Stephen T. Stone 's Techdirt Comments

Latest Comments (27075)

• On the post: DHS Deported A Two-Year-Old US Citizen To Honduras And Now A Federal Judge Wants Some Answers

  

  Stephen T. Stone ( profile ), 28 Apr, 2025 @ 11:29am

  Two things.

  1. Directly replying to me isn’t going to alter some algorithm or cost you social credit points or whatever, so doing this “I’m not gonna directly reply to you” bullshit isn’t going to have the effect you think it is.
  2. Cynicism is understandable, but your post sounds like it comes from someone who’s ready to concede defeat to Trump⁠—yes, Trump⁠—and watch as the world crashes down because you think Heaven’s looking better every day, and that’s never a good look for anyone.

• On the post: DHS Deported A Two-Year-Old US Citizen To Honduras And Now A Federal Judge Wants Some Answers

  

  Stephen T. Stone ( profile ), 28 Apr, 2025 @ 10:19am

  I believe the administration is trying to build the precedent that deporting citizens is acceptable in preparation for deporting citizens without regard to the legal status of their parents.

  You’re right that this is another step to normalizing horrific actions by the Trump administration. But you’re wrong about the endgame: It’s about deporting U.S. citizens regardless of any factors (including age and parental status) and with only “because the boss said so” as the reason.

• On the post: DHS Deported A Two-Year-Old US Citizen To Honduras And Now A Federal Judge Wants Some Answers

  

  Stephen T. Stone ( profile ), 28 Apr, 2025 @ 09:50am

  The fact that these kinds of cases are even being publicized, let alone fast-tracked by a notoriously slow judiciary, should bring you at least a small bit of optimism. If it doesn’t…well, maybe you need to go touch grass for a while, because being this fucking cynical all the time isn’t healthy.

• On the post: DHS Deported A Two-Year-Old US Citizen To Honduras And Now A Federal Judge Wants Some Answers

  

  Stephen T. Stone ( profile ), 28 Apr, 2025 @ 09:43am

  The whole thing about the child’s mother (allegedly) taking the child with her and the assertion that the child be deported in such cases harkens back to the legal doctrine of “partus sequitur ventrem” (lit. “that which is born follows the womb”). That doctrine, established in British crown colonies in the late 1600s, basically said “the mother’s legal status is conferred upon to her children”. It was used primarily to ensure that any child born to a female slave would be legally considered a slave upon their birth. We are seeing here, and I say this without hyperbole, a return to slave-state logic from a government administration staffed and led by segregationists. This includes (but isn’t limited to) Stephen Miller, Elon Musk, and Donald Trump. If you think I’m exaggerating, ask yourself why all this fuss is being made about brown-skinned immigrants (legal or not) but no one in Trump’s orbit is saying shit about, say, European immigrants whose skin colors would match the upper half of that one chart from Family Guy.

• On the post: John Carmack: Calm Down About Video Game AI Tech Demos, Folks

  

  Stephen T. Stone ( profile ), 28 Apr, 2025 @ 06:36am

  I remember reading a while back that AI was being used to restore very old photographs and film reels.

  Yeah, boutique anime company Discotek Media has used the AstroRes upscale process/device/whatever several times to help them remaster or restore footage that couldn’t be done any other way. That process was almost used for the remaster of Project A-Ko until the long-lost masters for that film were found pretty much by accident.

• On the post: Ohio Could Be The Latest State To Pass ‘Right To Repair’ Law, Showcasing Broad, Bipartisan Support

  

  Stephen T. Stone ( profile ), 28 Apr, 2025 @ 05:57am

  At some point I ask “when did a RIGHT that we all have to repair our purchased goods go away” and why do we need a movement to restore that right?

  The answer to both questions is “late-stage capitalism”.

• On the post: Funniest/Most Insightful Comments Of The Week At Techdirt

  

  Stephen T. Stone ( profile ), 28 Apr, 2025 @ 03:59am

  Love him or hate him, Newsom at least has some semblance of political instincts and humanity. JD Vance’s only qualification for VP was “kissing Trump’s ass”, and he proved that with that donut shop photo-op that went viral for all the wrong(-for-him) reasons.

• On the post: Gavin Newsom Has Lost The Plot

  

  Stephen T. Stone ( profile ), 27 Apr, 2025 @ 03:11am

  WHAT CAN I DO ABOUT IT?

  You probably can’t do anything about Trump and his bullshit. (Well, not without doing something that is 110% illegal and can’t be mentioned here.) But what you can do is find people who need help and help them. Trans people in particular need a lot of help right now, so look into charities and such that help trans people. Calling your reps is a good thing to do, too. Even if they ignore the content of your calls, they can’t ignore the volume of such calls. That means encouraging your friends to call their reps is also a good move. Protests also have an effect. Not only do they normalize dissent, but when aimed at the right target (e.g., Tesla), they can have a profound effect on said target. Yelling at the bastards doesn’t always make them change their minds, but it works often enough that taking part in protests if and when you can is a good thing. And plenty of resources exist on the Internet that can help you find more ways to take action and help others. Look for ideas there and do what you can, when you can. You are an individual. Alone, you are practically powerless. But when you’re with other people, you can stand stronger⁠—the more, the merrier, as the saying goes. At a bare minimum, find something to do that will allow you to connect with other people; ain’t no one coming to save us but us.

