Columbia really sucks too. But it's once again illustrating that the worst thing to do with Trump is to try to cooperate with him. It makes things worse.
1: I think we have a collective action problem. Nobody wants to stand up on their own and get singled out.
Good thing people voted for Trump because Biden was too anti-Palestine. Couldn't possibly have seen this outcome coming.
Ganz is excellent on this (as usual)
https://www.unpopularfront.news/p/the-abduction-of-mahmoud-khalil
Bluesky has been killing it on this btw
This was pretty good too
https://www.stevevladeck.com/p/131-five-questions-about-the-khalil
I found my comment from January about the denaturalization authority within the DoJ, created in 2020. The Khalil case is specifically targeting pro-Palestinian protestors at universities, which Trump said he was going to do in exactly this way. It wouldn't be surprising to see it expand into other areas if this case goes (somewhat) unchecked, but I'm not sure what the other obvious targets would be. (Yet.)
6, 3 it didn't affect the outcome in the end and it's also a deeply depraved reaction to have to this
3 is wrong - Trump managed to negotiate a ceasefire in Gaza. Joe Biden would never have done that because Joe Biden actively supported and encouraged the genocide of the entire population of Gaza. That far outweighs any inconvenience caused to one Palestinian at Columbia, and Palestine supporters would be very wrong to withdraw their support of Trump over whatever happens to Khalil. (Or indeed to withdraw their support of Trump over anything else Trump has done. How utterly immoral it would be to turn against a man who has ended a genocide of a million people simply because you disagree with his policy on tariffs!)
"It didn't affect the outcome" is obviously not known or knowable in a close election.
And to 3... come on, is this going to be the "Bernie would of won" of 2025? I don't think it has to be. Every single point about this has been made already 500 times and it's boring as shit to read.
I think they get some kind of perverse kick out of it
Adam Serwer via Bluesky:
One of the disturbing reactions to the Mahmoud Khalil arrest is people making things up that he did to justify it that even the Trump admin doesn't claim he did. People just see him as the *type* of person who did the things they're mad about, so punishing him for it is acceptable. Lynching logic.
And also this from him:
https://bsky.app/profile/adamserwer.bsky.social/post/3lk4ldhw55s2w
16 linked post has a link to an article by him on this as well
One of the most alarming things about this is how explicitly the WH has said they are not charging him with any crime.
Question from ignorant foreigner: presumably there are things you can do that mean you lose your green card. What are they? Like, serious crimes?
19 there was a good thread about that on Bluesky by an immigration lawyer, I'll see if I can dig it up but iirc yes, serious crimes also fraud in the green card application (the latter of which can also be grounds for denaturalization)
A little too navel-gazing for Bluesky, but this is the first thing they've done that seems both evil and intelligently conceived. It really is splitting elite Democrats because of their contempt for anyone perceived of as anti-Israel.
On a different track, I actually think I saw someone non-right-wing suggesting that because statute allows the Secretary of State to revoke legal permanent residency for virtually any reason, this is plausibly legal? Since when does that statute override the fucking First Amendment?
Maybe "splitting" is the wrong word as I don't think any elite Democrats are supporting the action, but let's say "immobilizing".
19 and others: I'm genuinely curious to hear people's thoughts about the second link in comment 9, and the prospect of expanding the DoJ's denaturalization efforts. I haven't followed up since January to see what's happened so far, and I can't remember at this exact moment which Batman villain is in charge of DoJ.
Not on all topics, just on the topic of Trump's virulently anti-Palestinian viewpoints. He said he was going to do this, people voted for him, now he's doing it. It's tragic, but it's not surprising, and it's what people voted for. I disagree with Trump's behavior here, which is why I voted for Harris, which was literally the only thing that any of us can do about it.
The link in 7 gets at this a bit for this particular case - there's one special carve out that seems to give the Secretary of State the ability to pretty much just say so: "8 U.S.C. § 1227(a)(4)(C): An alien whose presence or activities in the United States the Secretary of State has reasonable ground to believe would have potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States is deportable." There's some required process there, of course, of having the SoS say so to Congress, which doesn't seem to have happened.
More generally, "crime involving moral turpitude", and anything involving drug trafficking, as long as the possible sentence is one year or more. See here.
22: Yes, what many Ds are either not responding or doing so with by leading with a long preamble about how he basically had it coming.
I think the CR is really gong to split Dems and also deepen splits with the base.
