Gromnir

wotr characters (including companions) don't get much effort. HA! Good Fun!

keep in mind, the guy speaking is offering what he believes to be the best legal defense for his clients. so the oathkeepers, no doubt many o' them well-read in the subject o' Constitutional law dealing with sedition, believes there is the possibility the President, unable to rely on standing US and national guard commanders, will invoke 18th and 19th century laws to call up militias to establish control at the Capitol. or Six Oath Keepers Who Guarded Roger Stone Stormed the Capitol: NYT same oathkeepers recent indicted were the folks identified in numerous media sources last year as roger stone body guards. ... am not offering as evidence o' guilt, 'cause while has been more than a year, seditious conspiracy is not gonna be ez to prosecute and so far all we got is video from january 6 and a few tv and print news articles. however, is not difficult to see how the doj is moving up the food chain and given what we know o' john eastman plan for january six and the recent revealed powerpoint mark meadows were applauding in texts and sharing with gop and trump admin people, is taking little imagination to see a possible direction for the doj. HA! Good Fun!

has been a long time since we read native son and is not one o' those great books we wanna revisit. a goal o' the book were to make the reader uncomfortable and it succeeded, but am thinking the narrative suffered from beating the reader with the goal. unfortunate, while the novel brutal forced the audience to consider certain realities, bigger thomas weren't real. bigger did suffer from a shared american experience, and am suspecting many minorities could empathize with his anger, but the main character were a bit exaggerated. is a meaningful book, but is not at all subtle and it don't take a great deal o' reflection to understand themes and messaging, which am s'posing makes it good for high school students but a bit less compelling for those o' us so many decades removed from our high school years. am indeed a bit more curious 'bout what is the books which high school kids need read these days. would be disappointed if is near identical to the lists we recall from forty years removed even if we know classics never go outta style... 'course at least half o' the "classics" we recall from high school were only 'bout three decades old. ... am gonna acknowledge a trend in most o' the more contemporary books we approve: would be tough to get 'em approved by a school board. am an updike fan, but beyond the difficult read, most o' his stuff is adult fare. gabriel garcia marquez and don delllilo is also favored authors, but neither shied away from sex and 100 years o' solitude had the whole incest thing. nabokov? am recalling our high school librarian were delighted to learn we were interested in vladimir, but we would be shocked if lolita made it into the classroom as required reading and pale fire is not ez for grad students much less inner city high school kids. converse, we believe the philip pullman books were underrated as literature and have mentioned previous how much we approve o' a few neil gaiman titles, but fantasy/scifi written for young audiences is unlikely to be approved for american high school teaching 'cause o' the taint all fantasy carries with academics... unless is green knight, beowulf, gilgamesh, the bible, etc. although am understanding a few schools teach the hobbit, maybe? regardless, we would indeed be disappointed if our reading lists from high school looked little different from most 2021 high school reading lists. HA! Good Fun!

