Gromnir

where is the causal link 'tween defund of cops and rise in crime? cities, whether they defunded police or not is seeing a rise in crime, including cities in texas such as galveston where more than 60% voted republican in the last election compared to just under 40% democrat. just another inconvenient fact though, eh? do your self a favor and look at crime statistics in texas, 'cause is one o' the few states where there is multiple urban areas which vote predominant republican. same problems. you are failing correlation v. causation. is your kinda reasoning which had people believing 5g were responsible for covid, 'cause look at maps and see where is 5g and then look at where is covid outbreaks. am not denying crime has risen post pandemic. and? show us the connections. blame on an excuse which in fact undermines your previous position during the summer? again, last summer were utter chaos, yes? months of lawlessness and looting and violence, but crime was down? what? the thing is, and you keep ignoring this point, you were defending the use o' authoritarian practices last summer, same kinda practices you condemn when is russia and china doing. your justification were crime and lawlessness. 'course now you is convinced by the new statistics that crime is genuine a problem, and that the libs is the cause. so what use o' force is demanded if unmarked vans and nameless fed agents arresting and imprisoning people were ok last summer? if crime is actual worse, then what do you suggest is the appropriate response? go ahead and tell us that the fed efforts weren't enough last summer and more is needed today. dare you. dare you to do so and at same time condemn china and russia. you got a disconnect problem on this issue. am not sure how to reach you. HA! Good Fun! ps btw, biden is against defund o' police. so, now what?

trump lost in part because a bunch of people who voted for republicans down ballot did not support trump. arizona is a rather unique state in that nearly a third of registered voters identify as independent. those independents came out more in favor of biden than trump, but to suggest that those arizona independents revealed their political loyalties because they decided trump was too toxic for them is questionable, no? there were more than a dozen members of the house who voted to impeach trump, and in the senate, mitt romney did so twice. tell us how mitt revealed his political loyalties by expressing a rejection of trump. groups such as rap exist because more than a few traditional republicans were unable to stomach trump's excesses and overt stupidity. btw, republican handwringing about crime (and folks such as bruce who parrot the republicans on such issues) is particular curious. last summer our cities were supposed burning constant and interrupted for months on end, no? fed troops being sent in to arrest people not actual committing crimes and not actual accused of having committed crimes was somehow justified because o' the rampant lawlessness in democrat cities. what happened to those firestorms of vandalism and chaos caused by antifa and blm? so, devastation o' the summer riots and the attendant violence(minor) and vandalism (noteworthy) ended in spite o' a complete lack of fed stormtroopers roaming the streets in their unmarked vans, but crime increased? well, given bruce's curious correlation reasoning, the obvious solution to current crime problems is to bring back the summer protests and the endemic burning and looting and civil unrest, no? *snort* am waiting for the bruce epiphany regarding last summer's protests which never arrives, but you will move readily and without self reflection to the next lib caused crisis o' chaos and mayhem plaguing major metropolitans 'round the world without considering the possibility you are getting it all wrong. again, bruce saw such months long widespread lawlessness and chaos plaguing the US on such a scale as to justify the use o' gestapo tactics to mitigate the damage. you don't see a problem with crime having spiked after the protests stopped? HA! Good Fun!

the name sounds familiar. am recalling obsidian had a diva developer who quit and then spent the next couple of years making increasingly venomous insinuations 'bout his former employer's malfeasance. didn't the developer in question have a similar grand revelation 'bout the wrongs done to him by his previous employer? am vague recalling an immature rant which we suspect were intended to have the aggrieved developer take the role of diogenes in his own imagined greek drama, but reality were underwhelming and as such we have difficulty recollecting much 'bout the guy save that regardless o' his accomplishments as a writer, am left with fuzzy memories not o' a tragic and heroic figure but o' a petulant bridge troll who chose to make his revelations from the depths o' a fetid bog, lamenting the injustices he suffered to the snarks and grumkins who lurked in the most stagnant and odious corner o' the gaming internet. but that were more than five years ago... oh well. am probable misremembering, but am not caring enough to revisit beyond this brief attempt at recalling an increasing insignificant display o' internet self immolation by a now marginal crpg developer. HA! Good Fun!

