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Politics
Eugene Volokh | 9.24.2025 3:00 AM
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https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/peter-strzok-dismissal-fbi/2025/09/23/id/1227570/
Better luck next time, Pete.
His texts may have been free speech, right up until he said “No. No he won’t. We’ll stop it,”
”[Trump is] not ever going to become president, right? Right?!” Page, who also worked on Mueller’s staff, responded.
“No. No he won’t. We’ll stop it,” Strzok texted back."
When he is actively investigating the Presidential candidate for a major party, and he texts that, he can't work for the FBI anymore.
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/14/fbi-agents-text-reportedly-disclosed-by-justice-watchdog-well-stop-trump-from-becoming-president.html
Some people would also take issue with Strzok and Page using government time and resources to carry on their extramarital affair. And for using personal devices to conduct government business. (Weren't they supposed to be investigating someone who did that?)
It's fashionable among the kids today to "bring your whole self to work" and to "bring your own device" but there are very good reasons those things were historically disfavored, and remain disfavored in the public service.
Trump supporter complains about government employee use of work phones for personal messaged? That’s some notes and beams level stuff!
lisa page got $800,000 as a settlement during the biden administration Strzok got $1,200,000 as his settlement.
quite a nice payoff for their behavior
What was their behavior, exactly?
Get back to work.
Discussing how they were going to make sure Trump lost the election by means of job related activities that they discussed using their private phones to conceal the discussions.
I thought it was their job phones as Mikie seems to claim supra.
Which phones they used is not the issue.
It was the activity associated with the election and the subsequent behavior post election.
What activity? I ask again because so far I'm just seeing speech.
Holy smokes -- 6 years of litigation, with far from inexpensive big firms for both Strzok and Page. Wonder who bankrolled this one?
Reading through the mile-long minute orders in the docket by the clearly frustrated judge is a hoot.
First Twitter (before X), then Facebook, and now we have Alphabet saying they were pressured by the Biden administration to censor speech on its platform.
The lunatics on the left will have their favorite responses.
-He’s lying
-Prove it
-What about…
-He’s just saying that to appease Trump or to keep from being assassinated by Hesgeth—or both.
-What law did the Biden administration break? Show me the statute! No statute? Biden did nothing wrong.
-Hey, that’s so much different than Carr
-Trump personally called Iger and demanded he fire Kimmel or he’d send in the National Guard. Biden didn’t do that. See, it’s different, Ok, the National Guard is hyperbole. The rest is pure Sarcastr0.
-I didn’t see that on MSNBC or CNN broadcasts. Must be FOX propaganda.
In other news it’s been widely reported Iger suspended Kimmel because he wouldn’t issue a mea culpa and was going to double down on Wednesday.
Also, Nexstar and Sinclair are still preempting Kimmel. Presumably because Carr told them to do so. I mean Carr gave them the green light to begin with. No way would the conservative affiliate owners have come up with the idea all on their lonesome.
I wonder if that's the same Twitter who were in court in Amsterdam on Monday asking for a gag order against this guy Danny Mekic, who has spent the last two years trying to find out why he's being shadowbanned.
https://www.reddit.com/r/thenetherlands/comments/1nnkkpx/x_wil_jurist_en_technologieexpert_danny_meki%C4%87/?tl=en
It’s a private organization controlling content on the platform they own. I heard a lot about that not too long ago. I can’t quite remember what it was about. Do you remember? Help a fella out and enlighten me.
Also;
Private entity =/= government entity
Your comment falls in the “what about category” above. I knew you wouldn’t disappoint.
What part of "seeking a court order" do you not understand? If the court were to grant Twitter's request, that would be government action. (Which is why I hope the request won't be granted.)
Hey, the Tulip Kingdom already bans speech it doesn’t like. All “X” is doing is asking for speech it doesn’t like to be added.
Like you said, it’s doesn’t mean sh!t unless the govt acts.
Is this a translating doohickey error?
“… is asking the court of appeal to impose a gag order on the personal data that X has so far withheld.” Is the govt trying to force X into releasing data it owns? Now that would be govt action, To further what end?
I'm not sure what the legal basis of the suit is. I've seen press reporting but no legal documents. That stuff will become clear in the ultimate court judgment.
Sounds like they want a gag order on release of the products of discovery?
The impression I got from the serious press is that Twitter was seeking an injunction ordering this guy to stop speaking publicly about Twitter. I'd assumed this was based on libel law somehow. But yes, Mekic is using his rights as a data subject under GDPR to get access to the personal data about him that Twitter holds. (See this court judgment from March, upholding his right to get that data.) So it is possible that Twitter is arguing that he is entitled to this information, but that GDPR (or other law) places limits on what he can then do with it.
The key word in the original Dutch newspaper article was "spreekverbod" ("speech ban"), which sounds more like an injunction not to speak about Twitter than an injunction not to use certain information.
For the record, without more detail about the claim it is difficult to be certain, but "make this person stop criticising me" isn't a very plausible claim under Dutch law any more than it is in the US.
What's not being said in any of this is why shadowbanning isn't a fraudulent & deceptive business practice?
They are lunatics (the Left), and believe them when they threaten violence.
Preemptive whataboutism!
I made a statement of fact. Alphabet really said that. Maybe they were playing the “what about” game. I don’t know. I acknowledge I can’t read minds.
Companies making statements that burnish Trump's narratives is good business; their truth value is not determined.
This is one of the many issues when you have a toddler-king - you can't trust statements that favor him, since he's lawlessly deploying both carrots and sticks for exactly that kind of petty shit.
The discourse here has sure elevated. Now it’s “toddler king.” I’d say that pretty soon some on the left may get so tired of the bullshit insults that they’ll actually try to honestly engage on the issues, but history shows us that isn’t the pattern for the left. They have tantrums and outbursts. Some are somewhat less violent than others, like UN employees expressing their dislike of President Trump by sabotaging the escalator, teleprompter, and audio. But all reactions are childish and/or deranged.
Bot not self-aware.
... and your summaries of denialists' evidence-free assertions were generally accurate and fair. Although technically, nobody is worried about Trump assassinating them over speech -- they only worry about the Clintons, Obamas, and stochastic leftist terrorists doing that.
The real pros are more about leftists putting you in camps, not just murdering you.
"Viewers in 3 major Ohio cities won’t be able to watch Jimmy Kimmel’s return tonight"
https://www.cleveland.com/news/2025/09/viewers-in-2-major-ohio-cities-wont-be-able-to-watch-jimmy-kimmels-return-tonight.html
Censorship is bad..amirite?!
The sub-20% of those viewers that still watch broadcast TV, anyway. Pesky little asterisks everywhere.
And in any event, individual broadcast stations making individual choices on which of many available programs to air in a finite number of time slots is no more "censorship" than local libraries opting to fill their shelves with a small subset of available books that just happens not to include one that I think should be there.
Andy Ngo reports on a court
"As part of the lawsuit to get the @PortlandPolice to enforce the law on the Antifa rioters outside the ICE facility, discovery revealed that on June 25, Antifa ziptied and barricaded the building and attempted to set the place on fire — while dozens of agents were inside.
Antifa also brought out bags of rocks to use as projectile weapons. They also had rioters stop and redirect drivers on the public road so they could use the street as a staging ground for violence.
@MayorKWilson has announced the city is targeting the facility. Members on city council like @candaceforpdx and @pnwpolicyangel have also been advocating for the rioters.
The Portland Police have not made a single arrest since June as the riots continue unabated."
https://x.com/MrAndyNgo/status/1970254071870157063?t=jAbWgUpWOk35tRmp_ip9NQ&s=19
That's worse than what ICE was facing in LA, and worse collusion by local authorities.
I think we need the Oregon National guard, I'd use units from Eastern Oregon.
The FBI and the ADL chucked that up to workplace violence and not political violence. Or did they say Antifa doesn’t have a CEO so it didn’t happen?
It is, after all, somebody’s workplace, right?
