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Eugene Volokh | 10.22.2025 3:00 AM
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I didn't realize when Trump wanted to Make America Great Again he meant taking the White House all the way back to 1814.
I don’t get it, while we think of 1814 as primitive, at the time they felt as “modern” as we do, in 200 years we’ll appear just as primitive to the people of 2225.
Frank “wait until I show the neighbors my new Cotton Gin!”
Back then they had taste
...but no running water or indoor plumbing.
77,302,580 voted for our POTUS (OK, I know only 312 Electors actually voted directly for President, you know what I mean) How many voted for your Kingie-Wingie???
Frank
Also, I assume Congress appropriated money for the demolition of part of the White House? Surely Trump isn't paying for this with "donations" from business and/or foreign states?
Careful there, some of it might be from your Kingie-Wingie(I get that he’s “Divine” but does his Shit stink? Does he put on those Kingie Shoes one at a time?
Silly me, of course he's paying for it with bribes.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-white-house-ballroom-donor-names/
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5565273-trump-white-house-ballroom-funding-plans/
I wonder if they've decided yet whether the lucky "donors" can have their names carved into the White House.
Your King's paying for it with Bribes? Might want to watch out, Jamal Khashoggi said mean things about his King and literally lost his head over it.
At least the American government gets to retain the benefits of these payments after Trump is gone.
"I didn't realize when Trump wanted to Make America Great Again he meant taking the White House all the way back to 1814." Are you claiming he is planning to burn the whole thing down like the British troops did in 1814? You do realize that the only part of the original White House that remains are the four exterior walls. The interior was gutted and rebuilt during the second Truman administration.
It wasn't "gutted". That word only describes what Trump is now doing. It was carefully restored and refurbished.
Yes, it was gutted. "The most significant modification to the current White House came under President Harry Truman. From 1948 to 1952, the interior was completely gutted, and a new steel frame was constructed to modernize and reinforce the building while preserving its historic exterior. Truman and his family lived at Blair House during the extensive reconstruction, which fortified the White House's safety and functionality for future administrations. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_House_Reconstruction#/media/File:The_Shell_of_the_White_House_during_the_Renovation-05-17-1950.jpg
Very carefully taking a building apart and putting it back together again isn't "gutted". Please stop defending the vandalism of the Regime.
Martinned, "gutted" is a technical term in the building trades. (All my relatives were in the trades when I grew up.) And it does refer to what was done with the White house during the Truman administration.
I'll be sure to keep that in mind the next time I have a technical discussion with people who work in the building trades.
Look at the linked picture, fuckwit (H/T SRG2) and tell me the building wasn't gutted. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_House_Reconstruction#/media/File:The_Shell_of_the_White_House_during_the_Renovation-05-17-1950.jpg
Note that it's a technical term, not jargon, so people outside that industry are somewhat likely to understand what it means.
I'll tell you what: we won't insist that you are wrong about what Dutch words mean if you stop trying to tell us what English words mean.
Why don't we instead stop moving goalposts and agree that the Great Leader is vandalising one of America's most beloved monuments because he wants to build the nearest thing he can get away with to an enormous gold statue of himself?
Why are you telling your country mates to fuck off as they're getting imprisoned for criticizing your government?
Is that why you always shit on ours? Because if you complained about yours you'd be in prison?
The only one moving goalposts here is the idiot who can't keep a thread of thought for more than two comments. You want to insist that renovations are vandalism when Trump does them but treat them differently when Truman did much more.
WTF are you talking about?
Because if you complained about yours you'd be in prison?
For the record, I mostly talk about the US here because that's the only thing you myopic idiots ever want to talk about. (Well, that and Israel.)
You want to insist that renovations are vandalism when Trump does them but treat them differently when Truman did much more.
Yes. See? There isn't actually any confusion, just obfuscation. Trump wrecking the White House is bad, Truman restoring the White House is good. What part of that is confusing?
What part of that is confusing?
None of it. It has always been entirely clear that you are just begging the question.
I'd also add that the term has been routinely used on widely watched remodeling shows, like This Old House, so it's hardly obscure.
"Gut renovation is a term used in the construction industry to describe the complete removal and reconstruction of a building's interior. This type of renovation involves taking a property down to its bare bones and rebuilding from scratch. While it may seem like a daunting task, gut renovations can transform a space and provide a fresh start for homeowners and businesses alike." https://www.architectureadrenaline.com/gut-renovation-meaning-what-it-entails-and-what-to-expect/
Do I sound like someone who watches remodelling shows?
Martinnned: "Do I sound like someone who watches remodelling shows?"
No. You sound like a person with TDS who finds himself stuck trying to redefine construction terminology.
Martinned, it had termites. The final straw was when the piano went through the floor.
You can carefully RECONSTRUCT woodwork, sometimes even using the original methods, but you can't re-install Swiss Cheese. Termites (and Carpenter Ants) chew tunnels through the interior of the wood pieces to the extent that the paint is the only thing holding the wood together.
The final straw was when the piano went through the floor.
That's an exciting story. Did you see it in some silent movie from the 1920s?
Martinned doubles down on stupid. "In June 1948, a leg of Margaret Truman's piano crashed through the floor in her second floor sitting room and through the ceiling of the Family Dining Room below. Investigators found the floor boards had rotted, the main floor beam was split completely through, and the ceiling below had dropped 18 inches (46 cm). The investigators determined that the west end of the second floor was sinking.[14]" Take a few minutes and read the wiki entry on the history of thw White House you pompous fuckwit.
Martineed - doubling down on being repetitively wrong
from AI - Structural necessity: By 1948, the White House was in danger of collapsing. A key incident was when the leg of a grand piano crashed through the floor during a performance by Truman's daughter, Margaret.
You're a petulant jerk, Martinned. "Gut" was exactly what was done during the 2nd Truman administration. It's a term of art in the construction industry, and in the vernacular of the U.S., at least, perhaps all English speaking countries.
You just hate Trump so much, so irrationally, that you're reaching for things to criticize him for.
The White House needs a ballroom! They have previously had to have some guests in spillover rooms, unable to attend the primary event. It was embarrassing.
Many presidents have modified the White House. Do some research before you shoot your mouth off.
Oh, and donations are not bribes, they are - donations.
The White House needs a ballroom!
LOL.
I heard there was alot more "Balling" in the White House when William Juffuhson Clinton was in the Oral Orifice.
