Gromnir

we learned the info from watching a pbs series in the late 70s... were a bbc release in 1978 episode 8 is the installment which contains the gorrie reference. btw, even though connections is a 1970s science show, it holds up remarkable well 'cause is reflecting on past scientific discoveries and how those incremental advances... connect. highly recommend watching the series if you are able to find it. (edit) looks as if at least the first four episodes is available via youtube. is ten total episodes. HA! Good Fun!

generalizing that the left is adversarial to religion is a bit much, no? sure, is some liberals who believe religion is the source o' all evil, but such is a growing position 'mongst the not evangelical conservatives as well, and 'mongst younger people as a whole. @ShadySands grew up in the south yes? am thinking he no doubt knows more than a few ardent religious people and communities that is gonna skew towards liberal voting. as such, the book author suggesting race is an important correlative factor gains traction, yes? regardless, as usual, you are trying to cram an issue into your they are all bad meta ideology and it don't fit as easily as you believe. 'course the author o' the book you mention might not be 100% correct neither-- can't say as we ain't read the book. that said, am thinking gd misapprehension is illustrative o' the success o' the current gop strategy and conservative media efforts to portray liberals as anti-religion. reality is immaterial if folks such as gd believe. is a new kinda religion. and to be fair, evangelicals were indulging in the victimization mentality way before trump and the current gop rose to prominence. 'course the author's toxic masculinity as a driver takes a hit when you consider the abortion issue from pov o' enlightened historical reflection. pre mid/late 1960s, american catholics overwhelming voted democrat. what changed were the abortion issue, and more specific it were catholic women as the driving force behind the pro life movement. what gd dismisses is at the core o' the problem: religion often erases the possibility o' a balancing exercise. there are no pros and cons when once you put the fate of your immortal soul in the balance. abortion is a perfect example o' this dynamic. IF you honest believe thousands of unborn children are being murdered every year, and many christians do believe such, it is difficult to balance a scale with a counter argument. the murder o' innocent children yet to be born is evil. period. if an absolute position is the starting point, there is very little room for moral negotiation, yes? gonna repeat, catholic women drove the pro life movement and it weren't at all cynical even if you believe such beliefs is wrongheaded. evangelicals is kinda ahead o' the curve (bad way) in american politics as they has common suffered from hypo polarization on a range o' issues. for evangelicals, all too many issues is wedge issues which create the binary us v. them silliness have previous posted a link to a rolling stone article we found intriguing in part 'cause it caught us off guard. article questions why evangelicals embraced trump, albeit not initial, in spite o' his most unchristian values. "Trump was exactly the type of character you would expect “values voters” to summarily reject — even before the famed “grab ’em by the ****” tape, the optics weren’t great. He never gained a majority of Christian votes in the primary. Even after he secured the nomination and named Mike Pence to be his VP, a survey of Protestant pastors conducted by Christian polling group LifeWay Research that summer found that only 39 percent of evangelical pastors planned to vote for him." ... "By creating a narrative of an evil “deep state” and casting himself — a powerful white man of immense generational wealth — as a victim in his own right, Trump not only tapped into the religious right’s familiar feeling of persecution, but he also cast himself as its savior, a man of flesh who would fight the holy war on its behalf. “There’s been a real determined effort by the left to try to separate Trump from his evangelical base by shaming them into, ‘How can you support a guy like this?’ ” Jeffress tells me. “Nobody’s confused. People don’t care really about the personality of a warrior; they want him to win the fight.” And Trump’s coming to that fight with a firebrand’s feeling, turning the political stage into an ecstatic experience — a conversion moment of sorts — and the average white evangelical into an acolyte, someone who would attend rallies with the fever of revivals, listen to speeches as if they were sermons, display their faithfulness with MAGA hats, send in money as if tithing, and metaphorically bow down, again and again, at the altar of Donald Trump, who delivers the nation from its transgressions." ... “I don’t think he’s godly, Alex,” my aunt tells me. “I just think he stands up for Christians. Trump’s a fighter. He’s done more for the Christian right than Reagan or Bush. I’m just so thankful we’ve got somebody that’s saying Christians have rights too.” But what about the rights and needs of others, I wonder. “Do you understand why someone could be called by their faith to vote against a party that separates families?” “That’s a big sounding board, but I don’t think that is the issue,” says my mom. “But it’s happening, and I’m not OK with it.” My mom shakes her head. “No one’s OK with it.” “If that’s your heart, then vote your heart,” says my aunt. “But with the abortion issue and the gay-rights issue, Trump’s on biblical ground with his views. I appreciate that about him.” “As Christians, do you feel like you’re under attack in this country?” I ask. “Yes,” my mom says adamantly. “When did you start feeling that way?” “The day that Obama put the rainbow colors in the White House was a sad day for America,” my aunt replies. “That was a slap in God’s face. Abortion was a slap in his face, and here we’ve killed 60 million babies since 1973. I believe we’re going to be judged. I believe we are being judged.” abortion we understood as a wedge issue, but the rainbow flag? am recommending reading the entire article. as we noted previous, we didn't understand the evangelical pov quite the way we thought we did. HA! Good Fun!

