almost make it seem like political corruption was never the concern

[grb]

hobie : "Why Brett, you almost make it seem like political corruption was never the concern"

If Brett ever had a serious qualm about political corruption, it was banished from his brain and forgotten when he became cult drudge to a lifelong criminal and sleazy huckster. Kinda hard to be against political corruption when you mindlessly worship someone who reeks of it. Rather difficult to have a principled position against political corruption when you joyously voted for exactly that.

Though - come to think of it - Brett takes a "principled position" against increased federal debt even though he ALWAYS votes pro-deficit.

[apedad]

Ewww....too early....it's only 7:10 am on the east coast. 🙂

[minus the clever name]

Only a beast would tar a man on the basis of 'probably' you disgusting creep

[Riva]

Well well well, looks like someone is a conspiracy theorist here. I suspect you’re going to be busy with all the UFO coverups as well. How can anyone be expected to have faith in the President if he doesn’t disclose the flying saucers and extraterrestrial cadavers held in Area 51? Or maybe the aliens are alive and well and working with the government?

[Malika the Maiz]

Riva bot hallucination thinks it’s responding to Kash Patel or Dan Bongino.

[Riva]

You're quite the sensitive and paranoid little conspiracy nut, aren't you? Perhaps you're just really selective in your conspiracy insanities? Let's see. Epstein, check. Aliens, maybe? Just let put all your nutcase theories on the table so we can all have good laugh.

[Malika the Maiz]

Again, Riva bot is malfunctioning, seems to think I’m the current FBI director or his deputy. Time for diagnostic!

[Commenter_XY]

I simply don't agree with the conclusion; Epstein was murdered.

As for the thousands of child porn files, who are the adults in those files, and where where they created; Manhattan or Carribbean? Who else, aside from the US, possesses those files?

Ghislane Maxwell was convicted of human sex trafficking, but Epstein wasn't up to his eyeballs in it? Really? And the George Mitchells, Reid Hoffmans, Bill Richardsons, Bill Clintons of the world just visited Epstein's places for drinks and sun and sand? Yeah sure. Pull the other one.

[Brett Bellmore]

My understanding of the situation is that Epstein actually DID invite lots of people over for drinks and sun and sand, exactly as a kind of defense. Who'd dare go after him when it would make that many important people look guilty?

And the defense seems to have worked for a while. Must of taken them a good deal of time to make sure he didn't have any archived blackmail files out there with some sort of delayed release arranged.

[Malika the Maiz]

How much of a hack do you have to be to not mention Trump there?

[SRG2]

The Schroedinger-Epstein paradox: a list can be sitting on Pamela Bondi's desk while at the same time Kash Patel can say that there is no such list

[LawTalkingGuy]

Two ways to resolve the paradox:

1. Kash lacks object permanence and once a list is no longer in his site because it’s on Bondi’s desk or must not exist.

2. They’re both stupid liars. They made stupid claims before getting into office and early in their tenure. Then they had to stupidly lie about things when they couldn’t back up their claims and people wouldn’t let it go because they stupidly kept it in the news. The truth is these are not very bright guys and things got out of hand.

[hobie]

Hurricane Helene: “Western North Carolina, and the whole state, for that matter, has been totally and incompetently mismanaged by Harris/Biden,”

LA Fires: “NO WATER IN THE FIRE HYDRANTS, NO MONEY IN FEMA,” Trump wrote. “THIS IS WHAT JOE BIDEN IS LEAVING ME. THANKS JOE!”

Texas Floods: "“If you look at that water situation, that was really the Biden setup,” [I can't figure out if he's saying Biden caused the rain or the flooding]

White House Spokesman Monday about Texas Floods: "“Many Democrat-elected officials are trying to turn this into a political game, and it is not,” Ms. Leavitt said. “This is a national tragedy, and the administration is treating it as such.”
“Blaming President Trump for these floods is a depraved lie, and it serves no purpose during this time of national mourning,” she added."

[Brett Bellmore]

Playbook: Deep in the heart

The NWS did everything by the book, and had all the resources they needed to do everything they were supposed to do. It just wasn't enough, because the people who really needed to be contacted were probably sound asleep by the time the warnings went out.