Martineed - it was gutted - from ai
Yes, the White House was gutted during President Harry S. Truman's presidency in a major reconstruction that took place from 1948 to 1952. The extensive renovation was necessary because engineers discovered the building was structurally weak and in danger of collapse due to years of neglect, outdated plumbing, and electrical wiring. The project essentially rebuilt the interior from scratch, reinforcing the original exterior walls with steel and concrete.
Has it occurred to anybody how close the Treasury Building is to the East Wing and that we have a lot more bullet-stopping building materials than they did 90 years ago?
I'm wondering if Trump's plans got expanded by the USSS...
Melania's office is in part of the East Wing that was destroyed. Ah MAGA, finishing what Al Qaeda couldn't.
I'm hoping that the reliable apologists for Trump here can jump in and defend him grabbing $230 million of my money (and your money) from the DOJ. Gotta admit that it's a neat trick. Install a few whores of his into the DOJ, make a crazy claim, get his whores to sign off, and walk away with a bucket of taxpayer cash. Trump really was playing chess while the rest of us were playing checkers.
It almost makes the Qatar plane/bribe scheme seem quaint and sophisticated. This is much more of an "In-your-face, America," and a 'Fuck-You,Taxpayers,' sort of scam. I have to admit that I have a grudging respect for someone to has open contempt for everyone in America who pays taxes, and who just doesn't give a shit about showing it.
But I won't feel good about the whole thing unless a bunch of VC commentators explain how and why it's really okay that Trump is doing what he's doing, and why his whores at Justice are actually not whores and lickspittles.
Please do not let me down. I have a $5 bet with a friend about who will be leaping to Trump's defense . . . don't be shy, guys! (Come on Riva! Come on Ed! You can do it; you can do it!!!) 🙂
Here’s Doctor Frankie’s Prescription, Hold your nose, cross your legs and fart, it’ll clear out your mind!
This is a democracy.
Any American who is targeted by the government, as Trump was, has the right to petition the government for a redress of grievances by filing malicious prosecution or other claims.
And any natural born citizen over 35 has a right to run for office and attempt to convince the American people that he's the best person to head the branch of government that adjudicates those claims.
Why do you hate democracy?
This was Trump petitioning himself.
That’s nit a democracy, it’s king shit.
Why do you pretend to not know the difference?
OK, here’s how to make Trumps Shit Sandwich taste better….. Pretend the $230,000,000 is “Reparations” to the 70,000,000 who had their votes “nullified” in 2020, that’s a little over $3/cheated voter, a bargain at any price.
The claim was filed before he was reelected. You go high when you ask for money. Because you usually won't get anywhere near that amount. Trump when asked did not specify that he would take that amount.
When the government attacks you out of political reasons are you supposed to just play nice and let bygones be bygones because you psychically know you will be elected President in the future and it would be then possible that it could be spun as improper if the government gave you the money you are rightfully owed? Maybe I missed this in the ethics handbook.
As for dropping it now..which he very well might still do....but if he truly believed he was wronged and he believed that the DOJ would consider it in what he believes is fair terms and there is no law against what he was doing, then this is essentially losing money and make it look like his critics are right and he's backing down from a personal raid on the coffers. All simply for a dice roll that the optics of 'Trump pilfers $230 million dollars' vs 'brave Dems stop Trump from pilfering $230 million dollars' looks better enough to matter . And what does that really matter when he's megaHitler no matter what?
If Trump really wanted to raid the nation's coffers to get ahead he should learn from the masters in the Dem party on stealing hundreds of billions to build the massive spoils system public bureaucracy beholden to them, while his Administration is just hiring and firing a few guys from the top like amateurs. Or waging a war on the population by systematically replacing them with foreign loyalists.
He could always donate it -- some of his libel winnings are being donated to fund the White House Ballroom.
Yes, "winnings" are being "donated", wink, wink.
he believed that the DOJ would consider it in what he believes is fair terms
Even with the most weasel words you could possible include, this sentence is a laugh.
there is no law against what he was doing The new GOP standard of decency - there's no law against the President looting the treasury so it's cool.
And if there were a law, there are plenty on here to do some originalism to show the Founders intended otherwise.
well when an all powerful organization starts moving heaven and earth in a singular all obsessive mission to destroy you costing you a ton of money which you might need later since your enemies are ready to immediately resume the jihad against you and your children and your children's children the second they resume power and later on through circumstance you suddenly find yourself in charge of said organization. You can show us all how it should be done by forgiving the debt at absolutely no benefit not even a PR one since your enemies will just spin it as a victory in foiling your greed.
Maybe Trump should have thought of that before he did all that crime. You do the crime, you do the time. (Unless you get yourself elected president, because then you're above the law.)
We have different levels of justice here, Martin.
When you submit fraudulent documents to the National Archives to steal an election, or hide classified docs while under order of subpoena, thems are crimes mister. Are you saying we shouldn't prosecute crime?
The Dems and their allies spent the entire 2016 term trying to throw Trump out of office to the neglect of every other duty by throwing everything against the wall to see if it stuck rather than any genuine intent to pursue justice. How do we know its the former? Because they were almost always found to have been guilty of the same supposed crimes they were chasing Drumpf for: Keeping docs in their bedroom, sitting around during a riot they supposedly could have stopped etc etc thats now suddenly okay when they're doing it 10x as much as Trump allegedly did and was also okay when they were doing it 10x as much before Trump. So spare me the defender of law and order bit. None of it tops trying to get what even hardcore Dem would agree is a half dead corpse to be in charge of the nuclear button.
Notice how Obama's DOJ funneling these types settlement awards to radical Leftwing terror groups didn't cause out "looting the treasury" Chicken Little routines.
So who cares that Trump asked Trump for money from the treasury, you think the deserves it!
Come on, man. The question isn't whether Internet MAGA shouter thinks Trump deserves it. You're overdetermined to think Trump deserves everything.
But I guess a big precept of MAGA is only MAGA matters. It's a terrible way to run a republic, but they've always had issues with the e pluribus unum/republican form of government part of American greatness.
More acceptable self-dealing payouts. We paid off Trump Militia members for services rendered: Proud Boys, Tiny Microscopic Saint Ashtray Babbitt...so why not the ringleader?
You got that wife beating drug addict, (Saint) Floyd George.
Bro, you need to be patient. It's early in the morning, and even though this is the frontpage headline at NY Times/CNN/Post, I see that it is not mentioned anywhere at WSJ/Breitbart/Townhall/National Review [I'm sure that's just innocent oversight], so our hillbillies here probably have not heard about it yet. Such is bubble in which they live. Sad.
