iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

I don't think the two competing Congresses thing is likely at all - you give up *so much* from the R side by doing it. Most notably, if you let 240 House Dems and 52 Senate Dems sit in a room alone and call themselves Congress they impeach Trump and tell Roberts to show up for the trial.

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Margin of victory also matters. If we see a big R favorable polling error and they lose the house like 218-217 they might try to pull this for one or two close seats. I don't think they try if it's 250-185 in the new Congress.

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My worry is that they will try to have the House vote elections for various races during the lame duck and present that as the House being the judge of its elections and try to get the Clerk to go along for the new Houde. I don't think they have the votes for it but it worries me.

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Peter Hurley @phrly.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

I think "backlash" is the wrong term for what we're seeing. We're basically seeing a global far right movement looking for targets of repression. Trans people are a big target of that, but that's not because of something the trans rights movement did in policy or messaging.

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Also in a world where Nixon wins Florida you're in a world where every R up in '28 is between in danger and outright doomed. Hard to corral all of them to be "the deciding vote" in every 2028 campaign ad.

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Wait is Alito not participating at oral arguments? I know he was teasing retirement but did not expect him to fully bow out like that.

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Ohh yea I was aware of the PHEV one. I was like "only electric minivan I found was the brief return of the VW bus"

Wait when was there an electric pacifica? I've been probably too focused on new cars where there are sadly no EV minivans anymore.

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Honestly so much. And/or bring in the Euro/Japanese style vehicles that have wheels much closer to the corners and really maximize cabin space. Look at this lil guy.

An image of a Suzuki Hustler 4 door small SUV. The wheels are much closer to the corners than on American cars.

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The thing that always gets me about those is they never seem to want to buy the *actually* practical "move a bunch of stuff" vehicle: the minivan.* *brought to you by someone currently minivan shopping for wheelchair logistics reasons.

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Damn, did not realize that during that Congress Dems had a near impeach-Ike level supermajority.

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Degree of loss also matters. If R manage to get totally blown out in TX and lose the legislature, they're down probably 20 House seats when Ds counter-gerrymander. So even if they expect Talarico and Hinojosa to win, they can't let them just run roughshod.

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Presumably from the survivors? I don't think Shiv said everyone on board perished.

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Does anyone have a good analysis of the shift needed to flip a trifecta in the Texas legislature? Wild ass possibilities if Ds can do a gerrymander of their own (and if feeling wild add on Maine/Nebraska allocation for electors).

Do we have an idea what margin Ds would need in TX to get a trifecta there?

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Does using a dot matrix printer that prints on track fed triplicate paper count?

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It's real but mostly ancient. Western civilization did actually take a huge step backwards for centuries following the fall of Rome. The lost art/ancient wisdom trope is a trope because during formative periods of the modern era, there was a huge amount of looking way back to the ancients.

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He knows damn well this is unpopular. That's why he's trying to shove it into a magical "consequences free" zone.

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I don't think it's that. I think he's drunk on the "oh so clever" Kool Aid. He thinks by cleverly timing it just after the midterms and doing it in the lame duck he can avoid a hard vote that hurts Rs in the midterms, and that there are no actual consequences for anything.

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I'm sure every Republican senator up in '28 who just watched colleagues in redder states than them go down just relishes taking a super controversial vote on whatever apparthick Trump and Alito cook up.

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He managed those while not in a office, but clearly being adjudged to have violently forced his hand into a woman's vagina, and bragged about doing that regularly on a hot mic are among the worst sex scandals in presidential history also.

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3. If you have the votes to veto override for contempt of Congress, you have the votes for impeachment, and should just impeach. 4. The solution if we're talking about amendment is to make removing the President easier, not some convoluted scheme where you arrest the Treasury Secretary.

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A few issues: 1. Bills of attainder are prohibited. Congress can't just go around declaring people to have committed crimes. 2. Congress is two institutions. When those two want to speak as one voice they also need the President (or a veto override).

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My expectation is that if we are going to get an amendment out of all this it is going to have to begin with "All pardons and reprieves granted between Jan 20, 2025 and [date] are deemed null and void."

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Also any sane constitutional scheme will treat Trump v. US as anti-canon in short order.

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Yeah, but a crime inherently done by the people in charge of prosecution.

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I've been kicking around the idea of a qui tam sort of thing to enforce it. Put a bounty on recovering the illegally appropriated money (and put the fear of God into people taking the money looted from the Treasury).

