Althouse: Sunrise — 7:04, 7:13, 7:18, 7:18, 7:30.

October 28, 2025

Sunrise — 7:04, 7:13, 7:18, 7:18, 7:30.

Write about anything you want in the comments.

104 comments:

Peachy said...: Musk:
"The real amount of illegal voting is vastly greater than this.

Consider that California and New York banned the use of ID for voting! They legalized fraudulent voting."; 10/28/25, 7:56 PM
Peachy said...: Link; 10/28/25, 7:57 PM
Gerda Sprinchorn said...: Is the underwater magnet controversy coming back? I hope so. It's my favorite silly controversy. A second round of underwater magnet hoo-haw would be just incredible. The first round was epic, but Underwater Magnet Controversy Round Two would put it up there on the Mount Rushmore of silly controversies.

I'm going to help get it started:

CaN yOu beLIeVe??!?!?!?! what Trump just said about underwater magnets?????!!!!!!!!!!! WHaT a KInG-siZeD HITLER FASCIST WhITe hOuSE DEmoLISHER!! !!! !!!.; 10/28/25, 8:05 PM
Original Mike said...: Democrats treat voting like those honor-system firewood bins along the highway.; 10/28/25, 8:07 PM
Original Mike said...: Speaking of the honor system:

House Oversight Committee Releases 100-page Report on Joe Biden Autopen – Requests DOJ Open Investigation of All Executive Actions

"The findings reveal that as President Biden’s condition deteriorated, his aides exercised presidential authority and facilitated executive actions without his direct authorization, including misusing the autopen and failing to properly document decision-making processes. "; 10/28/25, 8:11 PM
Iman said...: Calunicornia is Northern Venezuela but these profligate Democrats think we’re Denmark…

Gavin Newsom
@GavinNewsom
- $11 insulin
- $20 minimum wage for fast food workers
- $25 minimum wage for healthcare workers
- Universal Pre-K
- Free school meals
- 600,000 new apprenticeship programs
- Largest civil service program in the country
- Universal healthcare
- Improved test scores across the state

California is proving there is a better way forward than Donald Trump’s recipe of fear, chaos and increased costs.; 10/28/25, 8:20 PM
Iman said...: Gavin Nuisance is a flippin’ disgrace, along with being a moron.; 10/28/25, 8:22 PM
Beasts of England said...: It’s been cold, overcast, and rainy the last few days so my boredom led me to the ‘Trump troubles’ tag and I refreshed myself on some of the crap that Trump has endured during his political tenure. It’s almost hard to believe what he overcame.

From beating the anointed Jeb, the GOP establishment, and the anointed Hillary to the Russian Collusion hoax and his two impeachments. From a shady 2020 election, attempts to remove him from ballots, four lawfare cases, and surviving an assassination attempt by mere inches. And then winning again in 2024.

A friend just texted me a recent video of him with the military and Trump gave one of the commanding officers a ‘Roll Tide’. I replied that neither Nick Saban nor George Patton could have survived his ordeals of the last decade - especially at Trump’s age…

Hate him all you want lefties, but his wallet is the one that says ‘Bad Motherfucker’.; 10/28/25, 8:29 PM
Jaq said...: I have been watching Empress, which makes Downton Abby look like the Beverly Hillbillies, and it's about the final years of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, everything was going so great, but you know what? It was all unsustainable; it all blew up in a world war.; 10/28/25, 8:35 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: Via Wash. Examiner : "Brandon Johnson’s (Chicago Mayor) racial obsession leaves more dead"

"A girl was shot and killed in an alley in Chicago on Sunday. She lay bleeding in the alley for an undetermined amount of time because no one called 911 to report gunshots. Normally, no one would even have to: Chicago previously used a ShotSpotter system, a series of acoustic sensors placed in high-crime neighborhoods that alert police to shootings even if no one places a 911 call, to detect gunshots and help police locate shootings."

"But Chicago no longer has that system, so 17-year-old Gabriella Arellano was left lying in an alley until police discovered her around 10:18 a.m. Chicago no longer has active ShotSpotter systems because Johnson decided that they were racist. Johnson thinks that ShotSpotter alerting police to gunfire leads to “overpolicing” in black and Hispanic communities."