Wait, I thought the MSM were all in the Democratic Party's pocket? What happened to that?
https://reason.com/2025/10/21/biden-press-secretary-gets-skewered-by-stephen-colbert-for-defending-bidens-fitness/?nab=1
They are and Nothing, any more stupid questions, stupid?
"Wait, I thought the MSM were all in the Democratic Party's pocket?" They aren't? Colbert is the MSM? Why is he throwing the black lesbian under the bus? Is it because she now claims to be an Independent?
Colbert is the MSM?
He was when you were all cheerleading when he got fired.
Well, he's still on the air, isn't he? Late night TV is not what it used to be and the show will be cancelled next year and replaced with something else. From Colbert: "“It’s not just the end of our show, but it’s the end of The Late Show on CBS,” he said. “I’m not being replaced. This is all just going away. And I do want to say … that the folks at CBS have been great partners. I’m so grateful to the Tiffany Network for giving me this chair and this beautiful theater to call home. And of course I’m grateful to you, the audience, who have joined us every night.”
Yes, the Regime successfully managed to get Colbert yanked off the air. It's only when they tried it with Kimmel that they got in trouble.
Colbert yanked off the air?? What was he broadcasting on then, Telegraph????
Perhaps this will help you understand:
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/karine-jean-pierre-leaves-democratic-party-after-serving/story?id=122501565
Ah, so the conspiracy remains intact!
After the plan backfired it's OK to bring out the knives.
The counterexample is just more proof of the conspiracy.
Very little says "I am not a secret Nazi" as effectively as having a large Nazi tattoo on one's chest.
https://nypost.com/2025/10/21/us-news/maine-senate-candidate-graham-platner-addresses-nazi-linked-tattoo/
Yes.
https://newlinesmag.com/essays/pete-hegseths-tattoos-and-the-crusading-obsession-of-the-far-right/
Whatabout!
I'm sorry. Are you arguing that the Trumpist Nazi should get to be Secretary of Defence while the Maine Nazi shouldn't get to be a Senator? Is me arguing for consistency somehow confusing you?
As expected - martineed misrepresents the meaning of the two distinctly different tatoo's
It’s a fucking Cross, I’m Jewish and it doesn’t bother me. Make it a Ham-Ass one like Mandamnhe has and it’s different.
Since when is a Christian symbol evocative of Nazism?
Since it's required to whatabout a Republican, of course.
Big chest tattoo is not how you do secret anything.
But yeah, this guy's cooked. Primaries can be good sometimes!
Haven't you repeatedly argued that the mere fact that something somebody does would be a totally futile and even counter-productive way to advance a given objective doesn't mean anything?
1. No, I've said attempt is still a crime, not that it's the exact same crime as commission. IOW I'm aligned with longstanding criminal law precepts.
2. I said he's cooked. I said I'm glad the primary weeded him out. I'm not sure what else you think I gotta say.
I want to know how a Maine Hippie can come up with over $4M in campaign donations in a week.
He's pulling in $52K in disability for PTSD -- tax free -- good money for Hancock County, Maine.
He's not "FROM" Maine...
Agreed. You promote Nazi ideology or hate on gays or Jews, you should be outta there.
hobie 2 hours ago Flag Comment Mute User "Agreed. You promote Nazi ideology or hate on gays or Jews, "
Which has been the democratic party's behavior for quite some time. It become front and center after the hamas attack in oct 2023.
Mikie’s worried about Nazi-linked things now?
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/jan/21/the-gesture-speaks-for-itself-germans-divided-over-musks-apparent-nazi-salute
Michael ain't one for consistency, or caring much about Nazi shit when they're Republicans.
Says Platner is 41 and he got the tattoo 20 years ago which made him a toddler at the time. Unlike the 29 year olds in the Young Republican who were children.
A 21 year old is a toddler? Maybe among lefties.
Jeesus, Publius. Every damn day my next-level sarcasm/snark has to be explained to you. You ain't too bright, are you?
1: it’s not that large 2: it’s a “Totenkopf” literally “Deathhead” and has been a symbol used by Warriors as long as we’ve been killing each other, he got it as a Marine going into combat, like you’d understand any of this
What do the left-leaning Progressives think of the Alien & Sedition Act and the press censorship of the Adams/Jefferson/Madison Administrations? Do they even know about it?
Watching all this No Kings stuff, I'm wondering if they just don't know our history.
I suspect they probably didn't go to schools that used a bible for history class, like in Oklahoma. Instead, they probably learned history from actual history books, which presumably featured the discussions around the Alien & Sedition Acts fairly prominently.
Why do you ask? Did you only find out about that story recently?
Watching their antics and reading their signs, it's like they never heard of the prior 44 Presidents.
Woodrow Wilson's wartime censorship...
Uh, the left has criticized the original Sedition Act for a long time.
“We have a striking illustration from those early days of the Republic. The First Amendment was so little observed that hardly seven years after it went into effect Congress passed a law, the Sedition Act of 1798, which indeed did abridge the freedom of speech, and with such vigor as to send ten persons to jail for their utterances. One could hardly claim that the First Amendment was being enforced.” Howard Zinn
For the most part, anything they know about it comes from bad history of the sort that washed-out newspaper editors would defend for purely partisan reasons.
Zinn is great for covering critical thinking, including stuff Zinn gets wrong that was accepted wisdom when he published.
Something the speaker in your liked piece seems to utterly miss: In substituting one buttoned-up interpretation of the past for another, Wineburg finds, A People's History and traditional textbooks are mirror images that relegate students to similar roles as absorbers – not analysts – of information
Yeah, if you're *substituting* Zinn for standard history texts, you're doing it wrong. But I'm quite skeptical that's how Zinn is being used.
Well Dr. Ed, there weren't radical leftwing billionaires back then funding insurrection like there are today.
But duz he haz laptop?
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/20/opinion/gambling-investing-gaming-trump.html?unlocked_article_code=1.vE8.ANDM.44_GXSC5WFnV&smid=url-share
Before the 2024 election, numerous agencies were keeping a close eye on the companies offering new ways to bet. In 2021, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority fined Robinhood a record $70 million for providing false or misleading information to users, among other infractions. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (C.F.T.C.) had restricted prediction market bets on election outcomes, dubbing such contracts a form of gambling.
