Gromnir

were hopeful you were joking... first time. second? *shrug* regardless, am genuine at a loss to come up with a good argument to deny statehood. Federal Judge Orders Los Angeles To Offer Shelter To Skid Row Residents judge concern for the endemic la homelessness problem: good am nevertheless at a loss to identify the legal basis for demanding compliance with such orders... and how is such orders enforced? ... (add another shrug here) HA! Good Fun!

you are being serious? am increasing convinced you are. new states may be admitted by the Congress into this union, but no new state shall be formed or erected within the jurisdiction of any other state, nor any state be formed by the junction of two or more states, or parts of states, without the consent of the legislatures of the states concerned as well as of the Congress. (am not placing in quotes 'cause may have slight misremembered punctuations or a word and am admitted too embarrassed to look up 'cause am realizing we need to look up... which am prefect aware makes no sense.) we got some familiarity with the constitution, and am at a loss to identify the state secretary of agriculture requirement. there were the enabling acts, and some pre Constitution stuff which might be suggestive but not dispositive? anything you hear regarding supposed requirements o' statehood ain't actual a requirements and numerous states has been admitted w/o a Constitution, which is the document wherein necessary state offices would likely be described. even if dc state secretary o' agriculture were a requirement, which it isn't, would it be enough to convince you that hundreds o' thousands o' americans, many o' whom is veterans, do not deserve federal representation? and let's be grownups 'bout this yes? even if there were some kinda requirement that a landlocked territory have a secretary of the navy or some such silliness, all that would happen from a practical matter is that a government official would have an extra and meaningless job title. is not difficult to envision that the woman who is deputy secretary of state for dc gets additional and meaningless job title: dc state secretary of agriculture. no additional pay or responsibilities. *gasp* this is NOT a real thing to be concerned 'bout. and if you claim to be joking, am gonna note you has now made this observation multiple times, which undercuts the i was keeding bit. HA! Good Fun!

1) dc statehood clearly benefits democrats 2) dc statehood is the right thing to do is not as if 1 being true precludes possibility o' 2 being true. in 1889, north dakota and south dakota were added to the US as 2 states and only reason the dakota territory were split in twain is 'cause doing so would give republicans 4 senators instead of two. of course statehood is a political issue, but annexation is an obvious instafail 'cause neither dc nor any adjacent state want such... is no room for the fed to arbitrate a compromise when there is already a consensus. is political and benefits one side, and is still right that dc citizens should get fed representation. HA! Good Fun! ps we see no way to get around filibuster. is no obvious exception. is not gonna happen. however, the issue will be pushed hard to force republicans to make increasing bad arguments to deny statehood to a geographical area where +46% o' the population is black. democrats know they won't win, but is no good legal or practical reason they should lose, which is gonna force the gop to be the bad guys once again, solidifying democrat base before midterms. is all politics.

am not certain how that display fools anybody and gets passed on to the next generation o' critters. HA! Good Fun!

well, you would get vaccinated sooner, but other than that am not able to think o' too many selling points. HA! Good Fun!

dc's homeless population had decreased for multiple years pre pandemic... not certain today. am betting dc still manages to have worst us rate o' homelessness, but of course that is in part 'cause it is a city and just a city. drug problems, poverty, and the aforementioned crime all is gonna mess up state statistics, at least as far as we know. am admitting other than the homelessness factoid we can't say what is dc's current situation with any confidence. maryland and virgina has been shifting blue from purple for the past few years. gop in those states necessarily is throwing in the towel if dc is added. dc politicians, for all the complaints 'bout the obstacles they need suffer 'cause o' lack o' statehood, have far more autonomy in the current scheme than they would as city politicians in maryland or virginia. annexation makes a whole lotta sense, but am thinking it is the one solution nobody in power on either side o' the aisle at the state or local level desires. HA! Good Fun!

there is brown. HA! Good Fun!

am not certain o' the current situation, but am recalling during the last serious pushes for dc statehood or annexation, the real obstacle to annexation were nobody wanted dc. the district were a resource drain. maybe that has changed? dunno. HA! Good Fun!

