The Frankish Reich

And yet, everyone is apparently broke.

And a Happy Good Friday to you too!

Wow, look at all the awful franchise restaurants of the 70s and 80s closing up shop. Whatever will we do?

The Libertarian Party has always been at odds with the political philosophy known as libertarianism. But it is now officially intellectually kaput. Inviting Trump? Then nominating another nobody? There isn't even some minor former governor or congressman ready to abandon the two main parties and their awful candidates? I'll give people here the benefit of the doubt: many (including me) have a strong libertarian streak. But there is now nowhere to go for us. A true lesser of two evils political environment.

Cost of BillsFanNC's Memorial Day barbecue: $5.99 at Burger King. Because nobody in their right mind would spend a holiday with such a miserable creep.

On this Memorial Day, let us remember the victims of one of the most evil men the modern world has known. And let us recall the conspiratorial inspiration for his evil act. Some commenters here find themselves in a very disgusting club.

Trump himself reposted it. Meaning either: 1. He didn't watch it first, and he simply reposts any random shite he comes across on Twitter, since no one else uses Truth Social, or ... 2. He did watch it first, was impressed by the comparison between himself and a German Reich, and reposted it with enthusiasm.

A truly free state would be more focused on banning lab-grown meat.

https://www.wsj.com/business/energy-oil/gas-prices-memorial-day-weekend-2df1feab?mod=hp_lista_pos1 Preholiday costs are about 5% below their inflation-adjusted average since 2000 Adjusted for inflation, gas prices this May are almost exactly the same as they were in May 2018.

Agreed. It's a decent compromise bill, and will improve the situation at the border (and in our cities receiving these immigrants). It's not perfection. It is called governing. And nothing in the bill would stop Trump, if lawfully elected, from doing the so-called "mass deportations" discussed in the other thread. Trump's opposition is about the election, not about policy.

Here's the official ICE numbers for the fiscal year that ended September 30, 2023: This year, Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) nearly doubled immigration enforcement arrests and increased removals for those with no legal basis to remain in the country from the totals cited in last year’s report. ICE ERO’s 142,580 removals and 62,545 Title 42 expulsions to more than 170 countries worldwide in Fiscal Year 2023 reflect increased capacity and agreements to conduct removals and returns – particularly after the lifting of the Title 42 public health emergency on May 12. As a reference point, Obama's ICE Director implemented prosecutorial discretion saying that ICE lacked the capacity to execute more than 400,000 removals per year. We don't need to do any "round ups" or build "concentration camps" to raise the number of removals by almost 200%. And obviously more resources could allow for more than 400,000 deportations, still done in an orderly fashion that is respectful of due process and the law.

I think the estimate is that there are well over a million people presumably still in the US who are under orders of deportation. I don't think it's a "round up" to say that there will be a plan to find and deport them in a systematic way. "Round up" is both wrong as a policy (and really not doable even if it weren't wrong), and offensive as a statement since people are not cattle. I take it you didn't read anything I said other than that "round up" is not a helpful term. If you had, you might have noticed that I may just agree with you. But that would be no fun. I know you are but what am I. Insult comic, meet Pee Wee Herman

I hate having to be the self-appointed Voice of Reason. But here we go again: - the language is needlessly offensive. Not sure if it's coming from the campaign, from think tank fellow travelers, or from so-called MSM reports. But "round-up' is simply not helpful. It's not helpful because it implies "to hell with the law, we're rounding 'em up and shipping 'em out") - to the extent they mean "arresting and detaining those under orders of deportation," well, then, that is the law. The fact that the Biden Administration wishes to be selective about how they enforce those orders doesn't mean there's anything unlawful about doing it. I would like to see a little bit of discretion applied here in which orders to immediately enforce (classic case: single mom, one kid still under 18, why not wait until that kid is of age?), but a whole lot less discretion than the Biden Administration has seen fit to grant. - to the extent that they're drumming up new infectious diseases to support a new invocation of Title 42 and a denial of the right to seek asylum or go through the mandated deportation process: that strikes me as cynical very likely unlawful. There are statutory remedies like detaining people until they clear a health review that aren't as drastic and that would probably better protect public health. I am never in favor of cheating a little on the law. The law is (or at least should be) the law. So there. Maybe I'm too optimistic in saying that 98% of Americans would agree with me here? (with the remaining 2% being vastly overrepresented on PPP?)