That scrutiny has all but vanished. Following the same playbook it used for cryptocurrencies, another popular gambling vehicle, Mr. Trump’s family is cashing in on the very business his administration oversees. In January, Kalshi hired Donald Trump Jr., Mr. Trump’s son, as a paid strategic adviser. And the venture capital firm where Mr. Trump Jr. serves as a partner made a multimillion-dollar investment into Kalshi’s rival Polymarket, where he has also joined the advisory board.
The administration has gutted oversight of prediction markets and online gambling. Since Mr. Trump’s inauguration, the C.F.T.C. has cut staff by 15 percent and dropped a third of its open investigations.
You don't understand, Donald Trump jr. is an expert on prediction markets, so his strategic advice is worth every cent they're paying him!
Why does Trump hate rural NC white people?
https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2025/10/21/north-carolina-helene-fema-payments/
Lynn Austin keeps running the numbers, and they don’t look good. Since Hurricane Helene devastated her community in western North Carolina’s Blue Ridge Mountains, the county government has spent nearly $50 million on cleanup and recovery — while getting reimbursed only $4 million from the Federal Emergency Management Agency…
More than a year after Helene, Yancey and other storm-battered counties across this region are still waiting for the federal government to make good on its promises to pay back millions upon millions of dollars that local officials have spent or allocated for recovery. The process has been agonizingly slow and unusually complicated, Austin and officials from other counties say. That delay has upended local budgets and hindered reconstruction.
Recovering from a major disaster takes years at best, and navigating FEMA’s bureaucracy has always been arduous, but the Trump administration has instituted new layers of red tape that have made it even harder for communities, especially ones with small staffs and budgets, to recoup the unprecedented sums they have had to spend since Helene.
The fast lane is to appeal directly to the President, with effusive praise and some kind of personal gift.
But they went to the Washington Post. Now they won't get nothin'!
What a great democracy we got.
Remember when Biden not immediately solving the problems there was proof he hated rural white people?
Those of us with functioning brains remember that "throughout the Biden Administration, FEMA employees systematically refused to visit the houses of disaster survivors that displayed signs and flags they disagreed with, including those with campaign signs supporting President Trump—textbook political discrimination against Americans in crisis."
https://www.dhs.gov/news/2025/10/21/dhs-exposes-how-fema-officials-under-biden-administration-systematically-refused
Mikie doesn’t like politics involved in FEMA responses? From the same article: Some officials within FEMA pointed to aid that moved after governors and lawmakers — generally Republicans — made direct appeals to Trump and Noem.
In August, Wisconsin endured severe storms and floods. The next month, Trump said on Truth Social that after speaking with Sen. Ron Johnson, a Republican, he was approving $29.8 million in disaster relief, adding that he “had Huge Victories in Wisconsin in 2016, 2020, and 2024.” (Trump won Wisconsin in 2016 and 2024 but lost in 2020.)…
FEMA has obligated $132 million for Helene debris removal in North Carolina, according to a Washington Post analysis of data from the agency as of Oct. 20. It has obligated five times that amount for Georgia, or $690 million, as well as $192 million for Florida and $159 million for Tennessee.
(Guess which of those four has a Democrat governor!)
That’s an absurd comparison. No aid has ever been denied to a state or locale by the Trump administration for political purposes. Under President Trump, FEMA agents are not denying aid to citizens who are Democrat supporters in Georgia, Florida, Tennessee or any state. Those sick political games were played by the Biden administration. And of course Obama.
In fact, President Trump’s efforts to help Democrat jurisdictions with their mostly self created crime problems have been consistently obstructed. By Democrats. Ask DC.
You keep posting shit from this administration like it has any truth value.
DHS lies. Constantly. Here, they take an old debunked story and just say the same shit in it again.
To review, because your brain has selective partisan amnesia: -One lower level employee. -They were disciplined. -GOP Republicans asked for docs and tried to make more of a thing about it last year; didn't go anywhere because there wasn't anywhere more to go.
You're a tool so you uncritically believe whatever DHS shits out. That doesn't mean the rest of us have to. You could Google you know, just to check if you weren't being a sucker yet again.
Lying again.
It wasn't just one FEMA employee. And it wasn't just in NC, it was in Florida as well.
"The audit stemmed from a former FEMA official who instructed disaster relief workers in Florida to "avoid homes" with signs endorsing Trump. Marn'i Washington would later say her directive of "best practices" was not "isolated" and in fact was widespread and happening in the Carolinas as well in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene. She also said she was being made a scapegoat over a policy she was following, not creating.
A former FEMA official lent support to Washington's claims, telling the New York Post that the pattern of skipping Trump-supporting houses has been an open secret at FEMA for years."
"In North Carolina, the Committee is aware of reports of FEMA employees skipping any home that displayed a 'Make America Great Again,' 'Drain the Swamp,' 'Don't Tread on Me,' or Trump campaign sign," Graves and Perry wrote in a 3-page letter to Cuffari on Dec. 3. "If the FEMA field team encountered three or more of these signs, the field team could abandon the entire neighborhood without notifying hurricane victims of assistance available to them."
https://perry.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=403129
Yes, we all know you love to Google to find things. And how well that goes for you. How many times have you posted some Rep or other grandly announcing a big investigation as though it was proof of anything?
Was there any result from this grand audit, given all the things they claimed going in? Any progress since this announcement in January?
You gotta stop this Googling for the answer you want and just posting whatever trash you find.
Posted above were the results of an investigation by the DHS Privacy Office, and it documented an organized, systemic pattern of politicization by FEMA that stretched well beyond a few bad apples.
The investigation revealed that FEMA engaged in troubling overreach, violating the Privacy Act of 1974 and disregarding the DHS Fair Information Practice Principles by improperly collecting and maintaining records tied to Americans’ First Amendment activities. This conduct demonstrated a failure to protect data integrity and fairness in disaster relief decisions, a lack of transparency and accountability, and a refusal to report privacy breaches. The Privacy Act was enacted precisely to prevent the secret accumulation of information on citizens and the creation of hidden government databases—tactics that undermine fundamental rights and fuel distrust in federal agencies. The findings also exposed widespread gaps in FEMA’s policies, processes, and procedures, resulting in systemic violations that unfairly targeted individuals across the country. The prohibited collection of constitutionally protected information underscores a pattern of weaponizing federal power against Americans and abusing the trust placed in government institutions. FEMA’s actions could lead to the erosion of public trust in FEMA’s delivery of disaster relief and contribute to the perception that FEMA is biased in how it carries out its mission by only aiding those with certain political beliefs.
https://content.govdelivery.com/attachments/USDHS/2025/10/21/file_attachments/3429397/FEMA%20Privacy%20Investigation%20Report%20For%20PDF.pdf
No one expects the Gaslight0 inquisition! His chief weapon is lying. Lying, and name-calling. His TWO weapons are lying and name-calling ... and denialism. His THREE weapons are lying, name-calling and denialism, plus moving goalposts. Among his weapons are lying, name-calling, denialism and moving goalposts, and isolated demands for rigor.