which reminds us we need second dose of the shingles vaccine as am kinda in the temporal window for the next jab. the side effects of the first shot were a bit unsettling. we do not drink, but am serious considering taking it up contemporaneous with getting our second shingles dose. regardless, if the upcoming post shot symptoms are anything like the first, we will not be sleeping that night either. HA! Good Fun!

not specific directed at shady but we thought we stated the exercise ain't meant as a soporific or some kinda natural sleeping pill. again, do not exercise immediate before planning to go to sleep. however, if you have insomnia, then a regular exercise regimen may help. much like the sleep schedule, the exercise should be regular but it should occur at some point during the day not proximate to bedtime. curiously, work to point of exhaustion, even if such work includes physical activity, doesn't necessarily help us personal. spend your day on a roof doing repairs is not same as exercise meant to stave off insomnia even if is more taxing than whatever exercise plan you might devise. work fatigue is somehow different from whatever benefits you get from exercise... and white collar fatigue is definite not helping us. spend a sleepless night preparing for court followed by a day o' wrangling with clients and counsel and judges is at least as taxing as any workout we ever suffered but spend weeks doing such over and over and over again were guaranteeing we would reach the cadaverous and haunted full scale insomnia where we literal arrived at the stage where we felt/feel like we is perpetual disembodied and kinda piloting our body through daily activities from just outside our self... difficult to describe. HA! Good Fun!

we got kinda severe insomnia and have had such for years. some is nerve pain related, but the reality is we had troubles with sleeping before the nerve pain issues. as such we got some sympathy for gd's plight. only two things help us decrease (not eliminate) our insomnia: 1) schedule do not take naps even if you are exhausted. do everything possible to develop a sleep schedule, and is best to try and sleep nighttime. 2) exercise regular intense exercise helps. helps. is not a magic fix, and is not as if 90 minutes o' weights followed by 45-50 minutes of cardio you send you immediate to your pillow neither. don't workout immediate before planned sleep. have never had much luck with diet suggestions and am admitted terrible 'bout the schedule thing in part 'cause we get frustrated the first few days o' trying to reestablish a schedule. inevitably we need face a few o' those interminable sleepless nights o' increasing consternation as we toss and turn and stare at the inside o' our eyelids and listen to our own breathing... doing the seeming ineffectual breathing exercises we were taught. takes days before the schedule kinda kicks in and begins working and am kinda going nuts before such begins to help. is unlikely to be a silver bullet solution. exercise and a schedule may even make gd's insomnia worse. good luck. HA! Good Fun! ps am kinda lucky opioids have so little impact on us. 'cause if taking 'em helped us get to sleep, we would use at even abuse levels.

when the op-ed were penned, every US Senator, republican and democrat, were aware the trump and barr use of fed troops to suppress protests were Unconstitutional, and if such had occurred post ww2 until 2016, there woulda' been reflexive bipartisan condemnation o' such excess. by the summer o' 2020 we were no longer surprised by the gop refusal to deny trump efforts to indulge even previous unthinkable exercises o' executive power. were disappointed even so. mattis condemnation o' the militarized fed response to protests were what every senator were already knowing, and near half were pretending as if such were no biggie. worse, many were public stating such authoritarian bs were complete justified. as an aside, we specific mentioned senators and not Congressmen. we usual have more than a few l00ns in the House, and there is typical one or two crackpots and dingbats in the senate. tommy tuberville (that is his actual name) is the current senate court jester, but he were only elected this last november. HA! Good Fun! ps @Malcador the clip does not provide full context. gaetz were the t00lbag complaining 'bout wokeness in the military and milley asked for a chance to respond, but gaetz refused. a subsequent legislator offered a portion o' her time so milley would have a chance to respond... to gaetz. longer clip observe gaetz reaction at 6:54 to being chastised by milley.

