Well, imagine this: Let's say that there has been a couple of decades of people arguing something to the effect of "but it doesn't mean *THAT*, it means something *ELSE*" in response to people arguing a plain, clear reading of this or that line in the Constitution.
Cynically overreading this line ("interstate commerce" would be the example I'd go to for this one) or cynically underreading that one ("the 2nd Amendment" is the go to for that).
Perhaps even pivoting to more important things like Truth, Justice, and higher ideals than those held by cynical slave owners.
And, suddenly, when the tables are turned, it becomes a discussion of "What about the Constitution? What about a plain reading?"
Does that make it any less outside the bounds of the Constitution?
Appealing to principle? Maybe it'll work.
But maybe it'll come across as a cynical ploy.
How can one person be responsive to that many people?
Obviously, they can't. Look at the ratios that existed back in the late 1700s. Having something like that in the current year would mean more than one thousand representatives.
And, quite honestly, it'd pretty much destroy a good chunk of the two party system.
What I love about the opening paragraph is that it exists in a perfect vacuum. No memory of Biden. No memory of Obama.
Just an eternal present. Just an eternal Trump.
Anyway, have you ever heard the term "malicious compliance"? Like, ever? Is my comment right here the first time you've ever seen those two strings of letters next to each other?
Is this one of those things where I need to go back and post exactly what I said and we can argue over whether or not my "it is theorized" in there is meaningful?
If not, that's cool. I'm more than willing to accept that finding that millions of dollars were being funneled to Politico and then, when the contracts were cancelled, that Politico had a payroll problem was 100% a coincidence. Coincidences happen.
And if the amount of money that Politico was getting was a small amount of money, Politico should be just fine in the future.
There were a bunch of ICE raids in Aurora, Colorado and LA the other day that were leaked before they happened. This resulted in, of course, less effective raids.
Homan said on one of the morning shows that they've found the leaker and the leaker will be charged with a crime.
His guess is that the leak has FBI ties.
Which means that this will get *REALLY* interesting.
attributing the entire cost of Politico subscriptions across the government to USAID, and building a conspiracy theory from that that frankly didn’t even make sense.
We're getting awfully narrow, aren't we?
"Those subscriptions weren't from USAID! Only a few were! And other parts of the government were giving Politico money!"
The scandal was not that the money specifically was coming from USAID, but that millions and millions were being funneled to Politico from the USG.
"You were wrong about all of that money coming from USAID!" is true.
You're right.
You're also not addressing what the issue was by focusing on that to the exclusion of what came to light.
Or are you talking about ‘overhead on federal contracts is sometimes pretty high’, which hardly seems ‘novel’, and was _extremely public_, it’s part of the grant bidding process and posted on websites, it has not recently ‘come to light’.
If the argument is that "this isn't new, everybody knew this!" in response to it becoming Common Knowledge, you'd best be prepared to come up with some other argument in service to maintaining the status quo due to the sheer number of people who, until recently, just weren't paying that much attention.
Try something like "the fact that you weren't paying attention until recently is not my problem! We're keeping the status quo and you can't do anything about it!"
On top of that, if you listened to "they not like us" on the radio, it's very likely that you'd miss a good chunk of the song due to radio edits. (Indeed, I wondered "which bars is he going to be singing at the show?" when I listened to it in prep.)
The fact that we're no longer limited to radio edits nor physical music production/distribution is a magnificent boon to artists that also results in a weird atomization for music.
There's no town square anymore. You're not going to walk past (this genre) in the music shoppe to get to (that genre) and how many physical posters of album covers are you going to see?
Most new music needs to have something of an introduction. "Hey, when you listen to this, pay attention to the..." (whatever). The lyrics. The production values. The drums. The bass. The background singers. The thing his voice does when he spits the lines about his mother.
Without that, you're listening to a genre that you're not particularly familiar with and may not be able to tell the difference between a good track and a great track.
I listened to To Pimp a Butterfly and thought "It's no Aquemini."
I like how you’re pretending the issue is ‘this stuff being exposed’ instead of ‘executive overstepping actual constitutional authority and also violating contracts’.
Please understand that from my perspective, executive overstepping actual constitutional authority and also violating contracts is nothing new. No new ground is being broken here.
What makes this different is not how crazy it is that a president is overstepping nor that he is violating contracts.
