Open Thread

What’s on your mind?

Comments

[Dr. Ed 2]

The Nazi Bell - was that just the Nazis playing with the occult, or was there some real physics there?

[Frank Drackman]

Must be true, there's a Wikipedia article about it.

[David Nieporent]

Neither.

[not guilty]

Working as an Assistant United States Attorney used to be regarded in legal circles as prestigious employment, whether in a career capacity or as a way station to gain valuable experience before moving to the private sector. It is no more. The New York Times reports:

Chad Mizelle, a former chief of staff to Attorney General Pam Bondi, hung an online help wanted sign for federal prosecutors last weekend that perhaps explained why so many valuable Justice Department staff members have left, and why so few candidates want in.

Assistant U.S. attorneys are not typically recruited, as Mr. Mizelle sought to do, by a former federal employee who asks potential candidates to send a private message to his X account. Nor have they been asked in the past to prove political or ideological fealty.

“If you are a lawyer, are interested in being an AUSA, and support President Trump and anti-crime agenda, DM me,” wrote Mr. Mizelle, a fierce Trump supporter who remains close with Justice Department leaders and senior officials in the West Wing.

Mr. Mizelle was acting as a private citizen expressing his own views. But the post reflected the prevailing sentiment inside the department — that Mr. Trump has the right to hire only those willing to execute his agenda. It also highlighted the dynamic that appears to be contributing to the very staffing shortages Mr. Mizelle tried to address.

The intermingling of law enforcement and political goals has made the department, long a magnet for platinum legal talent, an unappealing landing spot, according to current and former officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal matters.

The number of applications is down significantly from previous years, officials said, even as Trump loyalists have publicized vacancies through official and unconventional channels. Some of those applying are generally not as qualified as those who sought the position in the recent past, they added.

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/07/us/politics/doj-prosecutors-recruiting-trump.html

https://x.com/chad_mizelle/status/2017585275896058233

That is both pathetic and sad.

[Commenter_XY]

NG, The Republic will just have to limp along. We'll be Ok. 😉

[santamonica811]

1. You're absolutely correct. The country will survive.
2. I suspect that you would not be as blase about this if it were front-and-center that really poorly-qualified people were piloting your plane trip, or doing your vasectomy, or drilling into your child's teeth. "More criminals who have been arrested will be acquitted at trial. Ah well." That does not strike me as a particularly pro-Law & Order message.

But we'll see if the country agrees with you come the Nov elections, I reckon.

[Commenter_XY]

I really don't see a problem getting lawyers in America, sm811. 🙂

[not guilty]

The DOJ under Pam Bondi is not looking for lawyers with talent, ethics and integrity. They are looking for lackeys who will do what they are told.

I can't decide whether Bondi is the worst Attorney General of my lifetime or whether John Mitchell still holds that distinction.

[Frank Drackman]

Your Eric Holder Neglect Syndrome is showing, although he didn’t murder a bunch of women and children (as far as we know) like Janet Reno.
Can you even say what Mitchell(WW2 Hero btw) did to earn your WAGAT designation?
Besides going to prison, MLK did too, and he gets a friggin Holiday and U2 song.

[not guilty]

Well, John Mitchell's worst misdeeds, for which he went to prison, occurred before he took office and after he left, while serving as Prick Nixon's campaign manager.

He helped Nixon's and Anna Chennault's treasonous sabotage of the Paris Peace Accords in 1968.

His record on civil liberties while in office was abysmal. He approved warrantless wiretaps, brought unfounded criminal charges against critics of the Vietnam War, advocated no-knock warrants and pretrial detention. He promoted the Supreme Court nominations of Clement Haynesworth and the segregationist G. Harrold Carswell. He sued to block publication of the Pentagon Papers.

Mitchell approved the Watergate burglary and participated in the coverup of White House involvement, setting in motion the scandal that led to Nixon's resignation in order to avoid being impeached by the House of Representatives and tried in the Senate.

Mitchell was convicted of conspiracy, obstruction of justice and perjury. He served nineteen months in prison, having been sentenced to two and a half to eight years

https://everything.explained.today/John_N._Mitchell/#Ref-13

[Frank Drackman]

Oh you did not just bring up the whole Bullshit “Nixon sabotaged the Peace Talks” Bullshit.
Oh wait you did, funny how LBJ didn’t say anything about it, probably because he couldn’t stand Humphrey either.
Oh BTW how many primaries did Humberto win in 68’? That would be Zero, Nada, Nothing, Nichts, which pretty much sums up Humphreys career.Sort of the Kamala for his time, stupid, annoying voice.
Just admit it, Nixon ended the war LBJ started. Best eulogy for Humphrey was by the late (Dr) Hunter Thompson “Humphrey is a gutless old ward heeler who should be put out in the Japanese current”

Frank

[Michael P]

not guilty is a proud Blue Dog Democrat, by which he a means spineless and gutless partisan shill who will never admit anything that goes against the Democrat Party's interests.

[Frank Drackman]

Mitchell was at the Maxwell AL Fed Prison when we moved to Montgomery, “White Collar” Criminals (who were mostly Black and Hispanic) Saw Mitchell once at the Gym checking out Basketballs and Racketball Rackets, seemed like a good Dude. In his Bio learned he was such a Race-ist he helped out the mostly Black/Hispanic Prisoners (not “Inmates” Asylums have “Inmates” Prisons have “Prisoners”) with their Appeals (and No, not for THAT reason Hobie)
Frank

[not guilty]

Wrong, Michael P. "Blue dog" is a phrase of (relatively) recent vintage, coined in the wake of the 1994 midterm Congressional elections.

I am a yellow dog Democrat, as I have been all my adult life.

And the Anna Chennault affair was indeed treasonous -- a word I don't use lightly. Prick Nixon withdrew American troops from Vietnam in 1973 on essentially the same terms as he was offered in 1969, resulting in more than 21,000 American casualties in the meantime. https://www.archives.gov/research/military/vietnam-war/casualty-statistics

Nixon also widened the conflict into Cambodia, destabilizing the government there and setting the stage for the genocide that followed during the 1970s.

[Dr. Ed 2]

The real question is what did the NVA generals write in their memoirs? What did they publicly say decades later?

They said two things. First that TET was a major defeat, that they lost massive amounts of men and material, and the Americans had actually won that battle. Which is true.

The other thing they said was that they were ready to surrender, and the Soviets told them to just hang on. To just survive as best they could because the Soviets were going to win the war on American College campi.

Which they did….

The difference between 1967/1969 and 1973 is that by 1973, the lying treasonous scum in American academia had managed to defeat their own country. Nixon should have declared martial law under the insurrection act in 1970, gone into the college campuses and arrested all the professors, and most of the students, let them sit without trial for 18 months or so and there wouldn’t have been a North Vietnam fighting us anymore.

When the radical treasonous Soviet agents shut down the colleges in 1970 in response to Kent State, Nixon should’ve responded the way Nancy Pelosi did after January 6. Track down all of the protesting students and send them to basic training, track down the professors involved and introduced them to the joys of making little rocks out of big ones. That’s what Nixon should’ve done, and the fact he didn’t means that he wasn’t the type of man that schmucks like not grateful portray him as being.

Heck, he ought to have carpet bombed Woodstock.

And why does no one ever mention the things that Lyndon Johnson did?

[David Nieporent]

Nixon should have declared martial law

Still not a thing.

[Frank Drackman]

Hey, Hey LBJ, how many kids did you kill today???
At least Nixon ended the Wah, LBJ went to his grave saying we just needed a few hundred thousand more troops.
And how many Secretaries did Mitchell leave to Asphyxiate (NOT drowned, there’s a difference)
Actually if Mitchell was at Chapaquidick things might have gone differently, he was a great swimmer.

Frank

[Mr. Bumble]

"...saying we just needed a few hundred thousand more troops."
That was Westmoreland. Half a million plus wasn't enough.

[Brett Bellmore]

They are looking for lackeys who will competently do what they are told, but doing what they're told trumps competence, because they don't want to hire people who will competently set out to undermine the administration's priorities.

There was a lot of that in Trump's first administration, and he really doesn't want a repeat.

[Mr. Bumble]

Characterizing them as "lackeys" seems harsh.
The term might better be applied to judges who issue bogus injunctions and make up law.

[jb]

Only if we decide we don't care about the meaning of the word "lackey". Which would be weird in an exercise where we're trying to figure out how to apply the word.

[Frank Drackman]

You look up "Lackey" and you see Merrick Garfield's ugly face, he had his mouth sucked on to Sleepy Joe's Schlong like a Lamprey Eel. Thank J-hovah for the one thing Mitch the Turtle did right, keeping that Worm off of the Court.

[Mr. Bumble]

...and next to RFK jr has the most annoying voice.

[Frank Drackman]

I like it (as does Mrs Drackman, I do a pretty good”RFK jr” myself it’s sort of like Eastwood in Gran Torino, but you have to smoke a cigarette right before to get that raspy part right

[Roger S]

Being a DoJ attorney does not require a lot of talent, ethics, and integrity. Our best and brightest should be doing something else.

[David Nieporent]

A nepo baby like Schlafly, without talent, ethics, or integrity, is not qualified to judge when those are required.

[Dr. Ed 2]

Don’t forget Meritless Garland and his persecution of grandmothers.

[Armchair]

Imagine that. Wanting to hire an employee who does what they are told to do. The horror.

[Bwaaah]

Alternatively, if you have a monolithic culture in which all adherents know to faithfully stay near the center of the box, you don't have to apply a filter to job applicants. Not many people have the cojones to confront the status quo, but the ones who do will assuredly face extraordinary opposition at every turn, especially from the most entrenched, credentialed, well-heeled have-beens.

[Armchair]

It's an issue with the current lawyer system. It's so ideologically entrenched in one direction, that it makes it a challenge to do actions which oppose that direction.

It's like having all the lawyers assume that blacks have no rights. And any lawyer who defends those rights gets blacklisted from any further employment. While "the law" might support equal rights for blacks, "the lawyers" don't, and you can't get the law to support you without the lawyers.

[Sarcastr0]

the current lawyer system

The legal profession has a well known liberal bias now?

Just like juries.

Amazing the straws they're grasping these days. Kind of a good sign, if you think about it.

[Bwaaah]

Sarc: "The legal profession has a well known liberal bias now?"

As usual, you restated what has been said, WRONG, in order to [theoretically] makes yourself sound right.

The legal profession absolutely has strongly prevailing practices and approaches, its own status quo, and a natural human aversion to change. That status quo tends to preserve some things and oppose others. It also profits from conflicts, manufactured or otherwise, as long as the courts preserve their rights to litigate (e.g. environmental questions) or not (e.g. constitutional violations by government actors).

You're the one who stated, quite falsely, that the "the legal profession has a well known liberal bias." Why did you do that? Because you needed a stupid assertion to shoot at because the complex reality, to which Armchair was alluding, is not so easily disputed.

Why couldn't you work that more difficult issue instead of transitioning to a dumb one?

[Sarcastr0]

When Armchair says "It's so ideologically entrenched in one direction" you think he means something other than liberalism? Have you ever seen Armchair's posting before?

And the critique you offer in the third paragraph is full-on Critical Theory, which is kind of amazing.

[David Nieporent]

Employees are supposed to do their jobs, not "what they are told to do." Sometimes those are the same, sometimes not.

[Bwaaah]

There's a little bit of a dodge there. Their "jobs" are typically defined by their employers/supervisors, albeit within externally defined legal constraints. And where there's discretion involved, their priorities are often (though not always) defined by their employers.

Unless you're being explicitly told to violate the law, rarely is it appropriate for an employee to say to his/her boss, "Don't tell me what to do. I'm doing my job." That there is the look of insubordination. (Subordination is a bitch. I pride myself in my respect for it, and being careful to delineate between my personal preferences and truly ethical lines I won't cross.)

I do see many legal tactics in this administration that should be seen as crossing ethical lines for any so-called "member of the bar." Those tactics constitute, in my mind, insubordination to the courts.

[Sarcastr0]

I don't see what issue you took with DMN.

Especially since you at the end concede that the Trump admin is asking lawyers to do stuff outside of the permissible scope of their job.

[David Nieporent]

albeit within externally defined legal constraints.

That caveat swallows the whole point.

[Bwaaah]

The law doesn't define the job. It defines only some limits of the job.

So I disagree with "employees are supposed to do their jobs," which is foolishly un-anchored. Employees should do what they are told to do, unless it is unethical or illegal. I'll also add the importance of fighting back against bad instructions if they are seriously at odds with the success of the enterprise. "Success" gets defined at the top.

[Bwaaah]

There are some jobs, not many, that are somewhat rigorously defined, have documented procedures, and call for little judgement. Those jobs, by way of their explicit definitions, can be regarded as defining the doings of a person in that role.

But few jobs are that well specified and call for that little individual judgement. Where judgement comes in, an employee should only exercise choice as long as management doesn't tell him/her what to do. But as soon as management communicates direction, e.g. new direction, that's the way to go in a success-oriented enterprise.

Subordination to management, all the way up the chain of command, is important and especially helpful in changing direction of an enterprise. There are many career employees in government who clearly don't like the direction of the Trump Administration. That's fine. But to the extent that they exercise resistance to the Administration's definition of success, they reduce the likelihood that the enterprise will succeed (except by their own definitions of success). They become an animating mechanism of the enterprise's inability to meet its mission; by withholding their support; they animate collective failure.

You are favoring people who do what they think should be done, and ignoring the more valuable people who help the enterprise to accomplish its stated mission...the people who faithfully do as they are directed. I understand your position and Sarc's to be that this is a time for subversion of the President because you think his goals are wrong. I don't think that's good behavior for an employee. I think it's unhelpful, like dead weight, only worse.

[Brett Bellmore]

" I suspect that you would not be as blasé about this if it were front-and-center that really poorly-qualified people were piloting your plane trip, or doing your vasectomy, or drilling into your child's teeth."

Exactly, one of the reasons the right hates DEI based hiring.

[Sarcastr0]

I’ll believe that the moment the right stops calling every minority a DEI hire.

It’s not merit, it’s resentment.

[Dr. Ed 2]

Some would call it “probable cause” — we have probable cause to suspect the credentials of every minority and woman BECAUSE some are intentionally hired unqualified.

[Bwaaah]

Of course every "minority" isn't a DEI hire. But until DEI initiatives are gone, every minority hire is saddled with reasonable suspicion of having received special favor. The truly talented are made to look like the lessers who have been placed at their sides. (Their colors hint at where the games have been played.) Fortunately, DEI only diminishes the stature of minorities.

Oh. Wait. Those are the people we're especially trying to help succeed.

[Sarcastr0]

Nope.

'Affirmative action existing means I can assume every minority is bad at their job' is just bigotry plus partisanship.

Treat people as individuals; assume they can be professionals until shown otherwise. Otherwise you're literally pre-judging. Being prejudiced.

That's bad.

[TwelveInchPianist]

"Treat people as individuals;"

You first.

[Bwaaah]

Yeah. It's like nothing you or I actually say means anything to him. All he knows is what group he thinks you and I are in, and what evil he attributes to that group.

Sarc treats me quite like the most explicit anti-black racist treats a black person.

Sarc: "STFU, Bwaaah. I know your kind. And you're a racist lying sack of shit too." (fingers in ears)

[Sarcastr0]

Sure, man. Your ideology keeps you so mad at something halted in 2023 that it means open slurs by the President don't make you very mad.

I'm not sure I'd peacock that position, but you do you.

[Bwaaah]

Yeah, man. Ideology. Peacock it. (That's a new one for me.)

What's "my ideology?" What "halted in 2023?" What are you going on about now? I suspect you're twisting things again...attributing to me stupid beliefs I don't hold.

You did get one thing right there. Almost nothing DJT says gets me mad. I know stupid. I got over stupid a long, long time ago. Stupid doesn't get me mad. I even work with stupid. I have friends who are stupid. (You should hear the shit they say.) I live with stupid, pretty comfortably, mostly with only slight protest. Is that wrong?

I don't think I've ever seen a position taken by FIRE that I disagreed with. I only hear you screaming about that stuff when the bad behavior is from the right. Otherwise, your voice is muted at best...maybe something like, "I don't agree with that." Big fucking deal.

