#hardballer

[pedroam-bang]

Hitman: Absolution (2012)

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Trump’s Tiktok two-step is a lesson for future presidents

I'm about to leave for a 20+ city book tour for my new novel PICKS AND SHOVELS. Catch me on Feb 14 in BOSTON for FREE at BOSKONE , and on Feb 15 for a virtual event with YANIS VAROUFAKIS. More tour dates here.

Remember the Tiktok ban? I know, it was ten million years ago (in Musk years, anyway), so it may have slipped your mind, but let me remind you: Congress passed a law saying Tiktok was banned. Trump said he wouldn't enforce the law. The end.

No, really. I mean, sure, there's a bunch of bullshit about whether Trump will pick up the ban again after Tiktok's grace period ends, depending on whether they sell themselves to his creepy wax museum pal Larry Ellison. Maybe he will. Maybe Tiktok'll buy so many trumpcoins that he forgets about. Whatevs.

The important thing here is: Congress passed a (stupid) law and Trump said, "I've decided not to enforce that law" and then that was it:

https://prospect.org/justice/2025-01-31-trump-administration-test-supreme-court-tiktok/

Sure, there's some big rule of law/checks and balances/separation of powers problems here, and there are plenty of laws I'm mad about Trump not enforcing (like the law that says corporations can't bribe foreign governments, say). But this one? Sure, it's fine. The problem with Tiktok is that it invades our privacy in creepy ways, not that it is owned by a Chinese company. I don't want Zuck or Musk or (especially) Trump invading my privacy.

Congress hasn't passed a consumer privacy law since 1988, when they banned video store clerks from telling newspapers about your VHS viewing habits. That's why Tiktok is a problem. Pass that law, and if any president decides not to enforce it, I'll be mad as hell and I'll be right there in the streets next to you, in head-to-toe CV dazzle, with all my distraction rectangles in Faraday pouches, shlepping a placard bearing the Social Security Numbers of every Cabinet member in giant writing.

But the point is, the president defied Congress, which is a thing that Very Serious Grownups told us radicals Joe Biden mustn't do under any circumstances, lest the resulting constitutional crisis tear the country apart, or, at the very least, alienate so many voters that Donald Trump would become the next president.

We let Very Serious Grownups call the shots, and Donald Trump is president. Maybe we should stop listening to Very Serious Grownups?

Look, presidents ignore Congress's laws all the time. The Comstock Act (which effectively bans transporting pornography and contraception) is almost entirely ignored, and has been for generations (though Trump's creepy Heritage Foundation puppetmasters have promised to bring it back). The Robinson-Patman Act hasn't been enforced since the Reagan years, which is a damned shame, because Robinson-Patman would put Walmart, Amazon, Dollartree and Dollar General out of business (Biden started to enforce Robinson-Patman again during his last year in office):

https://pluralistic.net/2024/08/14/the-price-is-wright/#enforcement-priorities

I'm not trying to say that enforcing (or ignoring) the Comstock Act is the same as ignoring (or enforcing) the Robinson-Patman Act. The Comstock Act is bad, and the Robinson-Patman Act is good. I am capable of making that moral judgment, and I would like to have a president who does the same.

The fear about Trump ignoring the laws and procedures is justified, but not because of the damage he's doing to laws and procedures – it's because of the damage he's doing to the people of this country and the world.

Take the records that Trump has destroyed – vital data about public health and other subjects (thankfully, most of this was saved from destruction by the Internet Archive). The most important fact about that act of destruction is the harm that will result from it, not the failure to follow procedure.

There are plenty of times in which I am OK with people ignoring the law and destroying records. In 1943, Dutch guerrillas bombed the civil registry building in Amsterdam, to keep the records of where Jews and other disfavored minorities lived out of the hands of occupying Nazis. The firefighters on the scene kept their hoses running until any paper that hadn't been burned was reduced to slurry:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1943_Amsterdam_civil_registry_office_bombing

I'm fine with destroying records that wicked, vicious authoritarians would use to harm my neighbors.

