Chris Lay

@chrislay.bsky.social

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Villen, lefty, runner, engineer, in that order.
Formerly @christopherlay on the former birdsite.
Also @chrislay at extinct pachyderm dot online.

Some ville, Mass

Posts Replies Media

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Chris Lay

deleting this thread rather than getting into fights over whether or not an expansive reading of "Trump v. USA" would allow the president to change the composition of the Supreme Court, but saving the text for posterity/accountability

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Chris Lay

It is almost as if we need oversight over the judicial system.

An examination of more than 1,200 federal judges and state supreme court justices turned up dozens of judges who chose not to recuse when facing potential appearances of impropriety involving familial financial connections. www.propublica.org/article/judg...

Even When Big Cases Intersect With Their Families’ Interests, Many Judges Choose Not to Recusewww.propublica.org Ambiguous — and unenforced — recusal standards mean few checks and balances for top judges when cases involve their family members.

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Chris Lay

i want this so fuckin bad

yes brandon yes dude

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Chris Lay

Discworld QOTD, from Guards! Guards! “The three rules of the Librarians of Time and Space are: 1) Silence; 2) Books must be returned no later than the last date shown; and 3) Do not interfere with the nature of causality.”

Discworld QOTD, from Men at Arms

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Chris Lay

You have to wonder if this is what had certain senior party members in full Droopy Dog mode last week

Breaking news: President Biden is finalizing plans to endorse major changes to the Supreme Court in the coming weeks, including proposals for legislation to establish term limits for the justices and an enforceable ethics code, according to two people briefed on the plans.

Biden set to announce support for major Supreme Court changeswww.washingtonpost.com The president has discussed the plans with constitutional scholars and members of Congress in recent weeks.

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Chris Lay

Making fun of Trump: not funny Making fun of Biden: too worrying Making fun of Harris: racist Making fun of JD Vance: incredibly satisfying

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Chris Lay

Not much commentary on US polling that cites how badly the polls underestimated the non-fascist side in the 2023 Spain elections and the 2024 French elections.

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Chris Lay

I'm going to keep beating this drum: just expand the court to 70 to 100 Justices or so so that NO SINGLE JUSTICE matters that much. That's it. That's the plan.

Biden set to announce support for major Supreme Court changeswww.washingtonpost.com The president has discussed the plans with constitutional scholars and members of Congress in recent weeks.

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Chris Lay

Working on a couple new merch ideas.

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Chris Lay

This story's making the rounds, but just in case you don't have a #WaPo account, here's a #GiftLink. wapo.st/4bGC9gI

Biden set to announce support for major Supreme Court changeswapo.st The president has discussed the plans with constitutional scholars and members of Congress in recent weeks.

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Chris Lay

Reply to

Adam Kotsko

Say that the legislation limiting the size of the court is unconstitutional and keep appointing new justices until there's a majority that agrees with you

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Chris Lay

America's mayor!

Yo Rudy Giuliani just drunkenly fell into some chairs at the RNC lmao

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Chris Lay

Just a reminder: Trump inherited the lowest homicide rate of any president in 50 years. He was the first president in 30 years to leave office with a higher homicide rate than when he entered. And the rate has dropped every year since he left. www.foxnews.com/video/635815...

RNC day 2 to focus on crime and safety as victims' families speak out | Fox News Videowww.foxnews.com Erin Rachwal, who lost her son to fentanyl poisoning and Sheri and Aaron Sparks, who lost their son in the Waukesha parade attack, on the need to hold criminals accountable and stop the influx of illi...

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Chris Lay

They have such winning ideas like “why don’t we charge people who want to know if that tornado is gonna hit their house.”

The MAGA Plan to End Free Weather Reportswww.theatlantic.com Project 2025 would all but dissolve the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

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Chris Lay

just finally got the master list for full band tour into the group chat. no I will not spoil the whole thing, no fun to do that, but here's something from the middle of the doc. come see us on tour it's gonna shred face mountain-goats.com/tour

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Chris Lay

why are Democrats so divisive, they need to calm down their rhetoric about Republicans also, "Bill to arrest librarians filed for 2025 session" www.alreporter.com/2024/07/10/b...

Bill to arrest librarians filed for 2025 sessionwww.alreporter.com A bill that could have led to the arrest of librarians narrowly missed becoming law last session, but sponsors have already filed a follow-up.