They got reluctant Rs on board by basically saying, "Don't worry, the executive will not spend the money you don't want to spend anyway, and we'll take the heat for cuts."
I believe this will all cascade (all the crimes and corruption) as the R's solidify and get more loyal soldiers in place at lower levels of the exec D's eat their own. The only thing that might stop it in the short term is if they *really* spiral the economy. And I think things like Khalil and various vengeance items will continue even then.
Thread by a journalist on the immigration beat
https://bsky.app/profile/daralind.bsky.social/post/3lk2r44vpn22z
Some good answers by immigration lawyers in reply to this https://bsky.app/profile/kenwhite.bsky.social/post/3ljyc4gduoc2r
Providing material support to a designated terrorist organization or membership in same or in a gang would do it. Notably they are not accusing him of anything like this.
I think they're going to really spiral the economy in the medium term.
To several comments above:
https://bsky.app/profile/prof-kari-hong.bsky.social/post/3lk2f4kpqzs2s
" Immigration lawyer here.
Under INA 237(a)(4)(C)(i) the Sec of State can find any non-citizen deportable if their presence presents a threat to foreign policy.
But under INA 212(a)(3)(C), the Sec of State has to notify the Congress and the reason cannot be lawfully protected speech or activities"
Notably they are not accusing him of anything like this.
Or, indeed, of any crime of any description (in the White House's own telling). They are self-avowedly trying to make an example of him for speaking out.
I'm not sure why the law is going to affect anything. If the Trump administration breaks the law, what is going to happen? The Justice Department won't prosecute, and even if they did Trump can just pardon everyone (except maybe himself, but since this is clearly an official act he can't get charged for it anyway). You think the Louisiana Attorney General is going to intervene?
And as it is related, I am also quite perturbed by the grant freeze at Columbia (who has found so many new and exciting ways to be wrong on all fronts); but also Maine and John Hopkins 9s far). Maine it is the governor challenging thing. Not sure what the beef with JHU is. But I expect this to become the standard MO, favored and red state unis get funded, recalcitrant and Blues state pubs get punished. I am not holding my breath on any effective collective action on the part of university administrations.
A bit doomy today, I see a a 10+ year semi-recovery to sort of democracy if there is one at all, and not led by anything much like the current Democratic party. I would love for this to be the stupidest prediction I've ever made.
Am I cheering for a wildly spiraling economy? Probably effectively yes, but I pretend not to be.
26.1 there have been a lot of really good Democratic responses that hit the right notes, notably Sen Chris Murphy
https://bsky.app/profile/yasharali.bsky.social/post/3lk55zle5dk2c
Schumer was pretty bad to begin with but ended up with the correct response.
And Fetterman not only supported it but apparently was given prior notice in a meeting with the head of the fascist Betar organization who had been meeting WH officials to demand it
29 we're all going to have to touch the stove, Moby.
Doomerism about the law and everything else is both self-defeating and deplorable.
I'm not sure why the law is going to affect anything. If the Trump administration breaks the law, what is going to happen?
Well, a judge is going to say "let this guy go". It's not a question of people getting prosecuted, it's a question of Khalil being released. (And when a judge blocks Trump from doing a thing, as has happened many times already, he tends to accept it.)
32: First, they are in fact still trying to justify what they do to judges, if badly and being given too much leeway. Second, the law is an important part of public opinion and remains a lodestar even when it's not being followed - it's the time of sede vacante.
To everyone - call your Senator and tell them to hold the line of demanding a clean CR (not the House-passed one) until the illegal impoundment stops, because otherwise they are setting the state for Congress as advisory body only going forward.
33.3: Yes. It's really calling for an artillery strike on my own position. But I don't see a better option.
37 yes, this
38 for an American university and paid in American dollars and Trump is going to end up dragging the global economy down as well.
40.2 yes, I'd like to request a separate post for the CR bill. It is also extremely important and time is pressing.
42.2: That's three or four steps down the line from where I'm standing.
This is a useful site https://5calls.org/
There was a hearing in federal court (SDNY) in the past hour. Judge Furman has already ordered them not to remove Khalil from the country while it's adjudicated, and has said Khalil needs to get a privileged call with counsel today and another tomorrow (he previously requested one and it was scheduled for the 20th, according to his lawyer); other than that it was planning when to receive briefs on the issue of venue.
