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Phlebas the Phoenician

@phlebasphoencian.bsky.social
806 followers 1.1K following 2.4K posts

O you who turn the wheel and look to windward, Consider Phlebas, who was once handsome and tall as you. musician, cyclist F/k/a Tsar Czar Binks/SleepyHead_band on Twitter

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Reposted by Phlebas the Phoenician
Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Suuuuper interesting, I was not tracking this. The judge found the law criminalizing noncitizen voting is a voter qualification statute, and therefore outside of Congress’s power. Surprisingly, this is an issue of first impression! Decision is here: storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
The best reading of the actual statute that underpins this criminal case yields an inescapable
conclusion: 18 U.S.C. S 611 is a voter qualification statute, and the Constitution does not authorize
Congress to legislate voter qualifications for federal elections. Except for very specific constitutional
provisions (that cannot support this statute; we will go through them, Congress has no power to say
who can vote or who cannot vote in federal elections-that foundational power is reserved for the States,
and limits Congress.
Some legal principles are so fundamental that they form American constitutional bedrock, and
this case reveals a big one: When you're prosecuted based on a law that Congress did not have the
authority to pass, the prosecution cannot stand. That principle in federal law harkens back to cases
like Marbury v. Madison, 5 U.S. 137, 180 (1803), and United States v. Hudson, 11 U.S. 32, 34 (1812), and
has had explicit and unbroken support in criminal cases since Ex Parte Siebold, 100 U.S. 371, 376-77
(1879) ("An unconstitutional law is void, and is as no law. An offence created by it is not a crime. A
conviction under it is not merely erroneous, but is illegal and void, and cannot be a legal cause of
imprisonment."). The principle is so fundamental that it even predates our constitutional republic; it
lies at the very heart of our constitutional heritage. See, e.g., Bayard v. Singleton, 1 N.C. 5, 9-10 (1787) (striking down a legislative act as unconstitutional and holding that a court cannot enforce an
unconstitutional law in any type of proceeding). This principle acts as a shield for every person facing
criminal prosecution in the United States, citizen and non-citizen alike. That shield protects the
Defendant here, and none of the Government's arguments break through it.
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Matthew Gertz @mattgertz.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
It is bad that the White House demonstrates casual disregard for the rule of law.
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Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
Why do you appreciate unions? I’ll start: Weekends off Paid vacations Work breaks Sick leave Paid holidays No child labor Safer working conditions Health care and retirement benefits
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Matt Novak @paleofuture.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
This is pretty fucking wild. I had assumed in a worst case scenario he would target blue zip codes and toss ballots based on technicalities but this is even worse than I imagined.
Not only is this system astonishingly untested, USPS has simultaneously implemented an
impracticable zero percent failure rate.
13 When ballots are submitted to USPS in large-volume
batches, if any one ballot in the batch cannot be verified against the Portal, all ballots in that
batch will be rejected. For example, if a state election official brings a batch of 10,000 ballots to
USPS and USPS is unable to match just one of those ballots against the Portal – because, for
example, someone has recently changed their name after marriage or they’ve moved – then
USPS would refuse to mail the remaining 9,999 ballots as well. As the whistleblower notes,
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Peter Flax @pflax1.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
Over the years I've talked about this hundreds of times with drivers in my community and online. They're deluded that there's another side to the issue. Their perception—that riders are naughty or slowing down their busy lives or acting entitled—is pure negligence of their duties operating a vehicle
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Phlebas the Phoenician @phlebasphoencian.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
Things going pretty well in the recruiting office then
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Tangerine Twit Troll @tangerinetwittroll.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Who knew the Canadians could play the same game?
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Phlebas the Phoenician @phlebasphoencian.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Why don’t states use unmarked envelopes for ballots with no obvious voting related return address for this election?
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Phlebas the Phoenician @phlebasphoencian.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
I hate the muppets bcuz of the Pig girl, she was disgusting, i hate her with my life, she doesnot leave the lizard alone — jawbroken (@jawbroken) November 7, 2010
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Gravel Influencer @gravelinfluencer.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
mcsweeneys.net
You’re a Cyclist Who Was Just Struck by a Car Driver. Here’s Why It Was Your Fault
You were riding during rush hour Why were you riding then? There are way too many cars on the road. If you were commuting, you should have contacted your bos...
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Ben Collins @bencollins.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
Natalie Harp is a year older than Martin Luther King Jr. was when he gave his I Have a Dream speech. She has agency and is running the propaganda operation that serves to put people in concentration camps. She does not get a pass because she looks like a dipshit teenager.
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Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
> @daveweigel.bsky.social
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cjdcat @cjdcat.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
I love how the Voyager civvies and outfits from other galaxies are just the last items off the sale rack at Chico’s
Smiling man in a v-neck garment with shoulder pads and at least two types of upholstery-looking fabric in jewel tonesOut smiling man is now wearing an asymmetrical blazer without lapels that is also possibly upholstery fabric? It is beige and has at least two textures. Bea Arthur in Golden Girls vibes.  Ensign Harry Kim wears a minty-beige v-neck jacquard number with a wrap style front. Half is I want to say horizontal pleats, but maybe pleats is the wrong word. Looks like siding for an early 80s suburban house. Maybe Molly Ringwald could do something with this, given some Rit dye.
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Phlebas the Phoenician @phlebasphoencian.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
You've been challenged to OUTLIER — the daily word game sweeping the globe where the rarest words score the most points. I scored 872 today. Find the words I missed and beat me. playoutlier.com/c/6t8buz
playoutlier.com
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Phlebas the Phoenician @phlebasphoencian.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
Pls explain why we’re using non-GAAP revenue figures in your forecast for a publicly traded company and why the corresponding GAAP measure wasn’t sufficient LOL
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Phlebas the Phoenician @phlebasphoencian.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
Siri was the arbiter was good guy or a bad guy
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Karen K. Ho @karenho.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
I stand by everything I said previously. At least with a major bank I know there is oversight, deposit insurance, and regulation for things like anti-money laundering.
Tweets from Karen K. Ho (@karenkho) on Nov 9, 2022.
1. "I don't report on finance anymore, but please do not connect your bank account to Twitter"

