Gromnir

am knowing folks don't like to read more than headlines which reinforce their already held beliefs, so perhaps a picture instead... and apologies for oversize. keep in mind the big participation increase during the 70s-80s were resulting from women joining the workforce en masse. the recent recession resulted in a major drop off o' participation in workforce. current administration claims o' improvements in employment is functional almost rounding error worthy given how small they has been when looked at through prism o' comparative participation. and yeah, obama also used the fuzzy numbers to make his employment rates look better. HA! Good Fun!

as stated by hurl and others, focus on unemployment is myopic as is a single factor, which is itself misleading. got people employed in jobs where they cannot afford to live is a problem, no? the top 1% has done well in recent years, but is not the case for everybody else. is worse for manufacturing jobs and farmers who make up a disproportionate % o' trump's base, which make the "booming economy" claims downright puzzling as a selling point from the current admin. few people is doing worse in this economy than those who otherwise identify as trump base. furthermore... Unemployment Is Low, but That’s Only Part of the Story Sure, Unemployment Went Down - Because More People Left The Workforce consider unemployment rate w/o looking at the numbers o' folks who for whatever reason has given up on looking for a job is resulting in misleading stats. US has a much higher rate o' functional unemployment than recent administrations suggest... is not just a trump thing. US is behind most eu nations insofar as actual total employment is concerned. HA! Good Fun!

lotta disturbing false equivalency silliness has discouraged us from posting. the recent russia stuff were... curious. fascinating to learn russia ain't so bad 'cause the US sucks too. *insert eye roll* is similar bad reason to suggest current administration is business as usual and we wouldn't be anywhere different with other folks in the wh. even so, am needing to link don ayer piece from the atlantic. mr. ayer has been on msnbc and cnn of late... and for you kooks (you know who you are,) being on those networks doesn't justify ignoring the article referenced. is not 'bout anderson cooper or don lemon. if you want to skip ahead to mr. ayer, he begins at 3:33. one of top guys at doj during reagan and bush (41) administrations, and bill barr's boss. clerked for J. rehnquist. hic sunt dracones. HA! Good Fun!

am finally watching better call saul season 4. netflix. season 5 starts end of february. bestest tv lawyer all-time: _____________ john astin's gomez addams were our unchallenged number 1 for decades. might be a new king o' the hill. rhea seehorn as kim wexler. am not requiring our lawyer shows be accurate (again, gomez were our #1 lawyer after all,) but saul takes surprising few liberties with the legal stuff. even so, we had a hard time watching goliath 'cause it were so complete off-the-rails insofar as accuracy. we watched goliath 'cause billy bob thornton and nina arianda were excellent and in spite o' fact it were a law show. goliath does lawyers same way folks in johnny b goode were accurate showing football. better call saul characters and situations may be improbable, but the law is relative solid. regardless, am an unabashed fan o' kim wexler. sure, she is most likely gonna die in the upcoming season, but has been worth watching better call saul if for no other reason than more kim wexler. HA! Good Fun!

let's get this straight. skarp is using a child as a human shield to deflect an argument 'bout trump lies, and Gromnir is the villain in the scenario? the next time trump takes credit for veteran's choice, something he does frequent, and uses an anecdote o' a veteran to sell his mistruth, if Gromnir calls out trump on the lack o' honesty am s'posing it will be a case o' us attacking the veteran and taking a dump on the patriotic contribution o' those who served in the armed forces? *chuckle* has been awhile since we saw somebody try and use otter level deflection defense in real life. that said, am not sure the obsidian board, with skarp o' all posters trying to play otter's role, counts as rl. HA! Good Fun!