Has to be one of two.
Kazinski — Because it's you, I'm too lazy to do the work necessary to believe any of that. But assuming it is all true, what would make anyone think doubling down on right-wing force will deliver a halcyon era of uncontested right-wing dominance?
You are allowed to wait for a source that isn’t a well known liar specifically about Antifa stuff.
There is no hurry.
So, now Ngo is 'a well known liar specifically about Antifa stuff'?
Probably lied about the brain damage and stay in the hospital, too?
Oh, he got a brain bleed. Probably was assaulted. But he lost that lawsuit because he wasn't in it to win, he was in it to grift. But yeah, he lies. And selectively edits. It's his cottage industry.
And thanks to suckers like you and Kaz, business is good.
https://www.oregonlive.com/news/2021/02/how-portlands-andy-ngo-turned-his-war-with-antifa-into-a-dubious-best-selling-book.html
Lots and lots of other sources where that comes from. He's enough of a bottom feeder you're not going to see him profiled in larger outlets, but he's also pretty bad at covering his tracks.
"Oh, he got a brain bleed. Probably was assaulted."
"Probably" was assaulted? It was caught on video.
...OK.
He's still a liar.
Nothing is lost by waiting some days for an actual outlet to pick the story up.
Yeah, if what you like to call "actual outlets" weren't so habitually avoiding picking up certain sorts of stories.
What matters, Brett is what actual outlets say. You are not an actual outlet. It doesn't matter what you say.
Of course, Sarc isn't an actual outlet. It would make sense for you to summarily (reflexively) dismiss what he says.
Sarc Logic
Oh come on, Brett. Local news is also a thing.
If a story is hidden but for a propagandist/grifter's coverage, what you have isn't a story, it's a tale.
It's Gaslight0. Do you expect anything else, like actual substance?
A few months ago, my project at work got a new PM, and the new guy lives in Portland. He insists that it's a great place, totally not like all the crazy right wingers say, because from his house on the other side of the river from downtown, one can barely see the smoke rising constantly from the riots.
Yeah, Portland has in a permanent state of being destroyed over and over.
How the hell do you think anyone would buy that shit?
The guy lives there but what does he know? Mikie has Newsmax reports!
“one can barely see the smoke rising constantly from the riots.”
This is risible and false.
The roots are very organized, considering that Antifa isn't an organization. "Rose City Antifa" has even given specific protocols for prospective members or the public to determine how to authenticate members of Rose City Antifa.
But they probably don't have membership cards, so some people here will insist that means they aren't an organization and so can't perpetrate a conspiracy.
The roots are very organized
They sure are: https://www.youtube.com/@theroots/videos
Now that antifa is officially recognized as a domestic terror organization, there’ll finally be some serious investigations. Won’t it be fun to follow the money?
Of course, there literally isn't any such thing as "recognized as a domestic terror organization." Federal law allows the government to designate foreign terrorist organizations — as we've seen with Trump's lies about TdA et al. — but there is no provision for doing so with respect to domestic groups. Trump can call an organization that, but it's just rhetorical name calling, not "officially" doing anything.
Won’t it be fun to follow the money?
It won't be fun for the poor US Attorney/FBI agents tasked with doing that, who will be forced to come up with some diplomatic way to say to Trump, "You moron, there is no money to follow, because there's no organization" at which point they'll be fired for failing to effectuate his delusions.
Saw my first-ever Jimmy Kimmel performance. I can see why Trump/MAGA types don't like him. His humor struck me as more sardonic than funny. As a 1A defender he was eloquent and dogged, but without much show of original insight or brilliance. To the extent that humor relies on surprise and unexpected insight, Kimmel was not very funny. It has been decades since I saw any right-tending comic who could compete with Kimmel, but it was still a lowish bar.
What is it that since the days of William Buckley has kept American conservatives from being funny? Maybe it's only because I do not count Johnny Carson or Jay Leno among conservatives, although they might belong there. I'm guessing older American conservatives remember both fondly, and fault Colbert, Oliver, and Stewart for not being more like them.
As far as I can tell no one in US late night manages to be consistently funny. They have their moments, but it may not be possible to deliver that much material that quickly and still be funny.
Perhaps you are unaware of how it works. I’m not doggin’ ya. They have a team of writers,
You would think several writers could fill a short monologue daily with jokes that hit most of the time. Letterman, Leno, O’Brien, Carson, Ferguson et al could do it.
It’s difficult to be funny and mean-spirited at the same time. Rickles could pull it off because everybody knew it was his bit. I don’t get the feeling Colbert or Kimmel are doing a bit. They genuinely greatly dislike 40% if Americans.
They do have a team of writers, but that doesn't seem to be sufficient to deliver consistently funny output.
There's this notion on the left that everything, bar nothing, has to be about the politics. "The personal is the political." After that, it can be about itself, but the politics come first.
Somebody like Rickles could be consistently funny, because being funny WAS job #1.
For a guy like Kimmel, it's job #2.
Don Rickles didn't have a job where he had to come up with 10+ minutes of new, topical material every day.
Yes. It is not the job of a late night host in the US in 2025 to avoid political topics. If something important happens in society, Americans expect their favourite late night host to talk about it that evening.
"It is not the job of a late night host in the US in 2025 to avoid political topics."
Right, it's the job of a late night host in the US in 2025 to advance the cause, and if he can be funny on the side, that's permissible.
And the networks are wondering if that's the job they SHOULD be hiring them for, because it does kind of get in the way of the bottom line.
Don Rickles didn't avoid political topics. But neither did he relentlessly take a particular side, everybody was fair game.
It might have something to do with Jon Stewart’s success.
And Fallon's lack of success.
Don Rickles
Brett...his height was like 50 years ago. I think you may be out of touch.
Still funny as fuck. You probably don't think the 3 Stooges are funny either. Jay Leno had a whole bit about that. "Didja evah notice how no woman laughs at the 3 Stooges??? You can have 5 NASA Rocket Scientists watching and they'll be laughing their asses off, and a Waitress will walk up "That's not funny!!!"
Frank
.” Yes. It is not the job of a late night host in the US in 2025 to avoid political topics.”
It never has been the job to avoid political topics. NEVER. The difference is they could make jokes about political figures or issues, but they weren’t actually being political. If that makes sense. They weren’t taking a stand or trying to make a statement. They were being funny. It was an escape from the 9-5 grind and the woeful world.
Today it is make the political statement or take a stand. If we can make it funny, that’s cool. If not, oh well. It’s not my job to be funny.
Again, they made a monologue mostly funny day after day in the past. It’s not some unattainable goal. The formula is there. They just don’t want to follow it.
Today it is make the political statement or take a stand.
Says you. I say the right's just become a lot more touchy due to outrage-baiting and the alure of being oppressed.
Brett complains other people think everything about politics. Next, he will explain why sitcoms are a plot by the left to make everyone hate white men.
They Censor "Gutfeld!" in your Sharia-Law Shithole?? Love the constant tension where you expect his "Sidekick" Tyrus (a 400lb 6'7(not sure what that is in cm) Pro Wrestler threatens to throw Greg in a locker and (redacted) him. Greg himself makes frequent jokes referring to his own Homosexuality, it's a peculiar strain of Amurican Humor where guys prove they're not Homos by acting like they are.
Martin, I expect you are correct on that score. I find the Maher does pretty well on a once per week regimen.
I was thinking of John Oliver, and of other shows in other countries.
I would have thought that Bill Maher is an example of what Brett was complaining about, of someone who doesn't prioritise being funny above everything else, because he's too busy pushing his political POV.
I thought PJ O’Rourke was pretty funny.
He was, that whole "I smoke and I'm healthy" bit didn't end well though.
You might enjoy Tuccille, then.
It Usually Begins With Ayn Rand
I have the first edition, no idea what the revisions are like...
