[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

Quote

Some G.O.P. members said they firmly believe that Jews killed Jesus Christ, and argued that the bill — which includes such claims in its definition of antisemitism — would outlaw parts of the Bible. [...]

Marjorie Taylor Greene[...] said she opposed the bill because it "could convict Christians of antisemitism for believing the Gospel that says Jesus was handed over to Herod to be crucified by the Jews."

[...] The bill would for the first time enshrine a definition of antisemitism into federal law, and instruct the Education Department to consider it when investigating allegations of discrimination against Jews on college campuses. That could lead to federal funds being withheld from colleges or universities that fail to restrict a broad range of statements covered by the definition, which includes "denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination" and claiming that Israel's existence is a "racist endeavor."

Bill to Combat Antisemitism on Campuses Prompts Backlash From the Right - The New York Times (nytimes.com)

It's not a general ban (which would violate the First Amendment). The AP article describes it as a revision to Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which implies that it would also apply to other organizations that receive federal funding:

Quote

Title VI of the Civil Rights Act [...] no person in the United States shall, on the ground of race, color, or national origin, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving federal financial assistance

Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 | HUD.gov / U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)

[Edit: Title VI does apply to federal funding in general, not just funding via HUD.]

This post has been edited by Azath Vitr (D'ivers: 03 May 2024 - 01:48 PM

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

Quote

"Right now, we have young Black kids growing up in the Bronx who don't even know what the word computer is. They don't know, they don't know these things." —New York [Governor] Kathy Hochul, [...] interview at the Milken Institute Global Conference

[...] think tank started by Michael Milken[...] best known for turbocharging innovations in securities fraud that earned him a government-imposed lifetime ban from the industry and a brief prison sentence

Spoiler

[...] Trump, whose treasonous administration members continue to be welcome conference participants, [...] pardon[ed] him [...]

[spoiler]

[Hochul was promoting] New York's "Empire A.I. Consortium," a $400 million state-led initiative that Hochul hopes will "make New York the next Silicon Valley," [...]

[...] It seems pretty clear Hochul is unaware that the Bronx is home to literal hundreds of high-achieving public and specialty schools, including a nationally ranked High School of Science. She doesn't appear to think that "young Black kids" from the borough that birthed the globally dominant music genre known as hip-hop would possess any literacy or vocabulary, forget any actual technological prowess with recording studios and music-production apps. Maybe most insulting of all, the most she seems to actually know about these kids is that they supposedly have "diverse voices."

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul's comments about "Black kids" are even worse in context. (slate.com)

"Empire AI"? lol. Way to reassure people. What oh what a brilliant politician Hochul is.

[quote]
[Governor] Noem took the puppy to a gravel pit.

"It was not a pleasant job, but it had to be done."

[...] this story, which is otherwise forgettable, "continues to chew through news cycle after news cycle." The story broke three weeks ago.

Noem probably liked killing her [puppy].

[...] There's a lot you can do with a dog you don't want. You can give it away. You can send it to a shelter.

Governor Kristi Noem didn't have to shoot her dog. She wanted to - Alternet.org
[/quote]

Hmm. My mother's from rural Pennsylvania, and her father killed one of their dogs for eating their neighbor's chickens. It was apparently common practice, but she was very upset about it. The funny thing is that her authoritarian father told her not to do stupid things just because other kids were doing them... but then she applied that same logic to the norms of her society, and his own edicts, and realized they were---stupid zombies (festering inside us) to be blasted through non-necessary and suboptimal by many measures and in most modern contexts. But many older Americans from rural areas might consider what Noem did perfectly fine and feel outraged by the criticism. As for her being Trump's Vice President though... being popular in rural areas won't be enough. And they're already so "Trump is our messiah!" (lol) that she wouldn't be helping his campaign very much. (Especially since I'd imagine that shooting your own puppy for misbehaving is particularly unpopular among women....)

So maybe he'll choose Hochul instead?...

(Kidding---I hope!)

This post has been edited by Azath Vitr (D'ivers: 08 May 2024 - 12:11 PM

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

Azath Vitr (D, on 08 May 2024 - 12:05 PM, said:

Quote

[Governor] Noem took the puppy to a gravel pit.

"It was not a pleasant job, but it had to be done."

[...] this story, which is otherwise forgettable, "continues to chew through news cycle after news cycle." The story broke three weeks ago.