2. "there is no such thing as a guaranteed high yield, this transaction with Elon Musk will be incredibly risky and not insured by the FDIC or CDIC, and there are many reasons why financial accounts and traditional investments are closely regulated"

3. "I used to be a literal bank teller for several years and my parents both worked for major banks for two decades. If you feel like goofing around with money, buy a raffle ticket from a local charity. 

Do not give a social media company your bank information."
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Phlebas the Phoenician @phlebasphoencian.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
All hat, no cattle.
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BeijingPalmer @beijingpalmer.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
there is literally no amount of caveats or careful wording that will protect you from stupidity or bad faith, so you might as well say things straightforwardly and strongly to begin with.
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Phlebas the Phoenician @phlebasphoencian.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
Gg bridge is good in black and white.
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Phlebas the Phoenician @phlebasphoencian.bsky.social · 19/07/2026
Trump curse undefeated.
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Phlebas the Phoenician @phlebasphoencian.bsky.social · 19/07/2026
Super happy for Pedro Porro.
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Boo!-per Lund @cooperlund.online · 19/07/2026
Tonight we all dine at 10 PM
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Phlebas the Phoenician @phlebasphoencian.bsky.social · 19/07/2026
Argentina are a classless team with a single magician. Always have been (hand of god anyone)? Could have had 3 straight reds today instead of a 2nd yellow and a red after the match. Good riddance. I can’t wait til spurs sell Romero.
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rev. howard arson @theophite.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
one thing ezra klein does not seem to understand is that the democratic party has been proscribed insofar as all of its political priorities are illegal. court reform must precede literally everything.
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Brant Reeves @bireeves95.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
He Should Be Fired Immediately and Investigated…..
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Acyn @acyn.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
Warner on CBS: I was embarrassed that the president went before our country and networks like yours carried this as news as opposed to a rehash of falsehoods. It is incumbent upon you and any responsible journalist to pushback on this.
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Phlebas the Phoenician @phlebasphoencian.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
Grim.
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Mark Joseph Stern @mjsdc.bsky.social · 12/07/2026
And by the way, it’s not an ad hominem attack to question whether NYT should publish someone who condemns an entire ethnic group as a “scourge on the republic.” It’s a fair question about why media helps launder and mainstream the views of a bigot who spreads disgusting, unapologetic racism.
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Dr Abeba Birhane @abeba.blacksky.app · 12/07/2026
Alfred Nobel established the Nobel Prize after wake up call: newspapers mistakenly published his obituary when his brother died & what he read as his legacy horrified him speaking ill (factually) of the dead is literally the most effective way to curb living racist & Nazi public figures/politicians
There is a well-known story about the origin of the Nobel Prize, although historians have been unable to verify it, and some dismiss the story as a myth.[26] In 1888, the death of his brother Ludvig supposedly caused several newspapers to publish obituaries of Alfred in error. One French newspaper[which?] condemned him for his invention of military explosives—in many versions of the story, dynamite is quoted, although this was mainly used for civilian applications—and this is said to have brought about his decision to leave a better legacy after his death.[6] The obituary supposedly stated, Le marchand de la mort est mort ("The merchant of death is dead"),[6] and according to the myth went on to say, "Dr. Alfred Nobel, who became rich by finding ways to kill more people faster than ever before, died yesterday."[27] Nobel read the obituary and was appalled at the idea that he would be remembered in this way. His decision to posthumously donate the majority of his wealth to found the Nobel Prize has been credited to him wanting to leave behind a better legacy.[28][6] However, it has been questioned whether or not the obituary in question actually existed.[28] An actual obituary (pictured) stated "A man who can only with the utmost difficulty be considered a benefactor of mankind has died yesterday at Cannes. It is Mr. Nobel, inventor of dynamite. Mr. Nobel was Swedish." It was published on the first page of the Figaro on the 15th of April 1888 and retracted the next day.
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Phlebas the Phoenician @phlebasphoencian.bsky.social · 12/07/2026
Some good news for once this morning.
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Chatham Harrison dba TRUMP DELENDUS EST @chathamharrison.bsky.social · 12/07/2026