am not sure if you are being serious, so will pretend you are. shame on us. of course to other buffs, debuffs and teamwork feats. you do realize outflank is functional a must for any melee character... works ok for ranged. fear, as we has mentioned ad nauseum is also a powerful debuff which a character such as the undead warpriest who no doubt has shatter defenses will exploit to render deskari footed, significant robbing him o' ac. previous we listed all the items which increase illusion and/or enchantment dc. consider all the potential debuffs those make possible. curses directed at deskari once his saves is lowered is a nice way to debuff him further. rangers bond? you do know how effective rangers bod can be, and with distracting shots, your melee characters is gonna benefit even more. if you buff staunton with madness to get the bonus to ab, how is that any less effective than a debuff to deskari ac? who cares if stunton takes a hit to his saves and skill checks 'cause with the kinda damage he and your party do, the fight is not gonna last more than a couple rounds. if you want to hit deskari with staunton is not hard to manage stratospheric ab buffs. since you were planning on a vital strike build, then you must realize there is multiple ways to get staunton the benefits o' true strike, yes? earlier we were mentioning a terrible companion we would never use for a good run... which doesn't apply to a lich run, yes? why did we say we would take the nameless mess of a character? review if need be. with the madness buff alone + the debuffs from that companion and you got a functional equivalent o' up to a 20 point shift in your favor, though likely only 19 as whomever you got doing your cleric domains likely is not sosiel. we would definite recommend adding community domain for any unfair run as well, which should provide another +10 stacking ab bonus*chuckle* for our parties we ordinarily got deskari and baphomet fear locked w/i moments o' the start o' battle, so staunton hacking away with vital strikes boosted by fortune while enjoying that companion's hexes means we are gonna hit kinda regular. etc. you don't genuine need us to run down the entire lists? has gotta be dozens o' videos on how people take down deskari on unfair and am suspecting many have common elements and not all is gonna be one-shot kills such as or weird approach. https://www.google.com/search?q=deskari+unfair+wotr&oq=deskari+unfair+wotr&aqs=chrome..69i57.10205j1j15&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8 gonna once again observe how the most simple reason why offending bloat exists is 'cause is so many videos and guides such as you will no doubt find with your favorite search engine which explain how to dispatch deskari w/o much sweat. the companions are all more than fine precise 'cause owlcat's version o' pathfinder is so easily exploited. could make even better companions? so what? is not about optimization, which you keep ignoring. sure we can build a better vanilla paladin seelah than the handicapped version we ultimate ended up with in our azata run, which was our point. (though, in our defense, stances were only removed from court poets after we started seelah as our paladin court poet) we can build a better blaster than we used for our main azata. we never use that companion, and such is functional self handicapping but not for the tanky explanation you offered earlier in the thread. identify better is not meaningful when discussing whether or not the companions is viable w/o resorting to mercs or respec mods, which if you wanna review were your observations. seelah w/o a horse is capable o' an unfair run, and if she is capable o' unfair while non-optimized, then trying to convince us she (and the other companions) is somehow insufficient for the ordinary wotr player's comes across as wholly unconvincing. is particular weird 'cause is not even some hidden or removed quality o' seelah which you is referencing insofar a the horse. somehow is now meaningful that the divine weapon bond recommendation is evidence o' poor designed companions such as inspired respec mods or mercs. the wotr companion builds is more than adequate, and the bloat is clear not the insurmountable issue you imagine it to be. personal am thinking owlcat's assumed player solution to bloat is terrible, but we played flavor companions and switched to unfair to test boss battles and managed better than just fine. is so much ridiculous dc boosting gear and spell synergies and hex exploits that the bosses don't stand much o' a chance even with mythic bloat... and that should be the real problem being identified, but is nevertheless overlooked. HA! Good Fun!

our initial test lich and staunton finished off deskari anticlimactic quick. have mentioned previous how is possible to reduce unfair boss will saves by more than 20. replayed a few times and with a glaive the warpriest didn't need be a frontliner but he is capable of big damage if built reasonable. staunton finished off deskari in atleast one fight, which typical only had us lose one or two summons or companions. yeah, get hit by deskari more than once and is pretty much game over for a companion. nevertheless, am suspecting you are simply gross mistaken 'bout the potential relative power of player parties. have mentioned previous how is possible to depower foes like deskari with empowered and maximized enervation, so once you add in factors such as madness domain abilities ('cause a non-save skill boost for deskari also cripples him significant,) as well as the debuffs from fear and literal a dozen other item and spell-based modifiers, deskari on unfair is not the challenge you believe he is. reduce will saves and ac to extreme manageable levels. with the knowledgeable stacking of attack bonuses, ac and silly mythic abilities like last stand, end game bosses rare lasted more than a couple rounds against any o' our parties, but that is 'cause we know the exploits. so, seelah is like staunton if you don't take a horse? that cannot be what you are suggesting. play seelah straight paladin and her main benefits is mark of justice and full ab, which is more than enough to make her unfair viable. perhaps the game don't tell you a horse is needed or that you should switch to a 2-handed weapon 'cause depending on how you loadout your party, those is not genuine essentials. on our azata run we gave seelah 8 levels o' court poet, but such did not help her endgame survivability much. we always play tb, and as such with a sorc who kept the party near perpetual hastened, seelah were able to charge into battle w/o any problem and she were a viable quasi tank. as noted elsewhere, animal companions make better tanks. we actual gave seelah weapon bond and we mistaken had chosen the last stand mythic ability 'cause we didn't realize such were nullified by life bonding friendship 'til late in act v, simple 'cause seelah hadn't died up 'til that point. never respec'd. did every major fight on unfair as well as the hard level difficulty we were ordinarily playing. the eight levels o' court poet were also a bit o' a waste 'cause as we mentioned earlier in this thread, the dc for waterfall were busted. our intent were to make a blaster who could take advantage o' waterfall to do big cold damage and we thought with all the conjuration dc buffing books, feats and items we could make waterfall boss viable. court poet o' eight levels shoulda' given us a functional +3 to dc for our sorc spells. largely wasted on our main character, though such buffs did aid other charisma and int based contributors to our party. again, our seelahs have been nowhere near optimized. did not appear to follow your needs neither. perhaps if we wanted optimized, respec would have us, as we had done elsewhere, give seelah a level o' oracle or sylvan sorc and then go mostly paladin and take a wolf or dog (or boar if serious 'bout unfair) but we didn't do respec on azata. were more than good enough with sword and board plus mark of justice and weapon bond. the reason our parties were effective is not 'cause o' optimization or even anything you has mentioned. we roll-stomped 'cause we knew what spells, abilities and items synergized to give us an overwhelming advantage 'gainst bosses. such imbalance is what owlcat fans want. create such advantages for players and their parties and owlcat's reasonable if cheap response were stat bloat, which nevertheless is insufficient in most cases. HA! Good Fun! ps animal companions, fully buffed, is overwhelming powerful, However, with aivu and a party full o' companions we had given animal companions, we opted for less clutter. seriously, the reason for not having a seelah animal companion is 'cause once you get 'round four critters in a party, on too many maps they functional block out other party members, and aivu becomes particularly large. couldn't justify another dog or wolf... and for whatever reason, lann's velociraptor displaced space as if it were one size larger than it were s'posed to, which am assuming is a bug which has never been addressed. the circle under the raptor takes up more space than dogs or other large critters. go figure. zoo management were a freaking nightmare when we first entered the drezen citadel, and that were pre aivu. pps @ShadySands if there is a way to kill a certain fiendish personage in a devil run, then we might consider a devil run. there is a robe which 'causes a -4 save v. fear, compulsion and charm effects to anybody in a 30' radius, but am suspecting you only get it if you kill the eponymous owner. otherwise, from what little we seen o' the devil stuff, we suspect we would be channeling lando too quick to endure.

