I do blame Merrick Garland (and Biden) for slow-walking the all-important Jan 6 prosecution of Trump. They made a calculated decision that a hopelessly discredited Trump would recapture the GOP and lead it to certain defeat in 2024. Unfortunately for the country, they disastrously underestimated Trump's power of recovery.
The military draft is involuntary, but the drafters and ratifiers of the Thirteenth Amendment did not consider it to have the inferior status of "servitude." Most of them supported the draft that Abraham Lincoln used to win the Civil War.
Three generations earlier, the framers of the Constitution gave Congress the power to "raise [and support] armies." They built on the experience of States who sometimes drafted men into local militias to meet emergencies.
IANAL, but I understand an early issue with required income tax returns was self incrimination: if a taxpayer had to report illegal income, his required report could be used to prosecute him, a violation of the Fifth Amendment. IRS's response was that the taxpayer was still required to report the illegal income, but the IRS would keep the return strictly confidential, for tax assessment only.
(2) Surely this situation is analogous-- taxpaying illegals are being double-crossed. But apparently in the Age of Trump, no promise by any agency of the US government is worth anything.
(Just kidding, folks)
In Icelandic, the country is called "Island". (The Islandic word for "ice", "is", rhymes with English "fleece".)
The British supermarket chain can offer to let the country keep their indigenous spelling of their name...
--reply from Philippine Governor Taft's DC correspondent, in reply to a message reporting among other things that the notoriously obese Taft had gone out horseback riding.
Trump's people would tell you he was just "trolling the libs", that this was a joke that no one should take seriously. The problem with that argument is that Jan 6 (2021) was not a joke.
Accompany this limit, of course, with very stiff civil and criminal penalties for town officials who try to hide their excess profits. It would eliminate the incentive to run speed traps.
I believe Texas put in such a limit (20%?) after enough voters got riled up by speed trap towns. But a tighter limit would be feasible.
In ancient Athens, 6,000 voters could exile for ten years someone whose wealth and power were becoming a threat to the public good. It sounds like Wyoming could use an ostracism law.
(I have no idea whether Eshelman's influence on his native North Carolina is equally poisonous.)
Both Putin and the West recognize Turkey's pivotal position in Ukraine's future, and both are trying to stay on good terms with him.
Apart from silencing his critics in Europe, Erdogan sees a historic opportunity to crush Armenia, which has blocked Turkey's direct access to ethnically Turkic Azerbaijan. A victorious Azerbaijan war in 2020 ended in a Russian-mediated peace, with a demilitarized ethnic-Armenian enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) embedded in Azerbaijan, with an access route guaranteed by Russian peacekeepers. In recent weeks that access route has been cut, and Russia has not been willing to antagonize Turkey by interfering. Azerbaijan is also demanding control over a route through southern Armenia (Zangezur) to Nakhichevan and Turkey.
The USA could bring Sweden and Finland in from the cold with a new "Baltic and European Treaty Organization" including them, Germany, Poland, the UK, and the Baltic states. If Erdogan and/or Hungary's Orban continue to act like jerks, we could gradually expand BETO to include the rest of NATO members, leaving NATO itself as an empty shell.
Sweden was neutral in WW2.
As for Finland, there were two dangerous and expansionist dictators in 1939-1941. Dictator #1 tried to crush Finland in 1939-1940, settling for a ceasefire only when he gained good reason to fear a wider war. Finland reached out to Dictator #2 as the only way to avoid getting snuffed out by Dictator #1 in a rematch. When the two dictators came to blows on Jun 22 1941, the USA backed Dictator #1 as a less immediate threat, but we never blamed Finland for doing what she needed to survive.
Twitter's legal department served their ownership extremely well by locking Musk into an expensive buyout before he had time for second thoughts. But others who cared about the company might have wished that Musk was given a way out (even though an expensive one) once it was clear he had lost all enthusiasm for the deal.
Hertz should be severely punished for false car-theft arrests, severely enough to force removal of their current management.
That said, comments that police should never arrest car thieves are wrong-headed.
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2022/10/29/nation/an-army-volunteer-sleuths-are-out-hunting-your-stolen-car/
Cops are better trained to arrest thieves with minimum violence than vigilantes, and vigilantes are what you will get if you refuse to protect the average citizen from the huge expense of a lost car. If a cop kills someone wrongfully, his city will pay, but collecting from vigilantes is problematic.
Some true-believer socialists might suggest that vigilantes should be severely prosecuted. In answer: a society that lacks the will or competence to protect honest people from criminals, lacks the right to protect criminals from honest people.
I do blame Merrick Garland (and Biden) for slow-walking the all-important Jan 6 prosecution of Trump. They made a calculated decision that a hopelessly discredited Trump would recapture the GOP and lead it to certain defeat in 2024. Unfortunately for the country, they disastrously underestimated Trump's power of recovery.
The draft-- involuntary, but not "servitude"
5th Amendment self-incrimination issues?