Remember when Biden tried to cancel student debt? He could have started off by destroying the records of who owed what, so when the courts overturned his administrative action, it would have been hard or impossible to collect on the debts that were still held on federal books, or whose records the feds had (no, I'm not suggesting that Nazi death camp deportations are equivalent to unjust student debt collections, but if you agree that sometimes it's OK to illegally destroy records, then all we're left with is haggling over the specifics).

Sure, this would have been a constitutional crisis, but, as Ryan Grim says, "It is apparently unconstitutional for the president to instruct the Department of Education to restructure and forgive some student loan debt but it is ok for DOGE chair Elon Musk to just get rid of the whole department. Anywho."

https://twitter.com/ryangrim/status/1888973174819164663?t=Cd8fl4FWjY5zsOlQWZGv4g

Canceling debt isn't forgiving debt. Student borrowers have been preyed upon by colleges and lenders. People who borrowed $79.000 and paid back $190,000 can somehow still owe $236,000 do not need to be forgiven, because (unlike Trump) they haven't sinned. Rather, their debts need to be canceled (like Trump):

https://pluralistic.net/2020/12/04/kawaski-trawick/#strike-debt

Trump's shown us what a president should do when the courts get in their way: fight back. Worst case scenario is the court prevails, and a bunch of Fedsoc judges (up to and including the Supreme Court) set binding precedent that reduces the power of the president, which would be, you know, great. Best case scenario: Americans are freed from these crippling, fraudulent debts and, you know, vote for Democrats and against Trump, instead of staying home because they don't feel like the Democrats have their back.

Defying unjust court decisions isn't Trumpian – it's Rooseveltian. Roosevelt (following in Lincoln's footsteps) spent years discrediting and weakening the Supreme Court's power, using his bully pulpit to rob them of authority and build the political will to pack the court, which he was on the brink of doing when the Supreme Court surrendered:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/09/20/judicial-equilibria/#pack-the-court

Democrats developed an online organizing playbook, and it worked, so Republicans took it, improved on it, and won elections. Republicans have developed a devastatingly effective constitutional hardball playbook. Democrats should steal that playbook and run with it:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/10/18/states-rights/#cold-civil-war

I rang doorbells, made phone calls, and shelled out money for Democrats in the last cycle because I wanted them to do stuff that helps Americans, not because I wanted them to follow procedures. The fact that Trump is building offshore concentration camps and has deported our neighbors to them (to name just one of many cheap dystopian fanfics that Trump is LARPing) should be the kind of five-alarm fire that sent South Korean lawmakers scaling the barricades last month.

This is the kind of crisis where I'd expect Democrats on the Hill, at a minimum, to be refusing to give Trump and the GOP anything. Call quorum on every vote. Debate every amendment. Raise every objection. Vote against everyting. Do not confirm a single appointee. And any elected Dem that refuses to play along? Kick 'em out of the caucus. Oh, we can't afford to do that because we can't afford to lose a single lawmaker? How did that work out with Kirsten Synema and Joe Manchin? Shoulda kicked them out after the first vote, shoulda raised money for any real Dem willing to primary them. Should have shunned them in the hallways and refused to invite them to the Christmas parties. We should do that to Fetterman. Party unity got us nothing under Biden. Party unity got us Trump. Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different outcome isn't actually the formal definition of insanity, but it is nevertheless very, very stupid.

For the past four years, Very Serious Grownups in the Democratic machine kept telling us that we couldn't expect the president to do anything, or Congress to do anything, or the Senate to do anything, because the Republicans would stop them. Or the courts would stop them. Why fight when you know you're gonna lose? Because sometimes, you'll win. And even if you lose, you'll go down fighting.

Better yet, if you lose in just the right way, you'll force Trump's judges to take away powers from the President and the administrative agencies – take away the powers Trump is now wielding like a sledgehammer.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2025/02/11/you-and-what-army/#student-debt

[king-liminaxe]

Did Hardball have any jobs before becoming a government worker?

she was a hotel bellhop in college

[johnwickb1tsch]

oral agreement ~ a dribble drabble

you make a bet with conor o'neil... nsfw, it's a little naughty 🤭 disclaimer: i kno v little about le sports... enjoy! 😂😈

You’d never admit it out loud, but it might be true that you’ve always had a soft spot for Conor O’Neil. He’s kind of a shithead sometimes, but sometimes? He’s not so bad. You've been bartending at his favorite watering hole for what feels like an eternity now, like you’ve both become just part of the fixtures. 

