Brisketexan

Come on, guys. 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1

I’d lament that, but the rules were set a while back, by the MAGA movement. They were perfectly happy with this sort of shit against the opposition. Don’t want shit to be that way? They shouldn’t have made it that way. Zero tears shed for them. The chose a republic that operated by rule of the gun instead of the rule of law. Pretty hypocritical to whine about the gun being pointed back at them.

He’s the end for Ukraine. “During the Trump–Ukraine scandal, which led to Trump's impeachment (and subsequent acquittal), Kellogg said he "heard nothing wrong or improper" in Trump's call with the Ukrainian president.[24] In June 2024, Kellogg and Fred Fleitz, who both served in Trump’s National Security Council staff, presented Trump with a detailed peace plan to end Russia's war in Ukraine.[29] The plan entailed that the United States would tell Ukraine that it would only receive more American military aid if it entered into peace talks with Russia, and that a ceasefire would be based on the prevailing battle lines.[29] Fleitz said Trump has responded favorably to the plan.” Bottom line, Ukraine needs to surrender everything to Russia. Glad we have the world’s best negotiator on the job.

BRAV-FUCKING-O. Truly amazing to me. “Power concentrated in government which has thousands and thousands of unique individuals in it, and is at least somewhat answerable to voters” is BAD. “All that power and more in the hands of 4-5 sociopaths answerable to no one” is PERFECTION. The fucking cognitive dissonance of this entire era is deafening. It’s incredible.

First Idiocracy becomes a documentary, and now The Fifth Element? Fuck. I better get my Mulitpass set up.

And, dumbass senator from dumbassistan doesn't understand that those tax dollars....were NOT sent to Ukraine, but were sent to places like his home state of Alafuckingbama. Money spent HERE. On American products, made by American workers. He may be he dumbest person to ever hold a Senate seat. And I'm including the Roman Senate in that.

The wife spent some time with the daughter bouncing around Soho this past week, and really liked it - they were back and forth between Covent Garden and Soho and such.

Well, yeah. And it would be placed up there by the chemtrail crews, after they finish their chemtrailing for the day. Duh.

Yep. It was always that. That has always been the philosophy behind the far right bullshit (see Pat Buchanan), but they found a truly god-like figure in an actual pathological narcissist who not only doesn't care who he hurts, he thinks that causing pain is a display of power, which feeds his unquenchable ego. He thinks that causing pain is power, and having power will fill the void inside him, but nothing can fill that void, so the only thing to do is inflict more pain. It could not be more obvious if it was a 10,000 mile wide neon sign in orbit around the earth for all to see.....but here we are. People refuse to see the obvious, and make a hate-filled man the avatar for THEIR hate, disregarding the obviously erratic and universal nature of the hate their avatar will express. Just fucking dumb. But "just fucking dumb" is who we fucking are now and who we have steadfastly decided to be, so buckle up.

Leftover turkey gumbo, made with rich, reduced turkey stock....is one of the things that is best in life. Really, it's the one thing I miss when I don't make a turkey at home for the holiday. And yeah....topping it with a scoop from the leftovers of my mom's oyster dressing recipe....gotdamn.

Yep. See, the dumbasses who voted for him think that Trump is going to serve up a tailored, single serving of fuckery, aimed only at the people they hate. What they are too fucking stupid to realize is that Trumpery is a massive layer cake of fuckery, "at levels no one has ever seen before." Eat up, Trumpers. Oh, and when you dig in, enjoy -- that isn't icing between the layers, it's pure spreadable shit. DIG IN.

