Gromnir

... HA! Good Fun!

just a reminder, the trump boat attacks is one o' the only current issues on which trump is not substantial underwater... excuse the pun. a recent cbs poll had approval at 53%. yougov were more even spilt but still positive with 43% approval v. 42% disapproval. one excuse for the double-tap, 'corrding to Congressman tom cotton, were that the two survivors clinging to the capsized and still burning boat could conceivably have flipped it over, at which point they mighta' been able to get a radio working. with a working radio, the survivors possibly coulda' called for aid from their fellow narco-terrorists, narco-terrorists who woulda no doubt saved the waterlogged cocaine and delivered it to the US where it necessarily woulda' resulted in the deaths o' untold thousands in the US. as such, killing the survivors were not only justified but necessary to save americans from further drug deaths. republican response: prove it wouldn't have happened that way. edit: ... these people are freaking nuts. but again, most americans, either 'cause they is ignorant or callous, approve o' the boat strikes, so the current revelations about the double-tap events or where the drugs were actual headed changes nothing. maybe trump sacrifices hegseth or bradley, but am not seeing why the still-very-much-illegal-and-pointless boat strikes would end. welcome to the usa in 2025. HA! Good Fun!

it's legal(ish) and has been sop for years. is US fed law as well as UNCLOS and specific international agreements which give (enough) legal justification for drug inspections o' vessels on the high seas such that complaints o' lack o' jurisdiction has failed as a defense o' drug traffickers in both US and international courts time and again. also, ... The administration's lethal approach marks a huge shift from the traditional maritime interdictions the U.S. has long done. Those operations involve the U.S. Coast Guard intercepting a drug boat at sea, boarding the vessel, seizing the narcotics, arresting the crew and bringing them back to the U.S. to face prosecution. The U.S. Coast Guard works off information gathered from U.S. law enforcement and intelligence community sources. The U.S. military, meanwhile, has a hand in detection, monitoring and coordination. "We used to call it a self-licking ice cream cone," said one former FBI official who worked transnational crime and maritime interdictions. "You stop a boat, you get the bad guys, you use the leverage of prosecuting them to turn them into cooperators." Investigators would use those cooperators to intercept more drug boats, arrest more low-level traffickers, leverage some of them into cooperators to get more intelligence. This way, over time, the former FBI official said, investigators have been able to work their way up to cartel leadership. Even when the people detained on a boat didn't have information that helped in a prosecution, they often had tidbits that helped illuminate the cartel network, which American officials then use for intelligence purposes. "Forgetting the philosophy of whether killing people is right or wrong, when you kill them you can't talk to them. When you grab them, you can," one former senior DOJ official said. The information that leads to an interdiction comes from human sources as well as what's known as signals intelligence, or electronic surveillance. Current and former officials said in interviews that that information is generally accurate and reliable. It allows the Coast Guard, for example, to put a cutter at a precise location of a drug boat in the Eastern Pacific Ocean, which is roughly the size of the continental United States. The current and former officials said the intelligence isn't always 100% accurate. Sometimes the vessel the Coast Guard intercepts is a resupply boat carrying food and fuel for the traffickers, not the actual drugs. Still, the intelligence that allows the Coast Guard to be in the right place is often built upon a piece of information provided by a human source, which then allows the U.S. government to put its vast electronic spying powers to good use. These officials said blowing up boats instead of interdicting them will have a compound effect over time on the quality of intelligence. With the lethal strikes, the U.S. is no longer gathering phones and other electronics off of crew arrested on the high seas, nor is the U.S. questioning the low-level drug runners about who and what they know about the broader trafficking network. "You need something to tell you where to look," the former DOJ official said. "If you're killing all these people, you just dried up the human intelligence." ... again, the coast guard has been stopping, searching and questioning those on the suspected drug boats for many years, typical with the cooperation o' south american, caribbean and european nations, 'cause particular in the case o' venezuelan drugs (cocaine) the drugs is more likely bound to end up in caribbean and euro nations than the US. often the drug boats is destroyed by the coast guard, but only after the people and drugs is removed from the vessels. in spite o' the fact the boats is being stopped often many thousands o' miles remote from the US, the drug interdictions has ordinary been the task o' the coast guard, although the overall efficacy o' the operations has been... suspect. ... As the intelligence dwindles, the U.S. government's understanding of the cartels, their money laundering networks, supply chains and business strategies will start to go dark. In the past, the OCDETF-led interdiction model intercepted around 4% to 6% of known maritime cocaine shipments annually on non-commercial vessels. In fiscal year 2023, for example, the rate was 3.71%, according to a Department of Homeland Security watchdog report from February. This fall, the Trump administration shuttered OCDETF, and transferred its cases to new Homeland Security Task Forces jointly run by the FBI and Homeland Security Investigations. For those who spent years working on combating drug cartels, there's deep skepticism that the Trump administration's new policy of military strikes will be prevent more drugs from reaching America. "All this strategy is doing is killing people and the same amount of drugs is getting into the U.S.," the former senior DOJ official said. "You didn't save anybody or increase the number of people you're saving in the U.S. It's extraordinarily shortsighted and I don't think it gets you the goal you want." ... the recent shift in policy and practice appears on its face to be performative. at least if there were some kinda compelling argument or evidence that blowing up drug boats headed for trinidad and tobago is saving american lives, you could see a rationale for engaging in lethal interdictions, but that ain't the case. recall, the US sent people to cecot w/o due process. explanation for cecot efforts were that tren de aragua is not just a terrorist organization, but is an active para-military group active involved in the downfall o' the US. if trump had been successful, he coulda' sent anybody he disliked to cecot or someplace similar, 'cause sans due process, explanations and justifications is replaced with faith in the administration. the boat strikes is an effort to do something similar to cecot and is arguable worse 'cause as bad as cecot is, summary executions means there is no way to correct mistakes. trump doesn't provide proof before the maritime murders take place and the justification for the killings is that narco terrorists is involved in what amounts to military actions directed at the US. the double-tap clap trap is a kinda red herring 'cause it ignores the complete lack o' legitimacy o' the boat strikes. am bothered by the focus on the double-tap accusations because doing so means you are already pretending as if the people being murdered on suspected drug boats is analogous to enemy sailors who is fighting a war with the US, a claim which is transparent false and... stoopid. if rando fisherman working for drug cartels in venezuela may be subject to summary executions 'cause drugs are bad and americans die because of drugs, then try and imagine who else and where else trump could do murder w/o needing proof o' any kinda crime. the only thing slowing down the administration's authoritarian efforts is their utter incompetence... a fact which is not near as reassuring as we would hope. 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Trump’s attack on DEI may hurt college men, particularly White men Nationwide, the number of women on campuses has surpassed the number of men for more than four decades, with nearly 40 percent more women than men enrolled in higher education, federal data shows. Efforts to admit applicants at higher rates based on gender are legal under a loophole in federal antidiscrimination law, one that’s used to keep the genders balanced on campuses. But the Trump administration has consistently included gender among the characteristics it says it does not want schools to consider for admissions or hiring, along with race, ethnicity, nationality, political views, sexual orientation, gender identity or religious associations. HA! Good Fun!