You used to hookup, occasionally, when he was the last one drinking, closing down the bar because he didn't want to go home, brought low over losing a bet with money he didn’t really have. It was always fast, and not terribly sweet, but that was just life and you were used to it by now. Hoping for more from a man these days was just asking to get yourself hurt one way or another. 

So what, if he fried your last brain cell, that one time he came strutting into the bar, bellowing the lyrics to Big Poppa like the gospel, grabbing you up as he crooned the last line of the chorus and planting one on you. “Cause I see some ladies tonight that should be havin’ my baby! Baby…” 

“You wish, O’Neil,” you’d groused, pushing him off with a roll of eyes, even if his soft lips on yours made you tingle all over. He was so annoying, with those sparkling dark eyes, and that trickster’s grin. A baby is the last thing you need right now, (you can barely take care of yourself), but you never forget what it felt like to be held in that man’s big hands, even if he only meant it as a joke. 

Ha fucking ha. 

You’d watched from afar as coaching those kids healed something inside him. Gave him something to care about, besides the next score. You were happy for him, even if he didn’t come in as frequently. It was good that he stopped putting down ruinous bets with your boss. Sometimes he brought that pretty teacher around too. She was like a ray of pure sunshine–not a creature of the night like you. You pretended that you weren’t jealous, but fuck. It kinda hurt. 

When he starts drinking more because they obviously broke up, you try not to be smug about it. 

One night you’re cleaning glasses, and he’s watching the Bull’s game with a bit more interest than his usual of late. 

“You got money on them?” you ask, trying to keep the note of worry from your tone. Maybe you’re glad to have him back, but you don’t want to see him totally backslide.    “Nah, I don’t do that anymore. Unless…” Damn him for that one-hundred percent Irish glitter of mischief in his eyes. “You want to?”  You scoff, turning your attention back down to the tumbler in your hand. “I work too hard for my money to gamble it away.”  He smirks at you, a hint of the old sly fox returned. “We could bet something else?” There’s that gleam in his eye again, and you don’t think it has anything to do with you. Gambling was this man’s first love; the excitement of it still clearly turns him up. Maybe it’s not about the money, really, but the rush in the winning. You hate to admit that there’s something alluring in the way he suggests it.  “Like what?” you bite.  He lifts his eyebrows at you playfully. You keep your cool, but fuck you if a spear of heat does not shoot straight to your loins. This fucking guy.  You lean on the bar, (knowing he has a clear view of your cleavage, you know how to make your tips), tilting your head. “You want to make an oral agreement, Conor?”  He smiles at you the way wolves smile at sheep. “Sure, sweetheart. I’ll take that bet. Bulls will win, 6 up.” “Hmm. Alright. I think the Hornets are going to wipe the floor with them. By eight.”  Conor whistles at your bravado. “You sure about that, sweetheart?”  “Yeah, definitely.”  “You got an insider tip or somethin’?”  You shrug, reaching for another glass. “I like their colors.” Maybe you work at a sports bar, but you’re not really into sports, and you say things that are obviously wrong all the time just to elbow your customers, and you get away with it too. (see above reference to cleavage).  He snorts at you, though you know he thinks you’re cute.  And then he watches with disbelief as Charlotte cleans Chicago’s clock. You watch the game end with a smug little smile, leaning on the bar across from him.  “Well. Looks like it’s your lucky night,” he says with a heat in his eyes that curls your toes.  “I guess we’ll find out if that mouth’s good for anything besides talking shit.”  He throws his head back, barking with mirth. “I guess so.” His gaze strays down to your mouth, and your clit throbs with immediate and remorseless betrayal.  Treacherous cunt. 

He stays until closing, helping you stack the chairs so the night janitor can clean the floors. You can feel his eyes on you from across the room, and when your chores are done he catches you up with one of those massive hands engulfing your hip, pulling you against him. “So what’s your pleasure, pretty lady?” he teases you, grinning as your fingers curl in the lapels of his leather jacket. 

