Re: Mahmoud Khalil

1

Columbia really sucks too. But it's once again illustrating that the worst thing to do with Trump is to try to cooperate with him. It makes things worse.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 03-12-25 7:05 AM
horizontal rule
2

1: I think we have a collective action problem. Nobody wants to stand up on their own and get singled out.


Posted by: Bostoniangirl | Link to this comment | 03-12-25 7:08 AM
horizontal rule
3

Good thing people voted for Trump because Biden was too anti-Palestine. Couldn't possibly have seen this outcome coming.


Posted by: Unfoggetarian: “Pause endlessly, then go in” (9) | Link to this comment | 03-12-25 7:22 AM
horizontal rule
4

3 Fuck off


Posted by: Barry Freed | Link to this comment | 03-12-25 7:24 AM
horizontal rule
5

Ganz is excellent on this (as usual)
https://www.unpopularfront.news/p/the-abduction-of-mahmoud-khalil


Posted by: Barry Freed | Link to this comment | 03-12-25 7:25 AM
horizontal rule
6

Bluesky has been killing it on this btw


Posted by: Barry Freed | Link to this comment | 03-12-25 7:26 AM
horizontal rule
7

This was pretty good too
https://www.stevevladeck.com/p/131-five-questions-about-the-khalil


Posted by: Barry Freed | Link to this comment | 03-12-25 7:27 AM
horizontal rule
8

3 is right though.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 03-12-25 7:31 AM
horizontal rule
9

I found my comment from January about the denaturalization authority within the DoJ, created in 2020. The Khalil case is specifically targeting pro-Palestinian protestors at universities, which Trump said he was going to do in exactly this way. It wouldn't be surprising to see it expand into other areas if this case goes (somewhat) unchecked, but I'm not sure what the other obvious targets would be. (Yet.)


Posted by: lurid keyaki | Link to this comment | 03-12-25 7:31 AM
horizontal rule
10

6, 3 it didn't affect the outcome in the end and it's also a deeply depraved reaction to have to this


Posted by: Barry Freed | Link to this comment | 03-12-25 7:34 AM
horizontal rule
11

3 is wrong - Trump managed to negotiate a ceasefire in Gaza. Joe Biden would never have done that because Joe Biden actively supported and encouraged the genocide of the entire population of Gaza. That far outweighs any inconvenience caused to one Palestinian at Columbia, and Palestine supporters would be very wrong to withdraw their support of Trump over whatever happens to Khalil. (Or indeed to withdraw their support of Trump over anything else Trump has done. How utterly immoral it would be to turn against a man who has ended a genocide of a million people simply because you disagree with his policy on tariffs!)


Posted by: ajay | Link to this comment | 03-12-25 7:36 AM
horizontal rule
12

"It didn't affect the outcome" is obviously not known or knowable in a close election.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 03-12-25 7:37 AM
horizontal rule
13

And to 3... come on, is this going to be the "Bernie would of won" of 2025? I don't think it has to be. Every single point about this has been made already 500 times and it's boring as shit to read.


Posted by: lurid keyaki | Link to this comment | 03-12-25 7:38 AM
horizontal rule
14

23 apparently so.


Posted by: Barry Freed | Link to this comment | 03-12-25 7:41 AM
horizontal rule
15

I think they get some kind of perverse kick out of it


Posted by: Barry Freed | Link to this comment | 03-12-25 7:42 AM
horizontal rule
16

Adam Serwer via Bluesky:

One of the disturbing reactions to the Mahmoud Khalil arrest is people making things up that he did to justify it that even the Trump admin doesn't claim he did. People just see him as the *type* of person who did the things they're mad about, so punishing him for it is acceptable. Lynching logic.

And also this from him:
https://bsky.app/profile/adamserwer.bsky.social/post/3lk4ldhw55s2w


Posted by: Barry Freed | Link to this comment | 03-12-25 7:46 AM
horizontal rule
17

16 linked post has a link to an article by him on this as well


Posted by: Barry Freed | Link to this comment | 03-12-25 7:47 AM
horizontal rule
18

One of the most alarming things about this is how explicitly the WH has said they are not charging him with any crime.


Posted by: Barry Freed | Link to this comment | 03-12-25 7:49 AM
horizontal rule
19

Question from ignorant foreigner: presumably there are things you can do that mean you lose your green card. What are they? Like, serious crimes?


Posted by: ajay | Link to this comment | 03-12-25 7:50 AM
horizontal rule
20

19 there was a good thread about that on Bluesky by an immigration lawyer, I'll see if I can dig it up but iirc yes, serious crimes also fraud in the green card application (the latter of which can also be grounds for denaturalization)


Posted by: Barry Freed | Link to this comment | 03-12-25 7:54 AM
horizontal rule
21

A little too navel-gazing for Bluesky, but this is the first thing they've done that seems both evil and intelligently conceived. It really is splitting elite Democrats because of their contempt for anyone perceived of as anti-Israel.

On a different track, I actually think I saw someone non-right-wing suggesting that because statute allows the Secretary of State to revoke legal permanent residency for virtually any reason, this is plausibly legal? Since when does that statute override the fucking First Amendment?


Posted by: Minivet | Link to this comment | 03-12-25 7:55 AM
horizontal rule
22

Maybe "splitting" is the wrong word as I don't think any elite Democrats are supporting the action, but let's say "immobilizing".


