Res ipsa locutus of borg
@masbackward.bsky.social
Civil rights lawyer working in the south. Opinions are product of my genes, environment, and culture.
Reposted by Res ipsa locutus of borg
I spoke to a woman at the protest in minneapolis and she explained she wanted to be there in part because "i was a kid when george floyd got killed" and i nearly dropped my recorder
January 28, 2026 at 10:00 PM
I spoke to a woman at the protest in minneapolis and she explained she wanted to be there in part because "i was a kid when george floyd got killed" and i nearly dropped my recorder
When I was in law school he gave a lunch talk on Roman law which he began by saying "I know nothing about Roman law." He then spent 30 minutes describing what he imagined it would have said.
NYU Law Prof. Richard Epstein has submitted his amicus brief to the United States Supreme Court on birthright citizenship. He has no expertise in this area and has never done, as far as I know, any substantial work on the history of the common law dating back to early modern and pre-modern England.
January 27, 2026 at 7:39 PM
When I was in law school he gave a lunch talk on Roman law which he began by saying "I know nothing about Roman law." He then spent 30 minutes describing what he imagined it would have said.
Reposted by Res ipsa locutus of borg
To put it another way: Courageous jurists on the lower courts have held back Trump from inflicting even more damage on civil rights and liberties. This timeline sucks, but the one in which the judiciary doesn't even try to push back is FAR worse. We insult these judges when we dismiss their impact.
I’m done with this shit. This isn’t a game. And if you don’t realize that the work of Judges Xinis and Boasberg and Ellis has been an essential part of forcing this administration to account for its actions, you’re not a serious person.
January 27, 2026 at 2:49 PM
To put it another way: Courageous jurists on the lower courts have held back Trump from inflicting even more damage on civil rights and liberties. This timeline sucks, but the one in which the judiciary doesn't even try to push back is FAR worse. We insult these judges when we dismiss their impact.
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Not how non-violence works. People went onto that bridge in Selma expecting to get seriously hurt; the spectacle of police brutalizing innocent people for doing nothing wrong was supposed to reach and radicalize the public. As it is doing now, in fact.
Non violence works when the aggressor respects the rule of law. America's laws seem to disappear when one party is power
January 25, 2026 at 5:15 PM
Not how non-violence works. People went onto that bridge in Selma expecting to get seriously hurt; the spectacle of police brutalizing innocent people for doing nothing wrong was supposed to reach and radicalize the public. As it is doing now, in fact.
Reposted by Res ipsa locutus of borg
The TACO cycle:
Markets want to price in TACO. But TACO only works if Trump sees stocks tank.
So we get a loop: Trump does things → nothing happens (markets already priced in TACO) → that emboldens him to do more → until markets start to think he might not TACO → stocks fall → TACO is restored.
Markets want to price in TACO. But TACO only works if Trump sees stocks tank.
So we get a loop: Trump does things → nothing happens (markets already priced in TACO) → that emboldens him to do more → until markets start to think he might not TACO → stocks fall → TACO is restored.
January 21, 2026 at 7:48 PM
The TACO cycle:
Markets want to price in TACO. But TACO only works if Trump sees stocks tank.
So we get a loop: Trump does things → nothing happens (markets already priced in TACO) → that emboldens him to do more → until markets start to think he might not TACO → stocks fall → TACO is restored.
Markets want to price in TACO. But TACO only works if Trump sees stocks tank.
So we get a loop: Trump does things → nothing happens (markets already priced in TACO) → that emboldens him to do more → until markets start to think he might not TACO → stocks fall → TACO is restored.
Cheers is fine but the idea that it was some kind of high point in elite culture is deeply funny to me.
"If you watch an episode of Cheers, you might hear references to foreign filmmakers, to classical musicians, to Russian novelists. The level of assumed knowledge back then was far greater; now, TV is rarely adventurous in its allusions."
TV brain rot: The real reason television shows are getting stupider www.the-independent.com/arts-enterta...
January 21, 2026 at 4:03 AM
Cheers is fine but the idea that it was some kind of high point in elite culture is deeply funny to me.
Reposted by Res ipsa locutus of borg
there is a very coherent explanation for this, which is that it is usually very hard to prove that someone is knowingly spreading a falsehood—or lying—and that reporting standards prevent outlets from saying things they can't prove to be true
I've still never heard an actual person in real life use the word "falsehoods" and I've yet to hear a coherent explanation for why the media refuses to use the word "lies."
January 20, 2026 at 6:20 PM
there is a very coherent explanation for this, which is that it is usually very hard to prove that someone is knowingly spreading a falsehood—or lying—and that reporting standards prevent outlets from saying things they can't prove to be true
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I think that worrying about Trump’s absurdly incompetent DOJ investigating Walz and Frey is largely doing the propaganda work that they want it to. It sucks ass and it’s not normal or whatever, but keep your head on straight until something actually happens with it.
January 17, 2026 at 12:37 AM
I think that worrying about Trump’s absurdly incompetent DOJ investigating Walz and Frey is largely doing the propaganda work that they want it to. It sucks ass and it’s not normal or whatever, but keep your head on straight until something actually happens with it.
