Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Jesus watching the most hateful people claiming to be his followers

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

Anne Laurie is a fucking hero in so many ways. ~ Betty Cracker

Live so that if you miss a day of work people aren’t hoping you’re dead.

Washington Post Catch and Kill, not noticeably better than the Enquirer’s.

The arc of history bends toward the same old fuckery.

She burned that motherfucker down, and I am so here for it. Thank you, Caroline Kennedy.

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?

White supremacy is terrorism.

When your entire life is steeped in white supremacy, equality feels like discrimination.

They are lying in pursuit of an agenda.

Historically it was a little unusual for the president to be an incoherent babbling moron.

Hi god, it’s us. Thanks a heap, you’re having a great week and it’s only Thursday!

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

Relentless negativity is not a sign that you are more realistic.

America is going up in flames. The NYTimes fawns over MAGA celebrities. No longer a real newspaper.

Let me file that under fuck it.

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

Usually wrong but never in doubt

Republicans firmly believe having an abortion is a very personal, very private decision between a woman and J.D. Vance.

He really is that stupid.

How any woman could possibly vote for this smug smarmy piece of misogynistic crap is beyond understanding.

You are here: Home / Politics / Biden Administration in Action / Sunday Morning Open Thread: Never Let the Bastids Grind You Down

Sunday Morning Open Thread: Never Let the Bastids Grind You Down

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ETA: If you want to read the stories, click on the urls (apnews.com, missoulian.com), not the tweets!

Reader Interactions

156Comments

  6. 6.

    Rk

    Everything links to Twitter. I don’t have an account any more ( nor will I create a new one), so this post is impossible for me.

  8. 8.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @satby: It’s an obligatory “Blech.” I mean, Ron DeSantis still walks the earth, does he not?

    (and yes, wild buffalo being released on Blackfeet land isn’t just cool, it’s making me plan a visit. been way too long since last I was in that neck of the woods).

  9. 9.

    Mike in NC

    The ACLU tracked 491 anti-LGBTQ bills in state legislatures this year.

    This stuff is going to be Ground Zero of the GOP culture war campaign in 2024, even more so than the anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim hysteria of the last couple elections. Hate and fear is what drives them to the polls, and nobody did it better than Fat Bastard.

  10. 10.

    Scout211

    @Rk: AL is choosing tweets that have  links in them to the news article in the tweet.  Go to the lower part of the tweet that includes the articles and click on the link to the article. It will take you there. (Don’t click on the tweet itself).

    And the embedded videos still will play here.  So the tweets are still helpful if you want more information or want to watch the videos. It’s the best that she can do right now with Twitter in such a mess.

    I definitely appreciate her tireless work to inform us.

  11. 11.

    Suzanne

    That “Padam Padam” song is absolutely the song of the summer. WHAT. A. BOP.

    Today is a glorious day of clouds and rain. Cools everything off and improves the air quality. Love it.

    Yesterday, I made one of my favorite lazy-ass meals, in which I put a package of chicken and a jar of salsa in the crockpot, and shred it when it’s done. Then add rice, beans, avocados, cheese, salsa, crema, whatever to make tacos or bowls or burritos. It is kind of fantastic, relative to the effort it takes. Which, in some days, will be zero. Today I will expend slightly more effort and make chili.

  15. 15.

    Baud

    Oh, there’s video of the buffalo running at the link…with babies! They seem so happy.

  17. 17.

    moonbat

    Thank you AL for that link to the buffalo being released! It was absolutely beautiful.

  20. 20.

    JPL

    The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich is an excellent read about native americans.

  21. 21.

    Chief Oshkosh

    As to the USSC ruling on the supposed web developer who doesn’t want to provide service to gay couples, is it true that the gay couple is non-existent, that the request for service is non-existent, and that the supposed web developer didn’t even have a business until she created the entire episode from whole cloth?

    Can any attorneys here tell us whether the web developer commits perjury? And do we know if the USSC knew that the entire case was fictional (assuming that is so)?

    Sorry to just be catching up on this aspect of the “case,” but it’s so far through the looking glass that I just didn’t comprehend that these particulars may have just been lies.

  24. 24.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Baud: Did you see the pic of a baby drenched in trump paraphernalia yesterday? All I could think was, “A clearer case of child abuse I have never seen.”

  27. 27.