21: A little too navel-gazing for Bluesky, but this is the first thing they've done that seems both evil and intelligently conceived.
Not too navel-gazy for me, though! And I want to take exception.
The Israel/Palestine issue has been exploited by Trump throughout. Sure, this is a novel legal approach given Khalil's complete lack of cuplpability, but the promotion of hate plays in Trump's favor in obvious ways. And boy howdy, does Trump have a strong intuitive grasp of the ways haters can be manipulated to either support him or to stand by while he does his thing.
Josh Marshall has been good on the CR cloture vote. Worth discussing here as Barry said.
We are literally in the first line of the Niemoller poem, and anyone who doesn't recognize that is in denial.
Literally used in the metaphorical sense, of course.
Not sure what the beef with JHU is.
There doesn't seem to be any particular beef with Hopkins specifically. They're just cutting off huge amounts of biomedical research funding in general and Hopkins does a ton of it.
Not all universities are as spineless as Columbia (e.g. Georgetown has come out swinging and they're not alone), but the whole thing would be more effective if there was real solidarity across all academic institutions.
Educated elites do have real power in society, and it would behoove us to behave as though we recognized this. We can be destroyed bit by bit but if we flex our muscle the Trump/Musk bullies will back down, as bullies always do toward people with real power.
47 yes, the Adam Serwer posts and article I linked above take dead aim at that
Having trouble with Google Voice here but may end up calling my Senators from my overseas number anyway
They still have to vote on cloture, right? That's where this thing can be killed
(Trying Skype now)
They do have to vote on cloture, yes.
51: That's what Pitt is facing too. If it carries through the way Trump has started, it will be worse for Pittsburgh then than the 2007 recession and could be as bad as the collapse of steel in the 80s.
Probably hiding beneath a pile of cryptocurrency.
37: last term he did. This term they don't seem to be complying with judges orders, at least with NIH funding.
I wonder how many shares of Tesla the US Treasury now holds.
60: I think it's in the middle - they're giving judges the runaround, pettifogging etc., but not literally ignoring them.
The games they play
https://bsky.app/profile/joshuajfriedman.com/post/3lk6xmor6gc2t
The games they play (this one unrelated to Khalil)
https://bsky.app/profile/paulgowder.bsky.social/post/3lk7cvm6hyc2m
52.1: Getting crosswise with the Society is not generally a good idea.
25: it's definitely a spaghetti against the wall approach, though, as "he's on a student visa" or "he supported terrorism" haven't stuck. Rubio could declare him to be a foreign policy problem but it's not an argument in good faith.
Good thing for Rubio that he has no standards left.
Looks like the calls to Senators worked. Schumer just announced his caucus is unified against yhe Republican CR and that will not get cloture.
Now with the flavor of the month (AI)
https://bsky.app/profile/elmcitytree.bsky.social/post/3lk75jnmspc2x
57: the ass clowns in charge probably think every university has billions in an endowment.
Anyhow, hope you're OK, Mobes. My cousins all work in research on NIH grants and everything is a mess. All of our parents voted for Trump. They are now confused.
I can't see what the point of all this is. It's like a list of what every right-winger bitched about in 1996. Plus tanking the economy for shits and giggles.
13- It's "Bernie would have won," splitter.
Yeah, there was a commenter here who always typed "would of," including at least one verbatim "Bernie would of won," and I just cannot stop mocking it eight years on. I was really moved by that line in ogged's Drum eulogy about how he was never an asshole. I don't have that kind of forbearance in me. But also, the surly smugness plus the malapropism just captures something very specific.
72: Thanks. Just people I know, not me, having issues so far. And my wife has a job in an unrelated industry.
Or maybe not. Now Schumer supposedly has a cockamamie idea that would mean the Dems get amendment chances... in exchange for going down to 51 vote threshold. Maybe it's DOA or meant for GOP not to rise to challenge, but phone calls (by now, voicemails) may still be in order.
Look, Harris lost because of the Margin of Despair. Lots and lots of people who probably ought to have voted for her, who are certainly going to be terribly harmed by Trump, and would have prospered under Harris, simply didn't show up because they didn't think it would do any good.