Lately, the hands down king of comedy is the Daily Show with a rotating line up of stand up comics and John Stewart as the main guy. The content written and delivered is just awesome
30 Seconds of any random 3 Stooges Episode has more laughs than Kimmel/Fallon/Colbert/Stewart's entire careers.
I've found "dry bar comedy" pretty hilarious, the few times I've been exposed to it.
Ann Coulter used to be funny.
Maybe, but not intentionally so.
Did you see Cums-a-lot yesterday,? explaining how she didn't pick Booty-Judge because he's a Homo, then picking that prancing Fairy Sergeant Major Tim Pepper-Waltz. I thought I was going to pop an Aneurysm.
You watch The View?
For laughs, of course just looking at Whoopie is enough, reminds me of "Buckwheat" from the "Our Gang" series.
His mom’s basement (or as he’d say Basement) only gets the one channel.
O, look, another Israeli drone attack against a ship in international (or at least not Israeli) waters.
https://www.politico.eu/article/palestine-gaza-aid-flotilla-crew-drones-greta-thunberg/
OMG!! How many casualties? How many are visiting Davey Jones’s locker?
Oh, what you mean is Greta Thurberg’s publicity flotilla was “attacked” with nuisance measures. If she doesn’t want to be annoyed on the open sea, perhaps she shouldn’t make a production of saying she is going to bust the blockade. She might actually reach Israeli waters. But, of course, that isn’t actually her goal. Is it?
Oh, the picture of the “aid” sailboat is probably carrying more weight in people than actual aid. Hilarious!!
I bet you were salivating at the opportunity to post this “injustice.”
WTF are you talking about? Attacking people is OK as long as you don't do a lot of damage?
They were “attacked” with sound bombs. I hear they have the yield roughly equivalent to the MOAB (11 tons of TNT).
They weren’t attacked. They were annoyed.
No comment on how much aid that sailboat could have been carrying? Minus their own provisions, of course. Jeez, they could have left from the east coast of Italy and carried more “aid.” But again, that wasn’t their goal. They wanted to poke Israel. And like all leftists, didn’t like being poked back.
Martinned — It was the United States which opened the field of drone strikes in warfare. Since the day that began, I have predicted the US will come to rue the day it made that choice.
It looked to me like a repeat of ill-considered strategic dogmas from the early cold war, where a heedless rush to seize offensive advantage failed to consider a reckoning to show the US had more to lose defensively than any other nation. It was stupid for the fattest nuclear target in the world to promote a nuclear arms race. China's entry into the Korean War was one prompt example to show why. At the time, the US strategic nuclear capacity was all-but-useless against still-agrarian China.
I think asymmetry in drone warfare may prove even more to US disadvantage than in the case of nuclear weapons. Unlike nukes, use of drones is anything but unthinkable.
It seems like a rich, technologically proficient nation will always be at a relative drone disadvantage compared to less-favored others. Drone use can turn poverty and low-tech capacity into sudden strategic power. What those others could not strike previously, they can now. That is not a trend the US should advance by, for instance, blowing up tiny drug smuggling boats in the Caribbean.
Actually, the most famous example of an NGO's ship being attacked in international waters in order to stop the NGO achieving its goals was the sinking of Rainbow Warrior in 1985. That was the French.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinking_of_the_Rainbow_Warrior
The again, the French don't just do WTF they want. They care about not being an international pariah.
In 1987, after international pressure, France paid $8.16m to Greenpeace in damages, which helped finance another ship. It also paid compensation to the Pereira family, reimbursing his life insurance company for 30,000 Dutch guilders and making reparation payments of 650,000 francs to Pereira's wife, 1.5 million francs to his two children, and 75,000 francs to each of his parents. (...) In June 1986, in a political deal with Prime Minister of New Zealand David Lange, presided over by United Nations Secretary-General Javier Pérez de Cuéllar, France agreed to pay NZ$13 million (US$6.5 million) to New Zealand and apologise, in return for which Alain Mafart and Dominique Prieur would be detained at the French military base on Hao Atoll for three years. (...) Following the breach of the arrangement, in 1990 the UN secretary-general awarded New Zealand another NZ$3.5 million (US$2 million) to establish the New Zealand / France Friendship Fund. Although France had formally apologised to the New Zealand Government in 1986, during a visit in April 1991, French Prime Minister Michel Rocard delivered a personal apology. He said it was "to turn the page in the relationship and to say, if we had known each other better, this thing never would have happened". The Friendship Fund has provided contributions to a number of charity and public purposes. During a visit in 2016, French Prime Minister Manuel Valls reiterated that the incident had been "a serious error".
Yeah, the French killed people in that attack. Didn't just annoy them.
Well, killed one person, anyway.
Are you suggesting that if the US hadn’t developed the atomic bomb nobody else would have? If we weren’t the first to use drones in combat, nobody else would have?
The whole world would be a much better place if it weren’t for those damn Americans.
Like you said, drones can improve the strength of relatively weak powers. It is incredulous they wouldn’t have figured that out on their own.
I get the logic. Look at supersonic missiles. We developed defensive weapons against conventional missiles. Our adversaries had to one up it. What is illogical is that if we didn’t lead and keep pushing forward nobody would try to “one up” us. Not. How. The. World. Works.
Does he think that because he thinks the Communists would have won, or does he think that because he thinks the Nazis would have won?
Man, this comentariat’s Martinned fan fiction is getting complex.
In this case I think it had nothing to do with me.
Jazzizhep — Like you said, drones can improve the strength of relatively weak powers. It is incredulous they wouldn’t have figured that out on their own.
Absent provocation, I don't know of many examples of weak powers initiating attacks against much stronger ones. Do you? On the other hand, a bully which initiates murderous provocations might reasonably expect vengeful retaliations, perhaps even concerted retaliations from weaker adversaries who make common cause.
Good!
Gaza is being blockaded due to its acts of war and terror upon the Israeli people. Rape, murder, and more.
A blockade runner trying to deliver supplies and support to these murderers is supporting the murder and rape of Israelis and Jews.
It's lucky for those blockade runners that they were not trafficking contraband in the (recently re-renamed) Gulf of Exploding Narcoterrorists, or they might have had a much worse day of it.
Summary executions by his king get Mikie really excited.
We have no idea who we're killing. Or at least our government is telling us to trust them and leaving it at that.
Michel does love to trust the regime. Nom nom boots.
So your argument is that it is outrageous that NGOs are trying to interfere with Israel's war crimes?
For the record, this is one of the examples of war crimes given in the Rome Statute:
Intentionally using starvation of civilians as a method of warfare by depriving them of objects indispensable to their survival, including wilfully impeding relief supplies as provided for under the Geneva Conventions;
You seem to be saying that this is what Israel is doing, and that any attempt to stop Israel doing this is somehow scandalous and must be stopped.
"So your argument is that it is outrageous that NGOs are trying to interfere with Israel's war crimes?"
I believe you mean Hamas's war crimes. Hamas is trying to starve its own citizens by stealing their food. The NGO will be helping Hamas. Israel is trying to prevent the support of more war crimes.
It's like the people who send food to the Nazis running the camps.
How does this: "The NGO will be helping Hamas." follow from this: "Hamas is trying to starve its own citizens by stealing their food."?
The easier it is to bring food into Gaza, the harder it is for Hamas to steal it all. Makes you wonder why the IDF keeps blocking food transport at the land border...
Martin, The charge of starvation of Gazans is a lie. There is plenty of food that has been delivered to Gaza. If anyone is guilty, it is Hamas that steals food to sell at black market prcies to buy weapons.
Why would black market prices be higher than any other prices if there is plenty of food?
I’m sure Hamas’ hands are dirty but it’s incredible to think Israel’s are clean here. There’s a certain type of conservative who is always doubtful of government motives and efficiency except when it comes to Israel.
My favorite was last month when Israel bombed little Palestinian boats in the surf trying to catch fish.