Like Malika, you expect me to act out like you do...to remonstrate like you do...to carry water like you do. That's really putzy. Why not make room for somebody like me? I don't cheer on the badness. I'm actually sensitive to almost all of your more serious concerns. (Laugh all you want.) But I'm not good enough. The person I am is invisible to you. All I ever was is MAGA MAGA MAGA bwaaah phoney MAGA.

[LexAquilia]

Haha stop complaining about DEI, then Sarcastr0 will believe your complaints about DEI!!!

[LexAquilia]

We face #2 every single fucking day thanks to DEI.

[not guilty]

Jay Leno was fond of "number two" jokes. They weren't funny when he did them either.

[Frank Drackman]

Who does #2 work for?????!!!!!!!!

[Bwaaah]

What the hell was with that see-saw thing?

[Life of Brian]

Human powered radar on an isolation base. Or something like that.

[John Mosby]

And the big floating white sphere.

[Bwaaah]

Like big empty balloons. I never understand why that was supposed to be so scary. I'm being chased by...a...a...a balloon? I mean, after the first time, I'd at least carry a thumbtack with me.

[hobie]

Good time to be a defendant and a public defender.

Federal prosecutors, I must admit, have always been fearsome. Now they can't even get an indictment right

[LexAquilia]

... that's on purpose

[Dr. Ed 2]

Read Silverglate’s Three Felonies a Day — maybe Trump is trying to address that. Maybe Trump is trying to get rid of the prosecutors who try to crucify grandmothers for merely praying in public.

[David Nieporent]

1) You've never read it, so you shouldn't tell other people to read it.
2) Trump is not in fact trying to do that, because (a) that never happened in the first place; and (b) has absolutely nothing to do with the book's premise; and (c) has less than nothing to do with the topic of this discussion.

[not guilty]

The "arresting folks for praying" trope is one of many Big Lies told by the MAGA cult. The sheer, mindless and incessant repetition of these canards would make Joseph Goebbels blush.

As George Orwell wrote in 1946, "modern writing at its worst does not consist in picking out words for the sake of their meaning and inventing images in order to make the meaning clearer. It consists in gumming together long strips of words which have already been set in order by someone else, and making the results presentable by sheer humbug."

Too many MAGAts take this trenchant commentary as marching orders.

[TwelveInchPianist]

Except for the guy in England, who really was arrested for praying.

[not guilty]

If that is true, that is a bad thing, but what is the relevance there to the MAGA trope? (If I were in the UK, I would admittedly be more concerned.)

[TwelveInchPianist]

You're the one defining the "MAGA trope", and you get to determine the scope of what you're talking about. If that's outside of it, then it has nothing to do with the MAGA trope.

[hobie]

Dear AI, do repetitive chants enforce belief?

"Repetitive chants and mantras serve to enforce belief by bypassing logical, critical thought, creating an,altered,state of consciousness that fosters intense focus, emotional regulation, and deep,social,or spiritual connection. These rituals utilize rhythm and repetition to solidify convictions, often inducing,mystical states or inducing feelings of peace and unity with,the divine or a group. "

[Riva]

What is pathetic and sad are the hyper political officials and bureaucrats that have borrowed their way into career positions, including at the DOJ. Given the contemptibly disgraceful way federal judges have behaved lately, one can only imagine the problems these creeps have caused. The Mar-a-Lago raid was likely just one manifestation. Good riddance to bad rubbish.

[Riva]

“Burrowed ” obviously. Well played auto spell correct.

[Dr. Ed 2]

With public service student loan forgiveness, I suspect a lot of these AUSAs also borrowed their way through law school with debts that we now have forgiven.

Remember that with public service employment, any outstanding balance after 10 years is forgiven — the taxpayer pays it. And remember that this includes the almost 5 years of none payment during the Wuhan flu.

No, I don’t know what an AUSA gets paid, but (unlike in the 80s) the maximum student loan monthly payment is calculate it on the basis of discretionary disposable income, after basic living expenses are met. So it’s not a real hardship.

[not guilty]

There was no "Mar-a-Lago raid," Riva. On August 8, 2022 FBI agents executed a facially valid search warrant, that had been issued by a United States Magistrate on August 5, 2022, pursuant to his determination that probable cause to believe that evidence of a crime would be found on the subject premises.

The FBI had conferred beforehand with the Secret Service to execute the warrant while Mr. and Mrs. Trump were away from the premises, in order to effectuate the search in the least disruptive manner that was practicable.

[David Nieporent]

probable cause to believe that evidence of a crime would be found on the subject premises.

And it was!

[Mr. Bumble]

You left out "not".

[David Nieporent]

And correctly so.

[Frank Drackman]

And Sleepy Joe having even more classified shit in his garage wasn’t a crime because he was demented.

[David Nieporent]

AI-generated gibberish from the bot.

[Bob from Ohio]

"current and former officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity"

Oh. So the story is either not true or exaggerated.

[David Nieporent]

Assistant U.S. attorneys are not typically recruited, as Mr. Mizelle sought to do, by a former federal employee who asks potential candidates to send a private message to his X account.

I don't think people understand how unprecedented this is. Job openings for AUSAs used to attract hundreds of applicants for each opening. Now they're desperately trying to find anyone with a pulse willing to take the job as long as he swears fealty to Trump.

[Life of Brian]

In addition to Bob's note about the ubiquitous and tired anonybird sourcing, you must have skimmed over this through-gritted-teeth admission in the article, just a few sentences later: "Mr. Mizelle was acting as a private citizen expressing his own views."

"Desperately" indeed.

[David Nieporent]

1) I have no idea what anonymous sourcing has to do with anything; Mizelle's tweet was public, and I saw it.

2) No idea what your point is about Mizelle being a private citizen. Mizelle was not shoveling his driveway when a thought hit him, "You know, even though DOJ has plenty of employees, I think I'll randomly tweet that people should send me their résumés for job openings that don't exist."

[Life of Brian]

At the risk of stating the obvious, the notion that the acting GC at DHS was implementing some sort of White House policy -- "desperately" or no -- for DOJ hiring via a post on his private X account is so far beyond wishful thinking it doesn't merit further comment.

[Kazinski]

The 5th circuit ruled Friday that the law alllows, indeed requires, that Aliens not admitted legally into be detained pending the resolution of their case.

"The statutory interpretation issue posed by these alien petitioners is novel but not recondite. The petitioners concede that they are deemed to be “applicants for admission,” i.e., “alien[s] present within the United States who ha[ve] not been admitted” by lawful means. 8 USC §§ 1225(a)(1) 1101(a)(13)(A) (definition of admission). Each of them entered illegally many years ago. As such, the government contends, because neither petitioner showed himself to be “clearly and beyond a doubt entitled to be admitted,” he “shall be detained” pending his removal proceeding. 8 U.S.C. § 1225(b)(2)(A). "

"We REVERSE the district courts’ orders
to provide petitioners with bond hearings or release them and REMAND for
further proceedings consistent with this opinion."

We can all agree even illegal aliens are entitled to due process under the law.

And this is the due process that the law, as passed by Congress in the Clinton Administration, entitles them.

https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/26884355/ca5detention.pdf

[Kazinski]

I should mention it is these bond hearings, that the Illegals are not entitled to, that caused the AUSA meltdown in Minnesota last week:

"She made the remarks after U.S. District Judge Jerry Blackwell ordered the government to explain why it had not followed court orders in immigration proceedings, including not releasing several immigrant detainees he had ordered be let out.

Blackwell said in an order this week that the government's "failures" were "alarming" because the government's "persistent noncompliance with orders in this District was extensively detailed just last week," pointing to a decision from Chief U.S. District Judge Patrick Schiltz, a George W. Bush appointee. Schiltz wrote that his "patience is at an end" and that the government had failed to comply with "dozens of court orders."

Now to be sure Fridays ruling only applies to the 5th circuit, but they are the only circuit to rule on the issue so far.

The law is clear so i would expect the administration to aggressively move the issue up the ladder to other circuits, included getting it on the shadow docket for an expedited stay of the "dozens of court orders", unlawful court orders.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/attorney-government-tells-judge-ice-case-job-sucks-rcna257349

[Commenter_XY]

Kaz, hope it is nice and warm where you are...it is 6F (-14C) here, with wind chill of -10F. Cold.

Re 5th circuit...More illegal aliens will be deported faster. That is fine. It is what the country voted for. For the caterwaulers, the relevant quote is, "Elections have consequences".

[Kazinski]

Yes I can safely say its warmer than 6 degrees where I am, but other than the humidity not a lot warmer than Arizona was when I left.

https://x.com/i/status/2019988877738705088

But the view is different.

[SRG2]

It is what the country voted for.

It is what a plurality of the country voted for. I doubt that they voted for the brownshirting of ICE.

[Sarcastr0]

People that say this, it's not what they even voted for. They just approve it after the fact.

No one has any specific ideas of how an administration will play out on the ground, especially this one.

It's all trying to wrap heinous shit in populism to launder it, conveniently forgetting that none of this was campaigned on.

I'm not even sure why they bother, really. No one's buying it, and it's not like they have a conscience to salve.

[jay.tee]

People that say this, it's not what they even voted for

Another sterling example of why people have such enmity for you, Sarcastr0. It’s not your ideas or opinions, It’s your utter lack of substance. You wrap bitterness and strawmen in pseudo-intellectualism and sneering condescension, mistaking it for argumentation.

If you expressed your opinion, instead of misrepresenting those of others, people might actually engage. Claiming to read the minds of large segments of the population isn’t that.

But that’s your schtick, isn’t it?

[Sarcastr0]

The posters here who don't like me tend to hate everyone who disagrees with them regularly.

Where did I claim to read minds? I said this:
"No one has any specific ideas of how an administration will play out on the ground, especially this one."
I also noted: "none of this was campaigned on."

That's not mindreading, it's a belief people can't predict the future.

Because of that, MAGA posters claiming they did predict the future and this was their plan when they voted for Trump are lying, maybe even to themselves.

So much for your claim I wasn't making an argument; you getting mad doesn't mean I didn't provide substance.

[jay.tee]

Where did I claim to read minds?

The posters here who don't like me tend to hate everyone who disagrees with them regularly

you getting mad

People that say this, it's not what they even voted for

Thanks for proving my point.

[Sarcastr0]

1. "The posters here who don't like me tend to hate everyone who disagrees with them regularly" - observation.

2. "you getting mad" - revealed from your bilious post about me above

3. "People that say this, it's not what they even voted for" - the conclusion of the argument I just laid out. Twice.

Come on, man.

[TwelveInchPianist]

"'The posters here who don't like me tend to hate everyone who disagrees with them regularly' - observation."

I'm not mind-reading, I'm just observing the content of other people's minds!

[jay.tee]

Apparently, Sarcastr0 can’t contain his inner Miss Cleo.

You know that shit is fake, right? Despite your protestations otherwise, you still don’t know what other people think unless they explicitly tell you.

And sorry, you don’t matter nearly enough for me “to get mad” at your inanities.

[Sarcastr0]

You're getting epistemological now.

People claiming what ICE is doing is what they expected and voted for are the ones claiming psychic powers.

All I'm doing is pointing it out.

[David Nieporent]

People that say this, it's not what they even voted for. They just approve it after the fact.

It might be what they voted for, but it's still a stupid comment by C_XY. First — as SRG2 noted — most people didn't vote for Trump at all. Second, while "this is what I voted for" might be true for any given person on any given topic, this whole shtick about "X politician got elected, therefore the people who voted for him wanted him to do everything he said he was going to do" is complete bullshit. Nobody — except a mindless cult member (yes, I know: MAGA) — wants a politician to do everything he promised to do.

[Kazinski]

"It's all trying to wrap heinous shit in populism to launder it, conveniently forgetting that none of this was campaigned on."

What makes that position absurd Sarcastro, is how the people got an entire Congress to vote for detaming illegals without bond just a few years ago, and a democratic president to sign the legislation.

I am not going to take the trouble to dig out the polls that showed nefore the election a majority wanted all illegals deported. Or go into the archives and dig out my posts advocating removing all the illegals. it just falls on deaf ears.

Same as your claims no one voted for this. Because the people did vote for this, in '92, and '94 electing the politicians thet wrote and signed the law, and in 2024 electing the president determined to enforce the law.

[SRG2]

In general, if the person you voted for says or does something disagreeable, and someone says. "You voted for this", it's not unreasonable to respond, "I agreed with X% of his policies, which is much more than the other guy, but I didn't agree with all of them and this is one I don't agree with."

However, although people who voted for Trump might not have voted for the brownshirting of ICE, this defence should availeth not, because Trump's underlying principles were racism, authoritarianism, and narcissism - not a list of policies that one might agree with to an extent only (regardless of what many - including XY no doubt). When you voted for someone with those base (in both senses) principles, you voted for whatever they do in accordance with those principles.

[JoeFromtheBronx]

It is what a plurality of the country voted for. I doubt that they voted for the brownshirting of ICE.

A rounding error of a plurality. And voting for a Republican congressional majority is part of the deal here.

If that makes someone feel better, go ahead, but the popular vote victory in 2024 was a tragic day in American democracy.

And they voted for Trump. They very well voted for that.

VP Kamala Harris supported a strong immigration reform bill, which would have continued a tough enforcement policy in various ways. That wasn't enough, and people wanted Trump.

Vox populi is not enough to justify brown shirt tactics, but Trump voters have agency even if some rather not so open brag about it.

[Bob from Ohio]

" popular vote victory in 2024 was a tragic day in American democracy"

My side lost!!! Whaaah! Democarcy is over!!!

Grow up.

[Riva]

The projection is strong with you today, but you’re not a jedi yet. The only Brownshirts are the rent-a-mobs performing daily in Minnesota and elsewhere.

[David Nieporent]

Bot still not programmed to understand the concept of volunteering.

[Riva]

Is this honestly your real name? If so, points for not being afraid to make an ass of yourself openly and publicly. The Brownshirt rent-a-mob thugs all mask up to hide their identity.

[David Nieporent]

Bot still not programmed to actually respond to a comment, but only to repeat the same talking points over and over again. AI has a long way to go before its convincing.

[JoeFromtheBronx]

It wasn't just those who voted for Trump either.

It was all the people, including key thought leaders with influence, who refused to support Kamala Harris and/or diminished how bad Trump was. He should have, widely and strongly, been deemed patently unfit on par with drunk driving today.

That didn't happen.

The constant drumbeat to have Biden leave the race is a telling comparison.

[JohnSmith97]

After all, it is the (D) way to have ICE do nothing - and we all know you have no issue when (D) admins ignore the law.

[jb]

Seems like the issue in those Minnesota cases was actually that the judge had ordered immigrants released in response to a petition for habeas corpus, no?

https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.mnd.230330/gov.uscourts.mnd.230330.15.0.pdf

[Kazinski]

Habeas petition based on what?

Habeas isn't some Harry Potter spell, it has to be based on a legal right.

"(2)Inspection of other aliens
(A)In general
Subject to subparagraphs (B) and (C), in the case of an alien who is an applicant for admission, if the examining immigration officer determines that an alien seeking admission is not clearly and beyond a doubt entitled to be admitted, the alien shall be detained for a proceeding under section 1229a of this title."

So you would have to ask under what possible grounds was any of the aliens in question "clearly and beyond a doubt entitled to be admitted"?

https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/8/1225

Habeas invokes a right, it doesn't get someone out of jail unless their detention is unlawful, and under the law their detention is mandatory.

[jb]

A trick the Trump administration is trying to play is to declare that people who have already been granted asylum are actually here illegally and then try to deport them. So those people already have established a right to be here, but ICE needs to get its numbers up, I guess.

[Kazinski]

No, this decision has nothing to do with people who have been "granted asylum", those people have had a "proceeding under section 1229a of this title."

Where you seem to be confused is thinking "Temporary Prorected Status" is such a proceding which it certainly is not, being neither a "proceding", and explicitly not, ny plain words of the statute "admission".

[David Nieporent]

So you would have to ask under what possible grounds was any of the aliens in question "clearly and beyond a doubt entitled to be admitted"?

No; you'd have to ask why you think that provision applies, when these aren't "aliens seeking admission."

(We know why the 5th circuit thinks so: because it's the 5th circuit. Edith Jones would declare George Washington deportable if the issue came up before her.)

[Kazinski]

I guess you missed this part in the decision;
"The petitioners concede that they are deemed to be “applicants for admission,”"

Its not a concession they would make lightly, but you are welcome to tell us why they are wrong.

[David Nieporent]

I didn't say they were wrong. I said that they weren't "aliens seeking admission," which is the phrase used separately in the statute to whom this provision applies.

