[Cause]

 Azath Vitr (D, on 13 February 2026 - 01:52 PM, said:

 Cause, on 12 February 2026 - 08:43 PM, said:

I'm just very happy that the DOJ continues to embarrass itself by failing to indict congressmen for telling the troops to ignore illegal orders. A federal judge has also halted Pete Hegseths revenge pending a trial to determine if the punishment is intended to chill speech. The outcome is already clear.

Quote

A Grand Jury Will Indict a Ham Sandwich? Not in the Trump Era.

Something extraordinary is happening in federal courthouses across America: Grand juries are exercising their power to reject criminal charges in high-profile cases. [...]

[...] in recent months, we've seen grand juries asserting themselves as meaningful checks on prosecutorial overreach, particularly in cases stemming from Mr. Trump[...]

This is how grand juries were meant to work. The Supreme Court chief justice Earl Warren once described grand juries as "a primary security to the innocent against hasty, malicious and oppressive persecution."

[...] grand jurors — everyday Americans performing a civic duty — are recognizing the administration's penchant for prosecutorial overreach and refusing to participate in it. They're acting as the conscience of the community, rejecting efforts to suppress political dissent.

Opinion | A Grand Jury Will Indict a Ham Sandwich? Not in the Trump Era. - The New York Times

... but suppose Trump sends in his goons to torture or murder them if they refuse to comply, then preemptively pardons the perpetrators (but keeps the pardons sealed for if/when their identities are revealed)? So long as the crimes are commited on federal property (including federal courthouses) they're federal crimes, so Trump can pardon anyone for anything inside them. They're like a "safe space" for Trump-maga criminality.

Dual sovereignty I believe means that if the feds want the case they take precedence but the federal court is still in the state and state laws still apply as well.

The risk wouldn’t be torturing people serving in a grand jury, the risk is when the government decides they don’t need grand jury’s in the first place.

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

 Cause, on 13 February 2026 - 09:21 PM, said:

Dual sovereignty I believe means that if the feds want the case they take precedence but the federal court is still in the state and state laws still apply as well.

Many federal courthouses are under exclusive federal jurisdiction, and so dual sovereignty does not apply:

Quote

In addition to the District of Columbia, there are many other federal enclaves formed from the purchase of property for federal use together with State consent for exclusive federal jurisdiction on those properties. Today, federal enclaves include some of our most important military installations,[12] national parks,[13] federal courthouses and federal prisons,[14] public health facilities,[15] nuclear power plants[16] and related nuclear security operations,[17] and many other installations across the country performing important national functions. Federal enclaves exist in all fifty states, and range in size from a single building to 2.2 million acres, like Yellowstone National Park.

https://wustllawrevi...ional-interest/

That includes many federal courthouses outside DC; for example, Boston's John W. McCormack courthouse.

It also includes the Supreme Court building. So Trump can just have his thugs execute all the Supreme Court justices, so they can never change their ruling granting him immunity for exercising his core presidential powers, including the power to pardon. Or (try to) force them to do his bidding at gunpoint.

And it includes the Capitol building, where Congress meets. So Trump or his MAGA successor could prevent impeachment or conviction by murdering any non-compliant congresspeople.

Thanks for the partial correction though.

This post has been edited by Azath Vitr (D'ivers: 14 February 2026 - 12:54 AM

[Tsundoku]

I don't think the pricks need any more ideas regarding Dictatorship for Dummies, thanks.

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

Tsundoku, on 14 February 2026 - 09:39 AM, said:

I don't think the pricks need any more ideas regarding Dictatorship for Dummies, thanks.

I'm pretty sure he knows those are some of the cards he's holding.

And he's probably revving up to give the States a royal flush...

Forgot to mention: since DC is not a state, the president can pardon anyone for any crimes committed in DC, including DC code offenses. See for example:

https://clemency.dc.gov/page/about

The same is true for Puerto Rico and other (non-state) US territories:

https://www.gwlr.org...rdy%20purposes.

So if Trump wants to commit genocide in Puerto Rico to make room for detention centers (or concentration camps, or because Bad Bunny criticized him)?... Mass preemptive pardons for all.

This post has been edited by Azath Vitr (D'ivers: 14 February 2026 - 01:03 PM

[Maark Abbott]

I'm hoping I did not correctly read what was announced by Rep. Lieu (apologies if I misspelled his name) whilst I was doomscrolling this morning.

[Macros]

And?

[Tsundoku]

Details or linky, Maarky Maark.

[QuickTidal]

I believe Rep. Lieu said that he read in the unredacted files Trumps name thousands of times involving some pretty squicky stuff.

[Abyss]

QuickTidal, on 19 February 2026 - 12:42 PM, said:

I believe Rep. Lieu said that he read in the unredacted files Trumps name thousands of times involving some pretty squicky stuff.

AG Bondi just asked why you hate Pres Trump so much and keep saying mean things about him?

[QuickTidal]

Abyss, on 19 February 2026 - 02:32 PM, said:

QuickTidal, on 19 February 2026 - 12:42 PM, said:

I believe Rep. Lieu said that he read in the unredacted files Trumps name thousands of times involving some pretty squicky stuff.

AG Bondi just asked why you hate Pres Trump so much and keep saying mean things about him?

And asked why I haven't looked at the DOW....apparently.

[QuickTidal]

So apropos of nothing, South Korea just sentenced their former PM to LIFE in prison for his attempted coup. And Andrew was arrested in Britain...

Posting this in the USA thread...MAYBE just maybe your country could take notes from others prosecuting powerful men who did heinous shit? No? Ugh.

[worry]

Sure, just keep adding more crap to my to-do list, I'm not busy or anything.