I wonder if the new defence alliance between Saudi and the nuclear power Pakistan had anything to do with the recent Israeli attack on Qatar. (And the unwillingness or inability of the US to prevent it.) Wikipedia certainly seems to think so. Actions have consequences...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strategic_Mutual_Defence_Agreement
Meanwhile, Trump just announced another shakedown of ABC. He's not even pretending it's anything else.
I can’t believe ABC Fake News gave Jimmy Kimmel his job back. The White House was told by ABC that his Show was cancelled! Something happened between then and now because his audience is GONE, and his “talent” was never there. Why would they want someone back who does so poorly, who’s not funny, and who puts the Network in jeopardy by playing 99% positive Democrat GARBAGE. He is yet another arm of the DNC and, to the best of my knowledge, that would be a major Illegal Campaign Contribution. I think we’re going to test ABC out on this. Let’s see how we do. Last time I went after them, they gave me $16 Million Dollars. This one sounds even more lucrative. A true bunch of losers! Let Jimmy Kimmel rot in his bad Ratings.
So Cal Raleigh or Aaron Judge for AL MVP?
Judge is leading the league in BA .325 and fWAR. 9.2, and has 49 HR and 105 RBI, .451 OBP.
Raleigh is leading the league in HR at 58, RBI 121 and has already broken the all time HR record for catchers, and his fWAR 8.8, but his BA is only .247, OBP .360.
Difference to me is Raleigh is an top notch defensive catcher too, while Judge is an adequate RF.
That kind of production from a catcher is just mind boggling.
I agree I think there’s a strong case for Raleigh.
"Batting Average"??? what a worthless stat. Rod Carew hit .328 for a Career, Hank Aaron .308. OPS tells the story, Hammerin' Hank's was .928, Carew's .822 Cal Raleigh's this year is .945, pretty amazing with the pitching they face these days.
rbi's and runs scored are what matters. Go with Raleigh
Starting in the 2026 season, Major League Baseball players will be able to challenge called balls and strikes in regular and postseason games for the first time.
The widely expected adoption of the challenge system — which is powered by baseball's automated strike zone, known as ABS — was announced Tuesday after years of testing in the minor leagues and a major-league debut this year in spring training and the All-Star Game.
https://www.npr.org/2025/09/23/nx-s1-5551259/mlb-will-allow-players-to-challenge-balls-and-strikes-starting-in-2026
Next up, litigants in the Supreme Court will be able to challenge the Roberts Court's calling of balls and strikes & a system of instant replay and computerized analysis will determine who is right.
Some cases will also be determined on the shadow docket via a "ghost" litigant to speed things along.
It was noted by Gary Cohen on the Mets broadcast last night that Cubs rookie 3b Matt Shaw missed Sunday’s game to attend the Charlie Kirk thing. Gary couldn’t remember any player taking leave during the season, especially a playoff run, for anything other than bereavement or paternity, and neither can I.
So you don't understand what "Bereavement" means. But you're right, he should have done like the NFL the weekend after JFK was killed, just play.
Bereavement leave is paid or unpaid time off for employees to grieve and heal after the death of a loved one.
Good move, but is it that hard to put a camera on the Foul(actually in Fair territory, but "Fair Pole" just sounds wrong) Poles????
And a boring game will become even more boring.
These delays should be minimal, don’t you watch tennis?
This year, the Supreme Court unanimouslyupheld the ban, which TikTok had challenged on First Amendment grounds. The law was supposed to go into effect on Jan. 19. President-elect Donald Trump hadfiled an amicus brief asking the high court to grant him flexibility to negotiate a diplomatic solution. The justices refused. That left one loophole in the law: “The President may grant a 1-time extension of not more than 90 days” if there was “in place” a “binding legal agreement” for ByteDance’s divestiture.
Yet 247 days (and counting) after the deadline to close it, TikTok keeps ticking along despite the lack of a binding agreement. Ignoring the law, Trump has granted four extensions — three more than legally allowed — to keep the app in business.
This is quite a turnaround for a president who had tried to ban TikTok on national security grounds in 2020, writing in an executive order that the app “threatens to allow the Chinese Communist Party access to Americans’ personal and proprietary information” and that it “reportedly censors content that the Chinese Communist Party deems politically sensitive.”
More recently Trump has become convinced of TikTok’s utility as a platform for reaching young voters. (“It helped me win the election in a landslide,” Trump, who won less than 50 percent of the popular vote in November,said on Friday.) The White House has opened its own TikTok account, making a mockery of the congressional ban.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/09/23/trump-tiktok-algorith-crony-capitalism/
Odd, given that Trump is normally such a stickler for consistency.
Who was President on Jan. 19?
One day vs 246! That’s some pathetic whataboutism.
Guess FJB was too busy signing pardons.
246 of them maybe, not many!
I have been assured that the US Federal government is big enough to do more than one thing at a time. Especially when the main thing is running a stack of papers through the autopen.
Less than a day, actually. Because the ban did actually go into effect.
"TikTok shuts down in the United States hours ahead of a ban" - https://edition.cnn.com/2025/01/18/business/trump-tiktok-ban/index.html.
It was only when (then President-Elect) Trump announced his 75 day extension that TikTok itself came back and it would be a bit longer before the App Stores restored it too. If I remember correctly, the app proper came back part the way through Sunday was it? So there was in theory a few hours where Biden could have begun enforcement action?
Sadiq Khan to ITV London on Donald Trump’s comments about him to the UN:
“I think I’ve got squatters right for the amount of time I’ve spent in Donald Trump’s head. I’m just hoping he doesn’t send me an invoice for all the time I’ve spent there.”
Khan gets a mention from Trump and it goes to his head.
Whose head? They asked Khan about it on TV, so it's not like he mentioned Trump unprompted. Trump, on the other hand, seems obsessed with seeing a muslim who is a successful mayor of a succesful city.
Not enough Wrath, Khan
President Trump on Tuesday shifted his position on whether Ukraine should hold out for all the territory seized by Russia, saying on social media that he thinks Ukraine is in a position to win it all back.
It's a reversal from his long-held position that Kyiv would need to give up some of its territory to Moscow to end the war – such as Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014.
https://www.npr.org/2025/09/23/nx-s1-5551269/trump-ukraine-territory
“Before I even arrive at the Oval Office, shortly after we all together win the presidency, we will have the horrible war between Russia and Ukraine settled. It will be settled. The war is going to be settled. I’ll get them both – I know Zelensky, I know Putin, it’ll be done within 24 hours, you watch. They all say, ‘That’s such a boast.’ It will be done very quickly.” Trump, PA rally July 2023
"Shifted his position" seems a bit strong. Let's see what he says tomorrow. This just looked like another example of "Trump echos what he just heard from the person he spoke to 5 minutes ago" to me.
...and in Green Energy news: That great raptor air fryer, the Ivanpah Solar Power Facility in California, has shut down after $2.2 billion was pissed away and countless birds fried in mid flight. https://nypost.com/2025/09/23/us-news/2-2-billion-ivanpah-solar-facility-in-california-turned-off-after-years-of-wasted-money/
Damn that's crazy...so how about releasing them Epstein Files?
I think Jimmy Kimmel did a good job with his returning monologue, including citing another First Amendment threat from the Administration. This is so even if someone won't watch him on a regular basis. As I have not.
He directed attention to Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s recent demand that journalists pledge not to release any unauthorized information. “They want to pick and choose what the news is,” said Kimmel. “I know that’s not as interesting as muzzling a comedian but it’s so important to have a free press, and it’s nuts we’re not paying more attention to it.”
He has a certain sincerity about things that is charming. I saw it when he talked about health care in the past. Kimmel has a certain flavor as someone from the neighborhood who did good.
Kimmel complimented some people on the right for supporting free speech while noting some things they support makes him sick. He honored Kirk's widow for forgiving the killer. You can find the whole thing on YouTube if your local affiliate still is blocking him.
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-reviews/jimmy-kimmel-live-return-monologue-critic-analysis-1236378480/
So, I gather he did eventually get around to apologizing?