Were they wrong to feel that despair? Certainly in terms of the Palestinian question, it will ultimately not make that much difference which party is in power in the US. The Palestinians have been facing genocide for nigh on eighty years. That's not going to change as long as Zionism is in existence. And no one in the upper echelons of the Democratic Party has ever offered any but the most muted and ineffectual criticisms of Zionism. Laughing while Arab and Muslim bodies burn on TV is basically another US national sport at this point. Those few of us who revile it have nowhere near enough power to actually change anything. And the ones who revel in it have almost all the money, almost all the guns and almost all the votes. Whatever the electoral outcomes were in 2016, 2020 or 2024, and whatever the outcomes will be in 2028, 2032 and 2036, Palestinians continue to be crushed beneath Zionism's iron heel. That's the way it goes in the city of Washington.
The crimes of this guilty land will not be purged.
They'll be purged, but none of us will live that long, except Teo.
list of what every right-winger bitched about in 1996
Out: Contract with America
In: Contract on America
Thanks, fa, that genuinely cheered me up.
Is Teo still the youngest? I've been drinking with a Welshman so I'm a bit buzzed.
Why does Wales have only six last names?
Is Korea Wales? They're both on a peninsula next to a major empire.
Korea Wales was the name of a stripper I used to know.
85: mountainous terrain, heritage of coalmining and heavy industry, bitterly divided between North and South, famous for their all-male singing groups, yeah I can see it.
Both sound like things that young people in the 1980s used to spend a lot of time worrying about.
72: It would be so hard for me not to say, "This was totally foreseeable. You've brought this on yourselves and are responsible for allowing him to trash the country." Totally unhelpful, of course, but I'm not good at not saying 'I told you so.'
Tim was e-mailing his uncle. They used to like to go to Florida and Arizona. This year they went to Mexico and are glad they didn't spend money in the US. His wife has relatives the US voted for Trump, and he said, he doesn't want to see them. He doesn't think he'll ever travel to the US after all the economic harm Trump is causing Canada.
This is a guy who always voted Progressive Conservative, but will probably vote Liberal, because the Liberal leader Carney is standing up to Trump, and the conservative leader Poilievre has Trump fans in his coalition.
88 bracing myself for the upcoming wave of W-pop groups
If Wales is Korea Scotland is clearly Japan. Shared fondness for tempura, for one thing. Also this guy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Blake_Glover who ran the first coal mine in Japan, helped found Mitsubishi, commissioned the first warship of the Japanese Navy and started the Kirin Brewery.
Also both know for their single malt whisky. Plus the whole fishing thing.
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Spike- Is there any movement to get this ghastly law overturned?
I feel like the LIVE FREE OR DIE state should be against all Voter ID laws.
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96: single malt whisky, fish-heavy diet, golf, culturally significant two-handed swords, cold weather, mountains, heavy drinking, aggressive conquest of large parts of Asia, I mean the list goes on.
Are deep-fried Mars bars a kind of tempura?
95.last: So he was big in Japan?
After almost half a century of regarding the deep-fried Mars bar as entirely mythical, I have finally now eaten one. It was delicious.
100: there are statues of him and his house is a museum!
Spike- Is there any movement to get this ghastly law overturned?
The movement is in the courts right now. We've gone from a system where its really easy to vote to one where its really hard.
||
Does anyone think AOC could beat Schumer in a primary? What about someone else? Look, I'm liberal/lefty by American standards, but I'd take a Harry Reid right now. Just someone who is willing and able to fight.
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103: My driver's license and voter registration are ever so slightly different from my passport and birth certificate. I never changed my last name, but I have 4 names. I always thought of myself a having two middle names, but technically my first name is 2 names with a space in between. Social Security smushes them.
I think I should probably fix my license at some point and change my voter registration, but I haven't and am not sure how to update it.
105: So basically I would have a hard time voting. And it seems like many married women who change their last name would too.
103: "We've gone from a system where its really easy to vote to one where its really hard."
But given that low-propensity voters are overwhelmingly Trump supporters, that might be... good? https://www.npr.org/2024/11/18/nx-s1-5183063/trump-turnout-republican-voting-access
Married women also tend to vote Republican (50-45) - never-married women or women who are living with a partner are strongly Democratic (72-24, 64-33).
And passport-holders - who will be OK to vote, married or not, unless they're in a BG situation where the name doesn't quite match - are far younger and far better educated than the average, so obvious Democratic voters.
33: Apparently U Maine got its funding back after Susan Collins lobbied. Heading towards a maximally transactional government.
I feel like the LIVE FREE OR DIE state should be against all Voter ID laws.
Yeah, but they're changing the state motto to, "On second thought, why not slavery and death?"
