“The question in this case is whether [the federal law] also makes it a crime for state and local officials to accept gratuities — for example, gift cards, lunches, plaques, books, framed photos or the like — that may be given as a token of appreciation after the official act. The answer is no,” said Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh, writing for the majority.

Despite his reference to token gifts such as lunches and framed photos, the federal law was triggered only by payments of more than $5,000.

yeah, or the like here means a 1.2% finder’s fee on a million dollar contract explicitly solicited by a city mayor, but it happened after the contract was already awarded, so that’s just the cost of doing business, i guess

without transubstantiation is just

they’ll probably smugly point out that it’s tongue-in-cheek and both island are on the canadian side of the imaginary line that runs through the st. lawrence river but it’d be kinda funny if some border patrol agents decided to wait on the “american” island to tackle and arrest the homeowner for illegal entry or something

chapo.chat since it was created before the site changed names

it’s for mod and admin chat, mainly, but there is a public chat room that’s almost never used

the speculative ai bubble is going to make these next few years be deeply unserious

humans starting keeping books full of numbers and invented rules to move the numbers around long before we had computability theory, and invented laws to enshrine the sanctity of those numbers and punish anyone who manipulates the numbers against the rules, and constructed sociolegal algorithms to drive up the numbers, and in our slavish devotion to this machine we’ve built around ourselves, our final desperate pleading hope is that it will create an “artificial intelligence” for us that will somehow in its statistical hallucinations provide answers that help us escape before the machine bleeds to death

“we’re bombing the allies of god in yemen” also doesn’t play very well to a saudi audience

a sufficiently advanced bougie liberal group is indistinguishable from a psyop, yeah

(or even choose crops other than “crops”)

it’s pretty convenient having a monoculture that’s fungible for all your basic needs

food

livestock

alcohol

fabric

that’s the best reason yet yo do it!

iran should designate the rcmp a terrorist organization

opposable thumbs and their consequences have been a disaster for humanity

adjusting for the rising cost of medical care, that would be about $90 million in 2024

of course i would! the proper way to handle this situation is to displace the oxygen in whatever room the person is sitting in. nitrogen asphyxiation is considered a form of oxygen-deprivation distinct from strangulation: not enforced with violence.

video editor justin here. the coast guard just told us that they did detect a “sonar anomaly consistent with implosion” at the same time the feed cut out, so at the moment we’re fearing the worst…

Why did the city eminent domain the buildings? To keep them from being torn down?

yes

https://www.wgrz.com/article/news/local/buffalo-cobblestone-district-eminent-domain-case-appellate-ruling/71-2918c9fb-859b-4284-8537-bab0961f8b69

March 16, 2024

BUFFALO, N.Y. — An appellate court has ruled in favor of the City of Buffalo in an eminent domain case.

Mayor Byron Brown’s administration said it began the process on 110 and 118 South Park Avenue to protect the property from being torn down.

Now the city is awaiting a decision from an Erie County judge on whether the current owner has the right to demolish the buildings.

“The Brown Administration commenced an eminent domain proceeding to acquire 110-118 South Park to protect the property from further blight, deterioration and to enable redevelopment,” the city said.

“He’s the cause of this, really, if you think about it,” Carr said. “I’m saying it’s his fault, because it is, because if he supported me, these buildings would have been down years ago, and this never would have happened.”

damn, directly blaming someone for this publicly to a reporter while the building is still being put out feels like

pretty sure i’m going to get away with arson and insurance fraud, i’m high on adrenaline and who knows what else, fuck it! that guy did it!