Matt the Bruins

I haven't read Book of the Empress, but this passage in CV1 imight be worth remembering:
 
"Istvatha V'han carries herself with a regal grace at most times, but her facade sometimes cracks when her followers let her down, or someone challenges or insults her. She doesn't tolerate frustration well, and if sufficiently angered may lash out in a fit of destructiveness that obliterates entire planets." (CV1, p. 60)
 
I think a reasonable person, even seeing all the benefits that Istvatha V'han's rule brings most of the time, might balk at having the survival of their entire world in the hands of an absolute monarch with no curb on her temper tantrums.
 
Though for some people, that erratic temper may enhance their reverence.
 
Dean Shomshak

Has Sam Raimi or anyone else genuinely in the know, said what he wanted to do with the film that the studio wouldn't let him? And who among the Marvel fan base are saying it's a mess?
 
FWIW the Rotten Tomatoes audience score is 86%.

And now, the counterpoint:
 
Fox News Reporter Says Star Trek Has Never Been Woke Before, DS9 Writer Calls Him A Moron
 
The last paragraph of the article is classic:
 
 

Wake me up when Cheney actually votes with the Democrats on any substantive bill. 

I'm sure she knows it's useless. It was still worth doing.
 
Dean Shomshak
Just heard on All Things Considered: Ben Franklin's Handy Home Abortion Guide. Because abortion "isn't deeply rooted in American culture."
 
https://www.npr.org/2022/05/16/1099244635/for-ben-franklin-abortion-was-basic-arithmetic
 
Dean Shomshak

I couldn't laugh.....because it's too often true.......
 
Logan:  Food Network became unwatchable for me years ago.  Too many ridiculous pseudo-reality shows.  It wasn't worth searching for anything that might be worth my time.
 
Of course, food on TV is generally handled......really, really badly.  TBS has a new "cooking" show called Rat in the Kitchen, which is supposed to be a competition...but the goal of one of the contestants is to secretly wreck all the others.  Well, we know what we can expect from anything Turner...absolute dreck.  I can't *stand* Gordon Ramsay.

GOD, I hope not!!!
 
I doubt this would seriously increase poaching, but anything that encourages it, is something I'll violently oppose.  I get that it's cultivated;  that'll turn off a WHOLE lotta people in the first place, but when it's an endangered species?  No.  
 
Wanna cultivate?  Gimme a good tuna alternative.  Not lion, or rhino, or anything along those lines.

The McLobster was frequently on the signboard for the McDonald's restaurants in Maine when I'd go to visit Mom. I don't really care for lobster rolls when they are homemade, and I certainly wasn't going to brave them at McDonald's.

In a move that angered a few political leaders here, our Governor ordered state institutions to follow President Biden's lead and fly the flag at half staff in memoriam of the million or so Americans who have died, many of them unnecessarily, from this plague.

You might be interested in a similar VPP power I developed for my Young Scratch character:
 
Through Me The Way Is To The City Dolent: Extra-Dimensional Movement (single location in the Netherworld), Area Of Effect (personal Surface—Damage Shield; +¼), Constant (+½), Usable As Attack (does not work on targets of good character or who have holy objects upon their person; +1¼) (60 Active Points); Gestures (both hands; -½), Incantations (-¼), No Range (-½). Total cost: 27 points.
 
I set up the exceptions conditions on the UAA so that it wouldn't work on anyone who wasn't going to end up there eventually anyway.

I was mildly disappointed that during the post-credit scene when Bruce happily announces that it's over, that he didn't Stooge-poke himself in the eyes (including the boink sound effect) one last time.
 

<chortle>
 
I don't want to be gracious, I want to gloat.  So I will.
 
Novak Djokovic lost in the QFs of the Dubai event.  To a Czech ranked 132 in the world...who had to qualify.  (He's moved up nicely to #96.)  
 
In the process?  He's lost the #1 world ranking.
 
Bwaaahahahaaaa!!!!!!
 
Mind, now the #1 is Medvedev, and I'm not a fan of his either.  

I'm sorry, but I can't let remarks like that slide any more. You're looking at the situation as though it will continue to be politics as usual. I respectfully submit that it will not. The Republican Party, at the national and state level, are instituting policies designed to secure the numbers for them despite the will of the people. Gerrymandering. Voter suppression. Placing their loyalists in key election-deciding offices. If this process isn't halted and reversed, they will have a lock on power regardless of what the real vote is.
 
I also used to think Mitch and other Republicans were just "chumming the waters." I no longer believe that. Books are being banned in schools, books with the actual history of America's past sins, books addressing issues around race and gender, books describing the rise of fascist states. The GOP want Americans ignorant, and thereby manipulable and controllable.
 
There's no surprise in remarks by the likes of Matt Gaetz that "over-educated women" are problematic, or by Mike Pence that American society has to return to "traditional Christian family values." But that's not fringe any more, it's become mainstream Republican talking points. Are we supposed to believe it's all just talk, that there's no intent behind it by the privileged white men doing it? We have legislation up for debate in more than one state right now, that would classify abortion as murder. The mask is morality, but the true face is control of women's lives.
 