I'll come in again.
You couldn’t be less believable Little Communist Girl That Never Smiled than if you had used an AI simulated Kamala Harris to slur out your post during one of the simulation’s brief sober moments.
I suppose you could still say that the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict was a win. Although I see that it certainly wasn't done out of pure love of humanity. The US (re the Trump Clan) demanded 99 year development rights for the negotiated peace corridor between the two countries. As you hayseeds have bitched about for years, the US isn't/shouldn't be into developing other backwards-ass countries...but the Trump Clan sure is into it.
IRAN/ISRAEL NOPE "Satellite imagery reveals ongoing work at Iranian nuclear site bombed by US"
https://www.cnn.com/2025/06/30/middleeast/satellite-imagery-iranian-nuclear-site-latam-intl
INDIA/PAKISTAN NOPE "India’s Modi tells Trump there was no US mediation in Pakistan truce"
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/6/18/indias-modi-maintains-there-was-no-us-mediation-in-pakistan-ceasefire
UKRAINE/RUSSIA NOPE "On Ukraine and Russia, Lots of Talk but Little Has Changed"
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/21/world/europe/ukraine-russia-trump-zelensky-meeting.html
ISRAEL/HAMAS NOPE "Israel launched a wave of attacks on Gaza after accusing Palestinian militants of attacking its forces across cease-fire lines."
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/19/world/middleeast/israel-gaza-ceasefire.html
You mean the Azerbaijan-Albania conflict?
No.
It's sure pretty hilarious.
https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/european-leaders-caught-mocking-trump-false-claim-ending-war-rcna235194
https://euronews.al/en/trump-mixes-up-again-i-stopped-the-azerbaijan-albania-war/
Ah! I see what you did there. You know, Trump should demand several $BB from the treasury as compensation for all the dealing he's made.
Maybe Congress should vote him a Nobel Prize, and give him an enormous (cartoon sized) prize money cheque to go with it.
Did the totalitarian No Democracy protesters on Saturday dress up in costumes because the situation is so dire that the only thing to do is wear cartoon animal costumes? Was it to cosplay something innocuous to hide their insurrectionist identity? Or did they dress as bananas to show that they really are bananas?
Rent free.
Michael is indeed a special guy.
Political strategists on both sides of the aisle said the costumes are an effective way to protest the Trump administration.
Andy Barr, a Democratic strategist, compared the use of inflatable costumes to the time a man in a dolphin costume followed Mitt Romney around during the 2008 Republican primaries, accusing the presidential candidate of flip-flopping.
“Everything is so dark and kind of bleak that by making this sort of fun and funny and kind of a bit, you bring more people in,” Barr said. Terry Sullivan, a Republican strategist, said that the use of inflatable costumes is “smart” and “gives extra legs to a story.”
“When you can give a visual example, it helps,” he said. “It’s trying to draw attention to the protests so that it doesn’t look and frame it in such a way that it’s not just a bunch of angry people with purple hair throwing rocks.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/10/19/inflatable-costumes-trump-protests/
So it is "cosplay something innocuous to hide their insurrectionist identity" - or "frame it in such a way that it’s not just a bunch of angry people with purple hair throwing rocks" (even though it is).
From the article:
The costumes are being donned in part as a rebuke to Republicans portraying the events as “hate America” rallies and the Trump administration’s claims that blue cities like Chicago and Portland are riddled with crime. “The silliness is the point,” said Mike Nellis, a Democratic strategist. “All these MAGA guys are out there going, ‘These cities are lawless, they’re dangerous.’ … It’s like you’re matching the absurdity of it.”
… Cain added that Trump’s portrayal of cities as violent is a “very important concept” as he seeks to expand executive authority and invoke emergency powers. Trump has repeatedly suggested he could invoke the Insurrection Act, which allows the president to use active-duty forces trained for combat overseas or federalized National Guard troops to suppress a “rebellion.”
“If the president is going to invoke the Insurrection Act, he has to go to the court and show them, ‘Here’s some violence,’” Cain said. “It seems to me if you were going to start a fight you wouldn’t want to be looking like Mickey Mouse.”
Yes, we already established that you and the WashPoo sources agree with the "cosplaying something other than their insurrectionist selves" hypothesis.
Where some people see making a mockery of Trump’s claims another sees a dark conspiracy, wait, what am I talking about, Mikie sees conspiracy everywhere on the left!
You have a weird fixation on the lady who's probably going to lose the New Jersey gubernatorial election.
Does anyone want to be first to offer up the Q-Shaman, or should I get first crack?
Did anyone recommend in advance that others emulate him? Did they?
There were a lot of insurrectionists cosplaying bananas, elephants, or whatever on Saturday, and they did that because of advance coordination.
Hilarious. There were viral moments of people in chicken or frog costumes making a mockery of Trump’s claims of insurrection and so people liked those suits a lot in recent protests. I’m sure some people that thought the chicken or frog or whatever moments were cool and sought out or suggested similar costumes but that’s hardly some grand conspiracy but how viral moments are capitalized on by political movements more likely.
https://www.khou.com/article/news/nation-world/wearing-inflatable-costumes-protests/507-b841f764-006a-4fe9-89ed-6eb5a0e3c7bb
National protest organizers encouraged attendees to bring funny signs and wear silly costumes to keep the mood light during the event.
You can deny that there was advance coordination, but only because you are a denialist.
“or suggested similar costumes”
There’s no denial there. What there is though is an awareness that this isn’t evidence of some dark coordinated strategy, people see something on the internet or tv, they get interested, some seek out similar things some suggest it to fellow travelers, etc. You don’t think anyone in tea party rallies shared and suggested all the costumes that were worn during that?
Every day we have to teach Michael the basics of life/reality.
Now be fair, Michael. Why can't we too have our own insurrection?
I'm glad you are making that first step to recovery.
The next step is to realize that the previous insurrections were also yours, during the summer of 2020.
