The Once-ler

@maledicta.bsky.social

310 Followers 284 Following

Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not.

Screenshot of Magua from The Last of the Mohicans
Screenshot from the Human Freedom Index report for 2025, showing Nicaragua ranked 153 out of 165 countries, and declining steeply since the mid-2000s
Screenshot of Letterboxd reviews for Citizen Vigilante, showing an average rating of just 2.0 and a disproportionately high number of 1/2 star ratings
Movie poster for The Odyssey, dir. Christopher Nolan
Q Okay. Did the toll records that you requested from the Senators, did they include the content of the phone calls? A No. Q Did the records that you requested, the toll records from the Member of Congress, include the content of text messages? A No. Q Can you explain for us on the record what information generally is included in a toll-records request? A Sure. Again, my understanding from a prosecutor's perspective is, it is non-content information.
During an extensive search for a new actor to play Bond, a number of actors, including New Zealander Sam Neill, Irish-born Pierce Brosnan, and Welsh-born stage actor Timothy Dalton, auditioned for the role in 1986. Bond co-producer Michael G. Wilson, director John Glen, Dana and Barbara Broccoli "were impressed with Sam Neill and very much wanted to use him." However, Albert Broccoli was not sold on the actor. In 2022, Neill stated that he had never wanted the role.
Platner says Democratic Party ‘trying to destroy my life’
Domino effect meme of Matt Stoller mad about HR ladies leading to Supreme Court Justices Emil Bove and James Ho
Screenshot of Joe Morton as Miles Dyson in Terminator 2: Judgment Day, directed by James Cameron
Truly, it would not be much of an overstatement to say “trafficking” can now mean anything and everything, and is squarely in the eye of the beholder — namely prosecutors and plaintiff’s attorneys. If there is a more drastic example of government-backed “concept creep” in recent decades, I’ve yet to encounter it.
Movie poster for The Outlaw Josey Wales, directed by and starring Clint Eastwood, with Chief Dan George, Sondra Locke, Bill McKinney, and John Vernon
Screenshot of Jared Leto as Skeletor dressed as an HR manager
Screenshot from the Sentencing Commission showing that 95.4% of sexual abuse offenders were U.S. citizens
Movie poster for Backrooms, dir. Kane Parsons, starring Chiwetel Ejiofor, Renate Reinsve, Mark Duplass, Finn Bennett, and Lukita Maxwell
Movie poster for Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu, dir. Jon Favreau, starring Pedro Pascal, Jeremy Allen White, Jonny Coyne, Martin Scorsese, and Sigourney Weaver
McGuire’s subjective explanations are also difficult to reconcile with his Criminal Division Chief’s recommendation against charging Abrego. (Evid. Hr’g Tr. at 167; Gov’t Evid. Hr’g Ex. 1 at 60–61). Schrader prepared a written memorandum to that effect and asked that it be passed along to relevant parties in Washington. (Gov’t Evid. Hr’g Ex. 1 at 60 61). McGuire acknowledged that vindictive prosecution had been “in the water” and that Schrader had specifically raised it. (Evid. Hr’g Tr. at 147). McGuire proceeded over Schrader’s recommendation anyway. He testified that he focused only on whether Abrego committed a crime that the Government could prove and that “[i]t doesn’t matter what the rest of the political landscape looks like.” (Id. at 149). Schrader resigned the day of the indictment, effective
Plea bargaining and plea agreements are governed by the same fundamental considerations that apply to step two of charging decisions. There is no room in plea bargaining for political animus or other hostility. Prosecutors may not use criminal charges to exert leverage to induce a guilty plea. Nor may a prosecutor abandon pending charges to achieve a plea bargain that is inconsistent with the prosecutor's assessment of the seriousness of the defendant's conduct at the time the charges were filed. For example, absent significant mitigating or intervening circumstances, it will rarely be appropriate for a prosecutor to seek racketeering or terrorism charges at the outset of a case but abandon those charges in connection with a plea deal.
The Soiling of Old Glory, famous photograph that depicts a white teenager, Joseph Rakes, assaulting a black man—lawyer and civil rights activist Ted Landsmark—with a flagpole bearing the American flag (also known as Old Glory) during the Boston desegregation busing crisis in 1976
Still image from Obsession, dir. Curry Barker, starring Michael Johnston, Inde Navarrette, Cooper Tomlinson, Megan Lawless
Importantly, your application demonstrates taking responsibility for your crimes, and a commitment to follow the law going forward. For these reasons, I am commuting your sentence.
However, this is an extremely unusual and lengthy sentence for a first time offender who committed nonviolent crimes. I agree with the principle highlighted by the Colorado Court of Appeals in your case that, “...the First Amendment generally prohibits punishing someone for their protected speech. ‘[A] court may not punish an individual by imposing a heavier sentence for the exercise of [F]irst [A]mendment rights. . . . A sentence based to any degree on activity or beliefs protected by the [F]irst [A]mendment is constitutionally invalid.’” Further I agree, in this case, “[T]he trial court’s comments about Peters’s belief in the existence of 2020 election fraud went beyond relevant considerations for her sentencing. Her offense was not her belief, however misguided the trial court deemed it to be, in the existence of such election fraud; it was her deceitful actions in her attempt to gather evidence of such fraud. Indeed, under these circumstances, just as her purported beliefs underlying her motive for her actions were not relevant to her defense, the trial court should not have considered those beliefs relevant when imposing sentence.”
