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TobiasDrake (•̀⤙•́) (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Arm chopping is not a love language!
(•̀⤙•́)
#329401: Sep 27th 2020 at 8:12:24 PM

All those people who were subpoenaing for Trump's tax returns, what are they going to do now that they have them?

Releasing them to the public was always the end goal. Now, after four long years of fighting for the tax returns, the New York Times has done exactly that.

What will it actually accomplish in the long run? Probably fuck all. Everyone's minds were made up about Trump one way or another three years ago and I don't expect a single person's opinion to change from the final confirmation that yes, he cheated on his taxes just like we already knew he did. This was always a complete waste of time and effort. But at least now we know, I suppose.

Edited by TobiasDrake on Sep 27th 2020 at 8:12:47 AM

My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.
DingoWalley1 Asgore Adopts Noelle Since: Feb, 2014 Relationship Status: Can't buy me love
Asgore Adopts Noelle
#329402: Sep 27th 2020 at 8:21:11 PM

[up]x2 If someone from the Grand Jury or tied to the New York investigation were to leak them, that would be terrible: the case would be thrown out and the people who leaked them would be the ones going to jail. My hope is that someone tied to Trump himself got tired of Trump or pissed at him and somehow leaked them to the Newspaper. They would either be in no trouble if they were someone who worked with his finances, or they would get in trouble but they wouldn't harm the investigation.

Now that the Grand Jury has these documents, at least partially, they can scour through them for any serious crimes committed by Trump and, once he's out of office, Trump can be charged with any crime they can see.

KarkatTheDalek Not as angry as the name would suggest. from Somwhere in Time/Space Since: Mar, 2012 Relationship Status: You're a beautiful woman, probably
Not as angry as the name would suggest.
#329403: Sep 27th 2020 at 8:23:19 PM

[up][up] I mean, I think if this sufficiently rattled Trump and makes him vulnerable, it can only be good news for us. His money has always been a sensitive subject for him.

Oh God! Natural light!
PhysicalStamina i'm tired, my friend (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: Coming soon to theaters
i'm tired, my friend
#329404: Sep 27th 2020 at 8:24:44 PM

Hurting Trump's pride has never really amounted to anything. I don't see what makes this different.

i'm tired, my friend
Memers Since: Aug, 2013
#329405: Sep 27th 2020 at 8:30:02 PM

Unless this causes Faux News or other Republicans to actually turn on him it means nothing but pulling attention away from the actual real issue of an actual segregationist being put on the Supreme Court.

Parable Since: Aug, 2009
#329406: Sep 27th 2020 at 8:30:18 PM

Actually, hurting Trump's pride is a great way to make him get pouty and sulky, which isn't a great look at the debate. And multiple polls have shown that the most effective attacks on Trump aren't the ones that highlight him being an authoritarian, but him being weak and a buffoon.

KarkatTheDalek Not as angry as the name would suggest. from Somwhere in Time/Space Since: Mar, 2012 Relationship Status: You're a beautiful woman, probably
Not as angry as the name would suggest.
#329407: Sep 27th 2020 at 8:30:57 PM

Well, I don’t expect anyone to switch sides over this, but if things can be destabilized long enough, perhaps they’ll be able to eliminate any chance of him closing the gap?

Perhaps I’m being a little too optimistic. Regardless, I’ll be interested in seeing how the debate goes.

actual segregationist being put on the Supreme Court.

Wait, what?

Edited by KarkatTheDalek on Sep 27th 2020 at 11:32:06 AM

Oh God! Natural light!
RainehDaze Nero Fangirl (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
Nero Fangirl
#329408: Sep 27th 2020 at 8:35:18 PM

Trump's pick has argued that Brown vs Board of Education and the entire existence of West Virginia would be unconstitutional by an Originalist interpretation. Amongst other things.

KarkatTheDalek Not as angry as the name would suggest. from Somwhere in Time/Space Since: Mar, 2012 Relationship Status: You're a beautiful woman, probably
Not as angry as the name would suggest.
#329409: Sep 27th 2020 at 8:36:27 PM

Huh.

Anyone got a link?

Oh God! Natural light!
DingoWalley1 Asgore Adopts Noelle Since: Feb, 2014 Relationship Status: Can't buy me love
Asgore Adopts Noelle
#329410: Sep 27th 2020 at 8:43:08 PM

[up] Got ya:

Here's her Scholarship Paper where she argues Brown V. Board, Social Security, and West Virginia would be Unconstitutional by a strict Originalist Interpretation.

To be fair to her, she does say trying to reverse course of these decisions would be improper and impractical... But Abortion, Gay Rights, and Health Care aren't among them.

CharlesPhipps Since: Jan, 2001
#329411: Sep 27th 2020 at 8:47:18 PM

Hurting Trump's pride has never really amounted to anything. I don't see what makes this different.

Quite the opposite, hurting Trump's pride is the real life version of a stun lock.

No, it doesn't take him out of the fight but he goes into useless mode for a week or three out of petulance.

Which saves lives.

Edited by CharlesPhipps on Sep 27th 2020 at 8:47:30 AM

Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.
M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#329412: Sep 27th 2020 at 8:48:50 PM

The last few years would have been a lot more bearable if Trump had just spent his entire term golfing at Mar-a-Lago.

Disgusted, but not surprised
Rationalinsanity from Halifax, Canada Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: It's complicated
#329413: Sep 27th 2020 at 9:00:46 PM

That's why I laugh at everyone trying to claim that Biden has dementia. Because even if he did (he doesn't), a President being in a total coma for the past 4 years is still preferable to the Trump Administration.

Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.
M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#329414: Sep 27th 2020 at 9:04:40 PM

A dead rat would be a better President than Trump. It'd also require less disinfecting of the Oval Office after its term is up.

Edited by M84 on Sep 28th 2020 at 12:04:48 AM

Disgusted, but not surprised
nova92 Since: Apr, 2020
#329415: Sep 27th 2020 at 9:29:05 PM

I wonder if I'm reading too much into this and getting a bit paranoid, but

the entire existence of West Virginia would be unconstitutional

didn't West Virginia become a state by refusing to secede from the Union during the Civil War? Is she arguing that they should have become a part of the Confederacy here?

RainehDaze Nero Fangirl (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
Nero Fangirl
#329416: Sep 27th 2020 at 9:36:53 PM

Well the entire bloody paper appears to be an attempt to justify why originalism is somehow acceptable despite starting with "well if we try to apply it retroactively we invalidate things like PAPER MONEY".

It's a stupid doctrine that exists as a flimsy cover for pretending a centuries dead group of people share your set of biases in order to propagate a particular conservative viewpoint. Just admit you're doing what everyone else does and just working out how you think it should be interpreted.

DingoWalley1 Asgore Adopts Noelle Since: Feb, 2014 Relationship Status: Can't buy me love
Asgore Adopts Noelle
#329417: Sep 27th 2020 at 9:37:14 PM

[up]x2 West Virginia was originally part of Virginia. When Virginia voted to Secede at the start of the Civil War, the people in charge of the Counties of West Virginia seceded from Virginia and applied to become a State. After the Civil War, Virginia, now back in the Union, demanded that West Virginia be returned into it proper; the Supreme Court in a 6-3 Decision in 1871 ruled that West Virginia's secession was legal because the US Government and the Virginia Government-in-exile (IE, the Union-sponsored Government) approved of said Secession, while Virginia's Current Government's opinion didn't matter because the measure was approved while it was Rebelling.

Edited by DingoWalley1 on Sep 27th 2020 at 12:38:27 PM

CharlesPhipps Since: Jan, 2001
#329418: Sep 27th 2020 at 9:41:46 PM

West Virginia's existence is something I note is good for repudiating the myth of General Lee.

General Lee's mythology is based around the idea that he didn't want to raise his hand against his own state and loved it more than the Union. Apparently, he didn't love it enough not to raise it against the part of his state that wasn't a bunch of filthy traitors.

Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.
nova92 Since: Apr, 2020
#329419: Sep 27th 2020 at 9:43:33 PM

[up][up] Oops, I meant to say "became a state by refusing to secede from the Union and seceding from Virginia instead", but thanks for the additional history.

DingoWalley1 Asgore Adopts Noelle Since: Feb, 2014 Relationship Status: Can't buy me love
Asgore Adopts Noelle
#329420: Sep 27th 2020 at 9:47:09 PM

[up] Also, since I missed the answer to your second question; her argument (and the argument her interpretation of Originalism would entail) would be that once Virginia was officially reinstated into the Union, West Virginia would be shoved right back into Virginia proper, becoming one state again.

[up]x2

General Lee: "I can not abandon my fair state of Virginia. I must secede with her."

Rando: "Uhhh, sir Lee, your hometown seceded with the rest of North-West Virginia back to the Union..."

Lee: "... Those traitorous bastards."

CharlesPhipps Since: Jan, 2001
#329421: Sep 27th 2020 at 9:59:09 PM

Also, since I missed the answer to your second question; her argument (and the argument her interpretation of Originalism would entail) would be that once Virginia was officially reinstated into the Union, West Virginia would be shoved right back into Virginia proper, becoming one state again.

I find that even scarier. If they re-merged, then West Virginia should have had the right to prosecute all of Virginia's traitors for murder.

But this just implies, "Yes, I'd be on Southern Confederates side."

Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.
nova92 Since: Apr, 2020
#329422: Sep 28th 2020 at 12:34:27 AM

Thanks for the explanation @DingoWalley1. Yeah, I'm with RainehDaze that this only serves to make Originalism more absurd. And while it's not a super serious problem, it's certainly not that great a look that two of the cases cited as wrongly decided are West Virginia statehood and Brown vs. BoE.

Edited by nova92 on Sep 28th 2020 at 12:40:00 PM

Balmung Since: Oct, 2011
#329423: Sep 28th 2020 at 2:05:22 AM

Can't say I'm surprised - conservatives have been opposed to integrated schools for a long time. Even many of their other culture wars largely come back to forcing that agenda without actually saying that they want segregation back.

SeptimusHeap from Switzerland (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Mu
#329424: Sep 28th 2020 at 2:10:04 AM

And not just conservatives - even a lot of liberals become queasy when the question of the de facto segregation of present-day (in the sense that this segregation is alive and well today) cities in California, New York and Massachusetts comes up.

"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#329425: Sep 28th 2020 at 2:20:36 AM

Anyone who tries to deny it's happening is, well, in denial. Heck, back when I was in high school in Northern Cali I couldn't help but notice that almost all of the students in my high school (located in a well to do district) were almost predominantly white and Asian.

I don't recall seeing a single black student.

The last time I can remember sharing any classes with a black student was back in elementary school back when I was in living in Pennsylvania. And even then, there weren't that many.

Maybe it's different in Southern Cali, I dunno.

Edited by M84 on Sep 28th 2020 at 5:22:58 PM

Disgusted, but not surprised

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