#Article V

[originalleftist]

Russia redraws maritime borders with NATO countries.

This is exceedingly dangerous on Putin's part. By doing this, he is walking right up to the line of outright annexing NATO territory, which would trigger NATO's mutual defence clause and likely initiate World War III.

My guess? He's testing NATO. If we let this slide, he'll conclude we don't have the resolve to fight Russia, and the next step will be a full-scale invasion of one or more of the Baltic countries.

Putin must die, or the world will burn.

[racefortheironthrone]

apparently the senate cannot be removed without the consent of every state so would it be feasible to amend that requirement out of the constitution then have a 2nd amendment that abolishes the senate or amend the constitution to remove the senate once every state has consented than go about pushing legislation to consent to the removal of the senate in every state?

Let's be a little bit clearer about what Roger Sherman of Connecticut inserted into the Constitution to assuage his deeply stupid fears about the need to protect the world's most meaningless political category:

"no State, without its Consent, shall be deprived of its equal Suffrage in the Senate."

In other words, you cannot fix the disproportionality built into the Senate - even if you manage the immense task of passing a Constitutional Amendment, it would be null and void because of Article V. And no, you can't amend the language that says you can't amend the language - judges really won't go for it.

There are been various schemes proposed to try and get around this - do it through legislation instead of amendment, pass an amendment that changes the definition of the world "equal," abolish the Senate altogether. - but I don't think any of them would work either.

However, Article V only affects the disproportionality of the Senate; anything else about the Senate is up for grabs:

The filibuster is purely a matter of internal Senate rules and potentially can be changed by simple majority vote as long as that majority is willing to change the Senate rules.

bicameralism - Article V doesn't protect the Senate's role in passing legislation - an amendment altering Article I and Article II would be entirely valid - so that you could essentially turn the U.S Senate into the equivalent of the House of Lords. In fact, technically I think you could do it by a Senate Rule basically saying "any bill passed by the House shall be considered to be passed by the Senate." The difficulty is finding a majority of Senators willing to politically neuter themselves.

[liberty1776]

Constitutional Convention

[the-happy-man]

It is “the most important case for American democracy in the almost two and a half centuries since America’s founding,” J Michael Luttig, a well-respected, retired conservative federal judge wrote in the Atlantic earlier this year.

“Such a doctrine would be antithetical to the Framers’ intent, and to the text, fundamental design, and architecture of the Constitution,” wrote Luttig, who recently signed on as co-counsel for litigants opposing the theory.

For "independent state legislature" theory to be valid, there would be no Article V of the U.S. Constitution. There is. It isn't.

[theloveinc]

Just thought about … oh my god. Bakugo’s first real battle with a formidable villain after your kid is born; he’s not exactly “out of shape” (he never quit the gym, routine, etc… just changed it), but he’s thrown down hard in the first couple seconds, and he’s slower to get back into position—taking the time to steady his feet and assess the terrain, pushing out the lil tummy he gained feeding you postpartum delicacies as he cracks his back—

And the villain, god help them, decides to call out to him as they use the few seconds of vulnerability to attack again, screaming, “hey pop pop, don’t tell me parenthood has made you soft! How ‘bout I start calling you ‘daddy,’ too?”

Just as Bakugo’s turning back around with a new fire in his eyes, blood all warmed up, and shooting off to grab them by the throat to end the fight in one single move.

[originalleftist]

From the article:

"A Turkish operated merchant vessel, the MV Aya, has been hit by a Russian Kh-22 missile launched by a Tu-22M Backfire bomber. The Belize-owned, St. Kitts & Nevis flagged ship was sailing from the port of Chornomorsk, carrying 26,550 tons of grain for Egypt."

A couple of points here:

Ukraine is a major supplier of grain, especially to poorer countries (including Palestine). Russia is waging economic warfare and inflicting potential starvation on all those countries.

I'm not sure how this applies when the ship is Turkish-operated by not owned or flagged, but Turkey is a NATO member. If Russia struck a Turkish ship deliberately, and as the article notes it seems deliberate due to the vessel's distance from military targets, I believe that would be a potential grounds for invoking NATO's Article V, the mutual defence clause (ie, direct war between Russia and NATO, World War III).

I doubt anyone will be eager to do that, though, especially as there were, thankfully, no deaths.

[enbeees]

[grif-hawaiian-rolls]

sometimes u just get so filled w thoughts about a pair of characters u gotta just go bonkers ya know

[burningeyeslikestars]

everyone who mistreats cats is going to hell :-(

[lonestarflight]

"Dramatic view of the launch of Apollo 4, the first full-up test of the awesome Saturn V, 7:00:01 a.m. (EST), Launch Complex 39A, Kennedy Space Center."

Date: November 9, 1967

NAR-Rocketdyne photo no. VEH690

[sunshineandlyrics]

Full article x

[batfleckgifs]

Batman v Superman : Dawn of Homoeroticism (2016) Directed by Zack Snyder

[millenniallust4death]

On April 22, the Supreme Court is set to hear the case of Johnson v. Grants Pass, the most significant case in decades about homeless people’s rights. The case will determine whether cities can arrest or fine the homeless — even if there’s no other shelter. As the homeless plaintiffs wrote, this would be “punishing the city’s involuntarily homeless residents for their existence.”

Mark Horvath, Adam Westbrook, and Lindsay Crous in "Criminalizing Homelessness Won’t Make It Go Away". The New York Times (16 April 2024). Link here.

The city of Grants Pass in Oregon wants to make being homeless a crime in order to drive the homeless into other areas. I am so tired.

[smashorpass50plus]

B52 Flying Fortress. It’s gonna outlive us all anyway