Insane Trial Balloon
@klompengnome.bsky.social
Isreal is carrying out a genocide. Fuck you if you haven't/aren't speaking up.
@msnbc is busy spreading lies. Recognizing israel's genocide in Gaza isn't antisemitic. Using the claims of anti-Semitism to shield Isreal from claims of genocide is fucking gross.
June 18, 2025 at 1:47 PM
@msnbc is busy spreading lies. Recognizing israel's genocide in Gaza isn't antisemitic. Using the claims of anti-Semitism to shield Isreal from claims of genocide is fucking gross.
Reposted by Insane Trial Balloon
We could use more Members of Congress who really understand what the right-wing takeover of the judiciary means. Mike's a good guy who gets it.
CA5 upholds the federal ban on guns near schools for the unfathomably stupid reason that a 697-year-old English law is sufficiently analogous to the ban rather than that a democratically-enacted law banning guns near schools just, you know, MAKES SENSE.
storage.courtlistener.com/pdf/2025/06/...
storage.courtlistener.com/pdf/2025/06/...
![The Statute of Northampton, first enacted in 1328 in England, provided that, with some exceptions, Englishmen could not
"come before the King's Justices, or other of the King's Ministers doing their office, with force and arms, nor bring no force in affray of the peace, nor to go nor ride armed by night nor by day, in Fairs, Markets, nor in the presence of the Justices or other Ministers, nor in no part elsewhere, upon pain to forfeit their Armour to the King, and their Bodies to Prison at the King's pleasure."
Bruen, 597 U.S. at 40 (quoting 2 Edw. 3 c. 3 (1328)). The Government offers King Henry VIII's version of the Statute of Northampton, applicable to Wales and which additionally prohibited arms within two miles of a court, as an analogous historical example of a "buffer zone" law. 26 Hen. 8, c.6, § 3
(1534). But to assess whether the Statute of Northampton, as a location-based restriction, is "relevantly similar" to § 922(q)(2) (A), we must look beyond the law's text because, in practice, the Statute was not strictly enforced as written. According to scholarship cited by the Supreme Court in Bruen, 597 U.S. at 30, "[a]n indictment or presentment for violation of the](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:beirch5u3d3ybvuct27mtyxd/bafkreiaicpihrekfev36t3xsyswv6widfbn5rgho72avjtngqiukmyjyf4@jpeg)
![Statute of Northampton had to specify that the arms carrying was [in quorandam de populo terror- to the terror of the people." David B. Kopel & Joseph Greenlee, The 'Sensitive Places' Doctrine: Locational Limits on the Right to Bear Arms, 13 CHARLESTON L. REV. 203, 217 (2018) [hereinafter Kopel & Greenlee]; see also Bruen, 597 U.S. at 5 ("[No wearing of Arms is within the meaning of [the Statute], unless it be accompanied with such Circumstances as are apt to terrify the People." (quoting 1 PLEAS OF THE CROWN 136)). "[Bly the time of American independence[]... the old Statute of Northampton... was only applicable to carrying for the purpose of terrorizing other people, and not to carrying for legitimate self-defense." Kopel & Greenlee at 227. Thus, "the Statute... was no obstacle to public carry for self-defense in the decades leading to the founding." Bruen, 597
U.S. at 45.
Even so, though perhaps not a "dead ringer" or "historical twin" of modern "buffer zone" restrictions on firearm possession, the Statute of Northampton is nonetheless of a type of historical location-based regulation relevantly similar to § 922(q)(2)(A)'s application to Allam: the so-called
"going armed laws," which the Supreme Court has addressed at length. See Rahimi, 602 U.S. at 697; Bruen, 597 U.S. at 40-54. These laws prohibited
"riding or going armed, with dangerous or unusual weapons, [to] terrify[] the good people of the land," and were "incorporated into American jurisprudence through the common law." Rahimi, 602 U.S. at 697 (citing 4 BLACKSTONE 149). "As during the colonial and founding periods, the common-law offenses of 'affray' or going armed "to the terror of the people' continued to impose some limits on firearm carry in the antebellum period." Bruen, 597 U.S. at 50.