All of a sudden the Left loves masks again.
They've just traded white hoods for black bloc.
There is a party that really loves those hooded folks..
https://www.forbes.com/sites/andrewsolender/2020/06/10/tennessee-republicans-rally-to-preserve-statue--holiday-for-kkk-founder/
You mean "supports a non-hooded bust of a guy who ordered those hoods destroyed"?
Forrest expressed disillusionment with the terrorist group's lack of discipline, and issued a letter ordering the dissolution of the Ku Klux Klan as well as the destruction of its costumes; he then withdrew from the organization. Forrest later denied being a Klan member, and in the 1870s twice made statements in support of racial harmony and black dignity.
I guess the left only likes repentant KKK members if they talk about how many "white niggers" they have seen. And I note that there hasn't been a holiday for Forrest since 1969 -- Forbes is just too eager to throw red meat to the idiot insurrectionists to check the facts.
That Marxist rag Forbes!
“expressed disillusionment with the terrorist group's lack of discipline”
Quite the 180!
I never gave up my hood. I want them Confederate monuments re-erected and I want to be free from Jews replacing me. I also torment blacks and gays.
Michael -
'The bananas costumes. They are very sinister.
I'm a serious person.'
I would encourage the demented lunatics to Keep it up. It’s working so well to convince the public. Like a San Francisco pride march gone national.
Also, Mikie is against costumes at political rallies now?
Google Images tea party rally costumes for a fun trip down protest memory lane!
You should Google tea party rally costumes hoax conspiracy theory blue-anon bluesky
You take time away from The Daily Stormer for that?
Is there any phobia Michael DOESN'T have?
Looking ridiculous online doesn't seem to phase him.
"Looking ridiculous online doesn't seem to phase him." Says one who should know.
Yeah, they don't realize how insane they make the entire left look. They're just projecting and calling names because their own sources -- when they vaguely correspond to reality, rather than (say) pretending that a holiday cancelled 65 years ago still exists -- back up what what we say.
Michael, you wrote this, for serious: "...the situation is so dire that the only thing to do is wear cartoon animal costumes."
You should probably do some reflection on how you get to a place to write, rather than trying to pivot to the Dems bad made you post it.
Robin Williams said it best, "Joke them if they can't take a fuck."
really are bananas...
It appears that the 737 over Utah hit a weather balloon. Who's at fault?
This is 2025, why don't weather balloons have radar reflectors if not transponders or ACAS? ACAS would have told the plane to dive 500 feet.
The regulations are in 14 CFR Part 101. I don't know about liability. I don't know if the small payload could include a big enough reflector to make a difference. Basic transponders are a few thousand dollars. TCAS is more expensive. The one price I found among all the "inquire for pricing" links was $30,000.
Trump lawyers talking with DOJ about settlement for past investigations
President Trump on Tuesday confirmed his legal team is seeking money from his own Justice Department as compensation for past investigations into his conduct.
Trump was asked about a New York Times report that his legal team is demanding $230 million in compensation.
“I don’t know the numbers, I don’t even talk to them about it. All I know is that they would owe me a lot of money, but I’m not looking for money. I would give it to charity or something,” Trump said.
https://www.fox16.com/news/trump-lawyers-talking-with-doj-about-settlement-for-past-investigations/
I'd gladly pay Trump $500,000,000 if he just goes away.
Take it Big Kahuna!
"I'd gladly pay Trump $500,000,000 if he just goes away." Hahahahaha. No you wouldn't and the chance of you having $500,000,000 are none and none.
Mr. Bumble — If Trump would agree to go away for $500,000,000 it would be trivial to raise the money. I could do it in a few hours, except that none of the billionaires I know would believe Trump wasn't lying.
Lathrop has billionaire friends. Who knew?
Those who sign off on the settlement need to watch their backs when Democrats regain power.
Let's consider the first amendment and "Doxxing".
We had a conversation about it, and some people believe that the anti-Doxxing laws in several states (California, Oregon, etc), are unconstitutional. That they impede upon freedom of speech. On the other hand, certain limitations on freedom of speech are considered legal and legitimate. Threats, harassment, stalking, and intimidation are considered exceptions in many places.
So, let's consider doxxing. It's often considered the release of someone's personal information on the internet with the intent to harass, threaten, or intimidate them. Certain releases of public information don't cross this threshold. For example, the old White pages. It's the intent that really matters here.
So, consider, the public release of the names and home addresses of people who work in ICE facilities, intended to intimidate and harass these people. In those states with anti-doxxing laws, does this cross the threshold for what would be a constitutional restriction on the first amendment?
If you answer is yes, are there other laws you believe would be unconstitutional that might be considered "anti-harassment" laws?
We've finally found a crime that Russia is engaging in to destabilize countries. Illegal immigration.
"Russian spies and hard-left humanitarian groups are working with people smugglers to flood Europe with illegal migrants, a Bulgarian minister says.
Daniel Mitov, the interior minister, said his government had evidence that Russia’s foreign intelligence service had direct links with the criminal gangs facilitating illegal immigration into the European Union.
He said Russian spies were helping people smugglers find weaknesses in the EU’s external borders, including Bulgaria’s border with Turkey, and were telling migrants how to exploit EU and UK asylum systems and avoid removal."
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2025/10/russia-behind-illegal-immigration.php
Ilya Somin is confused who to support now...
The only things the Russians have EVER been good at is espionage and subversian...
Au Contraire, they make pretty good Assault Rifles, or at least good enough to make over 100,000,000 since Kalishnikof invented the AK in 1947 (Admittedly copied from the German StG44) Pretty good Tanks, Fighters, Helicopters, (as my least favorite Marx Brother said, "Quantity has a Quality of it's own") I'll take 5 Mig-29's vs a F35 every day of the week (and twice on Sunday) They're also still the majority of the Worlds Chess Grandmasters, Great at Hockey, even pretty good at Soccer. Classical Music?? I love me some Tchaikovsky, and "God Bless Amurica??" written by that Rooshun-Jew, Irving Berlin (he changed it from "Beilin" when he got here) I'll admit, Barbecue they haven't really figured out yet, but give them time.
Are you under the impression that prof. Somin thinks that people smuggling isn't a crime and/or shouldn't be a crime?
More specifically, Ilya the Lesser frequently argues that we should open the US's borders and not recognize anything as "people smuggling": he thinks the entire concept should be abolished, not just decriminalized.
