Gromnir

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!

we always asked applicants we were interviewing at least one oddball question complete unrelated to job qualifications. literal asked somebody, "if you were a type of pasta, what type of pasta would you be? why?" interviews revealed to us what the applicant thought we wanted to hear from them rather than anything 'bout who they were. sure, we would ask obscure technical questions which would tell us if an applicant were genuine qualified, but were tougher to figure out if we were being shined on 'bout character and personality. the stoopid questions which would not have been something they prepared for a thousand times were often more illuminating 'bout who we were interviewing even if it seemed like such were just Gromnir being a jerk. ... don't think we ever used google for such unrelated questions. woulda' kinda defeat the point if it were something which would come up frequent in an internet search. oh, and our favorite answer to a stoopid Gromnir interview question were as follows: "that is the single dumbest question anybody has asked me in my entire life. ever." honest thought we would get such more frequent but it only happened once. hired. HA! Good Fun!

“We’re losing our damn minds”: James Carville unloads on the Democratic Party other than his defense o' the hillary clinton campaign, am largely agreeing. admitted, we tend to use fewer profanities, but such paucity o' four-letter words in our impassioned arguments is a personal affectation less than it is a judgement. as an aside, there is a picture we got o' our self alongside J. Scalia and José Pertierra taken at a barbecue with all o' us in casual attire. amuses us 'cause almost everybody who sees the picture reads something complete different into the image. oh, and let us make clear the image were a once-in-a-lifetime kinda thing. am not claiming to be (or have been) a peer o' either individual. weird coincidence which resulted in a memorable moment. HA! Good Fun!

am knowing the simpsons were being funny, but is not untrue... though hardly complete true. the US federal system is the founder's solution to the plagues spawned by athenian democracy. is no need for three branches o' government in a true democracy. is no need for purposeful design which favors bipartisan in a true democracy. is no need for a bill of rights, which is specifically a limit on potential tyranny o' the majority in a true democracy. tribalism is bad as our hillary and pelosi examples stress. in 2020 we are so polarized that groups may and do look at same actions done by trump or clinton or pelosi, and depending on no real change save party affiliation, bad actions become laudable and vice-versa? is one o' the nightmares o' the founders. founders determined that one o' the bestest ways to deal with tribalism were to craft intentional gridlock into the system, 'cause democracy, true democracy, doesn't work. HA! Good Fun!

with another superbowl in the rearview mirror, it is now officially (well, maybe not official) nfl draft season. two consensus best players available are qb joe burrow and de/olb chase young. qbs will once again get disproportionate press. justin herbert senior bowl practice week has propelled him up the board a few notches and nfl.com suggest he is now the #2 qb on many/most draft boards. http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-draft/0ap3000001099024/Justin-Herbert-highlights-2020-Reese-s-Senior-Bowl http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000001101022/article/threeround-2020-nfl-mock-draft-10-dolphins-pass-on-tua tua camp has been kinda hedging on his post-op progress o' late and while they remain positive, they is now saying the 3-month post op mri will be determinative. *shrug* regardless, is 3 qbs (for now) who appear locks for first round: burrow, tagovailoa and herbert. additional, is likely 1-2 o' the following three will also go first round: eason, love, and fromm. HA! Good Fun!

... uh. ... HA! Good Fun!

ok, so space force is kinda silly and unnecessary, but that don't mean we oppose it. *sigh* is the kinda transactional badness we recent derided in the politics thread, so am gonna do our mea culpas right from the start recognizing is wrong to indulge a wrong just to get what you want. the thing is, nasa and government investment in civilian space applications has benefited most when there has been a military driven raison d'être for the US space program. during space race with the soviet union, there were a couple years where nasa budget were ~4.5% o' total US gdp. steady drop since moon landing and functional soviet capitulation o' the race. the US current total defense budget is less than 3.5% o' total gdp. current nasa budget languishes under .5% total gdp. every President who cuts nasa budget gets our complaints and criticisms. space force is cartoony and stoopid, but if it means nasa benefits, then our deal with the devil is struck. isn't enough for us to keep trump in office, but we won't complain 'bout space force. nevertheless recognize how the self-aware hypocrite is perhaps worst kind. HA! Good Fun!

am not suggesting pelosi actions were ok or innocuous 'cause o' trump fails. so missing the point. is an acknowledgment o' hypocrisy on an issue which does nobody any good 'cause it further divides. to observe sudden derision o' what were a positive moments before pelosi did is hardly what is whataboutism. so missing the point... as usual. HA! Good Fun!