Trump’s story about Cincinnati veteran’s comeback was not quite true sure, trump played fast and loose with economic numbers, but he didn't even bother to be honest with his feel good stories in the state of the union address 'cause he knew it didn't matter. "Rankins, who indeed moved out of his car and into an apartment since landing a job refurbishing a Nashville hotel two years ago, doesn’t work at a site taking advantage of the breaks and never has done so. In fact, he started that job four months before the Treasury Department published its final list of neighborhoods eligible for the breaks. And the hotel where he worked couldn’t benefit even now because it’s an area that didn’t make the cut." ok, so trump lied... a little white lie where he took credit for a 1996 tax incentive program signed into law by bill clinton, but how 'bout the adorable little girl he saved with a scholarship? "Trump dramatically announced that a Philadelphia fourth-grader, Janiyah Davis, would be getting a scholarship that would allow her to transfer from a “failing government” school to a charter school of her choice. But The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that she had already been attending a charter school for months and that students there don’t have to pay tuition." doesn't matter. confront folks with reality and they will blame on fake news or the vindictive do-nothing democrats who have been out to get trump from day-1. blame immigrants? why not? am sure we can find some way to blame immigrants for trump lies. build the wall. maybe blame john kelly for not keeping his mouth shut? has nothing to do with current story but such has never stopped this administration. HA! Good Fun!

reverse. the reason we do not drink is 'cause o' pain and sleep issues. if alcohol worked to mitigate symptoms, we would use, and then we would eventually need to use more 'cause that is the way the liver processes alcohol. am actual extreme lucky we is one o' those rare folks who gets negligible beneficial results from opioids. if such worked, am suspecting we would so abuse 'em. perhaps gd could join a fight club? HA! Good Fun!

keep in mind the chief executive as envisioned by the founders were prohibitive unlikely to be an entity to which Congress would become servile. President were never a popular elected position in the traditional sense, which is why the electoral college complaints misidentify core problems. has also taken a long time for Congress to empower the Presidency to its current state by building the bureaucracy and making grants o' specific legislative function to the executive. finally, we have never had anybody so narcissistic and mendacious run for the office o' President and then get elected. more than servile, Congress became greedy and indollent. there were many rich guys in Congress over the years, but serving in Congress were not a great way to get rich. once again, we refer to citizens united as a recent and major turning point. also, Congress discovered, increasingly post nixon, it is better to suffer recriminations for doing nothing than it is to try and fail. the American public has become increasing frustrated with Congress and its inability to rouse itself to take on issues o' true national import, but Congressmen know they will get reelected just so long as voters remain frustrated instead o' genuine angry. voters get angry when Congress does, not when Congress fails to do. in related news John Kelly Finally Lets Loose on Trump too little. too late. HA! Good Fun!

keep in mind we do not like horror, so while am recognizing some south korean horror is well crafted in the kinda b-movie vein o' even the best movie horror... meh. we did see train to busan and if we didn't loathe zombie movies we mighta hated it less than... whatever. again, am admitted the wrong guy to judge horror. have seen stuff such as oldboy, which is kinda like tarantino at his worst but w/o humor. is nothing wrong with well choreographed gratuitous violence, but folks who were reading depth into oldboy were kidding themselves. lost 10 iq points watching snowpiercer. watched first half hour of the great battle before fatigue set in. popped the great battle disc out and replaced with ran. instant relief. swing kids? were fun ideas but were an utter mess. etc. no doubt you thinks the movies in question deserve more than a terse one-liner. we do not. is an additional condemnation we provided reflections on the good ones. every time we give sk movies a chance, we get smote. HA! Good Fun!

haven't seen the movie. am dreading seeing the movie. is a south korean movie. one o' our bedrock foundations in life has been the absolute knowledge contemporary south korean media, in all forms, is horrible. music. tv. movies. bad. bad. bad. has been no exceptions. evar. not even close exceptions. is ok south korean actors, but is as close to an exception as we have been exposed. am anticipating we will eventual see the movie and based on recommendations from more than a couple people who have similar tastes as Gromnir, am expecting we will also appreciate. what a terrible moment it will be. see parasite and agree it is good means the universe makes less sense. as such am not seeing parasite for as long as possible for no other reason than to protect the integrity o' the universe. HA! Good Fun!