“Step into my office,” you say, tugging him towards the back of the bar.  You’re not sure why it surprises you so much, when he gathers you into his arms and kisses you along the way. Maybe because last time you hooked up was all business, a desperate and almost clinical pursuit of release executed together against the bathroom wall. It hadn't been disappointing, per se, but nowhere near romantic. He’s downright kissing you like he likes you–who even is this guy, and what did he do with the Conor O’Neil you’ve known for years? And goddamn if he doesn’t keep kissing you, walking you backwards with those large hands on your ribcage, catching you around the waist when you trip over your own feet. “Mmm. Easy there,” he teases you in a low rumble, his lips on your neck. “Someone’s excited.”  “Oh, fuck you.”  He takes zero offense, chuckling darkly in a way that sends shivers across your skin.  “I wish. But that wasn’t in the stakes.”  As you cross the threshold of the tiny office his nimble hands are working the button of your jeans, those long fingers sliding into your panties to check the score. He finds you wet, and the groan in your ear while he strums at your slit makes you weak in the knees. “A little eager here, sweetheart?”  “Just looking forward to shutting you up.”  He laughs, that open burst of mirth that lights up his whole face. He’s beautiful, and you find yourself staring at him like an idiot for a few moments too long. He doesn’t tease you though. His expression softens, his other hand cupping your cheek. “Sorry I’m such an asshole.”  He says this, of course, while dipping a finger inside you, making you whine.  “Conor…”  “Alright, alright.” He walks you backwards to the tiny desk covered in paperwork, pitching you on top of it like you weigh nothing. He strips you of your pants, only temporarily stymied when he remembers he has to take off your shoes first. Maybe you should be embarrassed, butt ass naked on your boss’s desk, but you can’t stop yourself from giggling. (You haven't had nearly as much to drink as he has, and you should know better…but here you are.) “Very funny.” He swallows whatever smart retort you might have made with another kiss that lights you up like an atom bomb, his thumb circling your clit while he leans over you. He moans in your mouth every time he swipes your entrance for more slick. “So wet for me, my pretty girl, bet you taste as sweet as you look.” So what, if his deep voice in your ear makes your thighs clench and your legs shake? So what, if you make a sound that’s barely human, when he sits in the office chair and slings your knees over his broad shoulders, kissing the insides of your thighs before putting his mouth there. And maybe there’s something to be said, for a man who never shuts up. Maybe he’s been training for this, because that devilish tongue is heaven on your clit and jesus fucking christ when he slides two of those long, thick fingers inside you, you’ve never come undone so quickly for a man. It’s mortifying, really, the way you shout and bow and squeeze him with your thighs like you intend to milk every little last drop of pleasure from his touch.  By the time he’s done with you you’re both spent, you lying across the desk with papers strewn everywhere, and him resting with his cheek on your thigh. 

He would be the first one to break the silence. “How bout them Hornets?” 

You giggle in reply, too spent to form actual words.  “The Pistons vs the Lakers are on tomorrow. Care to make things interesting?” Finally you’re able to sit up on your elbows, looking down your body at this man with the mischievous glitter in his eyes. “I dunno. I’m pretty happy with my winnings.”  He sticks out his lip in a pout that should be ridiculous on a grown-ass man. “Oh come on, sweetheart, give me a chance to win something back.”  “Hmm. You could just…ask me out to dinner?”  You regret it the moment it leaves your lips, and you’ve never known such dread as in in the few long seconds of silence before he smiles up at you, pressing a sweet kiss to your thigh. “Alright. Are you off tomorrow?”  “Yeah.”  “It’s a date.” 

He stands, offering your inside-out jeans back, but you can’t help but sit there swinging your bare legs, admiring the impressive tent in his trousers. “Conor?” 

“Yeah baby?”  “Take off your pants.” His grin is so bright it’s blinding in this dingy little closet of an office, and you can’t help but squirm, suddenly feeling like your heart doesn’t quite fit in your chest anymore.  “Yes ma’am.”  

