Political Randomness

El Guapo · Post by **El Guapo** » Tue Sep 12, 2023 10:48 am

I could kind of use a government shutdown to free up time for Act 3 of Baldur's Gate 3.

TheMix · Post by **TheMix** » Tue Sep 12, 2023 12:29 pm

Blackhawk wrote: ↑Mon Sep 11, 2023 4:17 pm

Sorry to be that person... Hopefully you just found that image, BH, and didn't create it. But it's making me twitch. They got the quote wrong.

From IMDB:

Vizzini: HE DIDN'T FALL? INCONCEIVABLE.
Inigo Montoya: You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

Edit: Added quoted post for new page.

LawBeefaroni · Post by **LawBeefaroni** » Tue Sep 12, 2023 12:36 pm

Zarathud wrote: ↑Sun Sep 10, 2023 10:54 am

Campaign finance reform would trigger a lot of resignations. Another systemic problem created by Mitch McConnell.

Boomers are very controlling and refuse to give up power. We see that in the economy, and it’s no difference in Congress. But COVID life expectancy changes may end up changing that.

It's worth pointing out that Feinstein, Pelosi, McConnell, and Biden aren't Boomers. They're Silent Generation. The tail end but still. They're too fucking old to be boomers.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Tue Sep 12, 2023 2:19 pm

TheMix wrote: ↑Tue Sep 12, 2023 12:29 pm Sorry to be that person... Hopefully you just found that image, BH, and didn't create it. But it's making me twitch. They got the quote wrong.

Oops. Now it's bugging me, too. I searched for the image on whim, then grabbed it and linked it, but didn't actually read it.

LawBeefaroni · Post by **LawBeefaroni** » Tue Sep 12, 2023 2:25 pm

GreenGoo · Post by **GreenGoo** » Tue Sep 12, 2023 2:32 pm

"have a few laughs, they said"

I think.

TheMix · Post by **TheMix** » Tue Sep 12, 2023 2:54 pm

Blackhawk wrote: ↑Tue Sep 12, 2023 2:19 pm
TheMix wrote: ↑Tue Sep 12, 2023 12:29 pm Sorry to be that person... Hopefully you just found that image, BH, and didn't create it. But it's making me twitch. They got the quote wrong.
Oops. Now it's bugging me, too. I searched for the image on whim, then grabbed it and linked it, but didn't actually read it.

I assumed that was the case.

TheMix · Post by **TheMix** » Tue Sep 12, 2023 2:55 pm

LawBeefaroni wrote: ↑Tue Sep 12, 2023 2:25 pm

Do we now need a new thread? For posting memes that are wrong?

pr0ner · Post by **pr0ner** » Tue Sep 12, 2023 6:20 pm

El Guapo wrote: ↑Tue Sep 12, 2023 10:48 am I could kind of use a government shutdown to free up time for Act 3 of Baldur's Gate 3.

Come work for the part of the government that doesn't shut down! The water is fine!

AWS260 · Post by **AWS260** » Sat Sep 16, 2023 8:40 am

I read this piece by British former-politician Rory Stewart on a whim, and found that a lot of it really resonated with me. He talks about how the optimistic worldview of the post-Cold War era is inadequate to the challenges of today's world, which is something that depresses me on a regular basis.

Carpet_pissr · Post by **Carpet_pissr** » Mon Sep 18, 2023 7:47 am

LOL headline from “The Hill” this morning:

“McCarthy says if GOP outs him, Biden gets what he wants“

Unagi · Post by **Unagi** » Mon Sep 18, 2023 8:31 am

Carpet_pissr wrote: ↑Mon Sep 18, 2023 7:47 am LOL headline from “The Hill” this morning:

“McCarthy says if GOP outs him, Biden gets what he wants“

See, he should have said Hillary Clinton. Just reflex alone would have secured his position.

Kraken · Post by **Kraken** » Mon Sep 18, 2023 9:36 am

I wonder who the GOP would elevate in his stead. Somebody's got to do the job and I can't imagine that anybody competent would want it.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Mon Sep 18, 2023 12:04 pm

Something something king in hell over servant in heaven.

Carpet_pissr · Post by **Carpet_pissr** » Mon Sep 18, 2023 12:09 pm

In case it wasn’t clear, notice they wrote “outs” instead of “ousts”.

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Mon Sep 18, 2023 2:47 pm

We are not going to tolerate lock downs! We are not going to tolerate mandates! We are not going to tolerate declaration of emergencies!

Centennial, Colorado:

The city of Centennial is primed to... declare an emergency... over pickleball. This is a section from an ordinance up for public hearing tomorrow night:

coopasonic · Post by **coopasonic** » Mon Sep 18, 2023 3:07 pm

Hey, the pickleball noise complaints are real! I guess?

Pyperkub · Post by **Pyperkub** » Mon Sep 18, 2023 3:18 pm

AWS260 wrote:I read this piece by British former-politician Rory Stewart on a whim, and found that a lot of it really resonated with me. He talks about how the optimistic worldview of the post-Cold War era is inadequate to the challenges of today's world, which is something that depresses me on a regular basis.