Noem probably liked killing her [puppy].

[...] There's a lot you can do with a dog you don't want. You can give it away. You can send it to a shelter.

Governor Kristi Noem didn't have to shoot her dog. She wanted to - Alternet.org

Hmm. My mother's from rural Pennsylvania, and her father killed one of their dogs for eating their neighbor's chickens. It was apparently common practice, but she was very upset about it. The funny thing is that her authoritarian father told her not to do stupid things just because other kids were doing them... but then she applied that same logic to the norms of her society, and his own edicts, and realized they were---stupid zombies (festering inside us) to be blasted through non-necessary and suboptimal by many measures and in most modern contexts. But many older Americans from rural areas might consider what Noem did perfectly fine and feel outraged by the criticism. As for her being Trump's Vice President though... being popular in rural areas won't be enough. And they're already so "Trump is our messiah!" (lol) that she wouldn't be helping his campaign very much. (Especially since I'd imagine that shooting your own puppy for misbehaving is particularly unpopular among women....)

So maybe he'll choose Hochul instead?...

(Kidding---I hope!)

Would some of you have have preferred it if, instead of quoting the article, I had provided a straightforward explanation of who she is, what happened, and why it's relevant? That seems like a much less interesting way to present it, but I'd suppose I could have included a TL;DR for the quotation and the article in spoilers.

TL;DR

Spoiler

Female Republican governor of South Dakota, Kristi Noem, considered one of Trump's most likely choices for Vice President, shot her puppy to death for eating the neighbor's chickens and misbehaving. There's been massive backlash. The article claims that Noem probably killed the puppy, instead of putting it in a shelter or something, because she liked doing it.

[Tsundoku]

Of course she loved doing it. She's a hard-right Republican and it's her best chance of exercising the power of life and death over a mammal and getting away with it.
Short of sentencing someone to death or withholding a pardon.

Probably had a good old double-click of the mouse with that in her memory afterward, fantasising about it being Biden.

This post has been edited by Tsundoku: 12 May 2024 - 10:12 AM

[Cause]

Niki Haley just said she will vote for Trump. The Republican Party collectively doesn’t have 2 vertebrae between them, never mind a spine.

Trump is a threat to democracy, a danger, a fool, incapable of leading but Biden is a democrat so…

Edited

This post has been edited by Cause: 22 May 2024 - 11:30 PM

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

Cause, on 22 May 2024 - 10:14 PM, said:

Niki Haley just said she will vote for Biden. The Republican Party collectively doesn't have 2 vertebrae between them, never mind a spine.

Trump is a threat to democracy, a danger, a fool, incapable of leading but Biden is a democrat so…

Of course you mean she said she'll vote for Trump. But maybe she meant: "I'll vote for Trump if I'm his vice president---and then after he's made the presidency into a dictatorship I'll just kill him and take over, assuming I do it before he makes Ivanka or Trump Jr. his heir"? That would be some semblance of a (serpentine, aspiringly demonic) spine....

"Trump's still better than one of them Demon-rats!"

On that note:

Supreme Court Justice Alito’s Beach House Displayed ‘Appeal to Heaven’ Flag - The New York Times (nytimes.com)

The flag was used by the January 6th rioters and implies that Trump has been chosen by Go* to blah blah blah(st away...).

[Abyss]

Trump could peel off his own face on national tv, glow ominously, start calling himself 'Vecna', and demand sacrificial puppies, and they would still vote for him.

[worry]

True, but that was already his ad campaign for Trump Steaks.

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

worry, on 23 May 2024 - 02:29 PM, said:

True, but that was already his ad campaign for Trump Steaks.

Since Trump has been ranting about Biden and the FBI trying to assassinate him... I'd consider buying a Trump steak if it were made of actual Trump---from Donald that is, not his kids (or wives...).

Provided he's dead, of course. Though if they kept him alive but took his tongue and all his fingers to make a steak... that might make for some nice red meat.

This post has been edited by Azath Vitr (D'ivers: 23 May 2024 - 03:45 PM

[Abyss]

Azath Vitr (D, on 23 May 2024 - 03:44 PM, said:

worry, on 23 May 2024 - 02:29 PM, said:

True, but that was already his ad campaign for Trump Steaks.

Since Trump has been ranting about Biden and the FBI trying to assassinate him... I'd consider buying a Trump steak if it were made of actual Trump---from Donald that is, not his kids (or wives...).

