To be fair, the schisms have been occurring for like 200 years.

Why wasn’t he arrested and charged for this before being sent to El Salvador? If he is this heinous of a criminal, why was he the alternate for the seat on the flight down to El Salvador?

Let’s argue for argument’s sake that he is the kind of person the DOJ claims he is. Does this mean he is guilty before being given a chance to defend himself? Shouldn’t he be afforded an opportunity to hear the charges and offer a defense? Granted, immigrants without citizenship can be deported for any criminal activity, but this guy had a court order preventing that. So why couldn’t the DOJ arrest and charge him before sending him to a death prison? Wouldn’t it be in the interest of the nation to maybe find out more about his network before disappearing him, especially since they claim he smuggled thousands of people?

This is some kafkaesque, fascist, dumbass bullshit.

Serial killers need patterns, process, and specific situations tailored to their individual neuroses. They are driven or compelled to kill to create or recreate certain events. That’s one thing that separates them from mass murderers or spree killers.

This guy was just in it for money. Mass murderer, yes, but there have been mafia hitmen with more morals than this fuck.

The scale of this, and the callousness of it, are far closer to Hitler and other genocidal maniacs because none of them wanted to get their hands dirty; they’d never kill anyone, personally. At least serial killers are into DIY and often are quite proud of their fucked up accomplishments.

It really says something about this guy’s absolute depravity when a comparison to a serial killer makes someone say “you know, that’s offensive to serial killers.”

I’m not disagreeing with what you said, I’m just frustrated because this guy was worse than serial killers and that is really something else.

Ha, fair. I was concerned you were about to drop some non-Euclidean Cthulhu deep-magic on us.

How? Doesn’t this run afoul of the inequality theorem?

I’m just going to drop selections from the Troma catalog in here:

• The Toxic Avenger
• Surf Nazis Must Die
• Class of Nuke ‘em High
• Sgt. Kabukiman NYPD
• Tromeo and Juliet

These are objectively shitty movies. Most of these movies are irredeemable; hell, some of them are down right an exercise in poor taste. A lot of it hasn’t aged well, and I’m not talking about the cinematography. I haven’t kept up with Troma in the 21st century, though, so maybe Troma has gotten worse-better or better-worse?

However, I find joy in these movies because they are like a time warp back to New Jersey and New York in the 80s and 90s. They were so low budget and always filmed around New York (except for Toxic Avenger II which somehow was filmed in Japan), that they used a lot of family members of the cast and crew or random locals as extras. It is obvious that a lot of people on screen probably didn’t know they were being filmed (or if they did, didn’t realize what type of movie they were in). There’s bad hair and makeup (but not from the effects department), and thick accents and regionalisms that have faded. There are mainstreets and skylines that don’t exist anymore, or if they do, are wildly different. It is amazing to catch a glimpse of an era that doesn’t exist anymore. This exists in all old movies, but the low-budget realness hits differently.

Most of these movies are trash, but they’re my trash. Apologies to Mr. Kaufman.

Haven’t you noticed how shiny and flake free our hair is?

I’m dying on a lot of hills when it comes to 90s action/sci-fi. Sci-fi movies from 1990 to 1997 or so have a very specific vibe that I can’t articulate well but I know it when I see it; the Stallone Judge Dredd is a shining example.

Judge Dredd, Demolition Man, Total Recall, Fifth Element, Mario Brothers, Tank Girl, Starship Toopers all have this campy retro-future theme-park vibe that is just fun.

I don’t care too much about Judge Dredd the movie(s) lining up with Judge Dredd the comic; they’re both fine to me. The Karl Urban one is a better movie, but it is missing the “eat recycled food” aspect.

Senators in the US senate serve 6 year terms and there are only 2 per state. This means that there is always an even number of senators and they have a lot of time in office before needing to focus on campaigning for re-election. Compare this to the House of Representatives where the terms are 2 years and states get allocated different amounts of representatives based on population.

Other things to note about senators is that there are certain procedural elements in government that only originate or happen in the senate: approving presidential appointees, judges, generals and admirals, authorizing treaties. The senate also has various committees that advise or manage various aspects of governance. Bills, including the budget, must pass both houses of Congress; in the case of the budget, it originates in the House of Representatives but must be approved by the Senate. The Senate has a lot of power to kill/block legislation because legislation requires both houses of Congress to pass it.

Historically, the Senate was the states’ representative in the federal government and, in fact, state legislatures used to select senators. Although senators are now voted for by the populations of each state, they still have a legacy of being “more prestigious” than the House of Representatives and often vote more conservatively (read as deliberate or less reactively).

Candidly speaking, senators are known to become legacies often staying in office for more than 20 years and it is not uncommon frontje children of senators to also become senators. I mention this, because socially senators are often perceived as being part of a supposedly “non-existent” US aristocracy.

Oh, I’m with you. I was just diving really deep into how absurd the 51st rhetoric is on our side.

It is clear that there is no intention of treating Canada fairly and, as you rightly pointed out, annexation would be violent and justifiably so.

I hate that you’re right. Normalization is the goal, but this is far from fucking normal. Even language like “51st state” betrays a wild ignorance of Canada and the U.S. procedures for admitting new states.

As a US citizen, Canada should not become part of the US.