Checking in on the tough on crime President!
https://www.cnn.com/2025/10/21/politics/pardoned-capitol-rioter-arrested-hakeem-jeffries-threat
Pardoned Capitol rioter arrested on charge that he threatened to kill Hakeem Jeffries
A New York man who was convicted of charges related to the January 6, 2021, Capitol attack was arrested Sunday on a charge that he threatened to kill Democratic House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries. According to New York State Police, an anonymous source told the FBI that the man, Christopher Moynihan, had said on Friday that “in a few days, he would kill Congressman Jeffries in New York City for ‘the future,’” court records say.
Moynihan was previously sentenced to nearly two years in prison for his participation in the Capitol attack after being convicted of obstructing an official proceeding, disorderly conduct in a restricted area, and other, similar charges.
President Donald Trump pardoned Moynihan— along with others convicted of January 6 offenses — earlier this year.
Trump's FBI helps Democrat state arrest man who made a serious threat against a Democrat politician. In response, Internet man very upset that Trump's crystal ball was not working long before the threat was made.
Tax the Whites: Mamdani pitches race-based property tax rates for New York City
Zohran Mamdani doubles down on plan to target ‘whiter neighborhoods’ with higher taxes — and says billionaires shouldn’t exist
As the prospect of actually ending up in power starts to look realistic, it appears that Mamdani is gradually easing in more components of his original communist agenda.
And, yeah, the literature promoting this is pretty specific about intending to go after "white neighborhoods", that's not inferred, it's explicit.
"Mr. Mamdani, 34, said the time has come to “shift the burden” from the city’s outer boroughs to “richer” and “Whiter” neighborhoods."
I agree. He should have stopped at 'richer'.
Maybe he'll erect a wall around Manhattan to keep the richer people from leaving.
Bumble — Getting rich absentee property owners to bail out would be a sensible strategy to bring down NYC real estate prices. Mamdani may even be putting it to work now. Whether confronting that kind of power directly is wise personal politics is another question. Voters inclined toward Mamdani's politics may decide it wiser to pick a champion with longer prospects for thriving in office.
Better be a friggin forcefield, if you haven't noticed, there is this invention called the "Airplane" and in this invention you can fly over walls.
Bellmore — Your own advocacy is saturated with race-specific advocacy, all pro-white. It is unsurprising that you do not like race-based counter-advocacy. But so long as you and your political allies target blacks, they and their advocates will defend themselves, and seek to strike back with politics. Pray that they do not choose more violent methods.
So long as you and your ilk continue with, "anti-racism is the real racism," with an eye to leverage pro-racist outcomes, just that long will you be ceding political initiative to those you attack. You will never reach a state of political repose, where black people meekly submit forever.
With Brett, I think it's more about the color of the candidate than the policies. White candidacies have long been forgotten, but - whether elected or not - Abrams, Mamdani, and Obama will live for decades in infamy inside Brett's cranium
Crucified on your own Racial-Petard (we Jews love Crucifying Race-ists on their own Petards) Arabs are considered "White" by the US Government (and by themselves I might add, the word "Aryan" originated from "Iran") Even A-rabs born in Uganda like (the) Zoran Mandamn-he
Moonie Times and the NY Post? Oh, they're still trying. Brett is eager for some redbaiting, especially if it's about the most oppressed people in America - whites living in NYC.
Meanwhile, in the actual campaign:
https://x.com/ZohranKMamdani/status/1980388053035413940 "Overstaying its welcome. Making New Yorkers’ days grimmer. Something we should relegate to the past. No, we're not talking about Andrew Cuomo. We're talking about scaffolding. Today we released our plan to take it down more quickly."
What a radical!
Sarcastr0 — Sometimes you have to think stuff through that would never give you a clue. I can't count how many times I have suffered obstruction and annoyance from giant construction scaffolding seemingly in place for years. Now, voila! If I owned that much scaffolding material where would I store it, and how much would that cost me? Answer? Zero, if I store it right on the public street, until I find another customer to rent it to.
His tax plan would be facially color-blind and discriminate based on wealth. Like California tax rates discriminate based on how long you have owned your house.
As an example, pay 2% on the first million dollars of valuation and 6% above that. The policy hits rich neighborhoods. But if a black family goes movin' on up to the East Side, the black family is taxed the same as a neighboring white family.
Is there a theory of liability and damages in which Trump could actually see a judgment of any amount let alone $230 million? I’m trying to figure out what kind of claim wouldn’t be barred by immunity and I’m coming up empty.
He'll just waive immunity. L'état, c'est lui.
A longer term solution, once Democrats are back, is to require judicial approval of settlements over a certain value.
In my state certain payments to minors can not be assigned without judicial approval. The scenario is, minor wins $10,000 per year for 20 years. Investor comes in and offers $20,000 for the income stream. Minor would rather have an extra $10,000 this year because next year is infinitely far away. Judge slaps the investor.
Okay I was thinking about this and it might present problems for the DOJ lawyers. Trump (personally) sues DOJ. Typically DOJ lawyers, in pursuit of representing the United States, would assert various (good) immunity defenses. Trump (officially as President) directs DOJ to waive all immunity defenses if Trump sues.
Does this present a non-waivable conflict for the DOJ lawyers? Keep in mind their obligations under the rules of professional conduct are to the bars in which they are admitted. Would state bars consider this a rules violation?
Just throwing this out there...legal fees. If the DoJ had been targeting Trump for illegitimate reasons, and Trump needed to defend himself...wouldn't recompense for legal fees Trump needed to pay be at least a reasonable assessment for damages?
That might fly if Trump ever paid his own lawyers. And if he did, did he ever pay them this much?
Also, don't I recall that campaign donations paid for all his legal fees?
"The money came from somewhere" does not alter the fact that he had to spend that money to protect himself from government abuses.
"The money came from somewhere" does not alter the fact that he had to spend that money
Amazing.
He's in rare form today.
Well, if he got all his legal work for free, then he can't prove damages
"And if he did, did he ever pay them this much?"
Trump's legal fees have been...substantial. North of $100 million according to some reports. And while PAC funds were still used, that means they weren't available for campaign spending...a point which Democrats may have been in favor of. Perhaps the funding recovered might need to go back to the PACs.
https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/trumps-use-campaign-funds-pay-legal-bills
Do criminal defendants whose cases are dismissed or are acquitted ever get reimbursed for their legal fees by the government?