our high school taught to kill a mockingbird, native son, and invisible man. farewell to manzanar and a few others were staples. were hardly a shortage o' what would be considered social justice material and we went to high school during the freaking 80s back before social justice (specific tied to racial equality issues) were kinda a thing, or at least not that label. am betting those books is still on more than a few school reading lists, and is doubtful anything in dear martin, a book described as ya fare, is gonna shock or offend a person who were okie dokie with native son or invisible man. 'course the books we read were thirty or forty years old when we were in high school. bigger thomas were not a familiar character. even in our day those titles were having settings a bit temporal remote and were less accessible to the average high schooler. parents fighting stoopid battles over school reading lists is eye-roll worthy from our pov. is swell parents care 'bout such stuff and they should be involved in the education o' their offspring, but am betting the children o' parents angry 'bout dear martin woulda' benefitted more if mom and/or pop were involved in their ordinary day-to-day studies instead o' tilting at windmills. same parental effort woulda' been better spent taking kids to the library on weekends or perhaps reading dear martin and then discussing the book with their kids. HA! Good Fun!

so, what is the story behind the single blue unhappy cat in top-right quadrant? one cat receives a distinct downturn frown is the kinda thing which sets off our ocd. ... am not genuine serious btw 'bout needing the story, but is sad such does spark our ocd, which were great in our line o' work 'but is annoying in rl. HA! Good Fun!

some people will never admit a mistake. context is important, no? if the only companion you come up with to refute the notion that the wotr companions is viable even on unfair is a single lich-only option (and staunton is indeed still viable unfair) then has the example served better to illustrate your point or ours? *insert shrug emoji here* respec mods won't fix the problem, 'cause the problem is not the owlcat builds for companions but rather the requisite high degree o' knowledge o' pathfinder and wotr specific. is not even genuine a matter o' optimization as your mention o' seelah should make clear. don't matter how optimal is seelah at level one when facing playful darkness or nocticula. our angel run were with a sacred huntsmaster/zen archer and no matter how we built such it weren't gonna be anywhere near as powerful as a combined spellbook angel. we didn't choose optimal stat distributions or skill choices, and near the end o' the game we were choosing feats for flavour. we did not go half-elf for our azata blaster sorcerer, though would be something we obvious recommend to a player choosing to optimize. didn't matter 'cause we knew which domains to choose and which spells were synergizing and which hexes worked best and/or stacked with other hexes. have used "optimization" language our self and am thinking is not actual accurate. to succeed on even moderate difficulty levels w/o suffering significant frustration you don't need anything close to optimal, but you do need a high degree o' wotr and pathfinder specific knowledge. 'course again we has noted owlcat fans actual want the bloat, even if they rail 'gainst it. owlcat fans do not want any kinda balancing efforts to be made by the developers to their favorite exploits, which leads to mark of justice, the madness and community domains as well as the metal curse hex being disproportionate powerful. is hellfire rays comical overpowered when elemental damage boost options is worked into the equation? 'course they are, but as such is in pathfinder, is no way owlcat were gonna nerf. is dozens o' such exploits and owlcat fans has made it most clear they love such nonsense, which is why the even more munchkiny mythic path options owlcat largely spun outta whole cloth is also having fan approval. note, is not overpowered merged spellbooks which is criticized even in this thread but rather the fact only lich and angel enjoy. am knowing people don't wanna admit, but the reason you got bloat and difficulty spikes o' bosses is precise 'cause you got the unbalanced mess o' a game you wanted. am suspecting the only way to make even a few encounters any kinda challenge for knowledgeable players were to add bloat, 'cause as much as kingmaker coulda' been renamed pathfinder: adventures in munchkinland, as soon as wotr were announced as the ap chosen it were clear the player power level were gonna get an upgrade. regardless, companion builds in wotr is not a genuine problem which limits success in wotr. identify one lich specific companion who is nevertheless unfair viable as evidence to refute such is perhaps not as effective as you thought it were. HA! Good Fun!

