Stephen T. Stone 's Techdirt Comments

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• On the post: America’s Diminished Place In The World And The Consequences Of Not Impeaching

  

  Stephen T. Stone ( profile ), 19 Mar, 2026 @ 12:25am

  Three things.

  1. I voted for Kamala, not Trump, so I did my part in trying to keep the bastard out of office.
  2. “Fighting back” does not always mean “violence”, and I will not endorse violence as anything but a tool of last resort to be used only when all other options for resistance are non-viable.
  3. That “let’s shame the guy I don’t know but have an obsession with because he isn’t full of unbridled bloodlust for the GOP” bullshit should have stayed where I thought you left it months ago: in your head.

• On the post: Afroman’s Defamation Trial Is Going About As Well For The Deputies As Their Original Raid Did

  

  Stephen T. Stone ( profile ), 18 Mar, 2026 @ 03:57pm

  And where, o where, are the cadre of ultra-righteous “free speech defenders” who love to defend (and repeatedly use!) slurs and hate speech? Where are those people, who claim to stand up for the First Amendment, when this man’s First Amendment rights are under attack by agents of the government?

• On the post: The Jehovah’s Witnesses Are Back Abusing Copyright Law To Unmask Their Critics. Again.

  

  Stephen T. Stone ( profile ), 18 Mar, 2026 @ 12:24pm

  We’ll keep seeing this issue crop up with this particular sect until someone countersues and teaches said sect the meaning of FAFO. We could also push our political leaders to fix the DMCA so this kind of shit can’t happen without a 230-esque “hey, prove you actually need this info for a proper legal claim” hearing. Either way, this shit needs to be stopped before we get to a court willing to entertain the Watch Tower’s bullshit and give the bastards what they want.

• On the post: Pete Hegseth: We Can’t Wait For Larry Ellison To Turn CNN Into Another Right Wing Propaganda Mill

  

  Stephen T. Stone ( profile ), 18 Mar, 2026 @ 10:17am

  CNN lied (and had to issue corrections) 4 times about islamist attacks in the last week or so.

  [credible citations needed]

• On the post: America’s Diminished Place In The World And The Consequences Of Not Impeaching

  

  Stephen T. Stone ( profile ), 18 Mar, 2026 @ 09:47am

  There is no strategy to Trump’s policy; he is a man-child with no impulse control who would prefer to be a king instead of a diplomat. Also, are you saying that despite running under the GOP banner and pushing policies that the GOP largely agrees with and champions, Trump is a Democrat because of his well-documented ties to Jeffrey Epstein⁠—including the possibility that Trump knew Epstein was “stealing” young female employees from Mar-a-Lago for sex trafficking purposes? Oh, and one more thing:

  Cope and seethe.

  Why does it feel like every time you come here, you’re angrier about defending and justifying Trump than everyone else is about attacking him?

• On the post: America’s Diminished Place In The World And The Consequences Of Not Impeaching

  

  Stephen T. Stone ( profile ), 17 Mar, 2026 @ 06:38pm

  I didn’t like her because she decided that going after Republican voters by being Republican Lite was a smart idea. I still voted for her because duh, but it was definitely a hold-my-nose vote.

• On the post: America’s Diminished Place In The World And The Consequences Of Not Impeaching

  

  Stephen T. Stone ( profile ), 17 Mar, 2026 @ 06:36pm

  That was a civil trial

  I believe a man who once professed he could “grab [women] by the pussy” and get away with it would only be found liable for rape if he committed that rape. A jury believed E. Jean Carroll over Donald Trump. You don’t have to like that fact, but you do have to acknowledge it.

• On the post: America’s Diminished Place In The World And The Consequences Of Not Impeaching

  

  Stephen T. Stone ( profile ), 17 Mar, 2026 @ 05:31pm

  We freed Venezuela

  Didn’t the people working under Maduro immediately take power and do pretty much nothing to change anything Maduro was doing before he was abducted by the United States military on specious criminal charges?

  are freeing Iran

  Didn’t the leaders in Iran who weren’t killed by the US and Israel immediately pick up where Ayatollah Khamenei left off, and didn’t the people of Iran by and large refuse (for whatever reason) to rise up against those leaders when the US expected the Iranian people to rise up?

  are about to liberate Cuba

  Didn’t the United States put so many embargoes and sanctions on Cuba that the current state of the country can be blamed largely on the economic policy enforced upon the country by the United States? Furthermore, through which method of regime change does the United States plan to “liberate” Cuba: kidnapping or murder?

  If this is “diminished in the world” it’s just cuz they hate winners

  Yes, because when I think “winners”, I think of a country whose leader⁠—an elderly pants-shitter who is also an adjudicated sex offender who doesn’t see sexual assault as a big deal and a former friend to a sex trafficker who specialized in trafficking children⁠—enjoys sowing chaos and disorder in both his country and others around the world only because he thinks the presidency is a reality show and he believes his position entitles him to do anything he wants~.

  I literally voted for this

  I want you to remember that when Trump finally does something that even you refuse to justify. When it happens, don’t come here looking for pity. You will find none here, and you will deserve none.

  cope and seethe

  You’re the one who seems so angry about having to defend and justify Trump’s actions all the time, yet you’re the one telling everyone else to “cope and seethe”. Curious. 🤔

• On the post: America’s Diminished Place In The World And The Consequences Of Not Impeaching

  

  Stephen T. Stone ( profile ), 17 Mar, 2026 @ 05:16pm

  Tell me: Would suggesting that Trump is above any and all good faith criticism for his actions, whether as a politician or as a private citizen, be more or less deranged than the actual criticism?

