Always a pleasure to see your by-line, Charles.
As a 40 year resident of MN/Twin Cities, your take is spot on, especially with the 'Brazil' comparison.

My goodness Charles, just for kicks I looked at Paschal's menu and my mouth is watering!

https://www.paschalsatlanta.com/menu

Also, the frog costume thing always reminds me of The Doors song 'Peace Frog'.

And @ Phoebes... So did I! My mouth is also watering now, especially after seeing the gumbo, and the grits with shrimp.

Charles may be delighted with 206ers reading habits, though he should have also mentioned Omar Akkad's "One Day Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This," one the top books checked out of Seattle libraries last year. That being said, Ezra Klein's "Abundance" edged out Akkad, which means despite our current regime, lots of folks are "flipping through the brochure" of moderate liberal political discourse. TS should never rest until everyone in the PCC checkout line is wearing a black beret and a kaffiyeh.

Oh, and Charles agrees with me - inflatable costumes are the way to go when confronting ICE officers. He likes the performative aspect, while I am convinced they offer magical protection from being shot. Pro tip - get a charcoal filter next to the blower fan in case officers fire gas into it.

"invade Greenland in this day and age."

Human nature is no different in this day and age than in any other. No less prone to dictatorship, coercion, etc. for one human, or group of humans, to involuntarily assert itself or themselves over other humans.

Hey Neale @4...
Did you google 'Mike Sauro' (like I suggested yesterday) for context about Minneapolis police? Yeah, I didn't think so.
Show me records that show ICE has deported more actual criminals than people who committed a civil infraction, or nothing at all. I'll wait...

Oh you can't? Maybe it's because they don't keep records at all? Maybe you should focus you ire on the blatant abuse of power that is going on to "enforce" these laws.

@7
Yes, human nature hasn’t changed.
Which is why we need moral laws to guide our frail natures away from evil deeds. But maybe that’s just me.
In Living Color was such a great show, and waaay ahead of its time.

"No accountability, no report, no internal investigation."

Why would there be if no one has requested an internal investigation? Why would there be if no one has asked the ACLU, or hired their own attorneys, to allege 4th Amendment violations?

In AAUP v. Rubio, Courts said Rubio, a judge ruled "Pro-Palestinian" VISA holders could not have their VISA status revoked because of the point of view of their speech.

Mmoud Khalil keeps winning, being freed from immigration detention based on court order.

Get back to me when this guy has actually availed himself of his legal rights. Legal rights don't enforce themselves.

How many fires are there on a normal night in the massive geographical area between Seattle and Tacoma? Three doesn't seem like a lot.

But are Seahawks fans fired up for this weekend’s rematch with the LA Rams?

Canadians are so cute, aren't they? Canada is like a toy country. A little totalitarian though. But very fun to watch.

Urbana isn't so bad! The traffic out front stinks, granted, but the architect used the materials of our day (false brick, metallic sheathing...) in a way that makes the building look good. The Urbana will age well. Just as well as other buildings of this era. What would really help is to reduce the number of traffic lanes in front of Urbana and resurrect the electric trolleys of old going down 15th to Seattle and cross-town on Market to UW. I started working in Ballard in 1979, Ballard is God's country, once here there just ain't no reason to leave.

Bi-pedo @14... You didn't get banned again! (yet)
Conga-rats...

Neale @10... Way to totally ignore my points. How can there be accountability if the people "enforcing" these regulations don't feel like they need to account for their actions (and don't get officially disciplined for not doing so)?

There are still 1000's of seperated children missing from trumps first term. Where is the accountability for them?

What an ignorant blowhard you are.

@4 At the risk of belaboring the obvious, people who break speed limits and run stop signs are endangering the lives and safety of others. Those laws should be enforced, and no reasonable person objects to the lawful, orderly, due-process removal of violent lawbreakers who also happen to be unauthorized immigrants. I sure don't. But those aren't ICE's primary targets. They're very few in number and they're difficult and dangerous to pursue. Striving to fill a quota of thousands of arrests per day, ICE is primarily rounding up people whose only "crime" was to take crappy jobs no one else wanted, raise families, pay taxes and revive moribund rust-belt communities -- i.e., the lowest-hanging fruit -- simply because the circumstances of their initial entry to this country years ago (in some cases decades ago) might not have been entirely by the book. In an alarmingly high number of cases, such as the one mentioned in this article, even that accusation turns out to be false.