IANAL, but I understand an early issue with required income tax returns was self incrimination: if a taxpayer had to report illegal income, his required report could be used to prosecute him, a violation of the Fifth Amendment. IRS's response was that the taxpayer was still required to report the illegal income, but the IRS would keep the return strictly confidential, for tax assessment only. (2) Surely this situation is analogous-- taxpaying illegals are being double-crossed. But apparently in the Age of Trump, no promise by any agency of the US government is worth anything.
Call it the "Gulf of Moronica"
For inspiration, check out the Three Stooges episode #44 (1940), "You Nazty Spy". "Moronica for Morons!" "MAGA!"
"Libs" had nothing to do with it.
Shasta County CA voted heavily for Trump.
"Iceland" or "Island"?
(Just kidding, folks) In Icelandic, the country is called "Island". (The Islandic word for "ice", "is", rhymes with English "fleece".) The British supermarket chain can offer to let the country keep their indigenous spelling of their name...
"Land o' Ice"
They can trademark their stores as "Land o' Ice".
SOP was to riddle the offending machine with bullets, but without his gun the officer had to find some other way to retaliate.
"How's the horse?"
--reply from Philippine Governor Taft's DC correspondent, in reply to a message reporting among other things that the notoriously obese Taft had gone out horseback riding.
Trump's people would tell you he was just "trolling the libs", that this was a joke that no one should take seriously. The problem with that argument is that Jan 6 (2021) was not a joke.
What is a FedSec Republican?
Training for future geniuses?
I agree with the general point of this article, but can't resist quibbling with the following quote:
How many elementary schools (K-6) offered a course in human biology last year?Traffic takings over 3% of town budget should go to State
Accompany this limit, of course, with very stiff civil and criminal penalties for town officials who try to hide their excess profits. It would eliminate the incentive to run speed traps. I believe Texas put in such a limit (20%?) after enough voters got riled up by speed trap towns. But a tighter limit would be feasible.
Changing his name was appropriate
According to Wikipedia, "Vivek" is a Sanskrit word meaning "conscience."
Frederic Eshelman-- a poster boy for "ostracism"?
In ancient Athens, 6,000 voters could exile for ten years someone whose wealth and power were becoming a threat to the public good. It sounds like Wyoming could use an ostracism law. (I have no idea whether Eshelman's influence on his native North Carolina is equally poisonous.)
Erdogan is exploiting his advantageous position
Both Putin and the West recognize Turkey's pivotal position in Ukraine's future, and both are trying to stay on good terms with him. Apart from silencing his critics in Europe, Erdogan sees a historic opportunity to crush Armenia, which has blocked Turkey's direct access to ethnically Turkic Azerbaijan. A victorious Azerbaijan war in 2020 ended in a Russian-mediated peace, with a demilitarized ethnic-Armenian enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) embedded in Azerbaijan, with an access route guaranteed by Russian peacekeepers. In recent weeks that access route has been cut, and Russia has not been willing to antagonize Turkey by interfering. Azerbaijan is also demanding control over a route through southern Armenia (Zangezur) to Nakhichevan and Turkey.
New treaty could bypass Erdogan
The USA could bring Sweden and Finland in from the cold with a new "Baltic and European Treaty Organization" including them, Germany, Poland, the UK, and the Baltic states. If Erdogan and/or Hungary's Orban continue to act like jerks, we could gradually expand BETO to include the rest of NATO members, leaving NATO itself as an empty shell.
Sweden and Finland in WW2
Sweden was neutral in WW2. As for Finland, there were two dangerous and expansionist dictators in 1939-1941. Dictator #1 tried to crush Finland in 1939-1940, settling for a ceasefire only when he gained good reason to fear a wider war. Finland reached out to Dictator #2 as the only way to avoid getting snuffed out by Dictator #1 in a rematch. When the two dictators came to blows on Jun 22 1941, the USA backed Dictator #1 as a less immediate threat, but we never blamed Finland for doing what she needed to survive.
shareholder interest v. stakeholder interest?
Twitter's legal department served their ownership extremely well by locking Musk into an expensive buyout before he had time for second thoughts. But others who cared about the company might have wished that Musk was given a way out (even though an expensive one) once it was clear he had lost all enthusiasm for the deal.
Better to use cops than vigilantes
Hertz should be severely punished for false car-theft arrests, severely enough to force removal of their current management. That said, comments that police should never arrest car thieves are wrong-headed. https://www.bostonglobe.com/2022/10/29/nation/an-army-volunteer-sleuths-are-out-hunting-your-stolen-car/ Cops are better trained to arrest thieves with minimum violence than vigilantes, and vigilantes are what you will get if you refuse to protect the average citizen from the huge expense of a lost car. If a cop kills someone wrongfully, his city will pay, but collecting from vigilantes is problematic. Some true-believer socialists might suggest that vigilantes should be severely prosecuted. In answer: a society that lacks the will or competence to protect honest people from criminals, lacks the right to protect criminals from honest people.