Iuz the Evil

You and me both. It’s a lot of money.
 
https://www.opensecrets.org/elections-overview/biggest-donors

Haley is far behind Trump in polls of Republican voters, but her poll numbers have been rising pretty steadily while those of the other also-rans have declined or flatlined. Haley is close to Ron DeSantis in aggregate poll numbers, and has beaten him in a number of polls. (See recent polling results.) If Donnie's troubles with the law render him unable to run in the primaries, Nikki is in a strong position to take the Republican nomination.
 
Nikki Haley would be an obvious improvement over Donald Trump in terms of competence, but with all she's said and done I still don't want her anywhere near the Oval Office.

I don't think Donnie has ever faced an opponent in court with greater resources than his, who's willing to fight the case to the end.
 
His lawyers are trying Hail Mary tactics now. I have to admit that this last one, ridiculous as it is, was at least creative.
 
 
I don't think it would work that way. First, this is a squabble over semantic meaning of "defend" vs "support." Trump's lawyers can always argue that his actions as POTUS did "defend" the constitution, but not "support" it. Second, legislation passed under his administration was the responsibility of Congress, not the President. Third, most of what Trump did under executive order, has already been reversed by President Biden.

All the pro Palestinian friends and family I know are completely quiet on facebook and social media. 
 
In old media there are still holdouts calling Hamas "warriors" and trying to focus on Palestinian civilian casualties. 
But the long term of this might be that Palestine and its peoples cause loose legitimacy.
I think the reason for this is Hamas use of social media where they display corpses and parade naked civilian women through the city while the crowd is jeering. 
Social media removes the veil and shows the truth, especially to the young. Maybe social media will be what kills Hamas in the long term. 

Cyberwarfare against Israel has started. Russian-backed hacker group Killnet is claiming responsibility and making threats of more attacks. A WSJ article (paywalled) reports that US intelligence say there haven't been any serious attacks so far, just DDOS and defacing attacks against Israeli government websites. I'm not linking anything. because it doesn't appear anyone really knows anything yet. No point in posting any rush to be first articles.
 
 

Trump is unambiguously the worst candidate imaginable, utterly contemptible and deserving of public scorn. He is the closest thing imaginable to my worst nightmare, making me actually yearn for the incompetent leadership of George W Bush by comparison (who once made me say or out loud through his actions “please never again let there be a President dumber than I am”).
 
Biden is not a good candidate. He is a good man, there is a big difference. He looks ancient, confused, and has not become more articulate as the term progressed. That isn’t to say that I do not wildly prefer his policies. The biggest failing of the Democratic Party in recent years is they have utterly failed to develop a deep bench. What are we facing right now? Kamala Harris? Gavin Newsom? 
 
Save us from that. What happened to the Barack Obama speech in the 2004 DNC? 
 
 
I accept that we are in a post moderate world, so my preferences are largely marginalized and irrelevant for either party. I just want people I can believe in.
 
 Like Clinton did in 2012 (admittedly after his Presidency)…
 
 
 If it comes to Gavin Newsom versus Donald Trump, I honestly don’t know what I’d do. I cannot cast a vote for either man, and as someone in public service I cannot begin to express what a huge statement that is for me. I’d prefer Harris, she’s at least a progressive version of GWB in my estimation. 
 
We need to do better, and that begins at the local level. Give me someone who wants to serve. Came up through public office, but isn’t a raging narcissist in the pocket of corporate interests (thank you Citizens United). Someone who can compromise, and who sees all Americans as their constituents. Not just those who voted for them.
 
 It is a difficult time for me. I accept that others may feel differently, but I can’t stand this. Ugh. 
 
I hope for a better tomorrow.
 

Trump is unambiguously the worst candidate imaginable, utterly contemptible and deserving of public scorn. He is the closest thing imaginable to my worst nightmare, making me actually yearn for the incompetent leadership of George W Bush by comparison (who once made me say or out loud through his actions “please never again let there be a President dumber than I am”).
 
Biden is not a good candidate. He is a good man, there is a big difference. He looks ancient, confused, and has not become more articulate as the term progressed. That isn’t to say that I do not wildly prefer his policies. The biggest failing of the Democratic Party in recent years is they have utterly failed to develop a deep bench. What are we facing right now? Kamala Harris? Gavin Newsom? 
 
Save us from that. What happened to the Barack Obama speech in the 2004 DNC? 
 
 
I accept that we are in a post moderate world, so my preferences are largely marginalized and irrelevant for either party. I just want people I can believe in.
 
 Like Clinton did in 2012 (admittedly after his Presidency)…
 
 
 If it comes to Gavin Newsom versus Donald Trump, I honestly don’t know what I’d do. I cannot cast a vote for either man, and as someone in public service I cannot begin to express what a huge statement that is for me. I’d prefer Harris, she’s at least a progressive version of GWB in my estimation. 
 