Words fail me.; 10/28/25, 8:38 PM
Original Mike said...: Voter ID outlawed, ShotSpotter turned off. Democrats are all about turning off systems that might detect crime. Then they claim that crime is down.; 10/28/25, 8:52 PM
RCOCEAN II said...: From the News Wire:

"The Senate passed a resolution Tuesday aimed at ending President Donald Trump’s tariffs on Brazil, with five Republicans joining Democrats in a rare bipartisan rebuke of the president over trade policy.

Sens. Rand Paul, Thom Tillis, Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski and former Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell sided with Democrats in the 52 to 48 vote."

Tom Tillis only won in 2020 because Trump endorsed him. Now, he's quitting the Senate and wants a well-paying lobbyist gig. Or maybe he was a liberal Globalist all along, and had to pretend to get re-elected. His buddy Senator Burr basically quit to keep out of jail.; 10/28/25, 8:56 PM
RCOCEAN II said...: BTW, Tillis always gave me the creeps. He gave off that weird LJB vibe. Why you'd elect somebody who's arrogant, not very intelligent, and completely unlikable as your Senator, I dunno.; 10/28/25, 8:59 PM
Jupiter said...: At last! Something to look forward to! Gratitude!; 10/28/25, 9:26 PM
Jupiter said...: Apparently, a substantial fraction of the urban sludge regards the American project as a bizarre conspiracy -- in which SNAP and Walmart are both deeply complicit -- to feed them. Keep the Sludge Alive! Except, "The Man" has decided to pause this philanthropy, and Someone Will Have to Pay!
I mean -- how do they get that much stupid into those tiny little, misshapen skulls? I suppose it is an example of the success of public education.; 10/28/25, 9:31 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: YouTube: Louis CK has been liberated

Cancellation an unexpected blessing.; 10/28/25, 9:39 PM
Michael Fitzgerald said...: Hear, hear! Beasts of England at 8:29 PM!
Historians will look back at President Donald John Trump as, not just one of America's greatest presidents, but as one of the Great Men of history. It's an absolute disgrace how he is treated in this country, not just by the despicable Democrat Party and its braindead minions, but by far too many supposed Republican conservatives. At least most of the weaklings of the right have stopped prefacing every comment about him with how much they dislike him and how much better they are than he is personally.; 10/28/25, 9:42 PM
Eva Marie said...: An easy way to pay a politician is with a large book advance. Amazon is teeming with politicians’ books. And now with AI there will be even more. But there are political books, thrillers, children’s books, just tons of them. How many of those are legitimate and how many are pay for play, who knows.
But there are so many ways. Jobs for spouses, jobs for sons and daughters. There’s so much money going into the treasury + the ability to print money, it’s tough to wrap your head around it all.; 10/28/25, 10:02 PM
hanuman_prodigious_leaper said...: was not George Patton assassinated?; 10/28/25, 10:12 PM
Achilles said...: This interview is on track to be one of the most watched interviews in history.

If you want to see where politics is going over the next 5 years it is worth a look.

If you watch Fox News or CNN/NBC and think you are learning something it will just make you mad.

I look forward to all of the people who stop it after 5 seconds and start flaming me because of who is interviewing who.; 10/28/25, 10:13 PM
Jaq said...: Wow are the knives out in the MSM for Grokipedia. It makes it clear how much of our media is plain unadulterated propaganda. The complaint about the article on Elon Musk is that it doesn't mention his "nazi salute," which is, of course, a fabricated propaganda trope, itself.

Watching Empress, and thinking about how empires collapse, it seems like what really happens to them is a narrative collapse. Once the narrative collapses, it's impossible to sustain your military, because young men show up at the recruiting station due to narrative, they will level weapons at other human beings due to narrative, accept orders that mean almost certain death due to narrative, and when that narrative is shown to be just so much manipulative phantasmagoria intended to frighten people into obedience, well, it's hard to keep your empire a going concern. For instance, how is Germany going to build Europe's strongest military, as Fred Mertz seems to be planning, when the young people have no interest in fighting in their wars?

https://grokipedia.com/page/Phantasmagoria; 10/28/25, 10:37 PM
john in east van, help! said...: Thank you Ann, for the lovely photographs. They have gotten pretty fantastic over the years.
I think that the most important words in the English language are Context and Definition.; 10/28/25, 10:37 PM
gadfly said...: Peach:
Back to more bullshit about Illegal voting, are we now?; 10/29/25, 12:29 AM
gadfly said...: Original Mike:
President Donald Trump signed pardons on January 20, 2025, granting clemency to over 1,500 individuals convicted or charged in connection with the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot. These pardons were issued by Executive Order on the same day Trump signed a total of 26 Executive Orders.