    Another Scott

    Some Mastodon tips:

    Prof Kemi FG
    @KFuentesGeorge@ universeodon.com

    I think this is my first time being on the other side of a #TwitterMigration. It’s pretty cool! For all the new folks here making an #introduction for those concerned about not being able to find POC, I strongly recommend starting by following hashtags and using those to follow people who use/are associated with them. I did that and found a really active, engaged, diverse, and vibrant Black community here. Use the following hashtags in particular:

    #BlackFedi #BlackMastodon #BlackTwitter #BlackFriday (I joined last November when this hashtag was created).

    There are other hashtags associated with other communities – our Indigenous siblings use #Indigenous and maybe #NDN, not sure. And every once in a while, someone will tweet a bunch of good accounts to follow. Personally, I could do with more #french #francais or #spanish #espanol content, but that’s kind of on me.

    Welcome!

    (via https://law-and-politics.online/@Teri_Kanefield )

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  28. 28.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Chief Oshkosh: ​As far as I am concerned the whole case is null and void and if they had any shame they would reverse themselves, but they don’t so we are probably stuck with their homophobic decision. As for the plaintiff, yes, she should be sanctioned and so should her lawyers. Actually, they should be disbarred.

  34. 34.

    pat

    @Chief Oshkosh:

    No one even bothered to contact the person who was named in the complaint until it was all over and he is married for the last 15 years to a woman, does websites himself, and had no idea that he was being identified.  Oh, and the woman who “won” is just thinking about doing websites in the future.

    I am shocked that someone can make up such a ludicrous story and it fits with what the court wants to do anyway, so they run with it.

    You’d think at least SOMEONE would have at least checked.  And poor old Roberts, whining about the dissents attacking the poor justices they are dissenting from.

  38. 38.

    JPL

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: It took place in the fifties, when native american females wanted to escape to the big cities and the abuse that they sustained.   It’s heartbreaking.

  39. 39.

    bbleh

    @Mike in NC: Hate and fear is what drives them to the polls.

    ‘Twas ever thus, no?  And yeah, anti-gay — and in particular anti-trans — does seem to be their flavor of the month.  But I’m not sure how much appeal it’s gonna have beyond the hard core (and the mindless sheep nearby).  It feels … tired.  Like, yeah you’ve already blown this horn and it turned out civilization didn’t crumble, and by the way, I kinda like my gay neighbors / coworker / nephew.

    Not to minimize recent setbacks, and this entirely made-up thing from Colorado is just the cherry of outrage on top, but it feels more like a movement lashing out from a position of long-term weakness than one making long-term gains.  I feel the same way about what they’re doing on reproductive healthcare: it’s gonna do more to turn the apathetic middle against them than to win them converts.

    Certainly hope I’m right, for many others’ sake as well as my own…

  40. 40.

    Suzanne

    Y’all, does anyone know of a site or a nonprofit (or a social media account) that tracks bigoted businesses? I obvs know the big chains, like Hobby Lobby (spit). It would be great to have a resource to ID the assholes so we can boycott.

  42. 42.

    Betty Cracker

    @Chief Oshkosh: Yep — gift link to the WaPo story here. I don’t get it either. Why not just traffic 100% in hypotheticals if it’s okay to use fictitious “harms” as a basis to decide a case? (Probably shouldn’t give the court’s radical clerics any ideas…)

  44. 44.

    moonbat

    Since we’re talking alternatives to Twitter Just want to toss this in from Spoutible’s About Us page.

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    We take our users’ privacy seriously, and we will never sell their personal data. We believe that selling users’ personal data should be prohibited by law, and we will have a legally binding agreement with our users stipulating that we will never sell their personal data.

    At Spoutible, we have a zero-tolerance policy for targeted harassment, hate speech, disinformation, and platform manipulation. We prohibit single-purpose hate accounts, and accounts spreading disinformation on our platform. We believe that the days of being swarmed by toxic trolls and flooded with falsehoods are over.

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    I’m a “First Wave” user since February and have zero complaints. They are responsive to user suggestions and constantly work hard to improve the site based on what users want. NOT vulture capitalist funded so no perverse incentives to abuse their users. They are definitely worth a look.

  45. 45.

    Jerzy Russian

    @satby:   I assume they are actual American Bison.   According to the article, the tribe has raising that herd for a number of years, getting ready for this event.

  46. 46.