We need to do better, and that begins at the local level. Give me someone who wants to serve. Came up through public office, but isn’t a raging narcissist in the pocket of corporate interests (thank you Citizens United). Someone who can compromise, and who sees all Americans as their constituents. Not just those who voted for them.
 
 It is a difficult time for me. I accept that others may feel differently, but I can’t stand this. Ugh. 
 
I hope for a better tomorrow.
 

Agreed. She was an accomplished representative of California and servant to the people. I prefer to recall that aspect of her career, which in my opinion overshadowed anything after. We all have moments when we stumble, she stood strong for many years and had major accomplishments in legislative service that none of her recent contemporaries can match. RIP Senator, condolences to her family.

Agreed. She was an accomplished representative of California and servant to the people. I prefer to recall that aspect of her career, which in my opinion overshadowed anything after. We all have moments when we stumble, she stood strong for many years and had major accomplishments in legislative service that none of her recent contemporaries can match. RIP Senator, condolences to her family.

RIP to a public servant

She’s allegedly dating Travis Kelce and is encouraging people to register to vote in high population areas. They’ll fixate on less.
 
 Oh and she’s an outspoken ally of LGBTQ groups and has been moving away from her historically apolitical positions to support progressive policies more openly. I figure they thought she was apolitical because she was secretly endorsing GOP positions, and there’s a sense of betrayal. 
 
People really really care what popular performers think about public policy and politics these days, so they’ve apparently tagged her as an adversary. 

She’s allegedly dating Travis Kelce and is encouraging people to register to vote in high population areas. They’ll fixate on less.
 
 Oh and she’s an outspoken ally of LGBTQ groups and has been moving away from her historically apolitical positions to support progressive policies more openly. I figure they thought she was apolitical because she was secretly endorsing GOP positions, and there’s a sense of betrayal. 
 
People really really care what popular performers think about public policy and politics these days, so they’ve apparently tagged her as an adversary. 

Alright, I decided to watch The Flash because it was free. The first half-hour was excruciating. Not only do I hate hate HATE Miller's Barry Allen, but the script was just flat out bad and wouldn't have worked for any actor. (Barry Allen is awkward... get it??)
 
Once it got to the actual plot, it settled down a bit and became watchable. As most have said, Keaton was the highlight. Some of the visual FX were quite interesting. There were some neat ideas deep down and in the hands of a better director/studio this could have set a new bar.
 
As it is, I give it a C overall. Not as bad as I feared, but the first part was far worse than I imagined.

“We want to build a university our football team can be proud of”

- Dr. George L. Cross, President, University of Oklahoma
 
https://www.nytimes.com/1989/02/18/sports/sports-of-the-times-the-grapes-of-wrath-at-oklahoma.html#:~:text=Cross replied%2C ''We want,up all across the country.

Likely natural causes but some people are claiming there's a woman to blame

This shouldn't be political -- but it touches on immigration, both historical and modern, about which many Americans hold, hm, strong political opinions. So I'm posting the link here.
 
English is the most frequently spoken language in the US, followed by Spanish. But what's the #3 language in each state?
 
Fascinating map shows most-spoken language in each state after English and Spanish - with some VERY surprising results (msn.com)
 
Dean Shomshak

A small dogmatic part of my brain wants to say "Bonapartism", not fascism, but that would require me to muck about with definitions. There's not much difference anyway.

Left my job today after 8 Years and 6 Months of public service. 4 fires, a mass shooter incident at the VA home, global pandemic response and so many Suicide/DTS/DTO incidents I literally lost count. Some of the best humans I’ve had the pleasure to work alongside, and the privilege of leading. 
 
Crazy transition. In 10 days I start my new gig (very similar to the previous one but different County). Really looking forward to the many new things I have to learn about the communities I’ll be serving, and the local priorities. Going to use the time to get my head on straight and study the community health assessment and other state/local reporting so I’m ready to go from Day 1. Very excited. 

Left my job today after 8 Years and 6 Months of public service. 4 fires, a mass shooter incident at the VA home, global pandemic response and so many Suicide/DTS/DTO incidents I literally lost count. Some of the best humans I’ve had the pleasure to work alongside, and the privilege of leading. 
 
Crazy transition. In 10 days I start my new gig (very similar to the previous one but different County). Really looking forward to the many new things I have to learn about the communities I’ll be serving, and the local priorities. Going to use the time to get my head on straight and study the community health assessment and other state/local reporting so I’m ready to go from Day 1. Very excited. 

They Checked Out Pride Books in Protest. It Backfired.
Unlocked article from the NYT.

It’s not a good thing. An independent judiciary is a safeguard against tyranny. Lest we forget:
 

As true now, as it was then.

It’s not a good thing. An independent judiciary is a safeguard against tyranny. Lest we forget:
 

As true now, as it was then.

It’s not a good thing. An independent judiciary is a safeguard against tyranny. Lest we forget:
 

As true now, as it was then.