He also talks about how greed gutted the UK economy, like it did the US.

Sent from my SM-S908U1 using Tapatalk

Alefroth · Post by **Alefroth** » Mon Sep 18, 2023 3:38 pm

Carpet_pissr wrote: ↑Mon Sep 18, 2023 7:47 am LOL headline from “The Hill” this morning:

“McCarthy says if GOP outs him, Biden gets what he wants“

Didn't he just out himself?

Alefroth · Post by **Alefroth** » Mon Sep 18, 2023 3:39 pm

Kraken wrote: ↑Mon Sep 18, 2023 9:36 am I wonder who the GOP would elevate in his stead. Somebody's got to do the job and I can't imagine that anybody competent would want it.

I'm pretty much expecting it to be Trump.

Holman · Post by **Holman** » Mon Sep 18, 2023 7:06 pm

Isgrimnur wrote: ↑Mon Sep 18, 2023 12:04 pm Something something king in hell over servant in heaven.

The mind is its own place, and in it self
Can make a Heav'n of Hell, a Hell of Heav'n.
What matter where, if I be still the same,
And what I should be, all but less then he
Whom Thunder hath made greater? Here at least
We shall be free; th' Almighty hath not built
Here for his envy, will not drive us hence:
Here we may reign secure, and in my choyce
To reign is worth ambition though in Hell:
Better to reign in Hell, then serve in Heav'n.

John Milton, Paradise Lost Book One.

(The speaker here is Satan.)

Max Peck · Post by **Max Peck** » Tue Sep 19, 2023 10:37 am

It looks like Azerbaijan and Armenia are going at it again. As I understand it, Russia had peacekeeping forces in the region but recently withdrew them to feed the boneyards in southern Ukraine.

Azerbaijan launches operation against Nagorno-Karabakh

Azerbaijan's defence ministry says it has begun "anti-terrorist" operations in areas of its Nagorno-Karabakh region under ethnic-Armenian control.

Tensions in the South Caucasus have been high for months around the breakaway enclave, recognised internationally as part of Azerbaijan.

Air raid sirens and mortar fire were heard in Karabakh's main city.

Eleven Azerbaijani police and civilians have been reported killed in a mine blast and another incident.

Defence officials in the breakaway region said the Azerbaijani military had "violated the ceasefire along the entire line of contact with missile-artillery strikes". Other Karabakh representatives spoke of a "large-scale military offensive".

The two neighbours, Azerbaijan and Armenia, have gone to war twice over Nagorno-Karabakh, first in the early 1990s after the fall of the Soviet Union and again in 2020.

Carpet_pissr · Post by **Carpet_pissr** » Tue Sep 19, 2023 5:36 pm

BWAH HA HA!!

“Rudy Giuliani’s former attorneys sue him for more than $1.3 million in unpaid legal fees”

LordMortis · Post by **LordMortis** » Wed Sep 20, 2023 3:51 pm

As I sit here listening to CNBC interviews with affluent investors after the Fed meeting, and hear investor talking about the increasing wackiness of both sides of the presidency, I find myself sick of Biden being painted as some sort of historical extremist. His push for "free" college is the only extremist position I've seen and it's been fairly dead. He was part of Obama's ACA push, which while historical, was very mild. The democrats and their presidencies have allowed tax cuts for the wealthy for, well nearly my whole lifetime.

I picture the average GOP voter at this time, as part of the Life of Brian with "what have Romans ever done for us", right down to Reg wanting be called Loretta and the GOP is somehow one of them because they "hate government" too.

Holman · Post by **Holman** » Fri Sep 22, 2023 11:46 am

This new article in the Atlantic is a chilling read: The Patriot: How General Mark Milley protected the Constitution from Donald Trump. (It seems not to be paywalled.)

tl;dr: There was real fear that Trump would try to use the US military to keep himself in power, and Milley (unable to speak openly about it while actively serving) plainly considers Trump an existential threat to American democracy.

stessier · Post by **stessier** » Fri Sep 22, 2023 11:55 am

Paywalled

Kraken · Post by **Kraken** » Fri Sep 22, 2023 2:04 pm

stessier wrote: ↑Fri Sep 22, 2023 11:55 amPaywalled

Disable Javascript.

Holman · Post by **Holman** » Fri Sep 22, 2023 5:18 pm

stessier wrote: ↑Fri Sep 22, 2023 11:55 amPaywalled

Weird. I read it all the way through yesterday, but it's paywalled for me too now.

Alefroth · Post by **Alefroth** » Fri Sep 22, 2023 5:40 pm

Don't most sites offer a small number of free viewings?

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Fri Sep 22, 2023 5:49 pm

One of my favorite Firefox extensions (for those who have an objection to Bypass Paywalls) is Cookie Remover. You simply click a button on the bar, and every cookie for the current site vanishes. It resets any 'limited number of articles' sites.