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am sudden realizing am having been imagining rl shady all wrong HA! Good Fun!

tom stoppard

gonna suggest it were likely less insecurity than incompetence. no survivors meant that there were nobody alive to contradict the dangerous narco-terrorist narrative concocted by the trump administration. is no 4-d chess being played by trump and his lackeys. general incompetence is the main thing holding this administration back from far more terrible outcomes, not that the current reality is benign. even so, we don't even wanna imagine how bad the situation might be if william barr were still running doj and if a competent secdef were in place at the pentagon. am guessing steven miller and trump wanted images o' dead venezuelan narco terrorists, and hegseth made it happen sans any genuine consideration o' legalities or consequences. a legal memo rationalizing the attacks weren't created until after the first murders happened. hegseth, being the wünderb00b that he is, decided on the following plan: caedite eos. novit enim Dominus qui sunt eius... 'cause he likely saw on a t-shirt or has it tattooed somewhere on his body. the reasons and explanations for the boat attacks were cobbled together after the fact by people smarter than hegseth. however, once a half dozen boats were hit, and a couple dozen people were murdered, the trump administration realized that there weren't a need to coverup evidence 'cause americans didn't f'ing care. multiple media outlets reported that there were no chance fantanyl were being smuggled on the boats being sunk and that as often as not, the people on the boats were ordinary local fishermen who were transporting cocaine to supplement their meager incomes. but nobody cared. as such, people with actual firing neurons realized that as long as the US didn't arrest and put survivors o' boat attacks on trial, the survivors could be sent home to venezuela and the trump narrative could be perpetuated on fox news w/o any counter-factual to muddy their propaganda efforts. is no need to murder survivors. incompetence v. insecurity... recognizing that they ain't mutual exclusive. HA! Good Fun!