[txttletale]

I don't understand why you're advocating against voting for Biden. Obviously, Biden and DeSantis/Trump are both very bad, but there's also obviously still a difference between them. If Biden's policy is 1,000,000 people die and DeSantis's policy is 1,010,000 people die, then surely those 10,000 lives are still well worth fighting for? I could understand if somehow not voting did something to undermine the whole system, to help prevent the 1,000,000 deaths, but it doesn't, as far as I can see.

not to get all game theory about it but if 'the left' (as in, the loose electoral demographic) just blindly vote for whoever promises the least deaths without having any red lines then there will never be any reason for the democrats (slash labour slash insert tepid imperialist european social democratic party here) to ever pursue a policy of less than 1,009,999 people dying. imo if someone is serious about voting as a harm reduction strategy then they (as part of a broader group, what an individual does as i always say is basically irrelevant) need to be willing to play hardball (i.e. have circumstances under which they will not vote and be vocal about this) or they will not actually get any harm reduced in the long run

[feroluce]

Had the cutest realization last night- so there's a saying we have in English meaning to get something done by any means necessary. It specifically includes dishonest methods, such as violence or lying. So when you're willing to resort to that kind of thing to achieve your goals, you say you're going to do something

"by hook or by crook"

[sergeifyodorov]

all this swayman news is hilarious but it is proving beyond a shadow of a doubt: you all would not survive being a leafs fan

[discoscoob]

I love when he plays losers

[freshwater--mermaid]

.....I just wanted to get some cotton candy......

[liorlenn]

Im not entirely into au for kcd and in general i just prefer sticking to its canonical elements but i do admit the concept of a minorly fantasy leaning au with a vampire Henry (in conjunction with the “vampire” in kuttenberg) intrigues.

But this is mostly because I think it would make for an interesting character study. I genuinely think Henry would just… continue to do what he’s doing (ofc he’d rescue hans, vampirism be damned amiright). I think the overall plot of the game would still play out largely as-is. It’s the way that individual interactions would be altered that’s scratching my brain a bit thinking about it.

[pedroam-bang]

Hitman: Absolution (2012)

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Blue states should play “constitutional hardball”

NEXT WEDNESDAY (October 23) at 7PM, I'll be in DECATUR, GEORGIA, presenting my novel THE BEZZLE at EAGLE EYE BOOKS.

Nothing's more frustrating that watching the GOP smash norms and decency to advance policies that harm millions of Americas, unless it's that, plus Democratic officials stamping their feet and saying, "C'mon guys, play fair."

The GOP's game is called "constitutional hardball." Think: Mitch McConnell refusing to hold confirmation hearings on Obama's federal judiciary appointments, not never for Merrick Garland's Supreme Court seat – then filling the Federal judiciary with the least-qualified, most FedSoc-addled lunatics in US history, all for lifetime appointments.

As bad as this is at the federal level, it's even worse at in the states, especially the Republican "trifecta" states where the GOP holds the governorship and the state house and senate, where shameless gerrymandering and legislative attacks on hard-won ballot measures are the order of the day. GOP-held state governments engage in rampant interstate aggression, targeting out-of-state abortion providers, publishers, and journalists.

This is a one-sided Cold Civil War, because state Dems, for the most part, are unwilling to play hardball in return (the closest they come is when, say, California sets strict emissions controls and manufacturers adopt them nationwide, rather than making special cars for the giant California market). Republicans engage in constitutional hardball and Dems refuse to fight back, a phenomenon called "asymmetrical constitutional hardball":

https://columbialawreview.org/content/asymmetric-constitutional-hardball/

Writing for The American Prospect, Arkadi Gerney and Sarah Knight make the case for symmetrical constitutional hardball:

https://prospect.org/politics/2024-10-18-playing-hardball/

The pair argue first, that the best way to get Republican state houses to play fair is to credibly threaten them with retaliatory action. They cite the recent attempt at a last-minute change the way that Nebraska's Electoral College votes are apportioned, which would have given all of five the state's EC votes to Trump. Maine threatened to effect the same change to its Electoral College system, which would have given all four of its EC votes to Harris. Nebraska surrendered.