Images circulating online (taken from the Federal Register, a branch of the National Archives) provide evidence to show that Trump used an autopen rather than signing them by hand.

As a matter of course, Presidents use autopens regularly.; 10/29/25, 12:40 AM
gadfly said...: The war is over, sez Trump.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered the IDF to carry out immediate, powerful strikes in the Gaza Strip.

The directive comes after an incident in Rafah earlier today in which terrorists opened fire on IDF forces. At least one soldier was seriously wounded in the attack and evacuated for medical treatment.; 10/29/25, 12:46 AM
Breezy said...: The issue with the use of the autopen is whether the President himself ordered it for the particular case or cases, not whether it was used.; 10/29/25, 5:25 AM
rehajm said...: John Cochrane has a good piece on Fed Independence

lile this: We face a choice: The Fed could remain an expansive, powerful, and political agency, but face more direct direction by elected officials, as is the Treasury. Or, the Fed could return to a narrower scope of activities consistent with its current or even greater independence. I favor the latter course. But raise the drawbridge, hoist the independence flag, and defend the status quo is not going to be tenable for long.; 10/29/25, 5:31 AM
rehajm said...: All the Biden finger pointing kind of makes one wonder how he was ‘elected’ in the first place. We know…some of us know…; 10/29/25, 5:32 AM
Breezy said...: A few stories this am about the Dems cracking re the shutdown because of the lack of pay and snap benefits. Trump, Johnson, and Thune never budged, and the Dems are now getting the blame. In an odd twist, Schumer’s vote for the earlier clean CR has proven to be the right move, even though he got blasted for it at the time. He took the wrong lesson from that ordeal when he jumped into this shutdown. Will the Dems learn from this? Doubtful. Clean CRs can’t be held hostage.; 10/29/25, 5:37 AM
Humperdink said...: @ the gad. There is one reason and one reason only why the left hates voter ID, it’s so they can cheat. How many years does it take to get voters an ID? The issue has been in the forefront for a decade or two, yet there are voters with no ID? What a farce.; 10/29/25, 5:52 AM
Kakistocracy said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 10/29/25, 6:01 AM
Kakistocracy said...: Donald Trump says he will cut fentanyl tariffs imposed on China ~ FT

LOL. Negotiating against himself.

Trump applies tariffs.
China restricts rare earth exports.
Trump backs off on tariffs.

I believe most people give Trump credit for intelligence, a grasp of facts, and the ability to strategize and execute that I don’t believe he has..; 10/29/25, 6:04 AM
Beasts of England said...: ’was not George Patton assassinated?’

I’ve never heard a convincing argument to support it.; 10/29/25, 6:09 AM
Eva Marie said...: Why would anyone admire Stalin?; 10/29/25, 6:19 AM
Beasts of England said...: ’The issue with the use of the autopen is whether the President himself ordered it for the particular case or cases, not whether it was used.’

Precisely. And it’s ridiculous how many deeply flawed or even hallucinatory leftists arguments I’ve laughed at the last few days - all ultimately proven wrong. One side is able to understand the issue, gather data, evaluate facts, and arrive at the truth. The other is a passel of gullible, emotion-driven, dullards, e.g., gadfly.