This is what many of us (lawyers) have been saying, dude. What I'll suggest to you is that the legal profession is no more or less immune to the greater decay that is wrecking our society as a whole. The vast majority of attorneys are not just practicing in an ethical way that reflects their position as officers of the court, but most are also sounding the alarm, speaking as to the importance of the rule of law, and the like. But like any other element of society/the social order, it only takes a relatively low percentage of turds in the punchbowl to turn the whole thing into a bowl of shitpunch. There's always a bad actor here and there, in every facet of society. But so long as that element is a manageably low number, the system works. Once that element builds and hits a critical mass......it's shitpunch. None of our systems -- not a single one -- are equipped to handle a critical mass of people simply opting out of the social contract. That's all that EVERYTHING is -- our legal system, economic system and transactions, social dynamics, all of it -- it's just an agreement. A handshake deal. I'll sell you a widget with a price of $10, you pay me $10. I won't run a red light to kill you or me, I get to go through the intersection on green. When that breaks down, it is a total breakdown, across all systems. You are correct - we are experiencing a tragedy of the commons playing out on a grand scale. I'm not absolving my profession of responsibility. I'm just telling you that we're just as fucked as everyone else. Too many people want to be kings of the ashes instead of members of the merchant class of a prosperous country. And the past couple of decades have shown us that this is inevitable. No amount of warnings or examples of pain will even slow it down. And that's the fucking awful truth.

Not to put a big damper on things.....but it's not just the ruble. The dollar is on a solid run. Euro is down to 1.05, pound is down to 1.25 (I pay attention to both, as I send money to a kid on each currency). Yeah, the ruble is taking a bigger beating than most other currencies (precipitous drop in the last two weeks against ALL currencies), but some of what you're seeing in the charts above is a strong dollar. The ruble to euro chart is maybe more accurate (and it too shows a cliff the ruble fell off of).

Perfect post. It's entirely results-oriented Calvinball now. Bruen is the single worst-reasoned decision from SCOTUS I've ever read. It's a perfect mix of idiocy and jaw-dropping dishonesty, and it 100% means what it said -- Thomas reiterated that point. It elevated the Second Amendment above the entire rest of the Constitution, and formalized a method of "Constitutional Interpretation" that is complete nonsense, a recipe for disingenuous bullshit, and we've already seen that recipe followed. Rahimi didn't save shit. It's a band-aid on an era of SCOTUS that is going to make Dred Scott look like a work of genius in comparison. This is what the Federalist Society wants: a Court that does what it wants, whenever it wants, employing only the "guiding principles" that conveniently allow for the "whatever we want, whenever we want" outcome. If a court isn't regularly issuing rulings with a thought of "I really don't like this outcome, and really don't want to do this, but following the law and precedent, it's what I have to do," then it isn't a real court. The Supreme Court of the United States is no longer a real court. I've been a practicing attorney for decades....and I never thought I would say that, but here we are.

Of course there are multiple factors in suicide rates. Live in paradise, lower suicide rate. Live in Lubbock when the wind blows, higher suicide rate. Live in a society with more social cohesion and family connection, better outcomes than a society that fosters loneliness and isolation. But spending matters too. And you're correct that spending doesn't necessarily correlate to quality of care. The key is WHAT we are spending on. We spend a whole lot of money.....that does not go to care/delivering outcomes. We have a very inefficient system, skewed towards delivering profits instead of care. That's not to say that ANY system is perfect - care costs money, period. It has to come from somewhere. But we are an unhealthy society with unhealthy systems. And it bites us in the ass.

Perfect example. Consumers end up gaming the business's system because the business's system games them. It becomes a ratcheting upward game of fuckery. NEITHER side should start it. But here we are. Where "no, fuck you, HD" is the only rational response.

A very compact way of putting it. Nicely done. Also, it's why places like Facebook, Surly, and (once upon a time) Twitter have/had policies for user conduct. Once a turd slips into the punchbowl, then the whole thing is just shitpunch.

Yet it is. 100% intentionally. You're not obtuse, you're just an asshole. Wait.....you're probably both.

Had to log into my UK bank account yesterday to move some stuff around, and a pop up window informed me that "HSBC will no longer process any payments to or from Belarus or Russia. For payments involving those countries, you should make alternate arrangements." Was kinda surprised HSBC hadn't already cut that off, but then.....they're kind of an evil bank (I really didn't have a choice as to who I could open an account with from the US). That said....it's getting harder and harder for ordinary people and businesses to have anything to do with Russia. What a "cut of your nose to spite your face" move Russia has made.

Abbott has already wrapped his hands around the throat of public education and choked it for going on 6 years (no funding increases....despite significant inflation and increased population). He has shown, simply and directly, that public schools must do EXACTLY as he says (all Jesus, all the time, for example) or he will simply cut off their funding.

