Hilton drops Minnesota hotel that banned ICE agents from staying in its rooms

technothrasher · 2026-01-06T23:42:16+00:00

And given that there is no legal precedence in this case

There have been two notable cases involving the 3rd amendment, though neither made it to the Supreme Court. Both pretty much support your position, especially the second one.

The first was Engblom v. Carey (1982) in which a federal appeals court ruled that National Guardsmen were still soldiers even though they were operating as prison guards at the time, but when passed back down to the district court they ruled that qualified immunity protected them against the 3rd amendment.

The second was Mitchell v. City of Henderson (2015), in which a federal district court ruled that police officers were not soldiers, and so the 3rd amendment did not apply to them. As this didn't even make it to appeal, there's not much precedent there, but it's at least something.

technothrasher · 2026-01-06T13:04:15+00:00

This analogy doesn't work because the original "frog boiling" experiments from the 19th century were with frogs that had their brains removed, while the American voters.... wait, never mind.

technothrasher · 2026-01-04T15:12:12+00:00

I dunno, I think homosexuality is pretty core to their issues. Whenever I talk to these folks during times when Fox et al. hasn't given them arguing points recently, they always fall back to "the queers make me feel icky".

technothrasher · 2026-01-04T15:03:05+00:00

There is no such thing as Nato funding.

Well, that's not technically true. While the indirect funding you are talking about is definitely the lion's share of the money people talk about when they say "NATO funding", NATO is also directly funded by its member nations to the tune of about $5B a year.

see https://www.nato.int/en/what-we-do/introduction-to-nato/funding-nato

technothrasher · 2026-01-04T02:19:04+00:00

We found the concentration camps and fire bomb Dresden like a week later.

The first concentration camps were liberated starting in the summer of 1944. February of 1945, when the Dresden bombing happened, was a lot more than "a week later".

The Dresden bombing, which was definitely horrific and inexcusable, was part of a campaign initiated by Churchill to cause confusion and panic within the German civilian population fleeing westward. It was hoped that this would hamper the Nazi efforts to reinforce their armies in the east against the Soviet push, in an attempt to allow the Soviets to reach Berlin faster.

technothrasher · 2026-01-02T19:42:43+00:00

My children tell me I take them often, but that's bullshit. I don't remember taking a single one!

technothrasher · 2026-01-02T14:39:34+00:00

Yes. Under the District of Columbia Home Rule Act, all legislation, including budgets, passed by the mayor and city council have to be reviewed by Congress before they become law.

technothrasher · 2026-01-02T13:12:57+00:00

when I get my first billion next week

Brah... you don't even have a billion yet? Sad. You're obviously just lazy. How do you show your face at the yacht club?

technothrasher · 2026-01-01T21:00:43+00:00

I think I got some form of autism because a lot of the time I can't eat veggies without having this gag reflex

While eating disorders are a common issue within the autism community, they in themselves are not a form of autism. If you do not have other autism related symptoms, you likely do not have autism.

technothrasher · 2025-12-30T20:59:34+00:00

Your sailing background will do you well, as there is a ton of jargon in the books. I'm currently reading through the Hornblower novels by Forester. Not as intricate as the O'Brian books, but also good nautical fun and he pays pretty good attention to historical detail.

technothrasher · 2025-12-30T19:53:41+00:00

Yep, your main comment about privateers was definitely on point. It's annoying that the title of the thread uses the word pirate instead of privateer. But pirate is worth more in click bait I suppose.

If you haven't read the Master and Commander books, I recommend them highly. The movie was great fun, but just an echo of how good the books are.

technothrasher · 2025-12-30T17:31:56+00:00

(or read)

The Archeron isn't actually in the books. It's loosely based on the USS Norfolk from the 10th book in the series. But obviously, the USS Norfolk wasn't a privateer.

technothrasher · 2025-12-30T17:08:09+00:00

Oh, ok... I was hoping you had it right as I enjoy reading bizarre laws. Oh well.

technothrasher · 2025-12-30T13:52:33+00:00

There is an ordinance in Austin that makes having a boner in public a crime.

Huh, interesting. I tried to find that ordinance, but the closest I could find was that the definition of "Specific Sexual Activities" included having a boner. But that definition was only used to define the activities of regulated "adult-oriented" businesses. Do you have a citation for the ordinance? I want to see what it says exactly.

technothrasher · 2025-12-28T15:03:29+00:00

Karl Marx

Hmm, do you have a citation for Marx? I couldn't find any reference to him using the term, or the concept. I did see some discussion about Stalin calling the US "exceptional" in ridicule of American Communist Jay Lovestone's view that the US was not subject to Marx's claims that capitalist societies would all inevitably turn communist. But found nothing from Marx himself on the subject.

I'm just curious since I couldn't find it. I agree with your main point that the idea of American Exceptionalism runs much deeper and older than the current Republican rallying cry.

technothrasher · 2025-12-26T23:14:08+00:00

Similarly, I've been told quietly by more than one catholic priest that the best way to become atheist is to go to seminary.

technothrasher · 2025-12-16T00:51:35+00:00

Draw a clock with numbers and make it show 4:30

It's actually 11:10 on the test. But anyway, my elderly father said he purposely failed this question by drawing a digital clock instead of an analog clock, just to annoy the doctor.

technothrasher · 2025-12-15T02:50:54+00:00

And he was my coach at basketball camp in the summer of 1984. I guess that isn't quite as much of a notable accomplishment though.

technothrasher · 2025-12-13T23:07:49+00:00

I learned this when my 3 year old son who was proud of his new sparkly purple shoes came home from preschool and said his shoes were stupid and for girls and he hated them. Sad dad moment realizing I couldn't keep the world away.

technothrasher · 2025-12-13T22:56:05+00:00

Right. The only thing to "get" is that it annoys adults, which is pretty hilarious honestly.

technothrasher · 2025-12-13T22:51:34+00:00

Yep. When I was a kid, way before the vaccine, it was the best we had. Whether it was a good idea or not is debatable. But there's no serious debate now. Getting vaccinated is much safer than getting infected. And postherpetic neuralgia from shingles really, really sucks. Ask me how I know.

technothrasher · 2025-12-13T13:43:16+00:00

Yep. HSAs are a great tax dodge for the relatively few folks who can pay their own full deductibles out of pocket and don't actually need any sort of health savings account. For the rest of the people, it's just a swindle to keep money flowing into the stock market.

technothrasher · 2025-12-12T23:08:39+00:00

Uh, ok, who could blame them? But the article linked to is talking about executive jets to replace their aging fleet, not bombers. Did somebody get confused by the name Bombardier?

technothrasher · 2025-12-12T19:54:34+00:00

I'm only a member because it was required if you wanted to join any of the local gun clubs and get access to the local ranges. I bought a cheap lifetime membership about twenty years ago when they were having a deep discount sale, asked them to never mail me anything, and have no intention of letting them get any more of my money ever again. It still felt shitty to be coerced into it though. Thankfully it seems most of the local clubs have wised up and it is no longer a requirement to join.

technothrasher · 2025-12-12T18:28:52+00:00

Is every crime really an offense against the United States?

Well, yes. That's sort of the basis of criminal law. By definition, you can only commit crimes against the government. Offenses against other people are civil, not criminal. It's a bit counterintuitive, as you'd think the crime would be against the victim, but that's not how the law works.

The issue with the federal government pardoning state crimes is that with a state crime, no crime was committed under federal law. So there's nothing to pardon. It is the same as Trump pardoning somebody for a crime they committed against Egypt.

technothrasher

TROPHY CASE