[Kazinski]

Ah, the classic distinction without a difference.

There are 3 instances of "seeking admission" in the statute, perhaps you can tell me which one does not apply to an "applicant for admission"?

"(a) Inspection"
"(3)Inspection
All aliens (including alien crewmen) who are applicants for admission or otherwise seeking admission or readmission to or transit through the United States shall be inspected by immigration officers."
"(5)Statements
An applicant for admission may be required to state under oath any information sought by an immigration officer regarding the purposes and intentions of the applicant in seeking admission to the United States, including the applicant’s intended length of stay and whether the applicant intends to remain permanently or become a United States citizen, and whether the applicant is inadmissible."

"(2)Inspection of other aliens
(A)In general
Subject to subparagraphs (B) and (C), in the case of an alien who is an applicant for admission, if the examining immigration officer determines that an alien seeking admission is not clearly and beyond a doubt entitled to be admitted, the alien shall be detained for a proceeding under section 1229a of this title."

It doesn't appear to be used separately at all, and each section that uses both terms clearly applies to both the seeker and the applicant, whatever the distinction you may be drawing is.

[David Nieporent]

Ah, the classic distinction without a difference..

I would certainly agree that in common parlance, those sound identical. But in law, words matter. This statute uses both phrases in the same sentence. Normal canons of statutory construction say that when a statute uses two different phrases it refers to two different things.

I mean, look at this thing you yourself quote:

All aliens (including alien crewmen) who are applicants for admission or otherwise seeking admission

"applicants for admission or otherwise seeking admission." One can't get much clearer an indication than that that those aren't identical.

[Kazinski]

But the statute itself makes it clear that every provision that uses "seeking admission" applies exactly the same as it does to "applicants for admission".

So your "seeking admission" distinction cannot provide any difference in how they are treated under the law.

You don't even attempt to say how the the distinction matters because the clear answer is that it doesn't matter a bit.

[David Nieporent]

You don't even attempt to say how the the distinction matters because the clear answer is that it doesn't matter a bit.

I am pretty sure that I explained it above: the provision that it is claimed requires detention only applies to those seeking admission. If they do not fall into that category — and they certainly did not "concede" that they do — then there is nothing saying they're not entitled to bond.

[Paul Zrimsek]

I'm having trouble understanding the stakes here. Even under the petitioners' theory, release under bond is at the discretion of the AG, right? Is there some sort of APA hoop she'd have to jump through in order to deny it, or is there something else I'm missing?

[Bunny495]

Seems to be something of a sea change

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/at-least-42-people-arrested-in-minneapolis-protests-after-deputy-was-struck-in-the-head/ar-AA1VU4zH?cvpid=56b931edfefc47a9b092b485911d2c84

[Michael P]

It still has the same dishonest account of Nicole Good trying to run over an ICE agent:

The vehicle began to pull forward, and a different ICE officer standing in front of it pulled his weapon and immediately fired at close range, jumping back as the vehicle moved toward him.

The vehicle began to pull forward. On its own, apparently, and no mention of Good stomping the accelerator so hard it spun out.

[Bwaaah]

"I wasn't doing anything!!!" Watch bodycam videos. It's the #1 line. #2 is, "I'm not resisting!!!"

[Dr. Ed 2]

Trump plays three dimensional chess.

There are three dimensions to the illegal alien issue, the second being the jaw dropping amount of fraud in programs, then not even supposed to be eligible for. The latest comment is at Maine. Governor Mills has left the cash register drawer open.

I think you’ll find a half dozen states with some serious explaining to do. Minnesota, Maine, Massachusetts, New York, California, possibly Georgia. Maybe a few more.

The third side of this will be governors and mayors, going to jail.

[David Nieporent]

There will be no governors or mayors going to jail. How stupid are you? (Stupider than Trump, apparently, because you're impressed by his non-intelligence.)

[bernard11]

Trump plays three dimensional chess.

Trump can't play two-dimensional tic-tac-toe.

[David Nieporent]

What is it with commenters inventing new names for people? Her name was Renee, not Nicole. Though that's less offensive an error then inventing fictional "spinning out" and "stomping" on an accelerator of a slow-moving car that even a small child could have easily evaded.

[TwelveInchPianist]

Her name was Renee Nicole Good.

[David Nieporent]

I know. And just like we don't speak of John Trump or Robinette Biden, we don't call her Nicole Good.

[Frank Drackman]

“Was” being the relevant description

[Commenter_XY]

https://legalinsurrection.com/2026/02/red-white-and-ashamed-team-usa-athletes-admit-mixed-feelings-about-us/

Should the athletes in question be sent home by the US Olympic Committee? Yes or No.

If No, why not?

[Kazinski]

Of course not.

Why should we care what they think?

[hobie]

Oh my God, banishing them for political opinions? Ain't that the exact same EU censorship you hayseeds have been bitching about lately?

Trump 2024 Campaign Trail: 'America is a garbage nation'
Also Trump 2024 Campaign Trail: 'America is a failed state'
All hayseeds all the time: 'The Biden/Obama/Clinton [our American government] etc. administration is this that and the other.'

[LexAquilia]

Tit for Tat is the best strategy.

[not guilty]

Whenever I read or hear that phrase, I recall Dennis Miller's three questions:

What is tat?
Where can I get it?
How do I exchange it for the other?

[Frank Drackman]

What's Up Hiroshi?* Lets light this Candle!!!!!!*
Pick it up Levine or you'll get the Steak Knives,*You're in bed with me Larry! in Bed!!!*
Jeez, his whole Radio show was nothing but Pop Culture References, loved it.
*Dialogue from respectively, "Thank you for Smoking", "The Right Stuff", "Glengarry Glenross", and "A Face in the Crowd"

Frank "I liked Hitlers early works, the Volkswagen, "Olympia" but he sort of lost me with that whole Holocaust thing"

[Dr. Ed 2]

Ok, Hobie — say it was the 2014 Olympics and he said:
“Well, I didn’t vote for the nigger” in reference to then President Obama.

Or, better, today was to say “I think Iran has the right idea about fags & trannys.”

Still feel that way?

[hobie]

So your ridiculous hypothetical is basically should we expel people for political speech vs hate speech? I suppose it depends on what the code of conduct is for olympic athletes.

[LexAquilia]

"My speech is political your speech is hate speech, that's why you must be silenced!"

Sincerely,
CCP Hobies

[Sarcastr0]

It's very telling.

Someone who thinks America is good, and believes in freedom, wouldn't be bothered.

But MAGA are full of fragile unhappy authoritarians who don't believe in America. Thus, they get off on a harshly enforced doctrine where everyone has to say they love the regime they identify with (see also Poland).

IOW no one cares, except weirdos.

[jb]

Why does MAGA care so much about free speech in Europe and Australia if you disdain it so much for Americans?

[Bob from Ohio]

"If No, why not?"

Just ankle biting unknowns. Leave them wallow in their hatred.

[Kazinski]

Are we getting close to the point where we expel every Chinese national? Or maybe less drastically put them on probation, and require weekly inspections of their homes, workplaces, and require them to where ankle monitors?

" Those research ties are even more concerning given the discoveries in 2023 in Reedley, Calif., and 2026 in Las Vegas, Nev., of the two illicit, makeshift biolabs that are suspected of using dangerous pathogens, said Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, the director of the National Institutes of Health.

"When you do research like this, potentially in an environment where there's very little biosecurity, you're posing hazards to everyone around you. And the fact is these were completely flying under the radar screen," Bhattacharya told Just the News.

"We need a better system for detecting and preventing these kinds of labs from popping up, so that they don't cause the kind of havoc, the sort of the worst kinds of stories," he added.

Bhattacharya declined to speculate on the motivations behind setting up risky biolabs in California and Vegas, but stressed that “it's very, very dangerous what defined the kinds of agents that have been reported publicly."

https://justthenews.com/government/security/biolab-buried-biden-current-fbi-all-ccp-inquiries-dropped-prior-admin-patel

[Michael P]

The two labs are linked to the same individual, right? Why did the Biden admin let the guy remain free after the first one was found?

[jb]

Why did the Trump administration allow him to remain free once they took over and had access to the same information?

[Dr. Ed 2]

Why do you think AG Bondi is trying to give her department a badly needed enema?

[Commenter_XY]

Are we getting close to the point where we expel every Chinese national? Or maybe less drastically put them on probation, and require weekly inspections of their homes, workplaces, and require them to where ankle monitors?

Maybe in the country where you are now, Kaz, something like that would fly....but not in America. We can just revoke visas and green cards and send them home.

[Kazinski]

We can't?

I'm pretty sure there is no legal or constitutional bar if we decided we needed to.

I would hope it won't come to that, I would hope China doesn't want that either, and will cooperate to make sure it isn't necessary.

[Commenter_XY]

Korematsu is not going to make a comeback, Kaz.

The SecState can revoke visas and green cards at will. And has.

[Mr. Bumble]

Marco Rubio, is there anything he can't do?

[Commenter_XY]

Yes...Fly commercial.

[Mr. Bumble]

Can't or doesn't? If he did imagine the frequent flyer miles he would rack up.

[Commenter_XY]

He was already a million-miler and that was before he left the Senate. He has done a lot of commercial flying as a Senator. A lot.

[Mr. Bumble]

? Isn't the same thing true for most members of Congress?

[Kazinski]

Korematsu has nothing to do with it.

Probation is always voluntary, if they don't want to agree to the conditions of probation then they can go back to China.

[Mr. Bumble]

Along with the ICE crackdown on illegal alien felons we need a parallel crackdown on visas holders (all classes) and the issuance of new ones.

[Frank Drackman]

Might not be the best idea to fuck the Country that’s been funding our National Debt for the last 20 years.

[not guilty]

We have come a long way (and in the wrong direction) since President Harry Truman proclaimed, "The buck stops here."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2026/02/06/donald-trump-obamas-ape-video/

Donald Trump is a truly disgusting and despicable human being. The video with the despicable clip about Barack and Michelle Obama was published on Trump's watch and at his direction, but he blames unidentified staff members. Trump's refusal to apologize to President and Mrs. Obama reflects badly on his manhood.

[hobie]

Donald 'Autopen' Trump appears to admit that aides and staffers are writing and posting his shit

[jay.tee]

So you and not guilty don’t like racism now, eh?

If either of you had any semblance of integrity, you’d use this as an opportunity to reflect on and reject your own racism. Or at the very least, not to shine a glaring spotlight on your hypocrisy.

[Sarcastr0]

Supporting DEI is just like sharing a picture of black people photoshopped as monkeys!

I'm not even going to go into whatever nonsense you think DEI is, you have to see this is more ideological yawp than analogy.

They aren't sending their best, folks!

[Brett Bellmore]

No, of course not. Supporting DEI is much worse than sharing a picture of some black people photoshopped as monkeys. DEI is substance, after all, stupid photoshopped pictures are just appearance.

"I'm not even going to go into whatever nonsense you think DEI is,"

I don't care what you want to pretend DEI isn't. I don't CARE what sort of motte and bailey defense you want to run. I've noted before that a state like Florida can enact laws banning the most offensive sort of actions, and you'll call it an anti-DEI bill, so you know what we're both discussing, even if you need to deny it.

[hobie]

It's like I said the other day, Brett. In Charlie Kirk's world (re the MAGAverse), black pilots and women ain't gonna get a fair shake. That is publicly stated opinion on his part. So DEI is necessary to counter the overt bigotry. Simple way to get rid of DEI? Get rid of the bigotry.

[Sarcastr0]

Yes, it's pure evil and everyone saying otherwise is lying.
It's like when Chris Rufo admitting he lied about what CRT was, and you just decided to keep going on. Same shit, different acronym.

You are a Bell Curve believer and Civil Rights Act hater who just got off of defending Trump for posting a blacks=monkeys thing.

Yes, we know you don't care about how things really are. You can't care and hold the positions that you do.

[TwelveInchPianist]

"It's like when Chris Rufo admitting he lied about what CRT was"

Lol. Sarcastro lying about what Chris Rufo said.

[jay.tee]

They aren't sending their best, folks!

Your selective ignorance is glaring, Sarcastr0.

Both hobie and not guilty are frequent fliers with overtly racist and bigoted posts.

Perhaps it’s wise for known racists and bigots to sit this one out.

[Sarcastr0]

Weird you didn't mention Lex. Or ThePublius. Or Roger.

Oh wait, it'd be weird if you weren't concern trolling. But since you are, I guess it's more that you're not very good at it.

not guilty gets flack from the liberals on here all the time.
And hobie is doing a bit. Not to my taste, but the performative and hypocritical outrage he gets from shitposters means I gotta respect it.

[jay.tee]

You’re on a real roll today, Sarcastr0.

You claim you can read my mind though apparently you can’t even read the words I’ve actually posted here.

I’ve called them out for racist posts numerous times, amongst others.

[Sarcastr0]

I mean, I don't read every post. But your claim here is begging for receipts.

[jay.tee]

I mean, I don't read every post

And yet that doesn’t keep you from making sweeping proclamations about what you think other people think. Your vibes are a shit substitute to being informed.

And you made the claim. Now back it up.

[not guilty]

Wrong, jay.tee. When I make a comment including arguably "racist" content,* it is for the purpose of mocking bigots and racists.

___________________________
* As with my link yesterday to Kinky Friedman's "They Ain't Makin' Jews Like Jesus Anymore" -- which is a send up of racism and bigotry.

[jay.tee]

Anyone who uses the term “house ni**er” is a vile racist.

[Sarcastr0]

You just used it.

So racist!!

[not guilty]

I have never used that vile term. I have used the phrase "House Negro" and, with good reason, I have compared Clarence Toady to Stephen Wallace from Django Unchained. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZsUhJpmMjo&t=213s

Mr. Wallace there was in fact an intelligent and crafty character, and an evil one.

[TwelveInchPianist]

"Supporting DEI is just like sharing a picture of black people photoshopped as monkeys!"

Sharing non-pc humor doesn't get anyone denied a job because of their skin color.

[Sarcastr0]

This one broke out of political circles and it's playing pretty badly.

Because it's not debatable.

I don't care how big mad you are on behalf of whites and Asians, whattabouting this kind of open bigoty is not playing well.

[TwelveInchPianist]

Playing well or not, I find it less morally objectionable than supporting DEI.

[Stephen Lathrop]

Trump's manhood? That long since sank beneath possibility of further degradation.

[bloocow2]

It saddens me that, in the year 2026, this is exactly the kind of thing that most people will have forgotten about within a week. The absolute torrent of shittiness is almost impossible to keep up with, so even something so blatantly racist and wrong is just... noise. No apology, I'm tired of it already, what's the next thing?

Don't people get tired of this? Don't his supporters get tired of having to defend this guy all the time? Make America normal again!

[Mr. Bumble]

Get a life.

[hobie]

It's call a 'conscience', Bumble. Don't you remember yours?

[Mr. Bumble]

With all that is wrong in the world, concern about a social media post seems like small beer.

[Malika la Maize]

One that perpetuates rank racism from POTUS is not just “a social media post” of course.

[Mr. Bumble]

Do you honestly think DJT is a racist?

[Malika la Maize]

I think he posted a racist video. Now, he’s quite elderly and dumb so maybe he really didn’t watch the video through and has incompetent staff running his Truth Social account, but if that’s the explanation he should apologize for that. The party of personal responsibility?

[Mr. Bumble]

...but do you thinke he's a racist?

[Malika la Maize]

I think he’s a bigot

Now, why do you think he posted this? Did he like the racist content or did he fail to watch something all the way through but directed his staff to post it anyway and then they either liked the racist content or didn’t watch it all the way through?

[Mr. Bumble]

So he's a bigot who perpetuates rank racism but not a racist?
I think he posted (or had it posted) because the content referred to voter fraud; a subject that he constantly harps upon.
Do you think that he has time to watch every social media comment in it's entirety?
FWIW I don't think either he or the person who posted it watched to the end. Since it has become such an issue, I suppose they should be more careful.

[Malika la Maize]

Why on earth would a distinction between a bigot who posts rank racist things and a racist be one you’d be so willing to argue about?

So you think he recklessly posted it without watching it to the end or delegated to someone else who did? Since it was in his name shouldn’t he apologize for the recklessness? “It was an awful depiction, I should have watched it entirely before directing its posting it under my auspices, in the future I’ll not repost this source and make sure I vet these more.”