As an American I don't distinguish between the home countries in terms of heavy drinking, it's all way heavier than I'm used it.
But given that low-propensity voters are overwhelmingly Trump supporters,
Low propensity voters who vote are Trump supporters. Democrats also have low propensity voters, we just can't get them to vote.
Republicans have been going hard after out-of-state students who vote. Its not because they are Trump supporters.
I feel like the LIVE FREE OR DIE state should be against all Voter ID laws.
That slogan is unspecific about who lives free and who dies. Its a ridiculous sentiment for a state that won't even legalize weed.
106: Hell, I'd probably have a hard time voting, and I'm a cishet guy. I did change my name, and I thought I did my due diligence about it - birth certificate, passport, driver's license, social security card, most of the credit cards - but I happened to buy my house before changing it, so my old name is on the mortgage, and therefore it's on my voter registration. I don't even know how I'd go about getting a copy of the mortgage with the new name. I haven't bothered updating my voter registration because where I live is currently reasonable about proof of residency, but that could change any time.
124: bizarre that it's tied to that. I don't know about mortgage documents, but if you want a new name on the assessment roll/property taxes you have to deed your house to yourself. It's one of the few things I haven't done because annoying.
115 - Either a time-traveling robot has arrived from the future or the ninja turtles are up to something.
115: Wow. I hope they have better luck evacuating than they did in the Sept of Baelor.
115: is it not just expected for manholes to explode from time to time over there? Or are you worried that the flame is a different colour this time?
That's not good.
Counterpoint: it is in fact really quite good.
Green, yellow flames shoot out of Texas Tech manhole, explosion forces early spring break
https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/national-international/texas-tech-university-manhole-explosion/6185324/
121: The color is the concern. If it were orange, it would just be another Thursday.
This person needs deporting at the very least
US tourist filmed running off with baby wombat may have visa canceled, official says
https://edition.cnn.com/2025/03/13/travel/australia-us-tourist-wombat-visa-intl-hnk/index.html
We should all try to live our lives in such a way that the prime minister of a G20 nation does not feel compelled to give a press conference in which he suggests that we should be fed to crocodiles.
That was a Simpsons episode, I think.
According to the Google, green flames suggest the presence of copper in whatever was burning. Maybe its a gas fire burning up some copper wires?
There's probably not supposed to be a fire there though.
114: Where I live, you can give them a license for them to scan - and they prefer it, because it is easier - but ID is absolutely not required, and I never give it.
Its true that people used to say you shouldn't let the manholes burn, but what they didn't realizes is that fires are a natural part of the manhole ecosystem. These days, best practice is to let the manholes burn from time to time so they don't build up an excess of fuel and burn hot enough to vaporize copper.
I think ammonia also burns green.
They shouldn't store ammonia in underground tunnels. People steal it to make meth.
Clearly ammonia borane with white fuming nitric acid https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZbuuh1f2KM
I am just guessing here but I suspect that the list "Things you could not conceivably find if you lifted a manhole on the Texas Tech campus" is quite short.
Is Teo still the youngest?
I actually never have been! L. hasn't shown up in a while though.
124 and 116: In MA and much of the Northeast, you need a lawyer when you buy real estate. Ours made me sign it with my full name. I used 2 initials in the signature which is not what I normally do. Part of why I did not change my name is that I could never decide what name to drop. Adding on a 5th would be too much and since all 3 of my prenoms (to use the French word on my passport) come from an ancestor, I'd hate to lose that. But I was always brought up to believe that you kept your maiden name in your name.
The woman doing the official whatever when we bought our house and an elaborate, very deliberately detailed signature. I guess to make it hard to copy.
I was in Japan when we bought ours, and lurid had to sign as my "attorney in fact" in like 84 different places and got hand cramps.
I've now spent enough time in KaKania that I find the American hostility to IDs weird. I mean, yes, given that we don't simply issue everyone a free national ID card, voter ID laws etc are bad, but in fact we should just issue everyone a national ID card. It should be easy to prove you are who you say you are! This is exactly the kind of thing a government should provide, like enforcing contracts, and having uniform weighs and measures, and land registries!
Why does the government have to weigh uniforms?
I've now spent enough time in KaKania that I find the American hostility to IDs weird. I mean, yes, given that we don't simply issue everyone a free national ID card, voter ID laws etc are bad, but in fact we should just issue everyone a national ID card.