It also has the side benefit of getting around the new obnoxiousness - cookie notifications whose options are "Accept all Cookies and Serve Us" and "Manage Cookies", which translates to "Make it as difficult as possible to refuse non-essential cookies so that you won't bother." I just click 'accept all', 'Cookie Remover', in that order.

Unagi · Post by **Unagi** » Fri Sep 22, 2023 6:46 pm

Alefroth wrote: ↑Fri Sep 22, 2023 5:40 pm Don't most sites offer a small number of free viewings?

Yes. I was going to suggest this as well.

Kraken · Post by **Kraken** » Fri Sep 22, 2023 10:14 pm

Blackhawk wrote: ↑Fri Sep 22, 2023 5:49 pm One of my favorite Firefox extensions (for those who have an objection to Bypass Paywalls) is Cookie Remover. You simply click a button on the bar, and every cookie for the current site vanishes. It resets any 'limited number of articles' sites.

It also has the side benefit of getting around the new obnoxiousness - cookie notifications whose options are "Accept all Cookies and Serve Us" and "Manage Cookies", which translates to "Make it as difficult as possible to refuse non-essential cookies so that you won't bother." I just click 'accept all', 'Cookie Remover', in that order.

The "I Don't Care About Cookies" extension takes care of 90% of those popups. Incidentally, Bypass Paywalls also works by deleting cookies.

It's a good article and quite chilling if you weren't already afraid of trump as CinC. Maybe The Atlantic will remove the paywall after their November issue ships.

LordMortis · Post by **LordMortis** » Tue Sep 26, 2023 9:02 am

Ugh, Biden will be here. Please stay Michigan Ave and south and I will promise not go that way today. I hate presidential visits and motorcades. I've been stuck in them a surprisingly large amount of times in my life for where I've always lived.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Tue Sep 26, 2023 2:54 pm

For some reason, I've managed to avoid that particular issue here.

Although sometimes, for parades, our state Representative rides by dressed as Elvis and shaking his pelvis.

That was not a joke.

malchior · Post by **malchior** » Tue Sep 26, 2023 11:54 pm

An 'Ok boomer' moment for the ages. Unsurprisingly it is sprinkled in with "mild" hate speech because...I don't know. I can't figure these people out anymore.

And it’s not just that Swift has conquered the unwashed masses, America’s elite tastemakers have also become unrepentant Swifties. This summer, The New York Times covered Swift with an enthusiastic zeal not reserved for any other figure since maybe Obama — even going so far as to publish a distasteful meditation on internet randos’ lesbian fantasies about her.

Kraken · Post by **Kraken** » Wed Sep 27, 2023 2:00 am

Now I'm going to have lesbian fantasies about her, so thanks for that.

The only thing I know about Taylor Swift is that she massively screws up traffic within 50 miles of wherever she is.

LordMortis · Post by **LordMortis** » Wed Sep 27, 2023 7:31 am

Is this in response to her using her stage to encourage people to vote? AFAIK she's never said who to vote for.

I won't click on a shitter link nor federalist link, so that's all I got.

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Wed Sep 27, 2023 8:09 am

It reads like the rantings of that guy at the record store who really thinks he’s cool because he knows who Jon Spencer and the Blues Explosion are, and really wants you to know he’s cool because of that.

malchior · Post by **malchior** » Wed Sep 27, 2023 8:18 am

It definitely has that feel but what stands out to me is how *mean* the read is. That he talks about how "problematic" it is to bash on John Mayer and "soft bigotry" while throwing out casual slurs is just peak dirt bag. Beyond this record store vibe he is a garbage person.

LawBeefaroni · Post by **LawBeefaroni** » Wed Sep 27, 2023 9:47 am

malchior wrote: ↑Fri Jan 13, 2023 12:08 pm
LawBeefaroni wrote: ↑Fri Jan 13, 2023 11:51 am Target hasn't really changed their stance. At least not as recently as November.
Yeah not saying it's true or not but we just found out one retailer was fibbing and for whatever reason actually admitted to it. The bigger problem is that these folks say things and the press just megaphones it -- mostly without filter. In Walgreen's case the SF Chronicle at least ran down some of the story and called it into question about SF. Good on them for doing the work but where it comes to financial reporting guidance there are real consequences if they outright lie but they have tons of space to distort and feed misinformation into an environment that loves sensational stories. So yeah...it's hard not to be super skeptical of all these moral panic tales as a consumer of information.

Update:

https://www.cnn.com/2023/09/26/business ... index.html

Target is closing nine stores in major cities across four states, claiming theft and organized retail crime have made the environment unsafe for staff and customers – and unsustainable for business.

The big box chain is part of a wave of retailers – both large and small – that say they’re struggling to contain store crimes that have hurt their bottom lines. Many have closed stores or made changes to merchandise and layouts.

Nevertheless, skeptics say stores have not provided enough information to back up their claims, and at least one retailer said theft was an exaggerated issue.

....

The stores Target plans to close will shut their doors on October 21. The stores include the East Harlem location in New York City, two locations in Seattle, three locations in Portland, and three locations in San Francisco and Oakland.

The retailer said it had added more security and implemented other anti-theft tools before deciding to close the stores.