opinion o' hillary is immaterial. in 2016 is no way gd believes we get the totality we described 'bove. sure, gd mighta' expected his standard conspiracy worthy stuff which woulda' included all kinda evils hidden just beyond the view o' the public that nobody but him and a few dozen conservative radio guys woulda' recognized for truth. however, none o' the stuff we describe is disputed facts. the public knows but chooses to view complete different depending on no substantive difference save party affiliation or tribalism or whatnot. regardless, the indifference o' Americans to extreme excess is NOT business as usual. get to this point is not business as usual. we have quoted ambrose bierce more than once and linked devil's dictionary definitions as well as the entirety o' the occurrence at owl creek bridge french movie which were the only instance o' the twilight zone airing an episode not created by rod serling. am no stranger to bierce and cynicism, but is no way we coulda' imagined we would be where we are today. HA! Good Fun!

as a northern california resident, hurl may be unaware o' the fact the weather sucks in most o' the country... it sucks 90% o' the year in most places. example: shady lived in az. tell him to bike home from work when it is 110F. summer in some part o' az seeming lasts 9 months o' the year. am knowing hurl has visited east coast. hilly cities such as boston and pittsburgh is not bicycle friendly. by comparison, chicago residents is so lucky 'cause is one o' the flatests cities we has ever seen (one o' the few advantages of being built on marshland) but if you have ever endured chicago winters, you can can only guess where such residents suggest placing your e- bike... oh, and summer T- storms and general wind means +20% o' non-winter days is like something out o' the wizard of oz. bicycle is a good idea for non 3-piece suit guy, but for those living outside northern california, is gonna have less functionality than hurl suggests. HA! Good Fun!

sweating? Americans should be angry. where is the anger? am no longer shocked. four years ago you predict President hillary would collude and obstruct regarding russian election interference, but doj won't pursue criminal 'gainst Pres and the collusion is just shy o' criminal conspiracy. fbi boss is fired because o' the investigation into hillary and President's wh counsel refuses to lie to press 'bout reasons behind such, but even then we get no obstruction charges. Pres hillary can't get an infrastructure program implemented and Congress specific refuses to fund, so she declares inability to fund is an emergency and then, following a government shutdown which costs the nation billions, takes money from DoD, money which would go towards rebuilding housing destroyed during recent hurricanes as well as pilfering funds which would otherwise be allocated to much needed national levee repair projects. Pres hillary then active conspires with a foreign power to investigate a political rival and when gets caught doing so, dems pretend as if is no biggie... after which those who testified 'gainst Pres hillary is punished in various petty and dishonorable ways. military commanders and former generals keep resigning from her staff in protest and her staff becomes a parade o' lap dogs and yes men. oh, and when one o' the d-bags related to the election collusion and obstruction stuff does get convicted, Pres hillary steps in and gets the doj to change their sentence recommendation after were submitted to the judge, at which point every prosecutor involved save a guy filling in for an individual who were becoming a Pres hillary appointee resigns en masse in protest... and the hillary appointee sudden no longer is an appointee and won't need testify before Congress in the upcoming week. oh, and Pres hillary not only cozies up with just 'bout every major authoritarian leader you might care to mention, but she throws montenegro under the bus even after the russians resorted to an overt coup attempt in part to prevent that nation from joining nato. ... is not as gd suggests. is not anything like business as usual. if you had given even cynical gd the aforementioned Pres hillary examples pre 2016 election, am guessing he woulda' thought you were a deranged chicken little. nobody predicted this. wors, nobody woulda' predicted relative indifference o' near 1/2 the country. as to the blame silliness... blame media. blame judges. blame immigrants. blame Constitution. only positive is such obtuseness is a useful litmus test for ignorance. HA! Good Fun!