So I tried to watch it. Everyone's taking it down. If it's so wholesome, so inoffensive, why are they taking it down? I realize Trump's campaign didn't produce it. But Trump himself posted it on his social media site. I stupidly gave Trump the benefit of the doubt, saying that it was an agglomeration of made-up old news headlines meant to communicate that the world is a dangerous place and we need a strong leader like Trump. But no. It literally tells us what to expect if Trump wins again, then zooms in on the headline about industrial production increasing under a "unified Reich." https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/21/politics/trump-unified-reich-video/index.html So that would be a new Reich, the Trump Reich. Which you could, I guess, say harks back to Hitler's First Reich (which I think was the Holy Roman Empire, which didn't have any industrial production, being a feudal realm that was neither Holy nor Roman), or some Bismarckian Second Reich (which did happen in the industrial revolution, but isn't exactly the best example that comes to mind when economic historians think "provide an example of the industrial revolution"). But really: it's right there. The new unified Reich. Who talks like that? Who has the German fetish other than the ancestral Drumpfs? What on earth was this meant to communicate other than associating Donald Trump with some kind of new (Fourth?) Reich? Some quick comparisons: - "What will happen under a new Trump Administration?" [cut to headline: "Napoleonic Empire Expands] - What will happen under a new Trump Administration?" [cut to faux Italian newspaper: "The Trains Now Run On Time"] - What will happen under a new Trump Administration? [cut to faux 1941 headline about "Emperor Declares Japan the New World Power"] It speaks for itself. It is so stupid, so offensive, that I assumed that people were unfairly jumping all over Trump for posting it. No. He should be jumped all over for posting it. Verdict: Not a Hoax.

I love how the flag code brigade is always up in arms about some alleged disrespect to Old Glory, but they're perfectly fine when a Supreme Court Justice('s wife) takes to flying it upside down to make a political point.

Yep. I guess when Trump brags about market performance in his first 3 years that was a different "investor class."

Should be cross-posted in the Please Don't Vote thread.

I think it's a huge impact, but we don't notice it. That favorable spot on 1st down? That extra foot? It can make a big difference. I just think we all understand that spotting errors are pretty much unfixable.

Somehow it failed to dawn on me that this is the famously mentally unstable Royce White, former NBA forward. Good Lord.

^^Still excited about that Stallone-Denzel breakaway union thing.

Slept her way to the (almost) top? Why, I'll call you and raise you a billion. Kamala, meet Nicole. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/22/technology/nicole-shanahan-rfk-jr-vp.html

First Columbia. Then Yale. And yes, friends. The protests have finally hit the Jewel of the eastern Central Valley, that Binghamton of the West, VDH's very own Fresno State. Damn elitists. https://fresnoland.org/2024/05/01/fresno-state-demonstration/

1st down play ends: some official puts his foot down within approximately a couple inches of the actual tip of the ball. 2nd down ends: repeat. 3rd down ends: repeat. Error of up to 6 inches after 3 plays. Bring the sticks out and find, definitively, that he came up an inch short! Hint: the laser won't improve this.

Because some guy named Jess Kelly just knows that the Strategic Petroleum Reserve has never been drawn on for any purpose other than fueling our military. How dare you question him! I'm gonna have Julie of the Kellys do some legal research on this. Holy Oil Slick, Batman! I just learned that sales from the strategic petroleum reserve to reduce the (stated) deficit were authorized by the Republican House and Republican Senate in 2015!