up to aurora, we use argenta as a sniper. the rest o' the game am going flamer(s). argenta and heinrix, played as their kinda defaults, become cheat characters by mid game and although a flamer argenta isn't that much weaker than bolter, she feels a tiny bit less cheaty and so am able to add her to our party with our conscience unblemished. keep in mind, am not pretending as if our feels make sense, but given owlcat's writing efforts coupled with the intentional ludicrousness o' the setting, playing rogue trader complete reasonable and rational would be a comical self-own. HA! Good Fun! ps a respec after each major patch is kinda de rigueur at this point, although am not sure if the aoe psyker staff powers being treated as dodgeable melee attacks is intended or not. regardless, am recalling how a few people in this thread went nuts when obsidian considered adding respec to pillars. how bob's use o' respec could ruin doug's game confused us even at the time, but regardless, am amused there were nary a peep about owlcat's wrath or rogue trader respec from the purists.

hmmm why do you suggest the shooter is "unstable"? am sure not going so far as to suggest that the cia were the responsible party for claimed instability. am not certain o' the shooter's background and motivations such that am comfortable making such an observation. the shooter's actions were vile and unforgivable, but is too easy to dismiss him as unstable and somehow blame the cia appears knee-jerk at best. sans info, could just as easily imagine that the taliban, or the shooter's parents were responsible for shaping rahmanullah lakanwal. also, is too easy to dismiss bad actions as the result o' instability. @Guard Dog claimed he would shoot cops if they came onto his property to take his rusty chainsaw. unstable? maybe, but gd had convinced himself that shooting otherwise innocent people doing their duty were worth the human cost 'cause there were a greater principle involved. crackpot? wingnut? maybe, but we don't see gd as particular monstrous or unhinged even if a few o' his beliefs is fodder for the lunatic fringe. nevertheless, if gd had shot a cop in defense o' his chainsaw, it would be convenient and popular to dismiss his actions as monstrous and insane. too easy. label as unstable and monstrous means it is safe for average americans to dismiss an act or actor as unique and exceptional. am always warning people to wait after these situations where what we do not know far outweighs what we do know. almost nobody looks foolish by waiting a week. waiting means that a few yahoos get the chance to set the narrative, which is maybe important if you are a politician, but for anybody else is there an excuse? how many times has we seen on this board where Gromnir has been able to i told you so the folks who got out in front of facts and came to bad conclusions based on paucity o' information? am not certain o' the shooter's motivations and what in his mind justified a husband and father o' five children to travel thousands of miles so that he could shoot national guardsman in dc. most murders is impulsive. in spite o' lack o' certainty, am willing to concede this shooting does not appear impulsive, so the shooter likely had reasons. better or worse than gd's rusty chainsaw defense? dunno. tps for afghanistani refugees were ended earlier this year. our government transformed many thousands o' documented immigrants into undocumented immigrants... 'cause. the reality is that ending tps o' people who had aided US efforts in afghanistan means that the US government is knowing murdering many people by sending them back to the tender mercies o' the taliban. is not a "well, maybe... " kinda situation. send many back to afghanistan is a f'ing death sentence. D.C. police to begin patrolling with National Guard after fatal attack contrary to trump claims o' no dc murders post deployment, there has been more than 60 homicides in dc since the national guard were deployed-- troops didn't eliminate violent crime. now, post shooting, dc cops is gonna be tasked with protecting the national guard troops. what? am suspecting the point o' the deployments in la, chicago and dc were to provoke a violent response, and that hasn't happened... unless you are bruce and you have been watching only fox and right-wing sources o' news. the wh has been waiting for violence, but instead o' summer 2020 protests, which were never as widespread or bad as they were depicted on fox, we got months o' images o' protesters wearing inflatable frog costumes, pastors being shot in the head with pepper balls and hundreds o' living banksy memes. given the reality, the wh has become desperate for a violent response they could seize on to amplify one o' their narratives o' fear, which is no doubt why they tried to prosecute sandwich guy and other stoopid. yeah, a fully vetted afghani refugee who had worked with the cia is not an ideal target for anti-immigrant ire, but that don't matter 'cause facts has never been particular important to the maga base. what is most terrible is that the wh narrative might work in part 'cause o' how @Hurlshotportrays the situation. if you are selling fear, then root causes become far less important than is is practical safety concerns. example: those cigarette boats hegseth ordered destroyed weren't anywhere near the US when they were attacked by US forces, and if they were carrying drugs it were likely cocaine 'cause venezuela don't send fentanyl to the US. the mere possibility o' cocaine shipments, as likely to be heading to europe as the US, became the justification for US murder on the high seas? believe it or not, one o' the few things trump is doing that americans approve of is the murder o' "narco-terrorists." an "unstable" and violent immigrant killing national guardsman on the streets o' dc is gonna make steven miller and trump efforts to end non european immigration and to possible expel non-white immigrants more or less likely? the only thing which surprises us is that it has taken this long for somebody to provide the excuse the wh has been looking for since they first sent troops to la in june. 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it's highly unlikely there will be more trials related to epstein, and that woulda' been the situation even if the doj were not complete compromised. the sex trafficking and assault cases against epstein and ghislaine maxwell were the strongest options for the government. epstein died in jail and so did his case. what most people don't realize is that right up until ghislaine were found guilty, prosecutors and court observers were not certain they would get a conviction. the events o' the case is more remote now, but even when ghislane were being tried, you had to rely on witness testimony about events many years past, witnesses who were traumatized young women at the time o' the crimes. understandably, the witnesses in the maxwell case were less effective than one might hope. any new case would involve statute o' limitations issues as well as the fact that every single time you prosecuted somebody new, you would need to again put on the stand women with lingering emotional trauma who is needing recollect facts from two decades remote, witnesses who would be subject to brutal cross exam over and over and over again. the feds won a conviction o' ghislane maxwell, and afterwards the prosecutors no doubt shared a collective sigh o' relief. no new case based on temporal remote release o' "epstein files" is gonna be stronger than what the doj managed to put together in their pursuit o' a ghislaine maxwell conviction, and the conviction o' ghislane maxwell were more o' a crapshoot than the doj ordinarily undertakes. an ethical doj motivated to put wrongdoers behind bars would be highly reluctant to pursue additional charges which had low chances o' conviction but a near guarantee o' further traumatizing victim witnesses. is the reason(s) why the biden doj did not pursue further indictments. HA! Good Fun! ps while ghislaine maxwell were being investigated and prosecuted, the doj and wh were effective precluded from releasing, "the files." after the conviction, when it became obvious no further prosecutions would be pursued, doj policy precluded release. is privacy laws at issue, but more relevant is the fact the doj has a standing policy against releasing investigation materials where the reputation o' individuals who they has chosen not to pursue charges could be damaged, individuals who got no day in court to defend themselves.