The actual problem wasn't with anything Trump OR Biden had done, but instead the decision to pass on an expensive warning siren system. Which decision was made locally, not at the federal level.

[hobie]

I at least thought we'd have 4 years where Trump wouldn't blame natural disasters on Biden. But I thought wrong

[Brett Bellmore]

Turn about is fair play, but it's stupid going in either direction.

[hobie]

"Turn about is fair play"

What turn about? I don't recall Biden blaming Trump for natural disasters

[Poxigah146]

Uhh, where were you during the big hurricanes in Florida on the Gulf Coast? Ian, Milton, Helene?

[hobie]

Oh? Did Biden blame those on Trump? I must have missed that.

[Michael P]

You miss a lot of things.

[Malika the Maiz]

What did he miss?

[LexAquilia]

Biden blaming those things on Trump, doofus.

[Malika the Maiz]

Did you not get I was asking for examples, ya doofus?

[Stephen Lathrop]

It dawned on me yesterday that the kids and counselors in religious camps were maybe not permitted cell phones. If so, would that be something authorities would want to answer questions about?

[Frank Drackman]

Just yesterday? So you’re slow. I think some Life Preservers would have been more useful, and I’m talking about the flotation devices not the candy. Most cell phones don’t float very well

Frank

[Martinned]

Makes you wonder why Trump didn't open all the dams to help the people in Texas, like he did in California.

https://www.latimes.com/environment/story/2025-03-13/trump-army-corps-dam-water-dumped

[hobie]

'If I were to make a flood it would be much better than this one. It would be a beautiful flood. It would be much better than this Biden flood.'

[Brett Bellmore]

I must admit that I laugh at that sort of thing. My son is always playing youtube videos of people mocking the way Trump talks, and they're always funny. Especially the baby ones.

I really do wish my support in the primaries wasn't the kiss of death, Rand Paul would have been a nice President.

[Brett Bellmore]

Ah, cause the dams in question were downstream, so wouldn't have done any good?

[Malika the Maiz]

The Athletic came out today with college football’s top 100 rivalries. The top five:
1. Ohio State vs Michigan
2. Auburn vs Alabama
3. Texas vs Oklahoma
4. Army vs Navy
5. USC vs Notre Dame

Not sure I buy number 5.

[hobie]

Not sure about Texas v. Oklahoma. Yeah that's a thing, but we in Texas think its probably Texas v. Texas A&M

[Malika the Maiz]

Other than Ohio St-Michigan I think inter-state (or in the case of Army Navy service) rivalries tend to create more heat.

[Frank Drackman]

Of course I’m prejudiced but from 2009-2013 (that’s 5 Seasons for you Big 10 fans) the Iron Bowl Winner played in the BCS Title game (back when only the top 2 made it, unlike the Abortion the CFP is now(yes I know Auburn hasn’t made one since 2013)
Iron Bowl beats them all, it’s like Catholics/Protestants in Ireland, Shit-it’s/Sunni, Palestinian/Israeli, Yankees/Red Sox, but worse
Greatest moment of my life? (And College Football-bawl History) the “Kick 6” in the 2013 game (Nick Satan still has nightmares)

Frank

[Malika the Maiz]

I don’t agree with the weird, sad writer of the Frank Fakeman character performed here much, but I lmfao’ed watching that kick return on Alabama.

[Frank Drackman]

Chris Davis is still running

[SRG2]

The only rivalry that counts is Oxford v Cambridge. Pay no attention to arrivistes 🙂

[Frank Drackman]

rivalry? in what, being haughty?

[grb]

Malika the Maiz : " ....college football’s top 100 rivalries."

Where's Florida vs Florida State? When I worked in the Sunshine State, I had a desk between a Gator and Seminole. When the big game approached, things got pretty ugly. I didn't have a dog in the fight, but often needed to duck for the vitriol.