That’s what personal responsibility looks like.

[Mr. Bumble]

Says the person who regularly posts Yo Momma insults.
Fuck you very much.

[Malika la Maize]

You hold commenters on the internet to a lower standard than your POTUS? wtf?

[Malika la Maize]

Meant higher, not lower.

[Bwaaah]

Malika: On Thursday's open thread:

Roger S
The Jews are the ones posting in favor of boycotting Heritage because it does not denounce Tucker Carlson for once interviewing an America First podcaster.

Malika la Maize
Bwaari and Life of Bri Bri approved!

What was your basis for saying that. What did you mean?

[Malika la Maize]

I meant while you go out of your way to criticize, say, Sarc, of intolerance you don’t criticize Heritage’s leader’s comments, Trump’s postings, all the way down to the postings of the right-wing bigots here. You’re a phoney, Bwaaari, not a recently disaffected liberal (whether “classical” or not), just like Bri Bri you’re bog-standard modern conservative.

[Sarcastr0]

Bwaaah can't see the difference between disagreeing with him, and posting slurs/racist tropes.

He is, in the end, a deeply unserious poster who takes himself very seriously. You can see his slide from someone people engaged with to being with Michael P and ThePublius and that ideology-means-no-think-hard crowd.

He's reduced. Nowadays he's not got a lot of variety to his resentment, accusations of lack of empathy, and pretensions of being liberal.
He's fun to engage as a silly treat, but sparingly lest he get tedious.

[Malika la Maize]

Spot on. At least Mikie P never holds himself out as anything other than a complete and utter Trump toady though.

[Bwaaah]

There you go. You ignore what I actually say, and when I'm silent, you insert your false theories of me believing the opposite of what you believe. WTF? For example, consider this post of mine in which I directly criticized exactly the kind of thing that you described me as supporting above.

I'm a very honest person, Malika. But I don't talk the way you want me to talk, and I don't emphasize the problems you want me to emphasize. I don't sneer at the people you want me to sneer at. And for whatever reason, that's intolerable for you. For some reason, that justifies you making up lies about me.

If you were a more open (and honest) person, you could easily see your way to where I actually stand and recognize how similar my concerns (and preferences) are to yours. You could ask me an honest question. You could have a moment of doubt to test your theory that I'm not a liberal. But no! I need to scream in the Unified Voice of the Left, like some kind of Nazi salute, to prove my fidelity to ideals you won't even discuss with me.

Your requirement of speech in the Unified Voice of the Left, and your vindictive approach to all who don't, is endemic in the left now. You punish my silence, Malika. The left, particular the more vocal left, are a bunch of speech Nazis. (The right does it too, but less, and for me, I never expected better from the right.) And you'll smear even people who agree with you, like me. Do you know why? Because life is complicated, the truth is complicated, and THE RIGHT PARTICULARS OF POLICIES AND THEIR EFFECTS ARE VERY UNCERTAIN. You, and loudmouths on the right too, hide the uncertainties behind simplistic tokenized screams. "Immigrants are violent!" "Protestors are peaceful!" "ICE is a bunch of thugs!" "Democrats benefit from more crime!" You can spot the bullshit by how loud it's spoken, how many people say it at the same time, how few words it takes to express themselves, and how impenetrable are their attitudes.

"Bwaaah's a phoney!"

Only in your nasty dreams. TELL ME WHAT IT IS YOU THINK I BELIEVE THAT SO OFFENDS YOU. Tell me how you're *not* just policing speech, punishing me not for what I believe, not for what I say, but for what I don't say the way you want me and everybody to speak.

[David Nieporent]

The right does it too, but less

I'll take "dispatches from another dimension," Alex. Just this weekend we had a massive riot on the right about punishing Olympic athletes who don't worship Trump.

[Bwaaah]

DMN: "Just this weekend we had a massive riot on the right about punishing Olympic athletes who don't worship Trump."

Please point me to an article about that. Are you referring to the riots in Italy? I don't know what you're talking about.

[Bwaaah]

Hello? Can you show me the dispatch from your dimension in which "we had a massive riot on the right about punishing Olympic athletes who don't worship Trump?"

[Bwaaah]

You disappoint me, David.

[Nelson]

“ Do you honestly think DJT is a racist?”

Yes.

The Central Park Five case (and his unwillingness to admit they were innocent) is a perfect example. Plus, of course, the hispanic-focused immigration efforts. And a lot in between.

[Mr. Bumble]

They were hardly innocent, but believe what you want.

[Malika la Maize]

They certainly were the victims of police misconduct, and he called for their execution.

[Roger S]

The way the term is used today, all White people are racist.

[David Nieporent]

Do you honestly think DJT is a racist?

Yes, of course. (And similarly an antisemite.)

He's not a racist like Voltage! and the guy who currently goes by bfranklin are (or pretend to be for the sake of trolling); he doesn't have some deeply thought out worldview involving the proper place and role for various groups and the like. He's just a casual racist, holding bigoted stereotypes. Though he's worse, because — unlike most such people — he has no problem with the Voltage!s of the world.

[TwelveInchPianist]

There's certainly a difference between crass racist humor and the open, institutional racism that the left has been advocating the last several years, but it's not a difference that favors the left.

[Roger S]

Go ahead and explain why a silly animated video would bother anyone conscience.

[Malika la Maize]

And Woodrow Wilson’s endorsement of Birth of a Nation was just a silly movie review.

But of course we know Roger S regularly posts very bigoted comments here on the reg, so of course he’s not bothered by it.

[Roger S]

Wilson watched the movie. Almost everyone thought that it was a well-made movie.

[Frank Drackman]

“The bringing of the African to Amurica soiled the seeds of Disunion”
Can you recall the prologue of any other movie you haven’t seen for years?
OK besides “Top Gun”

Frank

[Frank Drackman]

It’s a great movie.

[Riva]

The race exploiting lies here are legion. As noted below (yeah this bears repeating given the lying hacks here), President Trump DID NOT share a racist video. He shared a video about 2020 election fraud that mysteriously contained a split second insertion of irrelevant material. And second, this split second of material DID NOT even originate from a racist video, let alone a video directed at Obama. It was a video that portrayed multiple prominent democrats as animals from the Lion King (Joe Biden was also made a into a chimp) and Donald Trump as the Lion.

[Riva]

And the race exploiting lies come just in time to distract from the conduct of violent children obstructing public order and federal law enforcement in Minnesota (just one example of many instances):
https://x.com/MarioNawfal/status/2020241658294530433

Funny how this always seems to happen.

[Nelson]

“ a split second”

Downplaying a racist trope doesn’t make it go away. The racist trope was included, on purpose, in a video that President Trump saw, then reposted. Are we to assume Trump, of Central Park Five fame, is unaware of a well-known racist trope? Or should we assume that his analytical ability is so poor that he didn’t recognize the racist trope?

Is this where MAGA has gotten to? Gaslighting everyone about a near-universally understood racist cliche? Pretending that clear and obvious racism is irrelevant and unimportant? Acting like racism at the very top of America’s political structure is a nothingburger?

And I thought MAGA couldn’t get any more disgusting and despicable. I would assume this is the new low, but we have three more years for them to sink further.

[Malika la Maize]

Riva 2 days ago
Flag Comment
Mute User
I don’t deny the image is problematic.

https://reason.com/volokh/2026/02/06/open-thread-103/?comments=true#comments

His programming has changed.

[Riva]

I appreciate that it is relatively pointless to respond to a trans stripper parrot rent-a-troll who misrepresents not only my position but misrepresents the video itself. Still it is puzzling and can't be said enough, I know they're lying bastards, but why do they have to be such stupid lying bastards? I think though in light of that reality, it is best now to mute this clown. He can continue to play with himself in the future.

[Malika la Maize]

Lying by posting its comment? lol.

[Riva]

To be clear, my position has not changed. There was no racist intent on the part of President Trump. He NEVER posted a racist video, he posted a video on election fraud. That was always my position. I did not, however, understand the origin of the material as coming from the Lion King video. I confess I was mislead by the out of context insertion, such misleading possibly being the intent of whoever inserted it or cleared the video for posting.

[Malika la Maize]

It was a video with a problematically racist trope in it. It doesn’t matter if it was supposed to be from the Lion King (they could have superimposed Obama’s face on a lot of different animals that aren’t associated with long-standing racist tropes).

Either he didn’t recognize it as “problematic” or he recklessly directs things to be posted that he doesn’t even watch. Either way a decent, honorable man would apologize.

[Roger S]

No, a decent man would not apologize for press pundits saying that Blacks look like apes.

[Malika la Maize]

He didn’t share a racist video, just a video with a racist trope in it!

[TwelveInchPianist]

Call it what you want, I'd rather a President that posts racist jokes on the internet than fills the DOE with people who thinks that math is racist and that attention to detail is white supremacy or whatever.

[David Nieporent]

It was a video that portrayed multiple prominent democrats as animals from the Lion King

Trouble with that excuse is that the portrayal of the Obamas did not involve any animals from the Lion King.

[Nelson]

“ Go ahead and explain why a silly animated video would bother anyone conscience.”

Because being a racist is bad. Using racist tropes is bad. Being unconcerned about racist posts exposes racists.

All of those things in an average citizen makes them a disgusting human being. The same thing from the President of the United States deserves constant condemnation.

[Malika la Maize]

Racism is by far and away the greatest stain on the American project, it’s the worst deficiency in our history from a liberal (classical or not) pov, it speaks volumes how many ostensible libertarians and “classical” liberals brush it aside (and actually treat anti-racism as the *real* illiberalism).

[Sarcastr0]

Take some solace in the age group that's pushing this shit.

I'm optimistic it'll die down as these children of Civil Rights Era haters die off.

Though to temper that, it's looking like misogyny is going to replace racism as the new right-wing atavism.

[Roger S]

The USA is the least racist country in the world.

[Mr. Bumble]

...and we elected two black presidents to prove it (Bill Clinton being the first).

[Malika la Maize]

Though you’re doing your best to advance us!

[Roger S]

I guess you are trying to say that the Obamas look like monkeys.

[bloocow2]

Ok cool, so you don't have an actual argument for this kind of thing. Good to know, fuckwit! (See? I can uselessly insult people too, isn't it fun?)

[Mr. Bumble]

See above. Sorry you were insulted by the advice.

[hobie]

Now look what you've done, Bumble. Our young bloocow is coarsening

[bloocow2]

It's my loss of innocence.

[LexAquilia]

You could be arrested in Australia if you posted similar sentiments about Australian immigration policy.

That's why you post about America. It's illegal to complain about your own government.

[Roger S]

It is a triviality. Many heads were pasted on to jungle animals. Get over it.

[Nelson]

So racism is fine with you? Got it.

[Roger S]

Anyone making fun of Obama is racist. Also racist to not make fun of Obama.

[Malika la Maize]

You can see his supporters regularly excuse all kinds of racism from here to the Heritage Foundation thing to the Fuentes thing. “No enemies to the right” is a guiding principle for folks like Mikie P, Life of Bri Bri, Bwaaari, all the way up to JD Vance. The racism is either a feature, not a bug, or it’s something they’re definitely willing to look the other way about in their hopes to accomplish other goals.

[Bwaaah]

On Thursday's open thread:

Roger S
The Jews are the ones posting in favor of boycotting Heritage because it does not denounce Tucker Carlson for once interviewing an America First podcaster.

Malika la Maize
Bwaari and Life of Bri Bri approved!

What was your basis for saying that. What did you mean?

[Malika la Maize]

I meant while you go out of your way to criticize, say, Sarc, of intolerance you don’t criticize Heritage’s leader’s comments, Trump’s postings, all the way down to the postings of the right-wing bigots here. You’re a phoney, Bwaaari, not a recently disaffected liberal (whether “classical” or not), just like Bri Bri you’re bog-standard modern conservative.

[Bwaaah]

See my response above.

[Bob from Ohio]

"forgotten about within a week"

Its already forgotten. Its Super Bowl Sunday here in civilization.

[Frank Drackman]

Another paywalled site, I've looked and looked and I can't find the actual video, only a "Screen Shot" of the Video which looks suspiciously like it's from the same guy who sent me a photo of his (Redacted)
Even PMS-NOW!!! (I want my PMS and I want it NOW!!!!) hasn't shown it.
And again, it's your side that ridicules Peoples who don't believe in Evil-Lution (well, People ridicule me for not believing in it)
I thought we were related to Apes? How is that Race-ist??
Remember NBA Center Daryl Dawkins in the 1970's (interesting guy, insisted he was an Alien from the Planet "Lovetron")
Whole reason the NBA came up with shatter proof backboards and break-away rims.
He called one of his Dunks his "Go-rilla Dunk"
He did sort of look like King Kong climbing the Empire State Building. (Great Rodney D Joke, "This Broad was so Ugly! How Ugly?? She went up in the Empire State Building, Planes started attacking her!!")

Frank

[Mr. Bumble]

Don't know who this guy is (Alec Lace) but this video seeks to explain what really happened and shows the video the Obama
image was taken from.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eu6URE1my-o&t=306s

[Nelson]

Yes, we’re familiar with what non-sequitors and racist apologism looks like.

Does it matter where it came from? So because the original content creator also used racist imagery, it’s OK? And when Trump, completely unaware of the source of the clip, posted a blatant and well-known racist image, that’s also OK?

Don’t piss on my leg and tell me it’s raining.

[Mr. Bumble]

I'll piss on your leg and you're dumb enough to believe it's a warm rain.

[Frank Drackman]

You piss on my leg and there’s gonna be a fight!

[Dr. Ed 2]

Obama is black, reflective of his African roots. Trump is orange, reflective of his Scottish roots.

Trump is openly called Orange. Man, he’s parodied in large floating balloons and cartoons. This is considered acceptable. The Obama‘s heads on apes is somehow different.

And a cartoon involving dumping excrement on the no Kings protesters was downright funny. The left would’ve done it to the tea party if the left and thought of it and that would’ve been ok

[Malika la Maize]

There was a Democrat president in office while the tea party was a thing, I don’t recall him promoting any memes of him wearing a crown while dumping shit in them.

[Nelson]

“ Trump is orange, reflective of his Scottish roots.”

Trump is orange because he uses ridiculous spray tan. It has nothing to do with his “Scottish roots”. The only thing more pathetic than the spray tan is the ten-hair comb-over that makes him believe he isn’t bald. Or possibly the doctors claiming he’s built like a starting NFL safety, making him believe he isn’t fat.

Everything about the man is self-delusion.

[Frank Drackman]

Obamas mom wasn’t from Africa.
I mean she had some African in her…(Rim shot)
I think I just went to Africa for that joke.

Frank “Obama shot an Elephant in his Underwear, how he got in Obamas Underwear I’ll never know”

[Malika la Maize]

I realize why Frankie might struggle with this, but one gets their roots or ancestry from the mother and father’s side.

[Mr. Bumble]

Genetically yes, ethnically not necessarily.

[Michael P]

Get a bluesky, loser. Try again in 2036. You're just bitter that Trump is still a better person than you.

[Riva]

No Not Guilty, it is truly disgusting the way you lie and exploit race. President Trump DID NOT share a racist video. He shared a video about 2020 election fraud that mysteriously contained a split second insertion of irrelevant material. And second, this split second of material DID NOT even originate from a racist video, let alone a video directed at Obama. It was a video that portrayed multiple prominent democrats as animals from the Lion King (Joe Biden was also made a into a chimp) and Donald Trump as the Lion.

You and the other trolls here are just contemptible gaslighting clowns.

[not guilty]

I don't claim that Doofus Trump personally saw to it that racist imagery was inserted into the subject video. But it happened on his watch, the video went out at his direction, and the fiasco is attributable to his underling(s).

Trump's refusal to own those facts and to apologize to President and Mrs. Obama for his subordinates' ineptitude is unmanly.

[jay.tee]

Might be the most reasonable interpretation of the whole fiasco that I’ve seen so far.

Trump (or his employees) likely didn’t notice the highly problematic clip inserted in the video. He’s still responsible for every post under his name.

And he should follow up with public and private apologies to the Obamas.

[Riva]

No Not Guilty, the facts are that President Trump did not share a racist video. He shared a video on the 2020 election. And further the split second insertion did not originate from a racist video. It was from a political satire on the Lion King. Actually something I didn’t know when this nonsense first came out because without this background the material out of context looks suspect, which, as I noted above, may have been the purpose for this apparent mysterious editing.

