Etaoin Shrdlu

When the criticism starts coming from the Editorial Board of the WSJ, then you know Rupert Murdoch is getting tired of Trump. Last to turn will be the New York Post, as it is the most MAGA of Murdoch's press. But turn it eventually will. Murdoch and the other billionaires are only in it for the tax cuts. But for tax cuts to be meaningful, there has to be income and asset values have to remain steady. As it becomes clear that Trump is destroying their fortunes, they'll dump him. If Trump keeps up this tariff madness, it won't take long.

When the cashier asks if you are a member, say "no". You'll get an itemized paper receipt.

The authors get paid according to word count.

I used Skype for calls to family members, banks and government departments in the US and had both an annual calling subscription and a Skype-in number. The annual cost was $70. I have replaced it with Phone2 by paying a one-time fee of $99. For that fee I can call numbers in the US without additional charge and I also received a new US number for incoming calls. I could have ported my Skype-in number, but did not see the need. So far, the Phone2 call quality has been very good. I don't use it for 2FA, so can't comment on whether it would work with banks. For a while I was receiving several telemarketing calls every night on the new US number, usually between 9 pm and 5 am. Most of the calls were companies trying to sell Medicare Advantage plans or similar. Once I registered the number with the Federal do-not-call list, the calls stopped completely. I don't know why I never received such calls on my Skype-in number. One service that Phone2 does not provide for personal accounts is outgoing SMS messaging, but I have no need for that at present.

My daughter was asked to show her US passport when exiting Thailand on her Thai passport. I suspect the IO was just making sure she would be able to enter at her destination as she had no visas in her Thai passport. When checking in at the airline counter, my kids always present both passports and the airline staff enter both passports' numbers in their computer.

I used to have subscriptions to print versions of newspapers and magazines, but nowadays that same content is available on the internet much quicker and cheaper. Not only that, but the paper doesn't get soggy if the delivery man leaves it on top of the mailbox during the rainy season. I don't have access to a public or university library and I don't think major public figures would take my calls if I rang them up to do research. I guess I really don't have the resources, time, or connections to do primary research. I suppose I'll just have to rely on professional journalists to do that bit. I can sort out any bias on my own.

Credible fact-checked journalism is often behind a paywall. Conspiracy theory websites usually aren't.

She's no longer in Philadelphia. She's been towed to Alabama awaiting scuttling to make an artificial reef.

I think she'll be towed out a bit and scuttled to form a reef. There was an effort underway for decades to try to restore her, but not enough money was raised.

Arrived at New York in February, 1957 on the SS United States. 68 years ago.

But if the degree is from the University of American Samoa, then it Saul Goodman!

This assumes that relations between the US and the "host" country remain amicable. Governments change and the prisoners could become pawns for a newly hostile foreign government to exploit.

The Nazis weren't US citizens when they were deported. They had been de-naturalized. The problem, as we are seeing in real time, is that they would no longer be within US jurisdiction and they may become unable to return, even if new evidence arose that questions their conviction or were otherwise deserving of a new trial.

Still US citizens. Slippery slope.

Karoline Leavitt, Trump's press secretary, confirms that Trump is seeking a pathway to expel US citizens from the US:

I just completed this quiz. My Score 80/100 My Time 92 seconds  

According to Bill Maher, Trump was gracious and quite pleasant at the dinner he hosed in the White House. He even showed a sense of humor. Actually, I don't find this difficult to believe. Trump is a very intelligent and talented man, otherwise he would not have managed to attract the following he has or get elected POTUS. It isn't his raw intelligence or his charisma that I doubt, it is his morals and character and, of course, his agenda and how he chooses to carry it out. He isn't dumb, but he knows that a large section of the public is, and he uses this to his advantage. Case in point being the calculation of tariff rates he claims are imposed by other countries on US-made goods. I'm sure he knew it was nonsense, but also that it would play in Peoria. This brings me to the conclusion that either he was putting on an act at the dinner with Maher, or he's putting on an act when he's otherwise in public spewing hate and lies. It may well be both. Sociopaths can be charming, intelligent and witty, with a sense of humor and yet be completely manipulative and amoral. Some credible people who have worked closely with him have stated that he's not fit to be POTUS. I wonder whether his ego would allow him to resign later in his term so as to give Vance the advantage of incumbency for 2028 with Trump running as VP. Vance would then resign in early 2029, making way for Trump to become an unelected president. I see an end-run like this as being more plausible than a frontal assault on the Twenty-Second Amendment.

Like the lawyers that had to agree to perform pro bono work for Trump's favorite causes, these tariffs are a shakedown but aimed at big tech. I wonder what Tim Cook had to promise to get this reprieve.

I'm not the person who is seeking a legal pathway to expelling US citizens from the US. That distinction belongs to Donald Trump and his Department of Justice. See what Karoline Leavitt says in the video embedded in the OP. She confirms that Trump is exploring the possibility. If I am special needs because I don't fully understand the US Constitution as a layman, what does that make Trump and his DoJ who supposedly have both the legal training and resources to do so? Super special needs? If the 14th Amendment is such an ironclad guarantee that a US citizen can't be expelled, why is Trump looking for a mechanism to do so?

Tell me in which section of the 14th Amendment it specifically states that a US citizen can't be expelled from the US. While the 14th Amendment does guarantee due process, there's nothing there that says that after due process a US citizen couldn't be expelled. I suppose that would require another country to accept the US citizen, but perhaps a country like El Salvador might agree.

No, I'm saying that there isn't a law that states that a US citizen can't be expelled from the US.

Yes. "Thoughts and prayers" just means that our representatives in congress have been bought by the gun lobby.

Do an internet search on "currency triangulation". It will explain why another currency may need to be exchanged for US dollars before being converted to Thai baht.

i think he's referring to Anwar Awlaki.

From Google’s AI: “There isn't a specific law that prevents U.S. citizens from being expelled from the country.”