Whether and how strictly to enforce a law is always a policy choice. Always. It's never automatic. Not all laws can be enforced and many are never enforced at all, or are enforced very selectively (just look at Trump, who has broken law after law his entire adult life and never served a day in confinement). Choosing to enforce this one particular law against people whose contributions to American society are (unlike Trump's) a net positive is not only morally unjust but self-defeating. We NEED these people and will rue the day when they're all gone. I don't know why this is such a hard concept to grasp.

Kindred is a great book. One of my favorites.

@17: "We NEED these people and will rue the day when they're all gone. I don't know why this is such a hard concept to grasp."

I don't know either. But actually Trump did at one point, and wanted a carve out for hospitality and farm workers and it was probably Steven Miller who talked him out of it.

@20... You know exactly who you are. We don't, because you have to keep changing 'nyms because you keep getting your dumbass banned.

My apologies for "mis-numbering" you. That must be far, far, far more of an injustice than being mis-gendered.

What a gormless wanker you are.

@21: Exercise caution with the "wanker" insult when the gender of the person is unknown.

@23... Yes, yes you do. I suspect you don't know the meaning of the word.

Coolie @ 22... Are you suggesting women and non-binary people don't masturbate? Oh, you poor, poor child.

Pro-tip for you... if you are going to name yourself after a president (or at least his coin avatar -- by the way 'Coolie' was a nickname he was privately known by), maybe you should live up to his most famous nickname... "Silent Cal".

Food for thought.

@4:

I guess that's why the po-po arrest, try and incarcerate every single driver who runs a stop sign, goes over the speed limit or fails to signal a turn instead of, I dunno, letting them off with a warning or just writing a ticket, eh?

@22:

Why? You think ladies can't wank?

TACO. El Foldo. https://apnews.com/live/world-economic-forum-davos-updates-1-21-2026

No, the main deficiency of Daikon is his poor selection of handles. If someone finds themselves needing a new account name every pay period, the least he could do is come with clever or amusing handles. Let's offer some new ones for next week! Here are my contributions; SLOGic, TheDialator, Metamucilini, Kristoballs, straightjacketbazooka, Username#...

@28... I think he might have used "Kristoballs" once before, it's hard to keep track. Maybe 20-25 by now? Probably more.
I'm hoping his next one is "Gormless Wanker".

@J. Peterman
(aka elkossak)*

multiply-banned
dipshit? mayhaps
call him czarny idioto

and when addressing
Czarny Idioto, don't use
don't Soil our English lingo

go to 'Translate' and
put it in a language where
he'll hafta go to some trouble.

Engaging Czarny Idioto
in The King's English
only Encourages his
perpetual returns
to derr Schlogg
and Sullies our
native tongue:

it's a Lose-
Lose sit-
uation.

*https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1GEPjmaF1XQ

@30 "Change the law"? Seriously, is that your solution? Are you completely ignorant of the fact that Democrats and sane Republicans as conservative as George W. Bush have been trying to change the law for decades now? Every attempted reform, no matter how small-bore, gets derailed because the white nationalist/xenophobe faction of the Republican party, which now appears to be the majority faction, likes the laws just as they are. They now have a president who shares and indulges their overtly racist worldview and is willing to interpret and enforce those laws as harshly as possible, the consequences to society be damned. (Again, a policy choice. "Rule of law" is not undermined by non-enforcement of laws that have proven to be impractical and which clearly create more problems than they solve, as most people now agree is the case with (for example) cannabis prohibition. For years before that law was changed here in WA, police in many cities were instructed, rightly, not to make arrests in cases of simple possession of small amounts. Most previous administrations in modern times have recognized the same about our immigration laws, which currently provide no swift, orderly means of legal entry for those with only their labor power to sell.)

Intent also matters. If you have any doubt as to the malign ideology behind the current anti-immigration push, all you have to do is look at the social media feeds of DHS, the Labor Dept. and of course Trump's own faux-Twitter site. You'll see example after example of overt white supremacist and even Nazi-adjacent memes, symbols, songs, etc. They're not playing coy anymore. They want an overwhelmingly white, Christian-nationalist ordered society and are determined to get it no matter how violent and lawless they have to be. This is where "rule of law" is truly being undermined. The only available defensive response right now for those of us who are unafraid and welcoming of diversity is nonviolent (not necessarily "peaceful," but nonviolent) resistance in any way possible. There's literally nothing else on the table.