But as for the continued intentional misinterpretation and race exploitation, you and the other trolls own that.

[not guilty]

Riva, to no one's surprise, you are running away from Trump refusing to apologize to the Obamas for the despicable image that, no matter what its origin, was disseminated by Team Trump.

Even if the inclusion was unwitting and inadvertent, any decent human being serving as captain of the ship would apologize.

[Bob from Ohio]

Never apologize, its a sign of weakness.

[David Nieporent]

It's a sign of common human decency; not surprising you oppose it.

[Sarcastr0]

You are so edgy, Bob!

[Malika la Maize]

Even Riva-bot admitted the depiction was “problematic” earlier this week but I guess his programming has been modified.

[Nelson]

“ that mysteriously contained a split second insertion of irrelevant material”

Mysteriously, eh? A split second, you say? Irrelevant material, too?

The racist image was there when he watched it. Everyone from America (so not you) knows depicting blacks as apes is racist.

Trump watched a video with a blatantly racist image in it and posted it. Only an idiot would think that wasn’t him posting a racist trope.

The fact that the video was about his stolen election delusion makes it worse, not better.

[jay.tee]

The racist image was there when he watched it

Of course, you have no evidence Trump saw and approved of the inserted clip. Understand that you’re the flip side of the same extremist coin of those who claim no harm, no foul.

That said, Trump is still responsible for everything posted under his name and accordingly should do everything possible to control the damage, including public and private (heartfelt) apologies to the Obamas.

[Sarcastr0]

[Trump] should do everything possible to control the damage, including public and private (heartfelt) apologies to the Obamas.

It's not a concession if you don't seem to actually care that it will never ever happen.

[JohnSmith97]

More vibes from the vibe guy. Or do both Obama and Trump run all of their private communications through you?

[jay.tee]

It's not a concession if you don't seem to actually care that it will never ever happen.

That makes absolutely no sense. But on par for Sarcastr0, I guess.

[Sarcastr0]

I look forwards to you never mentioning this again when Trump doesn't apologize.

Sheesh. I hope you are just playing at being this dumb.

[jay.tee]

lol, your lack of self awareness is riotous.

I hope you are just playing at being this dumb

Another sterling example of your utter lack of substance. You post something idiotic, get called on it, resort to facile personal attacks. Falling back on your schtick, I suppose.

[Riva]

Was portraying Joe Biden as a chimp in the Lion King satire racist too? The out of context insertion of this material (originating from a nonracial political satire on the Lion King) may have been intended to misrepresent the subsequent election video as something racist. I have no idea who altered or edited the content or how it was cleared for posting. But it’s fairly clear the usual crowd is eager to seize on this to engage in more race exploitation. What happened to the Minnesota anti-ICE rants? That used to be all the rage here. That evaporated quickly as the rent-a-mobs embarrass themselves hourly.

[David Nieporent]

He shared a video about 2020 election fraud

Shorter BOT: "Trump's not racist; he's mentally ill."

It was a video that portrayed multiple prominent democrats as animals from the Lion King

"…oh, and also I'm a liar because this wasn't animals from the Lion King."

[JoeFromtheBronx]

Whenever he does this sort of thing, it is good to remember that he can't do it alone. All those who aid and abet him, including those who refused to convict him of his impeachable crimes, are part of it.

[Riva]

Kinda sounds like you’re eager for more lawfare targeting the democrats’ political opponents. If you’re looking for fascism look no further.

[Stephen Lathrop]

Olympic skier Lindsey Vonn will compete today in the women's downhill, 9 days after suffering what she describes as a complete rupture of an ACL in one knee. She was shown on television yesterday completing a practice run on the downhill course, looking in good form.

That feat astounds me. I suffered a severe knee injury myself, at a younger age than Vonn, but while in comparably rigorous athletic condition. I could not have begun even to hobble at 9 days after my injury.

I would not have thought Vonn's feat possible. But I withhold judgment. My knee is not her knee. It is not, any longer, even my knee, having been completely replaced almost 20 years ago, following two prior surgical rebuilds along the way. But my initial injury was more extensive than what she describes, so likely not a valid point of comparison.

I assume there are some among you who have been athletes, and who have suffered complete rupture of an ACL, uncomplicated by other damage. Can any of you with a similar injury history credit reports of a recent complete rupture of the ACL, and competitive Olympic performance immediately afterward? Are there any orthopedists who know of new technique to enable such a remarkable occurrence?

If so, why are so many professional athletes who suffer ACL injury hard-pressed to return to competition even after a full year's recovery?

[hobie]

I didn't 'rupture' my cruciate ligaments, but I severely bruised them. I couldn't walk at all. Doctor gave me some cortisone shots and all the pain magically disappeared. Couldn't feel a thing and could walk just fine, even though they were still severely contused.

If Vonn can operate on a completely torn ACL, then this woman athlete will set a new benchmark for male athletes who apparently are unable to perform on torn ACLs.

[Commenter_XY]

WRT to 41-year old Lindsey Vonn: Her body, her choice.

There won't be another Olympics for her. It is now or never. That takes a high level of dedication and courage. And an amazing brace that completely prevents all side to side movement of the knee (if that exists).

[Commenter_XY]

Addendum: Vonn totally wiped out. Pretty bad.

[Joe_dallas]

yes a bad wipe out. Surprising there are not more serious injuries in the sport, speeds get pretty high.

After the wipe out, we can all speak with "hindsight" on how risky it was to compete 9 days after an ACL tear. I tore my ACL in college and continued to play sports without getting it repaired since the success rate for ACL repair prior to 1990 ish was less the 50%. The muscles developed strength in a manner that provided stability, granted not as much stability as an intact ACL, but much more stability than would be expected. I would suspect that downhill sking is a type sport that would develop much more knee stability strength than most other sports which would be the reason that Vonn thought she was good only 9 days after the injury.

[Brett Bellmore]

I think a lot comes down to the exact nature of the ACL tear. A partial rupture would have left part of the ACL still inside the knee joint, where it could at times act like a chock, causing the knee to seize up. My brother had that problem for years due to a HS football knee injury; The tear wasn't bad, but the loose flap of ligament would occasionally fold over, and his knee would lock up until it could be manipulated back into place.

But with a complete rupture the joint would not have the loose ends interfering, and to some extent the surrounding muscles could take over the job of stabilizing the knee. Or so I'd speculate.

This source tends to confirm: The consequences of a complete ACL tear vary wildly from case to case.

"After a complete ACL tear, some patients are unable to participate in cutting- or pivoting-type sports, while others have instability during even normal activities, such as walking. There are some rare individuals who can participate in sports without any symptoms of instability. This variability is related to the severity of the original knee injury, as well as the physical demands of the patient."

But I'd guess that form is also key here; To the extent she can make sure to just load the knee perfectly, the need to stabilize the joint is reduced, too. Gonna be ugly, though, if she hits a mogul wrong, and loads it sideways.

I personally suffered a very severe dislocation of my right ankle, and while I can still walk, and even go hiking, I have to be very careful as I walk, because the ankle rolls very easily. I have to substitute for the missing ligaments with a combination of muscle tension and being careful how I load it.

[Joe_dallas]

Brett's comment - "But with a complete rupture the joint would not have the loose ends interfering, and to some extent the surrounding muscles could take over the job of stabilizing the knee. "

See my comment above - likely true - As noted above , downhill skiing is a sport that there is likely a lot of the surrounding muscles have developed much greater strength the provide stability. Normally the muscles would develop the additional stability until after the acl tear, not before, though downhill skiing maybe one of the few sports that there is an early development of the surrounding muscles for additional stability.

[Drewski]

"while in comparably rigorous athletic condition"

Hah. Of course of course you were a world-class athlete in your younger days and it's only by circumstance that you didn't compete. I'm sure you'd have taken multiple gold medals home if only you hadn't been so busy with your Nobel Prize-winning research, the world chess championship, and your outreach work as Mr. Universe.

[Mr. Bumble]

Lathrop. Is there anything he can't do?
(He also has billionaire friends)

[Stephen Lathrop]

Drewski — Even year-round round athletic training, followed for years with ambition to compete at the highest levels, does not guarantee victories in the Olympics, or other similarly elite competitions. Individual differences in physiology, coordination, skills, and athletic styles, decide contests among even the best-trained athletes.

Thus, only a small fraction of folks with the highest athletic ambitions fully succeed. But others can achieve conditioning comparable to world class athletes, if they number world-class competitors among the teammates they train and compete alongside of on a team.

If my memory serves, members of my college swimming team brought home
9 gold medals, plus assorted others, from the Tokyo Olympics, where I was not a participant. What they did in training, so did I, but not quite as fast.

If I swam alongside Don Schollander in a workout where we all did forty 100-yard freestyle sprints during one hour, we both finished in one hour. Schollander got more rest between the sprints. I paid a price in fatigue for being less efficient in the water. Which is also a reason why I was not a candidate to beat Schollander in a 200 meter Olympic freestyle competition. Another reason was that he could swim faster than I could.

[Frank Drackman]

I ran the Mile in 5:16 in High Screw-el and the Peachtree 10K in 39:39 in 1981 (still got the T-Shirt, and a photo of me at the finish, with the long black hair and sorry excuse for facial hair I looked a little like Manson(sans Swastika forehead tatoo)
Peachtree’s on July 4th, that was my 19th birthday (Sigh) Drinking age was 19 in Alabama back then, but Peachtree was in Atlanta where it was 18, so let’s just say I didn’t “Rehydrate” with Gatorade.

Frank

[Malika la Maize]

Vonn’s immediate wipeout…if she had pulled out would another person got her chance? If so I think Vonn was wrong to do this, she clearly wasn’t ready.

[Roger S]

Maybe her knee was not as stable as she thought.

[Malika la Maize]

She had every reason to think it likely wasn’t and if she could have should have given her spot to someone else.

[Bunny495]

I have to agree. Back in the day on my way to finishing 15 Ironman triathlons I qualified for the worlds in Ibiza and applied to TriFed for a slot and it was granted. Thing was some ragheads flew a couple of planes into a building in NYC. Like lots of others getting tickets to fly to Europe with a bike with strange handlebars was way harder than I expected and I bailed. I did it too late and my slot went unfilled and TriFed banned me from competing for two years. I was not the only athlete TriFed banned and truth be told 9/11 is one of the best excuses for bailing. Still I think von should have bailed.

[hobie]

The same people that need their own halftime show, are exactly same people that needed their own water fountain.

[LexAquilia]

Haha yeah that's so true! That bluesky hot take has totally made me rethink not letting my children watch the superbowl!!! If I don't let them watch America hating cross dressing degenerates shit on their country and their race, it's just like having two water fountains!!

[Kazinski]

I haven't actually watched the halftime show since Prince played.

Perfect time to create the Superbowl Chilie con Queso dip, and the cheddar stuffed pickled jalapenos wrapped in bacon.

[hobie]

Please do yourself a favor and use fresh jalapenos to make your poppers

[Frank Drackman]

I think you’re talking about a different kind of “Popper”. Jalapeños would certainly get one moving.

[Commenter_XY]

What is the constitutional prohibition to the Fed Govt using tax dollars to purchase equity stakes in publicly traded companies, or private companies in strategically important industries? What's the constitution argument that says taking equity stakes in publicly traded companies is not constitutional?

President Obama and POTUS Trump have both executed policy to take equity stakes in public companies. TBF, POTUS Trump has amped this up bigly. In most cases, POTUS Trump purchased equity stakes with no influence on corporate governance set as a condition; the Fed Govt is a passive investor. In the case of US Steel, we have governance rights (in the form of veto). POTUS Trump has stated that this activity is confined to 'strategically important' industries (chip fabrication, rare earth minerals, nuclear power). Strategically important is very much in the eyes of the beholder.

Why am I asking these questions? I am just thinking ahead, because one day, the shoe will be on the other foot. A pendulum eventually swings in the opposite direction. It would be far better for America to have defined rules that govern when equity stakes will be purchased, how much, and for what purpose, IMO.

Thusfar, POTUS Trump has proved to be an astute investor. The value of America's non-governing equity stake in INTC has more than doubled in just 6 months (~21/share to ~50/share). America is wealthier (a perfectly legitimate policy objective, IMO).

[hobie]

Nothing wrong with equity stakes. The Treasury held up to 60% of the automakers to bail them out. But that meddling was contingent on it being temporary. Otherwise, it would smack of controlling the means of production. You know, the stuff Mamdani is accused of doing but has never done.

But I also think that we need to adopt a China-style system where our government somehow backs up some of our industries until they dominate. We have to compete with China on their terms because they are eating our lunch with it.

[Brett Bellmore]

"What's the constitution argument that says taking equity stakes in publicly traded companies is not constitutional?"

No enumerated power? I guess though that argument was rejected way back in McCulloch v. Maryland.

"America is wealthier"

America is going into debt very marginally slower.

[Sarcastr0]

When you think America went off the rails during the Founding era, it's kind of hard to argue you're a big fan of actual real-life America.

[Brett Bellmore]

If I'd ever thought that, you might have a point. I think it went off the rails during FDR's tenure.

[Sarcastr0]

It sounds above like you're hostile to the holding in McCulloch v. Maryland.

And as I recall you're hostile to the broad interpretation of spending under the General Welfare clause that was adopted by Washington, Adams, and Jefferson.

Those are bedrock principles.

Though honestly hating the modern America you spent your entire life in is still impressively fringey.

[JoeFromtheBronx]

McCulloch v. Maryland, which many Reconstruction Republicans cited when arguing what was "appropriate" under the Reconstruction Amendments, is something many don't respect in certain ways.

It reminds us that the terms of the Constitution (specifically what is "necessary and proper") would be applied over the years to address realities that the Framers would at best only have dimly recognized.

Many ignore that and feign shock that the government (including the Supreme Court) applies the terms in ways that would surprise James Madison or John Bingham. We now have to determine if gun regulations reflect policies in place in a different age.

I wonder if the current Supreme Court would have ruled the same way in McCulloch v. Maryland. If William Henry Harrison had not died, Congress might have passed a new bank bill, and we could have seen if anti-bank Taney would have voted to uphold it.

[David Nieporent]

What is the constitutional prohibition to the Fed Govt using tax dollars to purchase equity stakes in publicly traded companies, or private companies in strategically important industries? What's the constitution argument that says taking equity stakes in publicly traded companies is not constitutional?

"No Money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law; "

[LexAquilia]

Oregon in the current year: Tren de Aragua members abduct woman and torture her with a power drill to steal her debit card info, turn out to be living in a drug den that is listed as a “drug rehab facility” receiving $2.3 million/year in Oregon Medicaid funds. Owners have likely stolen more than $60 million by laundering it through Rwanda. The only local journalist covering the story says state officials are told directly about this and simply don’t care.

Modern blue state America is basically a foreign looting operation.

https://x.com/i/status/2019900528638194019

Every day Democrat governance blows my mind.

[Frank Drackman]

Oregon also the last state (with New Jersey, figures) with annoying guys to pump your gas(they do have Self Service now but most of the Pumps are screwed up so people end up paying more) Pretty annoying, you pull in to take a piss and theres Seabass in your window asking if you want it filled up.

[Bunny495]

Brings back memories of a film I was in. Jersey Girls Don't Pump Gas. I even have IMDB credits.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEVoowPA9Kg

[Malika la Maize]

World Liberty Financial, the Trump family’s crypto start-up, reached a major landmark last month. The total circulation of the company’s signature digital coin hit $5 billion, cementing its place as one of the world’s top cryptocurrencies.

“New milestones achieved,” the company declared on social media. The president’s second son, Eric Trump, celebrated the moment with a series of fire emojis.

Much of that success was down to an alliance with the crypto exchange Binance — founded by Changpeng Zhao, the billionaire mogul who was pardoned by President Trump last year.

As the world’s largest platform for trading digital coins, Binance has become a vital engine of the Trump family’s business over the past two months. The exchange has offered a series of marketing promotions to encourage its customers to buy USD1 — World Liberty’s stablecoin, a type of cryptocurrency that maintains a price of $1, making it easier to use for transactions.

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/07/business/binance-trump-crypto.html

[Sarcastr0]

Remember the argument that Trump was incorruptible because he was so rich?

[Commenter_XY]

George Washington ran a distillery while in office. Was he corrupt?

[Malika la Maize]

Did George pardon a guy he was in business with?

[Mr. Bumble]

Who was this guy he was in business with (GW, that is)?

