Gromnir

no interest whatsoever. however, am gonna admit david dastmalchian is one o' those character actors we always remember even when he is in big films with actors who got substantial resumés to go along with well deserved reputations. HA! Good Fun!

grammar problem detected. even so, if you are trying to say the special counsel concluded it would be difficult to prove willful retention o' documents, we agree and such an observation is deserving more than an asterisk. is doubtful anybody wants to go back through our hillary posts. hillary also presented mind-blowing doofus levels when interviewed... which the republicans ignored as they pushed for criminal charges. shoulda' focused on her abject stoopid as 'posed to criminal liability? yeah. "In looking back at our investigations into mishandling or removal of classified information, we cannot find a case that would support bringing criminal charges on these facts. All the cases prosecuted involved some combination of: clearly intentional and willful mishandling of classified information; or vast quantities of materials exposed in such a way as to support an inference of intentional misconduct; or indications of disloyalty to the United States; or efforts to obstruct justice." -- comey from the original hillary investigation. you lose your security clearance and get fired if you are not an elected official and do what hillary, alberto gonzalez, biden and possible pence all did. however, has literal never been a prosecution w/o more than one o' the following: 1) willful retention and mishandling 2) large quantities o' info 3) disloyalty to the US as a motivation for having the info 4) obstruction edit: so is clear, am not making excuse for biden anymore than we did for hillary. hur says there is evidence to show biden willful retained but that convincing jurors o' willfulness would be difficult in part 'cause biden is old and confused.... and 'cause none o' the other enumerated factors is present. so not good. have said many times we believe biden is a terrible candidate. in 2020, biden was a compromise candidate. he did not expire or need be replaced w/i six months o' taking office as at least one obsidian pundit suggested were part o' the libs plan going forward, but just 'cause he managed to make it to february 2024, is not some kinda argument for reelecting him. compared to trump? sure, to keep trump out o' the oval office we would vote for biden, but such is an extremely low bar to hurdle. regardless, is so stoopid that 'cause both trump and biden had a documents issue, neither party is willing to do the obvious and make a real and concerted effort to fix the core problem o' misplaced national freaking secrets. hillary should never have had classified info (albeit far less than some describe) on a private server, and trump, pence, biden and gonzalez should never have been able to retain documents w/o anybody seeimng aware there were a problem until some intervening incident occurred. for chrissakes, the kinda info described should have more safeguards than checking out books from a local library. how can this sh!te go missing w/o somebody knowing? HA! Good Fun!

that is the stuff am certain we couldn't endure. star trek (am not having seen any trek since first episode o' discovery, so, am not certain o' the current status quo) at least tried to work real science and a smidge o' practical engineering into their designs and storylines. trek were often the first place non stem background folks mighta heard o' wormholes, dark matter and string theory when those episodes first were released. yeah, star trek took liberties, particular with transporter and holodeck technologies, but we understand folks discussing the science and tech behind trek, 'cause the science were often integral to the show. star wars, on the other hand... star wars was fantasy. lucas purposeful embraced elements o' joseph campbell's hero cycle to create what were having common thematic and plot elements o' the oldest stories ever told. setting were long ago and in a galaxy far, far away-- spaceships, laser guns and all the sci-fi trappings were indulged, yes? sci-fi were only surface. star wars included a dark knight and a merlin/gandalf figure as well as magic swords. first movie climax is the young hero slaying the dragon. is gawain, gilgamesh, and odysseus as 'posed to daneel olivaw, david bowman or valentine michael smith. aerodynamics o' pod racers? serious? bootstrapping real world physics and engineering into star wars feels just a bit silly. kinda reminds us o' the legion o' internet pundits who are serious when they try and explain the physics behind the ninja run. ... and y'know there is more than one obsidan poster who is an advocate o' the naruto run. but again, different strokes. HA! Good Fun!

had a st. brigid's day meal on monday. doesn't everybody? technical the festival day is feb 1, but it is observed on the first monday o' feb. made plenty o' boxty and dublin coddle. am mentioning 'cause is thursday am am still eating boxty and dublin coddle. we do make our coddle more like a stew-- we braise. we pretty much braise anything when is possible. is a tad more fluid in our pot than a legit stovetop-simmered-almost-dry coddle. but not overmuch. we will say that boxty is likely our favorite variety o' potato "pancake." that said, our dogs are indifferent about the boxty but they do enjoy our dublin coddle. HA! Good Fun!