"Four federal prosecutors withdrew from the Roger Stone case on Tuesday, hours after the Justice Department took the unusual step of intervening in the case to seek a shorter sentence for the longtime ally of the president." and Trump says military may consider discipline for ousted aide Vindman also Top Navy SEAL commander to resign after apparent disagreements with Trump ...

how strongly do you feel bout that? am knowing it were intentional, but makes our brain itch seeing you take a position o' relative indifference and then using an exclamation point to do so. unpopular opinions, none o' which we feels particular strong 'bout: rtwp v tb is stuff folks get their panties in a twist 'bout but ain't near as important as most suggest! chris avellone, excepting the ravel puzzlewell character from ps:t, is overrated! fallout's SPECIAL is not special! sci fi v. fantasy setting choice is even less important a consideration than rtwp v. tb! amongst the worst mistakes a game developer could make is to give fans what they want! balance is a vital concern in any crpg! HA! Good Fun!

honest, we woulda' thought amentep's answer were a reflexive given. HA! Good Fun!

the animal thing is actual kinda common. wanna work for google and get asked the animal question? will get 1/4 people answering "the google bugdroid." HA! Good Fun!

well, that were our point 'bout agreement with chris matthews. "socialism," good or bad, is what any speaker wants it to be, and nobody describes what they actual mean when the curse or applaud socialism, so is less than helpful to applaud or complain w/o an explanation o' specific concerns. where chris matthews were correct is his recognition that bernie needs to start answering tough questions. bernie needs to answer questions rather than indulging in the classic pivot. ask how he is gonna pay for all the stuff he is promising? bernie response: how can we afford to not start paying? pivots is no more useful than the socialism label. am agreeing the divisive nature o' the 2020 Presidential race mirrors US society as a whole and is o' prime concern, but am not seeing a way to stop the fire w/o a candidate or a message which a significant % o' americans could embrace regardless o' party loyalties and historical biases. likely haven't seen this level o' divisiveness in five decades. trump sure ain't gonna channel his inner fred rogers anytime soon. kamala harris bothered us 'cause she were too caustic. bernie learned lesson and lets bernie bros do the dirty work? from the snl skit this last weekend “I don’t know how or why it happened, but I am king of an army of internet trolls called Bernie Bros,” Sanders said. “Could I stop them in their tracks? Of course. Should I? Yes. Will I? Eh. Hillary Clinton says nobody likes me. Let me ask you this, then how come I’m the most popular guy on 4chan?” shouldn't be up to a President to repair eroding US faith in fellow Americans, but am similarly unable to imagine anybody other than a President capable o' such. Jesus Christ could show up on steps o' the Lincoln Memorial tomorrow calling for all peoples 'cross the globe to set aside their differences and accept the great gifts given to them by the father in the spirit o' universal love and harmony. am having no doubt it would take trump less than a day to go to twitter condemning the second coming as a wimp and a traitor to real christian values. at least 30% o' Americans would agree with trump. am wanting to believe the divisiveness is a momentary blunder as Americans move forward towards a brighter tomorrow, but we have never been as naive as schiff https://www.stltoday.com/news/national/schiff-this-year-fewer-people-live-in-freedom-than-before/video_d9ee1152-dc5a-5603-bdba-2dd204e5b6d6.html have mentioned many times previous, even before the trump Presidency, truth is societies is as capable o' rot as they is o' maturity. work towards hope that next generation will be better than the last is laudable and a worthy goal, but is not a forgone conclusion and will not happen w/o many stepping forward to protect those freedoms we current take for granted. is the reason we is so opposed to activist judges and justices, but am s'posing such is fodder for a different post. last observation is a recognition o' how extreme taxes on stuff such as alcohol and tobacco has done little to curb American usage. outright bans has been similar failures. those taxes has been good business for organized crime, but has been historical ineffective. consensus regarding deleterious effects o' alcohol, tobacco, junk food and excessive work hours won't stop americans from indulging in products and behaviours regardless o' government attempts to limit. and like it or not, the US is not a european nation. too big and too diverse to analogize simple. we don't even have the possibility o' a national police force here in the US, which means actual implementation o' government restrictions depends on sheriff in some nameless county indiana applying same as a much different police or sheriff department in new york or alabama or california. HA! Good Fun!