more legal weirdness and for those who cannot get past the paywall, a smidge... The memo, which was completed in late summer, is said to open with a lengthy recitation of claims submitted by the White House, including that drug cartels are intentionally trying to kill Americans and destabilize the Western Hemisphere. The groups are presented not as unscrupulous businesses trying to profit from drug trafficking, but as terrorists who sell narcotics as a means of financing violence. Based on such claims, the memo states that Mr. Trump has legitimate authority to determine that the United States and its allies are legally in a formal state of armed conflict with “narco-terrorist” drug cartels, according to the people who have read the document. The rest of the memo’s reasoning is based on that premise. ... most parents is aware o' the Because I Said So doctrine of authority, but am thinking it is a bold approach to suggest it constitutes a legal sufficient rationale for the killing o' 80 people sans any proof that they is posing an imminent threat o' violence to americans. HA! Good Fun!

'cause there is no, "apart from the legal specifics." Congress has passed a law which requires special consideration for americans with disabilities. lack o' conversational spanish knowledge is not a disability for purposes o' the various fed laws which address accommodations for those with disabilities. why do you distinguish 'tween english and spanish as to which is requiring translation? am not knowing the exact number, but is more than 300 languages which is the primary language of american citizens. ( @Elerond, "177 indigenous languages" refers to those spoken by "native americans," or whatever is the label this week. Gromnir, for instance, understands enough lakota that we can follow the gist o' a conversation between our aunts who is aged 84 and 90 respective, but we sure as hell cannot carry on a conversation with them. am doubting there is more than 1500 living persons who are able to legit speak lakota, and that number shrinks every year.) regardless, trump passed an executive order in march o' this year which purports to make english the official language o' the US. at the very least, the trump executive order invalidates a clinton era eo which made translation services for non english speakers more readily available. so you got no specific Congressional law which would require interpreters to translate legislators who is exercising their first amendment rights to speak howsoever the f they wish, while simultaneous you got a Presidential eo which, at least until challenged, makes english the official language o' the US while specific diminishing translation services for non-english speakers. is not an "apart from the legal specifics," question. HA! Good Fun!