Posted by: Minivet | Link to this comment | 03-12-25 7:57 AM
horizontal rule
23

19 and others: I'm genuinely curious to hear people's thoughts about the second link in comment 9, and the prospect of expanding the DoJ's denaturalization efforts. I haven't followed up since January to see what's happened so far, and I can't remember at this exact moment which Batman villain is in charge of DoJ.


Posted by: lurid keyaki | Link to this comment | 03-12-25 8:02 AM
horizontal rule
24

Not on all topics, just on the topic of Trump's virulently anti-Palestinian viewpoints. He said he was going to do this, people voted for him, now he's doing it. It's tragic, but it's not surprising, and it's what people voted for. I disagree with Trump's behavior here, which is why I voted for Harris, which was literally the only thing that any of us can do about it.


Posted by: Unfoggetarian: "Pause endlessly, then go in" (9) | Link to this comment | 03-12-25 8:07 AM
horizontal rule
25

The link in 7 gets at this a bit for this particular case - there's one special carve out that seems to give the Secretary of State the ability to pretty much just say so: "8 U.S.C. § 1227(a)(4)(C): An alien whose presence or activities in the United States the Secretary of State has reasonable ground to believe would have potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States is deportable." There's some required process there, of course, of having the SoS say so to Congress, which doesn't seem to have happened.

More generally, "crime involving moral turpitude", and anything involving drug trafficking, as long as the possible sentence is one year or more. See here.


Posted by: Nathan J. Williams | Link to this comment | 03-12-25 8:08 AM
horizontal rule
26

22: Yes, what many Ds are either not responding or doing so with by leading with a long preamble about how he basically had it coming.

I think the CR is really gong to split Dems and also deepen splits with the base.

They got reluctant Rs on board by basically saying, "Don't worry, the executive will not spend the money you don't want to spend anyway, and we'll take the heat for cuts."

I believe this will all cascade (all the crimes and corruption) as the R's solidify and get more loyal soldiers in place at lower levels of the exec D's eat their own. The only thing that might stop it in the short term is if they *really* spiral the economy. And I think things like Khalil and various vengeance items will continue even then.


Posted by: JP Stormcrow | Link to this comment | 03-12-25 8:20 AM
horizontal rule
27

Thread by a journalist on the immigration beat
https://bsky.app/profile/daralind.bsky.social/post/3lk2r44vpn22z
Some good answers by immigration lawyers in reply to this https://bsky.app/profile/kenwhite.bsky.social/post/3ljyc4gduoc2r

Providing material support to a designated terrorist organization or membership in same or in a gang would do it. Notably they are not accusing him of anything like this.


Posted by: Barry Freed | Link to this comment | 03-12-25 8:21 AM
horizontal rule
28

27 to 19


Posted by: Barry Freed | Link to this comment | 03-12-25 8:21 AM
horizontal rule
29

I think they're going to really spiral the economy in the medium term.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 03-12-25 8:22 AM
horizontal rule
30

To several comments above:

https://bsky.app/profile/prof-kari-hong.bsky.social/post/3lk2f4kpqzs2s

" Immigration lawyer here.

Under INA 237(a)(4)(C)(i) the Sec of State can find any non-citizen deportable if their presence presents a threat to foreign policy.

But under INA 212(a)(3)(C), the Sec of State has to notify the Congress and the reason cannot be lawfully protected speech or activities"


Posted by: Barry Freed | Link to this comment | 03-12-25 8:23 AM
horizontal rule
31

Notably they are not accusing him of anything like this.

Or, indeed, of any crime of any description (in the White House's own telling). They are self-avowedly trying to make an example of him for speaking out.


Posted by: Minivet | Link to this comment | 03-12-25 8:25 AM
horizontal rule
32

I'm not sure why the law is going to affect anything. If the Trump administration breaks the law, what is going to happen? The Justice Department won't prosecute, and even if they did Trump can just pardon everyone (except maybe himself, but since this is clearly an official act he can't get charged for it anyway). You think the Louisiana Attorney General is going to intervene?


Posted by: Unfoggetarian: "Pause endlessly, then go in" (9) | Link to this comment | 03-12-25 8:27 AM
horizontal rule
33

And as it is related, I am also quite perturbed by the grant freeze at Columbia (who has found so many new and exciting ways to be wrong on all fronts); but also Maine and John Hopkins 9s far). Maine it is the governor challenging thing. Not sure what the beef with JHU is. But I expect this to become the standard MO, favored and red state unis get funded, recalcitrant and Blues state pubs get punished. I am not holding my breath on any effective collective action on the part of university administrations.

A bit doomy today, I see a a 10+ year semi-recovery to sort of democracy if there is one at all, and not led by anything much like the current Democratic party. I would love for this to be the stupidest prediction I've ever made.

Am I cheering for a wildly spiraling economy? Probably effectively yes, but I pretend not to be.


Posted by: JP Stormcrow | Link to this comment | 03-12-25 8:28 AM
horizontal rule
34

26.1 there have been a lot of really good Democratic responses that hit the right notes, notably Sen Chris Murphy
https://bsky.app/profile/yasharali.bsky.social/post/3lk55zle5dk2c
Schumer was pretty bad to begin with but ended up with the correct response.
And Fetterman not only supported it but apparently was given prior notice in a meeting with the head of the fascist Betar organization who had been meeting WH officials to demand it


Posted by: Barry Freed | Link to this comment | 03-12-25 8:30 AM
horizontal rule
35

29 we're all going to have to touch the stove, Moby.


