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TwiceHorn

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Everything posted by TwiceHorn

  1. I use it all the time on everything. It's solid for functionality. There are some small differences between the latest docx and the default odt format, but if your docs aren't highly formatted, it should work fine. Mine are pretty highly formatted and it works pretty well, but, I send mostly PDFs of my files to clients because I don't want them editing in-document and creating versioning and metadata problems most of the time.
  2. Great obit, friendo. Sympathies.
  3. Federal conviction doesn't broadly preclude state prosecution under double jeopardy principles. But some states preclude a second prosecution by statute. The other issue would be statute of limitations. The crimes are 10+ years old, which would run a lot of limitations. However, some limitations are "tolled" for imprisonment (seems stupid to me, really easy to locate and serve) and for being outside the state.
  4. As most know, I spend an inordinate amount of time considering sentencing and what's right and just. I think a lot of internet crimes might not happen but for the internet. It make some people crazy. I also contemplate the seriousness of drug dealing. Setting aside the rectitude of the drug war, on the one hand you have someone engaging in a profit-making venture premised on the suffering of others. On the other hand, you have a crime often fueled by either addiction or economic desperation. The former, theoretically, is abominable and deserving of serious punishment. The latter strongly mitigates that. It's quite a dilemma.
  5. Pretty much exactly. I think the constitutional argument goes like this. ICA violates separation of powers because of the take care clause, which reserves enforcement to the executive, and spending of funds is included within enforcement. On the other side, spending/appropriations are reserved to Congress, and the House specifically. And the president already has veto power as a check on spending. And, prior to ICA, SCOTUS affirmed a congressional limitation in appropriations legislation on executive impoundment in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Train_v._City_of_New_York. So, we know how this should go. That doesn't mean that's how it will go.
  6. Well, I think a lot of this shit is going to turn out to be massively unpopular. But Trump is a genius at deflecting blame and dodging accountability. I think it comes home to roost on whoever replaces him.
  7. Another something that's coming for bigtech. They are likely going to have some problems protecting their AI "machines" because of weaknesses they have purposely introduced into US IP law.
  8. You raise a valid point about the subtle GOP takeover of state legislatures and congressional delegations. But, at least at the federal level, I think the GOP is going to have a massive problem on their hands when they lose Trump, however that occurs. Once they can't cover this shit with "hilarious bigotry," they're going to have a rough time and the more insidious portions of their agenda will be more front and center.
  9. They'll probably do this, but it is diametrically opposed to their reasons for dismantling the administrative state. At least the ostensible, political philosophy reasons: that Congress impermissibly delegates its authority to executive agencies and that is undemocratic.
  10. And, he actually understands and probably better knows how to implement the P2025 agenda. HOWEVER, unlike Trump, he can't cover it all with a veneer of "hilarious bigotry" and would be massively unpopular. I think things would actually be worse under Vance, but I am also relatively certain it would mean the complete electoral destruction of the GOP.
  11. She seems to be opposed to splitting the district into a white, wealthy district and a brown, poor one. Sort of broadly speaking, this involves a dilemma. I think people of good will tend to seek out "good schools" in districts with "high property values" if they can. That in itself is not racist or elitist. But, and a big but here, doing that virtually insures de facto segregation. At some point, I think you have to balance that self-interest with an interest in at least some economic diversity in the district you choose or we create a self-sustaining educational poverty cycle. Either that or quit bitching about recapture. But buying into perhaps a non-ideal district is going to be more effective than recapture every time. And don't, for fuck's sake, support things like vouchers, which are the exact opposite to recapture. There are so many benign or at least non-malevolant factors that maintain de facto segregation. We really don't need to add any more.
  12. "Sherk, formerly of the Heritage Foundation, has argued for eliminating workers who “want [to] be a political activist on the job” and replacing them with staff who align with presidential policy goals." Some animals are more equal than others.