based on @Bartimaeus description, am guessing we would prefer french kissing a light socket or gargling with broken glass as 'posed to enduring twelve hours on what sounds like analysis o' nothing. maybe @Azdeus is a fan o' the ludovico technique? different strokes. example: ethics in america have mentioned previous the ethics in america series. more than ten hours and am not expecting many would enjoy the way we do. am thinking it would be interesting to do a 2024 version 'cause while ethics has remained same for many disciplines since 1989, there is a few startling differences. HA! Good Fun!

grandma listened to lou reed, the animals, the zombies, etc... and she liked to sing. we always listen to a couple velvet underground albums on her birthday. HA! Good Fun!

Live Oral Argument Audio (supremecourt.gov) am gonna go out on a limb and suggest @Malcadorwould not have enjoyed law school. the Justices, even the ones who were not professors before joining the bench, all came out o' a law school tradition which has changed little in a couple hundred years. prof asks questions. student provides answers. SCOTUS which only addresses the questions o' law, is more like law school than any other court in the US. 'course all the Justices is unique. RBG were notorious for her acerbic questions.... makes alito look positive pleasant by comparison. clarence thomas, for years, never asked any questions. literal... and not how kids use "literal" nowadays. point is there is gonna be fails when generalizing. regardless, all the Justices is arrogant and none o' them were elected. would be shocking if a few didn't come across as unpleasant. HA! Good Fun!

am knowing there is a couple folks hereabouts who get their news from rush legacy talk radio, fox or other similar sources. for those who is nevertheless curious about the current US border bill kerfuffle, linda chavez offers an analysis. tangential related, in a shocking moment, chip roy o' all people admitted that trump and fellow republicans were misleading about biden's ability to close the border unilaterally. for those unaware, Congressman roy is from texas and he is ideological and temperament lockstep with jim jordan. HA! Good Fun!

Judge wants answers after report that key witness in Trump fraud trial may plead guilty to perjury “As the presiding magistrate, the trier of fact, and the judge of credibility, I of course want to know whether Mr. Weisselberg is now changing his tune, and whether he is admitting he lied under oath in my courtroom at this trial,” Engoron wrote in the email. Engoron’s email went to lawyers for Trump, Weisselberg, the Trump Organization and other defendants, as well as counsel for the New York Attorney General Letitia James’ office, which brought the civil fraud case. seeming unrelated, the weisselberg perjury has repercussions beyond the fraud trial. am on record as not being optimistic 'bout the ny hush money case. novel application o' the law? you not need to be a lawyer to recognize precedent is important when law is at issue. however, novelty is hardly the only problem for alvin bragg as he pursues a criminal conviction o' trump. the feds, who would be a more appropriate prosecutor given the facts and the s'posed crime, chose not to bring a case in part 'cause michael cohen would be an important witness and nobody thinks cohen makes for a good witness. cohen has not become a better witness since the feds did their pontius pilate impersonation and washed their hands. so... the thing is, y'know who would be a good witness against trump for bragg? weisselberg. am not holding our breath that this is the time somebody close to trump flips, but weisselberg functional did 100 days in jail for trump already. is he willing to do years of time for trump? am not knowing what is the typical sentence for perjury in ny, but keep in mind this would be weisselberg's second criminal conviction in a relative small window o' time. is doubtful things go as smooth for allen. HA! Good Fun!

ps we read the judgement from the trump immunity case and the possible timeline for appeals is looking more narrow than we expected. trump has until next monday to file for cert with SCOTUS... at which point the Court could sit on the appeal indefinitely but likely result is Court responds w/i a week. en banc appeal efforts by trump will not prevent issuing o' mandate... no delay o' criminal proceedings. therefore, deadline for trump to file appeal is next monday and we would be legit shocked if SCOTUS did not respond within a week... two at outset. IF SCOTUS takes up a trump appeal, am not seeing how they could delay given the time sensitivity involved, but again, this Court baffles us. HA! Good Fun!