amusing part for us were: "She said students initially assigned "Dear Martin" will instead be required to read "To Kill A Mockingbird" by Harper Lee." the parents angered by having their children indoctrinated with liberal notions o' social justice will no doubt cheer their victory... which is kinda strange 'cause am assuming most 'o such parents had to read to kill a mockingbird in high school. might be giving too much credit to parents, but am suspecting at least a few googled "harper lee" and then shared what her novel were 'bout with likeminded lovers o' liberty and family values in rural sw Missouri. HA! Good Fun!

the thing is, in the US those methods you mention for controlling the populace ain't directly attributable to The Government, and similar options has been 'round for centuries in one form or another. of all the things we are concerned 'bout, a social credit score system taking hold in the US is not reaching the top 100 list o' worries. first we would need a national police power and supporting infrastructure, which is even less likely today than twenty years past. social credit is not like the half-arsed and doomed border wall funding or even fed agents in numbers showing up at night in unmarked vans to kidnap people off the streets o' US cities. a genuine social credit score system is gonna need be having widespread state and fed support in terms o' monies and manpower, if only briefly, and am not seeing that kinda cooperation happening anytime, much less anytime soon, though pretend as if it could never happen is also foolish. we mentioned previous, but when states began implementing covid mandates, many local sheriffs and mayors simple said, "no." ... uh, ok. what now? from a practical perspective, there was little governors could do to enforce guidelines and mandates. social credit is monumental more difficult to imagine into being in the US 'cause there ain't a national police power, so the fed government would actual have less power to enforce than the governors who sat impotent while sheriffs and mayors flouted the law. unless social credit were something which The People were near universal demanding, which is indeed a real and serious possibility and should not be dismissed outta hand, am not seeing it being a government tool. our serious response to less than serious observations. HA! Good Fun!

so, your one kinda example is self-identified as an outlier. exception which proves Gromnir's rule? ok with us. btw, we keep mentioning intimidation builds and how powerful they are, so is perhaps overlooked that staunton makes for a viable option for lich party intimidator seeing as how seelah and sosiel is not gonna be lich besties. hardly ideal an ideal use for staunton, but is workable for an outlier companion only available to lich players. simultaneous, you in fact recognize the problem ain't the companions, but is rather encounter design which punishes anybody not knowledgeable o' owlcat's version o' pathfinder... which is repeating back to us our own oft-repeated argument. your realization also invalidates your initial respec mod observation as the problem is the game is curiously designed for players with a high level o' knowledge o' the wotr implemented rules, so being able to custom build seelah or regill won't likely help with the problem... particularly as you feel cheating abilities up to 40 is insufficient in some cases. respec is not a particular useful tool in the hands o' a player with limited knowledge o' owlcat's rules. heck, seelah is a funny mention as you meet her at level one, so is little you might want that you cannot spec or respec sans a mod anyways. whatever flavour you imagine is cooked into seelah is limited to level one feats and the class choice, which is hardly obstacles to building her many different ways. again, is not the companions, not even staunton, who you unlikely used meaningful in game as you just finished your first run with an azata. the tower shield bit is just weird for staunton but is hardly a real problem and may even come in handy in the extreme limited situations when you is losing dex and dodge bonus. if you do not know the stacking rules and owlcat's unique implementation o' them, then wotr is likely to be a frustrating experience. period. for whatever reason, owlcat designed the game so as to be moderate challenging for players with over-the-top knowledge o' their rules, and punishing for casual players. doesn't work for us, but owlcat fans appear to enjoy that kinda thing. converse, if you do know all the exploits baked into owlcat's wotr, then all the companions is endgame viable even on unfair. is not the companions. optimize a wotr level one seelah *chuckle* will not somehow marked change any issues you have with facing demon lords, playful darkness or the pathetic quasit. HA! Good Fun!