    Another Scott

    @Chief Oshkosh: @OzarkHillbilly:

    The fact that there was no customer and they hadn’t actually made any wedding web sites was mentioned in the Sotomayor’s dissent (70 page .pdf): (Sorry for any mangled formatting…)

    303 Creative LLC is a limited liability company that sells graphic and website designs for profit. Lorie Smith is the company’s founder and sole member-owner. Smith believes same-sex marriages are “false,” because “‘God’s true story
    of marriage’” is a story of a “‘union between one man and one woman.’” Brief for Petitioners 4, 6–7 (quoting App. to Pet. for Cert. 188a, 189a); Tr. of Oral Arg. 36, 40–41. Same-sex marriage, according to her, “violates God’s will” and “harms society and children.” App. to Pet. for Cert. 186a.

    303 Creative has never sold wedding websites. Smith now believes, however, that “God is calling her ‘to explain His true story about marriage.’” Brief for Petitioners 7 (quoting App. to Pet. for Cert. 188a). For that reason, she says, she wants her for-profit company to enter the wedding
    website business. There is only one thing: Smith would like her company to sell wedding websites “to the public,” App. to Pet. for Cert. 189a; Colo. Rev. Stat. §24–34–601(1), but not to same-sex couples. She also wants to post a notice on the company’s website announcing this intent to discriminate. App. to Pet. for Cert. 188a–189a. In Smith’s view, “it would violate [her] sincerely held religious beliefs to create a wedding website for a same-sex wedding because, by doing so, [she] would be expressing a message celebrating and
    promoting a conception of marriage that [she] believe[s] is contrary to God’s design.” Id., at 189a.

    Again, Smith’s company has never sold a wedding website to any customer. Colorado, therefore, has never had to enforce its antidiscrimination laws against the company. As the majority puts it, however, Smith “worries that, if she enters the wedding website business, the State will force
    her to convey messages inconsistent with her belief that marriage should be reserved to unions between one man and one woman.” Ante, at 2. So Smith and her company, the petitioners here, sued the State in federal court. They sought a court decree giving them a special exemption from CADA’s Accommodation Clause (which, remember, makes it unlawful for a business to hold itself out to the public yet deny to any individual, because of sexual orientation, the
    full and equal enjoyment of the business’s goods or services, see supra, at 3–4) and CADA’s Communication Clause (which makes it unlawful to advertise that goods or services will be denied because of sexual orientation, see supra,
    at 4). App. 303–304.

    The breadth of petitioners’ pre-enforcement challenge is astounding. According to Smith, the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment entitles her company to refuse to sell any “websites for same-sex weddings,” even though the company plans to offer wedding websites to the general public. Ibid.; see also Brief for Petitioners 22–23, and n. 2; Tr. of Oral Arg. 37–38. In other words, the company claims a categorical exemption from a public accommodations law
    simply because the company sells expressive services. The sweeping nature of this claim should have led this Court to reject it.

    She gives all kinds of reasons why the decision is wrong (public accommodation isn’t compelled speech, she’s free to put whatever speech she wants on her web sites, etc.). The RWNJs don’t care – they’re more than happy to twist the record and make crap up to punch down on the non-white-male, non-RWNJ people in this country.

    It’s worth a read.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  49. 49.

    bbleh

    @Chief Oshkosh: @Betty Cracker: I wondered about that too — there’s NO HARM to anyone, so how can she have standing? — but from what I read, that particular aspect of standing doesn’t even figure in the dissents, so I guess the “reasonable fear” based on other prosecutions that the state HAD conducted is good enough for the legal eagles.

    I guess Kagan was pretty acid when it came to the student-loan case though, where there was a real question of standing, and the majority just brushed it aside with this “major questions” thing they’ve invented.

  52. 52.

    Betty Cracker

    Pitch-perfect response to a question about DeSantis’s bizarre ad that was discussed here yesterday (you can watch the ad at the Advocate site via Twitter embed).


    Hopefully non-twits can view it here without going to the fucked up bird site. If not, I’ll sum up: Buttigieg asks who the garbage DeSantis is serving up is supposed to help? Excellent question! And he juxtaposes DeSantis’s incel-themed ad with action the Biden admin has taken to help real people as opposed to making life harder for folks who already face plenty of persecution, thank you.

  54. 54.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @NotMax: If it were me I’d probably just say, “Fuhgeddaboudit.” and move on with my life. Been there, done that. There is a point where it is just not worth the trouble.