Brett still yearns for even a tiny victory.
You yearn to never concede anything, even when somebody on your side acts obnoxious or outright lies.
Looking into it, no, he didn't really apologize.
Because being Jimmy Kimmelmann means never having to say you're sorry.
Who is he supposed to say he’s sorry to? The MAGAns he said were desperately trying to paint the shooter as not one of them?
Yeah, pretty much, since the shooter genuinely wasn't one of them, and Kimmel was just pretending he was.
So he should apologize about being wrong about a group?
I would think a routine conspiracy theorist like yourself would see that as a glass houses moment.
Yes, he should apologize about being deliberately wrong about a group.
That rule would encapsulate a very wide swath of your sources. Jumping to conclusions is an essential element of conspiracy theorists.
the shooter genuinely wasn't one of them, and Kimmel was just pretending he was.
No he wasn't. Observing that Trumpists are working very hard to claim that person X isn't one of them isn't an accusation about person X, it's only an accusation about Trumpists.
Trumpists didn't have to work very hard at all to claim that person X wasn't one of them, is the point, because, factually, he wasn't one of them, and that was obvious almost from the start.
"You have to work very hard to claim that X isn't true!" is just a way of lying, when the objective fact is that X isn't true, and hardly any work at all is needed to demonstrate it.
Like, "Jews are working very hard to claim that they're not baking the blood of Christian babies into their matzohs." You could say, "That's not accusing Jews of doing anything but denying it! And they are, aren't they?" but nobody would be fooled.
It was obvious to many that he was trans. Were they blood libeling trans persons and should they apologize?
What would Kimmel have to apologise for?
It's hardly contrarianism to think this Kimmel thing is a travesty of administrative authoritarianism. I also don't much care for the subsequent MAGA bullshit festival, where a lot of folks here claimed it was actually an unrelated marketing decision, and not what it looks like.
So I don't know why you think it's a reflex when I note your standing on whether Kimmel apologized is some petty tribal attempt to eke out a bit of dignity from the victim here in the face of the admin overplaying it's anti-speech proclivities.
So I don't know why you think it's a reflex when I note your standing on whether Kimmel apologized is some petty tribal attempt to eke out a bit of dignity from the victim here in the face of the admin overplaying it's anti-speech proclivities
I just won the blackout round in SarcBingo in a single sentence!
He wasn't on in my neck of the nape, but I'm in that Backwater of Seattle this week.
In other news, Democrats are threatening to shut down the government.
A relatively clean continuing resolution passed the House. It simply funds the government at the current levels for a few months. But in the Senate, a clean bill to fund the government at current levels was fillibustered by the Democrats.
They demanded adding more than a trillion dollars worth of spending as the cost to keep the government open for a couple months. As the minority party....
The general rule of reporting on government shutdowns is that it is ALWAYS the Republicans' fault. Either they're making demands, or not giving into them. Doesn't matter who's doing the filibuster.
Be interesting to see if they can make that fly this time around.
Also, I suspect today's GOP is going to be a little less inclined to cave at the moment of maximum damage, before too many people notice that the government shutting down isn't that awful. And Trump isn't going to have much tolerance for bureaucrats resorting to the Washington Monument ploy.
But, we'll see.
1. Trump's the one that just cancelled a meeting, and the House GOP cancelled votes Monday and Tuesday. Your blame game doesn't comport with recent events. Or with Trump's bloviating, if you want to check his Truth Social.
2. Part of the issue is the GOP did a bunch of lying last go-round about foreign aid and public media. I mean Schumer's a dipshit for believing them, but the GOP made a choice there.
3. The Dems do want a fight - their opinion polling has been in the toilet because of how supine they've been. In a rare show of political instincts, the issue they chose to contend is cuts to Medicaid and the ACA subsidies...the Dems for once chose their issue well. Hence your not getting into it with 'more than a trillion dollars worth of spending.'
I don't much want to be furloughed, but I also see how we got here, and it's not all Dems all the time.
1. Senate rejects House-passed CR to fund government through Nov. 21 https://www.aha.org/news/headline/2025-09-19-senate-rejects-house-passed-cr-fund-government-through-nov-21
2. It's a CR. Vote on the bill.
3." The Dems do want a fight"
Shutting down the government if you (as the minority party) don't get an extra trillion in funding? On a 2 month funding bill? That's absurd. What next? "Unless you impeach Trump and put AOC in as President, we'll shut down the government with our fillibuster!"
Do you think it has to do with the rescissions thing?
Which isn't in the bill.
I mean the experience of it.
They're big boys and girls. They should vote for what is in the bill.
If they get their tighties whities in a twist over something that isn't on the table, and stamp their feet saying "you were mean to me earlier I'm not doing anything, even if it is my job!"...
Maybe they should step down.
I thought you liked federal government shutdowns?
The truly odd thing is that for decades, neither party has threatened to go nuclear for continuing resolutions to fund the government.
Nuclear for judicial nominees, nuclear for Supreme Court appointments, nuclear for cabinet appointments, but not for continuing resolutions to fund the government.
It would not surprise me at all to see the Senate eliminate the filibuster for CRs in 2025.
They may, depending how long it goes on.
I expect the filibuster to be gone entirely by the end of the decade.
The "nuclear option" really is kind of emblematic of the modern federal government, though, isn't it? You'd think it consisted of voting to change the Senate rules.
Nope!
The Senate rules remain unchanged. "The nuclear option" consists somebody raising a point of order, the Senate parliamentarian explaining the rules, and the Senate over-riding the parliamentarian, voting that they don't mean that.
Mind you, they continue to SAY 'that', whatever 'that' might happen to be. The Senate has simply voted by a simple majority vote that they will no longer interpret them as meaning what they continue to SAY.
Democrats are threatening to shut down the government
Leaving to one side the question of whether that is even true, good. That's what they're supposed to be doing. Every man and woman of them should be voting the opposite of what the Regime wants on just about anything. If the Regime wants the Democrats to vote in favour of something, they should negotiate and offer concessions. But those concessions had better involve "stop doing fascist shit", and somehow I don't see that happening anytime soon.
"Every man and woman of them should be voting the opposite of what the Regime wants on just about anything"
So when the "Regime" votes to continue funding Ukrainian weapons...it should be opposed?
Isn't that exactly the thought process that allows Trump to get the Democrats to rally around the 20% side of essentially every 80/20 issue?
Both parties, of course, routinely oppose big bills that have some parts that they tend to favor.
Hence my "just about". In hypothetical situations like the one you mention, which bear no resemblance to reality, the Democrats might consider voting in favour.
Yeah, I don't see Democrats ceasing to call everything they disagree with "fascist" any time soon, either.
"Fascist" is old and busted. The new hotness is calling Trump a "communist dictator".
(I look forward to not seeing the accusation that I am nutpicking by quoting someone whose only notable electoral success was as a California senator.)
Wut?
Kamala said something so it’s the right wing talking point d’jour.
How dare they call authoritarian racists fascists! Next thing you know you can't walk around with a Swastika doing the Nazi salute without being called a fascists! What is this country coming to!
Liberals: "Free speech is important! How dare Jimmy Kimmel get canceled! How dare you interfere in a free media!"
Also Liberals: Sinclair Broadcasting is choosing not to put Jimmy Kimmel on the air? Perhaps we need to break up that group. Everyone needs to hear Jimmy...
https://www.foxnews.com/media/california-democrat-calls-breaking-up-sinclair-broadcast-group-drawing-rebuke-from-fcc-chair
Antitrust laws are a thing, and it would be nice if someone enforced them. That is not a speech issue. (Though it is, historically, an antifacism issue.)
LOL.. Suddenly "antitrust laws are a thing" that "someone" should enforce.
But only when there's a speech issue the government doesn't like?
Leftists are big-league proponents of prosecutorial discretion, as long as the prosecutors are their people.
...as long as the prosecutors don't take bribes.
I'll leave it up to you to decide whether that amounts to the same thing.