have been pulled over multiple times. first time evar were a speeding thing where we were going 52 in a 45mph zone. were a legit stop but we were kinda annoyed. cop came to window, which we needed manual roll down 'cause we were driving a 78 cherokee jeep. we asked cop for a double-cheeseburger, onion rings and a large dr. pepper. cop actual smiled a bit, but we still got a ticket. daytime. suburban neighborhood. no problems. other times were a bit more scary and worst were not being pulled over while driving but cops stopping us as we walked through a nice neighborhood in the bay area at 2am. we became agitated 'cause cops were demanding info they were not privy to as a mater o' law and but for a soopercop's partner stepping in to intervene, am thinking we woulda' been arrested... and as we were a scholarship athlete at Cal at the time, things coulda' gone very bad for us. learned a valuable lesson that day and realized being right were less consequential than being cautious. no more smarty responses from Gromnir when dealing with cops. had a distinct uptick in stoopid traffic stops after we got the bmw x5. our driving behavior didn't change, but somehow a minority male driving a so-called luxury (piece o' crap) suv at 3am (when we typical went to our gym) often with our hoodie up 'cause o' damp post workout hair, attracted police attention. we followed all instructions, no matter how ridiculous, to letter and made no jokes and were as polite as human possible. HA! Good Fun!

the video requested by media were released immediate. this were not a wide known issue until recent. obvious there need be some kinda process for releasing the videos on request, and get fully unedited w/o viewing in camera by a judge is stoopid, 'cause who knows what info is gonna be on tape which makes innocent bystanders look bad or has views o' cop computer screens showing personal info for people involved or mere tangential related to the incident in question. says a attorney had to go to court is misleading. fill out a form. make a request. wait some reasonable time for video which blurs out personal identifying info unrelated to events. typical. don't make assumptions or apply generalities. wait. get details. HA! Good Fun!

video were released almost immediate. is best to be cautious o' terms such as "usually," as is same kinda narrative supporting assumption you might believe you is opposed to. believe something is true is not same as true. less a matter o' da or local police releasing video has been the problem o' cops "accidental" or purposeful turning off their body cam devices. not as prevalent an issue today, but it were a problem for some time. am knowing is impractical for technical reasons, and cops would never agree anyways, but am recalling the recent watchmen tv show where the imagined alt-universe tulsa police officer in episode one needed to get permission to unlock his weapon. we couldn't help but wonder if the mysterious lingering body cam failures would diminish if police officers were unauthorized to unholster their firearms unless they first made sure their bodycams were active recording. HA! Good Fun!

we get reflexive pushback from a few posters. whatever. however, one o' the wackier instances we recall were the resistance we got when we observed how following any police shooting or police incident where a person were serious injured, there were no harm in waiting a bit for facts to emerge. frequent the facts change, but once the narrative is established, people find it difficult to change their conclusions. is always best to wait. even if the outrage feels complete justified, eyewitness accounts and even video may be misleading. and no, am not suggesting wait for months or years. were never the claim. however, it takes more than a few hours or days to investigate many tragedies and is hardly a suprise when new video emerges which severe undercuts assumptions arrived at 'cause o' earlier eyewitness testimony or shaky iphone video recordings. if people feel outrage, their outrage will be no less valid or impactful if they wait for a week. wait for investigations and still feel outrage? good for you; is your right as an american to be outraged whether that outrage is justified or not. nevertheless, am not seeing a downside to waiting for facts, waiting for proverbial smoke to clear. how many celebs and pundits insta jumped to jussie smollett defense? some o' those supporters reversed course when new facts emerged, but others refused to do so 'cause doing so undermined the more important and overreaching narrative. HA! Good Fun!

owlcat has announced the next beta update is may 5. also, 'cause am knowing folks such as @ShadySands is interested, there is new info 'bout the intelligent weapon feature. HA! Good Fun! ps have not played the beta in some time 'cause we became smidge frustrated with a few bugs and 'cause we were aware o' the late april guestimate for the next beta version. as such we will wait until may 5 to do more beta.

am suspecting the rationale for not having cop emts is that 'tween paramedics and fire departments, those folks is no further away from a 911 dispatcher than would be a cop emt. nevertheless, we wouldn't be surprised to learn that cops were far more willing to call in cop emts for help if such were available. is an idea at least worth considering. am also recognizing that law enforcement in general (and please recall there is no "in general" US law enforcement. each state and local county is gonna do different) should place a greater emphasis on their first aid training o' all street level personnel, but doing so costs money and requires time and... HA! Good Fun!