[Frank Drackman]

did 1 Quarter at FSU in 1980 (had no GPA, all courses "Incomplete") before I saw the light, went to Auburn and became a "Gator Hater" (except when they're playing Georgia, Tennessee, or Alabama, which all exceed the Gators in Ass-hole-olic-ness) so I do root for the Seminoles (and I love doing the "Chop"),
Problem is game hasn't been relevant for decades, even more so with the CFP
I did love Spurriers frequent put-downs (lets see, "Free Shoes University" comes to mind)

Frank

[LawTalkingGuy]

One of the my favorite phenomena of the American Christian right is when its politicians and influencers just casually toss out statements that constitute heresy in most sects today or would have spawned several church councils in the 4th-5th century:

https://x.com/mtgreenee/status/1942225730651250990?s=46&t=swfuX8A13L7H9PAYSakPtA

[hobie]

"God is God alone, and there is only one God."

MTG clearly doesn't read the Old Testament wherein are described numerous deities and demigods; Yahweh being one of them

[Krayt]

The snake fight between Moses and Pharoah's priest was a fight between Yahweh and a real, existing Egyptian god. The purpose was to demonstrate Yahweh was toughest, not that there were no other gods.

I believe this got corrected in Islam, where they claim Pharoah's priest was just using sleight of hand, no real other gods.

[JoeFromtheBronx]

"You should have no gods before me" was a statement of dominance, not monotheism. He was a jealous god. Still is, probably, going by what some of "his" believers are saying.

I was watching a sitcom where it was tossed out as a given that God didn't have a wife. There is good evidence that many Israelites believed Yahweh had a consort named Asherah.

[Riva]

Some friendly advice, you should probably stick to asinine comments on the law and politics. The depth of your ignorance on religion is truly a wonder to behold.

[Malika the Maiz]

Riva bot programmed to insult, not answer.

[Frank Drackman]

Queenie loves responding to programmed bots

[Malika the Maiz]

I love laughing at all kinds of pathetic phoneys!

[Frank Drackman]

Says the Black dude who pretends he's a woman (My Bad, I mean "B-Otch") and I get the support for Abortion, less competition for you

[Malika the Maiz]

The writer of the Frank Fakeman character performed here is grasping at straws. Guess the OBBB had his meds cut.

[Riva]

So, "hobie" is your alias? or is it just idiots flock together? Pares cum paribus. There is only one true God in the Bible, Old or New Testament. While the worship of false deities by other cultures may be referenced, there is no pantheon of multiple gods in the Old Testament. Any more questions you monumental f'ing moron?

[Malika the Maiz]

The Riva bot is severely hallucinating again today. I’m not hobie. It also seems not to be programmed with information about Elohim, Genesis 1:26, etc.

[Riva]

The comment you chose to respond to with more embarrassing ignorance was addressed to the idiot "hobie." I was not addressing the clownish moron Malika the whatever. I thought that was clear but clownish morons get confused sometimes. Because they're clownish morons I guess.

[Malika the Maiz]

As clear as Genesis 1:26?

[Riva]

The word Elohim in Genesis 1 is, in context and grammar, clearly understood to refer to the one true Creator God in both Jewish and Christian tradition. Malika the whatever is clearly understood to be an ignorant religious bigot who should probably stop embarrassing himself, or herself, or whatever.

[hobie]

Psalms 82: "[Yahweh] has taken his place in the divine council,
In the midst of the gods he passes judgment. . . ."

Also in Psalms: "“There is none like you among the gods, O Lord” (86:8); “For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; he is to be revered above all gods” (96:4); “Our Lord is above all gods” (135:5); “Ascribe to Yahweh, [you] gods, ascribe to Yahweh glory and strength” (29:1); “He is exalted above all gods” (97:7); “For Yahweh is a great god, and a great king above all gods” (95:3)

Lots of gods hanging around, Riva bot. You, supposedly, are worshiping one of them

[Riva]

Pretty sick. Again, these are not references to other gods in a pantheon of Gods. The Old Testamebnt was written in the context of time when many other cultures, as ignorant as you are now, worshipped false gods. But these other cultures, could perhaps to some extent be excused for ignorance. You and your clownish troll buddies are something inexcusable.

[Malika the Maiz]

It doesn’t say “among false gods” it says “among the gods.” Diagnostic time!

[Brett Bellmore]

Maybe he just likes the boats. The are nice.

[Bob from Ohio]

"depth of your ignorance on religion"

Amusing that all the atheists here are the true experts on religion!

[Malika the Maiz]

Maybe the latter cause the former?