am thinking this preconception is also what surprised trump. were folks such as mcmaster, mattis and kelly who were the most constant and vocal contrarians in his own early administration. all trump needed hear when mattis' name came up as a possible cabinet position appointee were his nickname o' "mad dog." the President were shocked by the reality o' mattis compared to what he had imagined. should be no surprise to anybody that once the aforementioned individuals and their people were gone from the administration, that is when sh!te like the ukraine stuff happened and sending fed troops to portland occured. US military academies do a better job o' teaching critical thinking and problem solving than does most other american universities 'cause those skills is deemed vital for an effective officer. dunno, maybe is same kinda surprise people have when they realize that folks who went to georgetown and notre dame know so much 'bout islam and eastern religions-- at catholic universities, comparative religion is required curriculum unlike at public unis. milley's comments shouldn't be surprising to anybody, but they is. and yeah, just 'cause you got a good education and were exposed to many ideas is hardly a guarantee you learn, but chances go up if you is exposed to different ideas and is challenged to think critical 'bout such. am gonna repost mattis' op-ed from the atlantic. if you haven't read previous, please do. btw, general milley were perceptive enough to take the mattis comments as a criticism o' his complicity in the events o' lafayette square. immediate following the op-ed 'bove, milley delivered a statement apologizing for his presence in uniform leading to the understandable impression the US military were supporting trump and barr efforts at suppression. but yeah, am suspecting trump saw the great santini (no chance he read the book)at some point and thought it were a swell parenting guide. similar, am betting many persons think US command officers is some kinda alloy o' the worst aspects of all the movie generals and admirals they has seen... and lt. col. wilbur meechum. watch fox news and am understanding why such a preconception exists, 'cause conservative media somehow manages to dredge up the worst exemplars o' military leadership and sadly the reality is there is no shortage o' such. even so, individuals such as mattis, mcmaster, kelly and milley sounding erudite and open-minded should not come as a surprise. HA! Good Fun! ps and again, am not suggesting that all US military officers is capable o' coherent thought and self reflection. many is indeed the troglodytes with bad haircuts spouting jingoistic nonsense we suspect is the default image gorth has fixed in his imagination. even so, is no reason to be surprised or shocked when listening to generals such as milley or mcmaster.

well this is gonna have tucker carlson's shorts in a twist. speaking o' which... The Propaganda Playbook: A Section-by-Section Dissection of Tucker Carlson’s Communication Strategy HA! Good Fun!

justice (small "j") thomas. punk arse couldn't even spell out the word in his dissent. Justice Harlan, in the 1971 cohen decision managed to spell out the word in spite o' being one o' the most puritanical members o' the Court, but thomas feels vindicated with punishing a student's speech for words uttered not on school grounds nor at some kinda school event, 'cause y'know kids need discipline and respect for teachers is essential or somesuch. small j thomas actual resorts to patently inappropriate use o' "f***" in a supreme Court opinion. one man's vulgarity is another man's lyric. small j thomas henceforth. some o' his recent shenanigans has been pushing the envelope, but he is a member o' the Court. even so, am done making excuses and claiming he is a fine judge even if we disagreed with him as a Justice.

could be an overstatement. am feeling bad we ain't confident that the overstatement is clear or significant. there is a noteworthy number o' kids who prioritize education when they is being recruited for football and basketball by the big schools. every year stanford gets some good players who were also recruited by usc, ohio state, alabama and every other big name school. also, am guaranteeing that a large % o' the time mom is in the room when a coach is making a recruiting pitch to her son. moms tend to be interested in the comparative educational strengths o' the programs recruiting her son to play football or basketball. you wanna disappoint mom? but yeah, almost all the kids being recruited by big universities believe they is gonna get drafted first round o' the pro draft. too many kids destined to never make to the nfl or nba, much less make it in the nfl or nba, are already picking out the car they is gonna buy when they get drafted, and the house they will buy for mom when they sign their first pro contract. w/o moms, the number o' kids focused on anything but education would be extreme high. as it is, the % o' kids focused on education is too low. HA! Good Fun!

happened to see a random youtube link for a guy doing video o' the wotr beta. am not a big fan o' watching other folks play games, but this guy is a bit different and kinda fun. depending on how organized he is, he could be a decent pnp dm-- he really gets into reading the all-too-often cringey wotr dialogues w/o the least bit o' self consciousness. is no way in hell we would watch all his videos, or even most, but we actual got some useful info outta a couple vids he uploaded. is a fair amount o' busted material in chapter 4, or at least we assume is busted. be able to see somebody struggle with same problems is kina validating and cathartic in a small way, though am admitted more curious to see if anybody else discovered a workaround. looks like the linked individual has played through chapter 4 multiple times, so he does have a couple "solutions" to busted quests. regardless, this is one o' the few persons we has seen with complete wotr beta gameplay... multiple characters. HA! Good Fun!

