Koby 's Techdirt Comments

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  • On the post: Jon Stewart And Ezra Klein Help GOP Paint Infrastructure Bill Broadband Grants As A Useless Boondoggle

    Koby ( profile ), 01 Apr, 2025 @ 10:23am

    This is why I value the private sector over government. If they don't build the thing, then they don't get paid. But also, if they squander their money then they lose their own money, and not that of others. Private enterprise needs to get both spending and accountability correct. Government can rarely accomplish both with a big project.

  • On the post: Jon Stewart And Ezra Klein Help GOP Paint Infrastructure Bill Broadband Grants As A Useless Boondoggle

    Koby ( profile ), 01 Apr, 2025 @ 06:52am

    All Planning No Action

    It's not messaging that's a problem. It's the bureaucracy. As Ezra Klein mentioned, 56 jurisdictions have started the bureaucratic process of getting a plan approved. Only 3 have made it through all 14 steps, to approach final approval. Similar to how California couldn't build their high speed rail line across the state, despite wasting billions of dollars, this BEAD program will likely never produce any significant results.

  • On the post: The Real Cost Of DOGE: Musk’s Government Cuts Creating Massive New Expenses

    Koby ( profile ), 31 Mar, 2025 @ 02:59pm

    Model For Success

    This is similar to what Musk did with Twitter 1.0 -- he massively cut expenses and unloaded 60% of the employees. It was claimed that X-Twitter would be unable to operate, but after 2+ years the predictions proved to be wrong. The U.S. government has been promising studies and targeted improvements and tracking systems for decades. None of it came to fruition. As mentioned in previous comments, Musk is using a radical new system called Zero-base budgeting. And just like Twitter 1.0, everything us working fine, while delivering on major savings for taxpayers.

  • On the post: Lawyers Last Chance To Pick Which Side Of History They Want To Be On

    Koby ( profile ), 31 Mar, 2025 @ 11:31am

    Atonement

    I remember the "right side of history" speeches that Obama used to give. They haven't aged well, so far. Today's "right side of history" pep talk isn't much different. Yes, it is hyperbole regarding the autocracy claims about Trump. We heard those same claims in 2016, and they were already proven to be wrong. The Russia hoax and the lawfare strategies were known to be perpetrating a fraud upon the courts. Sometimes, there's a price to pay if you're wrong. It's good to see some of these law firms trying to make amends.

  • On the post: An Unfortunate Update: DOGE Dodges An Injunction

    Koby ( profile ), 31 Mar, 2025 @ 11:09am

    It's perfectly constitutional. See Article 2 first sentence. Right now, a handful of rogue judges are attempting to usurp the power of the executive branch.

  • On the post: An Unfortunate Update: DOGE Dodges An Injunction

    Koby ( profile ), 31 Mar, 2025 @ 10:32am

    Shoot The Messenger

    It's amazing that someone could be so upset at DOGE for uncovering the fraud and waste, yet so uncaring about the underlying fraud.

  • On the post: Trump Continues Tanking Civil Rights In Hopes Of Scoring A First-Round Autocracy In The Next Election

    Koby ( profile ), 27 Mar, 2025 @ 11:51am

    True Equality

    So far there haven't been any civil rights violations. Everyone in the country illegally is en route to being deported. These so-called watchdog groups are just doing make-busy work, and aren't actually accomplishing anything.

  • On the post: Even If Those Weren’t War Plans In Hegseth’s Signal Chat, They Were War Crimes

    Koby ( profile ), 27 Mar, 2025 @ 10:34am

    War Is Hell

    This isn’t just reckless — it’s a likely violation of international humanitarian law, which explicitly prohibits attacks directed at civilian objects.
    The Houthis are firing missiles at passing civilian boats. They are terrorists. And everywhere they go is a "civilian object" because their infrastructure is such that there is no distinction between civilian and military.

  • On the post: The Collapse Of Republican Seriousness

    Koby ( profile ), 26 Mar, 2025 @ 01:43pm

    It depends on how the judge rules. If the judge is usurping power from the other branches, then impeachment would be appropriate. For example, if a judge ruled that a congressman would be required to vote in a particular way, removal of the judge would be warranted.

  • On the post: The Collapse Of Republican Seriousness

    Koby ( profile ), 26 Mar, 2025 @ 12:37pm

    No Joke

    I've been watching a lot of police body camera videos lately. One of the popular mantras of the folks who get hauled off to jail is "seriously?!?!?" Like, seriously you're arresting me?? You can't be serious!?!! When people say the word "seriously" repeatedly, it indicates that their understanding of how things should happen is beginning to diverge from reality. Rather than accept that they could be wrong, the only other conclusion they can think of is that that others who aren't being serious are pranking them somehow. It's not a prank. Others are starting to think that you belong in the looney bin.