our first competitive open water swim were not our finest athletic moment. HA! Good Fun!

those waters has always had shark issues. south o' monterey to north o' san francisco is relative dangerous and such were the case when we did matriculate at cal. the thing is, the statistics tell us shark attacks is considerable less probable compared to being involved in a car accident driving from san jose to monterey, but am admitting shark fear is a bit more primal. in any event, 'cause is so few shark attacks per year (again, relative speaking), is difficult to come up with meaningful statistics. a few extra attacks in a season results in a major change in the statistics. get these peculiar spikes and people blame on el niño, kelp bed decimation or even sunspots. correlation v. causation. regardless, am terrified o' few things, but sharks is near the top o' the list. no agency. life or death is depending on a dead-eyed eating machine? HA! Good Fun!

mechanical ac were invented in 1850, and it didn't work as intended. yes, the invention cooled air and eventual led to modern refrigeration, but a doctor were attempting to prevent his patients from catching malaria. at the time malaria were believed to be caused not by disease carried and transmitted by mosquitos but by bad air-- fetid swamp gasses and the like. look at the word: mal aria. so dr. john gorrie creates a contraption for generating cool air which would displace the bad swamp air o' his hospital ward. as kinda an afterthought, doc gorrie recommended patient beds be surrounded by mosquito netting to make the sick and infirm more comfortable. point is, ac has been around a fair amount o' time, perhaps longer than many suspect. weren't a last couple days kinda situation, so the "grumpy" posts (multiple posts and plural grumpies) 'bout sacramento heat almost certain did not predate the availability o' ac. am predicting a long summer. the good news for grumpy cat is the utility bills is not near as bad as one might suspect, even with peak and off-peak hour bumps. we used more than 2x as much electricity in december 2021 as July 2021. 'cause o' summer rate hikes we most certain did not pay half as much for the july bill, but we did pay $61 more for our december bill ($220) as 'posed to july ($159)... and keep in mind we got a not new, 2800 sqft and two-story home... with a water heater way past its replacement date. the only energy saving features we got is our wash and dryer is newish and we replaced the shake roof with steel. regardless, our home is not a model o' energy efficiency by any stretch. regardless, am always surprised by how relative not terrible is our summer bills for electricity. yeah, for us this is the worst part. is one o' the numerous reasons why the wildfires make life less pleasant. even if it does cool down outside when the sun sets, from mid july all too often the literal hazardous air quality means you keep windows shut. HA! Good Fun!

this is arguable one o' the big mistakes o' democrats in the US as they is framing the question similar as majestic. is reasonable and makes sense, but it should be irrelevant. if bob murders his wife 'cause he truly believed she were having an affair, is the murder ok? 'course not. insofar as murder charges is concerned, it doesn't matter if mrs. bob were a trollop or not, and it sure don't matter if mr. bob thought she were cheating. what bob did were wrong and he knew or shoulda' know it were wrong. now if bob aimed a gun at mrs. bob and he may convince a jury he honest believed the gun weren't loaded, then he could present a defense to murder with intent. trump loaded the gun and pointed it at America. a defense that trump believed the b!tch deserved to die is as irrelevant for tump as it is for bob. trump were part o' a plan to impede, obstruct and/or prevent the transfer o' power from his Presidency to biden's. doesn't matter he thought he were justified as if the question may be framed as some kinda moral question. converse, the individuals who were part o' the false state certificates part o' the plan has some legitimacy in declaring ignorance. if the not-electors genuine believed their alternative slates would only be used in the case o' trump success in court, as they were convinced by trump lawyers, then when such slates were used for another purpose, their ignorance could arguably bar some kinda specific intent threshold. many o' the false electors were conned into doing something illegal. now am understanding why political speaking it makes a difference if trump followers who believe the election were stolen and who is not wanting to admit even to themselves they were duped is embracing the honest belief nonsense as if it provides a defense to the particular crimes. Democrat politicians need convince some % o' trump followers that his actions were bad and not mere illegal. too many trump followers believe the b!tch deserves to die. however, notice how none o' the january 6 rioters is successful using a defense that they legit believed the election were stolen to avoid prosecution? trump don't gain some kinda special defense his followers is unable to avail themselves. am understanding why democrats is fighting republicans on republican terms, but it is irrelevant as a matter o' law. HA! Good Fun!