[Malika la Maize]

Can you read?

Much of that success was down to an alliance with the crypto exchange Binance — founded by Changpeng Zhao, the billionaire mogul who was pardoned by President Trump last year.

[Mr. Bumble]

Got lost in the threading. Thought it was referring to government
ownership in certain corporations.

[hobie]

Did George Washington use his power as president to steer government favors to countries who bought his booze? Did George Washington give pardons to people who bought his booze? If he did, that's self dealing...corruption. He would have been a corrupt president.

[Kazinski]

Can you actually point to the corruption?

No bid government contracts?

Investment by the Social Security trust fund?

Special privileges not available to other firms?

Corruption generally means some illegal advantage, not just people making money.

[Malika la Maize]

Pardoning the CEO your doing business with?

[Mr. Bumble]

So now you think Trump is the USA?
Does he have a seat on the board?

[Malika la Maize]

Again, can you read? His business (World Liberty Financial) does business with Zhao’s.

In addition to the pardon his administration regulates this nascent and controversial one.

[Kazinski]

Can you cite the illegality there?

Doesn't corruption generally have to be illegal?

[Malika la Maize]

No, of course it doesn’t. Conflict of interest laws often revolve around activity that might not technically be illegal or prosecutable. Besides, the pardon power can’t be the subject of prosecution but can certainly be used in corrupt ways.

[TwelveInchPianist]

Sure. The insider trading done by both parties on a regular basis is legal corruption, for example.

[hobie]

Dear AI, can Donald Trump's pardon of Zhao be considered legal corruption?

"Donald Trump’s October 2025 pardon of Binance founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ), who pleaded guilty to money laundering-related charges, has been heavily criticized as potentially corrupt due to apparent conflicts of interest and financial ties. Critics argue it represents "self-dealing," as the pardon followed investments by Zhao-linked entities into a crypto venture involving the Trump family.

Legal and Ethical Arguments for Corruption:

Conflict of Interest/Self-Dealing: Reports indicate that Zhao's companies had deep ties to "World Liberty Financial," a crypto venture launched by Trump and his sons. Critics allege the pardon was a reward for financial support, constituting a "quid pro quo".

Unprecedented Financial Ties: Former pardon attorney Elizabeth Oyer described the influence of money in this pardon as unprecedented, pointing to the benefits for the President’s family and inner circle.

Undermining Rule of Law: The pardon was issued for a crime involving failure to stop money laundering connected to illicit activities. Critics argue this abuses the constitutional pardon power to shield individuals and undermines federal anti-money laundering efforts.

Circumvention of Standard Process: The pardon did not follow the traditional Department of Justice (DOJ) process, which usually requires a five-year waiting period and demonstration of remorse.

Legal Context:
While critics label the move corrupt, the U.S. Supreme Court has generally held that the President's pardon power is nearly unlimited. Therefore, while the action may be considered politically or ethically corrupt, legally challenging a presidential pardon is extremely difficult, with impeachment often cited as the only constitutional check. "

[Michael P]

Corruption doesn't have to be illegal. There is corruption of the sort defended by George Washington Plunkitt in his speech on "honest graft", which he summarized as "I seen my opportunities and I took ’em." He would use inside information to make money -- the law has not yet caught up with him. There is corruption of the sort that is questionably legal, and is defended as totally legal by certain commenters here, such as paying large sums of money to a politician's family member and claiming the purpose is not to influence the politician's official acts (aka the Biden crime family business).

[Malika la Maize]

Two companies which added Donald Trump Jr. to their board or advisory board subsequently received benefits from his father’s administration, and a third company that added him to their board may stand to benefit from a new Trump healthcare program. These three companies–Unusual Machines, Credova and BlinkRx–each added Trump’s eldest son to their boards after the 2024 presidential election, part of a flurry of new positions for the president’s eldest sons.

https://www.citizensforethics.org/reports-investigations/crew-reports/companies-see-boost-from-trump-admin-after-adding-don-jr-to-their-board/

[Malika la Maize]

Before Trump began his visit to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, his sons Eric and Donald Jr. had already traveled the Middle East extensively in recent weeks. They were drumming up business for The Trump Organization, which they are running in their father's stead while he's in the White House.

Eric Trump announced plans for an 80-story Trump Tower in Dubai, the UAE’s largest city. He also attended a recent cryptocurrency conference there with Zach Witkoff, a founder of the Trump family crypto company, World Liberty Financial, and son of Trump's do-everything envoy to the Mideast, Steve Witkoff.

https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/national-international/trump-middle-east-visit-deepens-business-crypto-ties/4185071/#

[Malika la Maize]

When the Kushner Companies purchased 666 Fifth Avenue in midtown Manhattan in early 2007 for a record-breaking price of $1.8 billion, it was supposed to be a center of their real estate portfolio. Instead, the Kushners have struggled to cover their debt on the troubled building since shortly after its purchase on the eve of the financial crisis. As Jared Kushner’s father-in-law, Donald J. Trump, was running for President, the Kushners were pitching Qatari investors to help bail out the building. And just weeks after his father Charles reportedly failed to reach a deal with Qatar’s minister of finance, Jared Kushner, in his capacity as a senior adviser to President Trump, reportedly played a central role in supporting a blockade of Qatar by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Kushner never disclosed his meeting with Saudi Arabia and the UAE on the blockade to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson at the time. Later, a financial company tied to Qatar brokered an especially valuable deal to rescue the Kushner Companies’ property at 666 Fifth Avenue.

https://www.justsecurity.org/69094/timeline-on-jared-kushner-qatar-666-fifth-avenue-and-white-house-policy/

[SRG2]

So Biden has a crime family but Trump is as pure as the driven snow. The "some kind of stupid" label attaches itself so well to you.

[Armchair]

What if you support and pass a bill that allows you to keep secret any inspector general reports that might talk about the project?

[Malika la Maize]

What are you talking about?

[Sarcastr0]

Ah yes whattaboutism. And not even very good whattaboutism.

[David Nieporent]

I thought we'd be discussing the recent revelation that the UAE invested $500 million in World Liberty Financial immediately before Trump took office. Didn't realize this was a different World Liberty Financial corruption.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/feb/06/trump-family-uae-crypto-deal

[Malika la Maize]

Unlike many songs released over five decades ago, Led Zeppelin‘s 1971 hit “Stairway to Heaven” has managed to remain culturally relevant.

The song, which is off the band’s untitled fourth record, has been ranked as the number one “best rock song of all time” by Shortlist. The list, updated in January2026, also highlighted several other notable rock tunes, such as Queen‘s “Bohemian Rhapsody,” released in 1975, Jimi Hendrix‘s 1967 “Purple Haze,” Metallica‘s 1991 “Enter Sandman,” and AC/DC‘s 1980 hit “Back in Black.”

https://parade.com/news/1971-hit-has-been-ranked-the-best-rock-song-of-all-time

[SRG2]

Every year Q104.3 runs a new list of the top 1043 rock songs voted by listeners, and every year, Stairway is #1, and the announcers just accept that it will be, making comments like, "which song will finish #2 behind Stairway?" IMO it's not even the best Led Zeppelin song - and they themselves don't think it is.

[Frank Drackman]

Immigrant Song arguably more relevant, especially with the recent Iceland kerfluffle

[Riva]

And today you have Taylor Swift and someone calling (himself?)Bad Bunny to corrupt music, even Bruce Springsteen is falling over backwards trying to embarrass himself into relevance.

[Malika la Maize]

People (not just bots programmed by them) have been complaining about the newer generation of musicians for a long, long time.

[Mr. Bumble]

Not just musicians. It's a common thread throughout history because everyone remembers those five mile walks to school, uphill both ways in a blizzard.

[hobie]

Does everything in life make you sour, Riva_bot? I haven't cared for a single thing Swift has done until this last album. That Fate of Ophelia song is actually pretty good.

I stopped paying attention to modern radio play around 2010 when the last band I would ever like - MUSE - stopped making music

[Zarniwoop]

I'm not a hyuuuge Muse fan, but the very first time I heard "Supermassive Black Hole" it left a great impression ... possibly because it was at a burlesque event in scenic Madison WI, and the performer was most excellent.

[David Nieporent]

Nobody has to like Swift's music — chacun à son goût — but to treat it, as Riva's programmers did, as bad is insane.

[Brett Bellmore]

That's because Lord of the Rings was such a fantastic work, and Stairway to Heaven just sort of drafted it. Maybe unintentionally.

[LexAquilia]

More Anti-Goy hate on display:

https://x.com/CensoredHumans/status/2020203929947246757

“You guys are worshipping one Jew, that’s the mistake because you should be worshipping us all.”

They hate us, they think we're cattle and we should serve them. That's why you find them behind nearly every social ill plaguing Western Civilization.

[Krayt]

They think you're cattle? Unbelievable.

[not guilty]

Perhaps they deduced that from the odor of LexAquilia's commentary, which can easily be mistaken for bovine excrement.

Steer shit?

[LexAquilia]

Yes. It's all thru their religious texts, private communications, public proclamations, and also squares with their behavior.

[not guilty]

“You guys are worshipping one Jew, that’s the mistake because you should be worshipping us all.”

They hate us, they think we're cattle and we should serve them. That's why you find them behind nearly every social ill plaguing Western Civilization.

Yes. It's all thru their religious texts, private communications, public proclamations, and also squares with their behavior.

Think so, Lex? Then it should be duck soup for you to, uh, identify any particular Jewish religious texts, private communications and/or public proclamations that conflate Gentiles and cattle.

Granted, the Hebrew Scriptures (a/k/a the Old Testament) are chock full of references to genocide, to slaughtering some Gentiles while enslaving others, or looting livestock including cattle, but where both humans and livestock were to be slain, Yahweh's instructions often distinguished between the two as targets. For example:

Joshua 6:21
I Samuel 15:1-3
Jeremiah 50:27-30

[not guilty]

Still waiting, Lex. What Jewish religious texts, private communications and/or public proclamations conflate Gentiles and cattle?

If anyone ever gives you an enema, your remains will likely fit nicely into a cigar box.

[Frank Drackman]

No, we just hate you.
And I wouldn’t say Christianity is behind every social ill, probably more like 90%. Circumcised? Thank a Jew, I did over a hundred in Med Screw-el and Internship, not a single Hebrew.
Want a Circumcision Joke, when we’d get ready to Snip an Afro-Amurican baby who was particularly well endowed, we’d joke with the Nurse to “Call the Blood Bank”
See, because their Foreskins were so long, you might need to transfuse them after(not really a joke with some of the ham-handed (foreign) Interns

[LexAquilia]

You're half Jew, Frank. They wouldn't let you back into Israel.

[Frank Drackman]

Umm they only have, multiple times, and I’ve been recruited by the various Hospitals like I’m a 5 Star HS Foo-bawl player. Man-damn-he keeps it up I might have to take one of the offers, not my idea but Mrs Drackman’s parents still live in NYC and can’t believe I’m saying this,
But it’s “literally Pre-Nazi Germany”

Frank

[Frank Drackman]

OK I’ll admit that “Karz for Kidz” Kommercial (see what I did there? I spelled “Commercial” with a “K”) is super annoying, but so are those “Liberty, Liberty, Liberty!!!!!” Ads (I do like the one where the Seagulls attack the Asian guy, like in “The Birds”)

[Nelson]

Hey, Lex. Apparently you didn’t get the memo. Conservatives aren’t antisemites any more. They are the valiant defenders of the Jews in the face of the antisemites of the left.

You and your fellow white supremacists need to either stop being neo-Nazis or become Democrats. Otherwise the talking point doesn’t work.

[not guilty]

"You and your fellow white supremacists need to either stop being neo-Nazis or become Democrats. Otherwise the talking point doesn’t work."

Please, Nelson, it's bad enough that Fred Phelps, James Eastland and Theodore Bilbo were Democrats.

We don't want current day hatemongers like LexAquilia and his ilk.

[LexAquilia]

Nelson,

The JQ is one of many places where I split from Establishment conservative views. You know, raise money then capitulate to the Dems on every issue but defend the Jew with all their power. Same with Trump. Trump is MIGA before MAGA and the Esptein files showed him to be coopted by Mossad.

It's also where I split with mainstream Evangelicism.
You could say I'm a pre-WW2 Christian. One that never fell for their pysops and tricks.

[not guilty]

"You could say I'm a pre-WW2 Christian. One that never fell for their pysops and tricks."

Lex, you may want to check out the words attributed to Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount:

"Not every one who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?' And then will I declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from me, you evildoers.'

Matthew 7:21-23 (RSV).

Whether you are a Christian or not is not for me to say, but according to Jesus, an ipse dixit pronouncement of one's own status, without more, doesn't feed the bulldog.

Jesus was no bigot. He was no anti-semite; indeed, he was an observant Jew. And he most especially was not a narcissistic liar such as you have shown yourself to be on these comment threads.

[LexAquilia]

The entire New Testament is filled with stories of the Apostles trying to convert the Jews to save them.

The post WW2 pysop that convinced many Christians their mission was to serve the Jews instead of save them will go down as the most successful pysop in history.

Now look at the state of Western Civilization now that Goy-hating Jews have been ascendent instead of being chased out of White society as has been the centuries long tradition.

Everywhere through history the Jew was reviled for their conniving and subversive behavior. Then comes Da Shoah. And everyone forgot... It's almost as if they needed the Shoah for something.... Hmmm. I wonder if that's why there is so much predictive programming going on around the 6M number all those years prior.

[The Margrave of Azilia]

So, one rabbi represents the entire Jewish people?

It seems you're just expressing prejudices you had before that one rabbi said anything.

[The Margrave of Azilia]

Just one more example of how the taboo against anti-Semitism which we developed after WWII is rapidly coming undone, on the left and on the right, so that now political debate on the subject consists of each side saying its anti-Semites aren't as bad as the other side's.

[LexAquilia]

There are hundreds of these.

[The Margrave of Azilia]

So, your claim is that *some* Jews are prejudiced, and that this justifies *your* attack on *all* Jews because they speak for *all* Jews?

By the same "logic," one could say that *all* Gentiles are prejudiced, because of the large number of Gentiles who talk like you do.

[LexAquilia]

People talk in generalities all the time. Of course not every literal Jew thinks like this. Heck, there are even Christian Jews -- banned from returning to Israel, of course. Many of the ones that do, however, just happen to leaders and decision makers.

Go watch the Eight Front for a montage of clips of Jew leaders confirming my claims

[The Margrave of Azilia]

Do you think there are proportinately more prejudiced Jews than prejudiced Gentiles? The increasing prominence of prejudiced Gentiles like you incidates that there's probably the same proportion.

So why single out Jews as *uniquely* prejudiced? I think we know the answer.

[LexAquilia]

I don't think there as many Jew hating Whites behind levers of power and control as there are Goy hating Jews.

Just look at Big Pharma. If you were to design a medical system for people you despise, think are cattle, and think you need to not exist for your own safety. Would it look much different than what we have now? Big Pharma rarely cures, they treat symptoms and put you on subscriptions for the rest of your life causing all sorts of horrible side effects.

Every large Pharma company is run by a Jew.

[The Margrave of Azilia]

I'm hardly going to take your word on that.

Your claims rest on the premise that *all* Jews are part of some giant conspiracy against non-Jews.

Which is utterly wrong.

[David Nieporent]

This is like arguing with Jeffrey Dahmer about whether eating people is a good idea: what's the point? (Besides the fact that Dahmer's dead, I mean.) You can't win the argument.

[LexAquilia]

Because I have facts on my side and not strawmen.

[David Nieporent]

Your "facts" are all lies, and the conclusions wouldn't follow from them if they were, so like I said: you're just Jeffrey Dahmer here.

[LexAquilia]

Which, specifically, is a lie and what's your refutation?

[David Nieporent]

Lie: "The CEOs of Big Pharma are all Jews."
Refutation: No, they're not.

[LexAquilia]

That's a pathetic strawman.

The CEOs of Big Pharma are all Jews.

And my claims only require a non insignificant amount of elite, influential, and powerful Jews. Not all.

[Armchair]

California's high speed rails continues to be a massive boondogle. Horrendously over budget, by more than $70 Billion. Decades behind schedules at this point. And sucking up taxpayer funds that could best go elsewhere.

With a disaster like this, I'm sure Governor Newsom is planning to be transparent on where all the funds are going.