keep in mind this is worse than it appears 'cause is an attempt to redefine the pardon power so that it applies to state crimes. for the entire history o' the US, it has been understood that a President may only pardon an individual for violations of federal law. as such, those who would commit crime on behalf o' trump knowing he could pardon them for fed crimes might nevertheless hesitate if they believed they would be subject to the laws of new york or california. am suspecting this is another story which gets far less coverage than it deserves. after jan 6 and changpeng zhao, this fells like more o' the same, right? is not more o' the same. HA! Good Fun!

am suspecting you identify what the moderate democrats (other than fetterman) want. keep in mind this ain't the first ever government shutdown, and historically, the minority loses every single time. not kidding. the minority always loses. the thing is, losing has rare ever hurt the minority... just ask tea party republicans who got a shutdown over obamacare and then crushed democrats in the midterms. if Gromnir were looking at the current situation complete dispassionate, we could find a good argument for why the moderate democrats who caved did the right thing from a strategic pov. the initial stated reason for the shutdown from democrats always looked impractical to us and they didn't have any kinda exit strategy worked out short o' extending aca subsidies. democrats were gonna have to cave eventual, so says history and the fact democrats have souls which meant that seeing hundreds o' thousands and even millions o' americans suffering woulda' been difficult for democrats to bear for long. shutdown Congress meant that the executive had more practical power and the billions in (illegal) tariff monies which were already collected by the treasury could be dispersed as trump saw fit w/o any legislative oversight. most americans blamed the shutdown on trump and the republicans, and the recent elections showed that there is a whole lotta frustration with trump and his party, so moderate democrats likely figure they already achieved some kinda win but that a continued shutdown were just gonna lead to anger at both democrats and republicans. gotta keep in mind that just 'cause americans are angry at trump does not mean they are happy with democrats. additional, same as we don't want scotus to save trump from his tariff stoopid, if democrats successful force aca subsidies to continue through 2026, then those americans current facing huge health care premium increases will have never suffered, and am guaranteeing that by the 2026 elections those not suffering americans will have already forgotten that democrats saved 'em from trump. am knowing it is horrible to play politics with american's health care coverage and snap benefits, but the democrats need to find a way to guarantee that voters see republicans as responsible for their suffering, and with our complete polarized media landscape, that is a tougher chore than you might believe. am knowing people rare follow our advice about checking fox news for stories and paying particular attention to the reader/viewer feedback/comments section, but am betting most american democrats and europeans have no idea just how siloed is the information maga and even moderate republicans is getting these days. we have no shared reality, but real pain is difficult to svengali away with a fox and friends segment. etc. is not difficult for us to make an argument as to why the moderate's playbook has value. period. 'course american politics is more emotional than it has been in a long time. facts matter less than emotional gratification. we gotta work extreme hard to explain why american farmers continue to vote trump when they were doing so much better under biden, but paradoxical, facts ignore reality. american farmers vote trump 'cause that is what rural, white americans do, and if you are the one farmer speaking up and arguing that biden were better for farmers, then you are gonna be ostracized by the community... and look what trump has done to get that one trans kid in iowa from competing against girls... it doesn't need to make sense, 'cause facts is less important today than has been the case for a long time. unfortunate, democrats and libs who rage at the obtuse maga zealots are similar invested in their team winning the shutdown fight... and maybe not even winning. democrats need to see their team fight for a change. cave to republicans and trump is a betrayal by democrats 'cause the fight is more important than the outcome. am able to make a sound argument as to why a prolonged shutdown were not good for democrats, but is it more true that voters needed to see democrats fight. caving now makes the previous weeks o' shutdown look pointless and weak. democrats never did have an exit strategy, so... edit: this should be meaningful, but it isn't. even in 2018, is no way we ever woulda' imagined this kinda overt corruption. and for all those silently whatabouting... whatever. HA! Good Fun!

Why I Am Resigning ... When I became a senior judge in 2013, my successor was appointed, so my resignation will not create a vacancy to be filled by the president. My colleagues on the United States District Court in Massachusetts and judges on the lower federal courts throughout the country are admirably deciding a variety of cases generated by Trump’s many executive orders and other unprecedented actions. However, the Supreme Court has repeatedly removed the temporary restraints imposed on those actions by lower courts in deciding emergency motions on its “shadow docket” with little, if any, explanation. I doubt that if I remained a judge I would fare any better than my colleagues. ... I resigned in order to speak out, support litigation, and work with other individuals and organizations dedicated to protecting the rule of law and American democracy. I also intend to advocate for the judges who cannot speak publicly for themselves. I cannot be confident that I will make a difference. I am reminded, however, of what Senator Robert F. Kennedy said in 1966 about ending apartheid in South Africa: “Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope.” Enough of these ripples can become a tidal wave. And as Nobel Laureate Seamus Heaney wrote, sometimes the “longed-for tidal wave of justice can rise up, and hope and history rhyme.” I want to do all that I can to make this such a time. ... am highly recommending reading the linked in its entirety. am knowing the "tidal wave of justice" ain't gonna happen today or tomorrow, and the disappointment am left with as our fellow americans shrug off improbable new trump administration excesses and indignities is beyond the scope o' our capacity to fully convey. what is it gonna take to make a difference? even so, with each additional attendee o' a no kings march and every time another mark l. wolf publicly declares their outrage, am a bit more hopeful those seeming trivial acts of resistance build towards something meaningful.