disagree with the first point. agree with second. merged spellbook angel characters are unburdened by the need to meta. the capacity to spam bolt of justice and storm o' justice with a high caster level character who also has a few o' the best defensive buffs in the game almost eliminates the need to micro parse the owlcat implementation o' the pathfinder rules. if you wanna play wotr straight, w/o reading guides or having awareness o' the best fests/spells/weapons/class features, w/o comical specific awareness o' the wotr synergies which exist specific in the owlcat implementation, then merged angel is nevertheless gonna be viable for a normal difficulty run and maybe even core. unfortunate, particular given enemy stat bloat and immunities, we would suggest wotr were designed less for merged angel spellbook, 'cause the stat bloat don't matter for such characters, but rather for what we woulda' previous assumed were a small % o' wotr players who play at the margins o' the rules. inexplicable, the design o' many encounters hinges on the assumption a player will have indulged the kinda game the game mentality which gives 'em a huge advantage when facing bosses and the like, particular from the midpoint o' the game forward. knowledge and exploitation of pathfinder's non-intuitive stacking rules results in a significant gulf between the kinda attack bonuses and dcs a casual player may achieve versus the numbers you will see produced by persons who clear has meta'd the game to an extreme degree. am gonna suggest the enemy stat bloat we see in the game is legit if one assumes the player is commonly making use of multiple exploits, the kinda exploits which a pnp dm/gm would likely disallow. am not a proponent o' the wotr design philosophy which avoids almost any effort to balance but instead inflates foe capabilities so as to counter the assumed player exploits. however, am clear not the target owlcat were aiming to reach. wotr mythic paths is horribly unbalanced, but based on feedback we has seen, they is popular. w/o the bloat, the players who make extreme use o' pathfinder stacking opportunities woulda' been bored with wotr, but is hard to imagine the game were genuine designed for such players, and yet, here we are. HA! Good Fun!

am agreeing on this point, and have noted how one o' the difficulties in any effort to prosecute trump in particular for anything criminal is the recognition o' just how erratic and irrational his observed behavior has been. how do you prove intent and coordination for trump, who would appear to frequent act impulsive and even seeming works hard against self interest? the gop is likewise all over the metaphorical map but some o' this is in part 'cause they would appear to be trying to keep up with trump. 'course january 6 weren't orchestrated sole by trump 'cause after four years in office it were clear 45 had no idea how government worked. trump sure as hell didn't concoct a multistep plan to interfere with the electoral college which would rely on complicit state legislators and or the enough chaos at the Capitol to legitimize military intervention. however, is hard to believe 45 were no more than an innocent dupe being carried along by meadows and others. no doubt somebody made a simplified powerpoint presentation for trump which illuminated the important stuff. but yeah, in a criminal trial, is gonna be difficult to prove trump were knowledgeable 'nuff 'bout anything to be part o' a plan, and mere being complicit ain't enough for some criminal charges. HA! Good Fun!

Fact Check-CDC study found that over 75% of COVID-19 deaths in vaccinated people were among those with at least 4 comorbidities posting 'cause am suspecting the folks confused 'bout comorbidities this time is same folks who were confused previous. which segues perfect. so, n95s for cat box cleaning and cloth masks for being around other human beings. okie dokie. ... it's kinda amazing the US managed to get even 60% o' the population vaccinated given the level o' pervasive yutzery. HA! Good Fun!

have seen those, but they is ordinarily emblazoned with stars and stripes and include bullet-sized holes to make mockery o' masking guidelines. never underestimate the capacity o' people to self harm. HA! Good Fun! ps edited failed link

so, not just vandalism and general overexuberance. also https://www.politico.com/news/2021/12/17/trump-ally-brandon-straka-information-525272 or can search engine brandon straka. the reason am posting is 'cause it were just revealed how given his level o' cooperating during january 3 interviews, the doj is recommending four months o' home detention and three years o' probation-- is what amounts to a reward for whatever info he chose to share. and finally, 'cause is surprising considerable january 6 relevant news today, raskin has been making the rounds on tv media calling pence a "hero." doesn't seem coincidental as the vp's team has been instrumental in aiding the committee, there is now a serious effort to get pence testimony. the gop plan behind january 6 were far more real than most wanna admit, and pence may speak to such plans as he were kinda a pivotal player. HA! Good Fun!