"Why and how" the Statute of Northampton and going-armed laws
"burden[ed] the right" to carry firearms, Rahimi, 602 U.S. at 692, mirror the operation of § 922(q)(2)(A) here, suggesting that "applying [§ 922(q) (2)(A)]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:beirch5u3d3ybvuct27mtyxd/bafkreieudsqypug4tjd3ca3ug2hth2xkc4onfhwk3jlnzmnjfqpqpj2i6m@jpeg)
![to [Allam] is consistent with this Nation's historical tradition of firearm regulation," Diaz, 116 F. 4th at 472. First, why: Section 922(q) was enacted in response to "concern about violent crime and gun violence," the possibility of "parents... declin[ing] to send their children to school for the same reason," and the "occurrence of violent crime in school zones." 18 U.S.C. § 922(q)(1)(E) & (F). These aims are consistent with a longstanding tradition of restricting those who carry firearms "to the terror of people" and those who pose a "clear threat of physical violence to another." See Rahimi,
602 U.S. at 697-98. Next, how: Section 922(q) (2)(A) delimits schools and buffer zones around them as areas in which firearms may not be carried, subject to significant enumerated exceptions that materially ameliorate the restriction of the right. This roughly maps with how the Statute of Northampton's various location-based restrictions generally operated in practice, as well as the behavior the going-armed laws proscribed. As applied to Allam, then, § 922(q)(2)(A) is relevantly similar to the Statute of Northampton and, more broadly, the going-armed laws of which the Statute is one example.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:beirch5u3d3ybvuct27mtyxd/bafkreicmzo3ijlsahe74w5tribzcydyo7sb2lcv33shnbfguhq5j3qcjuy@jpeg)
June 17, 2025 at 3:30 AM
We could use more Members of Congress who really understand what the right-wing takeover of the judiciary means. Mike's a good guy who gets it.
Reposted by Insane Trial Balloon
Trump is sending ICE to blue cities to enact the "largest mass deportation program in history" and Chicago is at the top of the list.
I'm calling for every Democratic leader and candidate to stand against ICE, to call for its abolition, and to materially support immigrants.
Inaction is complicity.
I'm calling for every Democratic leader and candidate to stand against ICE, to call for its abolition, and to materially support immigrants.
Inaction is complicity.
June 16, 2025 at 10:24 PM
Trump is sending ICE to blue cities to enact the "largest mass deportation program in history" and Chicago is at the top of the list.
I'm calling for every Democratic leader and candidate to stand against ICE, to call for its abolition, and to materially support immigrants.
Inaction is complicity.
I'm calling for every Democratic leader and candidate to stand against ICE, to call for its abolition, and to materially support immigrants.
Inaction is complicity.
Reposted by Insane Trial Balloon
Trump dragging us into Israel’s stupid war. Our sons and daughters will be in danger tonight because Bibi wants to swing his dick around.
June 17, 2025 at 12:16 AM
Trump dragging us into Israel’s stupid war. Our sons and daughters will be in danger tonight because Bibi wants to swing his dick around.
Reposted by Insane Trial Balloon
This is telling. On his laser eyes twitter account Lee claimed the assassin was like antifa or a prog Dem. But semi privately his office circulated a different message
June 16, 2025 at 11:11 PM
This is telling. On his laser eyes twitter account Lee claimed the assassin was like antifa or a prog Dem. But semi privately his office circulated a different message
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It is firmly in the “somebody’s making an active decision to downplay this” territory.
I count 49 news headlines on the NYT mobile app home page right now, not including opinion, sports or cooking. None of them are about the massive protests yesterday.
June 15, 2025 at 6:18 PM
It is firmly in the “somebody’s making an active decision to downplay this” territory.
Reposted by Insane Trial Balloon
Another straightforward violation of the Posse Comitatus Act. In a democratic society which valued accountability and the rule of law, this would produce impeachment of the executive branch officials and discharge of the military chain of command.
When I tell you Los Angeles is an occupied city/county, this is what I mean…
Yesterday, ICE agents showed up to a regular Saturday swap meet with armed Marines and a military helicopter overhead, like it’s a fucking war zone.
Yesterday, ICE agents showed up to a regular Saturday swap meet with armed Marines and a military helicopter overhead, like it’s a fucking war zone.