this sounds like a reagan republican position. not a criticism btw, just a recognition at how different the politics of immigration has become in a couple decades. keep in mind, based on 2024 predictions, social security will likely run dry o' money in a decade, or a bit less. is a dirty and not-so-secret truth that illegal immigrants, who pay taxes and thus support social security, do not benefit from the program. seeing as how nobody has come up with a politically practical solution for the looming social security collapse, and recognizing that illegal immigrants is offering substantial aid in preventing the grim reaper from visiting social security, there has been little motivation to end such a beneficial if unbalanced relationship 'tween the US and illegals. also, if you got ~50% o' the country convinced that immigrants is a drag on local economies, take jobs from americans, commit violent crime at disproportionate rates, and eat the local cat and dog population, universal amnesty for immigrants is gonna be a tough political sell. alternatives to "give everyone a ssn," is hb-1 and h2-a programs, which seeks to provide greater access o' temporary work visas to foreigners looking for work opportunities in the US. most illegal immigrants in the US is people who came here legal. individuals overstaying hb-1, f-1, m-1 and h2-a visas represent the majority o' illegals, but ice and cbp ain't raiding google or intel campuses. if there were a simple and political viable solution, somebody woulda' implemented it decades past. the problem is that illegal immigration is simultaneous a boon for the US economy and a political landmine nobody has wanted to touch until recent. exacerbating the issue in 2025 is that 'tween fears o' widespread cartel violence and the embrace o' the great replacement theory by fox viewers, not to mention a widespread misapprehension about who illegal immigrants is regardless o' political identification, solutions has become increasing unlikely. HA! Good Fun!

two amusing tweets and HA! Good Fun!

am genuine disappointed, but not with the verdict. jeanine pirro taking this to a jury were vulgar, and am glad the jury functional told the government to, f-off. however, now that there has been a verdict, we won't be able to talk about how insane it is that sandwich guy were on trial for... aside, am knowing it sounds odd, but am hopeful the Court allows trump to do his tariffs. yes, trump's tariffs is unconstitutional, but that hasn't stopped this Court from changing precedent and/or for altering the clear meaning o' the text o' the Constitution to benefit trump. declare trump's tariffs unconstitutional saves trump from himself and then the president may also blame any subsequent economic pain on the Court's interference. americans need to feel economic pain to realize trump ain't some kinda business mastermind playing 3-d chess while every other country is playing checkers. it would be unfortunate that just as increased costs from trump's tariffs begin hurting ordinary americans, the Court could swoop in and save him... although if they sit on this and then final deliver their opinion in july, that could be ideal. HA! Good Fun!

sandwich guy trial, after two days of jury deliberation, still hasn't produced a verdict. ... somebody (multiple bodies?) on this jury does not want to punish the defendant. am gonna admit we had to look up fed criminal misdemeanor assault, 'cause that is literal something we never saw when we worked criminal. am suspecting the fact nobody has ever needed give jury instructions for misdemeanor assault is the reason why this ludicrous trial has stretched to five freaking days. the fed statute for criminal misdemeanor assault, pretty much has the same elements as common law civil battery: an act by the defendant intent to commit the act by the defendant-- not accidental contact a harmful or offensive touching lack o' consent by the plaintiff... of course since this is criminal, there is no plaintiff, so instead you got the victim. that's it, and same as civil (which means we are talking about money damages instead o' loss o' liberty for the defendant,) the standard o' review for the tryer of fact is a reasonable person standard insofar as what constitutes a harmful or offensive touching, although you need evidence beyond a reasonable doubt to convict. our "pretty much" is doing some heavy lifting and is what has caused confusion, 'cause as is typical, when yahoos write laws, they feel need to add... flair. every word matters. the final jury instructions read pretty much what we got above, but... regardless, am personal rooting for sandwich guy, but this isn't a tough call which needs multiple days o' deliberation... save that at least somebody on the jury most certain doesn't want to find this guy guilty. yeah, there were not even the possibility o' meaningful harm in the sandwich toss, and proving that sandwich guy intended to harm the cbp officer is beyond mere improbable, but is difficult to imagine the reasonable person who wouldn't see being pelted with a sandwich as punctuation to a verbal tirade as constituting an offensive act. however, we will note the court messed this whole thing up by providing less than clear jury instructions, which again, is surprisingly understandable seeing as how none o' the lawyers or the judge has needed to consider jury instructions for criminal misdemeanor assault previous to the start o' the sandwich guy trial. in any event, if somebody we trusted had told us that this would be, at minimum, a five day trial, we woulda' suggested they were chemical altered. HA! Good Fun! ps a reminder, a misdemeanor may include jail time up to one year. as such, from the defendant's pov, this is hardly the nothingburger people would reflexive assume it to be.