likely not for the same reasons as Gromnir, but am in agreement. 'tween normalization o' relations with china, passage o' epa/clean air and water legislation, the first real Presidential advocacy o' universal health care as well as the being the guy who got the fed involved in finding treatments and cures for cancer, not to mention numerous other nixon achievements, is fair to say we got mixed feelings 'bout nixon. is impossible to overlook vietnam dishonesty as well as watergate, and his Presidential campaigns were embracing vile racist elements, but he also increased the bia budget by more than 200% and did more to support tribal sovereignty legislation than any other President... maybe john quincy adams were an exception, but adams were a one-term President in large part 'cause his position on indian relations were so unpopular. nixon did not deserve to be President and his party rightful kicked him to the curb, but nixon were an effective chief executive with a whole lotta positive accomplishments studding his resumé. am not conflicted 'bout nixon, but more than just a little positive were the result o' the nixon admin. our mixed feelings is heavily weighted negative, but that don't mean we need ignore the accomplishments. trump don't have nixon's positive qualities. HA! Good Fun!

am suspecting trump tries to draw out the appeal process as long as is possible, so am predicting he is gonna request en banc review by the dc appellate circuit before trying to get SCOTUS cert. deadline to request appeal is this coming monday. ... there is no unique and novel legal issues for the Court to resolve( edit: for those unaware, this is hardly the first time a President has attempted to claim immunity to avoid dealing with actual or potential litigation/prosecution. not ancient history neither as both nixon and clinton tried the immunity angle and were excoriated by the Court for their temerity. the only thing new 'bout the trump situation is he went further than clinton or nixon in his demand for unqualified blanket immunity,) so if SCOTUS decides to hear trump's presidential immunity argument, then we would be a smidge concerned. am also honest not sure what is the timeline for en banc appellate review with dc-- can be quick or slow depending on any number o variables and am certain trump is hoping for slow. additional edit: the request for en banc review and SCOTUS cert happens simultaneous and not sequential, but as a matter o' practicality, SCOTUS can grant an indefinite stay and while we do not expect such a result given the implications for election uncertainty, am admitting to having having been wrong 'bout this Court more than once. a spring trial remains possible. HA! Good Fun!

how positively volesque. ... would be perverse to pretend to know your specific concerns based on such a generalization. regardless, a bit more context would help unless the point were to shout into the void and then wait for echoes. HA! Good Fun!

and am having some regret that our 80s self weren't appreciating stewart copeland in a manner befitting his contribution to the police. at the time we thought mr. copeland good drummer. fool. HA! Good Fun!

not that it makes one movie better than another, but roald dahl's book were more creepy than the burton movie. in his movie adaptation, burton added a bit o' character development insofar as family interactions which were not in the book, but many o' the creepier scenes left outta the 1971 film were included by burton. maybe not too well known nowadays, but something like a half-dozen dahl stories were used by alfred hitchc0ck for his tv series and dahl rare pulled any punches when writing for a younger audience--creepy and dark even by 2024 standards. dahl's book were also a bit less cultural sensitive than either movie depiction. fair or not, burton's film were predictable measured by the 1971 film standard but am suspecting the director were more interested in adapting the dahl book than remaking the 1971 movie. master of the obvious observation: roald dahl's book were not a musical. the 1971 movie included numerous tunes which is pop culture mainstays even after 50 years. HA! Good Fun!

am s'posing you have never taken a graduate course. spend more than twelve hours on a chapter from gravity's rainbow is hardly out o' the norm... and is not just 'cause pynchon's work is so much more complex. is hardly outliers neither. one case study on the development o' saturn auto. one film by orson welles. one scene from a shakespeare tragedy. is not a matter o' quality neither. phantom menace got a large cast o' divisive characters, and lucas can't help self but do significant and trivial homage to past films, so is hardly a shortage o' material for film geeks to obsess 'bout. HA! Good Fun!

