Miscellaneous And Off Topic Subjects

[Hannibal]

It's going to be funny if after all the shameless attempts to redefine the popular definition of "recession", and all the mockery the Admin is getting for that, the GDP number tomorrow ends up being positive and the whole argument is rendered moot.

We've already changed the definition of "man" and "woman". Why not change the definition of "recession"? Heck unlike "man" and "woman", the word is less than 100 years old.

[Dr. Strangelove]

So promoting fake news that damages people means that you can be sued? When does CNN get sued for all of the lies that they spread that led to BLM riots? For that matter, when does BLM get sued for all of the violence that they have formented? How many acts of violence can be attributed to things that Alex Jones has said? Zero? His crime is causing "emotional distress". How many acts of violence can be directly attributed to lies told by BLM and the mainstream media? Quite a few -- and it amounts to at least a little bit more than "emotional distress". This is what I mean when I say that one side is bringing a knife to a gunfight. If the Right ever adopts this strategy you guys are going to transform into free speech absolutists overnight.

Sandmann sued a bunch of news agencies and is likely a millionaire because of it. He also lost some of those cases because the facts against certain outlets weren't strong enough on his side.

I repeat: Alex Jones used his platform to smear random Americans who had just had their children murdered FOR Years, while making a ton of money off of doing so, and in spite of a very significant person at his company warning him things had gone way beyond the point of decency and reason. Once he was sued, he basically refused to comply with any court orders and in doing so got two judges very angry at him.

He's a piece of shit. As Mike says he deserves everything he gets.

[THE_WIZARD_]

So promoting fake news that damages people means that you can be sued? When does CNN get sued for all of the lies that they spread that led to BLM riots? For that matter, when does BLM get sued for all of the violence that they have formented? How many acts of violence can be attributed to things that Alex Jones has said? Zero? (that didn't prevent him from getting banned from youtube after the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting though). His crime is causing "emotional distress". How many acts of violence can be directly attributed to lies told by BLM and the mainstream media? Quite a few -- and it amounts to at least a little bit more than "emotional distress". This is what I mean when I say that one side is bringing a knife to a gunfight. If the Right ever adopts this strategy you guys are going to transform into free speech absolutists overnight.

Progs need to be punched in the mouth. Period.

[Hannibal]

Sandmann is only one example.

Hopefully the first of many.

[Mike]

Rittenhouse is supposedly suing a bunch of people. He should win enough of them to live comfortably.

[iam416]

Buchanan:

To answer two of your questions.

First, yes, DJT would have loved to subvert the 2020 election but he had no practical chance of succeeding. Now, whether that's a wolf or not, I don't know. Perhaps it's a wolf, but the wolf is appearing to a boy armed to hilt with a machine gun and the wolk is inevitably going to get gunned down.

Second, the Article I elections clause (Congressional elections) specifically states that Congress can "overrule" state laws on Congressional elections. That's in the Constitution. But, we're not really concerned with Congressional elections. The point of this has been Presidential elections. the Article II elections clause has no such language.

So, not only did the Framers know how to give the Federal Government power to supercede State election laws, they in fact DID so for Congressional languages and, almost assuredly, CHOSE not to for Presidential elections. I don't think there are many judges who would dare read the Article II elections clause to include such Congressional "override" authority. I'm serious -- I don't think Sotomayor would do it. I'm nearly 100% certain Kagan wouldn't. It's just not a tenable Constitutional construction.

[Tom W]

Tom - sometimes, I wonder how you live in that area and stay sane.

What makes you think that I'm actually "sane"? ;-)

Seriously, though- I'm in NW Wayne County - pretty far from the 3rd world areas of Detroit. (maybe not far enough). Work and family keeps me here. I have no desire to stick around here after I retire.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Sandmann is only one example.

Hopefully the first of many.

You'll win some, you'll lose some. Jones lost because 1) the facts are overwhelmingly against him and 2) he effectively told two judges to go fuck themselves.

[Hannibal]

The election law issue from 2020 is that the election process in various states was unlawfully modified by the executive branches of those states. Wisconsin, for example, did not follow its own election laws by loading up the state with drop boxes. And thus,. Joe Biden was elected by mail-in, thanks to mail-in votes that all happened to arrive after midnight and were counted after those states announced that they were suspending counting for the night.