https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/in-the-early-days-of-the-pandemic-the-us-government-turned-down-an-offer-to-manufacture-millions-of-n95-masks-in-america/2020/05/09/f76a821e-908a-11ea-a9c0-73b93422d691_story.html It was Jan. 22, a day after the first case of covid-19 was detected in the United States, and orders were pouring into Michael Bowen’s company outside Fort Worth, some from as far away as Hong Kong. Bowen’s medical supply company, Prestige Ameritech, could ramp up production to make an additional 1.7 million N95 masks a week. He viewed the shrinking domestic production of medical masks as a national security issue, though, and he wanted to give the federal government first dibs. “We still have four like-new N95 manufacturing lines,” Bowen wrote that day in an email to top administrators in the Department of Health and Human Services. “Reactivating these machines would be very difficult and very expensive but could be achieved in a dire situation.” But communications over several days with senior agency officials — including Robert Kad­lec, the assistant secretary for preparedness and emergency response — left Bowen with the clear impression that there was little immediate interest in his offer. “I don’t believe we as an government are anywhere near answering those questions for you yet,” Laura Wolf, director of the agency’s Division of Critical Infrastructure Protection, responded that same day. Bowen persisted. “We are the last major domestic mask company,” he wrote on Jan. 23. “My phones are ringing now, so I don’t ‘need’ government business. I’m just letting you know that I can help you preserve our infrastructure if things ever get really bad. I’m a patriot first, businessman second.” In the end, the government did not take Bowen up on his offer. Even today, production lines that could be making more than 7 million masks a month sit dormant. ... Factory equipment that could produce a quarter-million N95 respirator masks a day sits idle at Prestige Ameritech’s factory outside Fort Worth. https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/federal-government-spent-millions-to-ramp-up-mask-readiness-but-that-isnt-helping-now/2020/04/03/d62dda5c-74fa-11ea-a9bd-9f8b593300d0_story.html In September 2018, the Trump administration received detailed plans for a new machine designed to churn out millions of protective respirator masks at high speed during a pandemic. The plans, submitted to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) by medical manufacturer O&M Halyard, were the culmination of a venture unveiled almost three years earlier by the Obama administration. But HHS did not proceed with making the machine. The project was one of two N95 mask ventures — totaling $9.8 million — that the federal government embarked on over the past five years to better prepare for pandemics. The other involves the development of reusable masks to replace the single-use variety currently so scarce that medical professionals are using theirs over and over. Expert panels have advised the government for at least 14 years that reusable masks were vital. That effort, like the quick mask machine, has not led to a single new mask for the government’s response. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/investigations/2020/04/02/us-exports-masks-ppe-china-surged-early-phase-coronavirus/5109747002/ The White House and congressional intelligence committees were briefed on the scope and threat of the coronavirus in January and February, but President Donald Trump has not stopped exports of key medical equipment – a move taken by at least 54 other countries so far. The data show how U.S. manufacturers stepped up production and cleared out inventory to supply protective medical equipment to China for weeks, even as the threat of the coronavirus became clear. The CDC reported its first case in the United States on Jan. 20. Within the next two weeks, the World Health Organization and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services had declared the disease a public health emergency. ... is not so much 'bout the kinda government we got. is not even a party thing. keep in mind it were bush who started a organized effort to get a federal level pandemic response pandemic, and then bush reduced... son reduced father's efforts. post 9/11 and after reading a book about the spanish flu, the younger bush had an epiphany and vast expanded 'pon even his father's efforts. https://www.c-span.org/video/?189676-1/national-strategy-pandemic-preparedness full speech-- worth viewing. 'course obama killed many pandemic programs only to resurrect 'em following the pandemic scares during his administration. is less 'bout government or economics as is individuals making bad decisions over and over. same kinda government and economics and with different individuals under different circumstances, you got folks looking prescient as 'posed to being ignoramuses. sometimes is same individuals making the bad and good decisions. regardless, we coulda'/shoulda' had n95 masks available for americans soon after the pandemic first became recognized. had a plan for such. unlike many nations, we had spent billions in prperation for pandemics, before letting those efforts evaporate. heck, like good americans is s'posed to do, we had developed unique tools to make streamlined ppe possible. unfortunate, once masks became a curiously political issue, then the chance o' government driven efforts to ramp up mask production evaporated. *shrug* too many mistakes repeated. free market and democracy doesn't cause the stoopid which leads to most real problems. people is stoopid and people is ubiquitous. HA! Good Fun!