And, in a hat tip to Drago: but only every single time.; 10/29/25, 6:21 AM
Christopher B said...: Believe Nothing You Read In the New York Times. (post by John Hinderaker at Powerline)

TL;DR. The NYT published an article two days ago headlined with the claim that Trump caused the Iowa economy to contract at an annualized rate of 6.1 percent in the first quarter of 2025. However, the article was corrected yesterday with revised figures from the BEA which reduced the decline to 1.2 percent. The revision came as a part of the release of BEA data on September 26, 2025 (a month before the article was published for those keeping score) for the second quarter of 2025 which included the estimate that the Iowa economy grew at an annualized rate of 3.7 percent.; 10/29/25, 6:30 AM
Lucien said...: Suppose someone is being prosecuted for a crime, and they say “You can’t prosecute me, because Joe Biden pardoned me.” Is absence of a pardon an element of the prosecution’s case, or is it an affirmative defense? If it’s an affirmative defense, and Defendant produces an auto pen-signed pardon, does that create a rebuttable presumption of pardon, or does Defendant still have to prove that a pardon was granted?
Outside of a situation like this, who could have standing to litigate the issue, and won’t it be a case-by-case question?; 10/29/25, 6:37 AM
Jaq said...: The whole rare earths restrictions by China and the US reaction is what looks like a narrative collapse. The US can set all of the export restrictions on technology that it wants, and people better like it, but if China sets export restrictions about how its rare earths are used, this is beyond the pale and completely unacceptable.

Ukraine, right on Russia's border, has the sovereign right to join any military alliance it wants, no matter how hostile to Russia, but China does not have the sovereign right to buy oil from any country it wants, because in the narrative of a "rules based order," the US sets the rules and determines who has what sovereign rights.; 10/29/25, 6:43 AM
rehajm said...: The desperate/faithful will never accept NYT is a propaganda organization wearing the dead carcass of the media organization they killed…and they REPORTED they were doing it WHILE they were doing it…; 10/29/25, 6:43 AM
Humperdink said...: SNAP benefits are scheduled to cease this weekend. From a purely political perspective, which voting block would be hardest hit? That would be the Commie constituency. It will be amusing to the watch Schumer dance-a-thon.; 10/29/25, 6:43 AM
Fritz said...: "It is by my order and for the good of the state that the bearer of this has done what he has done." - Joe Biden; 10/29/25, 6:46 AM
Jaq said...: The knock on the new "Russian Rocket" the atomic powered Burevestnik, is that it is a subsonic cruise missile, and it must travel long distances at subsonic speed, which makes it highly vulnerable to be shot down by air defenses, but if you think about it, if it has a nuclear power plant on board, the wattage available to it for electronic warfare against interception attempts has to be huge.; 10/29/25, 6:54 AM
Jaq said...: "It is by my order and for the good of the state that the bearer of this has done what he has done." - Joe Biden

LO fucking L.; 10/29/25, 6:56 AM
Jersey Fled said...: Gadfly is soooo… happy that people are killing each other in Gaza today.; 10/29/25, 7:17 AM
Eva Marie said...: I do not want the courts to take up the question of the pardons. They are done. That’s it. The courts cannot become a veto over the President. We will then be ruled by an unelected body of individuals much like Israel. In fact the Republicans in Congress need to rein in the courts. Dramatically.; 10/29/25, 7:19 AM
Eva Marie said...: Republicans are insane to question the pardons.; 10/29/25, 7:20 AM
Eva Marie said...: Thousands of other issues, like pass a goddam budget to be spending time undermining the power of the presidency. Democrats must be sitting back and laughing at the lunacy.; 10/29/25, 7:23 AM
rehajm said...: In fact the Republicans in Congress need to rein in the courts. Dramatically.

I agree but Republicans lacking the ambition, at least to this point, I like the idea the good guys are using the courts the way the liberal lawfare groups have been using them with impunity.; 10/29/25, 7:26 AM
rehajm said...: It will take Republicans using the courts the way the left has done to get anyone to complain and motivate changing the practice...; 10/29/25, 7:27 AM
Eva Marie said...: Lawfare yes, undermining oresidential powers is stupidity of the highest magnitude.; 10/29/25, 7:29 AM
Eva Marie said...: Do Republicans use their brains to think anymore?; 10/29/25, 7:30 AM
rehajm said...: ...and who knows, maybe the autopen actually doesn't have Presidential authority the way an actual President does...; 10/29/25, 7:31 AM
Eva Marie said...: Who the fuck cares. You want every single pardon from now on to be mired in the courts? It’s the end of the presidential pardon if Republicans are stupid enough to pursue this.; 10/29/25, 7:33 AM
Eva Marie said...: Who decides if the auto pen is valid or invalid? The courts? Seriously?; 10/29/25, 7:34 AM
rehajm said...: Do Republicans use their brains to think anymore?