the january 6 hearings thus far make it clear the following people (at the very least) should all be taking the fifth: mark meadows rudy jeffrey clark john eastman and add ron johnson to the list the former President is an unusual case. as a practical matter, criminal prosecutions are gonna favour a well-represented defendant; the system is designed to the advantage o' defendants, but such benefits is only actualized if you are able to afford the best representation. conspiracy to obstruct the peaceful transfer o' power in general, and the january 6 electoral college count more specific, makes some kind trump belief he were robbed o' the election a non-factor from a legal pov, but such is gonna nevertheless be communicated ad nauseum to a jury, and a majority o' republicans as o' the most recent polling reveals they believe trump were cheated out o' a second term as President. trump is the current high priest o' the gop and his january 6 narrative has already become part o' the religious dogma o' the faith. am suspecting the doj is aware folks who don't wanna convict trump are gonna need more than an ordinary smoking gun to convince them to do so. any jury trial o' trump is gonna be a gamble and ordinarily the doj don't do vegas odds. HA! Good Fun! ps btw, try multiple o' the aforementioned fifth amendment candidates and get a couple o' em to turn on trump and be witness for the prosecution would change the dynamic considerable.

*chuckle* so, bout the sacramento valley heat today is first day of summer and wildfire season hasn't even started. mid july through late september is gonna be unpleasant given worsening drought. news report from last year o' a typical few days: HA! Good Fun!

a couple from sweet charity maybe or maybe not recognizing ben vereen in the linked vid sammy davis appreciation has fallen off a bit in Gromnir's lifetime, which is a shame as he were monumental talented. and what the heck... add the obvious can't help but admit am a fosse fan in spite o' his historic jerkdom. HA! Good Fun!

we became the king of siam last night, but then we realized we were dreaming we were yul brynner... again. HA! Good Fun!

no such excuse for us. starting tomorrow and for the next week the area temps is gonna be 100F. as a result we did yard work and a whole lotta cooking 'cause am not gonna wanna be using anything other than a microwave oven or outdoor grill for a while. heck, we didn't even go to berkeley which were part o' our ordinary pre-pandemic observance for juneteenth. color us embarrassed. HA! Good Fun!

gotta embrace us v. them. when china and russia do autocracy bit and pervert the rule of law it is bad. when the US does so it is also bad... but not if the US is trying to stop bad people? that said, have seen this same thing from boardies who vilify cops, conservatives and politicians collective and regardless o' the specific facts o' a situation; is not only a bruce fail. however, we will note dallas cowboys fandom is a special exception to our recognition o' the unforgivable and insidious nature o' bigotry. thou shalt not suffer jerry jones or a cowboys fan... unrelated (maybe) and in anticipation o' hearings tomorrow, brookings did a rather comprehensive review o' the georgia situation. is 'bout 110 pages if you wanna read the full report. am suspicious many save Gromnir has/will read, but is worth the effort if one is wanting a more nuanced perspective from folks who understand the relevant legal and political issues. is plenty to unpack, but for those with short attention spans, the shortest version o' the conclusions reached is as follows: even with only public available facts available to drive an analysis, trump and numerous members o' his administration is facing real and serious jeopardy o' criminal prosecution for their interventions in Georgia's efforts related to the 2020 Presidential Election. however, it cannot be ignored that those who would be bringing charges is democrats and it will be difficult to overcome the public perception o' a prosecution which amounts to political vendetta. but again, the reason am offering is for those curious 'bout possible trump crimes and defenses, which is a bit more nuanced than is gonna fit in a twitter length response. as such the short version is not offering much value. HA! Good Fun!

am gonna admit am mild surprise seeing the f-14. woulda' expected an f-15 variant. HA! Good Fun!

the feds and prosecutors no doubt had people read navarro's... book. sure, insofar as court proceedings, most material from the book is hearsay unless it qualifies as an admission or some other limited exception, but if you are prosecuting navarro you would need read regardless to determine what scope o' privilege has pete already surrendered and as possible impeachment o' testimony material, 'cause proof o' a tendency to be untruthful is always admissible unless is too prejudicial. regardless, is a certainty multiple highly skilled professionals has been compelled to read navarro's book, which is a kinda crime in and of itself. HA! Good Fun!

am forced to admit the one cat impersonation we wouldn't be embarrassed by is originating from a most unlikely source: a former dallas cowboy. The Life & Legacy of FVSU Alum Rayfield Wright "Following the conclusion of his career, Wright prioritized giving back by raising money for college scholarships through the Rayfield Wright Foundation, helping to start a home for at-risk boys in East Texas, and supporting charities like the Make-A-Wish Foundation." HA! Good Fun!

but admit it, you would be ecstatic if he were pretending to be the sisko... maybe even quark. HA! Good Fun!