and we keep pointing out how ignoring total popular vote is a mistake. is a reason other than ego why trump kept trying to claim he actual won the popular vote by imagining millions o' fraudulent votes for hillary. his impotence the first two years o' his administration, in spite o' having party majorities in both house and senate were due in part to his gross incompetence, but also 'cause he were not popular enough compared to clinton. actual enumerated powers o' the President is limited. the chief executives who were able to get stuff done had a mandate from the people. a mandate from people is not electoral college and trump knew such. reagan and obama came into office with large vote totals and were able to implement major policy changes. popularity, like it or not is gonna be measured 'gainst the runner-up. there is a consequence to throwing away a vote on a third party candidate in what once again appears to be an election which will be decided by mere % points and a few hundred thousand voters spread across the battleground states. am personal not gonna do anything which helps empower trump. oh, and if there were a 3rd party candidate who genuine spoke to us and appeared capable o' handling the job, then we would vote for (unnamed,) but use our vote for a 3rd party option to do little more than object to the two major candidates is not constructive. in the absence o' a candidate who genuine resonates, am choosing to vote for whoever makes trump less impactful. HA! Good Fun!

am not certain if we can agree with this. am also not certain full blown socialism is the tipping point for gd or most other independents to say nothing o' moderate democrats. reverse. is no different than full blown free market capitalism. well of course nobody is calling for full blown capitalism. eh. maybe a couple folks, but not many. socialism as debated in context o' the US politics and economics is not a fixed system o' inherent interconnected policies. shady and gd could easily have very different ideas as to what constitutes acceptable socialism and am suspecting full blown is not the appropriate measure for the vast majority o' folks concerned 'bout such issues. yeah, is a few pure capitalists and socialists who huddle in shadowed corners and come out only during the hour of the wolf on nights when there is dark of the moon. there is indeed folks calling for full blown socialism and full blown capitalism, and internet makes 'em quote worthy exceptions, but would be unfair to use such folks as stand ins for any current campaign-- democrat or republican. HA! Good Fun! ps 'cause bernie only talks in grand sense, is difficult for supporters and opponents to pin him down regarding where he exists on the socialist continuum. full blown? unlikely, but again, full blown is not gonna be the bridge too far for most voters.

am agreeing with chris matthews, but probable not exact same as gd. somebody needs to start asking bernie tougher questions. elizabeth warren, like her or hate her, can answer questions 'bout how she is gonna pay for all the bright new toys she promises, and we know exact where she stands on virtual every issue. bernie is less certain. the lack o' certainty has, so far, been good for his campaign 'cause is less likely drive folks away for practical reasons related to implementation or policy. serious flame brands and more moderate democrats may both support bernie just so long as we don't know what exactly he is selling. the following happened a few days past and were similar bothersome to us. bernie folks selling the us v. them bit with "billionaires" being the evil them. not just nina or a few folks. is one o' the new rallying cries, or so it seems. blame on billionaires is just so cheap and easy for bernie folks and is becoming a mindless refrain rather than a point o' real discussion. if having money is making a person bad, then bernie and warren is terrible people deserving o' scorn and ridicule. am knowing there ain't gonna be much sympathy for billionaires 'round these parts, but jason johnson were right on this point. "oligarch" is tame compared to some o' the labels being bandied 'bout by the bernie folks. am thinking most o' us agree it were wrong for somebody in the warren campaign to leak bernie's previous observations 'bout women Presidential candidates right before iowa, but am understanding some o' the frustration the various campaigns is feeling when dealing with bernie supporters and their social media antics. https://thebulwark.com/bern-it-all-down/ we always gave credit to bernie regarding the consistency o' his outspoken views on violence and bullies. bernie were vocal and unequivocal with his condemnation o' antifa shenanigans. the thing is, his campaign is indeed embracing increasing divisive and unrestrained elements 'bout which more recent he has been uncharacteristically silent. perhaps we would be willing to endure his billionaire blame game if he were more outspoken 'bout chastising some o' the more unsavory elements in his campaign. am bothered by his silence. course am gonna once again observe, in spirit o' full disclosure, we ain't a big bernie fan. am thinking he is good for the campaign 'cause he forces Americans to discuss relevant issues such as income disparity, but he ain't our horse in this race save for unpleasant scenario where we end up with bernie v. trump. HA! Good Fun!