  55. 55.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @sab:

    @satby:

    I can tell an alligator from a crocodile from a cayman; I know the difference between a dromedary and a bactrian camel; and I can easily distinguish African elephants from their Indian cousins. But I have no idea how to tell a buffalo from a beefalo from a bison.

  56. 56.

    Lehrjet

    When do the ” No ( fill in blank)” signs start going up? And on a make believe case? Never seen such judicial quakery in my life. I’d say shame on them, but they have none, Calvinball court indeed.

  58. 58.

    Jerzy Russian

    @Betty Cracker:   That quoted line in the embedded tweet (“I’m going to leave aside the strangeness …”) should be a rotating tag.   Also, since I have been 12 years old for the past 44 years  I laughed at the banner text at the bottom:  “DESANTIS UNLOADS ON TRUMP …”

  60. 60.

    Another Scott

    @Baud: I haven’t posted anything on Mastodon – I set up an account a few months ago when the rush was in the news and many places were limiting signups. (It would take me a while to find that login…)

    Mastodon.social seems to be the biggest one.

    I don’t think it matters which one one picks, other than the URLs might be longer in referring to other instances, but I dunno.

    ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

    https://mastodon.social/auth/sign_up – let us know how it goes. :-)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  64. 64.

    Betty Cracker

    @Suzanne: Completely batshit insane, and the account that published it is the official “rapid response” account for DeSantis 2024 that is run by Christina Pushaw, who used to be DeSantis’s taxpayer-funded press sec before she switched to a campaign-side gig. WTF indeed!

  67. 67.

    Jerzy Russian

    @Baud:   Any tips on how best to apply brain bleach?  I am thinking of filling the toilet bowl with Tidy Bowl and dunking my head in, but I am open to other suggestions.

  69. 69.

    Suzanne

    @Betty Cracker: Right wingers seem to spend so much time feeling insecure about their masculinity, their junk, their weight, their wealth signaling, whatever. I remember feeling insecurity about my looks in my teens and twenties, which I’m sure is fairly universal, but holy shit. Mellow the fuck out. Have an edible. Take a good poop. Go for a run. Do something to release the stress.

  70. 70.

    Chief Oshkosh

    @Another Scott: Staggering. Not sure how Biden squares this with his current (previous?) stance on expanding the court. I sure appreciate (if not completely agree with) all the reasons for not stirring that pot, but this past week seems to have made such thinking…obsolete?

    Of course, if he does starting moving towards change, I doubt that he would advertise it too far in advance.

  72. 72.

    oldgold

    The argument about standing in the Wedding Website case might be good fodder for the How Many Angels Can Dance on the Head of a Pin Law Review, everywhere else it is a glorious waste of time and a distraction.

    The bigger problems are: 1. Article 3 of the Constitution was poorly thought through and wretchedly drafted; 2. This was exacerbated by Marbury and its progeny; and, 3 Made even worse by a cabal of corrupt Supremes.

    In sum, there is now no such thing as Constitutional Law. They should stop teaching it in law schools.

  74. 74.

    snoey

    @SiubhanDuinne: Bison and buffalo are the same animal. Bison is now preferred to avoid confusion with cape and water buffalo. Beefalo were bred when there were only a few hundred bison left. It didn’t work well and was abandoned. Yellowstone bison and some others are pure. Most ranched bison now have a very low percentage of cattle DNA.

  76. 76.

    Suzanne

    @JPL: My uncle and aunt are retired educators, and they live in Florida. (They moved there after retiring, so they never worked there.) We routinely ask them WTF they are doing there. They sound less and less sure of the answer with time.

  77. 77.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: Or maybe he doesn’t care what students need.

    If he gave a F what students need he’d commit ritual seppuku. If he cared what I want he’d do it live on national TV.

  80. 80.

    apocalipstick

    @oldgold: Agreed. The standing issue is the hole. The doughnut is the expansion of the Hobby Lobby ‘sincere belief’ carve-out.

    It’s never the decision in a SCOTUS opinion; it’s the reasoning used to get thete.

  83. 83.

    Tony Jay

    @Betty Cracker:

    That’s the first thing that occurred to me when I heard about this.

    If this lunatic judgement stands – and why wouldn’t it? – that legitimises the idea that wingnuts don’t need to wait for a case to come up that they can push to the Supremes. They can just invent one out of whole cloth, tailor it to provide issues that the Sanhedrin Six can pronounce their judgements on, and voila! From the highest bench shall they legislate into a land that respects not their right to win elections.