They're the worst, except for all the others...; 10/29/25, 7:36 AM
boatbuilder said...: If I understand correctly (big "if") what is being questioned is not the pardon power, but whether the pardons in question were authorized by the President or issued fraudulently without Presidential authorization.; 10/29/25, 7:37 AM
rehajm said...: It's appropriate to have clarity on who has authority to grant a Presidential pardon. It won't take long. Relax...; 10/29/25, 7:37 AM
Eva Marie said...: Who gives clarity if a pardon is valid? You want to give that power to the courts. Insanity.; 10/29/25, 7:42 AM
Iman said...: “How dare you question my authoritay!”

—— Otto Penn; 10/29/25, 7:43 AM
Eva Marie said...: Relax your self. This is none of the court’s business. No jurisdiction over this. Zero.; 10/29/25, 7:43 AM
Eva Marie said...: The courts should have less power not more.; 10/29/25, 7:45 AM
Eva Marie said...: “ If I understand correctly (big "if") what is being questioned is not the pardon power, but whether the pardons in question were authorized by the President or issued fraudulently without Presidential authorization.”
O please. Once the courts are pushed by Republicans to get their grubby hands on pardons, they will never stop. It’s insanity to think otherwise.; 10/29/25, 7:50 AM
Eva Marie said...: Congress should pass a budget. Stay the fuck away from anything rlse.; 10/29/25, 7:51 AM
narciso said...: Actually its part of the steal i detailed yesterday; 10/29/25, 7:53 AM
Eva Marie said...: Iran is different. But in Israel, the courts have hamstrung Netanyahu in ways that our judicial system only dreams of. We are heading toward that future.; 10/29/25, 7:56 AM
Christopher B said...: Eva, while I have some sympathy for the argument you are making, I think you are sliding a bit too far down the slippery slope.

The problems with the pardons are (as boatbuilder noted) whether an auto-pen signature was actually authorized by President Biden on specific orders and how to apply a pardon for actions that might be criminal but for which the person has not even been investigated, let alone indicted or convicted. As such, the court has every right to determine if the pardon was actually authorized by Joe Biden and exactly what activities are covered by it.

We're already seeing an enormous quantity of lawfare over Trump's actions as President. I don't see either of these questions adding that much to it, and the remedies for them are pretty simple.

1) Only use the auto-pen for ceremonial documents with no legal significance or in a case of extreme emergency.

2) Only issue pardons to people who have been at least investigated if not indicted so that there is a record of the possible criminal violations to which the pardon applies.

