Tech Tuesday for 10/30, In Which Clyde Tombaugh Boldly Goes

29 thoughts on “Tech Tuesday for 10/30, In Which Clyde Tombaugh Boldly Goes”

1. OT hijacking and sorry but this is really important:

   https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/10/trumps-murky-plan-end-birthright-citizenship/574366/Report

   1. Not sure this is, as of yet, more than a political stunt. It’s been a fringe idea for a while and Trump has flirted with fringe ideas before. But it’s flat-ass contradicted by the text of the Fourteenth Amendment and anyone with an ounce of principle can read it in black and white.

      For that reason, though, it’s a really good way of fomenting left-of-center distrust of the courts. A really good way to do that. Maybe for Trump, that’s sauce on top of the xenophobic energy motivating votes which he’s more immediately soliciting. Until I see actual policy advances towards that goal, though, I’m going to treat the idea as Just So Much More Red Meat and nothing more.Report

      1. Same. I can see why people would see it as a political stunt but I’m not sure it is one for the reasons you mentioned.

         The only reason I can see it as a political stunt is because I’m really not sure that Trump has the votes for this on the Supreme Court. This seems like a bridge too far for Roberts, Alioto, and Thomas and I think all three are partisan judges to varying degrees.

         One thing I’ve learned from the current era though is that Trump and Company just see defeats as momentary setbacks before trying again.Report

      2. anyone with an ounce of principle

         Ahh, I think I spotted yer problem right there, mister!Report

      3. But it’s flat-ass contradicted by the text of the Fourteenth Amendment

         I’m not sure that this argument carries as much weight as you think it does.Report

   2. How many other countries have birthright citizenship in a form similar to ours?Report

      1. 30 odd, that’s major countries that post their things and are consistent with them.Report

         1. In particular, including every country in the continental Americas other than Colombia.Report

      2. Most of the New World. Somewhere around 33 countries.

         https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jus_soli

         The plain text of the 14th Amendment provides for Birth-right citizenship. This has been Supreme Court precedent and a mainstream view for over 100 years. I also find it to be a distinctly American and New world idea that we should be proud of if we want to live up to our founding myths of casting off the old World’s hierarchy.Report

         1. I’ve no desire to alter it, I’ve just heard it said that it’s an uncommon thing. The numbers in the wiki suggest it’s not that uncommon.

            Thank you for the link.Report

         2. The plain text of the 14th Amendment

            Why do people keep arguing this as if they think the plain text means anything?Report

            1. Some else tried this troll this morning. D minus!!!!Report

               1. So, then you are quite comfortable going back to the plain text?

                  A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

                  Hows about this, we go back to all the plain text, and stop picking a choosing?Report

                  1. Hows about this, we go back to all the plain text, and stop picking a choosing?

                     With, or without, the well regulated part?Report

                  2. Yes, everyone should be a good shot!Report

                  3. and subject to the jurisdiction thereofReport

                  4. So, deport the sovereign citizens? Sure, why not?Report

                  5. That could easily be a side-effect of this.

                     I mean, assuming that the courts agree that the people who call themselves “sovereign” are, in fact, sovereign.

                     What’s the established precedent on that?Report

                  6. Jaybird: What’s the established precedent on that?

                     JudgeJudyLaughing.gifReport

                  7. United States v. Wong Kim Ark seems to be the most relevant Supreme Court Case… but it was an 1898 case and came up prior to the general concept of undocumented dreamers who only want better lives for themselves and their families came into the public consciousness.Report

               2. While I, personally, appreciate “I shouldn’t even have to deal with that argument and, besides, it has already been dealt with!”, arguments, I’m not sure that they’ll do that well out there in the wild.Report

   3. It’s a stunt to push his hottest button issue since the “caravan” isn’t getting the juice it did the first time they used it. It’s also a nice distraction from a bad news cycle.I think this one is more purposeful outrage than something they will actually try. If they do the courts will shoot it down.Report

      1. This isn’t comforting, since his entire presidency was thought to be an attention-grabbing stunt.

         So far the saving grace of this administration is Trump’s essential laziness and stupidity, but on the other side of the ledger, he is assisted by people and groups who are energetic and clever enough to enact things.
         There is a 27% who rabidly want this to happen, and another 15% or so who would passively acquiesce to it, since obviously [insert name of Democratic Candidate here] is clearly the worse option.

         As was pointed out, this idea has long been a staple of the same Federalist Society that now has been charged with stocking the judiciary.

         We can expect a flurry of thoughtful chin stroking essays in prominent venues giving us the “well, actually” bold contrarian treatment as to how this isn’t as crazy as it sounds, along with the usual pleas for a calm civil respectable discussion about why we should strip rights from millions of people.

         B-but, Big Business loves immigrants and will fight this!
         No, they love cheap labor, and no labor is cheaper than a docile helpless army of workers who have no rights.

         This can move from a laughably absurd notion to settled law in a horribly swift fashion.Report

   4. Congratulations on a successful threadjack, @saul-degraw.Report

      1. On the plus side, the Crows and Octopi will soon make this all irrelevant.Report

         1. Crows are amazing. They can also recognize faces, and even teach other crows to recognize and respond to people who have been either kind or mean to them.

            I love the piece on Clyde Tombaugh too. Though I am now picturing cephalopod aliens finding his ashes, extracting DNA and wondering at the weird aliens it came from…Report

            1. We lived in a house in Bellevue that had a large community of crows, and one of those crows loved to tease my dog.

               At least, it did until it went a bit too far and got a bit too close, and the dog demonstrated just how fast he was and how high he could jump. I made him drop the crow (he was a retriever, so the crow was unharmed), and I put the crow under a bush in the front yard so it could walk it off in relative safety. But after that, whenever the dog was outside, the whole neighborhood would erupt in angry cawing.

               ETA: I remember listening to this a few years back and found it fascinating.
               http://archive.kuow.org/post/where-do-seattle-area-crows-go-nightReport

               1. Lucky for the dog that’s all they did.

                  Crows hold grudgesReport

2. In other news, Whitey Bulgar found dead in prison in apparent murder:

   https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/30/obituaries/whitey-bulger-dead.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=HomepageReport

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