Provided he's dead, of course. Though if they kept him alive but took his tongue and all his fingers to make a steak... that might make for some gross orange meat.

ftfy

[Primateus]

Trump's been found guilty on all 34 counts in the hush money trial.

[Vengeance]

Convicted Felon trump. Inmate 47381

[Cause]

Didn’t think it would ever actually happen.

The maga crowd seems to have been very silent lately. Almost no one showed up at court to protest. Now that he is guilty I wonder if there will be a huge uproar or if it will continue as it has been. He still has a following but seemingly nothing like it was perhaps which may be the most telling sign of all

[worry]

I ain't feeling January 6th-level queasy, and it's been a couple years since any MAGAts have gotten themselves killed trying to shoot up an FBI building. But sentencing is not until July 11, so we'll just have to wait and see what kind of stochastic terrorism he can muster up before then.

Still, something very much to celebrate.

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

Sentencing hearing not until July 11th. Wish it were on the 4th of July.

My tongue is like a river of champagne (that I'm vividly imagining...).

Trump posted a video on Truth Social after his conviction:

Quote

This is the final battle. With you at my side, blah blah blah, we will liberate America from these villains once and for all!

Truth Details | Truth Social

lol

This post has been edited by Azath Vitr (D'ivers: 30 May 2024 - 10:23 PM

[worry]

Theoretically, he could still just get (large) fines and probation. It would take an absolute coward of a judge for that to happen, but it's not exactly an implausible outcome.

[HoosierDaddy]

This is by far the weakest case against him. If only the actual justice system would function, there might be actual ramifications for him in the other trials.

Still, it's nice to be able to truthfully tack on the "has been convicted by 12 regular Americans to be a felon for deceitful practices" to any time you are talking about him.

[Tiste Simeon]

So how long before the Supreme Court pardons him of all offences (I'm not sure about the minutiae of US power, can they do that?)

This post has been edited by Tiste Simeon: 31 May 2024 - 05:25 AM

[Tsundoku]

Tiste Simeon, on 31 May 2024 - 05:25 AM, said:

So how long before the Supreme Court pardons him of all offences (I'm not sure about the minutiae of US power, can they do that?)

Yeah, after "Wow, I did not expect that!", my next thought was "How soon can the appeals process put him in front of any of his flunkeys?"

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

Tiste Simeon, on 31 May 2024 - 05:25 AM, said:

So how long before the Supreme Court pardons him of all offences (I'm not sure about the minutiae of US power, can they do that?)

It's a Humpty-Dumpty situation.

Quote

"When I use a word,' Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, 'it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.'

'The question is,' said Alice, 'whether you can make words mean so many different things.'

'The question is,' said Humpty Dumpty, 'which is to be master — that's all."

They're the final arbiters of what the Constitution "really means" (right now), so they can rule any way they want. They can say that the nth amendment means that they must be the rulers of the universe, and order the president to start conquering the galaxy on their behalf. Starting with Australia, because koalas (and their ungodly courts of kangaroos...).

But they don't have an army, and they rely almost entirely on the executive branch to carry out their orders.... (The "meaning is determined by usage" "school of thought", with thought and legal discourse being two classes of usage....)

Quote

When asked if it is possible the appeal will be brought to the U.S. Supreme Court, [Trump's lawyer] Scharf said, "All options are on the table."

Trump attorney Will Scharf says he's 'considering all options' to appeal conviction (thehill.com)

All "options"? Including the "option" to assemble a vast horde of Trump supporters at the courthouse to tear judge Juan limb from limb, slaughter the (Trump's words on Memorial Day) "human scum", and liberate Trump from those corrupt "villains"?

Alito and Thomas would almost certainly overturn his convictions. Kavanaugh (hyper-partisan) and Gorsuch (Mr. Libertarian) probably would too. Barrett and Roberts I'm not sure about. They might compromise by ruling that his sentence cannot restrict his ability to campaign for president or act as president in any significant way. Perhaps they'll say he can leave prison or house arrest when he's on "official campaign business", which of course he always is, because it's a cult... oh, maybe they'll say it's freedom of religion? Therefore the Trump must be free! Free as Jesus, nailed only to our hearts / and the divine sparks that part like visionary eyelids to reveal / the Truth of Law, and Trump's true Deal...

This post has been edited by Azath Vitr (D'ivers: 31 May 2024 - 12:34 PM