for a number of years we were paying ~$800 per month for our sister's meds. she had lupus, which became other problems. she also had some emotional problems stemming in large part from an assault when she were a student at Cal. took meds for the mental health issues, but those weren't what was costing most o' the $800. if it makes skarp_one feel better, after her attack incident, she tended to vote republican, or perhaps she voted republican 'cause that is what Gromnir were doing at the time. whatever. however, the reason her meds were so expensive were in part 'cause we were supporting her. we couldn't get her onto our personal insurance plan for various reasons, but we coulda' finagled so she were medi-cal eligible (and most o' her meds woulda' been free) but while her medical care woulda' been not terrible... well, that is the best we can say. we supported and so she weren't ssi and medi-cal eligible. our meds, save one, has copays o' $10, but we checked and on average we would be paying $15 for each even if we had no insurance 'cause they is not particular expensive. is one exception. costs us $80 but is not a monthly med. would cost us far more than $80 if we had to pay brand name price with no generic option. considering our med issues, we don't spend much on meds... yet. a couple years past we did have surgery and a single overnight stay post-op. were real surgery--not cosmetic. needed anesthesia. weren't life saving though. something to keep us able to walk and maintain bladder control, so kinda necessary from our pov. our insurance were billed $350k. we paid $25 out of pocket. in 2021, if you are a day gig worker in the US, chances are you still need decide 'tween rent, food, transportation, utilities and health insurance. at least one from that list is gonna be a loser. guess which most choose. accident happens or you suffer a burst appendix or whatever... get a $350k bill and then what? HA! Good Fun!

power corrupts, but powerlessness corrupts absolute. if you believe you have nothing to lose, what is there to stop you from doing the unthinkable? there are sociopaths and psychopaths who commit horrible crimes 'cause they are getting what they want and other people are just obstacles. rare. a large % of people do bad things 'cause they believe they have run out of better options. governments necessarily have a monopoly on force, and the threat o' force discourages the powerless from taking action, but there is usual a breaking point. edit: am gonna go out on a limb and predict somebody on tucker carlson's staff gets fired, 'cause ed gavin clear weren't the guest tuck thought he were. HA! Good Fun!

LeVar Burton lands guest host gig on 'Jeopardy!' after more than 246,000 fans sign online petition a story which brought a genuine smile to our grumpy mug. HA! Good Fun!

the unforgivable flaw o' cops is that they are human beings, which means they is busted and broken and corruptible same as is football coaches, church ministers, movie directors and doctors. Gromnir's planet is rough and is obvious not same as the planet many o' you hale from. here we got this phrase, which is stoopid and terrible, but it persists 'cause is also real: snitches get stitches. military whistleblowers get stitches if they don't follow the chain o' command with their complaints, and if the do follow chain of command, then is a good chance they get punished anyways. sports teams is all too frequent falling victim to the culture o' exploitation and punishment o' anybody who would criticize. us gymnastics, penn state football, ohio state wrestling (we haven't forgotten about you mr. jim jordan) and more than a few pro teams has all been in the news 'cause the bad culture where folks doing the right thing were treated monstrous. how many has done same and never been subject o' a news story? church ministers and boy scouts. doubt we need actual supply details to an earthling to make instant apparent how church and boy scouts is relevant to this topic. some o' the stories o' good christian men and women and the cruelty they used to silence those who dared to suggest church and boy scout leadership were guilty o' horrific wrongs is making us ashamed to be an earthling. on the waterfront is a movie from 1954, back when a guy named brando were arguable the best earth actor. fantastic film. union dirty is a bit different today, but you gotta be pretty freaking courageous to rock the boat (another earth idiom, apologies) in a union shop. not long ago, on earth, we had this awakening, which weren't. #metoo. people pretended to be shocked and dismayed to discover that actresses were exploited by movie producers, and if the actresses complained, they were blacklisted and victim blamed and worse... and then women (and even a few men) from a wide range o' professions and jobs revealed how they too had also suffered and been silenced by threats overt and subtle. on earth some o' us pretended to be surprised by the revelations o' the #metoo movement, while others just dismissed the whole thing. as we said, we come from a rough planet. and yeah, firemen, cops, military and sports teams got these esprit de corps cultures wherein bad behavior, if not addressed and active stamped out by those in charge, can become pervasive and generational. there will be busted teams and departments which keep breeding more bad and the fact nobody has the courage to stop is revolting... and very human. our planet is rough. HA! Good Fun! ps (edit) 'cause become is one word.

our grandma (maternal side) made something she called pittsburgh lasagna. grandma said it were s'posed to include sausage but she used cooked chicken (diced) 'cause that were what she typical had available. remaining ingredients: mozzarella, parmesan and ricotta, 1 egg, a package o' frozen spinach, lasagna noodles, milk and a couple cans o' cream of mushroom soup. the egg, thawed and drained (extreme drained... dry as possible w/o using oven) spinach and ricotta got combined, milk and soup were combined. take a casserole dish and layer some o' the soup+ milk, then noodles, then half o' the spinach and ricotta mixture, then chicken (or sausage), then mozzarella. repeat layers leaving last o' the soup and the parmesan for last layer. have no idea what were the measurements. we got a ridiculous good memory, but grandma didn't measure, so... has been many years since we had that casserole. the (not) lasagna were delicious. HA! Good Fun!