am not a democrat, so this may have less impact we had no illusions 'bout impeachment trial. we knew it were doomed from the start. we nevertheless supported impeachment 'cause this President made it impossible for men o' conscience to continue to ignore his continuing and flagrant disregard of the Constitution. if it makes @MedicineDan feel better, we have some sympathy for your plight. again, Gromnir is largely conservative, so as often as not we were one o' a small number o' opposing view obsidian board posters on any number o' issues in recent years. obama foreign policy, bush "lies" 'bout wmds, israel, kaepernick sitting out the anthem and a whole laundry list o' issues has had us not perfect aligning with the republican narrative, but clear opposed to most democrats. am recognizing how you have painted a target on self by being that guy and we do sympathize. however, being conservative does not require a defense o' trump. trump is petty, mendacious and willing to use any underhanded trick he thinks he can get away with to promote himself. whatever transactional reasoning you come up with to legitimize the continued defense and even support o' trump must, in our mind, give way to the overriding concerns o' character and Constitutional integrity which clear show trump's lack o' fitness to hold any public trust much less to occupy the office of the President of the United States of America. HA! Good Fun! ps is amusing all the republicans qq over pelosi when trump has daily been rejecting norms and values since before he became President. those same trump supporters who often cheer the President for being so real when he acts like a spoiled child is now pointing fingers at pelosi? the hypocrisy is thick and would be laughable if not for fact it is just another brick in the intangible but nevertheless effective wall between them and us... which, btw, makes it a far more effective wall than the silliness at the southern border, spending for which coulda' gone to actual beneficial infrastructure projects.

is an ez way to see just how transparently vacuous the republican process arguments regarding impeachment is: change a mere handful o' facts. President hillary clinton has a call with zelensky on july 25... asks ukrainians to investigate jeb bush. only person she ever asks the ukrainians to investigate regarding corruption is jeb bush. obviously all appointed positions o' Prez hillary is gonna have different names (no mulvaney or bolton or pompeo) but have facts be otherwise identical. one other fact change is that house of representatives is a republican majority. so, play out impeachment and trial exact same up until articles reach the senate. republican house attempts to get documents and witnesses but Prez hillary stonewalls total. similar witnesses make similar testimony 'bout near similar events. same. same. same. so, same articles reach senate regarding Prez hillary. what does mitch mcconnell and the republicans do with same articles from their republican house brothers and sisters? well obviously mitch and senate republicans and fox news and medicineD decry the failure of the house of representatives to fully investigate the President. *insert eye roll here* is any doubt witnesses woulda' been called and subpoenas for documents issued if were republican house going after Prez hillary? ... the process stuff, from the start, were a bs excuse. republicans who wanted (needed) a reason to acquit were fed pap they could easily swallow just as long as they didn't think 'bout the situation reasonable. HA! Good Fun!

have mentioned previous how our views on affirmative action have changed. am not suggesting one need be straightjacketed. nevertheless, if views change, is good to ask why. explanation is required, yes? otherwise appears, at best, fickle. at worst? we were sympathetic towards bill clinton's impeachment, right up until he perjured himself. the idea the whitewater investigation would lead to a stained dress were kinda embarrassing and we chastised republicans for indulging such obvious overreach. even so, we couldn't accept clinton lying under oath. failure o' republicans to play fair did not exonerate clinton's perjury. am not seeing how so many republicans who sought to political crucify clinton could simple change their mind 'bout what constitutes impeachable offenses and what is a President's duty to comply with Congressional oversight. if you tell us such were an evolution o' thought process you are gonna understand our lack o' faith, yes? reasons offered so far do not appear to be so much fickle as they is mercenary and self serving. from start this whole ukraine thing were all kinda ugly as the wh tried and bury the ig report on the whistleblower complaint regarding the july call 'tween trump and zelensky. ig needed to step up and step forward 'cause wh were not following requirements imposed on them by law regarding an ig report once it were determined to be urgent and credible. am not certain how that issue keeps getting swept aside. is noteworthy such were only the first o' many acts by the wh which had our head spinning. is no excuse whatsoever for burying the ig report, and yes, as is violation o' statute, is technical a crime to fail such reporting. pretty much a day 1 fail... and went downhill from that point. can change mind. however, when the change appears on its face to be partisan or self serving or biased, then am thinking is appropriate for people such as Gromnir to be suspicious o' motives. is hard to believe so many republicans and democrats evolved. w/o some evidence, am not believing the motivations o' either group. however, like it or not, this is one situation where consistency adds credibility in our mind, particular when is consistent and against interest. woulda' been far easier for romney on 2/6/2020 if on 2/5/2020 he had voted not to convict. imagine motives which is contrary to interests is less than compelling and require a bit of imagination, yes? is another situation we ain't gonna change hearts and minds. doomed. nevertheless, am thinking romney is right 'bout history. yeah, republican voters will forgive, but history's rebuke will be felt by more than one senator who did not do as romney and vote their conscience. HA! Good Fun!