M.S. Bellows, Jr.

Twitter diaspora. Agamemnon sucks: we do the fighting, he gets the girls. (Oregonian. Mediator/lawyer/writer; bylines in The Guardian, Alternet, HuffPost/OffTheBus, more.)

Public Key

npub1fdxkhtc8y07vch8nxzjk4v64sslyvmlnk8ldr99ktav5qcj8mvesny5qau

NIP-05 Address

msbellows_at_c.im@momostr.pink

Profile Code

nprofile1qqsykntt4urj8lxvtnenpft2kd2cg0jxdlemrlk3jjm97k2qvfrakvc289gm8

Author Public Key

npub1fdxkhtc8y07vch8nxzjk4v64sslyvmlnk8ldr99ktav5qcj8mvesny5qau

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Last Notes

2024-09-11 03:59:05

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So Summer enjoyed the debate?

2024-09-08 01:43:37

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wtaf?

2024-08-15 17:06:06

Fedi-savvy friends: I've almost persuaded a Portland city council candidate and his campaign manager to join the Fediverse. Question: is there a server favored by Dem politicians here? One that might understand their specific needs/challenges? (Like journa.host is for journos?)
c: @npub1kxu…9fca

2024-08-13 18:34:15

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A few suggestions to start with, please?

2024-07-22 04:58:24

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Poor Bob, though.

2024-07-08 16:43:38

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Except it's not even a joke; it's true. Dildo, Conception, iceberg. All true. https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/town-of-dildo-phallic-iceberg-photo/

2024-07-05 18:40:45

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Stephen Roach is EXACTLY who you'd expect him to be: a 78 year old white man who teaches at Yale following his career at Morgan Stanley, the New York City-based investment bank. Ignore him, especially on climate.
https://s3.c.im/media_attachments/files/112/735/338/583/883/714/original/097c98e11939b56b.jpg

2024-07-05 14:45:41

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FWIW, the immunity ruling says presidents can't be prosecuted for official acts, not that whatever the president does is lawful. Even under this ruling, no president can just decree that the Supreme Court now has 21 members. Nor does it suspend habeas corpus: if Biden orders Trump arrested and held without trial, the courts will order him released.
(Those powers won't come until later, when there's a GOP president again.)

2024-07-05 04:49:31

Wow. The Right REALLY doesn't want liberals to vote, and the NYT is platforming their propaganda:
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/7/4/2251440/-NY-Times-publishes-op-ed-urging-people-not-to-vote-changes-title-then-removes-it-from-front-page?utm_campaign=recent

2024-07-04 22:44:25

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Does salt vs fresh water make a difference? Because I've always assumed that boats ("hole in the water you throw money into") were like British sports cars ("if you miss your MGB, just sit really close to a fan on high and tear up a $100 bill once an hour").

2024-07-04 15:42:48

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And has he complied?

2024-07-04 05:38:05

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Is it gluten free?

2024-07-04 05:34:24

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Seltzer gives me gas. Can I have strawberry Quik instead?

2024-07-04 05:18:03

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No actually I'm pretty sure I actually am.

2024-07-04 02:36:13

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https://s3.c.im/media_attachments/files/112/725/889/648/941/263/original/09e3cc54d56b4acf.png

2024-07-02 16:51:47

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(Also, although I respect the way Judge Marchan has carefully avoided grounds for appeal, if I were him I'd expend all my accumulated moral capital at sentencing, by creating a record listing every bad thing Trump has ever done then sentencing him to immediately begin serving at least 4.5 years in a real prison, making it impossible for him to act as President even if reelected without SCOTUS stepping in again.)

2024-07-02 16:39:57

Know what would destroy the Roberts Court faster then anything? A Judges' Revolt.
If I were a federal judge, I'd decline to honor any of the controversial Roberts Court decisions. I'd openly say, "that decision is not good law because the Court as currently constituted is corrupt and illegitimate, and to follow its decrees would be to violate my oath to the Constitution."
Impeach me. Do it. See if you can get the Senate votes. Otherwise, I'm appointed for life. Now imagine if dozens of federal judges, trial and appellate, did the same thing.
Yes, I am a lawyer. Yes, I am serious.

2024-07-01 18:59:00

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The last few years have changed me. I can see preserving the last copy of "Mein Kampf" or "The Protocols of the Enders of Zion" in a vault in an academic library, for purposes of study, but if I saw them in a library or bookstore I would quietly destroy them, because these are not ordinary times and words, in wartime, are a form of warfare.