us state governments figured out how to craft driver's licenses. am pretty sure the fed could come up with a kinda vaccine id if such a thing were deemed necessary. the problem is you got 'tween 20% and 30% o' the country believing mandatory vaccination is unconstitutional and even ungodly. make illegal to work or shop for groceries or buy their guns at walmart w/o proof of vaccine only further convinces such people they is being persecuted. january 6 shows what happens when enough people, many o' whom howled 'bout the lawlessness o' blm and antifa during the summer, nevertheless feel complete justified in their own overt lawless behavior. joining a mob bent on stopping the electoral college process, and storming the Capitol to achieve such an end? many (most) o' the january 6 insurrectionists believed they were being patriotic as they forced their way into the Capitol, bent on overturning the election results. compel people to get proof o' vaccination will lead to further radicalization o' the lunatic fringe, and if you think am exaggerating, you weren't paying attention to a few o' the more vocal far right supporters who disappeared from these boards after the november 2020 elections, and you ain't listening to a few o' the diehard "i know my rights" persons who continue to post. the ultimate goal is to get more people vaccinated, yes? tell Americans they is required to do something and some significant percentage o' the population is gonna do the opposite just to prove they cannot be forced into doing anything against their will, even if by doing so they is hurting themselves and others. bears repeating, but mandatory vaccinations is, 'ccording to existing Court decisions, the law o' the land. the thing is, you can't actual force persons to be vaccinated, as contradictory as that sounds. can require vaccinations if you wanna go to school or be in military or even if you wanna work for state or fed or any number o' other circumstances, but you can't force persons to get injected. not wanna be injected as a private non essential military personage? can't force it. could require you to quarantine and potential could put you in prison, though that would be self defeating as you would then have a whole lotta unvaccinated people forced into crowded conditions ideal for spread o' disease. us ain't china. particular given how right wing media has turned vaccinations into a political and liberty issue for many, compulsory vaccinations would no doubt get a few more people vaccinated, but it would also guarantee that a significant number o' americans would oppose getting vaccinated under any circumstances, and you would no doubt help radicalize a considerable number o people, and not just those folks living in florida. HA! Good Fun!

you already asked that question and didn't like the answer. people who are known to have a communicable disease may be quarantined even against their will. am not gonna help you on this. direct ask the question you genuine wish to ask. HA! Good Fun!

am suspecting the question you ask is not the one you want to have confirmed. in the US, if you are infected with a potential dangerous and communicable disease, you may be compelled to quarantine. HA! Good Fun!

men's college football and basketball represent a multi-billion dollar business which, for +90% of universities, isn't generating enough money to even cover the costs for all the other athletics programs those schools provide. men's football and basketball is why many schools are able to provide scholarships and facilities for women's fencing and men's lacrosse. as an aside, all o' this coulda' been avoided if the ncaa had gotten their act together in january, but partisan politics has even infected the ncaa. couldn't come to any resolution in their vote earlier this year which mighta' staved off the Court from needing get involved, a Court which is not capable o' coming up with solutions. keep in mid the decision actual allows individual conferences to keep the current limits in place. however, if you are the big ten and the sec has already allowed some kinda compensation, what do you believe is the obvious result? any conference with competitive men's football and basketball is gonna be granting some kinda additional compensation 'cause is no other way to stay competitive with recruits. even so, while the case has far reaching future implications, it isn't quite the paradigm altering decision it is being presented to be...save for in some limited scenarios like graduate schollies. HA! Good Fun!