Reposted by Res ipsa locutus of borg
carvahlo told them that UTAX did not have their nose, and that they'd known this. but that wasn't what any of them had believed
It's nice to get confirmation that these people are as clueless as we view them to be.
Also love the post-script about Bari just peacing out because, I would assume, the true nature of the project became too obvious for her to be involved and maintain her fake neutrality.
Also love the post-script about Bari just peacing out because, I would assume, the true nature of the project became too obvious for her to be involved and maintain her fake neutrality.
January 16, 2026 at 10:24 PM
carvahlo told them that UTAX did not have their nose, and that they'd known this. but that wasn't what any of them had believed
In which a bunch of useful idiots discover that the right wing billionaires funding their university do not, in fact, care about free speech: www.politico.com/news/magazin...
They Wanted a University Without Cancel Culture. Then Dissenters Were Ousted.
Inside the civil war at the anti-woke university backed by Bari Weiss.
www.politico.com
January 16, 2026 at 7:31 PM
In which a bunch of useful idiots discover that the right wing billionaires funding their university do not, in fact, care about free speech: www.politico.com/news/magazin...
Reposted by Res ipsa locutus of borg
I think there's several conversations about Newsom right now worth untangling.
1) Is he the likely nominee? (he's currently the most likely individual, but unlikely vs the field tho)
2) Whether you should support him in primaries (no)
3) What pre-commitments you should make if he wins nomination
1) Is he the likely nominee? (he's currently the most likely individual, but unlikely vs the field tho)
2) Whether you should support him in primaries (no)
3) What pre-commitments you should make if he wins nomination
January 16, 2026 at 5:13 PM
I think there's several conversations about Newsom right now worth untangling.
1) Is he the likely nominee? (he's currently the most likely individual, but unlikely vs the field tho)
2) Whether you should support him in primaries (no)
3) What pre-commitments you should make if he wins nomination
1) Is he the likely nominee? (he's currently the most likely individual, but unlikely vs the field tho)
2) Whether you should support him in primaries (no)
3) What pre-commitments you should make if he wins nomination
Reposted by Res ipsa locutus of borg
Would they have the votes to convict in the Senate normally? Of course not.
But if you have 51 senators, say, 48 Dems and 3 Republicans and you have that vote, you convict 48 to 3 and that's that - new president.
Refusing to seat a new Dem congress just creates a Dem supermajority congress.
But if you have 51 senators, say, 48 Dems and 3 Republicans and you have that vote, you convict 48 to 3 and that's that - new president.
Refusing to seat a new Dem congress just creates a Dem supermajority congress.
January 15, 2026 at 7:51 PM
Would they have the votes to convict in the Senate normally? Of course not.
But if you have 51 senators, say, 48 Dems and 3 Republicans and you have that vote, you convict 48 to 3 and that's that - new president.
Refusing to seat a new Dem congress just creates a Dem supermajority congress.
But if you have 51 senators, say, 48 Dems and 3 Republicans and you have that vote, you convict 48 to 3 and that's that - new president.
Refusing to seat a new Dem congress just creates a Dem supermajority congress.
Reposted by Res ipsa locutus of borg
now, of course, when you point out the practical obstacles to "canceling the elections" people move the goal posts to "voter suppression and various shenanigans." yeah, those things exist and they always have. but the other thing is that those things work *at the margins*
January 15, 2026 at 4:50 PM
now, of course, when you point out the practical obstacles to "canceling the elections" people move the goal posts to "voter suppression and various shenanigans." yeah, those things exist and they always have. but the other thing is that those things work *at the margins*
Reposted by Res ipsa locutus of borg
funniest running bit on twitter is "gentle r kikuo johnson new yorker cover drives idw and tpot types insane trying to interpret it"
January 15, 2026 at 1:44 PM
funniest running bit on twitter is "gentle r kikuo johnson new yorker cover drives idw and tpot types insane trying to interpret it"
And yet what the Third Way and Ritchie Torres are doing, not this, is going to be what "Democrats" are doing.
The Congressional Progressive Caucus, a group of nearly 100 House Democrats, will announce later today that it's formally endorsing legislation to strip $175 billion from ICE and put it toward affordable housing. www.huffpost.com/entry/doj-fe...
Progressive Caucus Backs Bill To Redirect ICE Money To Affordable Housing
www.huffpost.com
January 14, 2026 at 9:19 PM
And yet what the Third Way and Ritchie Torres are doing, not this, is going to be what "Democrats" are doing.
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Who did this? Because I fucking love it and I want to shake your hand, sir (not gender specific)
![[Benoit Blanc voice] and nine to the race of men, who above all else desire --- what? powah. precisely. but they were all of them deCEIved. for ANOTHAH ring was made](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:ezf2n46jjyd2jfxxrafa54ih/bafkreicvhf5dqa4u47vfwhlssnzxmo5uhdoxpembmfokq6q62lsa3p37xm@jpeg)
January 13, 2026 at 5:41 PM
Who did this? Because I fucking love it and I want to shake your hand, sir (not gender specific)
Reposted by Res ipsa locutus of borg
“Six Dems voted for an apparently unobjectionable nominee to run DoD hospitals who was going to get confirmed anyway” apparently means the party is fascist, we do not however care at all that Dems kept the vote from happening for almost a full calendar year
I am not sure why folks are having trouble with the notion that 100% of Dems voting against 100% of the opposition party’s nominees—a thing that has never happened in American history—is not a particular realistic standard.