having done just that, stacking azata attribute and mind effecting boosts as well as all the enchantment/illusion gear in the game w/o resorting to expanded arsenal quirks, am less ambivalent than @majesticabout viability. am assuming azata kineticists remain kinda op. is more than a couple skald/bard builds we used for every hard and unfair boss battle, but regardless, an enchanter/illusionist is more than viable on any difficulty even without the expanded arsenal schtick. aside: is not to0 much undead in the game, but we nevertheless take the undead in addition to the functional requisite fey bloodline. sepentine might make more sense, but undead is typical our choice. (edit: you do not need play as a sorcerer caster to make an op azata enchanter work, but am highly recommending at least one level o' crossblood sorc if you choose to go wizard or whatnot.) furthermore, am gonna suggest that folks reflexive using unfair as a yardstick for mythic powha is misleading. @majestic is no doubt keen aware that the most difficult unfair content is early game and before you acquire mythic path specific powhaz, particularly ambush encounters pre mythic. insofar as late game, any mythic path has at least a few op builds. angle and lich (and only merged spell book angel and lich is arguable broken op) is not making the most challenging early content any easier, and by late game the angel and lich relative advantages decrease substantially. late game aeon and demon has a few builds we would place on par with merged spellbook angel or lich. the main advantage o' lich and angel for unfair runs is they do not require you to follow an uncompromising build path or discover every bit o' build-specific loot needed to achieve requisite ab or dcs. angel and lich has spells and abilities which ignore sr or obviate the chore o' generating improbable dcs. play angel and you don't need to consider adding a court poet companion to buff your caster, or adding the madness domain to sosiel. merged spellbook angel and lich make the game far more simple, and there is a mid portion o' the game where they is undeniably op. even so, every mythic provides possibility o' op builds capable o' roll-stomping unfair late game, and no mythic makes early game easier. as an aside, and for any who hasn't played the game in awhile, am suspecting a few folks is gonna be surprised by a recentish playful darkness change--like ulbrig, playful darkness is now equipped with a swarmbane clasp. HA! Good Fun! ps we did go with a merged spell book angel build for the inevitable excess dlc but less 'cause it were so powerful (although it certainly was a powerful choice) but 'cause encounters were simplified by having a functional immortal character able to one-button wipe the screen o' opponents w/o any o' the rock-paper-scissor considerations which is ordinary the cornerstone o' overcoming difficult d&d/pathfinder opponents.

giving our self a much needed rest from family after making jibarito for a troop. is a fair amount o' effort for a sandwich, so is a once-or-twice a year event, but is worth it. admitted we didn't think the meal through as we got young relatives visiting and they always hang out in our kitchen while am cooking. ordinary we avoid anything requiring a deep fry when kids is underfoot. that said, nobody suffered 3rd degree burns today, so am calling it a win. last night we had chicken vesuvio. (edit: we use yukon gold potatoes even though russets is traditional. yukon gold is a better braising potato. also, we hate when the peas in this dish is over cooked, so we add 'em near end of oven time.) the chicago inspired menu theme were coincidental. ... maybe we make brownies for our young cousins. am not much into baking, but is easy and the kids can help. also, as the brownie were invented in chicago... HA! Good Fun!

maybe just a little bit different as peacekeepers remain members o' their original national military or police force even if the UN has operational control. *shrug* the following is not directed @Elerond is always good to wait for info, but the fact the UN ain't denying allegations and they has public condemned the actions o' more than a handful o' staffers should give a few obsidian board champions o' the oppressed pause. and again, we are contemplating the possibility that multiple UN personal were somehow embroiled in a terrorist attack... is a fair bit different than one-off acts o' unforgivable moral turpitude. the defense is that so far less than two dozen un staffers has been fired? serious? if more than a dozen un personnel were having organized sex slave rings servicing un peacekeepers, then maybe we are getting a bit closer to analogous and is pretty terrible regardless. so ask self if the current kerfuffle were genuine analogous but it involved the malfeasance o' uk diplomats, cia agents, catholic priests or some other group you is justifiable suspicious 'bout. would you be defending all the innocent cia agents who the cia did not immediate fire when the story went public? would you be defending the larger organization who fired the folks caught doing something wrong? is ok to admit the situation looks terrible. is ok to admit that given the lack o' un defense o' those staffers accused it is likely those folks did more than make mistakes or blunders. is ok to admit that oct 7 was pretty f'ing terrible and that if multiple unrwa employees were somehow involved... you folks do realize that if you admit the situation looks absolute fubar for the UN, it doesn't mean you need sudden support israel, right? when a similar situation arises and is handful o' bad israelis, US intelligence agents or new england patriots fans, are you gonna rush to defend? is a not zero chance some will recall and remind. HA! Good Fun!