I don't see either of these being significant restrictions on the President's power, and at least appear to be commonsense restrictions that have been followed by all Presidents prior to Joe Biden (and I suspect are also being followed by President Trump).; 10/29/25, 7:56 AM
narciso said...: We passed a budget schumer wont let it breathe; 10/29/25, 7:57 AM
rehajm said...: You prove my point Eva- it will take Republicans making effective use of the courts for the practice to stop. Those of us here nearly every day deploring the corruption of the judiciary don’t recall you dropping eff bombs about it until now…; 10/29/25, 7:57 AM
narciso said...: When we got rid of the independent counsel act after 'evil' starr the dems were still able to order up one; 10/29/25, 7:58 AM
Eva Marie said...: No. That only increases the courts power. We want to limit not increase their power.; 10/29/25, 7:59 AM
rehajm said...: I’ll reiterate my point in having some judicial clarification of their position on autopen pardons…and if someone brings the question to them it is definitely their business, even if they choose not to judge…; 10/29/25, 8:00 AM
Eva Marie said...: “When we got rid of the independent counsel act after 'evil' starr the dems were still able to order up one”
That proves my point. Don’t increase the power of the courts because you will never be able to dial it back.; 10/29/25, 8:01 AM
Eva Marie said...: The pardons are not the courts business. If Biden says they’re valid. That’s it.; 10/29/25, 8:02 AM
Humperdink said...: I agree with Eva. Let the Otto Penn issue die. Enough publicity has been generated with the demented one’s use of it to render it a cautionary warning against future abuse.; 10/29/25, 8:03 AM
Eva Marie said...: Judicial clarification means giving unelected bureaucrats dressed up in clown clothes final authority over your lives. This is what you want?; 10/29/25, 8:05 AM
boatbuilder said...: So what is a court supposed to do if the DOJ charges someone who was allegedly pardoned, the defendant asserts the pardon as a defense, and the DOJ questions the validity of the pardon?
If the court really doesn't have jurisdiction, I suppose the answer is that the court should request that the current President confirm the validity of the pardon. Which obviously has it's own problems.; 10/29/25, 8:05 AM
narciso said...: You notice there were no independent counsels until nixon as if there had been no political surveillance no money laundering before that; 10/29/25, 8:07 AM
Eva Marie said...: President Biden is the final authority on those pardons. He said they’re valid. They are valid.; 10/29/25, 8:07 AM
boatbuilder said...: I do agree that if Biden himself actually confirms that he authorized a given pardon, that should end the issue. I don't think that's the case.; 10/29/25, 8:08 AM
narciso said...: He didnt know what day of the week he was in he thought the easter bunny was guiding him; 10/29/25, 8:09 AM
Maynard said...: We are flying back from Paris tomorrow am. Let’s see if the shutdown affects our flights.; 10/29/25, 8:10 AM
Yancey Ward said...: As several commenters have noted, when Biden confirms he approved all the pardons that is the end of the issue. Even if Biden never confirms a particular pardon, as long as he doesn't deny he issued it, that is also the end of the issue- a court and the DoJ have no power to overturn the pardon.; 10/29/25, 8:11 AM
Eva Marie said...: No. He confirmed them at the time. How about if we waited until Reagan was in the final stages of dementia and asked him about his pardons? It’s over. The pardons were given. The Democrats were punished at the pols and now let’s pass a budget.; 10/29/25, 8:13 AM
Humperdink said...: Biden confirming the pardons? Would that be Jill or Hunter? As Robert Hur said, the former President was too feeble to testify.; 10/29/25, 8:14 AM
Eva Marie said...: Then don’t elect feeble presidents and make sure elections aren’t stolen.; 10/29/25, 8:17 AM
Achilles said...: Humperdink said...

I agree with Eva. Let the Otto Penn issue die. Enough publicity has been generated with the demented one’s use of it to render it a cautionary warning against future abuse.

I agree that as a Constitutional matter the Otto Pen angle is a stupid attack for Republicans to take.

Article 2 is clear. If a mentally degenerate vegetable says pardon those people waving out an airplane window and his aids write up a list of 50000 people and he later mumbles out I pardoned those people they are pardoned.

The correct line of attack for Republicans is to point out that the Constitution is a social contract for a Protestant Christian with a citizenry that is morally virtuous and capable of Freedom.

They then need to point out that the Democrat Party is a morally retarded group of people who will put an obvious puppet in power to loot the treasury and enrich themselves.

The Democrats are disparate tribes seeking spoils from the government and that the leaders and the voters in that party have no place in a social contract governed by the Constitution of the United States. They belong in Somalia or a similarly tribal government situation.; 10/29/25, 8:20 AM
Iman said...: Careful, people! We got monkeys infected with Hep-C, HIV and COVID on the loose and on the run…; 10/29/25, 8:20 AM
Iman said...: Pardon my non sequitur.; 10/29/25, 8:25 AM
Jersey Fled said...: “Careful, people! We got monkeys infected with Hep-C, HIV and COVID on the loose and on the run…”

Stay home, put on your masks, close the schools, churches and barber shops, no visiting sick and dying parents and spouses in the hospital, …

Did I miss anything?; 10/29/25, 8:29 AM
Humperdink said...: My favorite Biden pardon was Gen. Milley, followed by the January 6 panel members.

If Trumps DOJ was more creative, they could charge Milley with something outside the pardon. Same with Liz Chaney and Adam Kinzinger.; 10/29/25, 8:32 AM
narciso said...: Those stories came from jane mayer who it turns out would enable some 30 years of lies; 10/29/25, 8:32 AM
narciso said...: But enough about lesuo swalwell; 10/29/25, 8:33 AM
Mason G said...: "As several commenters have noted, when Biden confirms he approved all the pardons that is the end of the issue."