Lucky, it is also not a particularly useful standard!
Lucky, it is also not a particularly useful standard!
January 12, 2026 at 11:41 PM
“Six Dems voted for an apparently unobjectionable nominee to run DoD hospitals who was going to get confirmed anyway” apparently means the party is fascist, we do not however care at all that Dems kept the vote from happening for almost a full calendar year
To functionally abolish ICE all a Dem administration would have to do is enforce existing civil rights rules -- so many agents have done fireable things like this.
Big clash this afternoon between DHS agents and protesters in a residential street in Minneapolis, following a DHS agent hitting another vehicle. Tear gas was deployed in people’s yards and agents pepper prayed people.
January 12, 2026 at 8:05 PM
To functionally abolish ICE all a Dem administration would have to do is enforce existing civil rights rules -- so many agents have done fireable things like this.
Reposted by Res ipsa locutus of borg
they really do not have Enough Dudes
What ICE/BP is doing to Minneapolis is awful.
And it's taking everything they have. By population, Minneapolis is America's 45th largest city.
Keep both in mind at once: the regime's desire for authoritarian domination is bottomless, and they'll act on it, but their capacity to do so is limited.
And it's taking everything they have. By population, Minneapolis is America's 45th largest city.
Keep both in mind at once: the regime's desire for authoritarian domination is bottomless, and they'll act on it, but their capacity to do so is limited.
January 12, 2026 at 5:48 PM
they really do not have Enough Dudes
Reposted by Res ipsa locutus of borg
What ICE/BP is doing to Minneapolis is awful.
And it's taking everything they have. By population, Minneapolis is America's 45th largest city.
Keep both in mind at once: the regime's desire for authoritarian domination is bottomless, and they'll act on it, but their capacity to do so is limited.
And it's taking everything they have. By population, Minneapolis is America's 45th largest city.
Keep both in mind at once: the regime's desire for authoritarian domination is bottomless, and they'll act on it, but their capacity to do so is limited.
January 12, 2026 at 5:08 PM
What ICE/BP is doing to Minneapolis is awful.
And it's taking everything they have. By population, Minneapolis is America's 45th largest city.
Keep both in mind at once: the regime's desire for authoritarian domination is bottomless, and they'll act on it, but their capacity to do so is limited.
And it's taking everything they have. By population, Minneapolis is America's 45th largest city.
Keep both in mind at once: the regime's desire for authoritarian domination is bottomless, and they'll act on it, but their capacity to do so is limited.
Reposted by Res ipsa locutus of borg
Please everyone stop writing articles about "defense" or "economic" reasons to occupy Greenland, that's all irrelevant
January 9, 2026 at 7:35 AM
Please everyone stop writing articles about "defense" or "economic" reasons to occupy Greenland, that's all irrelevant
Dudes rock. Immigrants rock.
Best TikTok thing going is the two dudes trying food from every country without leaving NYC. If you haven’t seen them yet, it’s incredible. My favorite so far is last week’s. Legit got me emotional.
January 9, 2026 at 2:59 PM
Dudes rock. Immigrants rock.
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Dr. Fukuyama, you can't miss
January 6, 2026 at 9:13 PM
Dr. Fukuyama, you can't miss
There's also no possible way to design an llm that can tell the difference between someone asking it to make porn of themselves and of someone else. Maybe sometimes that will be clear from context but that context will be easy to fake.
I've said it a lot lately: the problem with nonconsensual deepfake porn of adults isn't the "porn" part, it's the "nonconsensual" part. That HAS to be accounted for when regulating, otherwise you're just banning legal porn, which is (1) unconstitutional but (2) what the Heritage Foundation wants.
January 6, 2026 at 3:07 PM
There's also no possible way to design an llm that can tell the difference between someone asking it to make porn of themselves and of someone else. Maybe sometimes that will be clear from context but that context will be easy to fake.
Reposted by Res ipsa locutus of borg
You can make LLMs say almost anything. A news organization reporting "what grok said" is engaging in journalistic malpractice. It doesn't know. It just creates plausible sounding words in response to a prompt.
Grok says safeguard lapses led to images of 'minors in minimal clothing' on X reut.rs/498SoUk
Grok says safeguard lapses led to images of 'minors in minimal clothing' on X
Elon Musk's xAI artificial intelligence chatbot Grok said on Friday lapses in safeguards had resulted in "images depicting minors in minimal clothing" on social media platform X and that improvements were being made to prevent this.
reut.rs
January 2, 2026 at 4:55 PM
You can make LLMs say almost anything. A news organization reporting "what grok said" is engaging in journalistic malpractice. It doesn't know. It just creates plausible sounding words in response to a prompt.