Posted by: Barry Freed | Link to this comment | 03-12-25 8:32 AM
horizontal rule
36

Doomerism about the law and everything else is both self-defeating and deplorable.


Posted by: Barry Freed | Link to this comment | 03-12-25 8:32 AM
horizontal rule
37

I'm not sure why the law is going to affect anything. If the Trump administration breaks the law, what is going to happen?

Well, a judge is going to say "let this guy go". It's not a question of people getting prosecuted, it's a question of Khalil being released. (And when a judge blocks Trump from doing a thing, as has happened many times already, he tends to accept it.)


Posted by: ajay | Link to this comment | 03-12-25 8:34 AM
horizontal rule
38

You live in a different country.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 03-12-25 8:34 AM
horizontal rule
39

To 35.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 03-12-25 8:35 AM
horizontal rule
40

32: First, they are in fact still trying to justify what they do to judges, if badly and being given too much leeway. Second, the law is an important part of public opinion and remains a lodestar even when it's not being followed - it's the time of sede vacante.

To everyone - call your Senator and tell them to hold the line of demanding a clean CR (not the House-passed one) until the illegal impoundment stops, because otherwise they are setting the state for Congress as advisory body only going forward.


Posted by: Minivet | Link to this comment | 03-12-25 8:38 AM
horizontal rule
41

33.3: Yes. It's really calling for an artillery strike on my own position. But I don't see a better option.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 03-12-25 8:42 AM
horizontal rule
42

37 yes, this

38 for an American university and paid in American dollars and Trump is going to end up dragging the global economy down as well.


Posted by: Barry Freed | Link to this comment | 03-12-25 8:43 AM
horizontal rule
43

40.2 yes, I'd like to request a separate post for the CR bill. It is also extremely important and time is pressing.


Posted by: Barry Freed | Link to this comment | 03-12-25 8:44 AM
horizontal rule
44

42.2: That's three or four steps down the line from where I'm standing.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 03-12-25 8:48 AM
horizontal rule
45

This is a useful site https://5calls.org/


Posted by: Barry Freed | Link to this comment | 03-12-25 8:51 AM
horizontal rule
46

There was a hearing in federal court (SDNY) in the past hour. Judge Furman has already ordered them not to remove Khalil from the country while it's adjudicated, and has said Khalil needs to get a privileged call with counsel today and another tomorrow (he previously requested one and it was scheduled for the 20th, according to his lawyer); other than that it was planning when to receive briefs on the issue of venue.


Posted by: Minivet | Link to this comment | 03-12-25 8:52 AM
horizontal rule
47

21: A little too navel-gazing for Bluesky, but this is the first thing they've done that seems both evil and intelligently conceived.

Not too navel-gazy for me, though! And I want to take exception.

The Israel/Palestine issue has been exploited by Trump throughout. Sure, this is a novel legal approach given Khalil's complete lack of cuplpability, but the promotion of hate plays in Trump's favor in obvious ways. And boy howdy, does Trump have a strong intuitive grasp of the ways haters can be manipulated to either support him or to stand by while he does his thing.


Posted by: politicalfootball | Link to this comment | 03-12-25 8:52 AM
horizontal rule
48

Josh Marshall has been good on the CR cloture vote. Worth discussing here as Barry said.


Posted by: Bostoniangirl | Link to this comment | 03-12-25 8:55 AM
horizontal rule
49

We are literally in the first line of the Niemoller poem, and anyone who doesn't recognize that is in denial.


Posted by: Long Time Shirker | Link to this comment | 03-12-25 8:57 AM
horizontal rule
50

Literally used in the metaphorical sense, of course.


Posted by: Long Time Shirker | Link to this comment | 03-12-25 8:58 AM
horizontal rule
51

Not sure what the beef with JHU is.

There doesn't seem to be any particular beef with Hopkins specifically. They're just cutting off huge amounts of biomedical research funding in general and Hopkins does a ton of it.


Posted by: teofilo | Link to this comment | 03-12-25 8:58 AM
horizontal rule
52

Not all universities are as spineless as Columbia (e.g. Georgetown has come out swinging and they're not alone), but the whole thing would be more effective if there was real solidarity across all academic institutions.

Educated elites do have real power in society, and it would behoove us to behave as though we recognized this. We can be destroyed bit by bit but if we flex our muscle the Trump/Musk bullies will back down, as bullies always do toward people with real power.


Posted by: Long Time Shirker | Link to this comment | 03-12-25 9:01 AM
horizontal rule
53

47 yes, the Adam Serwer posts and article I linked above take dead aim at that

Having trouble with Google Voice here but may end up calling my Senators from my overseas number anyway


Posted by: Barry Freed | Link to this comment | 03-12-25 9:03 AM
horizontal rule
54

They still have to vote on cloture, right? That's where this thing can be killed
(Trying Skype now)


Posted by: Barry Freed | Link to this comment | 03-12-25 9:05 AM
horizontal rule
55

They do have to vote on cloture, yes.


Posted by: teofilo | Link to this comment | 03-12-25 9:07 AM
horizontal rule
56

Where's Gillibrand on this?


Posted by: Barry Freed | Link to this comment | 03-12-25 9:12 AM
horizontal rule
57

51: That's what Pitt is facing too. If it carries through the way Trump has started, it will be worse for Pittsburgh then than the 2007 recession and could be as bad as the collapse of steel in the 80s.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 03-12-25 9:15 AM
horizontal rule
58

Probably hiding beneath a pile of cryptocurrency.