@BruceVC am admitted not sure how to dispel your confusion. the above quoted material were your worst case scenario of the fantasized prosecution o' folks for expressing antigovernmental ideology, a hobgoblin gd conjured outta the internet ether with the help o' an obscure journalist and a red sharpie pen. you were also angered by putin's transparent whataboutism regarding january 6. russia declares opposition groups extremist and dangerous and then uses such as an excuse to imprison protesters and prevent anybody even tangential related to the extremist group in question from running for elected office in russia. according to putin is ok though, 'cause look at the chaos o' january 6 and see how the US jailed and prosecuted those individuals bringing their complaints to the Capitol on january 6. cringeworthy, and bruce agreed putin's actions and excuses regarding russian protesters were unjustified. nevertheless, when barr and trump were engaged in illegal behavior o' suppression, you defended them. barr and trump claimed their authority arose from the fact the protesters, as a group, were engaged in seditious behavior, anti-governmental behavior. blm and antifa were dangerous extremist groups. however, the individuals whisked away in unmarked vans and imprisoned were not subject to any probable cause findings and there were no warrants issued for their arrests. the American Citizens in portland and elsewhere, denied right to counsel and due process, were not committing crimes when they were treated much like russian protesters, and all too frequent subjected to similar levels o' violence and thuggery as part o' their apprehension and detention. the crime the folks whisked away by nameless agents in the dead o' night were guilty of was associating with blm. how do we know this? 'cause none of 'em were actually charged with crimes. you defended such actions as reasonable, 'cause blm and antifa, in your mind is dangerous. you didn't need proof that the persons denied basic Constitutional rights by trump and barr's stormtroopers actual committed crimes because, according to barr and trump, they were affiliated with blm. during the summer your were defending the same argument as putin made at his presser and you don't realize it or are purposeful ignoring. for putin, the denial o' basic freedoms and rights is okie dokie 'cause the people being prevented from running for office or who were detained during the recent widespread protests in russia were affiliated with dangerous extremist organizations. is exact same argument made by barr, trump (and bruce) during the summer when it were blm protesters who were being arrested w/o due process o' law. again, barr used sedition laws to claim he had authority to carry out his illegal suppression. blm and antifa, and anybody barr or trump claimed were affiliated with those undeserving o' basic rights o' every other American Citizen. but again, the proverbial cherry on top is, given an opportunity to imagine a "worse case scenario" o' the government denying freedoms and rights 'cause a person or group embraces the wrong ideology, you latch onto blm... as the source o' oppression. is something broken, and am not certain how to fix. HA! Good Fun!

steam summer sale *shrug* am not personal looking to buy anything, but for those who are... HA! Good Fun!

the color o' the crosstek reminds us o' a friend we had who, for reasons known only to her, painted the ceiling o' the great room in her home that exact shade o' blue. the room were enormous and had a significant vault... and were all exposed cedar planks. she painted an exposed cedar ceiling pale blue. and jesus wept. am s'posing is an ok car color, if not our first choice. then again, our grandfather, in addition to the f-150, had a lime green station wagon with wood paneling and we thought it looked keen. am maybe not the best judge. am wondering if am ever again gonna buy a new car. is plenty o' good reasons to buy a new car as 'posed to used but am now fully in our curmudgeon stage o' dotage, so dealing with the all the annoyance which accompanies new car sales is the kinda thing we do not need... and given our intermittent frugality (can't consider self genuine cheap insofar as car purchases if we got the two buicks for no good reason save "'because,") buy used just saves us so much money in most cases. also less o' the near inevitable buyer's remorse with used. less. am embarrassed to admit our all-time best car, from a functionality pov, were the 97 chrysler t&c lxi minivan we got specific for the dogs. could take out as many seats as needed so were plenty o' room for the dogs to lie down comfortably and be sheltered from weather as 'posed to our pickups. with enormous side and back doors, load and unload dogs or even a refrigerator were a relative ez task. the thing were low, which helped with the load and unload efforts and when the border collies started getting older, they could still jump in and out with little effort for a couple more years after which we needed do the lifting. the minivan were also relative dependable. relative. our sense o' vanity is kinda non existent. had more than a few acquaintances ask us how we could drive the fugly minivan w/o shame. were never a factor. dogs were satisfied and as long as the vehicle weren't in the shop, we were pleased. other than daily commute, we got more use from the minivan than all our other vehicles combined. 'course daily commute were kinda a big exception, though the bmw x5 we drove last few years we were gainful employed were hardly much o' an upgrade from the minivan. the dogs loved the minivan and we didn't care that loose border collie fur somehow weaved itself into the fabric which lined the floor o' the vehicle, becoming inextricable and irrevocably part o' the car forever. HA! Good Fun!