[Da Geezer]

I do think however and to my understanding of these that there are exploitable loopholes in some of the state's processes of designating electors to the EC. I mentioned those in an earlier post (i.e., putting political and ideological motivated officials into state level elected positions that oversee the presidential voting process and the designation of electors to the EC). This is especially true of "faithless electors" (not possible in all states). These have appeared when the EC convenes in the past, have mostly voted for 3rd party candidates and have had no direct impact on the R v. D presidential race the winner of that race the EC is designed to determine. So it seems all is well, right?

If that were the case, why has Congress since very early in the history of US presidential elections entertained multiple proposals to change the process defined in the constitution for the election of the president and vice President?

Really good debate today.

JB, what makes you think that the "overseers" of the elections in the recent past were NOT ideologically motivated? There were several instances in 2020 where the Secretary of State overrode the state constitution in order to accept votes by mail or four days late. In MI, anyone can vote by claiming they forgot to bring their ID. The SoS said to count those votes. In recent history, the D party has been much more likely to try to put radically progressive persons into positions like prosecuting attorneys or AG or SoS. The Rs (as usual) are way behind in exploiting "loopholes".
_____________________

Obama labeled the constitution as a list of negative rights. That was his perspective as someone who wanted to reset the country. In reality, the Federal Constitution is a grant of limited rights from the states to the feds. The BoR was added in order to get the Constitution ratified, but there again the view that a Federal government "might" try to usurp rights from the people is reiterated. The tenth amendment is a positive statement about the states retaining rights not specifically mentioned.

This idea that Congress can make up "new" freedoms or rights is opposite to the original intent of the Constitution. Our rights come from God, not from any act of man. Life, Liberty, and Property is the formulation of God-given rights that the Constitution uses.

And our discussion is not really taking into account the timing of the Civil War amendments, particularly the 14th. The 14th dealt with freed slaves and their rights. But the 14th and the Commerce Clause have been used by policy-making activist judges to legislate non-constitutional "rights" that act as policy pronouncements. Any sensible person should see that disbursing policy-making to 51 different entities makes it less likely that tyranny could take hold. Our founders were all about atomizing power.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Really good debate today.

JB, what makes you think that the "overseers" of the elections in the recent past were NOT ideologically motivated? There were several instances in 2020 where the Secretary of State overrode the state constitution in order to accept votes by mail or four days late. In MI, anyone can vote by claiming they forgot to bring their ID. The SoS said to count those votes. In recent history, the D party has been much more likely to try to put radically progressive persons into positions like prosecuting attorneys or AG or SoS. The Rs (as usual) are way behind in exploiting "loopholes".
_____________________

The only state I'm aware of where there was a dispute over counting "late" ballots was in PA where the argument was whether to count mail votes that arrived after Election Day but were post-marked before it. That dispute made it to the SUpreme Court and Alito ordered PA to follow the pre-existing Sec of State guidelines -- that any ballots arriving after Election Day had to be segregated from all the rest and only counted if necessary. In the end, the number of those ballots were so small that they were totally irrelevant to the outcome

As to mail-in voting in general, the PA Legislature adopted it in 2019 with almost unanimous Republican support. When partisan hack Republicans later sued in November to try to invalidate every single mail-in vote in the state, they got chastised by the judge for not finding anything to object to about mail-in ballots for 18 months until it was obvious Trump was in trouble. And also pointed out that none of them felt their own races should be invalidated too, only the Presidential race.

That's always been one of the easiest arguments to debunk claims of mass fraud. Every single Congressional and State Republican won office using the exact same ballots, machines, and methods that apparently "stole" the victory for Biden.

https://www.npr.org/2022/05/16/10969...-want-it-throw

[THE_WIZARD_]

Red wave is coming. Smell the fear.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Chips Bill passes in the Senate...onto the House. Intel City, Ohio getting close to reality

House Republicans are recommending a no vote but not whipping against it. Any Ohio House Republican who votes against it should be primaried. .

[Hannibal]

Chips Bill passes in the Senate...onto the House. Intel City, Ohio getting close to reality

House Republicans are recommending a no vote but not whipping against it. Any Ohio House Republican who votes against it should be primaried. .

Ahh. Good old fashioned government subsidy/pork. I miss the days when debates were about this stuff. Seems so damn minor now. I Have little doubt, without knowing anything about the bill, that it will probably put a legitimate 10% of its spending towards actual chip production and then distribute the rest towards lining the pockets of various political donors, sending illegal immigrants to public schools, and funding transgender surgeries in Madagascar.

[Hannibal]

8588cb1261546e3a.jpg