[LawTalkingGuy]

You don't need to believe in a faith to have expertise in it or to have expertise on the social and cultural contours of religion. One of my medieval history professors was a devout Presbyterian but she obviously had expertise on Roman Catholic history and doctrine and could converse much more intelligently on those subjects than most Catholics. And of course, classicists are experts in Roman and Greek religion but they certainly don't believe in Jupiter/Zeus.

[Bob from Ohio]

Hatred of religion colors the views of the atheists in a way that is absent from your examples.

Saying Jews just thought that HaShem was not the only god, but only the best one is just an attack on belief, not analysis.

[SRG2]

Yup. Even in the 10 Commandments it does not say that there are no other gods, only that they not be worshipped. Nor is it clear whether the phrase elohim acherim means "gods of others" or "other gods" - both are possible.

[Riva]

Nope. Nada. Nyet. Nien. iie. Wrong. So incredibly wrong that wrong is not sufficient. There is only one true God in the Bible. The worship of false deities by other cultures is of course noted but only truly irreligious ignorant slobs believe that this creates some sort of full-fledged cosmology or pantheon of multiple deities.

[Malika the Maiz]

“The worship of false deities”

More hallucinations, the term false is not in the discussed text.

[Riva]

I suspect your inability to comprehend the Bible is only the tip if an ignorant iceberg for you. Context and grammar often keep ignorant trollish clowns from understanding many things. Being a religious bigot adds to your problems.

[LawTalkingGuy]

Less of a bad Old Testament reading and more of an unknowing embrace of Arianism or Monophysitism.

[minus the clever name]

Only a poorly educated non-lawyer would not know the difference between material and formal heresy.

We are all material heretics I tell my college students. But only holding a view in stated opposition to the Church is actual heresy.

O, how we suffer from people who can speak but have nothing to say

[LawTalkingGuy]

“Only a poorly educated non-lawyer would not know the difference between material and formal heresy”

Sure. I remember when I took the mandatory course on the Council of Chalcedon 1L year.

[apedad]

The "Church" holds no authority over me so they can go to Hell.

[Malika the Maiz]

“We are all material heretics I tell my college students.”

Are you holding some kids hostage somewhere?

[Malika the Maiz]

Israeli attack on Iranian prison draws scrutiny:

“The Israeli military declined to comment about the purpose of the attack on Evin or the casualties. Israeli officials have described the attack on Evin as “symbolic.” Foreign Minister Gideon Saar, in a social media post, suggested that it was both retaliation for Iranian missile strikes on civilian structures, and somehow an act of liberation.

But in Iran, prisoners, families, activists and lawyers said that Israel’s action had shown total disregard for the lives and safety of the prisoners. They said the timing of the attack, at noon during a working day, also meant that the prison had been full of visitors, lawyers, medical and administrative staff.

Narges Mohammadi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate who is Iran’s most prominent human rights activist, said in a statement that Israel’s attack “carried out in broad daylight, in front of families and visitors, is clearly a war crime.” Ms. Mohammadi has spent decades in and out of Evin, and is currently out on furlough.“

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/06/world/middleeast/israel-iran-evin-prison.html

[hobie]

Yeah, I wrote a little bit about that on Monday. It was a huge, intentional mass civilian casualty event. Gazans not being humans, you can appreciate why they've been carpet bombed into oblivion. But why these hundreds of Iranian prisoners? Why this prison?

[Malika the Maiz]

I should hope there’s a better reason than “symbolic.”

[Frank Drackman]

Like Willie Sutton said about robbing banks

[Malika the Maiz]

A profoundly stupid answer from the profoundly sad, weird writer of the Frank Fakeman character performed here. In a place like Iran the prisons are full of people who are their for opposing their tyrannical regime. That’s the last people you should want to kill if your opposing the regime.

[Frank Drackman]

Ear-Ron has criminals just like everywhere, and bombing the prison is akin to catapulting snakes and rats into a walled city, now Ear-Ron has to waste resources repairing the Prison or deal with more criminals going free, shows your priorities, Ear-Ron bombs hospitals, Israel bombs prisons, and that’s the one that upsets you

[Malika the Maiz]

Israel’s pretty good at bombing hospitals too.