Posted by: Spike | Link to this comment | 03-12-25 9:15 AM
horizontal rule
59

lol


Posted by: Barry Freed | Link to this comment | 03-12-25 9:20 AM
horizontal rule
60

37: last term he did. This term they don't seem to be complying with judges orders, at least with NIH funding.


Posted by: Unfoggetarian: “Pause endlessly, then go in” (9) | Link to this comment | 03-12-25 9:39 AM
horizontal rule
61

I wonder how many shares of Tesla the US Treasury now holds.


Posted by: Eggplant | Link to this comment | 03-12-25 9:41 AM
horizontal rule
62

60: I think it's in the middle - they're giving judges the runaround, pettifogging etc., but not literally ignoring them.


Posted by: Minivet | Link to this comment | 03-12-25 10:41 AM
horizontal rule
63

The games they play
https://bsky.app/profile/joshuajfriedman.com/post/3lk6xmor6gc2t


Posted by: Barry Freed | Link to this comment | 03-12-25 11:24 AM
horizontal rule
64

The games they play (this one unrelated to Khalil)
https://bsky.app/profile/paulgowder.bsky.social/post/3lk7cvm6hyc2m


Posted by: Barry Freed | Link to this comment | 03-12-25 11:51 AM
horizontal rule
65

52.1: Getting crosswise with the Society is not generally a good idea.


Posted by: Doug | Link to this comment | 03-12-25 12:01 PM
horizontal rule
66

25: it's definitely a spaghetti against the wall approach, though, as "he's on a student visa" or "he supported terrorism" haven't stuck. Rubio could declare him to be a foreign policy problem but it's not an argument in good faith.


Posted by: Cala | Link to this comment | 03-12-25 12:12 PM
horizontal rule
67

Good thing for Rubio that he has no standards left.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 03-12-25 12:13 PM
horizontal rule
68

Looks like the calls to Senators worked. Schumer just announced his caucus is unified against yhe Republican CR and that will not get cloture.


Posted by: Minivet | Link to this comment | 03-12-25 12:19 PM
horizontal rule
69

Excellent


Posted by: Barry Freed | Link to this comment | 03-12-25 12:20 PM
horizontal rule
70

Now with the flavor of the month (AI)
https://bsky.app/profile/elmcitytree.bsky.social/post/3lk75jnmspc2x


Posted by: Barry Freed | Link to this comment | 03-12-25 12:21 PM
horizontal rule
71

57: the ass clowns in charge probably think every university has billions in an endowment.


Posted by: Cala | Link to this comment | 03-12-25 12:33 PM
horizontal rule
72

Anyhow, hope you're OK, Mobes. My cousins all work in research on NIH grants and everything is a mess. All of our parents voted for Trump. They are now confused.

I can't see what the point of all this is. It's like a list of what every right-winger bitched about in 1996. Plus tanking the economy for shits and giggles.


Posted by: Cala | Link to this comment | 03-12-25 12:58 PM
horizontal rule
73

13- It's "Bernie would have won," splitter.


Posted by: SP | Link to this comment | 03-12-25 1:15 PM
horizontal rule
74

Yeah, there was a commenter here who always typed "would of," including at least one verbatim "Bernie would of won," and I just cannot stop mocking it eight years on. I was really moved by that line in ogged's Drum eulogy about how he was never an asshole. I don't have that kind of forbearance in me. But also, the surly smugness plus the malapropism just captures something very specific.


Posted by: lurid keyaki | Link to this comment | 03-12-25 1:22 PM
horizontal rule
75

72: Thanks. Just people I know, not me, having issues so far. And my wife has a job in an unrelated industry.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 03-12-25 1:47 PM
horizontal rule
76

Or maybe not. Now Schumer supposedly has a cockamamie idea that would mean the Dems get amendment chances... in exchange for going down to 51 vote threshold. Maybe it's DOA or meant for GOP not to rise to challenge, but phone calls (by now, voicemails) may still be in order.


Posted by: Minivet | Link to this comment | 03-12-25 2:37 PM
horizontal rule
77

Look, Harris lost because of the Margin of Despair. Lots and lots of people who probably ought to have voted for her, who are certainly going to be terribly harmed by Trump, and would have prospered under Harris, simply didn't show up because they didn't think it would do any good.

Were they wrong to feel that despair? Certainly in terms of the Palestinian question, it will ultimately not make that much difference which party is in power in the US. The Palestinians have been facing genocide for nigh on eighty years. That's not going to change as long as Zionism is in existence. And no one in the upper echelons of the Democratic Party has ever offered any but the most muted and ineffectual criticisms of Zionism. Laughing while Arab and Muslim bodies burn on TV is basically another US national sport at this point. Those few of us who revile it have nowhere near enough power to actually change anything. And the ones who revel in it have almost all the money, almost all the guns and almost all the votes. Whatever the electoral outcomes were in 2016, 2020 or 2024, and whatever the outcomes will be in 2028, 2032 and 2036, Palestinians continue to be crushed beneath Zionism's iron heel. That's the way it goes in the city of Washington.


Posted by: Natilo Paennim | Link to this comment | 03-12-25 5:18 PM
horizontal rule
78

The crimes of this guilty land will not be purged.


Posted by: Natilo Paennim | Link to this comment | 03-12-25 5:21 PM
horizontal rule
79

They'll be purged, but none of us will live that long, except Teo.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 03-12-25 6:05 PM
horizontal rule
80

list of what every right-winger bitched about in 1996

Out: Contract with America

In: Contract on America


Posted by: fake accent | Link to this comment | 03-12-25 6:11 PM
horizontal rule
81

Thanks, fa, that genuinely cheered me up.