June 15, 2025 at 6:42 PM
Another straightforward violation of the Posse Comitatus Act. In a democratic society which valued accountability and the rule of law, this would produce impeachment of the executive branch officials and discharge of the military chain of command.
Fucking Debbie Dingle bothsidesing political violence after two Democrats are gunned down by an extremist Republican.
All of us have a role, sure, but Debbie Dingle is shirking her's by not calling out trump and the Republican extremism, causing at the heart of the hatred and violence.
All of us have a role, sure, but Debbie Dingle is shirking her's by not calling out trump and the Republican extremism, causing at the heart of the hatred and violence.
This violence must end and be condemned by everyone. All of us must do more to stop the hatred that permeates our country. We stand in solidarity with the people of Minnesota.
Minnesota State Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband were shot and killed early Saturday morning in "what appears to be a politically motivated assassination," Gov. Tim Walz said at a news conference. Another state lawmaker and his wife were shot and injured. Follow live updates: cnn.it/3FPAs6O
June 15, 2025 at 3:18 PM
Fucking Debbie Dingle bothsidesing political violence after two Democrats are gunned down by an extremist Republican.
All of us have a role, sure, but Debbie Dingle is shirking her's by not calling out trump and the Republican extremism, causing at the heart of the hatred and violence.
All of us have a role, sure, but Debbie Dingle is shirking her's by not calling out trump and the Republican extremism, causing at the heart of the hatred and violence.
Reposted by Insane Trial Balloon
Vance Boelter was an anti-transgender Christian Nationalist who delivered anti-queer sermons in the DRC, in case anyone was confused as to his political slant.
June 15, 2025 at 1:35 PM
Vance Boelter was an anti-transgender Christian Nationalist who delivered anti-queer sermons in the DRC, in case anyone was confused as to his political slant.
Reposted by Insane Trial Balloon
Reposted by Insane Trial Balloon
At the end of the day we are dealing with evil fucking people, or, if such unflinching moral judgments make you uncomfortable, call them regular people who find evil so endlessly compelling that they reliably choose to support the most evil they possibly can every chance they get.
“The reason we can say that the Republican Party is a hate group is that we’ve seen politically empowered and popular hate groups before, and they look like the Republican Party. More importantly, they act like the Republican Party.”
www.the-reframe.com/the-elephant...
www.the-reframe.com/the-elephant...
The Elephant In The Room
One of our two major political parties is a supremacist hate group—and it’s a very popular one. It’s not nice, but it is observably true. What can we do about it?
www.the-reframe.com
June 13, 2025 at 11:22 AM
At the end of the day we are dealing with evil fucking people, or, if such unflinching moral judgments make you uncomfortable, call them regular people who find evil so endlessly compelling that they reliably choose to support the most evil they possibly can every chance they get.
Reposted by Insane Trial Balloon
I am as big a sucker as anyone for the fine-grained legal analysis, but I do sometimes worry it distracts us a little from the big, dumb, obvious points. This is appalling & precisely what the Framers were terrified of. Whether it’s technically legal if you squint right doesn’t change that.
The president of the United States in our time is not supposed to wield armed troops and even station marines on American soil because of political speech and assembly he doesn’t like, that is typically not allowed and no I don’t care if any of it is technically “legal”
June 12, 2025 at 10:52 PM
I am as big a sucker as anyone for the fine-grained legal analysis, but I do sometimes worry it distracts us a little from the big, dumb, obvious points. This is appalling & precisely what the Framers were terrified of. Whether it’s technically legal if you squint right doesn’t change that.
Reposted by Insane Trial Balloon
Reposted by Insane Trial Balloon
“Separate but equal.”
The Recording Academy has added a “traditional country” category following Beyoncé’s historic “Cowboy Carter” win
Grammys add ‘traditional country’ category following Beyoncé's win
The Recording Academy has made a distinct change to its Country Album category — a change that is raising eyebrows online among Beyoncé fans.
www.whatimreading.net
June 13, 2025 at 10:19 AM
“Separate but equal.”
Abso-fucking-lutely
*Not holding my breath
*Not holding my breath
House Democrats need to bring articles of impeachment against Kristi Noem, while Senate Democrats need to bring that chamber to a fucking halt.