It's the stuff that is coming to light that is novel.
Apparently, the fact that Americans are among the hostages has Trump upset. So he's said that Hamas has a deadline by noon on Saturday and if the hostages aren't all released by then "all hell is going to break out".
Did he even listen to Garth Brooks singing "Imagine" at Jimmy Carter's funeral?
I'm pulling my beard out trying to find *ANYTHING* substantive on that.
The only thing I've found is something saying that the 2,400 records' existence was announced passingly in the plan itself... WHICH I CAN'T FIND A COPY OF.
Jeez louise. We need to have somebody FOIA the dang plan.
The discovery of an additional couple thousand records that were never provided to a board before is just an additional conspiracy smorgasbord.
Were the documents deliberately withheld?
Are they faked and the FBI has been working with AI on creating them furiously since the hangover wore off back in November?
Was it just an oh-gosh-silly-us mistake?
If it was that last one, that info had best never get out to the public. That's information that could cause harm to our national security.
The FBI just discovered about 2,400 records tied to President Kennedy's assassination that were never provided to a board tasked with reviewing and disclosing the documents, Axios has learned.
I still can't find a copy of the plan, though. I can find multiple reports of the plan having been delivered! Just nothing with the details of the plan.
On “Open Mic for the week of 2/10/2025”
The four employees include Mary Comans, the CFO of FEMA.
On “The USAID Fight Is About Power, Not Spending”
You know what they call "BSDI" in a court of law?
"Precedent".
It's actually something kinda important.
On “Open Mic for the week of 2/10/2025”
Well, if we agree that the constitution has inkblots all over it, we don't have a problem at all.
On “The USAID Fight Is About Power, Not Spending”
Well, imagine this: Let's say that there has been a couple of decades of people arguing something to the effect of "but it doesn't mean *THAT*, it means something *ELSE*" in response to people arguing a plain, clear reading of this or that line in the Constitution.
Cynically overreading this line ("interstate commerce" would be the example I'd go to for this one) or cynically underreading that one ("the 2nd Amendment" is the go to for that).
Perhaps even pivoting to more important things like Truth, Justice, and higher ideals than those held by cynical slave owners.
And, suddenly, when the tables are turned, it becomes a discussion of "What about the Constitution? What about a plain reading?"
You recognize that dynamic, right?
"
Does that make it any less outside the bounds of the Constitution?
Appealing to principle? Maybe it'll work.
But maybe it'll come across as a cynical ploy.
How can one person be responsive to that many people?
Obviously, they can't. Look at the ratios that existed back in the late 1700s. Having something like that in the current year would mean more than one thousand representatives.
And, quite honestly, it'd pretty much destroy a good chunk of the two party system.
"
What I love about the opening paragraph is that it exists in a perfect vacuum. No memory of Biden. No memory of Obama.
Just an eternal present. Just an eternal Trump.
Anyway, have you ever heard the term "malicious compliance"? Like, ever? Is my comment right here the first time you've ever seen those two strings of letters next to each other?
"
I think that putting Wernher von Braun's portrait on the home page was a bit much.
"
Is this one of those things where I need to go back and post exactly what I said and we can argue over whether or not my "it is theorized" in there is meaningful?
If not, that's cool. I'm more than willing to accept that finding that millions of dollars were being funneled to Politico and then, when the contracts were cancelled, that Politico had a payroll problem was 100% a coincidence. Coincidences happen.
And if the amount of money that Politico was getting was a small amount of money, Politico should be just fine in the future.
On “Open Mic for the week of 2/10/2025”
There were a bunch of ICE raids in Aurora, Colorado and LA the other day that were leaked before they happened. This resulted in, of course, less effective raids.
Homan said on one of the morning shows that they've found the leaker and the leaker will be charged with a crime.
His guess is that the leak has FBI ties.
Which means that this will get *REALLY* interesting.
On “Off With Their (Over)heads: Trump Administration at War with Public Health”
attributing the entire cost of Politico subscriptions across the government to USAID, and building a conspiracy theory from that that frankly didn’t even make sense.
We're getting awfully narrow, aren't we?
"Those subscriptions weren't from USAID! Only a few were! And other parts of the government were giving Politico money!"
The scandal was not that the money specifically was coming from USAID, but that millions and millions were being funneled to Politico from the USG.
"You were wrong about all of that money coming from USAID!" is true.