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I would say the main benefit (and drawback!) of a cruise is that it's very predictable. You can know exactly the food, exactly the itinerary, exactly the venues and layout, and more or less have zero surprise factor. For someone where surprises can have a huge downside, that's appealing.

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If you want to do the most popular things at peak times it gets very crowded. So like the main dining room early dinner, or the pool mid-day on a sunny sea day? Crowded! But if you want to avoid crowds it's not generally difficult. Worst for that is a rainy sea day where ppl get pushed indoors.

Eh, not usually in my experience. Sun loungers by the pool are a hot issue sure, but most ships have a lot of public space relative to the number of guests. Depends on line/ship though. MSC really tends to pack em in (which is why they're usually the cheapest).

Yeah the seating situation is generally excellent. Basically every pathway on the main public decks is lined with bars/venues where you can sit down. And because they're not actually individual businesses you can just go into them and sit and do whatever with zero issue.

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They are! It's a pretty big market segment, and honestly probably easier than Amtrak in a lot of ways, simply due to having more space to work with and more staff. There are even companies who do things like cruises specifically for people with autism or downs syndrome.

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My husband uses a wheelchair and we've done a number of cruises, in part because they are very wheelchair friendly. The illness risk is very real though I will not deny that.

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This is from when I was in Brooklyn, now living a somewhat more suburban lifestyle, though still visit the grocery store pretty often.

More or less - kind of two trip types. Every couple weeks do a stock up and get a bunch of pantry stuff/drinks/etc. Then on the way home from work I'd stop at a grocery store and grab meat/veggies/crap I forgot for a day or two but not more than I can hand carry.

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If they get a healthy majority I bet they would put them up for a vote - just to defeat them. Trump isn't going to nominate anyone but a sycophant and getting to dunk on and humiliate him is an easy exercise in party unity.

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I am too, if for no other reason than that American discourse has strayed so far from any idea of morality. Donald Trump is a genuinely evil person, and has led his party (and a significant chunk of the populace) down a path of genuine immorality. I'll take Christian morality over that.

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Peter Hurley @phrly.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Ans those craftsman-types own their own businesses, which is a whole separate skillset (and where the real money is).

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Best guess is they did some nonsense like not read off the names and just ask people who they were voting for, which is why the undecided / no answer number is so huge.

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Peter Hurley @phrly.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Yeah agree attribution is their probable best defense, but "I witnessed" and "I personally saw" in re stuff that (per the complaint) did not happen at all is not a great start as a defamation defendant.

Peter Hurley @phrly.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

This seems to purport pretty specific facts. He says he personally witnessed assaults of Border Patrol Agents, slashing tires, throwing rocks, bricks and fireworks. His statement is overlaid by him over video of the plaintiffs in handcuffs.

79. On October 4, 2025, Mr. Johnson posted to X a segment from Lara Trump’s Fox
News show in which he appeared and in which a video shot and edited by Mr. Johnson and Benny
Media LLC is played (hereinafter the “October 4 Fox News” post).41 The video shows Plaintiffs
in a line of about eleven detained protesters, with their hands bound behind their backs and guarded
by law enforcement. He describes that during his “ride along earlier this week with Secretary Kristi
Noem … I witnessed in their Broadview ICE facility multiple physical assaults of Border Patrol
agents. There were a dozen arrests that happened right in front of me with violent left wing
protesters assaulting ICE, slashing their tires, throwing rocks, bricks, throwing fireworks.” The
post itself states: “Thank you to Lara Trump and Fox News for having me on to expose the horrors
I witnessed alongside ICE and Secretary Kristi Noem in Chicago. I personally watched ICE agents
in Chicago come under all-out assault. Tires slashed, bricks and rocks thrown, fireworks exploding
around them.”

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Reposted by Peter Hurley

George Pearkes @peark.es · 01/10/2026

This is a good thread and for some reason it unlocked something that's been brewing in the back of my head for a while.

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Peter Hurley @phrly.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

This is why I am a huge responsible government fan. Don't pass a budget or do other core functions? You're all fired and there's a snap election. Budget can say whatever you like, but you have to pass *something* or we will elect a new legislature who can.

Peter Hurley @phrly.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

This is broadly correct. "Bribed/in the pocket of X" stuff is only true for small potatoes things nobody hears about. Susan Collins helping direct $ to a random defense contractor? Totally plausible bribe. But any big public stance on a major issue? They are who they say they are.