Posted by: lurid keyaki | Link to this comment | 03-12-25 6:54 PM
horizontal rule
82

Is Teo still the youngest? I've been drinking with a Welshman so I'm a bit buzzed.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 03-12-25 7:01 PM
horizontal rule
83

Why does Wales have only six last names?


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 03-12-25 7:04 PM
horizontal rule
84

Is Wales Korea?


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 03-12-25 7:15 PM
horizontal rule
85

Is Korea Wales? They're both on a peninsula next to a major empire.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 03-12-25 7:17 PM
horizontal rule
86

Are they both rainy? I don't know.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 03-12-25 7:23 PM
horizontal rule
87

Korea Wales was the name of a stripper I used to know.


Posted by: Spike | Link to this comment | 03-12-25 10:01 PM
horizontal rule
88

85: mountainous terrain, heritage of coalmining and heavy industry, bitterly divided between North and South, famous for their all-male singing groups, yeah I can see it.


Posted by: ajay | Link to this comment | 03-13-25 1:19 AM
horizontal rule
89

Both sound like things that young people in the 1980s used to spend a lot of time worrying about.


Posted by: ajay | Link to this comment | 03-13-25 1:21 AM
horizontal rule
90

72: It would be so hard for me not to say, "This was totally foreseeable. You've brought this on yourselves and are responsible for allowing him to trash the country." Totally unhelpful, of course, but I'm not good at not saying 'I told you so.'

Tim was e-mailing his uncle. They used to like to go to Florida and Arizona. This year they went to Mexico and are glad they didn't spend money in the US. His wife has relatives the US voted for Trump, and he said, he doesn't want to see them. He doesn't think he'll ever travel to the US after all the economic harm Trump is causing Canada.

This is a guy who always voted Progressive Conservative, but will probably vote Liberal, because the Liberal leader Carney is standing up to Trump, and the conservative leader Poilievre has Trump fans in his coalition.


Posted by: Bostoniangirl | Link to this comment | 03-13-25 1:30 AM
horizontal rule
91

88 bracing myself for the upcoming wave of W-pop groups


Posted by: Barry Freed | Link to this comment | 03-13-25 2:19 AM
horizontal rule
92

Glamorgan Style.


Posted by: JP Stormcrow | Link to this comment | 03-13-25 3:36 AM
horizontal rule
93

Koryo, Cymru, I can sort of see it.


Posted by: ajay | Link to this comment | 03-13-25 3:40 AM
horizontal rule
94

Seaweed-eating Japanese influence?


Posted by: Alex | Link to this comment | 03-13-25 3:52 AM
horizontal rule
95

If Wales is Korea Scotland is clearly Japan. Shared fondness for tempura, for one thing. Also this guy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Blake_Glover who ran the first coal mine in Japan, helped found Mitsubishi, commissioned the first warship of the Japanese Navy and started the Kirin Brewery.


Posted by: ajay | Link to this comment | 03-13-25 4:33 AM
horizontal rule
96

Also both know for their single malt whisky. Plus the whole fishing thing.


Posted by: Unfoggetarian: “Pause endlessly, then go in” (9) | Link to this comment | 03-13-25 4:38 AM
horizontal rule
97

||

Spike- Is there any movement to get this ghastly law overturned?

https://www.nhpr.org/nh-news/2025-03-11/nhs-new-id-requirements-send-some-would-be-voters-home-to-grab-passports-birth-certificates

I feel like the LIVE FREE OR DIE state should be against all Voter ID laws.

|>


Posted by: Bostoniangirl | Link to this comment | 03-13-25 4:39 AM
horizontal rule
98

96: single malt whisky, fish-heavy diet, golf, culturally significant two-handed swords, cold weather, mountains, heavy drinking, aggressive conquest of large parts of Asia, I mean the list goes on.


Posted by: ajay | Link to this comment | 03-13-25 4:42 AM
horizontal rule
99

Are deep-fried Mars bars a kind of tempura?


Posted by: Barry Freed | Link to this comment | 03-13-25 4:54 AM
horizontal rule
100

95.last: So he was big in Japan?


Posted by: JP Stormcrow | Link to this comment | 03-13-25 4:56 AM
horizontal rule
101

After almost half a century of regarding the deep-fried Mars bar as entirely mythical, I have finally now eaten one. It was delicious.


Posted by: ajay | Link to this comment | 03-13-25 5:30 AM
horizontal rule
102

100: there are statues of him and his house is a museum!


Posted by: ajay | Link to this comment | 03-13-25 5:31 AM
horizontal rule
103

Spike- Is there any movement to get this ghastly law overturned?

The movement is in the courts right now. We've gone from a system where its really easy to vote to one where its really hard.


Posted by: Spike | Link to this comment | 03-13-25 6:11 AM
horizontal rule
104

||

Does anyone think AOC could beat Schumer in a primary? What about someone else? Look, I'm liberal/lefty by American standards, but I'd take a Harry Reid right now. Just someone who is willing and able to fight.

|>


Posted by: Bostoniangirl | Link to this comment | 03-13-25 6:13 AM
horizontal rule
105

103: My driver's license and voter registration are ever so slightly different from my passport and birth certificate. I never changed my last name, but I have 4 names. I always thought of myself a having two middle names, but technically my first name is 2 names with a space in between. Social Security smushes them.