This has been my view, and it's puzzled me that there was never a shift towards making sure everyone can get an ID for free. But there's probably a lot of overlap between people who want strict voter ID and people who get offended at the idea the government would provide everyone with an ID. You wouldn't want the wrong people to get the idea that they can play an equal role in the nation, would you?
I seriously think a big part of the American opposition to nationwide IDs is middle-class white people who don't want to make it too hard for their teenage kids to buy alcohol.
On another topic, looks like both NY senators will vote to invoke cloture. Influence of Wall Street/finance who will essentially accept anything Trump does because it doesn't bother them very much even when they don't like it?
I seriously think a big part of the American opposition to nationwide IDs is middle-class white people who don't want to make it too hard for their teenage kids to buy alcohol.
I'm unclear on the mechanism here. People are id'd to buy alcohol, that's fairly well enforced with state alcohol regulators sending in decoys, so... how would IDs being nationwide change anything?
I thought 9/11 put a stop to it by making it a major felony, but I remember guys making fake IDs for bars back in the day. It was comically low tech. They would paint an ID on a big piece of cardboard and have you stand with your head in the photo spot and take a picture of the whole thing.
I've also seen a bartender get busted for serving a minor without asking for ID. The dude looked 30.
I'm unclear on the mechanism here. People are id'd to buy alcohol, that's fairly well enforced with state alcohol regulators sending in decoys, so... how would IDs being nationwide change anything?
Everyone would know what the IDs look like and what to look for to tell if they're fake.
Gotta love this quote:
"Alan Dershowitz Says Detained Israel Protester Should 'Be Treated the Way We Treat Nazis'"
Oh, so pardon him, give him several billion dollars and make him the President?
Happy Purim where applicable. May I suggest a new rule? Drink wine until American tariff policy of the past five weeks makes sense.
Natilo says "Alan Dershowitz should be treated the way we treat left-wing Jewish kids wearing keffiyehs"
Alan Dershowitz should have the decency to be ashamed enough for his Epstein-related activities to go away.
I stopped by re-occurring (small) monthly donation to the DSCC today. Been going since 2018. I still have one to the Pennsylvania Democrats going that I'll keep. I want to be sure my name shows up in the FEC reports and I don't think Fetterman is mostly their fault.
154: "If I had any decency, would I even be Alan Dershowitz?"
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No news I'm aware of since last year's verdict, but was this controversy the subject of a thread here a few years ago maybe? It rings a bell somehow.
|>
Schumer and Gillibrand appear to be out on a limb even for other Dem elites? Seth Moulton, Neera Tanden, Eugene Vindman, all shouting to the rooftops about how stupid supporting cloture is.
158: Seth Moulton sucks ass in do many ways. Better than Fetterman but that's a low bar.
So if he's saying it, then..,,
He's one of the speakers at a protest on Saturday in Boston. The chair of the state Dem party will also be there, so I feel like I should go despite Moulton.
143-146. I always find it off that if you stay somewhere in Europe that you have to show your ID. I'm pretty sure that when I stayed with someone in Rome while taking Italian lessons, they needed to tell the police.
Not being asked for ID if you're nog driving or buying alcohol is pretty central to my notion of freedom. I think it comes from our English roots.
I almost got arrested for nog driving one Christmas Eve back when I was young and stupid.
Time to dust off the face punch theory of politics. Except now after punching the hostages in the face, the Democrats plan to send them right back.
Adding to those yelling against Schumer now: Susan Rice, and a joint statement from House leadership Jeffries, Clark, and Aguilar. Really seems to be Schumer and a few in his circle going out on a punch-the-hostages limb atm.
Whoare the hostages, in this definitely not analogous theory?
I don't see much reason to pursue that line of questioning as if it's serious, so I don't have more to say, thanks for asking!
For those who aren't fa, what are the hostages?
I have things to do other than keep track of your dumpster fires.
I don't think 157 has come up here before? I feel sure I would have remembered it.
I don't remember the story in 157 either, though of course I might have missed it.
The story in 157 is truly nuts, though, so thank you for linking it even though we missed it at the time. The tiktocker in question sounds unwell, but she was getting millions of views - I think the whole genre of true crime needs to be shamed as socially harmful, certainly when it involves people who are still alive and cases that are still open. People make all this fuss about porn but it's true crime (and its close sibling, the misery memoir) that is the real toxin.