    Seriously, since they’re pronouncing judgements based on fiction and lies, what’s actually going to stop them?

  84. 84.

    Steeplejack

    @mali muso:

    Thanks! That seems to work for me (Win11, Firefox). Have only looked at a couple of feeds, haven’t clicked anything.

  85. 85.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @snoey:

    Thanks very much! I hadn’t realised that bison and buffalo are the same beast — no wonder I had trouble telling them apart!

  86. 86.

    StringOnAStick

    I’m thrilled to see those bison on the plains, where they belong and are an essential part of the natural carbon capture system that is regenerative ranching.  Seriously folks, if we’d go to grass fed beef and bison on properly managed graising rotations (move them often, just like when predators kept them doing the same), we’d be a HUGE part of the way to dealing with all the carbon in the air getting locked up back in the soil like it used to and needs to be!

  90. 90.

    oldgold

    The idea that these corrupt robed pols are engaging in good faith constitutional analysis that leads to their decisions is laughable. What they are doing is running  the cases through their ideologic filter and/ or their paymasters and  then dressing  up their decisions with constitutional  mumbo jumbo.

    If it was not already dead ( could argue round or flat), Constitutional law died with Bush v. Gore.

  91. 91.

    StringOnAStick

    @Tony Jay: What you describe so well is exactly what they’ve been doing, for decades now. I recall reading lawyers  with their hair on fire about this before Citizens United, because that case was generated in order to get the exact outcome it achieved.  The name Citizens United Not Timid was just an extra fuck you aimed at Hillary, for some extra spite on top.  It was a Federalist Society -engineered case from day 1.

  92. 92.

    surfk9

    At what point does the executive have the right to ignore wildly extra-constitutional rulings by a rogue court?

  95. 95.

    Tony Jay

    @StringOnAStick:

    How long before some gun-toting jackass declares that they intend to start up a mobile gun-shop to bring the joys of the 2nd Amendment to neighbourhoods across the country as they believe God wants them to, but are concerned that they may be punished if they find themselves under attack by criminal thugs and Stand Their Ground in a state lacking SYG laws?

    Bish, Bash, Bosh, we the Six declare that all gun restrictions and laws restricting self-defence are now unconstitutional as they could infringe on 2nd amendment rights and something to do with “the right to life” textual gobbledegook.

    Ridiculous? Sure. But so what? I’d they want it, they’d pronounce it. And that would be that.

  96. 96.

    UncleEbeneezer

    95 degree heat yesterday compelled us to treat ourselves to a couple hours of indoor, dark, air-conditioned enjoyment of a movie.  We went to see Asteroid City and I must say it’s probably my favorite Wes Anderson movie since Moonrise Kingdom (maybe even since The Royal Tannenbaums).  The look/vibe is typical Wes Anderson style of heightened artificiality, marvelous sets, and every shot looks like a painting.  The cast is an overload of A-list actors who all give incredible performances.  It’s ultimately a film about loss, grieving and the importance of story-telling and despite the actors staying within the parameters of Anderson’s direction to have them under-emote most of the time, there are still some incredibly emotional moments (at least there were for us, who have both lost loved ones recently).  If you hate Wes Anderson, skip it.  But if you like his stuff, generally, I highly recommend it.  Really a lovely, funny and moving experience.

  98. 98.

    wenchacha

    My high school in NW Pa was called Fort LeBoeuf. We had a very large taxidermied bison head in the main lobby. George Washington and troops were in the area at one time, presumably with large herds of bison.

    Up the road a ways, along I-90, many large plastic buffalo roam the entrances into the city of Buffalo. I have only seen the real thing at a couple of farms, one in PA and one out on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington.

    The pictures of mountains of bison skeletons killed for sport and malice always makes me angry at the terrible waste and destruction.

  99. 99.

    Another Scott

    @snoey: @SiubhanDuinne:

    The same name is applied to the American version, but as snoey says they’re different from true buffalo.

    SI.edu:

    Are bison and buffalo the same?

    Though the terms are often used interchangeably, buffalo and bison are distinct animals. Old World “true” buffalo (Cape buffalo and water buffalo) are native to Africa and Asia. Bison are found in North America and Europe.

    Both bison and buffalo are in the bovidae family, but the two are not closely related.