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https://www.facebook.com/NASAJPL/videos/thanksingenuity-nasas-mars-helicopter-team-says-goodbye/258448413947046/ HA! Good Fun!

am not a fan o' this guy's showmanship, and for some reason his voice is like nails on the chalkboard for us, but in spite o' those negatives, he does an excellent job o' presenting legit Italian dishes in a manner which is not difficult to replicate. HA! Good Fun!

excellent animation with a unique style. the narrative might not work for everybody and we got plenty o' complaints, but is worth seeing just 'cause o' the animation efforts. however, and perhaps unfortunate, am recollecting mfkz also bombed. c'est la vie. HA! Good Fun! ps after @Agiel recommended, we saw dofus and the animation were indeed manifique. perhaps oddball videogame origins explains some tonal quirks, and the fact the title were planned as a series might explain why the raison d'etre for major character motivations and plot events were sadly left as macguffin. maybe. even so, the film looked and sounded great. too bad it bombed.

gonna post here 'cause is less football... but not politics either. whatever. if mods move the post, am not gonna complain. HA! Good Fun!

am realizing some hyperbole is being indulged in your response. after all, and is indeed ironic, most maga folks believe trump is their last best hope for a champion who will fight for them against tyranny, and the laundry list o' hobgoblins trump convinced them they is needing to fear-- illegal immigrants, globalists, mail-in voting, windmills, etc. sure, they believe trump needs to be strong to take on the deep state and the corrupt system, so they is ok with trump breaking norms, but maga unironic sees itself and trump as the last gasp hope for american democracy. is kinda a shame that many o' the trump voters disappeared from this board following the election and insurrection, 'cause am certain they would pushback on your simple (and slight tongue-in-cheek) dichotomy. that said, imagine same absolute immunity statement by trump in 2015, during his first campaign, and even during the first couple years o' his Presidency. of course maga folks woulda' made excuses for trump's embrace o' dictatorship, or they woulda' suggested he were joking, but the reaction from maga folks to the above tweet would not have been same even in 2018... and libs also woulda' been vocal outraged by such a statement in 2018. today? a collective sigh from the left and a hearty cheer from the faithful. Gromnir couldn't figure out why so many libs shrugged off the trump muslim ban promise in 2015, and has been a whole lotta shrug moments since then. it took hundreds o' thousands o' unnecessary US covid deaths, and trump's arguable criminal mishandling o' the pandemic to convince democrats and left-leaning independents to vote for an uninspiring biden -harris ticket in 2020. does @Bartimaeusfeel confident that the above tweet, and so many others similar signs that trump is looking to shatter whatever illusions people got left that US republican democracy will prevent 45 from doing the previous unthinkable, and convince enough people to vote against him in 2024? how many will just shrug? am genuine baffled by how easy post ww2 US norms has been subverted since 2015. a c-list tv huckster selling fear and grievance to working class whites evoked shrugs and maybe even mild laughter from libs in 2015. how many collective shrugs led to this point, 'cause recall that while trump beat clinton, the 2016 election saw extreme low voter turnout and exit polls showed that many who voted for trump did so not 'cause they liked him but 'cause clinton were such a terrible alternative. the don't blame me, i voted for kodos joke were funny in 2015? the truth is most libs didn't bother to vote for kodos, so kang didn't need many votes to win. pretend it didn't really matter if clinton or trump were possible 'cause people shrugged at muslim ban, pu$$y grab, attacks on gold star families, etc. the old quote attributed to ben franklin feels more apt today than at anytime since the civil war. the thing is, americans were a smidge more engaged in 1787 and 1861... recognizing how only the opinions o' white and male americans mattered at the time. HA! Good Fun!