Navarro Seriously Cites His Jan. 6 Book Tour in Bid for Trial Delay in case you miss the funny... navarro is being prosecuted for contempt o' Congress in part 'cause o' his refusal to discuss with Congress issues and events 'bout which he had revealed to the public by means o' book he had published. curious, navarro is claiming privilege as the basis for his refusal to discuss, although the ex-President would be the individual with the privilege in spite o' fact the ex-President hasn't invoked privilege as to the matter... not that an ex-President has he capacity to invoke such privilege. regardless, is mind-blowing to claim privilege as a bar on testimony if you not only already made the subject matter public in a book, but you go before a judge and ask for a court delay so you might engage in a media tour to further promote and discuss the book. HA! Good Fun!

(not so) cute animal vid more cute HA! Good Fun!

in the US there is a direct correlation 'tween increases in education and lower incidence o' excessive force complaints for police. education is the best predictor o' lower excessive force complaints. not race. not sex. is correlation, but is nevertheless kinda compelling. however, as already mentioned, is already extreme difficult for law enforcement agencies to keep enough police officers employed. fix social issues and gun laws so we don't need as many police would be the ideal solution to the problem o' police staffing, but... HA! Good Fun!

a gross overgeneralization. what joe biden and bernie sanders has suggested is increasing funding (edit: sanders actual is against the increased funding aspect, but he does want police departments nationwide to have, "well-educated, well-trained, well-paid professionals," though as is usual with bernie, am not sure how he gets what he wants w/o more money) and developing programs which focus on de-escalation training as well as increasing mental health initiatives. both o' the aforementioned is animated and vociferous in their denials that they support defunding the police even though breitbart and fox continues to claim they is defund supporters. some folks who wanna defund the police do indeed wanna get rid o' or diminish cop presence. others simple wanna get rid o' cop use o' militarized equipment and fed subsidized training o' overt violence. there is no singular defund argument. try and sell the notion that defund the police isn't the stoopid suggestions all too many knee-jerk lefties offered up in the wake o' george floyd is a kinda gaslighting and is beneath hurl. tell us you endorse the joe biden and/or bernie sanders approach? fine. keep in mind they both claim they ain't defund supporters. HA! Good Fun!

cost and privacy issues preclude constant surveillance o' cops. not only that, but am thinking anybody who has seen wonky body cam footage realizes the body cams is nowhere near as effective as sometimes advertised. the cameras have a single viewing pov and as often as not whatever you were hoping to catch with the video is not revealed by the recording. have mentioned previous how there is near fourteen thousand different law enforcement departments/agencies in this country. most current law enforcement agencies can't even afford minimal body cam programs. have some kinda system which would record every second o' every work day and then provide storage for such recordings is a massive undertaking and would need be replicated fourteen thousand times. “The easy part is buying the body cameras and issuing them to the officers. They are not that expensive,” Jim Pasco, executive director at the National Fraternal Order of Police, told the Post. “But storing all the data that they collect — that cost is extraordinary. The smaller the department, the tougher it tends to be for them.” just ain't practical at this time. HA! Good Fun!

so, no real support for the liars accusation? a few anecdotal examples but nothing which would support the conclusion it is, "a good rule of thumb to assume cops are lying in general"? therefore, before we get too distracted, the recognition o' the hasty generalization and how you were doing exact same thing as bruce has not in any way been diminished, yes? *shrug* HA! Good Fun! ps maybe counts as spam, but am gonna repeat, again, how in spite o' fantasies 'bout what protect and serve means and the higher standard the public always wishes cops be held to, the Courts don't see any such duty or responsibilities. deshaney, catlerock v. gonzalez and warren v. dc all make it abundant clear that the public suffers from a serious disconnect regarding cop standards and duties, and considering how US communities keep lowering hiring requirements for cops and their pay is a whopping $55k per annum on average or thereabouts, expecting heroics sacrifice and honesty is not particular realistic. in spite o' what the public imagines is the higher standard for cops, no such standard exists and in point o' fact cops don't owe any duty to individual citizens for aid or defense regardless o' obvious distress.

Guillermo Del Toro Presents First Look at ‘Pinocchio’ HA! Good Fun!

we cannot speak to kanada, but you are preaching to the choir if you wanna criticize cop violence as delivered by law enforcement in the US. edit: avoiding the double, but is unrelated to cops and lies. ff to 1:29ish if you want the meat *chuckle* somebody sure seemed to think eastman's plan, which were being advanced by numerous wh personages, were gonna be resulting in criminal prosecutions. HA! Good Fun!