I think I should probably fix my license at some point and change my voter registration, but I haven't and am not sure how to update it.


Posted by: Bostoniangirl | Link to this comment | 03-13-25 6:23 AM
horizontal rule
106

105: So basically I would have a hard time voting. And it seems like many married women who change their last name would too.


Posted by: Bostoniangirl | Link to this comment | 03-13-25 6:24 AM
horizontal rule
107

103: "We've gone from a system where its really easy to vote to one where its really hard."

But given that low-propensity voters are overwhelmingly Trump supporters, that might be... good? https://www.npr.org/2024/11/18/nx-s1-5183063/trump-turnout-republican-voting-access


Posted by: ajay | Link to this comment | 03-13-25 6:41 AM
horizontal rule
108

Married women also tend to vote Republican (50-45) - never-married women or women who are living with a partner are strongly Democratic (72-24, 64-33).

And passport-holders - who will be OK to vote, married or not, unless they're in a BG situation where the name doesn't quite match - are far younger and far better educated than the average, so obvious Democratic voters.


Posted by: ajay | Link to this comment | 03-13-25 6:48 AM
horizontal rule
109

33: Apparently U Maine got its funding back after Susan Collins lobbied. Heading towards a maximally transactional government.


Posted by: JP Stormcrow | Link to this comment | 03-13-25 6:50 AM
horizontal rule
110

I feel like the LIVE FREE OR DIE state should be against all Voter ID laws.

Yeah, but they're changing the state motto to, "On second thought, why not slavery and death?"


Posted by: peep | Link to this comment | 03-13-25 6:52 AM
horizontal rule
111

As an American I don't distinguish between the home countries in terms of heavy drinking, it's all way heavier than I'm used it.


Posted by: Unfoggetarian: "Pause endlessly, then go in" (9) | Link to this comment | 03-13-25 7:25 AM
horizontal rule
112

But given that low-propensity voters are overwhelmingly Trump supporters,

Low propensity voters who vote are Trump supporters. Democrats also have low propensity voters, we just can't get them to vote.

Republicans have been going hard after out-of-state students who vote. Its not because they are Trump supporters.


Posted by: Spike | Link to this comment | 03-13-25 7:32 AM
horizontal rule
113

I feel like the LIVE FREE OR DIE state should be against all Voter ID laws.

That slogan is unspecific about who lives free and who dies. Its a ridiculous sentiment for a state that won't even legalize weed.


Posted by: Spike | Link to this comment | 03-13-25 7:34 AM
horizontal rule
114

106: Hell, I'd probably have a hard time voting, and I'm a cishet guy. I did change my name, and I thought I did my due diligence about it - birth certificate, passport, driver's license, social security card, most of the credit cards - but I happened to buy my house before changing it, so my old name is on the mortgage, and therefore it's on my voter registration. I don't even know how I'd go about getting a copy of the mortgage with the new name. I haven't bothered updating my voter registration because where I live is currently reasonable about proof of residency, but that could change any time.


Posted by: Cyrus | Link to this comment | 03-13-25 7:44 AM
horizontal rule
115

That's not good.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 03-13-25 7:47 AM
horizontal rule
116

124: bizarre that it's tied to that. I don't know about mortgage documents, but if you want a new name on the assessment roll/property taxes you have to deed your house to yourself. It's one of the few things I haven't done because annoying.


Posted by: lourdes kayak | Link to this comment | 03-13-25 7:51 AM
horizontal rule
117

115 - Either a time-traveling robot has arrived from the future or the ninja turtles are up to something.


Posted by: Spike | Link to this comment | 03-13-25 8:00 AM
horizontal rule
118

115: Wow. I hope they have better luck evacuating than they did in the Sept of Baelor.


Posted by: politicalfootball | Link to this comment | 03-13-25 8:03 AM
horizontal rule
119

Someone flustered a Tesla.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 03-13-25 8:22 AM
horizontal rule
120

Flushed


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 03-13-25 8:26 AM
horizontal rule
121

115: is it not just expected for manholes to explode from time to time over there? Or are you worried that the flame is a different colour this time?


Posted by: ajay | Link to this comment | 03-13-25 8:45 AM
horizontal rule
122

That's not good.

Counterpoint: it is in fact really quite good.

Green, yellow flames shoot out of Texas Tech manhole, explosion forces early spring break
https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/national-international/texas-tech-university-manhole-explosion/6185324/


Posted by: | Link to this comment | 03-13-25 8:46 AM
horizontal rule
123

121: The color is the concern. If it were orange, it would just be another Thursday.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 03-13-25 8:48 AM
horizontal rule
124

This person needs deporting at the very least

US tourist filmed running off with baby wombat may have visa canceled, official says

https://edition.cnn.com/2025/03/13/travel/australia-us-tourist-wombat-visa-intl-hnk/index.html


Posted by: ajay | Link to this comment | 03-13-25 9:03 AM
horizontal rule
125

We should all try to live our lives in such a way that the prime minister of a G20 nation does not feel compelled to give a press conference in which he suggests that we should be fed to crocodiles.


Posted by: ajay | Link to this comment | 03-13-25 9:06 AM
horizontal rule
126

That was a Simpsons episode, I think.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 03-13-25 9:08 AM
horizontal rule
127

First as farce, then again as farce.


Posted by: Doug | Link to this comment | 03-13-25 9:13 AM
horizontal rule
128

According to the Google, green flames suggest the presence of copper in whatever was burning. Maybe its a gas fire burning up some copper wires?