Nog s/b not
New Yorkers - please call Gillibrand now.
I loved the guy standing outside Schumer's house with the "WTF, Chuck" sign. I hate this, but given how spineless he is, I think we need a serious primary candidate.
Former Republican Adam Kinzinger also mad at him.
This is essential reading about where we are in academia now (after the Middle East studies department they'll come for climate science, sociology, etc)
https://abuaardvark.substack.com/p/columbia-and-the-next-front-in-the?r=10tj&utm_medium=ios&triedRedirect=true
Everyone else getting a concealed carry permit right now is black. And mostly female.
Is it easier to get a concealed carry permit or an open carry permit?
Don't need an open carry permit here.
So you could have a situation where you're allowed a concealed carry permit, but not an open carry one. Which presumably means that you could be arrested for not concealing it well enough?
"Come on, I can tell that's a shotgun. You've just put a sock over the end of it."
This is not me speaking as a lawyer or as someone who knows much of anything about gun laws, which are very variable state to state. But my vague impression is that mostly open carry permits aren't a thing: in open carry jurisdictions, if you can legally own it, you can carry it openly, and in non-open carry jurisdictions, there isn't an open carry permit you can get, it's concealed carry or not at all.
Crossed with 178: I think that is the case in NY, at least for handguns. I'm not sure what the rules are for carrying firearms for hunting around.
Realistically, you can't open carry a gun in a city without the cops coming except in some very narrow circumstances.
In theory, without a concealed carry permit, you're supposed to have your gun visible in your car when driving, which strikes me as stupid so I've always ignored it. Recently, I've begun to worry than I could be cited for breaking that law. And they also stopped requiring a non-related reference person to apply. So I got a permit.
You stand in front of the flag to get your photo taken.
I should have asked if I could wrap myself in the flag. It was just tacked to the wall.
182: you carry a gun with you? how come?
188: I paid a guy to kill the varmints. They ate my siding.
One raccoon and one groundhog. Not sure if they were both guilty or just the groundhog.
More low-effort commenting: I'm not sure Adam Serwer's articles seem as essential to me now as they did around 2018, but this one from February 26 did contain some news-to-me:
Last week, the White House--the White House--posted a video to X captioned "ASMR: Illegal Alien Deportation Flight," showing ICE officials cuffing people who are being loaded on a plane, presumably to be deported, while a soundtrack of roaring jet engines and unfurling chains plays. (ASMR refers to a genre of videos that feature sounds people find soothing.)
So, you know, I don't really use the internet anymore, and I realize there are risks of living in a bubble, but this is a level or eighty-three up from sitting through 15 minutes of Fox News. Are we near a tipping point where I need to consume intolerable media to stay engaged? Maybe a few years out?
Also, no one here has brought up Gavin Newsom's podcaster turn, as far as I know. I have opinions, obviously, but I want to hear from you.
I just thought of an offensive joke about Chuck Schumer.
Person 1: I can't believe he just caved to Trump like that.
Person 2: I warned you that you can never trust a Palestinean!
You made me be antisemitic and I'm at the JCC.
I hate to do it, Moby, but I'm going to have to report you to the local Elders.
A few weeks ago I learned that when my father was in the College Democrats, he was an officer of his local chapter of that group under the leadership of... Chuck Schumer.
"He was just as much as a goofball then as he is now"
197 is that following the proper protocol?
199: Thanks for making the reference more explicit.
200 was posted anonymously because I'm not supposed to be talking about this in mixed company.
192 and 193: apparently Schumer is scheduled to go on it.
I had to do a double take on that one and almost commented here. I wanted the Megan bat signal. I wondered if his term had ended, but, no, he's still the Governor and he has time to do a terrible podcast.
203: If we've learned anything in the 2020s, it's that there's always time to do a terrible podcast.
It's over on the vote w/a few extra to provide cover. I think Peters switched to Y after he he voted N for instance.
It's over on the vote w/a few extra to provide cover. I think Peters switched to Y after he he voted N for instance.
167: Sorry, I thought you knew I was referring to the budget vote and your question was around the appropriate or inappropriate nature of the not an analogy.
And I think we just booted the South African ambassador.
Is the racist guy from Lethal Weapon still around? Not Mel Gibson, the other one.
He died because his passport wasn't bulletproof.
Speaking of movies, there's apparently a director named Paul Thomas Anderson and a completely different director named Paul W. S. Anderson who does not have the same reputation. Anyway, Monster Hunter is not a good movie.