They can, yes. On the federal level, it's the Hyde amendment (not the abortion one). "A 1997 federal statute that allows courts to award attorneys' fees and expenses to a criminal defendant if the prosecution was "vexatious, frivolous, or in bad faith""
Here's a review on the concept at the federal and state level.
https://digitalcommons.wcl.american.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?params=/context/facsch_lawrev/article/2033/&path_info=The_Price_is_Wrong.pdf
Costumes: they hide identity. An increasingly wise tactic for a would-be anti-Trump/MAGA demonstrator. But hiding identity, whether with costumes or pseudonyms, makes protest less personally consequential, and hence less publicly pertinent.
Tom Paine, the author of Common Sense first published anonymously, but quickly found it advantageous to reveal his identity. The Declaration of Independence would probably have sunk into obscurity if not for the signatures.
I wonder if we're allowed to dress as ICE agents?
Hobie — You may be onto something. How about inflatable ICE Agent costumes? Is there some way I can get into marketing them? I foresee entire political pageants, spread across the stage of the public square, with all the players inflatably costumed.
TIL that occasionally the British parliament does have a sense of humour. When they wrote the Intelligence Services Act in 1994, about the organisation more commonly referred to as MI6, they put the license to kill in s. 7.
If, apart from this section, a person would be liable in the United Kingdom for any act done outside the British Islands, he shall not be so liable if the act is one which is authorised to be done by virtue of an authorisation given by the Secretary of State under this section.
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1994/13/section/7
Am I seeing this correctly? Is the ballroom going to be both taller than, and twice the size of, the White House itself?
I gather different AI-generated images are in circulation, some of which are definitely not accurate.
Then again, maybe the Regime is following Ed's proposal and using the new ballroom as a bullet shield to protect Trump from the electorate.
Martinned — I would like to see some of those, "inaccurate," images. The first renderings published came from Trump's team. Close inspection showed them minimizing rather than exaggerating the physical size of the project. But combined with the square footage mentioned, they did plainly imply a building both taller than the White House, and with a larger footprint. I ran the square footage by an old friend who is retired from the commercial roofing business—he put a new roof on DC's Union Station. His instant reply when I asked, "That is a very large commercial warehouse."
If true, this seems more like a victory mosque paean middle finger meant to dominate the complex.
How many elites is he trying to pack it with? And what dignitaries from any country know how to ballroom dance? The crypto sheiks?
The only time I've ever seen Trump dance was last year when he closed his eyes at a podium and swayed silently for, like, ten minutes.
Oops... It turns out that no amount of kissing Trump's ass will protect you from MAGA racism and other bigotry.
https://www.wonkette.com/p/maga-outraged-at-demon-worshiper
On Monday, Patel — who is Hindu — tweeted “Happy Diwali - celebrating the Festival of Lights around the world, as good triumphs over evil,” along with an illustrated “Happy Diwali” card depicting the Ganges river filled with lit candles. (...) Patel received nearly 3,000 responses, the vast majority of which informed him that it was illegal to be Hindu in the United States, that he should go back to India, and/or that he was a devil worshiper. (...) Fellow Trump acolyte Vivek Ramaswamy [also posted a Diwali message on Tiwtter]. He got about 3,300 responses, most of which were also pretty horrifying.
Please stop with the projection. Don’t you have other things to do on your job besides democrat trolling?
Heh. I'll add this:
"The Alamo [a Texas shrine, Martin] Trust Board is apologizing after an official Alamo account post commemorating "Indigenous Peoples' Day" went viral and caught the ire of at least one state official."
https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/alamo-trust-apologizing-indigenous-peoples-182511907.html
Re America's darkies: You can't erase them if you keep mentioning them
Saw this yesterday:
Everything You Say to ChatGPT Can—and Will—Be Used Against You
In Missouri, a college student vandalized 17 cars. What got him charged wasn’t a witness or camera—it was his own “confession” to ChatGPT: “How f**ked am I, bro? What if I smashed the cars?” Days later, a California man was charged with arson after using an AI app to generate images of a burning city. Both cases mention ChatGPT by name in the affidavits. We’ve officially entered a new era: AI as evidence.
https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7385994338989707264/
Astounding that people confess to their ChatGPT. But then again, never underestimate the stupidity of people.
Can see legal issues being raised. I would think there is a colorable Fourth Amendment claim to privacy, assuming that those conversations are kept confidential by the AI platform.
Someone might try to claim some kind of therapist privilege, which sound outlandish to me, but who knows.
In any case, seems like this will be a new issue.
Patient/Client privilege, baby!
An opinion piece in The Guardian proposes that states intercept federal tax payments and hold them in trust for the federal government. Starved of revenue, Trump will capitulate.
As I see it, if the federal government does not actually receive tax payments the taxpayers are liable for underpayment. It's like your employer not sending paycheck withholding to the IRS. The government can come after you for your employer's failure. The government can go after both the taxpayer and employer for the same deficiency.
Penalties can be assessed without proving criminal intent.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/oct/19/blue-states-fight-back-against-trump
Carr — It's a high-stakes confrontation. If it succeeds, all the threatened penalties go away in a general amnesty. If it fails, a lot of the penalties will turn out uncollectable anyway. If the whole thing ever got rolling across all the states the Guardian article mentioned, I would not bet against federal capitulation. Trump doesn't have much ceiling left on tariffs to steal from.
By the way, a few months ago I suggested Trump was delighted by tariffs because it put him in the position of the guy highest on the irrigation ditch. He might not have the water right, but required ditch maintenance can't be perfect.
Right wingers scoffed at that. How is Trump funding the shutdown, without congressional appropriations?
Reuters discusses Turkish leader Erdogan's rising influence: https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/erdogan-turns-trumps-gaza-deal-into-power-play-turkey-2025-10-21/
Between Arabs and Israel. Between Russia and Ukraine. I keep thinking of the song "Stuck in the Middle with You".
Obviously the cultists here approved of Trump's latest pardons - poor misunderstood George Santos! But does their approval only go so far?
If Trump pardon, or commute the sentence of, Ghislaine Maxwell, would you lot defend it or condemn it?
I'm waiting for the next hotness-
Since we've been told that the costumed No Kings protesters are all "the hardest core" "Antifas" bent on the insurrection-y overthrow of the Trumpis... US Government, then ...
BREAKING NEWS: Halloween Parties ... a Soros-funded Antifa Plot, or just anti-Christian bigotry?
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J.D. Tuccille | 10.22.2025 7:00 AM
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