@24/@25 - I thought wanking typically referred only to male masturbation, so call me naive on that.
@24: People masturbate with either a penis or vagina. Non-binary people have either, as they are either men or women. Non-binary is an ideology, not a physical difference.

@24: Yeah, but his silence didn't indicate a lack of opinions. He had a resolute commitment to conservative principles that fed the economic boom in the Roaring Twenties.

First Lady Grace Coolidge is also most fascinating.

@33: Make that "Non-binary people have either, as they are either male or female."

Coolie (a.k.a. "Not-so Silent Cal") @33... Yay! At least you learned one thing today!

(sucks it had to be the masturbation joke, when there were so many more options...)

31. Guilty as charged! Mind you, I've only owned a few Peterson items. But when you add all the schwag from LL Bean, J Crew, and Ex Officio, I think your snowball found purchase. Well played sir!

@36: "sucks it had to be the masturbation joke"

Why, are you prudish?

@32, "Are you completely ignorant of the fact that Democrats and sane Republicans as conservative as George W. Bush have been trying to change the law for decades now? Every attempted reform, no matter how small-bore, gets derailed because the white nationalist/xenophobe faction of the Republican party, which now appears to be the majority faction, likes the laws just as they are."

I am very aware of those things. The fact that we haven't has been the result of our democratic choices in which Congresses we elect, how slim the majorities are no matter which party has control of either chamber, and voters being badly fractured on the issue.

Ask a representative group of 23 voters what they want in terms of immigration reform and you are likely to get 39 conflicting opinions with little commonality.

Voters, with regard to the wording of the law, are choosing the status quo of the 1990 Immigration Law.

"If you choose, not to choose, you still have made a choice." - Getty Lee, Rush.

Democracy at work. "We have met the enemy, and he is us." - Pogo

Bi-Pedo @38... Ooh, the Sam Alito 18th century defense! Ask any Brit what Gorm and Gormless means now. You do know words do flip meaning, right? I mean, tell me the 18th century difference between "flammable" and "inflammable" compared to current common usage. I think there is a Dr. Nick clip about that.

Coolie @39... Bwahahah!!!
How the fuck did you get prude out of that? I just think it is funny that mastubation was the first place you went, when there were other topics sitting right there.

Bi-Pedo @ 46...
Of course you wouldn't ask a Brit. What a shock. With all your copying and pasting, you failed to include this...

"Gorm" has several meanings, most commonly referring to foolishness or lack of sense, derived from the Old Norse for "attention," leading to the term "gormless"

Bi-Pedo @46...
Please consider "Gormless Wanker" for your next 'nym when you get booted for the umpteenth time.

It would make me so proud for you to proclaim yourself as an ignorant idiot at my suggestion.

@49: Yes, the image of which makes you drewl too.

@ Bi-Pedo... Yup, you are still going with the Sam Alito "It's old, so it must be true" with techno-babble stirred in.
If you think that's a win, then congrats, champ.
Still doesn't overcome the fact that you are a Gormless Wanker.

(please please please use "Gormless Wanker" as your 'next-to-be-banned' 'nym).

Also, if nitpicking etymology is your strongest argument against being named a "Gormless Wanker", well then, you go Glen Coco!!!

Coolie @50...
Wow. That's the best you got? I'm disappointed.

Bi-Pedo @51...
Thanks for your tacit admission that you do not understand how language works.

Please google, then cut and paste your arguments of how I am wrong, because that seems to be the only way you can do this here.

Do you have someone to cut your food for you?

@Bi-Pedo...
The word you are looking for is "mocking". I am mocking you. You failed on gormless, so you throw out malding.
I had to look up the portmanteau "malding".
Your @ 54 seems like a boatload of projection. Again.

There's a shock.

Dr. Nelson Salim is back! Now, there's a name I have not seen for a long time... How goes the old herb scam?

Quite the cherry on top of this thread.

Conversing with (now deleted) spam (@57) is a red flag.