Posted by: Spike | Link to this comment | 03-13-25 9:15 AM
horizontal rule
129

There's probably not supposed to be a fire there though.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 03-13-25 9:17 AM
horizontal rule
130

114: Where I live, you can give them a license for them to scan - and they prefer it, because it is easier - but ID is absolutely not required, and I never give it.


Posted by: Bostoniangirl | Link to this comment | 03-13-25 9:19 AM
horizontal rule
131

Its true that people used to say you shouldn't let the manholes burn, but what they didn't realizes is that fires are a natural part of the manhole ecosystem. These days, best practice is to let the manholes burn from time to time so they don't build up an excess of fuel and burn hot enough to vaporize copper.


Posted by: Spike | Link to this comment | 03-13-25 9:24 AM
horizontal rule
132

I think ammonia also burns green.


Posted by: apostropher | Link to this comment | 03-13-25 9:26 AM
horizontal rule
133

They shouldn't store ammonia in underground tunnels. People steal it to make meth.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 03-13-25 9:28 AM
horizontal rule
134

I hear.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 03-13-25 9:30 AM
horizontal rule
135

Clearly ammonia borane with white fuming nitric acid https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZbuuh1f2KM


Posted by: ajay | Link to this comment | 03-13-25 9:33 AM
horizontal rule
136

But ammonia itself burns orange


Posted by: ajay | Link to this comment | 03-13-25 9:33 AM
horizontal rule
137

I am just guessing here but I suspect that the list "Things you could not conceivably find if you lifted a manhole on the Texas Tech campus" is quite short.


Posted by: ajay | Link to this comment | 03-13-25 9:34 AM
horizontal rule
138

Is Teo still the youngest?

I actually never have been! L. hasn't shown up in a while though.


Posted by: teofilo | Link to this comment | 03-13-25 10:17 AM
horizontal rule
139

124 and 116: In MA and much of the Northeast, you need a lawyer when you buy real estate. Ours made me sign it with my full name. I used 2 initials in the signature which is not what I normally do. Part of why I did not change my name is that I could never decide what name to drop. Adding on a 5th would be too much and since all 3 of my prenoms (to use the French word on my passport) come from an ancestor, I'd hate to lose that. But I was always brought up to believe that you kept your maiden name in your name.


Posted by: Bostoniangirl | Link to this comment | 03-13-25 10:21 AM
horizontal rule
140

The woman doing the official whatever when we bought our house and an elaborate, very deliberately detailed signature. I guess to make it hard to copy.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 03-13-25 10:25 AM
horizontal rule
141

I was in Japan when we bought ours, and lurid had to sign as my "attorney in fact" in like 84 different places and got hand cramps.


Posted by: lourdes kayak | Link to this comment | 03-13-25 12:55 PM
horizontal rule
142

Law school prepares you for that.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 03-13-25 1:04 PM
horizontal rule
143

I've now spent enough time in KaKania that I find the American hostility to IDs weird. I mean, yes, given that we don't simply issue everyone a free national ID card, voter ID laws etc are bad, but in fact we should just issue everyone a national ID card. It should be easy to prove you are who you say you are! This is exactly the kind of thing a government should provide, like enforcing contracts, and having uniform weighs and measures, and land registries!


Posted by: X. Trapnel | Link to this comment | 03-13-25 1:37 PM
horizontal rule
144

Why does the government have to weigh uniforms?


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 03-13-25 1:39 PM
horizontal rule
145

I've now spent enough time in KaKania that I find the American hostility to IDs weird. I mean, yes, given that we don't simply issue everyone a free national ID card, voter ID laws etc are bad, but in fact we should just issue everyone a national ID card.

This has been my view, and it's puzzled me that there was never a shift towards making sure everyone can get an ID for free. But there's probably a lot of overlap between people who want strict voter ID and people who get offended at the idea the government would provide everyone with an ID. You wouldn't want the wrong people to get the idea that they can play an equal role in the nation, would you?


Posted by: fake accent | Link to this comment | 03-13-25 2:00 PM
horizontal rule
146

I seriously think a big part of the American opposition to nationwide IDs is middle-class white people who don't want to make it too hard for their teenage kids to buy alcohol.


Posted by: teofilo | Link to this comment | 03-13-25 2:31 PM
horizontal rule
147

On another topic, looks like both NY senators will vote to invoke cloture. Influence of Wall Street/finance who will essentially accept anything Trump does because it doesn't bother them very much even when they don't like it?


Posted by: fake accent | Link to this comment | 03-13-25 2:36 PM
horizontal rule
148

I seriously think a big part of the American opposition to nationwide IDs is middle-class white people who don't want to make it too hard for their teenage kids to buy alcohol.

I'm unclear on the mechanism here. People are id'd to buy alcohol, that's fairly well enforced with state alcohol regulators sending in decoys, so... how would IDs being nationwide change anything?


Posted by: Minivet | Link to this comment | 03-13-25 2:54 PM
horizontal rule
149

I thought 9/11 put a stop to it by making it a major felony, but I remember guys making fake IDs for bars back in the day. It was comically low tech. They would paint an ID on a big piece of cardboard and have you stand with your head in the photo spot and take a picture of the whole thing.
I've also seen a bartender get busted for serving a minor without asking for ID. The dude looked 30.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 03-13-25 3:18 PM
horizontal rule
150


I'm unclear on the mechanism here. People are id'd to buy alcohol, that's fairly well enforced with state alcohol regulators sending in decoys, so... how would IDs being nationwide change anything?

