rjshae

It's the 16th amendment to the constitution, so no, not easily. "The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several States, and without regard to any census or enumeration."

The current targeting of medical and scientific work by the administration makes me wonder if we're in for a Soviet-style repression of politically unacceptible science. I.e. vaccines, public health, social science, clean energy, global warming, &c.

I binge watched the old Agents of Shield series. It was... decent enough with some enjoyable aspects. My favorite part was the space opera elements from season 6; I wouldn't mind seeing more of that. Powered inhumans explore the galaxy. It's somewhat similar to Guardians of the Galaxy in flavor, I suppose. They dropped hints of that at the final episode, but never followed it up.

One might suspect it is driven by a long history of US intervention in Latin America. For example, we did support the secession movement that led to the separation of Panama from Columbia in 1903 (in order to build the Panama Canal).

"Those who are too smart to engage in politics are punished by being governed by those who are dumber." — Plato Seems like it's still true today. Politics never changes.

I've grown to enjoy medical drama series the past few years, and I'm enjoying Doc right now. Too bad it's not bingeable at the moment.

I don't see Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous on that list. But yes, I second the Solasta series suggestion. Also, I had a lot of fun with Rogue Trader. Even though it's not medieval fantasy, it's still plenty fantastical. Finally, have you tried Battle Brothers?

No, it may end up more like Putin's Russia with single party rule.

So... he's threatening Russia with actions that have thus far failed to end the hostilities? Heh, right.

It took Hitler a couple of months to subvert the German democracy.

The Blue Origin first stage was lost during re-entry, so at this stage it's still an expendable. Meanwhile, the Starship upper stage exploded, but they did successfully capture the main booster. The FAA has grounded the launcher pending an investigation.

Well the finale of Skeleton Crew almost made it a decent series, but it sounds like the ratings were so poor it may not have a second season. Hopefully we get the second season of Andor soon.

Perhaps I'm being too pessimistic, but I'm wondering whether it is too soon to apply the label 'wretched hive of scum and villainy' to this Presidential cabinet yet? Man, some of these picks are rather questionable. I suppose if they are bad enough they will take some attention away from DJT's own misdeeds?

Well the man lacks a moral compass and none of his cabinet selections are likely to provide one. He has shown despotic tendencies and now they are unlikely to be properly checked at the door. I'm expecting him to push the envelope of Presidential power as far as it will go. He's already threatened to deploy military troops on US soil, and he can call on the National Emergencies Act and push it to its limit. Republicans have control of Congress and they appear willing to support his actions. The big question is whether the Judicial branch can serve as a balance.

Well the cut scene graphics certainly seem impressive, at least to my eyes. Clearly the characters aren't real, but they lack the uncanny valley effect you see from older games. Many of them are quite visually appealing, and the facial animations seem mostly okay. The biggest flaw I can find is just a lack of flaws; all of the faces are symmetrical. In real life I'd expect to see bent noses, moles, asymmetrical faces and so forth. But it's getting much closer to a realistic world with believable characters. At first I wasn't sure I'd like the game, since it was too much like the D:OS series. But it's grown on me. My only regret now is that the characters are level limited, so at 10th level I know I'm getting near the end. Hopefully some day a different company will make a good quality BG 4 and give us more adventures in this setting.

In truth, that's a fact. One could argue that we never get the choices we deserve because of our pluralistic voting system. But in essence, DJT is the embodiment of American hubris, albeit in its most inane form. We're getting what we deserve.

So? In a population of 335 million people, you can pretty much find an example of anything.

It's a bit unusual because the normal state wildfire season (May to October) is over. There's just a combination of dry conditions and strong winds.

New Glenn launch: Blue Origin's reusable rocket set for maiden flight (New Scientist)

It's intended to be a Goonies-like series, and I suppose it is at that. There's at least some character development and kind of a plot, but it mostly feels random. The whole credits rationale is just dumb, but then it's targeting kids.

An oldie but goodie with a long slow build. Seems like it gets played a lot in sports venues.

14 episodes is almost a massive season these days. It can be fun to go back to pre-2020 and binge on the 22 episode seasons, at least for the good shows. Too many series are now under 10 episodes, although the shorter seasons do seem to equate to better quality.

When you combine that with prior comments about Canada and Greenland, it seems DJT has his eyes on a "unified" North America. Or at least to the north of Mexican border. I expect that will keep his mouth busy.