June 12, 2025 at 10:29 PM
Abso-fucking-lutely
*Not holding my breath
*Not holding my breath
Reposted by Insane Trial Balloon
There has long been zero fucking excuse for Senate Dems to cede the power they have to slow or stop that body’s work from proceeding and now there is less than zero
House Democrats need to bring articles of impeachment against Kristi Noem, while Senate Democrats need to bring that chamber to a fucking halt.
June 12, 2025 at 7:59 PM
There has long been zero fucking excuse for Senate Dems to cede the power they have to slow or stop that body’s work from proceeding and now there is less than zero
Reposted by Insane Trial Balloon
Good to see DNC blasting Trump's highly revealing admission that his deportations are terrible for farmers and the economy:
June 12, 2025 at 10:26 PM
Good to see DNC blasting Trump's highly revealing admission that his deportations are terrible for farmers and the economy:
Reposted by Insane Trial Balloon
BREAKING
US Senator Alex Padilla was just forcibly removed and detained at DHS Secretary Kristi Noem's press conference in Los Angeles.
US Senator Alex Padilla was just forcibly removed and detained at DHS Secretary Kristi Noem's press conference in Los Angeles.
June 12, 2025 at 6:24 PM
BREAKING
US Senator Alex Padilla was just forcibly removed and detained at DHS Secretary Kristi Noem's press conference in Los Angeles.
US Senator Alex Padilla was just forcibly removed and detained at DHS Secretary Kristi Noem's press conference in Los Angeles.
Reposted by Insane Trial Balloon
What they aren’t showing on Fox News
June 12, 2025 at 12:15 AM
What they aren’t showing on Fox News
Reposted by Insane Trial Balloon
Don't recall seeing this much pre-publicity for a protest before. FOX/Scripps provides a list of West MI cities, locations and times - complete with finger wag from cops.
The biggest march in GR in my (adult) time was Iraq, and yes, I believe there was a bit of advance notice, but not like this.
The biggest march in GR in my (adult) time was Iraq, and yes, I believe there was a bit of advance notice, but not like this.
West Michigan communities, GRPD prepare for "No Kings" movement coming to the area
Protests organized by the "No Kings" Movement are scheduled to take place Saturday, June 14th across the U.S., including at Rosa Parks Circle in Grand Rapids.
www.fox17online.com
June 12, 2025 at 9:13 AM
Don't recall seeing this much pre-publicity for a protest before. FOX/Scripps provides a list of West MI cities, locations and times - complete with finger wag from cops.
The biggest march in GR in my (adult) time was Iraq, and yes, I believe there was a bit of advance notice, but not like this.
The biggest march in GR in my (adult) time was Iraq, and yes, I believe there was a bit of advance notice, but not like this.
Reposted by Insane Trial Balloon
TV pundit: *sees a Nazi* I may deplore what you say but I will defend to the death your right to say iii... wait what's this? *sees a Mexican flag* exterminate all the brutes
June 11, 2025 at 11:11 AM
TV pundit: *sees a Nazi* I may deplore what you say but I will defend to the death your right to say iii... wait what's this? *sees a Mexican flag* exterminate all the brutes
Reposted by Insane Trial Balloon
Reposted by Insane Trial Balloon
Quite a few liberals accused me of hysterical hyperbole when I made this poster, because *of course* Labour would be less genocidal than the Tories.
In reality, Labour ministers have massively ramped up arms sales to Israel and are backing the genocide to the hilt
In reality, Labour ministers have massively ramped up arms sales to Israel and are backing the genocide to the hilt
June 10, 2025 at 8:50 AM
Quite a few liberals accused me of hysterical hyperbole when I made this poster, because *of course* Labour would be less genocidal than the Tories.
In reality, Labour ministers have massively ramped up arms sales to Israel and are backing the genocide to the hilt
In reality, Labour ministers have massively ramped up arms sales to Israel and are backing the genocide to the hilt
Reposted by Insane Trial Balloon
Actually it must be allowed, as has been laid out in the very first amendment of the Constitution
Lankford: "This is an American city, and to be able to have an American city where we have people literally flying Mexican flags and saying 'you cannot arrest us' cannot be allowed."
June 8, 2025 at 3:06 PM
Actually it must be allowed, as has been laid out in the very first amendment of the Constitution