https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/13/politics/biden-omicron-medical-team-deployments/index.html HA! Good Fun!

am not understanding complaints about effectiveness o' companion starting builds. well, we understand the complaints, but such concerns are not particular compelling or even vague supportable in point o' fact. the wotr companions also available in the pnp ap have better stats in owlcat's version, and given the massive options for customization in the crpg, the companions somehow is flexible enough to cover and excel at a dizzying array o' potential options. want a druid? lann is a fantastic druid. seelah can bard or combat oracle as well as paladin. obvious if you want companions to be capable o' a broader range o' builds, then they is not gonna be comical optimized for a single build, but the problem is your single idealized build for sosiel is likely different from Gromnir's. so, go ahead and build an optimized companion who works for everybody. try. try and do such w/o adding the ridiculous stat bloat people is simultaneous complaining 'bout for wotr adversaries. sure, have daeran start with a minimum sixteen in every ability and refund his starting feats. the a$$imar's (intentional spelling choice)build options increase considerable, but if you wanna indulge that kinda munchkiny itch, then just mod the companions however you wish. and yeah, you get the succubus so late (relative) that chances are you keep her as a ranger, but we were chuckling when we saw a thread at the owlcat boards where a person were complaining 'bout arueshalae being nerfed or some such. if you can't make an effective sniper outta arueshalae, then you are playing the wrong game. we kinda loathe the arueshalae character, but unless am playing an archer as a main, then is almost self handicapping to keep arue sidelined... which is fine 'cause is other companions who more than adequate fill the void left by an anime inspired cliché. greybor is also a late(ish) acquisition but have never had difficulty making him effective, even if we gotta abandon his silly dwarven waraxe. yeah, is so much trash and junk feats, spells, weapons and archetypes in wotr it is possible to monumental screw your character, which is poor design from our pov, but that is exact what pathfinder is and is what pathfinder fans demand, so... regardless, name a companion and tell us how with owlcat stat distributions and starting feats the character is not good enough to do an unfair run? am guaranteeing am able to build any companion into unfair/endgame viability. if is good enough for unfair, then are optimization complaints viable? if you need your perfect oracle/thug/scaled/fist/paladin/loremaster and is clear you ain't gonna squeeze such outta an existing companion, then craft the build with your main or use the merc option. is not as if you weren't given alternatives to companions who is nevertheless highly effective and capable o' impressive build diversity. we do have complaints 'bout the writing o' the companions, but such is a whole different issue. there is difficulty spikes from optional encounters you have no way o' knowing they is optional. you will feel underpowered at times. there were also a few areas o' the game which were bugged or poor balanced early after release, so it were possible to be relative underpowered at times, especial if you played in september. blackwater, before it were tweaked, were an example o' a curious spike in effective difficulty. every blackwater foe had a massive ac boost and was highly resistant to energy save for electricity. yeah, blackwater enemies had poor wil saves, but is not information you woulda' gleaned before arriving at the location, and even if you were aware, perhaps you hadn't built your nenio to exploit such shortcomings 'cause is literal one freaking area o' the game. bad design. the problem is actual bad encounter design as 'posed to bad companions. oh, and for you arue fans, get a room. HA! Good Fun!