Everyone would know what the IDs look like and what to look for to tell if they're fake.


Posted by: teofilo | Link to this comment | 03-13-25 3:41 PM
horizontal rule
151

Gotta love this quote:
"Alan Dershowitz Says Detained Israel Protester Should 'Be Treated the Way We Treat Nazis'"

Oh, so pardon him, give him several billion dollars and make him the President?


Posted by: Natilo Paennim | Link to this comment | 03-13-25 4:18 PM
horizontal rule
152

Happy Purim where applicable. May I suggest a new rule? Drink wine until American tariff policy of the past five weeks makes sense.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 03-13-25 4:24 PM
horizontal rule
153

Natilo says "Alan Dershowitz should be treated the way we treat left-wing Jewish kids wearing keffiyehs"


Posted by: Natilo Paennim | Link to this comment | 03-13-25 4:26 PM
horizontal rule
154

Alan Dershowitz should have the decency to be ashamed enough for his Epstein-related activities to go away.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 03-13-25 4:38 PM
horizontal rule
155

I stopped by re-occurring (small) monthly donation to the DSCC today. Been going since 2018. I still have one to the Pennsylvania Democrats going that I'll keep. I want to be sure my name shows up in the FEC reports and I don't think Fetterman is mostly their fault.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 03-13-25 4:44 PM
horizontal rule
156

154: "If I had any decency, would I even be Alan Dershowitz?"


Posted by: peep | Link to this comment | 03-13-25 4:59 PM
horizontal rule
157

||

No news I'm aware of since last year's verdict, but was this controversy the subject of a thread here a few years ago maybe? It rings a bell somehow.

|>


Posted by: Minivet | Link to this comment | 03-13-25 5:03 PM
horizontal rule
158

Schumer and Gillibrand appear to be out on a limb even for other Dem elites? Seth Moulton, Neera Tanden, Eugene Vindman, all shouting to the rooftops about how stupid supporting cloture is.


Posted by: Minivet | Link to this comment | 03-13-25 5:10 PM
horizontal rule
159

The Senate is weird, man.


Posted by: Minivet | Link to this comment | 03-13-25 5:11 PM
horizontal rule
160

158: Seth Moulton sucks ass in do many ways. Better than Fetterman but that's a low bar.

So if he's saying it, then..,,

He's one of the speakers at a protest on Saturday in Boston. The chair of the state Dem party will also be there, so I feel like I should go despite Moulton.


Posted by: Bostoniangirl | Link to this comment | 03-13-25 5:42 PM
horizontal rule
161

143-146. I always find it off that if you stay somewhere in Europe that you have to show your ID. I'm pretty sure that when I stayed with someone in Rome while taking Italian lessons, they needed to tell the police.

Not being asked for ID if you're nog driving or buying alcohol is pretty central to my notion of freedom. I think it comes from our English roots.


Posted by: Bostoniangirl | Link to this comment | 03-13-25 5:50 PM
horizontal rule
162

I almost got arrested for nog driving one Christmas Eve back when I was young and stupid.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 03-13-25 5:53 PM
horizontal rule
163

Time to dust off the face punch theory of politics. Except now after punching the hostages in the face, the Democrats plan to send them right back.


Posted by: fake accent | Link to this comment | 03-13-25 6:45 PM
horizontal rule
164

Adding to those yelling against Schumer now: Susan Rice, and a joint statement from House leadership Jeffries, Clark, and Aguilar. Really seems to be Schumer and a few in his circle going out on a punch-the-hostages limb atm.


Posted by: Minivet | Link to this comment | 03-13-25 7:35 PM
horizontal rule
165

Whoare the hostages, in this definitely not analogous theory?


Posted by: mc | Link to this comment | 03-13-25 9:41 PM
horizontal rule
166

I don't see much reason to pursue that line of questioning as if it's serious, so I don't have more to say, thanks for asking!


Posted by: fake accent | Link to this comment | 03-13-25 10:33 PM
horizontal rule
167

For those who aren't fa, what are the hostages?
I have things to do other than keep track of your dumpster fires.


Posted by: mc | Link to this comment | 03-14-25 12:41 AM
horizontal rule
168

I don't think 157 has come up here before? I feel sure I would have remembered it.


Posted by: ajay | Link to this comment | 03-14-25 1:00 AM
horizontal rule
169

I don't remember the story in 157 either, though of course I might have missed it.


Posted by: Doug | Link to this comment | 03-14-25 3:19 AM
horizontal rule
170

The story in 157 is truly nuts, though, so thank you for linking it even though we missed it at the time. The tiktocker in question sounds unwell, but she was getting millions of views - I think the whole genre of true crime needs to be shamed as socially harmful, certainly when it involves people who are still alive and cases that are still open. People make all this fuss about porn but it's true crime (and its close sibling, the misery memoir) that is the real toxin.


Posted by: ajay | Link to this comment | 03-14-25 3:34 AM
horizontal rule
171

Nog s/b not

New Yorkers - please call Gillibrand now.

I loved the guy standing outside Schumer's house with the "WTF, Chuck" sign. I hate this, but given how spineless he is, I think we need a serious primary candidate.


Posted by: Bostoniangirl | Link to this comment | 03-14-25 4:31 AM
horizontal rule
172

Former Republican Adam Kinzinger also mad at him.


Posted by: Bostoniangirl | Link to this comment | 03-14-25 4:32 AM
horizontal rule