Iran’s draconian criminal code and repressive regime mean prisons are full of the innocent and dissidents.

[Mr. Bumble]

Aren't you confusing Iran under the Shah with the current "government"?

[Malika the Maiz]

No, the current government is a medieval tyranny worse than the Shah’s.

[Frank Drackman]

and Ham-Ass is pretty good at using hospitals as hostages for their Terrorists, don't fuck with the Ram, you'll get the Horn (I just made a Shofar reference!)

[Malika the Maiz]

The blank check appears!

[minus the clever name]

Guess you were embarrassed that Israel reversed itself on the gun policy 🙂 There is no pleasing you 🙂

[Malika the Maiz]

I don’t know what you’re talking about. We have that in common.

[Riva]

Are you really that much of an idiot to believe that the IDF is carpet bombing civilian areas? Based on your prior comments, I guess the answer is yes, an idiot and then some. With some antisemitism liberally mixed in.

[Frank Drackman]

That's our Queenie!

[Malika the Maiz]

I didn’t make that claim, hobie did. That’s our Frank Fakeman character!

[Frank Drackman]

My bad Queenie

[Martinned]

My understanding was that they bombed the entrance to the prison, rather than the prison itself. (Or at least meant to.) Given that it's a place where a lot of enemies of the regime are held, you can see why Israel might want to do that.

[Malika the Maiz]

Hmm, thanks, if correct that makes more sense.

[Riva]

Hmm? I guess you were really outraged by Iran’s deliberate bombing of Israeli civilian locations, including a hospital? You were so upset you couldn’t even comment on that, expressing your antisemitism…er anger, by being completely silent.

[Malika the Maiz]

Riva bot programmed for weak sauce race card playing.

[hobie]

I read today that Elon's AI has been spewing out antisemitic jokes. Riva bot could very well be Grok

[Frank Drackman]

Hobie-Stank, you could be a "Carnac the Magnificent" Punch Line (I know, nobody knows who Carnac was, your loss)

"Hobie Stank"
"What did Hobie do after he ate the Macho Bean Burrito at Del Taco?"

Frank

[Riva]

I'm sorry. I don't speak or read bigoted moron. Does this mean you were outraged at Iranian missile attacks on civilian areas including a hospital? Because it doesn't seem that's what you're trying to communicate.

[JoeFromtheBronx]

Tom Paine in The Age of Reason declared:

I believe in one God, and no more; and I hope for happiness beyond this life.

I believe in the equality of man; and I believe that religious duties consist in doing justice, loving mercy, and endeavoring to make our fellow-creatures happy.

A deistic god was the height of rationalism back then. I appreciate how he "hoped" for happiness in a future life. It is hard to see how you could reason out that with much assurance.

The second half of Paine's creed is brief and to the point. Shades of Micah 6:8:

He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.
And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God.

Also, John Adams:

“The longer I live, the more I read, the more patiently I think, and the more anxiously I inquire, the less I seem to know...Do justly. Love mercy. Walk humbly. This is enough.”

[Poxigah146]

I'm not a particularly big fan of the Big Beautiful Bill. I also think don't support any SALT deductions at all, because I think they unfairly make the responsible states subsidize the spendthrift states (please spare me the tired and discredited trope about blue states "sending more to Washington" than red states). That all aside, maintaining the PTET deduction is particularly outrageous.

Why should a W-2 salaried employee have a cap on his SALT deductions, while a K-1 partner does not?

[SRG2]

please spare me the tired and discredited trope about blue states "sending more to Washington" than red states

Discredited? Where?

What Republicans Don’t Want To Say: Blue States Are the Ones Bailing Out Red States

It's hardly surprising given the per capita GSPs, of course.

[Poxigah146]

It's discredited because states don't pay a damn thing. People living in them do. And our progressive income taxation system means rich people pay more in taxes than middle class and poor people. That's true whether those rich and non-rich people live in blue states or red states.

[Malika the Maiz]

So more successful people choose to live in blue states?

[LawTalkingGuy]

Remember when Judge Oldham said that social media being overrun by Nazis was a fanciful hypothetical? That’s got to be an all-timer for incorrect statements.