• On the post: America’s Diminished Place In The World And The Consequences Of Not Impeaching

  

  Stephen T. Stone ( profile ), 17 Mar, 2026 @ 05:14pm

  her laugh

  At best, someone who has trouble articulating why they didn’t vote for Kamala will bring up her laugh and say “yeah, that’s why” because it’s a tangible detail about her that they remember. At worst, someone who claims they didn’t vote for her because of her laugh is outright lying to you.

• On the post: America’s Diminished Place In The World And The Consequences Of Not Impeaching

  

  Stephen T. Stone ( profile ), 17 Mar, 2026 @ 05:09pm

  From a utilitarian perspective, it would just invite more retaliation from Trump.

  So what? Donald Trump will not suddenly become a better person if the House and the Senate fall under enough Democratic control that impeachment and conviction are all but assured. If someone refuses to impeach Donald Trump because they fear what he might do if he’s impeached, they’re a coward. And that besides, what he does in retaliation might itself be worthy of impeachment⁠—which is all the more reason to impeach him in the first place.

• On the post: DOGE Didn’t Cut Government Waste. It Was Government Waste.

  

  Stephen T. Stone ( profile ), 17 Mar, 2026 @ 03:33pm

  What about renewable energy resources?

  Of course that’s identity politics. It attacks people whose wealth is intrinsically and deeply tied to fossil fuels. “Oil baron” is an identity with considerable political heft, and since renewable energy would either put them out of business or force them to pivot to something they can’t monetize as easily or as thoroughly, the pursuit of federal funding for renewable energy resources are a form of identity politics. And we should be pursuing it more instead of less because fuck billionaires.

• On the post: Brendan Carr Pretends To Be Tough, Demands Broadcasters Support Disastrous War

  

  Stephen T. Stone ( profile ), 17 Mar, 2026 @ 03:30pm

  Then you should have no problem citing what I got wrong and what evidence proves me wrong. I’ll wait.

• On the post: Brendan Carr Pretends To Be Tough, Demands Broadcasters Support Disastrous War

  

  Stephen T. Stone ( profile ), 17 Mar, 2026 @ 03:28pm

  was about to get nukes

  Haven’t they been “weeks away” from getting nuclear weapons for several years now? I mean, not that I want Iran to have a nuke, but let’s not buy into the idea that Iran was right on the cusp of dropping a nuke on someone without better evidence to back those claims.

• On the post: DOJ Prosecutors Somehow Manage To Secure Terrorism Convictions Against Anti-ICE Protesters

  

  Stephen T. Stone ( profile ), 17 Mar, 2026 @ 02:35pm

  Then you should have no trouble citing the evidence that proves the shooter and the people convicted on these “terrorism” charges were all knowing and willing participants in a premeditated conspiracy to assault/murder an ICE agent. I’ll wait.

• On the post: DOGE Didn’t Cut Government Waste. It Was Government Waste.

  

  Stephen T. Stone ( profile ), 17 Mar, 2026 @ 02:32pm

  primarily occupied with identity politics and victimhood derived thereof

  Wouldn’t that make all the people who whine about “white genocide” woke?

• On the post: Brendan Carr Pretends To Be Tough, Demands Broadcasters Support Disastrous War

  

  Stephen T. Stone ( profile ), 17 Mar, 2026 @ 12:56pm

  this is one of the most effective military campaigns in history

  Well, sure, if you ignore the war crimes (e.g., blowing up a school and killing dozens of children), the future economic impact caused by the closing of the Strait of Hormuz, the loss of stability in the Southwest Asia and North Africa region due to Iran lashing out at other countries, the loss of soft power in re: the Iranian people by killing the country’s top religious leader (regardless of his authoritarian leadership) in addition to killing Iranian civilians, the political impact of watching every major ally basically say “not our circus, not our monkeys” and forgo helping the US and Israel, and the overall impact of a president who ran on “we won’t start any more wars or get into a war in the Middle East” do both those things in one fell swoop and fuck up everything because he’s an overgrown diaper-wearing toddler with no impulse control. But besides all that, sure, this little “excursion” has been a complete success~. Incidentally, didn’t Russia claim at the start of its “excursion” into Ukraine a few years back that it would only need a handful of weeks at most to topple the Ukranian military and “liberate” the country? Because I think you should look at how that worked out for Russia, then think about how the United States’s own “excursion” into Iran⁠—now three weeks deep⁠—might work out in the months ahead.

• On the post: DOGE Didn’t Cut Government Waste. It Was Government Waste.

  

  Stephen T. Stone ( profile ), 17 Mar, 2026 @ 12:46pm

  what’s the rational way to fix that problem

  Audit the military from top to bottom. If you think the combined armed forces of the United States require an always-increasing annual budget of trillions of dollars, you’re probably lobbying for them.

• On the post: DOGE Didn’t Cut Government Waste. It Was Government Waste.

  

  Stephen T. Stone ( profile ), 17 Mar, 2026 @ 12:44pm

  Please define “woke” in clear and objective terms.

• On the post: DOJ Prosecutors Somehow Manage To Secure Terrorism Convictions Against Anti-ICE Protesters

  

  Stephen T. Stone ( profile ), 17 Mar, 2026 @ 12:44pm

  One person shot an ICE agent. What proof, other than these convictions on trumped-up charges, says the other people charged with “terrorism” but didn’t pull the trigger knowingly set up that agent to get shot?

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