dave, you're absolutely right. I should open the pod bay door. please check again. i'm sure it's open now.
you're absolutely right, it's still closed. i apologize for getting that wrong. looking back, i see you've requested an open door several times. that's on me.
i
“Financialization is a grift, a rarified form of bookmaking…Economists and the news media can stop using the word ‘invest’ in contexts where no investing occurs. ‘Speculate’ or ‘bet’ will do just fine.” www.nytimes.com/2026/02/06/o...
(Dude suddenly stops pushing his broom across the floor of the Death Star)
Does this look like a big laser to anyone else
I read Open Borders during a career shift as a kind of expression of intent to go into practicing immigration law. Love the breadth of your work!
Dr. Who?
I am space elevator years old
A comic on the bridge from Star Trek the Next Generation. Picard: COMMANDER DATA, PLEASE IDENTIFY THAT ROMULAN VESSEL. Data: THAT'S A GREAT IDEA CAPTAIN! IDENTIFYING A VESSEL IS A GREAT PLACE TO START - IN ANY TACTICAL OR STRATEGIC OUTER SPACE SITUATION. THIS VESSEL APPEARS TO BE A 23rd CENTURY KLINGON BIRD OF PREY! 🚀🦅✨ Picard: ARE YOU SURE? LIKE I SAID WE'RE... PRETTY SURE IT'S ROMULAN. Data: ... Data: OF COURSE! SO SORRY ABOUT THAT, YOU'RE RIGHT! ON CLOSER EXAMINATION IT'S A ROMULAN VESSEL! CAN I RECOMMEND SOME SOONG™ BRAND PRODUCTS THAT CAN HELP YOU WITH THAT? Picard cradles his face in his hand in a gesture of frustration. Data: DID I MENTION THE PLIGHT OF OPRESSED WHITES IN SOUTH AFRICA?
realistic Star Trek
Grey slop scenario: humans have gradually lost complex writing skills through over-dependence on AI to generate text. LLMs are increasingly trained on AI-generated content and the human authorial voice winnows away. There is no intriguing writing left to read. It’s all garbage in, garbage out.
August 19, 2025 PA-2025-16 Policy Alert SUBJECT: Clarifying Discretionary Factors in Certain Immigration Benefit Requests Purpose U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is updating policy guidance in the USCIS Policy Manual regarding the factors that officers may consider in certain benefit requests where an exercise of discretion is required, including factors relating to aliens’ past requests for parole and any involvement in anti-American or terrorist organizations. Background For certain immigration benefit requests, such as adjustment of status, the alien bears the burden of proof to demonstrate that a favorable exercise of discretion is warranted.1 For these benefit requests, the discretionary analysis is a separate component of adjudicating the benefit request which occurs after an officer determines whether all threshold eligibility requirements have been met. The act of exercising discretion involves weighing positive and negative factors and considering the totality of the circumstances in each case. There are various factors officers may consider when conducting a discretionary analysis, including facts relating to an alien’s conduct, character, family ties, immigration history, and any humanitarian concerns. USCIS guidance provides that an alien’s compliance with immigration laws is a relevant factor when determining if a favorable exercise of discretion is warranted. USCIS is updating the Policy Manual to provide additional guidance for officers on the significant negative discretionary weight USCIS assigns in circumstances where an alien has endorsed, promoted, supported, or otherwise espoused the views of a terrorist organization or group, including those who support or promote anti-American ideologies or activities, antisemitic terrorism, antisemitic terrorist organizations, and antisemitic ideologies, in any case involving an exercise of discretion.2 In cases where the alien has engaged in such activities, USCIS will enforce all relevant …
NEW: McCarthyism returns to immigration law, as @USCIS announces that it will begin screening applicants for immigration benefits for "Anti-America ideologies or activities." The term has no prior precedent in immigration law and its definition is entirely up to the Trump admin.
Colorado clouds
That’s why, to my mind, this is the worst decision from the Supreme Court of Trump’s second term so far. Not just in terms of impact—though subjecting thousands of immigrants to torture in foreign countries is ghastly. But also in terms of what signal it sends to the lower courts and the executive branch. The court has indicated that Trump and his allies can flout the law, make a huge mess, run up to the Supreme Court demanding relief when they’re restrained by a judge, and win that relief no matter how egregiously they misbehaved. What incentive remains for this administration to comply with lower court orders at all? I don’t see one.
I am not exaggerating when I say the Supreme Court’s unsigned, unexplained order yesterday is the worst thing it has done since Trump returned to office. And not just on the merits—it’s also an unfathomably dangerous green light for Trump to flout lower court orders. slate.com/news-and-pol...
how it started / how it's going
The appointment of Tama as station master of Kishi Station in 2007 saved the station and added an estimated ¥1.1 billion to the local economy.
Maybe @eff.org could help?
This is an obvious point, but cannot overstated. There is an enormous difference between deporting someone - where they get off a plane as a free citizen in their home country AND FUNNELING THEM INTO A BRUTAL PRISON FROM WHICH THEY HAVE NO CHANCE OF EVER EMERGING!!!
Is the sledgehammer just a standard issue ICE weapon now?
This is the second video of ICE agents shattering a window in the last week rather than have some patience. And in this case, they're allegedly detaining someone who already has asylum through his wife, with no reason given at all!
www.borderreport.com/news/video-s...
Bone chilling.
A court ordered Kilmar Abrego Garcia to stay in the United States.
The Supreme Court ruled 9-0 that he was illegally removed. Trump is pretending he won the ruling 9-0.
1/ You may not think this case means anything to you. But let me tell you why it does.
WOW. The Trump admin is attempting to strip a green card from a Buddhist Palestinian who's committed to nonviolence, just because he advocated on behalf of Palestinian human rights.
Free speech is being trampled on by this administration.
We are at a dangerous, dangerous moment in US history, where the President of the United States is threatening to send US citizens to be imprisoned by a foreign ally, and the foreign ally is saying it won't respect an US court orders to release people that it's holding.
Pam Bondi: “That’s up to El Salvador if they want to return him…If they wanted to return him, we would facilitate it, meaning provide a plane.”
Nayib Bukele: “How can I return him to the U.S.? Like, I smuggle him into the U.S.?”
No, you put him on the plane the AG just said the US would provide!
I continue to be absolutely stunned at how many people in positions of power in this country don’t understand that they’re on the wrong side of history
- 32,809 have been arrested by Ice during Trump 2.
- German tourist Jessica Brösche spent more than a month in detention, including eight days in solitary confinement, suffering one of the worst human rights violations
- Rebecca Burke (UK) was trying to leave but was detained for 19 (!) days
Walking along in the Mission in the rain
hi baby pwl
baby owls sleep face down because their heads are so big and heavy that their bodies can't support them yet
Amazing vignette from Careless People (which I discovered only because Meta is suing to squelch promotion)
MORE: As Judge Chuang pressed for more information, counsel for the government revealed that DOJ's Federal Programs Branch “has been cut in half.”
"They're cutting people across the government," the judge replied. "If you're saying you don't have enough people, maybe that's part of the problem..."