[minus the clever name]

NO, it won't because he misused/abused the term 'Nazis' and no correct user of words will countence such callous and heartless abuse of a word that stood for racist murderers.

[LawTalkingGuy]

Nazisim is an ideology. And people subscribe to it. And they’re online, especially Twitter. And now Grok ended up adopting that ideology.

[Malika the Maiz]

Grok literally suggested Adolph Hitler as the leader for a solution.

[JoeFromtheBronx]

What an old ham!

[Frank Drackman]

This will get "45/47" a 3rd Term
"TSA to Discontinue Requiring Passengers to Take Off Shoes"
and even though I'm a rich bastard, enough Delta Skymiles to go to the Moon (and back), always fly First Class,
I schlep through the regular TSA line with the Hoi Polloi, I enjoy it actually (and a few airports do put First Class at the front of the line) its like doing Calisthenics, Shoes Off!, Belt off!, Laptop Out! (or "In" at some Airports) Hands Up! (Don't Shoot!, I mean Don't Move!) and then reassembly is the reverse of disassembly.
and at some of the smaller Airports (I'm talkin' bout you, Aberdeen SD!) you can get through faster in the regular line than the one for the various Castes ("TSA Pre-check", "CLEAR"....) because they have an Officer for each line, and if Cleetus who has the Pre-check line is back jerking off in the break room, no way Jim-Bob who's got the regular line is going to do Cleetus's job for him
and is there a requirement that TSA Officers be morbidly obese??

Frank

[hobie]

I think you do it for the cavity search, Frankie.

[Frank Drackman]

Hey Now!

[Malika the Maiz]

The writer of the Frank Fakeman character performed here doesn’t read the comments where he performs I guess, this story with this exact take was done above.

[John F. Carr]

List price for Karen Read's murder defense was $10 million. No wonder she wants a movie deal. Could a public defender have beaten the murder charge? I recall reading years ago that if you owned a house you were not entitled to a public defender. The logic must be, even $100,000 in equity is enough to afford a lawyer.

https://www.vanityfair.com/culture/story/karen-read-trial-alan-jackson

[tylertusta]

Knowledgeable people tell me that $10M in fees is about right.

Multi-year ordeal, two trials, and having to pay for expert witnesses twice.

[ThePublius]

I believe she did sell her house to cover legal expenses.

[Malika the Maiz]

That’s awful.

[Zarniwoop]

https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.278436/gov.uscourts.dcd.278436.160.0.pdf

TL,DR:
Government of El Salvador claims in filing with UN that US deportees held there are under the exclusive jurisdiction and control of the US:

The Salvadoran State emphatically states that its authorities have not arrested, detained, or transferred the persons referred to in the communications of the Working Group. The actions of the State of El Salvador have been limited to the implementation of a bilateral cooperation mechanism with another State, through which it has facilitated the use of the Salvadoran prison infrastructure for the custody of persons detained within the scope of the justice system and law enforcement of that other State. In this context, the jurisdiction and legal responsibility for these persons lie exclusively with the competent foreign authorities, by virtue of international agreements signed and in accordance with the principles of sovereignty and international cooperation in criminal matters.

The Petitioner’s notice also states that the US Gov’t failed to produce the doc, despite having it since April, and that the Gov’t submitted contrary information in a declaration to the court in May about who has control of the deportees.

[hobie]

This is the point I've been trying to make. These terrorist immigrants are federal prisoners under federal jurisdiction. As such, they require all the amenities, medical, access to counsel, access to federal courts for redress, and all procedural obligations of the BOP

[Dr. Ed 2]

The only thing missing is a voodoo scientist and a half dozed social workers.

https://apnews.com/article/uk-post-office-scandal-suicide-horizon-software-70a6945a3acf945ea9d121425fdd028c

[JoeFromtheBronx]

A recent Josh Blackman post led me to quote his favorite justice.

Justice Thomas, in a dissent to Saenz v. Roe, suggests the Privileges or Immunities Clause should be relied upon to protect fundamental rights. Government benefits would not count, but raising children surely would. He grants the right to raise children as a fundamental right in Troxel v. Granville.

Thomas explains in Morse v. Frederick how early public teachers instilled “a core of common values” in students and taught them self-control. The schools, in his view, stood in for the parents ("The teacher is the substitute of the parent").