  • On the post: Another Anti-Immigrant Lie Exposed: IRS Records Will Be Used To Track Down Undocumented Immigrants

    Koby ( profile ), 26 Mar, 2025 @ 12:13pm

    Feel free to explain how collecting a paycheck and paying taxes under one’s own name is identity theft/fraud. I’ll wait.
    If they're here illegally, then they don't have a valid Social Security number. That means they can't pay taxes or Social Security legitimately. Instead, the individual either makes up a bogus number, or they steal some else's identity. The IRS database contains these records of invalid numbers, or names and numbers and birthdadates that do not match. Yet because of the lax enforcement, they are allowed to continue working. Investigating the bogus tax records easily leads back to illegals working a job.
    And I’m sure you’ll complain any minute now about corporations exploiting the poor, including undocumented immigrants, to make sure C-suite execs get higher salaries for no good reason~.
    I'll be glad to do it again: corporations should not hire illegal aliens. They are cheating the system, and unfairly depressing wages for American citizens, particularly for the poorest working Americans would could most benefit from an increase in wages.
    And rather than go after the employers, you want the government to ding the workers instead.
    I want to go after them both. E-verify should be required in all states, and employers who still hire illegals despite a failed check, those employers should go to jail.

  • On the post: Lawsuit Filed Over The Bombing The Houthis Group Chat

    Koby ( profile ), 26 Mar, 2025 @ 11:19am

    Not Much Of A Plan

    "No names. No targets. No locations. No units. No routes. No sources. No methods. And no classified information. Those are some really shitty war plans."

  • On the post: Another Anti-Immigrant Lie Exposed: IRS Records Will Be Used To Track Down Undocumented Immigrants

    Koby ( profile ), 26 Mar, 2025 @ 10:29am

    Your Price

    For the folks collecting a paycheck that contributes taxes into the SS system -- this is identity theft / identity fraud. If you try to classify the payers as a "net positive", this basically means that you can be bribed into excusing identity theft. It is also fraudulent in that many jobs, if an American Citizen were to be hired instead, would likely require a higher wage, which in turn would pay more in non-SS taxes. Citizens are being cheated. Finally, I would remind everyone that some workers get paid money under the table, and are therefore not paying any taxes. This means that their employers are committing tax fraud.

  • On the post: The Presidential Toddler Theory Of Government

    Koby ( profile ), 25 Mar, 2025 @ 12:33pm

    Delegation

    They're talking about two different documents. One is the executive proclamation, which directed those in the executive such as the AG and DHS, to use the Act to deport criminal gangsters. Trump signed that one. The other is a deportation order. Trump didn't personally arrest anyone, investigate if they are a member of TdA, and place them onboard a plane for deportation. Other people handled that. Trump wouldn't know the exact time when it was signed. This is the document that the rogue judge is trying to investigate.

  • On the post: FBI Shifts Resources From Tracking The Terrorists Trump Likes To Pitching In With Anti-Immigration Efforts

    Koby ( profile ), 25 Mar, 2025 @ 11:34am

    How Times Have Changed

    Once upon a time, Techdirt bemoaned how the FBI and other security agencies over-scrutinized individuals here legally in the U.S. and put them on no-fly lists. Since the FBI is re-focusing on actual rulebreakers, instead of unknown possible maybes, now it's a problem.

  • On the post: But Their Signal Chats: Trump Officials Share War Plans With Journalist

    Koby ( profile ), 25 Mar, 2025 @ 10:33am

    Using Signal instead of official channels means those people wanted to keep their conversations off the record so there’s no paper trail and therefore no way to hold anyone accountable for bad decisions.
    At least you're willing to admit that there's a paper trail on the government developed system. You're just one step away from being able to admit that the deep state can access that record so they can thwart any decisions that they don't like.

  • On the post: But Their Signal Chats: Trump Officials Share War Plans With Journalist

    Koby ( profile ), 25 Mar, 2025 @ 09:59am

    This wasn’t a misdirected happy birthday text, you dipshit. This was classified military planning conducted over a third-party messaging app. Yes, Signal’s encryption is excellent — but that’s completely beside the point. There’s a reason the government has specific secured communications systems, SCIFs, and strict protocols for handling classified information.
    And the reason for those protocols is so that the deep state can listen into the conversation. It sounds like someone is upset that a secure system is being used to cut the NSA out of the picture!

  • On the post: Contempt Of Court

    Koby ( profile ), 24 Mar, 2025 @ 10:19am

    Cant Steer The Plane

    Trump has already effectively neutered congressional oversight. Now his DOJ appears determined to do the same to the judiciary...
    He has a mandate. He has the Congress, and a large majority of the American people on his side (80+% on deporting criminal gangsters according to polls). The only opposition remaining are a few rogue activist judges. This is how government is supposed to work. Separation of powers means that the judges don't get to control the executive branch.

  • On the post: Paul Weiss’s Shameful Surrender Makes Every Lawyer There Complicit In Trumpian Constitutional Desecration

    Koby ( profile ), 21 Mar, 2025 @ 11:30am

    Maybe Its You

    The full text is insane. If I were a lawyer at Paul Weiss, I would be looking for another job, starting immediately. Everything about this is shameful.
    This is becoming a common theme: everything is the world, according to liberals, is going insane. It's time to consider -- is everyone else in the world is going crazy? Or maybe everyone else thinks that the liberals are insane?

  • On the post: Elon Musk Is Said To Be Getting The War Plan Against China

    Koby ( profile ), 21 Mar, 2025 @ 11:21am

    If Joe Biden had asked George Soros to “audit” the government and close down agencies, how would you have responded?
    I would have cheered. This may surprise you, but there were some claims by Obama and Bill Clinton back in the day that sounded good to me. They didn't accomplish those goals, so it was a disappointment. But I still cheered them on in those aspects of their policy. Stop buying into the phoney baloney gossip stories of disreputable organizations like the NYT.

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