No, all the time. What the government shouldn't do is take bribes (in money or in kind) to look the other way on the antitrust law.
Unrelated, I wonder why Sinclair is still siding with the Regime on Kimmel.
Democratic California state Sen. Scott Wiener
When you gotta travel that far to pick a nut...
A spray-painted bronze statue titled “Best Friends Forever” that depicts President Trump and disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein holding hands was placed on the National Mall in front of the U.S. Capitol early Tuesday morning. The work is the latest in a series of politically charged sculptures critical of the president that have been placed in Washington and elsewhere by an anonymous group.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2025/09/23/trump-epstein-statue-national-mall/
Maybe the same people who planted the "bombs" on Jan. 5/6 2020 or built the stage prop gallows.
The statue has now been removed, despite a permit allowing it to stay there for the rest of the week.
https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/politics/trump-epstein-statue-removed-national-mall/65-f509c666-6627-447e-9726-e8886b843123
Isn't it just great to live in a country where free speech is so strongly protected? No matter how much the government hates what you're saying, the Constitution protects your right to say it!
Who applied for the permit?
Camp Mystic, the girls’ summer camp in Texas where 27 young campers and counselors died in flooding in July, plans to reopen next summer, a decision that has shocked and divided the once tight-knit community of Mystic alumni and parents.
The camp’s owners announced their intentions in two emails sent hours apart on Monday, one to the families of the girls who died, and one to a much broader group of past campers and their families, many of whom remain fiercely loyal to the camp’s leadership.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/23/us/camp-mystic-texas.html
I approve of this decision.
Humans are mortal. We can't just stop doing things whenever somebody dies, or eventually we'll be doing nothing.
OTOH, the camp DOES need to make some changes to protect against similar circumstances in the future. THAT is how people should respond to deaths, not by retreat.
But that's how Camp Crystal Lake managed to spawn a dozen movies, two of which (neither being the last one) have "Final" in the title. Just sayin'.
I think it’s an incredibly tough but understandable decision. Not sure I’d want to send my kid to that camp but the owners gotta make a living.
Dr. Trump - "...women that are pregnant are, you know, would perhaps be forced to use it [Tylenol]...I just want to say, I want to say it like it is, don't take Tylenol. Don't take it. If you just can't -- I mean it's fight like hell not to take it."
Legal analysts are saying that Johnson & Johnson is now wide open to the biggest class action lawsuit in American history from every autistic in the nation. Likely bankrupting the company.
People who scratch their heads at the seemingly bizarre, random targeting of people and things forget that Trump only does things for two reasons: Enrich the Trump Clan or revenge.
Johnson & Johnson was one of the three that made the vaccine. Earlier this year a near $1B grant to Moderna for further mRNA vaccine development was stripped. So that's them taken care of.
So now the only one left standing is Pfizer: the biggest drug company in the world. Will be wild.
"Trump only does things for two reasons: Enrich the Trump Clan or revenge."
I'm pretty sure he does things sometimes just because he actually does like cheeseburgers, you know.
You really need to stop imagining he's a comic book villain. One of his greatest strengths is that his foes are so irrational concerning him.
Just asking questions
One of his greatest strengths is that his foes are so irrational concerning him.
Yes, it's definitely his "foes" and not his supporters who are being irrational.
It can be both. Rationality is in short supply all around. That that was still a stupid thing for Hobie to say about a real person. Real people are a lot more complicated than comic book villains.
You’re not nearly so charitable about leftist figures you disagree with, you ascribe bad, conspiratorial motives to them constantly.
You get that Trump is unusually irrational right?
This isn’t to say we haven’t had dodgy and or dumb national pols before on both sides, but Trump is unusually irrational (say, unpolished or authentic if you like). Unusually irrational things often invoke what might seem like irrational (shock, appalled, anger) responses.
So when does Dave Chappelle get his show back? He was actually funny, his "Trans" routine could even get Pete Booty-Judge to crack a smile. and don't remember the uproar when Andy Kaufman got "Banned" from SNL Andy's alive BTW, he'll be making a return on the 50th anniversary of his "Death" May 16, 2034 or rather "Tony Clifton" will
On February 3, 2006, Chappelle made his first television interview since production ceased on season three, on The Oprah Winfrey Show. He stated that burnout, losing his creative control, and a work environment that was uncomfortable, were some of the reasons he left the show.
So almost 20 years, too bad there isn't some other Media Dave can perform on
Netflix charges so of course Francis is ignorant of it.
And in other news, it's looking increasingly likely that our favorite commu-socialist Mr. Mamdani may actually win mayor of New York. I look forwards to his initiatives including...
1a. State run grocery stores! Milk...$1! Bread...$1! Eggs....$1. And if those capitalist grocery stores can't keep up with honest (state supported) prices for groceries and go out of business? They should've picked a better model.
1b. (One private grocery stores are gone, hours will be reduced in state-grocery stores to between 3:11 PM and 3:15 PM, every third Tuesday in order to save money)
2a. Billionaires have too much money. Wealth tax them. Every dollar they have over $1 Billion will be taxed at 90%. Give it to the people. (Friends of Mamdani excluded from enforcement).
3. Rent control! No one can ever raise prices anywhere on apartments. This won't be a problem. Capitalist landlords can suck it up. Or sell to the state.
[rests chin on palms] That is really, really interesting
As far as fantasies go, this one seems rather mundane. At least Ed’s fantasies are lurid. Rent control fantasies? Booooring.
The Moe-Saad has a Vote. I'm almost thinking (the) Zoran Ramadan-damn-he is so over the top that he's an Israeli Agent Provocateur, like Eli Cohen. (Hope it works out better for (the) Zoran than it did for Eli) OK, I know "Double Agent" is more accurate, I just love using "Agent Provocateur" in a post.
Well, a few years back he gave a lecture on how, when you're trying to appeal to the public, you should talk about the parts of the socialist agenda that are popular, but never forget the parts that aren't.
So, I expect that as soon as he has a bit of power, the parts of the agenda that aren't popular will come roaring back.
He's probably just another politician promising lower grocery prices, but once elected he'll do fuck all apart from a tax break for Manhattan billionaires.
Brett suspects soon-to-come dark liberal acts! This is unprecedented!
He's such a good predicter on this stuff to. Who could forget Obama and then Biden putting him in a camp. And all that leftist violence after the 2024 election!
Comic book villains!
Take a look at New York's elected officials. Zardoz Madmani will fit right in. "Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard."
H. L. Mencken
That's an ... interesting quote for a Trumpist to pick.
Maybe Bill Ackman should offer Eric Adams a bigger bribe to drop out of the race. Eric Adams has an expensive lifestyle, and the offer so far clearly wasn't high enough.
While you were hyperventilating about the 100k H1-B fee (which I tend to think wont come to pass) and Kimmel, the admin rolled out substantial changes to the H1-b lottery:
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) proposes to amend its regulations governing the process by which U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) selects H-1B registrations for unique beneficiaries for filing of H-1B cap-subject petitions (or H-1B petitions for any year in which the registration requirement is suspended). DHS proposes to implement a weighted selection process that would generally favor the allocation of H-1B visas to higher skilled and higher paid aliens, while maintaining the opportunity for employers to secure H-1B workers at all wage levels, to better serve the Congressional intent for the H-1B program.
https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2025/09/24/2025-18473/weighted-selection-process-for-registrants-and-petitioners-seeking-to-file-cap-subject-h-1b
It's an obtuse read. The gist is that they are skewing the lottery towards higher wage applicants by giving them more chances.
Wage level I, which DOL has set at approximately the 17th percentile of the OEWS wage distribution for the relevant occupation in the relevant location, applies to positions requiring “entry” level workers; wage level II, set at approximately the 34th percentile, applies to positions requiring “qualified” workers; wage level III, set at approximately the 50th percentile, applies to positions requiring “experienced” workers; and wage level IV, set at approximately the 67th percentile, applies to positions requiring “fully competent”
Applicants in wage level N {4,3,2,1} are entered into the lottery N times, and therefore have N times the chance of being selected.