Pressed on his election lies, former President Trump cuts NPR interview short In the interview, Trump repeated a number of false claims about voting systems in the U.S., including that the discredited GOP-led ballot review in Arizona showed evidence of malfeasance — despite the fact that it also reaffirmed Biden's victory. Republican officials in Maricopa County, however, debunked the characterizations of Trump and his allies in a 93-page rebuttal issued last week. "The people who have spent the last year proclaiming our free and fair elections are rigged are lying or delusional," said Bill Gates, the GOP chair of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors. Asked why even Republicans in the state accepted the findings, Trump reverted to an old attack. "Because they're RINOs," he said, "and frankly, a lot of people are questioning that." ... is gonna be more than a few democrats who chuckle at the interview which trump fled 2/3 o' the way through, but am thinking npr were the folks who got taken for a ride. trump, current denied his preferred social media presence, were given the opportunity to peddle his election lies on a national platform. as far as trump's monumental failures during the pandemic, the interview's covid questions were instead all 'bout vaccines and trump is happy to take credit for vaccines, while simultaneous stressing he is 100% opposed to mandates, 'cause liberty or something. is difficult to figure out what trump is saying if you only read transcripts. recognizing trump's borderline aphasia, the listener necessarily is gonna fill in the gaps based on their expectations, and those who lean conservative is gonna hear different than will others. perhaps most obvious were that trump's tactical retreat managed to get him clear o' the interview prior to the predictable questions 'bout the insurrection-- to trump supporters it will not look like 45 dodged insurrection questions 'cause the former President fled before arriving at such troublesome interview territory. cnn, msnbc, washington post and others will justifiably mock trump's performance in the linked npr interview, but am not seeing how this is anything other than a victory for trump, albeit a minor one. agreeing to interview trump remote were the mistake. ... the only way we would agree to interview trump nowadays would be with a female interviewer and would need be live and in-person, so storming off the set would necessarily make him look weak, and we know he hates that kinda thing. why a woman? trump knows he has troubles with educated women voters, regardless o' party affiliation. a woman interviewer willing to press him has a tendency to discombobulate 45. the possibility (likely) o' trump becoming dismissive or adversarial with a woman interviewer is not only different for trump, but the audience perceives different, particularly the more than 50% o' americans o' voting age who is women. by any objective standard, the npr were not some kinda win for trump, but is not 'bout objective, logic or reasonable. the interview were national and it will play well to his base... and you are allowing trump to set himself apart from desantis on the vaccine and covid... which might actual be a positive 'cause is almost unfair that the democrats have a seeming monopoly on self-destructive infighting at the moment. HA! Good Fun!

'ccording to @Achilles, the excess elven notes were removed from the game. HA! Good Fun!

the elven notes quests has same kinda puzzles and even shares same boss... sorta. is no reason nenio's quest and elven notes couldn't have been functional merged, cutting out extraneous filler material from both. regardless, we couldn't help but get the sense enigma were some kinda inside joke directed at crpg completionists. HA! Good Fun! ps am disliking having to miss the goggles of mind control, but owlcat made finding 'em so utter improbable w/o a guide that am s'posing is little difference 'tween finding them and cheating 'em into inventory with a mod. am skipping mods for now, but...

horse is more than good enough to tank. for seelah am personal choosing a wolf or dog at difficulty levels up to and including hard. we manage the not horse by means o' a one level dip into oracle or sylvan sorcerer, but is tough to argue with 20 levels o' paladin for seelah, and maybe you don't wanna multiclass. successful trips become less likely on unfair difficulty, so am suspecting we would go with a boar if we had to do a full unfair run, which we don't plan on doing... evar. have played most boss battles on unfair, and dogs, wolves and horses is fine, but not ideal. speaking o' animal companions, the divine hunter celestial velociraptor animal companion is current benefiting from unlimited uses of smite per day. am assuming all other animal companions for the hunter archetype o' divine hunter benefit similar, but have not tested. regardless, the smite is functional a permanent bonus to attack and damage and while most animal companions receive no real benefit to ab from their smite, the velociraptor is an outlier. am finding almost no need to create mercs save as testing fodder seeing as the joinable companions may be multiclassed to fulfill near 100% o' our possible needs, if not perfectly. skald might be a singular exception as a not court poet skald sees a big benefit from the capstone ability and no companion is gonna reach 20 levels o' skald. gonna eventual play a skald character to take advantage o' the unique benefits, though a merc would make more sense. if we play something after aeon, there is a chance we create a merc skald. HA! Good Fun!

kinda enjoyed rambo. keep in mind we were kinda young when the first rambo movie were released, but particular noteworthy am thinking brian dennehy took an admitted by-the-numbers bad lawman villain role and made it memorable. by the early 80s a substantial portion o' americans had changed their pov regarding vietnam and there were considerable sympathy for veterans o' that conflict, so rambo were playing to sympathetic audiences. as such were good timing for the release and overall rambo was an entertaining film with at least some kinda message you could embrace to make you feel better while you enjoyed a bit o' the ultra-violent. second rambo were our last rambo. writers/directors changed the course o' the franchise and we saw no reason to continue to follow the road they had chosen for the rambo. is not as if stallone and the makers o' rambo owed us anything, but we liked the character from the first movie, so we felt a bit cheated by rambo ii. couldn't forgive those involved for, from our pov, ruining something we had appreciated. HA! Good Fun!

am suspecting is not the first time amentep has heard somebody reflexive rail 'gainst the americanization o' films. HA! Good Fun!