Oh, wait...no. Instead Newsom is supporting a bill that allow the California Government to keep secret details in the inspector general's report that "reveal weaknesses"

https://calmatters.org/politics/2026/02/california-high-speed-rail-record-exemption/

Can you get any more corrupt? We will see...

"Assembly Bill 1608, authored by Assembly Transportation Committee Chair Lori Wilson, would allow the inspector general overseeing the high-speed rail authority to withhold records that the official believes would “reveal weaknesses” that could harm the state or benefit someone inappropriately.

The bill would also prevent the release of internal discussions and “personal papers and correspondence” if the person involved submits a written request to keep their records private.

The legislation appears to have the blessing of Gov. Gavin Newsom, whose administration released a nearly identical budget trailer bill — a vehicle for the governor and legislative leaders to adopt major reforms swiftly with minimal public input — on Monday. The language for both proposals came from the inspector general’s office, said H.D. Palmer, spokesperson of the state Department of Finance."

[Kazinski]

Surely you can sed the benefit in a decade or so and a cost of at least 90 billion dollars, to cut the time needed to take the train from Bakersfield to Merced from 3 hours to 90 minutes.

At least I hope you can see the benefits so you can explain it to me.

[Bwaaah]

I think of cost per passenger mile. And then I think, "Holy shit! The people in charge don't!"

[Sarcastr0]

In the fact if the crypto discussion above, this is what you get mad at corruption about. Is there even any sign Newsome is personally benefiting?

I think the CA high speed rail project is a boondoggle myself but how do you not see what a tool this makes you look like?

[hobie]

The poor dear has clearly never heard of 'work product' exception.

[Armchair]

Sarcastr0 uses whataboutism for the win!

[Sarcastr0]

My accusation of hypocricy came dressed as an accusation of hypocricy.

I never once claimed Newsome was off the hook. In fact, the opposite.

How, at this late date, do you not know what whattaboutism is?!

[hobie]

So you don't like a government withholding records, eh?

[Sarcastr0]

I do like this gimmick.

It's short, it hits the hypocricy hard, and no one ever replies to it because they've got nothing.

[hobie]

Yep. Whenever I see no replies, I know I've caused MAGA tears.

[Frank Drackman]

I’m sure you’ve caused lots of tears.
In your Boyfriends Rectums!
Seriously you’re better than a pitching machine throwing 50mph right over the plate.

[hobie]

You need to deal with all them tears in your hair after the gym visit, Frankie.

[Michael P]

I hope the language at least includes the kind of exclusions that apply for classified information.

Sec. 1.7. Classification Prohibitions and Limitations. (a) In no case shall information be classified, continue to be maintained as classified, or fail to be declassified in order to:

(1) conceal violations of law, inefficiency, or administrative error;
(2) prevent embarrassment to a person, organization, or agency;
(3) restrain competition; or
(4) prevent or delay the release of information that does not require protection in the interest of the national security.

The criteria for classifying information otherwise is awfully similar to "revealing weaknesses" that could harm the state (national security).

[Longtobefree]

" . . . could harm the state or benefit someone inappropriately."

Newsome only wants to benefit someone appropriately; preferably relatives, large donors, and unions.

[Malika la Maize]

Newsome as the face of an affordability pitch by Democrats would be like Dukakis’ resurrection on steroids.

[Sarcastr0]

He's topping the primary polls at this early juncture, but I really hope it's not him. For lots of reasons.

[JoeFromtheBronx]

Sure, should be AOC. Ha ha.

He's not a good choice, for various reasons. Maybe V.P., though I still have my doubts. He's catnip, though, and gets a lot of attention.

We will see who it is, though I'm game for someone who can get a red state or two. Dare I say more.

Kentucky or North Carolina, let's say. With the right person, such places are gettable.

[Bob from Ohio]

Going to be Harris.

No white Dem has any appreciable black support, the most important Dem bloc, especially in southern states.

https://www.axios.com/2026/01/19/kamala-harris-divide-democrats-2028

[David Nieporent]

Bob has his finger on the pulse of what Democrats think.

Aside from that delusion, it's just stupid to talk about what voters think about anybody this far away from the election. Right now it's a sign of name recognition, nothing more.

[Sarcastr0]

Georgia having a moment right now.

[David Nieporent]

Guys, this is really starting to irk me. Newsom. Not Newsome.

[Malika la Maize]

Members of Congress were briefed this week on a whistle-blower report about an intelligence intercept of a call between two foreign nationals discussing a person close to President Trump, according to people familiar with the material.

It is not clear what country the two foreign nationals were from, but the discussion involved Iran. The whistle-blower report was drafted last May, around the time the Trump administration was deliberating about a strike on Iran. Mr. Trump ordered a military attack on Iranian nuclear facilities in June.

The identity of the person close to Mr. Trump could not be immediately determined, nor could the content of what the two foreign nationals were saying about the person.

The whistle-blower accused Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, of limiting who could see the report and of blocking wider distribution among the nation’s spy agencies, according to people familiar with the complaint.

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/07/us/politics/whistle-blower-gabbard-trump.html

[Mr. Bumble]

The NYT is like Seinfled. About nothing.

[SRG2]

So we can be assured that you believe the story is false, and that if further evidence comes out showing it's true, you will concede the fact?

[Mr. Bumble]

When Virginia O'Hanlon asked her father whether Santa Claus was real he suggested she write to the The Sun telling her "If you see it in The Sun it's so."
The same cannot be said of the NYT.

[Malika la Maize]

It was in the WSJ first.

[Mr. Bumble]

O'Hanlon's letter?

[Malika la Maize]

This story.

[Mr. Bumble]

So where's the link?

[SRG2]

Here

Willing to concede?

[Frank Drackman]

It’s only good for mulching. You gotta mulch!

[Mr. Bumble]

...also bird cage lining and alternative to cat litter.

[Bob from Ohio]

"limiting who could see the report and of blocking wider distribution among the nation’s spy agencies"

Seems like something that is part of her job.

She sent it to the White House Chief of Staff per "reports". If true, bringing an intelligence report to the highest level seems normal.

The "whistleblower" wanted "wider distribution among the nation’s spy agencies" so it would be leaked.

[Michael P]

A person who says "from the river to the sea, Palestine shall be free" is almost always a repulsive, evil person. But Queensland should remember what many four-year-olds used to know: "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me."

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02-08/government-announces-hate-speech-reforms-antisemitism/106318730

[Stephen Lathrop]

The Guardian reports that JD Vance was booed during the Olympic opening ceremony. An occurrence the Guardian said was reported by media world-wide, but not by NBC in the US..

In a way, I think that relates to the sad story of massive news room layoffs at the Washington Post—so many that they are expected to cripple the paper's reporting credibility.

Media deterioration, organized by oligarchs supportive of would-be authoritarians, has been a leading indicator of small-d democratic deterioration in Hungary.

[Frank Drackman]

I’d be more concerned if JD got cheers. It’s like during Internship when the Foreign Grads gave me the “Silent Treatment” for not signing their Bullshit petition that Foreign grads be able to get licensed after 1 yr of training (almost 40 yrs later and my position is still in force) I loved it, they only talked to me to ask medical questions anyway.

Frank “it’s this new medicine we call “Aspirin””

[Mr. Bumble]

@Lathcrap:
The Guardian. Hahahahaha
Got a link to the boos?

[ThePublius]

So you're going to try to pin the failure of the Washington Post on supposed-authoritarian Trump? Like this was some organized campaign on Trump's part too cripple WaPo?

You are truly deranged.

[Sarcastr0]

I'd argue the Post's issues are not due tor Trump, but it is MAGA America's incentives and Bezos's attempt to align with them, for the health of his larger business interests.

Bezos bought the Post, and was pretty hands off till Trump won a second term.

Then he changed the editorial policy. But that proved nowhere near enough for Trump's America and it's hunger for shameless propaganda. And so in come the cuts. And now the CEO is out too. That's not really hard to trace back to Bezos, and his 'change of mind.'

NYT seems to be doing pretty well monetizing national reporting, so it's not structural.

[Bob from Ohio]

There is room for how many national papers. WSJ has been for decades and NYT is the second. WaPo tried to be the third, it was losing tens of millions before Trump won in 2024.

The Atlanta Journal Constitution shut down the paper product and is now digital only with big layoffs. Did it kowtow to Trump as well?

Newspapers are dying, haven't you noticed?

[not guilty]

"There is room for how many national papers. WSJ has been for decades and NYT is the second. WaPo tried to be the third, it was losing tens of millions before Trump won in 2024."

Gannett's USA Today has long been a national paper, albeit not an especially good one.

[Bob from Ohio]

Homer nods.

[TwelveInchPianist]

Sarc: The problems newspapers are facing are "not structural".

Wow. Just wow.

[Bob from Ohio]

One paper doing well means something!

Its Wiley Coyote level thinking.

[Stephen Lathrop]

TwelveInch — Newspapers are as capable as platforms to reap the economic benefits of online publishing. In either case the costs of paper, ink, printing, pre-press operations, and some of the costs of distribution go away.

There are also costs associated with news gathering, which newspapers tend to pay, and platforms do not. And costs associated with purely business operations to monetize the results of various publishing-related activities.

Those are all principal structural characteristics which require consideration while business planning for use of either kind of media. Notice that with the exception of news gathering, those characteristics do not much distinguish the cases by kinds—whether platforms or newspapers—at least not if you concede newspapers can be published online, and ought to be for obvious economic reasons.

If you follow that, then I think you have to concede there really is not much structural difference between those different kinds of media. Which means you must look to other non-structural causes to explain their differences.

What causes? Two, mainly, and they are related. The first is that when use of the internet began to be recognized as an innovative wave-of-the-future occurrence, the idea of using and promoting it tended to be accepted as if by fashion. Internet use caught on as a field mark of efficiency and modernity, and a personal marker to identify people who adapted to it as forward looking, innovative, and likely highly productive. The second non-structural cause flowed from the first—politicians, including many who knew nothing about online practices and capabilities—wanted to promote themselves to constituents as supporters of such a well-regarded innovation.

But folks were quick to see a legal hitch which stood in the way. As with traditional newspaper publishing, internet platform publishing risked damaging third parties by defaming them, whether inadvertently or otherwise. And many supposed that the legal rules against defamation then in place to constrain newspaper publishers would prove impossible for members of the general public to abide by while they used platforms.

Thus, it happened that in the name of promoting the development and spread of internet use, politicians were persuaded to revolutionize the laws of defamation which applied to publishing. They passed Section 230 to immunize platforms from suits for defamations which originated with platform contributors—which was contrary to the preceding legal rule applied to newspapers, which had been held jointly liable with their contributors.

That legal change, and not anything to do with structural technical innovation, accounts for what so many now mistakenly consider to be structurally different media—with the platforms able to outperform the newspapers economically. If both were subject to the same rules of liability, that would not be true. In fact, the newspapers would prove more economically efficient.

I will not go farther to try to detail the many complications any change in present legal standards might imply. My only point is to encourage clearer thinking about what causes the many observable differences among these contrasting media types. It is not technology. It is law and policy.

[hobie]

Yeah, in addition to what Sarcastr0 says above, I'll add that it's plain Bezos wrote off $70M for the Melania vanity project for gov contracts. You don't think he wants to lose $70M just for fun, do you?

So slowly killing the $250M WAPO to make some quid to get the billion dollar quos, is another drop in the bucket for Bezos.

[hobie]

And in the annals of 'Still Winning':

Canada is on the cusp of cancelling it's $19B, eighty eight plane F-35 order and instead is going to buy the Swedish Saab Gripen.
https://thehill.com/policy/defense/5723441-canada-reevaluates-f35-purchase/

Apart from joining the global abandonment of American products because of insults and tariffs, the Saab fighter jets offer Canada complete software sovereignty. Because no one can trust the US's word anymore so they don't want its weapon systems and their SAAS stranglehold.

[Krayt]

For those not paying attention, Trump loves twisting arms for arms deals to brag about, e'en unto looking the other way as nasty dictatorships do nasty things.

So this kind of thing, he has no one to blame but himself. I suppose one should double down on wrenching at this point, to learn 'em.

[Sarcastr0]

MAGA is quite happy to tear down America's place in the world to own the libs.

Not that they understand it, or it's benefits.

Somehow it shows how great we are if we withdraw from the world and become occasional pirates.

[hobie]

Was listening to NPR the other day. They had a ChiCom on explaining how China looks at America. He said the reason China has historically been cautious around the US and the world is not because of America's wealth or military might - which, he pointed out, China can easily overtake - but rather it was all the alliances we had.

Oops.

[Sarcastr0]

I'm worried about China in the medium term - a Chinese hegemony means bad news for Taiwan...and Israel, for instance.
But their demographic time-bomb seems an insoluble ceiling on how bad they can make it.

India...that's who to watch. At least in my actuarial timespan.

[Zarniwoop]

Also worth noting that China has a male/female ratio of about 103.7-104.5 to 100. India's is approx 106-107 to 100. ~45 million dudes needing an outlet makes the frustrated anger and resentment of U.S. incels pale in comparison.

[Brett Bellmore]

This assumes they're being sensible. While that might be a reasonable assumption for India, I'm somewhat concerned that China is effectively a dictatorship, and dictators are inclined to take dangerous gambles when they see the window for obtaining something they want starting to close.

Xi may think that China should risk it all to grab what they can now.

[Sarcastr0]

Weird take coming from a Trump unbound supporter.

[jay.tee]

Textbook Sarcastr0:

1 Completely disregard the post of someone who dares disagree with you, including anything posted previously at the VC

2 Use vibes in a vacuous attempt to discredit the poster, sans any substance

Pathetic. And utterly predictable.

[Sarcastr0]

"dictators are inclined to take dangerous gambles when they see the window for obtaining something they want starting to close"

This describes Trump.

You being unable to read and loving to flounce is not a problem with my posting.

[jay.tee]

I mean, are you really this oblivious? You did exactly what I predicted. Again.

[Frank Drackman]

It’s more a matter of the Canadians knowing their limitations(ht H Callahan)

[Sarcastr0]

Part of MAGA's success has been the eagerness of the tech billionaires to try and join Trump's court, to greater or lesser success. WaPo, with it's badass legacy from Watergate to the Catholic Church, won't be the last casualty.

Billionaires have a lot of ways they can shape the world. I think allowing such unreasonable levels of accumulation is a policy failure, but I'm not a leftist to think they themselves must be bad people, or that wanting for nothing somehow turns you bad.
...Though the willingness to ignore Epstein's trafficking does point to a very common amorality/willful blindness.

Still, it's sad to see the choices so many of them make are:
1) Bribes and influence to allow them to make yet more money
2) Trying to usher in some kind of neo-feudalism with them as the aristocracy.

It doesn't need to be like this.

Makes you yearn for the Robber Barons.

[hobie]

Absolutely. The tech bros are consolidating power now. They're in control. Not the politicians.

[Krayt]

Pols only want to be in control for kickbacks in some form, to ease off their wildcat slashing.

That aside, when Trump resumed office, and companies started currying favor, a democratic commentator said, see? They just want to ingratiate themselves with the powers that be!

This titanic, category 5 hurricane level WHOOOOOOOOSH was lost on them.

[Sarcastr0]

They're *trying* to consolidate power. But they're so fringy and off-putting that they're not doing a great job.

They enable MAGA but even their easiest win of a crypto push has failed.
They aren't anywhere near the feudal capitalism they want. DOGE failed so hard normal Americans know it.
Closest we got is gutting environmental regulations, which isn't really their main thing (though I'm sure they're fans.)

Peter Theil and the like are getting increasingly apocalyptic and frustrated, and his acolyte Vance just doesn't have the juice.

MAGA has for sure moved the Overton window, but not where tech bros are trying to push it.

[But see sexism and natalism]

[David Nieporent]

Absolutely. The tech bros are consolidating power now. They're in control. Not the politicians.

That's literally backwards from what (I think) Sarcastro said. (If not, he's wrong; you're definitely wrong.) The "power" of the biggest tech companies is insignificant next to the power of the government. A lot of people made that mistake when discussing Russia, thinking the money of the "oligarchs" was a thing. Putin showed, quite convincingly, that it was not.

[Sarcastr0]

I think tech companies thought otherwise, but have been roundly shown to be wrong.

[Frank Drackman]

Put the Moe-Saad on the Guthrie case and she’ll be free by Monday Morning and her abductors contributing to the Nitrogen cycle.

