Iuz the Evil

While the federal government response was objectively terrible, and the same can be said for many state response efforts, government response to the pandemic has been in fact highly variable in the United States. Local health officers, staff and jurisdictions have in many cases engaged in heroic efforts to keep their community safe. Just an observation, federal government isn’t the only government. Individual experiences vary.

I kind of feel badly for every performer who had to follow Lady Gaga. She was much more talented as a singer, that was beautiful. Nice inauguration. I think we sorely needed a return to decorum.

Yikes, that’s really problematic for our surveillance of various radical factions I suspect.

This was a staggeringly successful season for Cleveland. First road win in the playoffs since 1969. Hell, the first playoff win since 1995. That franchise has been “a factory of sadness”. They were a legit contender this year, that’s incredible.

Cap would beat that ass. Those people in their actions are the antithesis of everything the character stands for. Good for Kirby’s kid to point out the inappropriateness.

Agreed, should not be a feature of our criminal justice system.

While I want him gone, and gone now, I don’t want to spend the majority of political capital post inauguration on Trump. First hundred days stuff, not the guy who isn’t in office any more. Let prosecutors or whatever deal with him, not the Administration.

That’s fantastic, I love the sentiment he closes with and the personal story (and the fact he actually brandishes the sword from Conan). I didn’t care for him as our governor, but that’s good stuff right there.

I can accept that. I also think that the elected body politic can and should respond with all appropriate force to prevent such actions. I was dismayed that was not the case this week. I’m not a pacifist, I am a strong believer in the Rule of Law. If it is acceptable to use violence when sufficiently outraged, or feels that they have a moral imperative to act, people make terrible and misinformed decisions that in retrospect are deeply regrettable. Mob rule does not appeal to me, however noble the intent. Process matters.

That’s an excellent video, thank you for sharing. I disagree with the idea of violence as a mechanism to further political change. He does make compelling arguments, which I largely ate with aside from that moment.

That was satisfying, 55-20 OU. I’ll take it going into next season.

Ugh. Painful.

I like the theater experience, and once things open up again fully intend to go back for certain pictures. Basically no change in viewing habits planned there, but we will see what is available once it’s safer to do so.

Individual humans can be brilliant, kind, wise and virtuous. In the years of my life I increasingly consider groups of humans to be dangerous, easily duped, prone to reacting from base emotion, and rejecting of logic. None of this is surprising to me at all, and I develop Public Policy for these things. Sigh. I think it’s more likely a modest thinning of the herd, and long term medical complications for many more. But the point is well taken that US citizenry and their lack of the concept of shared sacrifice for the greater good. It’s unfortunate.

From what I’ve heard, I’ll probably wait for a free opportunity on Amazon down the road. Or maybe Hulu. Doesn’t sound like it’s really aimed at my comic movie interests.

Merry Christmas to all

Personality Disorders are not contagious

Winning.

Oklahoma wins the Big XII title, 27 to 21, over Iowa State. 6th straight conference championship. OU has won 14 of the 25 years the conference has existed. The next most is texas with 3. Good times

Right? I almost cried

Anyone else see that season finale? That was so satisfying, and cool. Disney should just turn the whole Star Wars franchise over to Favreau and Filoni, and call it done.

I do not care for analogies to military action, unless you are comfortable with the POTUS asserting direct control over your local jurisdictions with military troops that’s a problematic analogy to make. It is in my mind exactly like a pandemic response, where you can certainly assert greater levels of state and federal control than have been the case. Note I didn’t agree or defend their position, only that they do have that authority and the ability to exercise it in their office. That continues to not trouble me. They can be removed from office, or if he can pull himself away from dinner at the French Laundry, Governor Newsom has many options to bring them in line. I even listed one. He isn’t doing that at present, so it’s at their discretion. That the rule of law, they are elected officials exercising their authority within the scope of their office. Unless and until they are countered by someone with the authority to do so, they should do what they believe is their duty, whether I agree with that or not. The State has been pretty missing in action on this, aside from the occasional erratic direction by press conference. Be upset with them would be my recommendation, rather than one or two of 58 County. They are just local electeds doing what local electeds do, working to get re-elected. That’s how they roll, everywhere. If the Governor doesn’t like it, he should do something about it. That’s his role as the elected leader of the State Executive Branch. He did for those small Counties that rejected his original order and they got in line. He may yet do that with these cases, but that’s not the case today.

Sure, but the prioritization of those laws IS at the discretion of the Sheriff. And the aforementioned District Attorney, who the video doesn’t mention. There are a lot of Counties even in the Bay Area (on the more restrictive side of pandemic response) who absolutely will not prosecute. I’ve heard discussions that question whether they even have the authority to do so at a local level. There’s a massive amount of local discretion, which doesn’t honestly trouble me too much. If the governor wants to take a more direct stance, he has both the authority and the resources to do so. He hasn’t done that, choosing to rely on local jurisdictions gives them discretion. Now there’s a cost for that, he can pull the Covid relief funding he provided County government. That’s very significant, it’s a lot of money. But he seems content to ignore the posturing for now.

The County Sheriff is an elected official, and they do have broad discretion in their jurisdiction - pretty much exactly as he indicates (good video). The District Attorney is another County elected official who will have something to say on the matter. If the DA won’t prosecute anyway, it’s effectively a moot point. It’s an interesting consideration, but this isn’t a new issue at all. Law Enforcement has discretion, as evidenced every time you get a warning on a speeding ticket or do not get a warning. It’s not that significant a talking point to say “we don’t make the law, we just enforce it” - the Sheriff is exercising the authority given them by the consent of the voters.