See table 13 p 61 of the pdf for the results. "...the probability of being selected to file a H-1B cap-subject petition for a unique beneficiary would be 15.29 percent for level I, 30.58 percent for level II, 45.87 percent for level III, and 61.16 percent for level IV."
This will probably end up in a Southern California District court; nevertheless, it should be upheld because there is absolutely nothing wrong with the proposal.
"there is absolutely nothing wrong with the proposal"
Except it doesn't really fix the problem.
To a certain extent, the lottery itself is the problem. If you're an employer and you absolutely NEED someone with a high level of expertise, and can't find them in the US, then you should be willing to pay a substantial premium to acquire them.
But right now, you can't do that. You've got to enter a lottery, with a dozen little "consulting" companies, who are hiring out cheap labor that they get from overseas.
The tweak suggested modifies the system a little, but it's still broken. You still can't guarantee getting someone in that you need, even if you're willing to pay a $100,000 premium. And others may just enter lots more people into the lottery to get a shot.
Not quite (please actually read the proposal before responding).
The district court struck down a previous proposal that would have guaranteed those in wage categories 3 and 4 were selected, because zero wage 1 (low wages) were selected (I don't know why, I haven read the decision and it was not appealed).
If it were me, I'd also give a multiplier for education level: PhDs would get a 3x multiplier and Masters a 2x multiplier.
H1-B is not the only worker Visa program. its just the most widely known (and abused).
In unrelated news:
"As President Donald Trump's administration continues its immigration crackdown, his Mar-a-Lago Club employed the highest number of temporary foreign workers [H-2B] sought by the private club in the past decade, according to the latest federal data.
Mar-a-Lago brought in 170 foreign temporary workers for the current fiscal year, which runs from Oct. 1, 2024, to Sept. 30, according to a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) database. It marked the fourth time the club had hired 100 or more temporary foreign workers in the past 10 years. Last fiscal year, Mar-a-Lago got approval for 164 temporary foreign workers."
https://www.palmbeachpost.com/story/news/local/2025/09/23/as-mar-a-lago-visa-use-grows-what-is-the-future-of-h-2b-program/86295192007/
Typically, you conflate illegal immigrants and legal immigrants, as progs and libs and the mainstream media always do. Note that Trump's workers are here LEGALLY. He's cracking down on ILLEGAL immigrants. Get it?
I thought the idea was to preferentially hire only American dishwashers and preteen masseuses.
Typically, someone engages with the actual comments as written which are purely about visa policy, and it's abuse.
Nothing about illegals at all.
Kamala Harris:
We used to compare the strength of our democracy to communist dictators. That’s what we’re dealing with right now in Donald Trump.
You don't like it when an uppity black woman reminds you that you voted for a corrupt fascist?
Kums-a-lot is Black?? I thought her mom was a Dot-head
One drop rule (when it's convenient).
"fascist"...you spelled 'rapist' wrong
$100,000 H1-B fee?? Oughta be $1,000,000 or maybe even $10,000,000, raise it until they stop paying. It's why like Sleepy Joe Biden said, you can't walk into a Dialysis Clinic without having a slight Indian (Dothead variety, not Tomahawk) accent.
"I think it has -- I think it's very bad. They're pumping, it looks like they're pumping into a horse. You have a little child, a little fragile child, and you get a vat of 80 different vaccines, I guess. 80 different blends. And they pump it in.“
Pumping and pumping and pumping and pumping
Just can't stop talking about pumping children.
The city of Boston recently paid $150,000 in reparations for long-past racial injustice.
Back in 1989 a pretty white woman was murdered. Her husband described the killer as a black man from the projects. Boston police went into the housing development near the scene of the crime and turned the place upside down. Two men were arrested but not charged with her killing. Within a few months police figured out the husband did it. The husband killed himself (probably) to escape justice. The murder of Carol Stuart became fodder for made-for-TV movies and true crime stories.
Thirty-four years later Willie Bennett, who is well known as the man who didn't kill Carol Stuart, got $100,000 for his trouble. The other guy whose name wasn't so well publicized, got $50,000.
The statute of limitations should have expired decades ago. The payment is to make Mayor Wu feel better.
https://www.boston.com/news/local-news/2025/09/23/boston-pays-150k-to-two-men-wrongfully-tied-to-carol-stuart-murder/
Well, at least the loot went to actual victims of an actual injustice, which is a lot better than most 'reparations' demands.
"45/47" should go up on Mount Rushmore just for his blowing the whistle on Tylenol. It's one of the most dangerous medications available OTC, and for you "Natural Products" fans, entirely synthetic, unlike Aspirin, which is derived from the bark of the Willow Tree, banning it's use in Children because of a handful of bad outcomes was entirely about making $$$ for McNeil Healthcare. Aspirin reduces incidence of Heart Attacks, Colon Cancer, and through it's Anti-Inflammatory affect, protection from Alzheimers. Tylenol does none of that.
Goodbye also to midol, pamprin, day-quil, theraflu, robitussin, sudafed, vicodin, percoset, lortab, endocet, ultracet and vicks
Poor you. Guess you'll just have to tough out those menstrual cramps.
Republicans cheer as Newsom signs law banning mask mandates
In other overhyped Boston area crime news, Karen Read, who probably didn't kill her boyfriend, is being sued in part for claiming there was a law enforcement conspiracy against her. This claim kept her out of prison. It also caused emotional distress for the family of her dead boyfriend. I hope this is not really emotional distress under Massachusetts law.
Normally this would be an insurance claim settled within policy limits. With Read being a celebrity the family of the dead guy wants some of the media rights revenue. They will have to fight it out with her lawyers, who are owed millions. I don't know whose claim has priority.
https://www.boston.com/news/local-news/2025/09/22/livestream-karen-read-wrongful-death-lawsuit-hearing/
Ah, Karen Read...the right's living Tiny, Microscopic St. Ashtray Babbitt
You Fellate Floyd George's decayed (Redacted) with that mouth?
City of Kitakyushu is facing criticism over the alleged "Muslim-friendly school lunch". Spoiler: that never happened.
While a Muslim woman did send a petition to the city assembly, it was never voted on; and the "pork-free meal" was actually allergen-free meal served during the national Allergy Week. And contrary to what some X posters say, Kitakyushu has offered allergen-free meals to those in need for more than a decade. Some online commentators say that serving halal food might actually violate law, because Education Basic Act requires "religious neutrality".
(School lunches in Japan are nothing like American ones; they are nutritious, cheap, tasty, and do not use ketchup as vegetable substitute. Very unfortunate you can't have one as an adult.)
I guess the Japanese are unaware of the concept of sack lunches or bento boxes on pork days
Ketchup IS a vegetable -- it was rationed during WWII because of the number of tomatoes in it. Other than the sugar, it's actually quite good for you.
Interesting. It's my understanding that the thing we call ketchup originated as a sauce or paste of fermented fish, in ancient Rome. That, along with tomato-based ketchup, soy sauce, etc., are just salt delivery mechanisms. Know that tomatoes are indigenous to the Americas, and were unknown in Europe before the "age of discovery," i.e., Columbus, et.al., along with potatoes, tobacco, turkey, etc.
The Oklahoma Supreme Court blocked new standards for the Social Studies curriculum while a lawsuit against them proceeds. The Oklahoman reported plaintiffs "contend the state Education Board violated religious freedom protections, the law requiring accurate and age-appropriate content and the Oklahoma Open Meeting Act, as well as other laws." Plaintiffs think the standards are too conservative. They encourage skepticism about the 2020 election, for example. But the square peg of general outrage has to be pushed into the round peg of a cause of action.
The vote to stay the standards was 5-2 with 2 members recused. The one judge who dissented in writing thought the Open Meeting Act claim required factual development in a trial court.