A Betar spokesperson, Daniel Levy, said in a statement to the Guardian that Betar submitted "thousands of names" of students and faculty they believe to be on visas from institutions like Columbia, the University of Pennsylvania, UCLA, Syracuse University and others to representatives of the Trump administration.[...]
Glick said that the individuals on Betar's list were identified through tips from students, faculty and staff on these campuses[...]
Glick mentioned that in recent months he had been inundated with messages from students, professors and university administrators across the country, all providing him with information on protesters' identities.
Sure sounds like a fifth column to me. Zionists are murderous rapists who inform on their neighbors.
It's a testament to just how much goodwill Israel has been burning for years now that no one is taking your bait here, Natilo. Even I barely have the heart to ask you whether you're mostly trying to get censured so you can unleash morally superior invective, or mostly trying to get ignored until you find the actual tripwire. However, regardless of anything any Zionist has done, recently or in the past, in the U.S. or elsewhere, you sound like a complete dipshit, and given the crimes against humanity we're looking at here, that's an impressive achievement that people don't hit often.
211: oh, that's a very good variation on Films It Is Important Not To Confuse With Each Other (Alien/ET, Crash/Crash, Adaptation/Audition and so on).
Or actors: Ron Jeremy/Jeremy Strong.
215: then there's the franchises that are fun to confuse (Star Wars/Star Trek, Captain America/Captain Underpants)
I forget where exactly I saw it, but 218 reminds me that any time someone is explaining something nerdy and boring you can say "I'm sorry, I'm just not into Pokemon."
Pokey loves Yugioh. Yugioh is a great game if you enjoy fractal-like levels of rules and infinite detail. Each card is filled with a dense microscopic description of why it's unique. It's like having to go to grad school for a topic that bores you.
And I'm sure Pokey would love it if you called Yugioh Pokemon!
I remember that. It was like, "I play my fighting dragon trap card, married filing jointly with no 1099s"
you can say "I'm sorry, I'm just not into Pokemon."
But that would be a lie.
I'm old school. I've never played Yugioh but enjoyed Star Fleet Battles: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Fleet_Battles
This is a good description: https://bottomfeeder.substack.com/p/gamer-deep-lore-exhibit-5-star-fleet
This game is STILL IN PRINT. I don't know anyone who still plays it, but this combination of nerd bloodthirst and recreational math must be celebrated.
Pokey also made bread pudding for us all this morning, so now the kids all know they don't like bread pudding.
Further to 32:
Paus endlessly!
But holy shit, I guess this is acceleration week. I'm having a hard time concentrating on trivialities suddenly.
https://www.nhpr.org/nh-news/2025-03-14/green-card-holder-from-new-hampshire-interrogated-at-logan-airport-detained (via Adam Serwer)
230 That's awful. I hope the judge is ripshit. I don't know whether he can summon the US attorney to appear in his courtroom, but that would be something he can do. It won't bring the doctor back, pf course, but preventing the next instance is worth a shot.
Just accelerating straight through the guardrails now. The goal being to bankrupt them through prosecution even if it's ultimately thrown out of court.
Donald J. Trump
@realDonald Trump
The "Pardons" that Sleepy Joe Biden gave to the Unselect Committee of Political Thugs, and many others, are hereby declared VOID, VACANT, AND OF NO FURTHER FORCE OR EFFECT, because of the fact that they were done by Autopen. In other words, Joe Biden did not sign them but, more importantly, he did not know anything about them! The necessary Pardoning Documents were not explained to, or approved by, Biden. He knew nothing about them, and the people that did may have committed a crime.
Therefore, those on the Unselect Committee, who destroyed and deleted ALL evidence obtained during their two year Witch Hunt of me, and many other innocent people, should fully understand that they are subject to investigation at the highest level.
The fact is, they were probably responsible for the Documents that were signed on their behalf without the knowledge or consent of the Worst President in the History of our Country, Crooked Joe Biden!
234 multiple stories in right wing media about how the Biden WH "abused" the use of the Autopen to sign documents so they're going to try to turn this into a thing
Probably only gets three votes at SCOTUS.
Next argument: if the flag hung in the Oval on the day Biden signed something had gold fringe the signature is invalid.
Get ready for the return of Hunter Biden 24/7
I wonder if Trump signed the January coup participants' pardons himself.