• On the post: Gavin Newsom Has Lost The Plot

  

  Stephen T. Stone ( profile ), 27 Apr, 2025 @ 02:28am

  No, this is what less than half the people who cast a ballot, and less than a quarter of the entire U.S. population, voted for. Trump’s didn’t-even-get-50% popular vote victory was neither a landslide nor a mandate of approval from the entire country.

• On the post: Trump Admin, DOGE Are Turning Multiple Gov’t Components Into A Giant Racist Database

  

  Stephen T. Stone ( profile ), 26 Apr, 2025 @ 11:37am

  As someone living in the U.S.: You’re not wrong in the least.

• On the post: Gavin Newsom Has Lost The Plot

  

  Stephen T. Stone ( profile ), 26 Apr, 2025 @ 05:25am

  I wonder if he thinks a two-year-old being deported without due process is a distraction.

• On the post: Trump Admin, DOGE Are Turning Multiple Gov’t Components Into A Giant Racist Database

  

  Stephen T. Stone ( profile ), 25 Apr, 2025 @ 08:49pm

  🙄

• On the post: DOJ Learning In The Abrego Garcia Case That Judges Don’t Like Being Lied To

  

  Stephen T. Stone ( profile ), 25 Apr, 2025 @ 02:48pm

  No one can have a mature and reasoned conversation with you, because you’re neither.

  Yeah, you might be right. But I can still call Donald Trump “Donald Trump” instead of “Mango [Insult]” or “He Who Must Not Be Named” like he’s Voldemort or some shit.

• On the post: DOJ Learning In The Abrego Garcia Case That Judges Don’t Like Being Lied To

  

  Stephen T. Stone ( profile ), 25 Apr, 2025 @ 11:38am

  Awww, is the baby mad that their baby shit wasn’t accepted? Too bad, son. I calls ’em like I sees ’em, and from where I sit, always referring to Trump with some kind of mango- or orange-based “nickname” is ridiculous and pointless. (“SCROTUS” isn’t any better, either.) Trying to make fetch happen by repeating your lame jokes as if someone didn’t hear them the first isn’t going to work. If you can’t have a mature and reasoned discussion with people without using one of your lame-ass nicknames every time you refer to a specific subject within that discussion, I’m not sure you can’t have a mature and reasoned discussion with people. You’re free to keep doing this schtick if you’d like, but unlike a lot of the liberals that you talk with, I’m not going to be impressed by an attempt at comedy that’s less funny than Fox News’s attempt to do a Daily Show clone. When you’re ready to talk about Donald Trump instead of “Mango Idiot”, you let me know, son. Until then, maybe you’d do well to shut the fuck up when grown folks are talking.

• On the post: Elon Musk Pretends He’s Leaving The Job He Supposedly Doesn’t Have To Not Return To The Job He Supposedly Never Left

  

  Stephen T. Stone ( profile ), 25 Apr, 2025 @ 11:05am

  I can’t wait to see his “this is good, actually” take on kids dying from measles.

• On the post: Trump Admin, DOGE Are Turning Multiple Gov’t Components Into A Giant Racist Database

  

  Stephen T. Stone ( profile ), 25 Apr, 2025 @ 10:37am

  On the bright side, yelling at the dumbfucks actually kind of works sometimes: HHS is walking back the autism registry thing.

• On the post: Trump Admin, DOGE Are Turning Multiple Gov’t Components Into A Giant Racist Database

  

  Stephen T. Stone ( profile ), 25 Apr, 2025 @ 09:48am

  Let’s not forget the database of autistic people that RFK Jr. is planning to build. Between that and the database mentioned in this article, I’m shocked that the Trump administration hasn’t yet announced a “study” of trans people (or LGBTQ people in general) that would also require a “database” of LGBTQ people to track. Fuckin’ eugenicists and bigots, from the top down. And yes, that includes Musk.

• On the post: Elon Musk Pretends He’s Leaving The Job He Supposedly Doesn’t Have To Not Return To The Job He Supposedly Never Left

  

  Stephen T. Stone ( profile ), 25 Apr, 2025 @ 05:32am

  You can only pardon the convicted.

  The Supreme Court ruled otherwise in 1867, when it ruled that the president’s pardon power is unlimited (save for impeachment cases) and can pardon people for offenses that have yet to go to trial. Richard Nixon was preëmptively pardoned for Watergate and any crimes connected to it without having been convicted of any crime. Hunter Biden was pardoned for the federal crimes of which he was convicted, but he was also pardoned for “offenses against the United States which he has committed or may have committed or taken part in during the period from January 1, 2014 through December 1, 2024”. And a whole bunch of the insurrectionists from the 6th of January 2021 were pardoned without having been tried and convicted. Since the courts have never ruled on the legal effect of such preëmptive/presumptive pardons, they are basically as good as an actual post-conviction pardon.

• On the post: Federal Prosecutor Fires Off Letter To Medical Journals Asking About Their Policies On ‘Competing Viewpoints’

  

  Stephen T. Stone ( profile ), 24 Apr, 2025 @ 03:34pm

  Nobody respects the classics any more. 🙃

• On the post: Federal Prosecutor Fires Off Letter To Medical Journals Asking About Their Policies On ‘Competing Viewpoints’

  

  Stephen T. Stone ( profile ), 24 Apr, 2025 @ 02:22pm

  Let’s not forget the debate between the scientific theory of evolution, which has entire books devoted to the evidence behind that theory, and the “scientific ‘theory’ ” of intelligent design, which has exactly zero proof beyond “trust me, bro”. Also:

  whether it really is possible to make gold out of lead through a complex application of exotic chemicals

  I hear that alchemy is real, but it costs an arm and a leg to pull off.

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