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Joe Thompson

@kensey.bsky.social

280 followers 230 following 1K posts

That guy in that place who does that thing.

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Joe Thompson @kensey.bsky.social · 2d

"In the majority of cases in which the government is losing in the lower courts, it is (1) not seeking emergency or expedited intervention from above; and (2) otherwise complying with the adverse rulings while the cases move (very slowly) ahead."

Joe Thompson @kensey.bsky.social · 2d

The idea that the courts are taking a long time or failing to redress harms and that as a result, legal action is largely ineffective is a widespread one, but apparently not very accurate: www.stevevladeck.com/p/179-whithe...

179. Whither the Birthright Citizenship Cases?

Notwithstanding the Court's June ruling, President Trump's birthright citizenship executive order remains blocked—a broader lesson on the risks of paying attention to only one part of the news cycle.

www.stevevladeck.com

Joe Thompson @kensey.bsky.social · 3d

I mean, that sounds like a completely unfair summary, even to me as I write it, but I'm not sure which part of it is *wrong*.

Joe Thompson @kensey.bsky.social · 3d

Because frankly it sounds like you just don't want this proposal *to be critiqued at all*, because it's getting *popular* and knocking it down without providing something equally activating is depressing to people. And I guess depressing people by arguing a popular idea to be unworkable is bad?

Joe Thompson @kensey.bsky.social · 3d

Now you're criticizing the alternative I gave you on, apparently, the grounds that it isn't... what? What criteria would a proposed alternative have to meet for you to be content that critique of this proposal is not "a problem"?

Joe Thompson @kensey.bsky.social · 3d

But let's step back a second. You asked for an alternative if I wanted to critique the proposal under discussion, and I actually gave you one (while still feeling it's not really incumbent on me to do so, which you seem to actually agree with).

Joe Thompson @kensey.bsky.social · 3d

"Work it out in the courts" seems to be *working* much more often than not, which I see as a clear leg up on proposals that won't work at all, but I don't exclude the possibility that other things might work just as well, or better.

Joe Thompson @kensey.bsky.social · 3d

Wouldn't it be even more depressing to get highly invested in something and only find out after it fails that there was no chance of it working in the first place?

Joe Thompson @kensey.bsky.social · 3d

Surely you know more about that than I do, particularly when it comes to Chicago, since your profile says you write about "Chicago, labor, and organizing". I'm just a guy on the Internet who happens to know this one specific thing as a side effect of my own property tax fight nearly 20 years ago.

Joe Thompson @kensey.bsky.social · 3d

If you proposed to drive from San Francisco to Hawaii and I pointed out that you'll have a hard time doing that because of the lack of drivable road between the two, is it also on me to look up flights from SFO to Honolulu for you?

Joe Thompson @kensey.bsky.social · 3d

Not really. It's not anyone's particular job to point out alternatives to things that manifestly won't work just because they point out those things manifestly won't work.

Joe Thompson @kensey.bsky.social · 3d

As far as I know the federal government doesn't need to file anything with anyone to claim that exemption. Everybody knows who they are and that they're exempt from ad valorem tax levies. If somebody sends them a property tax bill they can just ignore it and no court will enforce collecting on it.

Joe Thompson @kensey.bsky.social · 3d

Not get invested in "taking action" that accomplishes nothing vs. supporting things that are actually accomplishing something like fighting things on the merits in the courts?

Joe Thompson @kensey.bsky.social · 3d

Not to my knowledge. They're inherently exempt by virtue of the Supremacy Clause, backed up by federal case law. They may choose to comply with local or state zoning regs so as to be seen as a "good neighbor", but need not if they don't want to.

Joe Thompson @kensey.bsky.social · 3d

The current owner's use presumably complies with applicable zoning, and most places don't set levy rates or assess property more often than annually. This is not one weird legal trick that will stop the federal government in its tracks.

Joe Thompson @kensey.bsky.social · 3d

Federal government is exempt from property taxes. Pretty sure they're entirely exempt from zoning regulation too.

Joe Thompson @kensey.bsky.social · 3d

Please do not give the coiners ideas.

Joe Thompson @kensey.bsky.social · 3d

Asking what's the point of doing it is like asking what's the point of writing a long, involved science fiction story to explore a concept instead of writing a short philosophical article on the subject. Doing the thing with some flair is the point.

Joe Thompson @kensey.bsky.social · 3d

The same as swearing fluently at an old unreliable car: to *creatively* vent frustration at a nonsentient thing.

Joe Thompson @kensey.bsky.social · 3d

And going even further back, the love-letter template engine that Christopher Strachey wrote for the MUC used a "rather simple trick" as he described it (one even more primitive than Eliza), that nonetheless apparently impressed people seeing it for the first time as intelligence in some form.

Joe Thompson @kensey.bsky.social · 3d

I'm constantly reminded these days that people frequently insisted the Eliza chatbot *must* have some form of sentience to display such insight.

Joe Thompson @kensey.bsky.social · 3d

(It's absolutely fabulous to me that the example in that glorious Tumblr thread of yesteryear is actually a nonsentient robot. Seems highly relevant these days...)

Joe Thompson @kensey.bsky.social · 3d

Weaponizing "humans will pack-bond with anything" for... well, probably not "fun", but definitely profit.

Joe Thompson @kensey.bsky.social · 3d

And what if you then showed them that the Mandelbrot set embeds a bifurcation diagram?

Joe Thompson @kensey.bsky.social · 4d

What's that thing about knowing you're on the right side by who counts you as an enemy?

I am apparently on the "does not like bitcoin/ai" list run by @schizanon, described as "People who have made being anti-technology their whole personality." Describing me as "anti-technology" is especially hilarious to anyone who knows me, like, at all. 8 users block me using this list.