martinthemess.bsky.social
Science Fiction, Science Fact, History and Alternate History, Humor and Political Philosophy. Always Watching. Formerly @Back2Babylon5 on that other place with the Musky odor.
2,809 posts
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We have substantial Latino and Filipino communities at our local Catholic parish, and yeah, the church or school dinner events are awesome. Got a family that runs a nearby Mexican restaurant, even, but a few years ago had that AND used to be chef at Charlie Trotter's fancy-pants restaurant.
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...and a dozen other large-ish Blue cities all at the same time. Or be able to do much to influence events overseas. Or guard the Southern Border like they want to do. Or keep LA operating as an economic engine producing tax revenue and Soft-Power movies and TV shows for export.
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Assuming the military is unthinkingly gonna follow orders, yeah, the US could deploy a substantial fraction of the military and enforce Martial Law on LA, complete with curfews and checkpoints and squads kicking in doors to look for arms caches and insurgent leadership. But not also Chicago, NYC...
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True. But not everyone in Baghdad or Kandahar (or Saigon) was opposed to the US occupation. It doesn't take that big of a percentage actively fighting you, or that much bigger sympathetic enough to them to provide them with some level of support, to really give you problems as occupiers.
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And apparently an even-more-hipster version of Austin City Limits called "Bands of Enchantment".
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The Society that brought us World War One was, in fact, too sick to survive. So another World War purged what was left of those aspects of the system to give us something better.
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Yup. Or "Othello". Although, being Shakespeare, he may indulge in the stereotype, he's still gonna make them a sympathetic example and question the assumptions of the stereotype.
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That's basically the theory of Instagram Influencers, yes. Here's a pretty and charismatic and cool person holding or using our product, wouldn't you like to be cool as well?
See also Athletes on Wheaties boxes, Vanna White on Wheel of Fortune, and Celebrity endorsements for Political Candidates.
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Most of us break laws for our own benefit. Trump breaks laws not just for his own benefit, but that of his party, his fellow billionaires, and, in their minds at least, the drooling fanboys of his Base. More people benefit, more people willing to look the other way, and more of them have power.
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Yeah, the "Commie Pinko" stereotype and the "Brutal Black Beast after our White Women" stereotype, both with even less of a grain of truth behind them, got it beat by a century or more.
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Attractive young woman, usually a model or aspiring one, dressed in skimpy clothing, hired to stand next to cars or other product displays at an industry convention, in hopes that the horny-male target demographic will transfer their feelings of desire from the woman to the product next to her.
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Huh. A Rare-these-days case of good, actually-Libertarian messaging from the official Libertarian Party, rather than trying to be More MAGA Than MAGA.
And a completely on-brand bit of naked evil from Stephen Miller.
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Over on this side of the pond, tonight's plan is Pork Loin Roast with carrots, parsnips, potatoes, and onions; House Salad, Pink Pineapple Fruit Salad, Hot Croissants, and ice cream sundaes for dessert.
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I thought we'd learned this after the Chicago DNC protests in 1968. Never throw shit at an armed man, or anything easily momentarily mistaken for shit, unless you're TRYING to get shot.
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Sidney Poitier vs. Lee Marvin? Why couldn't that have been our choices last election?
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A prequel to Game of Scones, I assume?
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And no, the bulk candy was not available as a one-piece free sample. Want to know how it tasted? One kilogram minimum purchase. And it wasn't that big, either, smaller than either my neighborhood Aldi or Jewel, both of which are tiny by US big-box-store standards.
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And it wasn't really a Western-style supermarket, it was an old-style marketplace, in that it was really a collection of booths and tables where individual entrepreneurs hocked (often almost the exact same) selection of fruit, bag dry pasta, bulk candy-by-the-scoop, and other souvenir/picnic fare.
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I took a Viking River Cruise in Russia in 2012. In Ryazan or someplace like that we were taken to a "supermarket" to show off that they no longer had Soviet-style empty shelves. Shelves were indeed full with a nice selection of Fish etc., but the prices were high even by tourist-trap standards.