It’s been 77 years since the US admitted a new state and almost 100 since we’ve raised the number of representatives. D.C. residents make up a large portion of the federal workforce and even they don’t have representation in Congress. Quite frankly, there’s no political entity in the US with experience bringing in a new state and all the logistics and legal work that it requires.

There is no path for Canadian annexation where the Canadians will be treated fairly.

If Canada entered collectively as a single state (pure nonsense, but hear me out), they’d get two senators and 1 representative to the house. The apportionments for US representatives would need to be raised to account for 40 million new people, which my guess wouldn’t happen, so instead California and Canada (who have almost equal populations) would just trade off allocations of representatives alternating with New York and Texas. Canada would end up with a lot of representatives in the House this way but wouldn’t be nearly as powerful as adding 20 senators if the provinces entered as individual states.

All said, not all of these seats would go democrat, but the GOP definitely wouldn’t be able to guarantee majorities or stalemates in both houses like they have been for the past 20-30 years. Even if the Trump admin pulled this con off and annexed Canada as a US territory, the GOP would just block entry as a state since I can’t imagine this Congress passing a joint resolution to allow it. Furthermore, Congress doesn’t even have to consider adding a new state even if the population of that territory keep petitioning for it (see ongoing D.C. and Puerto Rico statehood petitions).

Shit would get really complicated when the US has to handle the dissolution of parliament, withdrawal from the Commonwealth, and Quebec.

The Acela is worth it going to NYC and further north. Every town in Connecticut apparently still has an Amtrak stop (which is cool, but goddamn). Compare the travel times of the Acela and Amtrak between DC and Boston.

DOGE was never officially created but the Trump administration instead repurposed the US Digital Service (partially renamed the US DOGE Service). USDS was in charge of digital infrastructure modernization and was originally supposed to be a neutral technology consulting agency across the government. That was their “in” to many other agencies.

Musk was never appointed because he was “hired” as an executive consultant with a time-limited position instead (see how he is leaving/withdrawing right as that limit is reached).

Since the USDS is an executive agency, it can be instructed to directly take orders from the president through its agency head and the chain of command. USDS has also primarily infected other executive agencies with executive authorization and the heads of those agencies allowing it to happen (or resigning).

The majority of Federal agencies fall within control of the Executive Branch.

Appropriate Constitutional power is moot when the other branches won’t check the Executive. Right now, DOGE is testing the boundaries of executive power at every corner of the government.

Oh, right. Golden plates make more sense for cults.

The reading rooms will be filled with golden toilets and copies of Mein Kampf inscribed with Trump’s ridiculous Sharpie signature. Under Mein Kampf you’ll find a print out of the McDonald’s menu and unused Trump casino cocktail napkins.

The stacks will contain nothing but books spray painted gold and autographed copies of The Art of the Deal.

The archives will only contain printed out copies of every tweet and truth-post he’s ever made.

RiffTrax. Especially the Star Wars prequels and the Twilight trilogy.

You’ve got my bow…

Beyond the practical advice in this thread, I’ll add that there have been more times I’ve gone fishing to sit and think in the quiet outside than to actually catch fish. I find it just as fun to wander around the bank of a pond or paddle around a lake or river trying to fish as much as actually fishing.

I grew up with bait casters and cane poles and a family that loved fishing, but now I’m learning how to fly fish and I feel kinda stupid. I’ve always wanted to fly fish and never had access to it, so now I’m basically starting from scratch: new method, new species, new environments.

Here’s my strategy and thoughts on fishing and hobbies in general:

1. Learn how the equipment works. I’ve never used flies or a fly rod before, so I’m taking the time to learn how to use it and understand how it works. I like manuals and books, but others have pointed out that there are a lot of video series out there for fishing.
2. Learn about the fish in my area. I grew up primarily pond and lake fishing on either the bank or by boat for primarily panfish, catfish, crappie, and largemouth bass. While those fish are in my region, I also have access to trout and other species I’m not familiar with. New regions and species also mean new regulations and laws; don’t forget to learn about daily limits or mandatory catch and release. You don’t want to end up accidentally having a protected species in your creel or on your stringer when a game warden stops by.
3. Set reasonable expectations and achievable goals. This isn’t my primary hobby and I don’t have the time to disappear every weekend on fishing trips. It’s going to be a slow process and I’m going to make mistakes. I also don’t expect to catch a fish for a long time. My goal is to learn something new and practice doing it. What’s your reason for fishing?
4. Don’t over indulge on gear. You can drive yourself mad trying to get the best gear, especially the way it is marketed, but I’ve had just as much fun fishing for bream with a cane pole, a box of crickets, and a styrofoam bobber older than I am as I’ve had with a collection of tackle boxes, high-end bait casters and a bass boat. You can catch panfish with stale bread and catfish with hotdogs.
5. Be honest with yourself about your learning style. Some people can teach themselves a new skill, some people need lessons. How much can you teach yourself before you need help, or how much money (for you) is it worth spending to learn how to fish?

There’s a variation of this that I like better: “It’s not your fault but it is your responsibility.”

Framing it this way shifts the tone from passive to active; you have a problem, but you take responsibility. It also helps the responsible party set themself up for correcting the behavior in the future. Saying you’re late because of traffic and accepting the consequences is fine, but recognizing that you need to leave earlier to accommodate traffic is better.

I had a teacher who would ask for an explanation, not an excuse. If the explanation started to place blame on someone or something else, he’d just shake his head and say “no excuses.”