DING DING DING. The Trump Model for the Economy is super simple. It has only two elements: 1) punish disloyalty and 2) reward loyalty.

Somewhat Putin-esque in the outcome. Elon would benefit from a large glass of "be smart enough to know how dumb you are," but nope.....Elon is the world's leading expert on.....literally everything. According to Elon, at least.

He stated his conclusion. Yes, in a Tweet. Because he's as simple-minded as Tweet communication. Here's his conclusion, in his own fucking words, quoted: First point: not entirely "broken," although yes, the requirement of multiple roles did indeed make it too jack-of-all-trades. Most experts agree. Second point: agree on the jack-of-all-trades point. Current usage demonstrates that "success was never in the set of possible outcomes" is flat-out false. It is already being successfully used in battle. Third point: False. Someday, they WILL be obsolete. But as real-time wars being fought this very minute demonstrate, they are NOT obsolete at present. And they will not be obsolete for many years to come. Elon's military mindset is pretty fucking similar to this dude's: He is the textbook Dunning Kruger case of someone who knows a fair bit about subject A, and then extrapolates that to acting as if he's an expert in subjects B-Z. Elon isn't smart enough to know how dumb he is.

Both things are true. Yet his conclusion is still rubbish, because Elon speaks in absurd absolutes. There are numerous missions for which a larger, manned platform is the vastly superior approach, and that will remain the case for some time to come. And if you think that the advanced militaries of the world aren't the bleeding edge of the shift to larger drones performing more complex missions, you are a dipshit who knows only a little bit, but thinks he knows a lot. So....you're Elon.

I'm a lawdog, and here's the thing: you are not wrong. Which has actually been the primary point behind my the alarm bells I've been ringing for the past decade. The Rule of Law, for as much as we rely on it, describe this huge body of work, etc.....is incredibly fragile. Because it is nothing more than a compact, an agreement. You and I both agree that if we make a contract and one of us breaches it, the other party can go to court and get a judgment. Then, that party can take that judgment and file other papers, and end up owning some of your property to pay that judgment. It's all papers, and people moving stuff around based on an agreement that those processes mean something. Courts issue "writs" to make people do things. They don't show up with clubs and beat you into submission to make you do something. But when one party/side simply opts out of The Rule of Law.....it's over. It's done. Because the only option other than The Rule of Law is The Rule of Force/the Gun. The Rule of Law is ill-equipped to deal with someone who 1) opts out of The Rule of Law and 2) has enough power/backing to get away with it. Donald Trump has violated the law, and when The Rule of Law says "no, you have to obey the law," stood there defiantly with his hands on his hips and said "make me." And, importantly, he's had the backing of a shitload of powerful people -- and nearly half the country's voters -- in his stance. The thing is, those idiots think they have "won." No. What they have done is taken an incredibly dangerous step down the road of installing "Rule of the Gun" in place of The Rule of Law. And in this moment, they like it because they feel like they have the power. And in this moment, they may be right. But that's the problem with the Rule of the Gun....who the "prevailing party" will be changes with the wind, and with whoever has the most guns on a given day. The Rule of Law provides a measure of certainty and predictability. And certainty and predictability are the foundation of a functioning society and thriving economy. There is a world where, if you fail to pay me the $1 million you owe me, I can sue you and get a judgment, and collect on my judgment. Knowing that, both parties to our deal behave accordingly, and generally stick with the deal, providing predictability and a free flow of commerce. There is another world where, if you fail to pay me the $1 million you owe me, I tell you to pay me, and you stand there with your armed goons and tell me "fuck off, if you try to make me pay, I'll shoot you." That injects significant uncertainty into the process, and the free flow of commerce will take a huge hit. I'm not going to do deals with people if I can't assure that they will pay me. So either we have to find some other mechanism to ensure payment, or I need to hire more and better-armed goons than my contract counterparty has, which is a significant added cost, and its own wildcard. TLDR: by opting out of The Rule of Law, the American Right is taking a huge step towards crippling our society and economy as we know them. They think they're winning because they have this delicious roast goose in front of them and can taunt their opponent who has an empty table, when in reality, they are killing the golden goose that provides prosperity for everyone.