rjshae

Fat Shady just got a little shadier... "Trump says he has commuted sentence of former US Rep. George Santos in fraud case" They say that people usually get the government they deserve. I suppose we had this coming.

The justification is flimsy since most drug trafficking takes place by land. This repeated murdering of civilians is more about imagery; he's playing to his party followers.

With the government shut down, DJT now wants to build a French-style arch in time for the nation's 250th anniversary (2026). So... that would be in nine months. Uh-huh. BTW, the Arc de Triumphe took 30 years to build, but I suppose ours could be 3D printed.

I have no idea what he's saying; something about a wine gal. But he sounds good as always.

If so, I must admit I can't fathom the connection. Some sort of supernatural tether, perhaps.

It's still sunny in Seattle. In October. This never used to happen. October was always cold and grey. Anyway, time for my morning walk.

In turn, I was being satirical. I tend to assume nothing coming from that man is serious until it is implemented. But his frequently undiplomatic utterances still have negative impacts on our foreign relations.

In the end, Trump will get his Mediterranean resort. Just you watch...

That's true for the US and Israel because of their humanitarian heritage; if Israel were instead a loyal Russian ally, then the solution would be to relocate the entire Palestinian population to Jordan. I.e. there's more than one solution, just only a single tolerable one for the West.

It is the most expensive TV show ever made, costing $1 billion thus far. Pretty remarkable how much the studios are willing to spend these days.

Well whaddya ya know, DJT finally did something useful and of note. Not that I buy any of this "historic dawn of a new Middle East" messaging. This is just another interlude before the next conflict. The only question is, how long will the ceasefire last?

Weird, but this is now an oldie (1999).

Apparently one reason he didn't win is that he campaigned for it so hard. Does that sound like Trump? Not really. Yes he has been involved in peace negotiation, while attacking unarmed boats in the caribbean. He certainly hasn't made the world better organized; quite the opposite. His efforts with regards to democracy and human rights have been sadly lacking. I'm not aware of any arms control efforts.

I think it would make sense to legally restrict emergency National Guard deployments in the U.S. to either: (1) a request by the state governor, or (2) with the consent of Congress.

The latest news is that Hulu is going away in 2026; they're going to merge the superior layout of Hulu into the inferior layout of Disney+. Good plan, Disney, good plan.

I backed it as well, because it's something I'd been hoping to see (a Starfinder game), so... I figured I should. It's two years away though, so we're in for a bit of a wait. It looks like they're already up to $400,000, so they may end up with more than they bargained for. Starfinder: Afterlight could become one of my favourite CRPGs—even if the studio's co-founders are 'more scared about huge success than a bit of failure' when it comes to their big Kickstarter debut (PC Gamer)

Yes, it depends on how long it lasts. In the US, recessions tend to have political repercussions, so exaggerated or not there is an impact. Personally I thought we had a brief recession in 2022, but the (unpopular) administration seemed to white-washed it. The difference this time is we may see increased inflation as a result of the tariffs; the last time we had a lengthy recession with increased inflation (stagflation) was under J. Carter, which led to the election of R. Reagan. With the current administration's handling of government data, we may not even know for certain what's happening. But that results in business uncertainty, causing more conservative behavior and less growth. Worse case, the economy tanks, the AI bubble bursts, and we have long, deep recession.

Economic related news: Without data centers, GDP growth was 0.1% in the first half of 2025, Harvard economist says Yes, you are feeling it: 22 states are officially in a recession — is yours on the list? It’s not just Sam Altman warning about an AI bubble. Now Mark Zuckerberg says a ‘collapse’ is ‘definitely a possibility’ I get the sense that the only reason the economy isn't fully in the tank is the billions being spend on technology and data centers. That investment is heading for bubble perhaps greater than the dot com era. Once that goes, we may be in deep doo-doo. When that happens, whomever is President at the time will be dealing with a mess. Interesting times.

Nanotech ‘switch’ reverses Alzheimer’s in mice by restoring brain’s protective barrier If this works in humans, it would be a revolutionary medical treatment.

It's decent; more story than combat, IIRC. Some likeable characters. I enjoyed the concept of the hobbits as migrating eco-tribes.

I found Paramount+ has a lot of old reruns, which is both good and bad. The Halo series was decently done, although I think it didn't get good ratings and lacked a proper resolution. Not sure if you've seen Killing Eve, but that was a really good series. There's also Yellowjackets, which may or may not be to everybody's taste. I didn't much care for the remake of The Stand. They also have everything Star Trek, of which I enjoyed Lower Decks, an amusing spoof of the genre.

I don't have overly high expectations; I'm just hoping for a fun game. My interest comes from the Starfinder rules/setting and the turn-based combat. Some people have complained about the cartoony graphics, but the tactical look seems fine thus far.

That's one of those "funny once" jokes. Doing it to the nth power is just annoying, alas.