am tending to agree, but am gonna note specific and glaring exceptions such as the 2020 georgia senate races which had gop candidates fail not just 'cause they were terrible but also precisely 'cause of trump. 'ccording to exit polls, people in georgia were voting against trump as much as they were voting for the dem candidates. similar, given the current situation in virginia with the government shutdown and doge cuts still impacting the state, am suspecting that trump being on the ballot woulda' resulted in even worse numbers for republicans. is also noteworthy that the guy running for govenor in nj were active distancing from trump https://www.jack4nj.com/ and https://www.jack4nj.com/endorsements bottom o' the page is the one mention o' trump... until he made a tv commercial which backfired. that said, democrats recent did a post mortem which revealed that if the US had australian style compulsory voting, trump's win over kamalla harris woulda' been considerable larger. democrats understandably focused instead on how small the gains for trump were overall and the fact dems were doing increasing well with reliable college educated voters, but am thinking that downplaying the fact that americans as a whole were in fact more pro trump than the election results showed should be disturbing and something 'pon which democrats need to focus. like bartimaeus, am tending to view the low-info trump supporter as a challenge when am trying to describe 'em in a positive light. am hesitant to call 'em "deplorables," but am admitting frustration over their seeming willful ignorance and what looks like approval of cruelty and bigotry. viewed in the best light possible, am recognizing how since the pandemic hit, trump fans has had some kinda idealized recollection o' the first three years o' the trump Presidency, and many wanted a return to that time. even in 2020, many people were already nostalgic for 2017? 'course, is noteworthy that while being cruel towards trans people and foreigners remains acceptable in many instances, the low-info trump voters are increasingly disapproving o' much o' the ice and cbp tactics they are seeing on tv and the internet. the low-info voter's ambivalence to all the trump administration corruption is baffling, but there has been a shift amongst the rogans, theo vaughns and others regarding immigration efforts. furthermore am gonna suggest most o' the low info folks is increasing frustrated that trump hasn't brought back 2017 any better than did biden. polls is consistent showing disapproval with trump on economic issues, which has never been the case. "rome wasn't built in a day," was the excuse for continued economic pain in april of 2025, but it is now november, and tariff impacts is just starting to hit. trump were able to drag other republicans up in part 'cause they benefited from his improbable mystique as a successful business man who would ensure economic prosperity. is not fair or accurate, but republicans has typical been more trusted on economic issues. that said, while the great recession weren't bush's fault, he took the blame. post pandemic inflation were mostly not biden's fault, but biden and kamala took the blame. the current economic issues is in fact almost entire the fault o' one guy: djt. polls reveal that unlike in the past when voters blamed the economic downturn on the chinese or corona, this time americans blame trump. is different. given the issues in virginia, trump on the ballot likely wouldn't have helped. in the next few years, do you believe the economic and immigration situation in the rest o' the country gets worse or better? the economic solution for the wh looks to mirror the tech bros pov: the inevitable ai miracle will fix all problems, so am also wondering if republicans have a plan for dealing with the hits they are taking amongst latino voters, 'cause their mid-term playbook is dependent on their gerrymandering efforts more than anything else. if republicans cannot count on latinos in 2026, than the redistricting efforts might be less effective than anticipated, especial as many o' their maps assume that trump gains with latinos is a locked-in feature. heck, even marjorie taylor greene is complaining about how republican leadership is ignoring the needs and concerns o' real republican voters particular in regards to medicaid and snap funding... although it is noteworthy that her previous votes made the medicaid cuts possible, so... regardless, while am agreeing with you that trump has been effective in bringing out low info voters who like him v. anybody else by a large margin, the situation in virginia suggests that accessing those individuals woulda' led to similar and maybe even worse results for republicans last night. HA! Good Fun!