The case is here: https://www.oscn.net/dockets/GetCaseInformation.aspx?db=appellate&number=123237&cmid=140382.
Earlier reporting is here: https://www.oklahoman.com/story/news/politics/state/2025/07/01/ryan-walters-oklahoma-faces-new-lawsuit-controversial-social-studies-standards/84433780007/
"The Oklahoma Supreme Court blocked new standards for the Social Studies curriculum while a lawsuit against them proceeds."
The solution is for the Oklahoma legislature to block funding for K-12 while the lawsuit proceeds. And maybe funding for the court system as well.
Maybe someone should check in on Peter Thiel:
For about a year now, Thiel has been publicly laying out his understanding of biblical prophecies and the potential for the rapid advance of technology to bring about an apocalyptic future. In a lecture Monday, he encouraged an audience to continue working toward scientific progress, whether in AI or other forms of technology. Fearing or regulating it, or opposing technological progress, would hasten the coming of the Antichrist, Thiel said, according to people who attended.
For about a year now, Thiel has been publicly laying out his understanding of biblical prophecies and the potential for the rapid advance of technology to bring about an apocalyptic future.
In a lecture Monday, he encouraged an audience to continue working toward scientific progress, whether in AI or other forms of technology. Fearing or regulating it, or opposing technological progress, would hasten the coming of the Antichrist, Thiel said, according to people who attended.
https://www.wsj.com/tech/peter-thiel-antichrist-lectures-dd28c876
Christianity is my favorite doomsday cult. Doesn't Thiel have things backwards, though? The heralding of the antichrist is necessary to bring about the end of times...a day we're all supposedly looking forward to.
CHRISTIANS believe we will neither know when the 2nd coming will occur nor be able to influence when it does.
Well, we JEWS know better. He ain't comin man, it's been almost 2,000 years, I've heard of "CPT" but this is ridiculous.
Goobers.
I was watching an episode of The Rebel, a 1950's/'60's Western, when the protagonist mentioned "goobers and beans" as a rather poor fare. So, I looked it up, and found that goobers are peanuts boiled in salt water, and known in the South. I had never hear of goobers, save the chocolate covered movie theater snack, or as a dumb, silly person.
So, I ordered some raw peanuts, in the shell, to try it out.
Is anyone here familiar with this?
Yes. In the modern South, in commerce they're usually called boiled peanuts to avoid confusing Yanks. "Goobers" is definitely slang, and my sense -- having moved out of the Deep South before college -- is that it's on the way out of broad usage.
Boiled Peanuts, called the "Caviar of the South" (by you Yankees, no self respecting Southerner would call them that, because first you'd have to answer "What the fuck is Caviar??" Best is to boil Green Peanuts in Salt Water (it's perfect when there's just a little too much salt to go into Solution, then add more to the top of the peanuts) Green Peanuts are freshly picked ones, only available for a month or so in the Summer, and go bad in umm, a few days. You can do almost as well with Raw Peanuts which are available year round, BUT, you have to soak them for 24 hrs in the super-saturated Brine solution, then Boil them for however long to get them tender, usually 2-3 hours I usually Boil 2 lbs, gorge myself then put the remainder in the Fridge, like Pizza, it's also good cold the next day. There are also the canned Variety, "Peanut Patch" if you can't wait. Avoid the Roadside stands in the South, those are horrible, literally have been boiling for days, you Yankee Saps are the only ones who buy them.
Ha, ha, that's funny. I remember an episode of the Beverly Hillbillies where the Clampets were invited to a fancy reception, and when Jethro came to the buffet and saw a big display of Caviar he exclaimed "Oh, fish eggs!"
Back to the goobers, do you spice the water, too? I saw a youtube of some Louisiana dudes doing a huge batch and they added copious amounts of Louisiana Fishfry Company Crawfish Boil (a powder); they added it to the water, and then dusted the peanuts with it after. That stuff's expensive, though! I was thinking for a small batch as I will do I could use my Slap Yo Mama spice. Thoughts?
Those Cajuns do all sorts of crazy (redacted) sucking the Brains out of Crawfish for one, anyone for Kuru??? I do love the "Slap Yo Mama" spice, put it on Pizza, with some Texas Pete (which is made in NC, but who would buy "North Carolina Pete"??) Oh, and my Ground up Prevacid/Simvastatin Oh, and if you're in Cajun Land, ask for the "Boudin Balls" First time someone suggested it, I thought it was a Goof, I'm going to ask for the "Boudin Balls" and the 300lb Black Cook named "Boudin" is going to come out and say "Here you go!!!" They're delicious, like Hushpuppies (don't tell me you don't know what they are) with ground sausage and pepper in them
A guy in my office who grew up in the northern part of Florida does this and brings them in at least once a year.
I don't know... they're peanuts. Hard to get excited over boiled, salted peanuts when I can just buy a bunch of different kinds of nuts prepared in multiple different ways with a variety of seasonings and/or sweeteners.
My personal preference is for salted roasted peanuts, but my wife likes them boiled, that's how they're served in the Philippines. She'll boil up a batch once in a while.
But 2-3 hours? That leaves them too mushy! You want them to have at least SOME crunch left.
And, yeah, the roadside stands do boil them too long.
Crunchy Boiled Peanuts? You probably like Potato Salad, Cole Slaw, and Mayonnaise too. You weren't chosen for a reason.
On the road I take to drive to the marina where I keep my boat I probably see half a dozen road side vendors. Often there is a big kettle (maybe two feet in diameter) over an open fire boiling peanuts. They are also sold in many Seven-Eleven type stores in single serving bags. Most peeps don't prepare themselves since they are so cheap to buy and cooking them is a pain in the ass.
Where were the Secret Service guys AHEAD of Trump when he got on the escalator?
The Rapture
But enough about me...UN Assembly:
"In my first term, I built the greatest economy in the history of the world. We had the best economy ever, history of the world, and I'm doing the same thing again, but this time it's actually much bigger and even better. The numbers far surpass my record-setting first term.
Likewise, in a period of just seven months, I have ended seven unendable wars. They said they were unendable. You're never going to get them solved...No president or prime minister. And for that matter, no other country has ever done anything close to that, and I did it in just seven months. It's never happened before. There's never been anything like that...Everyone says that I should get the Nobel Peace Prize for each one of these achievements"
"Many years ago, a very successful real estate developer in New York, known as Donald J. Trump, I bid on the renovation and rebuilding of this very United Nations complex.
I remember it so well. I said at the time that I would do it for $500 million, rebuilding everything. It would be beautiful. I used to talk about, "I'm going to give you marble floors, they're going to give you terrazzo." The best of everything. "You're going to have mahogany walls, they're going to give you plastic." But they decided to go in another direction, which was much more expensive at the time, which actually produced a far inferior product. "
Isn't it just great when world leaders like the presidents of France and the US come to the UN General Assembly to give a visionary speech about their hopes and dreams for the future of humanity?
Speaking of which, there is now a non-paywalled translation of Macron's speech: https://www.timesofisrael.com/full-text-of-macron-speech-recognizing-palestine-time-has-come-to-deliver-justice/
And here is the speech of President Abbas, which he wasn't able to deliver in person due to unlawful action by the US Regime.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/full-text-of-abbas-speech-at-2-state-summit-we-demand-a-ceasefire-hamas-must-hand-arms-to-pa/
What is that unlawful action of the "US Regime?"
The US ought to have kidnapped him and given him to Israel to trade for their kidnapped hostages. The Soviets would have done far worse -- they would have had his body reduced to small pieces and dumped on his family's doorstep.
Doesn't he have an appointment at the Saudi Embassy?
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Liz Wolfe | 9.24.2025 9:30 AM
J.D. Tuccille | 9.24.2025 7:00 AM
Charles Oliver | 9.24.2025 4:00 AM
Jacob Sullum | 9.24.2025 12:01 AM
Jacob R. Swartz | 9.23.2025 4:45 PM