Does that argument work when a president (or ex-president) says "I declassified these documents"?; 10/29/25, 8:34 AM
Peachy said...: Eva Said:
"An easy way to pay a politician is with a large book advance. "

Yeah - something smells and has for a long time. Who buys a book by Kamala?; 10/29/25, 8:42 AM
Peachy said...: Stopping the Democratic-Soviets is all that matters.; 10/29/25, 8:43 AM
Ronald J. Ward said...: Achilles says:

“The Constitution is a social contract for a Protestant Christian with a citizenry that is morally virtuous and capable of Freedom. Democrats... belong in Somalia or a similarly tribal government situation.”

Enter the final phase of authoritarian justification.

In that single paragraph, the argument abandons constitutional ground altogether. The Constitution — once understood as a universal framework for self-government — is reimagined as a sacred covenant for a chosen people, and only for them. Those outside the tribe are deemed unfit for freedom itself.

What we’re seeing here isn’t “law and order” conservatism but post-constitutional tribalism. Courts become “enemies,” the rule of law becomes conditional, and moral worth replaces citizenship as the measure of legitimacy.

This mindset doesn’t merely reject political opponents; it denies their very right to participate in democracy. Claiming that the Constitution works only for “virtuous Christians” doesn’t defend America’s founding principles — it replaces them with something closer to rule by the anointed.

It’s worth asking: if law, process, and shared citizenship no longer matter, what does?

And who, exactly, gets to decide who is “virtuous” enough to be free?; 10/29/25, 8:48 AM
wildswan said...: I know that there's very unattractive characters using bizarre rants on TikTok to try to make themselves the face of those affected by the pause in the SNAP benefit . But there's veterans and working people on SNAP in Wisconsin communities. I keep that firmly in mind.
But when I fly very high and look at the issue from thousands of feet up, i.e., nationally, I wonder about such things as how TikTok rants and riots will affect Mamdani. I think he will be elected and then, ironically, immediately challenged by a serious demand to solve it all, [meaning the SNAP crisis] NOW. This will be ironic because he will have won the election by pretending he can solve it all NOW. But he and the Democratic Socialists weren't expecting a serious, visible challenge of this nature to be upon them at once. They wanted to play about with slogans and virtue signals - "defund the police," and "sanctuary city;" they didn't want to send social workers to deal with hungry migrants.

Well, we'll see. Socialism has never worked but the failure has always been manifested in a slow decay. Perhaps the softly indulgent identity and performative socialisms of NYC will fail at full speed in the era of the 247 news cycle. They may proceed from ripe to rotten to gone in one autumn, gone under the snow much, much faster than anyone can now imagine.; 10/29/25, 8:49 AM
Leland said...: I agree that litigating the AutoPen scandal is a hill that appears not worth climbing. However, I disagree that the issue has been covered well enough to prevent future abuse. It is absurd that records are not kept on the autopen use to assure legality. As it seems a minor issue not worthy of a clarifying amendment (nor do I think Congress can dictate usage in all cases like a pardon, but maybe in how laws are signed), then it is reasonable to put this question to the Supreme Court. Unfortunately, that will likely take litigating.; 10/29/25, 8:52 AM
narciso said...: Schumer is holding the country hostage to reverse the changes in tbe bbb; 10/29/25, 9:01 AM
rehajm said...: ...the book deal is the classic wealth transfer vehicle. Despite ALWAYS selling out the first edition hardly any meaningful portion of the general public buys them. You guess probably isn't as good as mine on where the money comes from...; 10/29/25, 9:03 AM
rehajm said...: ...nowadays the book deal is an instrument for B listers. The elites can't be bothered with such short change...; 10/29/25, 9:04 AM
n.n said...: President Trump held unclassified documents in secure storage.

Vice President Biden held classified documents in an empty garage.

Democrats keep setting precedents.; 10/29/25, 9:13 AM
peachy said...: Creepy vile Jack Smith(D) - Soviet.

Needs prison time.

https://x.com/EricLDaugh/status/1983528451945484731; 10/29/25, 9:56 AM
Josephbleau said...: I would not be surprised if someone took a case to court saying that the president has unquestionable power to pardon, but under the 14th amd he can’t exercise it in a discriminatory manner. Unless 13.6% of pardoned persons are black, the president has acted unconstitutionally.

Or alternately the president was capricious in pardoning one person and not another under similar circumstance.; 10/29/25, 2:58 PM