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Chris Lay

school vouchers are designed to starve public schools and they’re working in that regard

Arizona, the model for voucher programs across the country, has spent so much money paying private schoolers' tuition that it's now facing hundreds of millions in budget cuts to critical state programs and projects.

School Vouchers Were Supposed to Save Taxpayer Money. Instead They Blew a Massive Hole in Arizona’s Budget.www.propublica.org Arizona, the model for voucher programs across the country, has spent so much money paying private schoolers’ tuition that it’s now facing hundreds of millions in budget cuts to critical state program...

Thread

There’s some reasons for this. The first is that the crusade began as criticism of the NYT’s anti-trans coverage. The second, and more relevant, is that social media standards allow people to use identity as both a sword and a shield.

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Chris Lay

one propaganda tactic Taylor has copied from her Tiktok misinformation friends is you never, ever link to the source you're criticizing. you provide a screenshot and then lie about what's in it

Wow @ryanlcooper.com even wrote an entire article full of crazy conspiracies & false theories from random quacks. This entire article is just a screed from a man who has fallen so far deep into Covid denialism he refuses to engage in the most basic science. I can’t explain how dangerous this is.

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Chris Lay

main difference between the New York Times political desk in 2016 is that back then they were against Clinton. today they are objectively for Trump

A thread on today’s “ remarkably one-sided “The Morning” newsletter by Michael C. Bender. /1 www.nytimes.com/2024/07/16/b...

J.D. Vance’s Chancewww.nytimes.com Why Donald Trump tapped Vance to be his successor.

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Chris Lay

Yep. As someone who actually comes from deep country, this bullshit was always wrong. I could not believe how many people who came from rich suburbs used this book to lecture me about my actual family.

I'm not normally vengeful, but I want to point to Vance's nomination and ascension as the product of every purported liberal who touted his book as "revolutionary" over the objections of all the folks who knew better. That shit is partially on them, and they need to own that.

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Chris Lay

Really feels like US political journalists have decided they want to find out how they’ll fare under a deranged authoritarian regime the hard way.

A pretty important story that I think a lot of people in the media themselves need to read. No matter how much makeup they try to throw on this pig (or their candidates!), they can't hide what they really are: a party that has fully embraced a bunch of law-breaking insurrectionists.

Jan. 6 marchers at RNC Convention complicate efforts to avoid subjectwww.washingtonpost.com Several delegates were in the mob outside the Capitol or involved in organizing alternate electors falsely claiming Donald Trump won in 2020.

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Chris Lay

Reply to

Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg

More on what I learned about Vance & his friends by reading one of the first dystopian novels-- PUBLISHED in 1937-- Before Austria was annexed. Before Kristallnacht. Before WWII. 12 years before Orwell would pen 1984. Set 600 years in the future Third Reich Empire:

On Authoritarianismwww.lifeisasacredtext.com Or: What Year 600 of the Reich Taught Me About Project 2025

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Chris Lay

credit where credit's due: good political communication! snappy meme (not clever or funny but snappy is good enough), below it is proof laid on top of Vance shaking hands with Trump (the actual guy you want associated with the toxic anti-abortion message)

They brought out the good poasters. JFC

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Chris Lay

A great passage from Gabriel Winant, historian at University of Chicago, on JD Vance in n+1. www.nplusonemag.com/issue-45/pol...

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Chris Lay

yeah that pretty much covers it

This about it?

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Chris Lay

Have the Democrats promised to nuke the filibuster? Is that even a campaign promise at this point?

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Chris Lay

“For many library workers, the material consequences of unchecked capitalism are the stuff of everyday life.” Emily Drabinski on why defending libraries is fighting capitalism: inthesetimes.com/article/publ...

The Library Is a Commonsinthesetimes.com A socialist former president of the American Library Association on why defending libraries is fighting capitalism.

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Chris Lay

Vance is a Theil-backed bag of shit in a man suit. But Teen Vogue went ahead and did an explainer on all the reasons why. (And is it just me or does he look like a colorized Bela Lugosi character here?)

Every Gen Z Issue JD Vance Is Againstwww.teenvogue.com From guns, and climate change to abortion and LGBTQ rights, the Republican VP is being called “Anti-Gen Z.”