    How did the names get so mixed up? Historians believe that early European explorers are to blame, though the details are a bit murky. According to the National Park Service, it’s possible it stemmed from the French word boeuf, meaning beef. Others posit that bison hides resembled buff coats commonly worn by military men at the time, inspiring the name. Whatever the case, the misnomer stuck.

    So how do you tell the difference between buffalo and bison?

    Bison have large humps at their shoulders and bigger heads than buffalo. They also have beards, as well as thick coats which they shed in the spring and early summer.

    [ large hoofed animal with short horns and molting fur ]

    Another simple way to tell a buffalo from a bison is to look at its horns. Cape buffalo horns resemble a handlebar mustache; they have a thick, helmet-like base and curl down, then back up.

    A water buffalo’s horns are large, long and curved in a crescent, while a bison’s horns are typically sharp and shorter than the average buffalo’s.

    [/well-actually]

    ;-)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  102. 102.

    Joey Maloney

    @OzarkHillbilly: Only thirty days actual prison time but I enjoyed reading some of the other conditions of her sentence: No social media presence allowed, and she has to submit to warrantless searches of her devices at any time.

    So much for her career as an influencer.

  104. 104.

    Another Scott

    @Tony Jay: You’re not too far off in your hypothetical…

    RollCall.com (from 6/30):

    The Supreme Court will decide whether federal law can prohibit gun possession for people who are subject to domestic violence orders, the first Second Amendment case at the high court since a decision last year that expanded the right to carry firearms in public.

    Friday’s announcement from the justices comes after a wave of decisions on gun laws from appeals courts in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association Inc. v. Bruen in 2022.

    That decision laid out a new legal test for the constitutionality of gun regulations that relies on the history and tradition of the founding era. Judges implementing it since then have tossed restrictions such as prohibitions for nonviolent felons to bans on carrying in the New York City subway.

    The case now before the justices will be the first major chance for the justices to revisit the Bruen case, in which a 6-3 majority of the court struck down a New York law governing who can obtain a concealed weapon permit in the state.

    The justices likely will hear the case in the next term starting in October and issue a decision before the end of June.

    The Biden administration asked the justices to overturn a February decision from a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit that tossed a federal restriction on firearm possession for people subject to domestic violence restraining orders.

    Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar, in asking the justices to review the 5th Circuit decision, argued the government should still be able to keep firearms out of the hands of people who have been found in a court of law to be a danger to the public. Prelogar said there are numerous historical examples that support taking firearms from people who could present a danger but have not been convicted.

    “Those descriptions suggest that the government may properly disarm citizens who are dangerous, irresponsible, or unlikely to abide by the law,” Prelogar wrote.

    In the year since the decision, courts have used the Bruen test to overturn a replacement New York law, a restriction on possession of guns without a serial number, a restriction on gun possession while under felony indictment and a restriction on gun possession for nonviolent felons.

    […]

    Your right to be secure and free and safe in public does not trump the right of deranged nutjobs who are afraid of everything and hate everyone to parade around with weapons of war and threaten your existence with them. There is no right to Safety in the Constitution. To say otherwise is a “Major Question” that Congress has not specifically addressed in legislation which passes Constitutional muster. Reversed and Remanded.” – Thomas, for the 6-3 majority on the court, June 28, 2024.

    Grr…,
    Scott.

  105. 105.

    zhena gogolia

    My brand new office desktop computer has locked me out and there won’t be anybody to help me until Wednesday

  107. 107.

    mali muso

    @Steeplejack: You’re very welcome! Someone shared it on a thread yesterday.  Guess we will see if it lasts, but for the moment at least, us non-twits can at least catch up on favorite feeds.

  108. 108.

    zhena gogolia

    I had a feeling of dread as I entered my office this morning. New computers are never never never an improvement. I can’t figure out why it won’t accept my password. Somehow it had switched itself to the czech keyboard and I didn’t notice that until after I tried my password three times. But it won’t accept it on the US keyboard either now

  113. 113.

    realbtl

    The eastern part of Glacier where the bison are is my favorite section of the park. It’s generally less crowded and offers some gorgeous wide open vistas.

  115. 115.

    different-church-lady

    insert elected official* is only doing the thing I want because he needs the votes next election.”

    There’s also the old favorite, “He’s doing what I want but he’s doing it wrong.”

  116. 116.