In 2026 you have to have an answer for what you will do to ensure that what good you do is not shortly undone again, & especially how you will prevent it from being dismantled at leisure by conservatives in the judiciary regardless of how many elections you win
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internettheo2.bsky.social @internettheo2.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
Such fake performative toxic aggressively ignorant bullshit in saying that stuff like cutting child poverty in half, the largest investment in climate ever and infrastructure and forgiving billions in student loan debt vaccinating millions of people during COVID etc is fuck all
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Michael Warburton @michaelwarburton.bsky.social · 04/07/2026
LEONARD NIMOY with his 1964 Buick Riviera, on the Desilu Studios lot in Hollywood in 1966 during filming of ‘Star Trek’.
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Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
"The system has 120kms (75-miles) of underground pipes distributing chilled water to museums, offices, hospitals, schools...Instead of thousands of individual air-conditioning units, cooling is produced centrally and shared across the city like a utility." www.theguardian.com/environment/...
theguardian.com
‘Kind of miracle solution’: How Paris is harnessing the Seine to replace air-con
City plans to triple system of underground pipes that distribute chilled river water, reducing need for individual cooling units
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Blue Heron Farm @blueheronfarm.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
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ElieNYC @elienyc.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
With this ruling, the birthright issue is not going away. The right hasn't really begun *organizing* around getting rid of the citizenship clause. Like Roe, this will be their fight for a generation. And if the Democrats just say "we won" and ignore it, like Roe, the Republicans will eventually win.
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Ned Resnikoff @resnikoff.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
The Birthright citizenship ruling should be a wake up call to any Dem who is still on the fence about court reform. We are essentially one seat change away from the Court undoing Reconstruction by fiat.
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Phlebas the Phoenician @phlebasphoencian.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
Legal “scholarship” is a real problem when serious sober work is treated as less important than lolership written to justify a result. The professors who do the latter should be ridden out of academia on rails but they’re feted. We need quality rankings or sth.
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Laura Jedeed @laurajedeed.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
The especially fun thing about this is that the mainstream papers of record will continue to run stories about how some random thing a Democrat said is "raising the temperature" and inciting violence while not writing about this at all
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Phlebas the Phoenician @phlebasphoencian.bsky.social · 28/06/2026
Lifer this past week.
Western Tanager Male in the high sierras of CA.
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The Monarch Diaries @monarchdiaries.bsky.social · 20/05/2026
HAHAHAhaha! they're making the world's biggest synthetic scum pond!!! The coating is a polyurea used inside pipes. It gels in about 3 seconds, making it non self-leveling. The texture is like an orange peel, the perfect substrate for biofilms. www.nytimes.com/2026/05/19/u...
nytimes.com
Manager at Trump’s N.J. Golf Club Helped Plan Reflecting Pool Repairs
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James Hell Brooks @kleinman.bsky.social · 17/06/2026
Terrified to think of what Argentinians could do with the barbecue technology they encounter in Kansas City. They could invent the most powerful ribs known to man.
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Phlebas the Phoenician @phlebasphoencian.bsky.social · 17/06/2026
Greenland Sky (Mercator Projection Version)
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Phlebas the Phoenician @phlebasphoencian.bsky.social · 17/06/2026
Gunna be some Icelandic up in here tonight
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The Great Pumpkin Papers 🎃🎃🎃 @professormusgrave.bsky.social · 16/06/2026
I’m in @foreignpolicy.com taking a big swing (but not a hot take): Trump’s defeat in Iran is a bigger US defeat in strategic terms than the US loss in Vietnam foreignpolicy.com/2026/06/16/i...
foreignpolicy.com
Iran Is a Bigger Defeat Than Vietnam
A war of choice has turned into a strategic disaster for Washington.
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Phlebas the Phoenician @phlebasphoencian.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
Carrot cake now carrot cake later
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Angry @angrystaffer.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
Can’t help but notice all the people who said Obama would desecrate the White House with Escalades and rap music on the South Lawn are absolutely loving this UFC fight on the South Lawn. Probably just a coincidence.
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Prisonculture @prisonculture.bsky.social · 14/06/2026
LMAO
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