You're right.
You're also not addressing what the issue was by focusing on that to the exclusion of what came to light.
Or are you talking about ‘overhead on federal contracts is sometimes pretty high’, which hardly seems ‘novel’, and was _extremely public_, it’s part of the grant bidding process and posted on websites, it has not recently ‘come to light’.
If the argument is that "this isn't new, everybody knew this!" in response to it becoming Common Knowledge, you'd best be prepared to come up with some other argument in service to maintaining the status quo due to the sheer number of people who, until recently, just weren't paying that much attention.
Try something like "the fact that you weren't paying attention until recently is not my problem! We're keeping the status quo and you can't do anything about it!"
Maybe that'll resonate.
"
The college loan debt forgiveness gambit? Does that count?
On “Kansas City wants to Score the first Threepeat against the Philadelphia Eagles in New Orleans”
On top of that, if you listened to "they not like us" on the radio, it's very likely that you'd miss a good chunk of the song due to radio edits. (Indeed, I wondered "which bars is he going to be singing at the show?" when I listened to it in prep.)
The fact that we're no longer limited to radio edits nor physical music production/distribution is a magnificent boon to artists that also results in a weird atomization for music.
There's no town square anymore. You're not going to walk past (this genre) in the music shoppe to get to (that genre) and how many physical posters of album covers are you going to see?
Most new music needs to have something of an introduction. "Hey, when you listen to this, pay attention to the..." (whatever). The lyrics. The production values. The drums. The bass. The background singers. The thing his voice does when he spits the lines about his mother.
Without that, you're listening to a genre that you're not particularly familiar with and may not be able to tell the difference between a good track and a great track.
I listened to To Pimp a Butterfly and thought "It's no Aquemini."
On “Off With Their (Over)heads: Trump Administration at War with Public Health”
I like how you’re pretending the issue is ‘this stuff being exposed’ instead of ‘executive overstepping actual constitutional authority and also violating contracts’.
Please understand that from my perspective, executive overstepping actual constitutional authority and also violating contracts is nothing new. No new ground is being broken here.
What makes this different is not how crazy it is that a president is overstepping nor that he is violating contracts.
It's the stuff that is coming to light that is novel.
On “Open Mic for the week of 2/10/2025”
4 Employees at DHS are being terminated for making these payments.
Huh.
Didn't know that that was an option.
"
No, that only refers to members of a *MILITIA*.
Which undocumented tourists aren't.
"
If you've got God on your side, you can't lose.
It's gonna turn the corner any minute now. We just have to be faithful.
"
Apparently, the fact that Americans are among the hostages has Trump upset. So he's said that Hamas has a deadline by noon on Saturday and if the hostages aren't all released by then "all hell is going to break out".
Did he even listen to Garth Brooks singing "Imagine" at Jimmy Carter's funeral?
"
October 7th?
I'd say that it obviously wasn't.
Do you think that it was worth it?
"
I'm pulling my beard out trying to find *ANYTHING* substantive on that.
The only thing I've found is something saying that the 2,400 records' existence was announced passingly in the plan itself... WHICH I CAN'T FIND A COPY OF.
Jeez louise. We need to have somebody FOIA the dang plan.
On “The USAID Fight Is About Power, Not Spending”
So let's step back. What happens when Congress abdicates its role? For decades?
I submit: Something in the ballpark of what's going on now.
On “Open Mic for the week of 2/10/2025”
The discovery of an additional couple thousand records that were never provided to a board before is just an additional conspiracy smorgasbord.
Were the documents deliberately withheld?
Are they faked and the FBI has been working with AI on creating them furiously since the hangover wore off back in November?
Was it just an oh-gosh-silly-us mistake?
If it was that last one, that info had best never get out to the public. That's information that could cause harm to our national security.
"
The American Prospect digs deep: What Trump Could Learn From Hitler on NIH Funding.
On “The USAID Fight Is About Power, Not Spending”
Does that have the 28th Amendment as part of it?
On “Open Mic for the week of 2/10/2025”
Scoop: FBI finds secret JFK assassination records after Trump order.
I still can't find a copy of the plan, though. I can find multiple reports of the plan having been delivered! Just nothing with the details of the plan.
On “The USAID Fight Is About Power, Not Spending”
This isn't the Constitution being thrown in the trash. This is the compromise position.