    Tony Jay

    @Another Scott:

    Would not surprise me in the least. And your preemptive Thomas opinion lacks only the concurrence of Alito scrawling “Ka-Ching, Libs!” across it.

  117. 117.

    trollhattan

    “Free-range buffalo? They’ll give my cattle brucellosis!”
    –Ranchers everywhere
    “Cattle introduced brucellosis to buffalo.”
    –Science
    “Go ahead and shoot any buffalo who get loose, gotta protect those cattle.”
    –Federal government
    And, scene

  118. 118.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Another Scott:

    Though the terms are often used interchangeably, buffalo and bison are distinct animals. Old World “true” buffalo (Cape buffalo and water buffalo) are native to Africa and Asia. Bison are found in North America and Europe.

    IMHO, this is one of those instances where people should distinguish between scientific, legal, or professional usage of a term, and colloquial usage of that same term.

    Sure, if I’m talking to a zoologist, I’ll try to remember to refer to the North American animals as bison, but otherwise, I’ll say ‘buffalo’ and I’ll be damned if I’m gonna sing “o give me a home where the, um, bison roam.”

    And if anyone gives me a hard time about it, they’d better not use phrases like ‘almost everywhere’ near me in a manner inconsistent with their mathematical meanings.

  124. 124.

    Another Scott

    Meanwhile, in Paris, France, … VOANews.com:

    PARIS — Former U.S. Vice President Mike Pence and former British Prime Minister Liz Truss on Saturday gave their backing to an exiled Iran opposition movement, slamming what it called Western appeasement of Iran’s clerical authorities.

    They addressed a meeting outside Paris of the People’s Mujahedin (MEK) group, as thousands of supporters of the group staged a rally in the center of the French capital that had initially been banned by the police.

    Outlawed by Tehran, MEK is a controversial Iranian resistance group. It was once listed as a Foreign Terrorist Organization by the United States for its alleged killing of U.S. personnel in Iran during the 1970s and for its ties to former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. Recognizing the group’s rejection of violence, the State Department delisted MEK in late 2012 but voiced ongoing concerns about its alleged mistreatment of its members, according to the Council on Foreign Relations.

    The MEK and its political wing the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) are far from having universal support among the Iranian diaspora but are backed by several high-profile former U.S. and European officials.

    […]

    Not enough wars over there with overt US and UK involvement. Gotta keep beating those drums of war, and support the groups that the RWNJs support because they’ve never been wrong about foreign entanglements in the past…

    Grr…,
    Scott.

  126. 126.

    trollhattan

    @Another Scott: ​
    What’s Mikie’s take on his old boss blowing up the very-favorable to the West Iran nuke deal? I know that involves “thinking” so not Mike’s forte, but surely Mother has told him what he thinks.

  130. 130.

    RaflW

    @OzarkHillbilly: Am I ridiculous to think that the utterly false pretenses of this 303 “case” make it really easy for a reconstituted Court to jettison at its earliest convenience? (Assuming either Biden gets the message in January ’25 to go like hell to expand the court, or we have a combo of health crises and (oh, FSM make it so, corruption charges that opens two seats for Biden to fill).

  131. 131.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Baud:

    That buffalo picture is gorgeous. 

    It just screams “Nashville hot chicken and waffles!” at my belly on this dreary, rainy day.

  132. 132.

    hueyplong

    @UncleEbeneezer: We also saw Asteroid City in an afternoon heat escape to a local theater.  This new one and Grand Budapest Hotel are my two favorites.

    In this era, I’m kind of tired of constant gunplay and CGI-driven action sequences.  Anderson’s tender-hearted goofiness (generally called “quirkiness” by reviewers) is welcome here.

    As you say, though, people who don’t like Wes Anderson in general are likely to find that this latest movie includes those characteristics that turned them off to begin with.

  135. 135.

    Tony Jay

    @snoey:

    We’ll I’m no expert, but it does remind me of an amusing 6000 word anecdote involving an elk, a whelk and the gifted German actress Elke Sommer…

  137. 137.

    Another Scott

    @trollhattan: You know the answer already.  ;-)

    WNG.org (From February 2019):

    Vice President Mike Pence on Thursday urged America’s allies in Europe to join the United States in pulling out of the Iranian nuclear deal. During a two-day conference on the Middle East that began Wednesday in Warsaw, Poland, Pence sharply criticized Britain, France, and Germany for maintaining the 2015 agreement. He accused the nations of trying to subvert U.S. sanctions imposed on Iran since President Donald Trump withdrew from the agreement in May 2018. “Sadly, some of our leading European partners have not been nearly as cooperative,” Pence said. “In fact, they have led the effort to create mechanisms to break up our sanctions.”