no. the article is a bit misleading. the ruling in the case in question were extreme narrow, and it looks like five (at least) Justices is agreeing that US corporations may be sued under the ATS (alien tort statute), but the particular case in question did not present a justiciable cause o' action. in this specific case, a us corporation (nestlé) bought product from private farms operating in the ivory coast, private owned farms not owned or operated by the us corporation. ats is old law btw. 1789. might need to be updated to recognize how corporations should not be allowed to avoid responsibility just 'cause they is only tangential involved in wrongdoing or if they maybe knowingly traffic with nogoodniks but do not explicit engage in the tortious behavior from which plaintiffs seek recovery. the Court simple recognized the judiciary lacks authority to create new causes o' action, but again, multiple Justices, in a concurring opinion, made it extreme clear that US corporations is not able to avoid legal responsibility just 'cause wrongdoing happens beyond the borders o' the US. however, because is not the US, Congress needs to create authority to sue and the ats current has a few gaps in coverage. is another situation where Congress needs fix a problem. don't hold your breath waiting. HA! Good Fun!

if ratification is your linchpin for 13th amendment, then vote and sign by enough delegates to make the deceleration something other than thomas jefferson's personal manifesto don't happen 'til august 2, 1776. HA! Good Fun!

*chuckle* HA! Good Fun! edit: https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/american-insurrection/?utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=Twitter&utm_campaign=Extended_Trailer&utm_content=Video might trigger a few folks.

made 'bout three quarts o' red beans. why so much? start with 1 lb o' dry red beans... *shrug* if we start with 1lb o' beans, then we end up with 'bout three quarts. as often as not we use kidney instead o' small red 'cause we learned from the tv show justified that kidneys is the, "cadillac of beans." didn't have kidney though. the main reason we made the beans is 'cause is so hot. am not gonna turn on the oven save at gunpoint for some number o' days, and grilling outdoors is requiring us to mop sweat outta our eyes constant as the temps is in the +100F range... 109 for the daily high temp. cooked beans stovetop at 5:00 am when it were relative cool and we were almost done by the time the temps outside hit mid 90s. so now we got an easily microwavable meal o' which we will be indulging frequent for the weekend and beyond... along with our corn and snow peas. s'posed, 'ccording to science, spicy food makes a person feel cooler, so perhaps the beans help. am needing be careful. have overindulged our red beans once or twice and had genuine unpleasant heartburn as a result. am no doubt a bit gassy as well, but the dogs has never once complained. HA! Good Fun!

am wondering if this is a teachable moment. bruce were angered by putin trying to use the response to january 6 in the US as some kinda excuse for suppressing any anti-governmental protest. some o' those russian protesters might have advocated and even used violence, and putin used such as an excuse to suppress any and all protest as well as denying anybody even tangential related to protest groups the right to run for elected office. nevertheless, when the US is the example o' potential antigovernmental suppression, bruce immediate sees blm as the potential threat. ... attorney general barr and president trump sent fed troops to apprehend and detain blm protesters last summer with the excuse the protesters were seditionists. unlike january 6 arrests and prosecutions where d-bags is being arrested and prosecuted for specific acts o' violence, vandalism and trespass, there were literal hundreds of examples o' blm protesters being thrown into unmarked vans, w/o being given right to counsel, held against their will for considerable amounts o' time w/o charges being filed. the blm protesters were arrested and not charged frequent w/o any specific evidence o' violence or vandalism on the part o' the protesters. guilt of being a protester were transitive property guilt of being a seditionist. bruce were ok with such governmental exercises o' power. your clear example o' what you find offensive with putin, and you see as potential possible if people don't "bend the knee in reverence to blm," already were happening last year in the US and you supported such at the time. bass ackwards bruce. HA! Good Fun!

as noted (with emphasis added): from the presser: "It found that the two most lethal elements of today’s domestic terrorism threat are (1) racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists who advocate for the superiority of the white race and (2) anti-government or anti-authority violent extremists, such as militia violent extremists." purposeful leave out the "violent extremist" portion is not accidental but perhaps is what makes meme worthy? ordinary violent extremists is typical the responsibility o' state agencies. antigovernmental and or racial, ethnic and religious motivations is what gives the fed authority to investigate and prosecute. HA! Good Fun!