  13. https://www.irs.gov/tin/taxpayer-identification-numbers-tin
  14. Sort of a general note on trademark ownership for a small or medium-sized business. You don't need a registration to own a trademark. As long as you use it in connection with services or applied to goods, you own a "common law trademark." You can sue on it, license it, or sell it. A federal, and to a lesser extent a state, trademark registration "formalizes" that claim and makes it easier to sue, license, or sell. I call the above the "offensive" characteristics of a registration. Most smaller businesses have no desire to actually sue anyone for anything, much less something esoteric like trademark infringement. That is especially true when confronted with the reality that trademark litigation costs hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not millions, with little prospect of damages and a bit of a coin-flip on the outcome, if the issues are at all close. BUT, a registration has "defensive" characteristics, as well. Once federally registered, confusingly similar marks (on confusingly similar goods or services, but it's really all the same inquiry) cannot be registered. One of the worst-case outcomes for a smaller business is that someone else comes after and registers their mark and turns around and sues you. If you are a prior user, you may prevail in such litigation, but at hideous cost, and there's a chance that expensive and annoying "rebranding" becomes a cost-effective option there. As a smaller business, you cannot validly declare that you'll never sue anyone over a trademark, but even if you think that to be the case, the defensive characteristics of a registration can have huge value.
  15. Unfortunately, it sucks ass negotiating with a deranged moron. So, Trump will have some degree of success as a deranged moron.
  16. A nugget even more disgusting in that second article. And if anyone wants guidance on what a lawsuit against AIP could look like, Lina Khan left us a roadmap just before she stepped down from the FTC last week — when she sued private-equity giant Welsh Carson for rolling up Texas anesthesiology practices to drive up the price of anesthesia services to Texas patients.
  17. Yes, as to actually confusingly similar marks. This really isn't one. I don't think 7-Mart was either. Both Bucee's and 7-11 were being "proprietary" about their marks, that is unconcerned about likely confusion, lost sales, and attendant loss of goodwill.
  18. No it can't. There is a bit of an argument over what the 14th Amendment means, though, because it has some pesky-ass words in it. The EO is based on a reading of the 14th that is cynical given the times and the anti-immigrant rhetoric. But if it had arisen in a different context, it has a bit of meat to it. The fact of the matter is that we, the United States, never gave much consideration to citizenship from founding until the Civil War, when we clearly intended to give US-born slaves citizenship. Then we didn't think about it again for another 150 years. And now we're thinking about it again in this shitty-ass context. In a different context, it would be a valid immigration policy question whether we really do want to confer unlimited jus soli citizenship, and whether the 14th needs to be amended/rescinded to do or modify that.
  19. I could have sworn I read somewhere that LVMH or some other "fashion house" holding company had acquired them. But wiki says Arena Brands, which used to own Stetson and a number of other western brands. Looks like they're down to Lucchese, and PE-controlled, specifically Hicks, Muse.
  20. Along this line, I represented a Nigerian mechanical engineer 2nd generation immigrant whose family owned a "7-mart" somewhere in the mid cities. Seven-Eleven, then Southland at the time, sent a cease and desist. They demanded that he change the signage, which was a non-trivial endeavor, cost wise. It didn't look anything like the 7-11 logo or colors, but did have the orange roof. Because Chidi's family leased and then purchased the premises from . . . . 7-11. And it was more than seven years prior to the cease and desist. So, 7-11 had no real excuse for not knowing what signage the Chidis were using as they actually owned the premises during part of their use. So, Chidi would agree to change it if 7-11 paid, otherwise we'd raise laches and estoppel and have a half-decent chance of prevailing, or at least stopping a preliminary injunction or TRO. They agreed. It was like $5000, I think. A tidy sum that would have hurt Chidi, but was nothing to 7-11 and they likely should have come offering to do that.
  21. Que es un "chili trip"?
  22. The trade balance with Colombia, for legit stuff, is surprisingly even. https://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/balance/c3010.html But, it did favor us. Probably not so much anymore. Chalk one up for China.
  23. I'm a retrogrouch, but I can give a little on the velvet. The latest trends in suit cuts annoy me though.
  24. Yeah, if they said that, that would be a "living Constitution" librul argument, not an originalist one. The problem here is that the 14th Amendment was drafted imprecisely because there wasn't a whole lot of disciplined thinking going on then, a lot like the 2nd Amendment. An interesting article about the 14th, orignalism, and ratification. https://scholarlycommons.law.northwestern.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1042&context=nulr
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