Most alarming to me is recent statements from SCOTUS, like this leaked draft ruling that calls the very concept of right to privacy into question, from which many progressive rulings have stemmed: gay marriage, homosexual sex, access to contraception. We also have recent remarks from Justice Clarence Thomas blaming demonstrations by people on the political/social left -- expressions of free speech -- for the growing disillusionment of the American people for their governmental institutions. The classic fascist tactic of "othering" a group without actual power, blaming them for what goes wrong so people won't notice the hand in their pocket and knife at their throat.
 
There's an agenda at work here. There's a goal the Right is working toward, and it isn't the America we all grew up with. It's a fascist, racist, classist semi-theocracy in which a minority of people with the "right" attitudes, background and appearance make decisions for the rest of us, and the rest of us do what we're told or suffer. We've seen country after country go down this same road for a hundred years. The past six years have seen results we all thought "possible but unlikely" actually come to pass, and each has been worse than the last.
 
These people have to be voted out, now. It doesn't matter that Democrats aren't perfect and have fallen short of their promises and potential. They aren't the ones actively trying to subvert democracy and cast the United States back to the 19th Century. They can at least hold the line. If Americans don't vote Democrat, Republicans will do everything they can to hold onto power forever, and every person in one of the vulnerable groups they'll victimize will suffer for it. If the Republican Party is destroyed, another opposition party will arise, just as the Republicans under Lincoln replaced the Whigs. Probably a much healthier one. But not voting because no choice is good, is giving the keys to the one that's actively evil.

If you want to just shock them without going to technical extremes, you can point out that there are already efforts to create a medical system that doesn’t bankrupt people and welcome them to the cause…

Delaware State is a Historically Black University.
 
Delaware State University 'incensed' after lacrosse team's bus stopped, searched in Georgia
 
Apparently even college women's lacrosse players are criminals and druggies ... if they're Black.

Exactly.  As written this decision threatens not only the right to abortion, but also same sex marriage, same sex relationships, and interracial marriage.  All of these would become felonies, and felons can't vote.
 
None of this is accidental.

Also a story from ABC News, about the potential ramifications to privacy.
 
The grave concern is that Alito's draft suggests that the only rights under the Constitution are those very specifically enumerated, and some that have longstanding basis.  It rejects the notion of a right to privacy...and that's the basis for any number of things.  We can readily envision a challenge to the legality...not of same-sex marriage, but all same-sex activity, period.  It's not a reach that some would push to make anything but sex between a husband and wife illegal.  (In that very broad context, it probably wouldn't pass, but there numerous, more targeted activities that could.)  If there's no right to privacy, then other policies might become broader.  Most people know there's a sex offender registry, for example...and last week I got a notice from Experian that a sex offender had moved into the area.  I think 'area' is...pretty broad, but I deleted it.  That info is public record;  anyone can search the state database.  The point here, is that...well, why limit it to sex offenders?  How about every violent criminal?  How about EVERY person convicted of a felony?  Personally, I think that's going way, way too far, but I can see it happening.  Gutting the right to privacy is a precursor to moving to a police state.

Unfortunately, liberalism and conservatism are not arbitrary collections of policies. Psychological research shows they arise from fundamental differences of temperament. Conservatives are conservatives because they feel a deep emotional need to come together as a unified tribe with a canon of beliefs. (Declared to be eternal principles, even when they flip completely, as free markets were replaced by Trumpian protectionism.)  Liberals feel an equally deep need to assert themselves as individuals. (Even when they actually parrot the same slogans.) It enables greater compassion for outsiders, but less discipline in getting things done. "Power of the Herd" versus "Look at me, I'm special." The result is that while conservatives may argue for a while which direction to shoot, liberals tend to form circular firing squads.
 
See Mooney's The Republican Brain for more detailed exposition.
 
Dean Shomshak

I hope you're right. Paradoxically, defeating Russia might require convincing the people around Putin that Russia will not be defeated so completely that its territorial integrity will be at stake. NATO tanks rolling over the border into Russia? At that point, I'd expect a nuclear response. Russia hemmed in, left to rot until Putin dies (by whatever means) and the new regime decides it'd like to rejoin the world? That may be the best we can do. It doesn't give justice for the people of Ukraine, but they may have to settle for living well.
 
Dean Shomshak

In the short term, you're absolutely right, and as Old Man underlines, what Ukrainians are going through now is a horror that should be stopped as soon as possible (not unlike a lot of the rest of the world TBH). In the long term, though, Ukraine stands to gain much more than Russia. The country's profile and strategic value have been greatly raised, its military will probably emerge as the strongest in Eastern Europe, and it will almost certainly be the recipient of major international investment in rebuilding that could galvanize its economy if handled smartly. OTOH Russia's global prestige has been shattered. Its economy has been crippled not just from the effect of sanctions now, but the probably permanent loss of markets for its natural resources. Putin will never again be trusted to honor his agreements with other countries, so cooperation with them will be greatly hindered going forward.

Only a moron would act on that assumption though.

Respectfully disagree re the plot.

Then again, "You're next!" from Russia doesn't carry nearly the same weight it did a couple of months ago.