Furthermore, "Courts routinely preserved the rights of teachers to punish speech that the school or teacher thought was contrary to the interests of the school and its educational goals."

What about parental rights?

"If parents do not like the rules imposed by those schools, they can seek redress in school boards or legislatures; they can send their children to private schools or home school them; or they can simply move. Whatever rules apply to student speech in public schools, those rules can be challenged by parents in the political process."

He reaffirmed these sentiments in Safford United School District v. Redding (search of student). Justice Ginsburg, e.g., was concerned about them not calling the girl's parents. Thomas was not concerned. The parents put her in the school's care.

The ability of public schools to instill values, with parents who send students there having the alternative of using the political process etc. to dissent, was somewhat limited (with Thomas going along) in a recent case involving exposing children to LGBTQ individuals and teaching them to treat them with dignity and respect.

Thomas now is more particular. He suggests in Mahmoud that there is "little to suggest that these lessons are critical to the students’ civic development." The Supreme Court, not school boards, perhaps are the best place to determine that now.

Thomas uses his concurrence there partially to address the bigotry of some earlier laws limiting alternative education. He has a selective concern about bigotry.

He appeals to concerns about state mandated "conformity." Again, depends on how you look at it. Exposure to a variety of people also addresses misguided conformity.

[LexAquilia]

"involving exposing children to LGBTQ individuals and teaching them to treat them with dignity and respect."

lmao no it did not, do not Pink Wash the sick and perverted grooming they were doing.

[Malika the Maiz]

Any evidence for your salacious claims, or is this an every accusation…moment?

[minus the clever name]

Someone explain all the well-deserved abuse of Ketanji that overlooks the world's stupidest man , who said of her

BIDEN
"one of our nation's brightest legal minds". In his remarks, he further highlighted her "tremendous intellect and character" and stated that she would bring an "independent mind" and "uncompromising integrity" to the Supreme Court.

Bernard was mocking all Trump supporters but I will hazard the guess he loves Biden and is afraid to make any positive statements on here, all sniping, all negative.

[Malika the Maiz]

He said of her, “BIDEN?”

[LexAquilia]

Is Justice BoneCaller being the posterchild of DEI not just the sweetest justice in the world?

Plane crashes, helicopter crashes, wildfire ravages, and now complete buffoonery opinions DEI is going to be come so shameful people like Sarcastr0 will be claiming he never heard of it a year from now.

[Malika the Maiz]

It’s interesting how many people decrying how DEI lowers standards struggle with basic English spelling and grammar.

[apedad]

VA ends plan for further layoffs after workforce drops by 30,000

A large-scale reduction in the workforce of 80,000 employees planned for hospitals and clinics run by the Department of Veterans Affairs is no longer being considered for fiscal 2025, VA Secretary Doug Collins announced Monday. A federal hiring freeze imposed since February — along with deferred resignations, early retirements and regular turnover from attrition — will yield a decrease of 30,000 full-time personnel through September and eliminate the need for sweeping layoffs, he said. The agency as a result does not anticipate further staff reductions, Collins said.

The VA in June employed 467,000 workers at field offices, medical centers and outpatient clinics across the nation, according to the agency.

https://www.stripes.com/veterans/2025-07-07/veterans-va-staff-layoffs-18366863.html

I was surprised at the number of VA employess (400K+), but then saw, "(a)s of 2023, there were more than 18 million living veterans in the United States, representing about 6% of the country's adult population. In 2022, there were 16.2 million veterans in the US."

[John F. Carr]

The Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts addressed an issue mentioned not long ago by forum regular "not guilty": consecutive life sentences. The court spends three pages rejecting the defendant's complaint that his two life sentences were consecutive.

Commonwealth v. Poum, https://www.mass.gov/files/documents/2025/07/09/e13443.pdf

The court also ruled that an armed burglar was not entitled to the benefit of a "sudden combat" instruction when the unarmed occupants fought back. The suddent combat defense mitigates murder to manslaughter when the defendant uses excess force in response to a sudden attack. Had two larger men attacked him on the street, instead of in "a situation of the defendant's own making," he might have had the benefit of the defense.