List of underclassmen granted eligibility for 2020 NFL Draft for many it is a good idea to bolt for the nfl. rbs, in particular, have statistically short nfl careers. an extra year in college may decrease value o' rbs. the thing is, many o' these folks who has declared for the draft will not go in the first 3 rounds and has relative slim chances o' making nfl rosters. is nothing preventing players with unfulfilled nfl aspirations from going back and finishing school... other than time and money and family and... always have mixed feelings when we see the underclassmen lists. HA! Good Fun!

mentioned previous how am of the opinion the strength o' ds9 were that while it maintained roddenberry values, it were more cynical and less naïve than star trek media more fully realized by gene. have observed how our favorite ds9 were in the pale moonlight. never woulda' gotten the ds9 sisko character from roddenberry, or the ds9 religious themes related to bajorans. moral ambivalence regarding terrorism? not a chance. honestly, am doubtful tng chain of command gets made save for fact roddenberry had died the previous year. closet land were released in 1991 and had a major influence on the star trek folks. chain o' command were last tng episode aired previous to ds9's emissary. am recalling how the guy who played captain jellico (sp?) in the two-parter torture episode (forget his name... from deliverance and beverly hills cop) specific observed how much he enjoyed the conflict his character brought to the enterprise, particular as such conflict were avoided by roddenberry, so he were kinda the first guy to bring such conflict to the star trek crew. agree or disagree, that is how actors felt. am not saying roddenberry dying were good for star trek, 'cause am recognizing how shows following ds9 coulda' benefitted from his vision. nevertheless, am believing ds9 were unique benefiting from being the first star trek where all the good ideas folks involved in the shows and movies had needed to suppress so long as gene's singular vision controlled all, sudden became viable. creative folks with their own vision had freedom to stretch and grow while nevertheless (conscious or unconscious) maintaining the integrity o' star trek fundamentals... whatever those is. HA! Good Fun! ps for folks who have not seen, we cannot recommend closet land (1991) enough. you will not want to see it more than once, but is worth seeing.

when reading the 'bove post, complete inexplicable, we thought of the tax breaks manufacturing industry business is getting from this administration to allow 'em to better face industry competitors as well as the billions in subsidies farmers is receiving to prevent 'em from suffering the effects o' free market forces. nevertheless, republicans may go to sleep tonight knowing they is safe from the scourge o' socialism as long as trump is 'round to protect 'em. HA! Good Fun!

wasn't gonna correct, but we had a couple observations, which in retrospect is so unnecessary 'cause the President's (and fox news parrots and other supporters) process arguments is utterly w/o merit and just so... stoopid. evil dems felt confident enough to bring this thing to trial so obviously they didn't need an eyewitness who was at every important meeting and can give us a first hand account of the most important events relevant to the matter before the senate. is a fantastic excuse for excluding such evidence. *groan* however, we do have one more observation 'bout the carville article linked 'bove. lsu graduation rate might be a teensee bit o' an exaggeration to say lsu has an "unusually high graduation rate." ranks 81 on list o' 4yr publics? am agreeing the nyt bit were arrogant and divisive, and just the kinda thing which is making it more difficult for democrats to chip away at trump's base, but carville's factual representation is a stretch. HA! Good Fun!