    He was TIFG’s biggest cheerleader. Now he’s running for the GQP nomination for president against him because, …, er, what’s the question again??

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  139. 139.

    Ruckus

    @Suzanne:

    I learned very young to not accept the stress in the first place. IOW don’t go down the road of stress. Think about what it gains you. And what it costs you. Sure, there will be stress in life, sure sometimes more than you want. I even ADDED stress to my life by riding motorcycles for almost 60 yrs. Except I recognized, and learned how to look at stress as just a part of some things and how to actually relax and release that stress, set it free. I’ve watched people who had no concept of this and what it did to them. I studied Buddhism because it seemed like the focus of it was to relax, to deal with what comes. At least that’s what I got from it. I didn’t/don’t follow it but to me it’s one lesson was to look at the whole picture, to find a place to fit in, to not stress on things you can’t change/fix, to relax – using their method, or one you devise for yourself. That doesn’t mean that things don’t piss you off or give you stress, it’s what you do with it that matters for you. Your responses are the same as mine, other than the concept of chemicals – I don’t think they are wrong, just not for me. (They do seem to work, I just found they are a stopgap – for me) Mellow the fuck out, Do something to not let the stress run your life. The first step is to recognize what stress is, to recognize when you are stressed, the next step is to release it – let it go, not build upon it.

  143. 143.

    zhena gogolia

    @Kathleen: There’s no way to check anything on the screen.

    I’m just going to have to wait until everyone comes back on 7/5. Luckily I can still use my laptop that I paid for myself.

    It’s Mac, not Windows.

  145. 145.

    NotMax

    @zhena gogolia

    Apple store (if one near you) may be open Monday, even if for only a half day.

    Apple customer service phone lines:

    800 275-2273

    800 442-4000

  147. 147.

    Captain C

    @Tony Jay: For that matter, if, say, Thomas and Alito were in a Stand Your Ground state and someone snuck up behind them and put two each in the back of their respective heads, wouldn’t the assassin have a claim of self-defense on the grounds that those two might, hypothetically at some point in the future threaten their lives?

    This court is a prime example of what happens when one side is shameless about using judicial Calvinball to get outcomes they want (which always boils down to hate, greed, and sadism).

    (Note that the Captain does not recommend 2nd Amendment solutions to this court. I would prefer either expanding the SCOTUS to at least 13 or, barring that, that the Shitty Six either resign or do the Honorable Thing themselves.)

  148. 148.

    apocalipstick

    @Tony Jay: Doesn’t need to be that complex. Hobby Lobby establishes the ‘sincere belief’ standard, tip tap, over and out.

  149. 149.

    Bill Arnold

    @Captain C:

    wouldn’t the assassin have a claim of self-defense on the grounds that those two might, hypothetically at some point in the future threaten their lives?

    The prosecution would not want me on that jury. Just saying.
    If that hypothetical wedding web site designer had picked some other minority to hypothetically discriminate against for religious reasons, e.g. Jews, or mixed-skin-color couples, would the decision have been the same?

  151. 151.

    Glidwrith

    @Tony Jay: IANAL, but since the case was a lie, then one could argue that whatever effects the decision would have downstream are moot. Ironically, as a hypothetical, if some ass acts on the court’s decision, sue according to original law and shoot down the citation of their decision as fabrication. BJ lawyers, would this work?

  152. 152.

    Chris T.

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    I can tell an alligator from a crocodile from a cayman

    I read that and my head went straight for Gilbert and Sullivan: I am the very model of a <insert something that rhymes with cayman> / I can tell an all-i-gator from a croc-o-dill or cay-ay-man …

  153. 153.

    Chris T.

    @NotMax:

    Thought for a fleeting second you were going for a Modern Major General riff.

    We think disturbingly alike!

  155. 155.

    Chris T.

    @Tony Jay:

    Seriously, since they’re pronouncing judgements based on fiction and lies, what’s actually going to stop them?

    That’s why we need to flood their zone with shit. Perhaps have ChatGPT instances write up billions of fake cases and submit them continuously…?

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