Mapping a Democratic sweep across Virginia, New Jersey and New York for those who cannot get past the paywall, in both new jersey and virginia, every county shifted towards democrats in the governor races including big shifts in heavily latino counties which were trump wins in 2024. in the scotus tariff arguments, ... 'cause J. Gorsuch has been in a coma for the past +9 months. in any event, the so-called textualist majority o' the Court appears skeptical o' trump's claims that he has authority to impose his tariff scheme. HA! Good Fun!

gonna suggest the most underreported story o' the night is the two georgia democrats who got better than 60% o' the vote in a statewide election. In an Upset, Democrats Oust Two Republicans on Georgia’s Utility Board Since 2007, no Democrat has served on the commission, whose members have six-year terms. But the two Democratic candidates tapped into anger over rising electric bills at a time when prices have risen sharply across the country. keep in mind that steve bannon and other maga whisperers is flipping out about this result in particular. HA! Good Fun!

*chuckle* who wouldn't want to live under shakira law? ... gonna admit we hadn't heard that reference in a while. HA! Good Fun! ps am hopeful the mikie sherrill results help convince a few people that avoiding woman candidates for President 'cause americans is too misogynistic has become less tenable. 'course am gonna admit that mikie sherrill and abigail spanbeger (who both overperformed kamala harris by a big margin) is kinda our ideal candidates... couldn't get more close to checking every box than if were created in a test tube. both is sooper smart, improbable competent and moderate. ... also, am gonna admit we frequent write mikie sherril's name as jackie sherrill, for the obvious but unforgivable reason. pps am not sure what to make of jay jones also out performing kamala harris.

*chuckle* if your initial responses were noteworthy better, the posts where you irrelevant were discussing biden, talking about horse mouths and making stuff up about dementia and the MoCA, that schtick might be a smidge more compelling. well, am glad we final reached a seeming conclusion. more significant is the sandwich guy case, jeanine pirro, the dc us attorney, resubmitted as a misdemeanor and is having a full jury trial to prosecute. ... HA! Good Fun! ps is surprising difficult to find a decent news story on the case. Grand juries in the city’s federal courthouse have declined to indict several people who were accused of assaulting federal officers this year. Judges have criticized Pirro’s office for rushing to charge others with felonies, only to downgrade or dismiss the charges after the defendants spent time in jail. Last month, a trial jury acquitted a D.C. woman, Sydney L. Reid, of the same misdemeanor charge Dunn is facing: assaulting a federal agent. Reid was rowdily protesting an immigration arrest outside the D.C. jail when a female FBI agent scraped her hand against a wall. Grand jurors refused to indict Reid on three occasions, and the trial jury quickly found her not guilty of misdemeanor assault. The U.S. attorney’s office initially sought to charge Dunn with felony assault of a federal agent, for which the maximum prison sentence would have been eight years. But grand jurors declined to indict Dunn, and prosecutors downgraded the charge to a misdemeanor, which does not require grand jury approval. Dunn faces a maximum penalty of one year in jail, fines and probation if convicted. ... The CBP agent, Gregory Lairmore, was fully armed, wearing a bulletproof vest, and was with almost 20 other law enforcement officers, according to court records. “The sandwich kind of exploded all over my uniform,” Lairmore testified Tuesday. “It smelled of onions and mustard.” Defense attorney Sabrina Shroff questioned that testimony during cross-examination, displaying a photo of the sandwich lying on the ground, almost entirely inside its wrapper, after it was hurled. “In fact that sandwich hasn’t exploded at all,” she said. Lairmore maintained that he had “mustard and condiments on my uniform, and an onion hanging from my radio antenna that night.” ... anymore and am unable to excuse a paywall violation. alternative: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/man-who-threw-sandwich-at-federal-agent-in-d-c-says-it-was-a-protest-prosecutors-say-its-felony-assault Dunn was released from custody but rearrested when a team of armed federal agents in riot gear raided his home. The White House posted a highly produced “propaganda” video of the raid on its official X account, Dunn’s lawyers said. Dunn’s lawyers have argued that the posts by Bondi and the White House show Dunn was impermissibly targeted for his political speech. They urged U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols to dismiss the case for what they allege is a vindictive and selective prosecution. Nichols, who was nominated by Trump, didn’t rule on that request before the trial started Monday. ... there is video o' the guy throwing the sandwich at the cbp officer, so is an uphill battle to fight the assault.