But there's also a second advantage to playing Constitutional Hardball: it makes blue states better. For example, Minnesota gives free college tuition to exceptional low/middle-income students. Neighboring North Dakota got tired of losing all its smartest kids Minnesota schools and created its own subsidy. As Gerney and Knight point out, Minnesota (and other blue states) still has a huge advantage when it comes to attracting top talent, because attending university in a state with legal abortion is vastly preferable (and safer) than doing a degree in a forced-birth state.

Red states are bent on making life horrible for some really great people. The hardworking, talented Haitian migrants caught in the Springfield pogroms that Trump incited would be a fine addition to any blue state town – anyone who's got the gumption to haul ass out of a failed state and make their all the way to Springfield is gonna be a fantastic neighbor, citizen and worker, just like my refugee grandparents and father, who endured a million times more hardship than their neighbors ever did, getting to Toronto, finding jobs, and starting their family.

Influxes of young, hardworking immigrants are especially good for rural towns with dwindling populations. No wonder rural towns with above-average net migration swung for Biden in 2020.

All over America, families are despairing of their lives in red states. Whether you're worried that you or someone you love might need to terminate a pregnancy, or you're worried about gender-affirming care for you or a loved one, you can put your worries to rest in a blue state. Same goes for nurses and doctors who are worried they can't do medicine unless it accords with the imaginary dictates of Bronze Age prophets as claimed by pencil-neck Hitler wannabe Bible-thumper with a private jet and a face from Walmart. Fill the blue states with great schools, libraries and hospitals, and invite everyone who wants to do their job in a free country to come and work at 'em. Line every state border with abortion and mifepristone clinics, and set up billboards advertising the quality of life, the jobs, and the freedom in blue state America.

Every blue state public pension fund should ban investments in fossil fuels, and invest like crazy in renewables, especially in Texas, to hasten the bankrupting of the petro-kleptocracy that controls the state. Blue states should tack surcharges on goods imported from "right to work" states where unions are effectively banned, to compensate for the additional product testing needed to ensure that scab products are safe to use (ahem, Boeing).

Create joint occupational licensure rules across blue states: if you're certified as a teacher, nurse, hairdresser or auto-mechanic in New York, you should be able to carry that certification with you to Minnesota, California, or Maine. Create multi-state funding pools to build public housing. Offer med-school scholarships to the smartest red state kids, at universities where they'll learn evidence-based obstetrics rather than the Lysenokist nonsense taught at the Roy Moore College of Pediatrics and Obstetrics.

Dems have to get over their fear of "states' rights" and start playing state-level hardball. This doesn't mean escalating cruelty. Quite the contrary: every cruel measure enacted as red state red meat is a chance for blue states to extend a kindness, and capture even more of the best, brightest and kindest of the nation, creating a race to the top that Republicans can only win by abandoning their performative cruelty and corruption.

Tor Books as just published two new, free LITTLE BROTHER stories: VIGILANT, about creepy surveillance in distance education; and SPILL, about oil pipelines and indigenous landback.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/10/18/states-rights/#cold-civil-war

[retrocgads]

USA 1993

[basket-of-radiants]

The toy sheep, the artistic streak, lucky stones, the more down-to-earth older sibling, being drafted as a child, are all of these Szeth/Tien parallels intentional?

[gameo-archive]

"First, thank you so much. I've never been in a community so connected by heart, supportive & dedicated. Thanks as well for giving us your time to interact, chat & answer questions. 🫶🏻 C & E have a long-lasting relationship, which reminds my girlfriend & me of ours. We have been friends for roughly 27 years now. We were able to (re)connect & work on our relationship through DBD.

I'm an artist (check out my DBD art: Varianleafcreates on IG). Sometimes, it is hard to pull yourself up & work on commissions, or out of artblock. I need a kick in the ass! So, I request a roast from E, but C is trying to ease the situation/ motivate me instead!::"

[brookie-kookie1943]

Keanuverse Bracelet - Part Four…

Ready for another character bracelet? I am!

Warning: I’m a very amateur pony bead bracelet maker.

(I base the colors I use either off of their clothing or the aesthetic of the whole movie in general.)

I present to you…

See what they see?

Conor O’Neill! I based this off of his Kekambas jersey since his fashion in Hardball is pretty bland…

He’s our favorite gambler baseball coach!

RIP G-Baby…

Hope you like it!❤️