[JoeFromtheBronx]

On January 20, Judd Legum of Popular Information reported that ICE stopped paying third-party providers for medical care for detainees on October 3, 2025, and that it would not start even to process claims again until at least April 30, 2026. It told medical providers to “hold all claims submissions” until then. A source in the administration told Legum that some medical providers are now denying detainees medical care.

https://substack.com/inbox/post/187264659

[later in his discussion]

An investigation by Senator Jon Ossoff (D-GA) identified “85 credible reports of medical neglect, including cases that reportedly led to life-threatening injuries and complications,” among ICE detainees between January 20 and August 5, 2025. The incidents included “a heart attack after days of untreated chest pain, complications from untreated diabetes, and denial of necessary medications and associated complications.”

A bipartisan reform bill, supported by VP Kamala Harris, was blocked on Trump's orders & his Administration has gone another way, with lots of pain and disorder involved.

We are not supposed to care as dehumanizing language is often used for the people involved. But it is a systematic problem and we should care.

Then something blatant happens, like the Obama meme thing, and people like Senator Tim Scott get all upset.

[Sarcastr0]

We are inching from concentration camps to something much worse.

[hobie]

It ain't just ICE that's doing this, Joe.

I used to fight to get Hepatitis C treatment for BOP inmates. A lot of the hillbillies have been shooting their meth the past three decades so a lot have Hep C. Eventually they all die in custody from liver failure. Until recently the only treatment was a $40,000 regimen of pegylated-interferon/ribavirin. A quite effective treatment. And were these men free, they could go down to their doctor and get cured. But now they're sitting in a cell at the mercy of the BOP. And there is no way the BOP is gonna pay for that. So they string the inmates along using the ticket system which can take a couple of years. And their final decree is always that the cure is not yet medically necessary, and they dare you to take it up with the courts. While this is all going on, the inmate gets sicker and sicker. This they are counting on. If the liver can get too far gone, then the cure becomes contrainindicated. Oops, sorry, looks like we're too late. Eventually the inmate is too sick for general population, so is shipped off to the medical prison at Butner, NC. Where, conveniently, they die.

[JoeFromtheBronx]

Many will answer: "prison is cruelty, and you cannot refine it."

Ironically, some of them are not big fans of Sherman.

[Estragon]

“From its earliest beginnings, the United States has claimed to be a nation “conceived in liberty.”
[…] That promise was never meant to be limited by birthplace. Long before there was a United
States, men and women crossed oceans seeking the same things that still move the human heart
today—freedom, safety, opportunity, faith, and the hope of belonging. To call such people
criminals for lacking official permission is to forget the moral law of God, the historical truth of
our own founding, and the Constitutional ideals that continue to define justice.”

https://www.peoplesrights.ws/asset/news/a3a48d43-411d-448c-a5e0-4c91ac739ab4/the-stranger-2922.pdf

[ThePublius]

That's fine, just end welfare for immigrants. You can't have open borders and a welfare state, it's unsustainable, not to mention unfair.

[Sarcastr0]

welfare for immigrants
Still not a thing.

[ThePublius]

It certainly is, Sardenial.

[hobie]

Dear AI, do illegal immigrants receive government assistance?

"Undocumented immigrants are generally ineligible for major federal public benefits, including SNAP (food stamps), Medicaid, and TANF. Exceptions exist for emergency medical care (under Medicaid), specific disaster relief, and immunizations. Some states offer limited, non-federal aid for specific groups like pregnant individuals or children. "

[TwelveInchPianist]

You switched from immigrants to illegal immigrants.

[ThePublius]

Who said illegal?

[Sarcastr0]

You, when you made the issue about open borders.

[TwelveInchPianist]

Huh? The op made the issue about open borders.

[Estragon]

Isn’t that what the author is talking about when he says “lacking official permission”?

[Bob from Ohio]

Strange new respect!

[Estragon]

Just a little something for your fellow travelers to contemplate.

[Bob from Ohio]

Example of the journalism we will miss from the WaPo.

"The Super Bowl is being played in Colin Kaepernick's former home stadium, at a societal moment that echoes the issues he forced football fans to confront nearly 10 years ago, after he kneeled during the national anthem before a 49ers game."

https://x.com/washingtonpost/status/2020301590830137758

[TwelveInchPianist]

The dude couldn't just write a letter to the editor like everyone else.

[Bwaaah]

Football, for football's sake? Nope. Social justice, for the social justice warrior's sake. err. sorry. For All Of Humanity's Sake.

Super Bowl. A game, no? Gimme a break.

[Roger S]

The W. Post needs more layoffs. Kaepernick lost nearly all his games, and made a big fuss about how he hates White people.

[jb]

If you include playoff games, Kapernick's career NFL record was 32-32, so he didn't even lose a majority of his games, much less nearly all of them.

I know facts are hard for MAGAS though.

[Roger S]

In his last season, when he was attracting political attention for his White-hating antics, he was 1-10. So yes, he lost nearly all of his games.

[hobie]

Uppity neegro kneels 10 years ago. Bob still obsessed at the slight.

[Sarcastr0]

We don't go to Powerline and post how bad their headlines are.

Some people just have weird habits.

[Bob from Ohio]

Have hundreds of journalists posted whining tweets about how terrible the layoffs at Powerline are?

Somebody above was discussing how bad Bezos was, Sarcato or somebody. WaPo now off limits.

[Sarcastr0]

You posted a single tweet about something pretty inconsequential and got culture war mad.

Bezos is bad; this tweet you found doesn't change that.

Weirdo.

[Bob from Ohio]

"F-22s pulled from Super Bowl flyover after reassignment for operational missions"

https://www.jpost.com/international/article-885884

Probably nothing

[Zarniwoop]

Probably Trump and/or Hegseth's panties in a bunch over the halftime show.

Perhaps Kid Rock will get a flyover instead while he sings about molesting underage girls.

Oblig TheOnion (from April 2025, way before this kerfluffle exploded): https://theonion.com/trump-pardons-kid-rock-for-whatever-inspired-statutory-rape-lyric-in-cool-daddy-cool/

[hobie]

You think because Latino is gonna play, they pulled all their toys and went home? That's some petty childish fucking shit right there.

I think I'll go on Polymarket and make two bets:

1. Hayseed fans refuse to place hand over heart during National Anthem.

2. [and I'm begging this to happen] Hayseed fans kneel during National Anthem.

Max von Sydow to hayseeds: "The power of brown compels you!!! The power of brown compels you!!!"

[Bob from Ohio]

About 3 am in Iran when SB starts.

[hobie]

You and Ed should have a Super Bowl/Bloodshed get-together. Hopefully there will be the shock and awe in Iran beyond your wildest dreams. $10 bucks says they'll start the invasion at halftime to really stick it to that brownie singer.

[John F. Carr]

Trump knows about the upcoming attack on the Super Bowl and wants his revenge served hot.

In Tom Clancy's The Sum of All Fears a nuclear attack on the Super Bowl prompts the President to order a nuclear attack on Iran. The attack, which would have been a case of mistaken identity, is thwarted by the greatest American hero, presidential advisor Jack Ryan, who refuses to confirm the order. You may recall from 2017 that the military was promising not to obey Trump if he wanted to start a nuclear war on a whim instead of for a good reason. The duty to obey presidential orders is not unlimited.

[JoeFromtheBronx]

I'm told today is when lots of people will watch commercials and wait until they see who wins the "Super Bowl." This has gone on for around sixty years. It's "Super Bowl LX."

Questions ...

LX? Is it in Latin?

What superpowers does this bowl have? Does it keep whatever you put in it freshly ready to eat and constantly filled?

What demented sorts are not rooting for "the patriots" (unless that is a code word for MAGA*) against some creepy bird from Seattle?

There is a show being performed by a bunny? And another one by a rock? I'm sorry, a kid rock? So, a goat? Tom Brady?

Shawn Smith is a referee. I was confused there. But I was thinking of Shawnee Smith. Never mind, Dr. Becker.

Anyway, the creepy birds are favored, though the "Sam Darnold blew it again" moment is overdue. So, who knows?

==

Note: I'm told it is. Are they upset that it is in "Santa Clara"? Is that in Mexico? Is she a female Santa Claus?

[John F. Carr]

"But I was thinking of Shawnee Smith."

There used to be a Lingerie Bowl as counterprogramming to the Super Bowl.

[Mr. Bumble]

"Originally played as an annual Super Bowl halftime alternative shown on pay-per-view TV, Lingerie Bowl I aired during Super Bowl XXXVIII in 2004 with Team Euphoria losing to the Team Dream by a score of 6–0. Two more games were subsequently played (Lingerie Bowl II in 2005 and Lingerie Bowl III in 2006) however the next three (Lingerie Bowl IV (2007), Lingerie Bowl V (2008) and Lingerie Bowl VI (2009)) were for various reasons cancelled."
Too bad it doesn't still exist. This https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Angeles_Temptation#/media/File:LFL65.jpg would definitely
be more interesting to watch than a bad bunny in drag.

[JoeFromtheBronx]

Now we have cats.

[SRG2]

Saw a nice line on FB, "the people who need their own halftime show are the same people who needed their own water fountains"

[not guilty]

An interesting observation from Garry Trudeau:
https://www.gocomics.com/doonesbury

[The Margrave of Azilia]

That cartoon starts off with mockery of someone who was killed in a political assassination.

[not guilty]

That doesn't mock the late Charlie Kirk. It mocks Doofus Trump and his offspring.

[The Margrave of Azilia]

People can see the cartoon for themselves.

[hobie]

So far we've mocked the ICE victims, the guys floating in the sea, Gazans, Rob Reiner, John McCain, Caroline Kennedy's daughter, John Dingell, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Melissa Hortmann etc., etc.

So what makes Charlie Kirk so special?

[The Margrave of Azilia]

So I guess you're a fan, not an opponent, of "whataboutism."

Also, it seems that you've taken a different line from not guilty, who says the cartoon *didn't* mock Charlie Kirk. At least you appear to acknowledge that it does.

[not guilty]

Charlie Kirk was a vile character, well deserving of mockery. But to paraphrase what Justice Potter Stewart said of hardcore pornography in Jacobellis v. Ohio, 378 U.S. 184, 197 (1964), I know mockery of Charlie Kirk when I see it, and the comic strip involved in this case is not that.

[The Margrave of Azilia]

At least you and hobie can't be accused of coordinating talking points.

You say it's not mockery.

Hobie says sure it is, and so what?

[hobie]

So what makes Charlie Kirk so special?

[Frank Drackman]

If we’re going to mock the dead how about this?
“Rebecca Good, gets shot in the head and still crashes into another car, JFK? Makes it to the hospital at high speed” “Did you hear the one about Ted Kennedy and the Secretary he left to asphyxiate (not drowned, there’s a difference)?? He left a Secretary to asphyxiate and not drown (there’s a difference)

Frank

[John F. Carr]

The Supreme Court of Oregon ruled that charges must be dismissed if an eligible defendant is not provided a lawyer within 90 days for a felony or 60 days for a misdemeanor. Oregon has been suffering a defense attorney shortage like the one in Massachusetts. I think it comes down to offering pay below market rates.

I heard once upon a time some jurisdictions would draft lawyers, saying in effect "representing indigent defendants is part of the price of being able to make $10 million on a drive-by class action." Now that may be a 13th Amendment problem.

It took ten months for the court to come to this conclusion. This was a decision in a moot case because the defendant had already received the relief he was entitled to: dismissal of the charges. The statute of limitations had run so the dismissal was effectively with prejudice even though formally without prejudice. The court decided to give an advisory opinion under the "capable of repetition yet evading review" exception to standing rules.

State v. Roberts, 374 Or 821 (2026),
https://cases.justia.com/oregon/supreme-court/2026-s071661.pdf

[Bored Lawyer]

In NJ, attorneys are obligated to serve pro bono. There is a pro bono office in every county that hands out assignments.

I have served twice, and both cases involved domestic violence cases. In the first, the defendant got cancer and could barely speak, his ex-girlfriend felt sorry for him and dropped the charges. In the other, the prosecutor dropped one charge, the judge said, the remaining charge is a misdemeanor, to Municipal court you go, thank you Mr. Bored Lawyer for your service, good bye, next case.

Worst part was waiting around while other cases were heard. In one case, the defendant only spoke Turkish, needed a translator, and he was crazy to boot, so it took over an hour to deal with it.

[Area Man]

Mandatory pro bono work is the weirdest thing to me. Are there other professions where people are required to give their labor away for free? Imagine telling construction workers they have to build low-income housing for no pay. Or telling teachers they have to devote so many hours of teaching at poor schools free of charge.

You want to do volunteer work, have at it. As a requirement to keep your license? Total bullshit.

[John F. Carr]

The Trump administration has appealed a preliminary injunction ordering restoration Rumeysa Ozturk's record in the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System. Ozturk (Öztürk if you like umlauts) is an otherwise ordinary foreign student who had the misfortune to come to the attention of the Trump administration after she spoke in support of Palestine. She already got sprung from immigration detention and wants to go back to being an ordinary student. But do to that she needs to be in the system. She needs to be in the system to get paid and getting paid is part of the usual deal for graduate studies. Judge Casper thought she was suffering irreperable harm by not being in the system. Judge Casper also thought she was likely to prevail on her claim that her student status was illegally terminated.

So in December she got an injunction in her favor. The government did not comply or seek a stay, but waited two months to appeal.

My thoughts:
1. Why didn't her lawyer raise a stink in the District Court when the government didn't comply?
2. Is a copy of the injunction good enough to satisfy Tufts administrators that she can be paid without legal risk? Does she really need the computers to be updated?

https://www.tuftsdaily.com/article/2026/02/new-government-appeals-preliminary-injunction-reinstating-rumeysa-ozturks-sevis-record
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/71168373/ozturk-v-hyde/
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2026/02/06/metro/rumeysa-ozturk-trump-administration-appeal-student-record/

[John F. Carr]

The government's position is that the court does not have jurisdiction, for two principal reasons both rejected by Judge Casper:
1. This all started with a habeas petition and student status is too far afield of the original basis for jurisdiction. (The habeas case is still active in the District of Vermont. The government didn't move her to the Fifth Circuit in time.)
2. The action is tied to her removability and courts lack jurisdiction over removability determinations.
Maybe a higher court will agree with the government. The lack of jurisdiction is not so clear that the government should feel confident in ignoring the injunction pending review.

[not guilty]

"Maybe a higher court will agree with the government. The lack of jurisdiction is not so clear that the government should feel confident in ignoring the injunction pending review."

A litigant should never feel confident in defying an injunction pending appellate review. Appeal the order, move for a stay pending appeal, but don't disregard it.

A federal district court has jurisdiction to determine its own jurisdiction. As SCOTUS opined in Walker v. City of Birmingham, 388 U.S. 307 (1967):

"An injunction duly issuing out of a court of general jurisdiction with equity powers upon pleadings properly invoking its action, and served upon persons made parties therein and within the jurisdiction, must be obeyed by them however erroneous the action of the court may be, even if the error be in the assumption of the validity of a seeming but void law going to the merits of the case. It is for the court of first instance to determine the question of the validity of the law, and until its decision is reversed for error by orderly review, either by itself or by a higher court, its orders based on its decision are to be respected, and disobedience of them is contempt of its lawful authority, to be punished."

388 U.S. at 314, quoting Howat v. Kansas, 258 U.S. 181, 189 (1922).

[JoeFromtheBronx]

Someone flagged that today is the anniversary of the Orangeburg Massacre.

On February 8, 1968, white state troopers fired into a mostly African American crowd on the campus of South Carolina State College, a historically Black college in Orangeburg, South Carolina. In what became known as the “Orangeburg Massacre,” the troopers shot and wounded 28 people and killed three Black male students: Samuel Hammond, 18, a freshman from Florida; Henry Smith, 18, a sophomore from Marion, South Carolina; and Delano Middleton, 17, an Orangeburg high school student.

https://calendar.eji.org/racial-injustice/feb/8

None of the nine officers charged for their roles in the shooting were convicted of any wrongdoing, but Cleveland Sellers, a young Black man and program director of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), was convicted of rioting for his role in leading the protest. He served seven months in jail and was not pardoned until 1993.

Cleveland Sellers later became president of Voorhees College in Denmark, South Carolina. He was involved in one of the August 17 cases discussed in a series that was once posted in the comments of the daily Supreme Court history entry.

https://www.captcrisis.com/august