hmmm. most o' us have worked in a profession or occupation where discrimination 'gainst minorities and/or women happens and where such discrimination has been a problem for a considerable period o' time. am not gonna suggest they is all bad. is the nonsense gd does with politicians. they are all complicit, yes? the growing tendency to call every white male a racist and a bigot is one o' the reasons we ended up with trump as President. even if you believe every white male is a racist and every male a bigot, such accusations is not helpful. dismiss every cop similar? same mistake. am hardly suggesting there is no responsibility for the other cops who witness or know and do nothing. contrary. however, am thinking is not appropriate to make it a stark +/- thing. brings up why am actual more interested in what happens to the other cops present when floyd died. their trial will take place in the near future and will be more meaningful in our mind than were chauvin. asian cop. mixed-race cop. white cop. none helped floyd and only the white guy protested 'bout what were happening to floyd. am thinking all the cops bear some responsibility for what happened to floyd, but am not thinking is +/-, and am not willing to go so far as to suggest every cop everywhere is responsible in a +/- kinda way. HA! Good Fun!

unlike lassie, the law overwhelming sympathizes with children. if a child is hurt or dies or could be hurt or scared a lot, then a cop may be fubar. one reason why former officer chauvin may get more than recommended 12.5 years is 'cause children were present when he killed mr. floyd. if kids are present, cops got far less leeway to use deadly force. tell us that ain't fair? is law. fair and law is not the same. HA! Good Fun!

'ccording to fbi, numbers o' homicide victims in 2017: total firearms-10,982 rifles-403 (which included the vegas shooter, explaining the small but noticeable increase in rifle death totals from immediate preceding years) knives-1,591 blunt objects (not fists)-467 personal weapons (hands, feet)-696 403 is not a good number. not suggesting we should ignore 403. however, if you believe we got a firearms problem, overwhelming focus on 403 is perplexing to us. HA! Good Fun!

am recalling the most obscure advice we got 'fore taking the bar exam so many decades past: "don't sympathize with lassie." cops is supposed to involve themselves in domestic disputes. duh. imagine if cop walks on by and then next day is discovered the woman killed the guy moments after the cop were outta sight. that would be the mistake. the dog is distracting gd. that dog doesn't care about gd, so don't let it distract you. same scenario you describe with the cop legal on premises, but instead o' a big barking dog rushing towards the cop, is a young man with a kitchen knife. cop pulls his gun and accidentally shots the woman. does gd react same? gd focuses on dog. is always a mistake to focus on the animal. if you have seen wounds left by k-9 unit dogs, you would be appropriate afraid o' strange dogs. an angry dog o' even middling size can mess up your day if it chooses to. gd doesn't even see the other part o' the story which undercuts so many o' his previous claims. the cop, who has considerable training with firearms, missed the dog and shot the woman, which should not be any surprise at all. if you have one person armed in any tense situation, the chances o' somebody dying accidental or purpose is high. increase the number o' armed personas and danger increases or decreases? the multi-state portion o' the bar exam (the multiple choice portion) ordinarily included at least one question which were meant to trick you into sympathizing with an animal. don't fall into the trap. if you got a legal question, do not sympathize with lassie. HA! Good Fun!

not complete tongue-in-cheek. states may compel hunters to wear day-glow vests. if enough legislators believe there is a reasonable correlation 'tween the sinister appearance o' certain weapons and their use in mass shootings, am s'posing those sinister attributes could be prohibited. make certain all firearms is pink and coated in a paint resistant seal? can't very well claim your right to bear arms is abridged 'cause your weapon looks too childish or "girly." but the core problem remains. you gotta make law with objective standards broad enough so is meaningful and is resistant to those who will find ways to circumvent. what makes ar-15 appearance so appealing? well, it is black. other than that, it gets tougher to objective explain what makes it scary. and am knowing it sounds callous, but the mass shooting incidents involving ar-15 and weapons which look similar is a distraction to a much larger problem. tens o' thousands o' americans die in firearm homicides and accidents each year. the number o' deaths wherein an ar-15, or any long rifle is used, accounts for a tiny fraction o' those deaths. in point o' fact, blunt weapons not including human fists account for many more homicide deaths than rifles and shotguns per year, but every time a drunk man beats his wife and kids to death with a baseball bat there is no similar outrage against the louisville slugger folks. sure, the guy with the ar-15 and his admitted illegal ammo drum killed more people in a single incident, but... HA! Good Fun!

it is difficult to write a meaningful law which prohibits scary looking guns which will appeal to the worst instincts o' people who might eventual consider a mass shooting. perhaps require all firearms to be painted pink and adorned with a care bears motif? HA! Good Fun!