William Hogan US DOJ - USAO Northern District of Illinois Nov 1982 - Present - 43 yrs 7 mos
Chart from the U.S. Sentencing Commission showing the number of defendants sentenced nationwide for government benefits fraud offenses increasing from 342 in FY2021, to 647 in FY2022, to 790 in FY2023, to 937 in FY2024, before plateauing in 2025.
In May 2023, it was estimated that Bud Light lost its status as the top-selling beer in the United States to Modelo Especial. By February 2025, sales had not recovered, remaining approximately 40% below pre-boycott levels.
Cover art for Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy
(3) Presidents cannot be indicted based on conduct for which they are immune from prosecution. On remand, the District Court must carefully analyze the indictment’s remaining allegations to determine whether they too involve conduct for which a President must be im mune from prosecution. And the parties and the District Court must ensure that sufficient allegations support the indictment’s charges without such conduct. Testimony or private records of the President or his advisers probing such conduct may not be admitted as evidence at trial.
Kendall Roy in a Boston Celtics jersey, staring into the oblivion once again
Movie poster for They Will Kill You, dir. Kirill Sokolov, starring Zazie Beetz, Myha'la, Paterson Joseph, Tom Felton, Heather Graham, and Patricia Arquette
United States - After a century of gradual expansion of press rights in the United States, the country is experiencing a significant and prolonged decline in press freedom, with Donald Trump's return to the presidency greatly exacerbating the situation. Ranked 64/180 in 2026, down from 57/180 in 2025
No ragrets
White-Collar Crime Prosecutions Are Set to Hit a Record Low in 2026 The rise of big money in politics coincided with a decline in prosecutions
Zangara confessed in the Dade County Courthouse jail, stating: "I have the gun in my hand. I kill kings and presidents first and next all capitalists." Although commonly described as an anarchist, police did not believe that Zangara, a registered Republican, held any particular political beliefs, as he told them that he was "in favor of assassinating all presidents, kings, and prime ministers", voicing a desire to kill Benito Mussolini and Edward VIII. Psychiatrist Sandor Lorand, who examined Zangara, stated that his anti-authoritarian beliefs were not rooted in anarchist ideology, but rather Zangara's hatred for his father
Thomas said Washington has been overrun by elected and appointed officials who lack commitment to “righteous cause, to traditional morality, to national defense, to free enterprise, to religious piety or to the original meaning of the Constitution.” “They recast themselves as Institutionalists, pragmatists or thoughtful moderates, all as a way of justifying their failures to themselves, their consciences, and their country,” he said.
Chart from the Sentencing Commission's Interactive Data Analyzer showing that the number of federal defendants sentenced in the District of Columbia fell from 536 in FY2024 to 423 in FY2025.
Banner featuring Trump displayed on DOJ headquarters
Chart, "White Collar Crime Prosecutions Set to Reach New Low", showing white collar cases declining from nearly 10,000 a year around 2012 to less than 2,000 by 2025
Movie poster for Blow (2001), dir. Ted Demme, starring Johnny Depp and Penélope Cruz
Excerpt from Longstreet: the Confederate General Who Defied the South, by Elizabeth Varon
Screenshot of Polymarket odds for Hungary Parliamentary Election Winner, showing Tisza with a 77% chance of winning, and Fidesz with a 25% chance
Graph showing the homicide rate in New York City sharply increasing in the 1960s, peaking in the early 1990s, and then declining back to 1960s levels in the 2000s
Washington Post endorsement of Pam Bondi's nomination stating she was "qualified; lawyers who have worked with her report that she is serious."
The government offered evidence that DePape targeted the then-Speaker of the House because he saw her as a leader of the Democratic Party and responsible for congressional policy he disliked. Other evidence showed that DePape planned the attack on the former Speaker to “teach [other Members of Congress] a lesson” that there are consequencesfor their actions. A rational trier of fact could have concluded that DePape attempted to kidnap the former Speaker “on account of[] the performance of [her] official duties.” 18 U.S.C. § 1201(a)(5).
Still imagine of David Carradine in Kill Bill Vol. 2, explaining that there weren't really 88 of them, they just called themselves the crazy 88s
Figure 2 - NUMBER OF SENTENCED INDIVIDUALS BY SELECTED PRIMARY GUIDELINES¹, Fiscal Years 2020 - 2024, 4th Quarter 2025 Preliminary Cumulative Data (October 1, 2024, through September 30, 2025)