[QuickTidal]

worry, on 19 February 2026 - 04:58 PM, said:

Sure, just keep adding more crap to my to-do list, I'm not busy or anything.

I BELIEVE in you man!

[Macros]

I mean the fact that the Queen pony'd up the 8 million hush money for Andrew the first time...y..

I don't think their PR firm would let them take much more of a battering so they're sacrificing him to save the royal "good" name.

But also, other countries doing stuff and fucking tumble weed in the states.

what the actual fuck

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

The US men's hockey team celebrated their defeat of Canada by listening to a song about the US military blowing up and invading other countries and putting the gold metal around fascist FBI director Kash Patel's neck as he chugged beer and raged like he was hulking out with ecstasy. (He's there on a taxpayer-funded trip that is supposed to be for official government business. The business of fascist propaganda?)



Here are some of the lyrics:

Quote

we'll put a boot in your ass
It's the American way
Hey Uncle Sam put your name at the top of his list
And the Statue of Liberty started shakin' her fist
And the eagle will fly it's gonna be hell

This post has been edited by Azath Vitr (D'ivers: 23 February 2026 - 12:02 PM

[QuickTidal]

This will tarnish every player on the team with MAGA hats even if they weren't...Hughes, for example, is supposed to be a big supporter of LGBTQ+ rights...

the minute Patel walked into that locker room, should be the minute anyone with a scrap of morals walked out.

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

QuickTidal, on 23 February 2026 - 12:36 PM, said:

This will tarnish every player on the team with MAGA hats even if they weren't...Hughes, for example, is supposed to be a big supporter of LGBTQ+ rights...

the minute Patel walked into that locker room, should be the minute anyone with a scrap of morals walked out.

They were given two more high-profile opportunities to refuse to show support for MAGA. The women's team declined Trump's invitation to the White House and to his the State of the Union speech.

The men's team went to the White House and let themselves be videoed putting the gold medal around Trump's neck, and they attended the State of the Union:

Quote

Trump skates on Team USA's hockey wins during State of the Union address

Trump basked in the gold medal glory of the US Olympic men's hockey team Tuesday, spending roughly six minutes of his State of the Union address celebrating their victory after meeting with the team in the Oval Office earlier in the day.

[...] they played a starring role in Trump's big speech as he introduced the athletes to drive home an argument that the country is "winning again."

"Our country is winning again. In fact, we're winning so much that we really don't know what to do about it," Trump said.

https://www.cnn.com/...te-of-the-union

Granted, some members of the men's team didn't attend---but Hughes did.

Trump had made it abundantly clear by then that he was appropriating their win for his own political purposes, so of course they knew he'd continue doing that at the State of the Union.

This post has been edited by Azath Vitr (D'ivers: Yesterday, 12:35 PM

[QuickTidal]

My major disappointment is Ellen Hughes (who was a mentor for the Women's team) has now defended her sons and called it something akin to "locker room talk" and "we should all talk about unity"...boymoms can be the WORST supporters of the patriarchy unfortunately.


My wife and I agree that in our son, we are raising a feminist. We will brook no misogynistic nonsense in our household, and I especially hope to put out the example for him on that front as best I can.

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

New York Times newsletter on Trump's State of the Union address:

Quote

What the right saw

In the (caricatured) telling of right-leaning media personalities and politicians, [Trump's] address exposed Democrats as "CRAZY" people who are sympathetic to undocumented immigrants but not to crime victims, hockey Olympians or American citizens more broadly.

"Moment of the night: Democrats refusing to stand to affirm their allegiance to American citizens over illegal aliens," [...] referring to the trap Trump laid for Democrats. "Will be signature moment of this speech. Trump nailed them."

[...] What the left saw

[...] In the House chamber, Representative Al Green, a Texas Democrat, displayed a sign that read in capital letters, "Black people aren't apes!," an apparent reference to a racist video clip Trump posted on social media. Green was soon escorted out [...]

Gov. Abigail Spanberger delivered the Democratic response[...] "OBLITERATED: Abigail Spanberger just HUMILIATED Trump after his BORING Pettysburgh Address," [...] "She made him look old. Tired. Boring."

OTOH Trump himself actually mentioned that the Democrats were standing and clapping for the hockey players, so that's a particularly bizarre take (though I certainly wouldn't put it past right-wing influencers).

I confess I am sympathetic towards undocumented immigrants but not towards hockey Olympians or US citizens more broadly. Nor do I favor US citizens who are victims of crimes by undocumented immigrants over undocumented immigrants, who statistically commit far fewer crimes (if you don't count simply living in the country, which is technically a civil offense, not a crime, under US law) against US citizens than US citizens do.

Perhaps they really do see that as "crazy" given that I'm a US citizen, with the measure of "insanity" being not favoring "my in-group" of US citizens over "out-groups" of the rest of humanity. "Insanity" not as epistemic rupture or delusional thinking but as going against my supposed group or national interest. But of course the reality is that undocumented immigrants provide major net economic benefits to the United States in general (and automation hasn't advanced to the point where they could generally be replaced in their jobs). While committing fewer crimes than US citizens (if more than robots). And adding to the culture in ways that I appreciate more than MAGA.

Or perhaps it's some mixture of "I'm rubber, your glue" gaslighting and genuine delusion...

This post has been edited by Azath Vitr (D'ivers: Today, 12:55 AM

[QuickTidal]

Hillary Knights comments on this are perfect:

The joke was distasteful and unfortunate. Now I have to sit in front of you and explain someone else's behavior. It's not my responsibility


Women having to explain shitty behaviour of men happens WAY too often in our world.