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At least it's better protection than a Chainmail Bikini. Warrior Women who wear those tend to not last more than one or two skirmishes.
As Xena herself sang:
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Unfortunately, we also tend to be the ones who, due to needing to care for said elderly relatives, can't go spend a day or a night out protesting without our mom or whoever being stuck in bed in a puddle of their own piss for a few hours.
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Some of us happen to have medical saline, in IV flush syringes or wound-cleaning mini squeeze bottles, around the house because of elderly relatives in our care. And it does tend to accumulate for one reason or another, so we've got some spare to throw in a bag.
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My father was a CPA. By age 3 he'd trained me, as a party trick, to draw a T account with debits and credits on the right sides of the middle line, on a chalkboard or whatever.
It's one of those subjects where the basics are simple, the hard part is all the special rules and compliance w/ them.
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Thought he was more into wine. If only because he likes the idea of drinking something that requires something to be ground under someone's heel as part of the manufacturing process.
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Ugh, most people with a double chin, the cleavage goes the other way.
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It also played a role in the independence movements in Vietnam and Indonesia, as those were also "liberated" by local guerilla units who had moved from fighting the French or Dutch to fighting the Japanese, often after a brief pro-Japanese phase until bad treatment by the Japs changed their minds.
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Multiple court cases have ordered the DOJ and DHS to cease these deportations-without-due-process, but ICE continues them under direct Presidential order, in violation of the law and the Constitution.
This bothers a lot of people, and when they see it happening in front of them, they protest.
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Thus, a lot of people who thought they had permission to be here, suddenly had it revoked. This is likely unconstitutional under the "Ex Post Facto" clause. Many of them have been deported, without the required hearings before a judge or chance to appeal.
This is effectively kidnapping by cops.
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Trump has cancelled many previous programs giving special permission to enter the US to people seeking asylum from government persecution or criminal violence in their home countries, people fleeing natural disasters and wars, and Afghans and Iraqis who worked with US forces in those countries.
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As to why they protested in the first place, ICE has been arresting and deporting people without due process (trials, opportunity to appeal their deportation, etc.), including people with no criminal record who are technically here legally under the law at the time they came here.
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I have seen no specific accusations of violence by the protesters beyond kicking at cars driving through the crowd. In protests, the vast majority of the time, violence is initiated and escalated by the riot cops, not the protesters, and this does not seem to be an exception.
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Nah, can't be him, doesn't look like it's about to fall off all on its own.
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No land owners have been threatened, as far as I know. No reports of looting or arson, aside from one parked car probably accidentally set on fire by police munitions.
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But 2000 National Guard have been Federalized over the objections of Governor Newsom, and without any clear lack of local law enforcement resources to deal with a fairly small and mostly peaceful protest. SecDef Hegseth is threatening to call in US Marines to quell the "rebellion".
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All observers who didn't already have their noses firmly up Trump's backside seem to agree that this is ridiculous overreaction to mostly-peaceful protests that seem to max out at less than 500 people and who aren't even blocking traffic.
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Tear gas canisters and flash-bang grenades and other "less lethal" (but still quite dangerous, just less dangerous than a burst from an AR-15, which ain't saying much) munitions set at least one parked car on fire, probably accidentally.
It was enough for the Trump Admin to call it a rebellion.
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Although the protest was peaceful, there were undoubtedly some harsh words used, and a few people seem to have kicked or slapped at ICE vehicles going in and out of the parking garage at the holding facility.
ICE and other law enforcement responded with tear gas, rubber bullets, and flash-bangs.
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ICE apparently tried to raid a Home Depot. The shoppers and staff and passers-by didn't take kindly to this, and started surrounding the ICE cops and shouting at them. And followed them when they drove away with their prisoners. A protest grew outside the holding facility.
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Okay, but why is he wearing a late-70s shower curtain, with white Mime gloves, while apparently toting a teal duffel bag under one arm?
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