Ah. I should have realized it was some kind of reference. I’m not familiar with Archer. I guess if it’s being referenced on the Dope then it’ll be worth my time to check it out.
Now, back to our regular thread…
Here’s an interesting thread that talks about high yellow women, “The Yellow Rose of Texas,” Leadbelly’s “Yellow Gal,” and more. It started in 1999 and was zombified in 2008.
And what’s really weird, it ain’t from us, although it sure sounds like us.
Ah, so they’re lizards after all? I knew it!
I think it depends on where you’re from. I learned the term from Haitian history, &, well, actually, “mulatto” is a lousy term to describe lighter-skinned Haitians, but that’s where I learned it.
In any case, I would suggest that there is no such thing as a “Mulatto race” (and “mulatto” shouldn’t even be capitalized). Pres. Obama is, if I understand the antebellum standards, ethnically & racially white, as his mother was white; and if the law still made a point of these things, he would probably be “white” or “mixed.”
Of course there’s no such thing. These folks are nuts.
Because McCain is white.
Not just northern states. Blacks could vote in North Carolina until the 1830s.
Actually on the few occasions I have had cause to read judgments in this sort of case, they have been exceptionally closely researched and reasoned. Rather admirably, from what I have seen judges seem to feel that the very batshitness of the subject matter means they should treat it as soberly and carefully as they possibly can. Presumably this is so as to try to avoid any suggestion that they are part of the conspiracy, and to leave a clear cut public record for the future (for people who care to check) that the plaintiff’s case is entirely bereft of factual or rational basis.
Of course, this is probably pointless since the overlap between “nutjob conspiracy theorists” and “people who care to check” is approximately zero.
Yeah, it’s pretty hard to imagine some guy who is refusing to pay income tax because Ohio isn’t really a state and the court doesn’t have any jurisdiction anyway because their flag has a fringe on it and they spelled his name in all caps reading the judge’s carefully reasoned explanation of why the defendant is more full of it than the municipal wastewater treatment plant and saying “Oh, I see where I went wrong, then. My bad!”
Well that guy who came up with that line got shot in the face.
You’d be surprised. Some defendants will actually use their craziness as a legal strategy. What can happen is they make some insane claim like Ohio isn’t a real state therefore the IRS is illegal and nobody has to pay taxes. And the judge looks at this petition (which is probably written in crayon or human blood) and issues a decision like “The court finds that the defendant is nuttier than a twenty pound Snickers bar. I’m throwing this one out of here.”
What can then happen is the defendant can have a lucid spell (or a sane lawyer can take up the case on his behalf) and file an appeal. And that appeal will point out that the defendant raised the issue of Ohio not being a state - and the judge did not rule on that claim. And while that won’t get taxes declared illegal, it probably will be sufficient grounds to have the judge’s decision reversed with all kinds of further complications.
So judges will always try to treat whatever the defendant says, no matter how crazy it is, as if it is a valid legal point that needs to be properly addressed.
There are a couple of incorrect points here: one is that a very small number of people did take issue with McCain’s citizenship in 2008, but it was not a significant number compares to the amount of people who went crazy over Obama’s. Second is that there was no “loophole” that got closed. McCain was definitely a U.S. citizen. He was born to two U.S. citizens in a U.S. territory. And third is that the Senate did pass a resolution stating that he was a U.S. citizen, but the resolution was “non-binding” and I am sure it wouldn’t have satisfied McCain Birthers anyway.
I don’t think you could get that passed. Sometimes issues that are silly at first blush turn out to be legit, or at least result in official clarification–such as an amendment that says, “civil rights = political rights” should one in fact be necessary. Our legal culture is set up to not discourage complaints, and there is typically a civil mechanism in place to punish “frivilous & groundless” actions after the fact. As much as I share your contempt for cases that seem readily identifiable as belonging in the “Seriously, WTF?” category, I still kinda like a system that gives them a chance to clarify themselves before saying, “Yeah, thoguht so: stupid!” Give Teh Stoopids no room to say they were misunderstood, persecuted, discriminated against by The Illuminati, etc.
ETA: nice location, by the way.
Nutjobs who file nuisance suits do sometimes get slapped with fines. Orly Taitz, the queen of birthers, has been slapped with at least one fine of $20,000.00.
She didn’t say that courts should not carefully analyze the basis for the suits before slapping idiots with contempt fines.
I once received an affidavit that was sealed with the affiant’s thumbprint, in the affiant’s blood. :eek:
In Canada, courts have the option of imposing court costs against a litigant who persists in frivolous complaints or arguments. It does seem to have some effect on the nutjobs.
IN 1936, when McCain was born, the law was written such that no child born in the Panama Canal Zone could become a US Citizen, regardless of who his or her parents were. This was unintentional on the part of Congress, but it was real. Some have disputed that the law should have been read this way, but Congress took the concern seriously enough that in 1937 Congress passed this law (8USC1403) to correct the oversight and grant citizenship, retroactively, to eligible children born in Panama (not just the canal zone) since 1904. McCain gained citizenship as a result of this law.
You can read Professor Gabriel J Chin’s paper on the subject as well as Stephen E Sachs’s paper dismissing Chin’s concerns here.
That’s interesting, and I didn’t know about that. I thought grude was referring to a Senate resolution from 2008.