2024-07-01 18:54:03

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Sorry. I came across one of our kids' old books, a children's bio of J.K. Rowling, and plunked it in the recycling.

2024-07-01 17:23:51

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Okay, those are the Moods. Now: what should be our RESPONSES?!
Response #1:
https://s3.c.im/media_attachments/files/112/712/384/099/465/017/original/333efac1dd2b491d.mp4

2024-07-01 17:19:48

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Mood #5: Roberts ' opinion:
https://s3.c.im/media_attachments/files/112/712/373/219/340/704/original/237be081b27c4edb.jpg

2024-07-01 16:39:09

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Moods #3 & 4:
https://s3.c.im/media_attachments/files/112/712/207/317/524/989/original/4ac1a82a685a2301.jpg
https://s3.c.im/media_attachments/files/112/712/212/136/723/483/original/bac7ad2db5b35cbd.jpg

2024-07-01 16:36:07

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Mood #2:
https://s3.c.im/media_attachments/files/112/712/203/610/781/392/original/1d73f7432996ebe1.jpg

2024-07-01 16:34:14

Mood #1:
https://s3.c.im/media_attachments/files/112/712/195/445/923/403/original/74bf6a96cf76fc0d.png

2024-06-26 20:38:00

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Also too? Just for fun I googled "lethal cucumbers" thinking I'd probably find either Rule 34 pron or a garage band, and... OMFG NOOOO! I'LL TAKE SNEKS INSTEAD!
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26967239/
https://www.forbes.com/sites/williampentland/2011/05/30/deadly-cucumbers-kill-14-in-germany-death-toll-still-rising/

2024-06-26 17:34:30

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This is one of the best obscure references ever. Well done. 10/10 no notes.

2024-05-29 00:20:55

I'm gonna share some completely anticlimactic TMI for the benefit of other middle-aged men:
The day before yesterday, I was very stressed and anxious for a variety of reasons, and we were moving some furniture out of a storage locker, and I was feeling lethargic and a little lightheaded and generally out of it, and then I began feeling nausea and indigestion and my jaw was tight and then my left arm and hand started feeling a little numb. Nothing terrible! Just: feeling meh, and those minor symptoms.
And then guess what crazy thing we did?
We went to the nearby emergency room.
Yep.
And they were very nice to me, and quickly administered an EKG and blood tests, and guess what?
I *wasn't* having a heart attack.
I was just stressed and tired and anxious. That's all.
But if I *had* been having a heart attack, going to the E.R. could have saved my life. And even though I wasn't, they were very nice to me. No one made fun of me. No one called me a whiner or a hypochondriac. My wife expressed gratitude that I took my survival seriously. And I was home again in less than two hours.
So this is for my fellow typical men, who are inclined to ignore health issues because: John Wayne or something:
Don't ignore stuff. Don't wait until you're sure. Be willing to overreact. Be willing to waste everyone's time. It's okay! The world won't end! (And you may even get to take a nap under a warm blanket, like I did!)

2024-05-02 21:54:28

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At least Howard Hughes had the simple courtesy to become a hermit.

2024-04-24 18:27:36

For folks trying to figure out the new TikTok "ban" and understand Biden's role in it, [@mcc](https://mastodon.social/@mcc) offers a discussion here that I find serious and thoughtful even though I partly disagree with it: https://mastodon.social/@mcc/112327478848274607 ; and she and I have been discussing Biden's role in it (which I argue has been *pro* TikTok/First Amendment) in another thread here: https://c.im/@msbellows/112327226112309441.
This is how constructive, respectful disagreement can illuminate important issues regardless of whether the participants ultimate agree completely. I wish all such interactions were as positive.
https://s3.c.im/media_attachments/files/112/327/606/138/905/759/original/2dfb70f8cb85ae92.mp4

2024-04-18 23:16:46

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The tattoos are on LeBron so he owns them, UNLESS he has a different agreement with the tattoo artist.

2024-04-18 16:32:41

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And I disagree with this. When police destroy homeless people's tents, they're violating their human rights.

2024-04-18 16:30:56

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I respectfully disagree. Trump actually isn't responsible for the juror identifications: the media reported on the publicly-available info (including employers, a mistake the judge fixed today), plus physical descriptions; family and friends then figured it out. Nor can Trump be held responsible *legally* for what his followers do, if he hasn't encouraged them to do it (which he hasn't done in this case – yet). And the judge is limited in how quickly he can impose contempt – it has to be an incremental process that protects the defendant's rights. The hearing next week is the correct next step.
There are lots of things in the world to be upset about. Judge Merchan isn't one of them.