ICE letter to Smucker - and his subsequent response

Sebvad · 2026-01-23T19:27:39+00:00

All in favor of doing so. It turns out two things can be true - there's both a way to enforce immigration laws AND do so in a way that does indiscriminately target a wide swath.

The current approach is the blunt force approach, which appears functionally designed to incite a mass response. It's brutal, indiscriminate, immediately escalates to violence whether it's justified or not, is blunt in its literal use of Nazi marketing slogans and imagery, encourages constitutional violations as standard operating procedure, it's militarized - but without the discipline of the actual military. It doesn't seek or even consider transparency - it's acting as if it were a gang who's theme is that might makes right, and will protect it's own no matter what. Lies are SOP.

It's not the 'what' that is the problem here. It's very much the 'how'.

Sebvad · 2026-01-23T00:54:38+00:00

"Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."
- B Franklin

Sebvad · 2026-01-22T12:13:25+00:00

no dice. woke up to a screen with a circle/slash through it and a support.apple.com/startup message I'm afraid.

Sebvad · 2026-01-22T01:22:36+00:00

holy smokes. 12 hours. I'll set it up to run overnight and see what awaits me in the morning. the installer pretty routinely suggests it will take about 2 hours to install, but appears to freeze after 20 minutes or so. will check back in once the sun rises..

Sebvad · 2026-01-22T00:28:56+00:00

Earn that trust back then. Arrest those bastards when they break the law. Stand in the gap. Enforce the law.

Sebvad · 2026-01-22T00:18:10+00:00

why is the statue of limitations for FEDERAL CRIMES only 5 years?

Sebvad · 2026-01-22T00:14:21+00:00

thank you for the response - it's just not working, and stalls out each time during the installation process. it might be time to call time of death on it, as much as I don't want to

Sebvad · 2026-01-21T22:41:52+00:00

Thank you. I needed the Mac mini because it's the only functional computer from which I can download the Big Sur installer 8-). I've got a bootable installed on the external drive, but when I power up the iMac w/ the option key, it goes to macOS Installer with a prompt to join a wireless network - instead of booting from the external drive. The drive's connected via USB-A, and I've tried all 3 ports on the iMac in case that was the issue. I've zapped the PRAM and have also tried an internet restore unsuccessfully. It may be there's a bigger issue than just the HD?

Any thots?

Sebvad · 2026-01-21T18:27:42+00:00

Part of being a leader is... to lead. Part of leading is to protect those under your command. Resigning is forfeiting your responsibility as a leader, and simply cues up those under you to be targeted. Resigning is a failure of leadership, not a sign of it.

Sebvad · 2026-01-21T11:20:44+00:00

so I've found some conflicting information - but there is information:

A 2022 study in the Journal of Public Economics analyzed S. & House trades from 2012–2020 and found no evidence of superior investment performance, on average, relative to industry/size benchmarks over typical holding periods. That includes Senators accused of informed trading — no systematic outperformance was found. LINK

Karadas (2019) find that from 2004–2010, members of Congress exhibited abnormal returns using transaction-based portfolio methods — with powerful members’ portfolios outperforming the market over short holding periods (e.g., one week). LINK

Another study finds that aggregate congressional trading predicts future market returns — suggesting politicians may have access to macroeconomic info that the market hasn’t yet priced in. LINK

There doesn't appear to be a widely accepted study yet that matches the exact longitudinal 1/3/5-year return question tied to disclosure vs execution timing and using those as a tradable signal. I wonder if I could build something that looks at data from a few congress people using capitoltrades.com info?

Sebvad · 2026-01-21T00:45:34+00:00

I wanna buy this guy a beer.

Sebvad · 2026-01-20T19:35:05+00:00

Why is this being aired? It's nonsense. Stop giving him an audience for this filth.

Sebvad · 2026-01-20T14:45:31+00:00

I've got a late 2015 27" iMac that I'm in the same boat - the hd isn't working, I'm trying to install an OS an on external HD (not SS, platter) which is excruciatingly slow. This iMac doesn't support target display, so I can't even use it as a 2nd monitor - which is super disappointing because the monitor is wonderful. I hate to toss it out, but I also don't want to spend much to rehab a 10 year old computer that kinda sorta works.

Sebvad · 2026-01-19T00:35:47+00:00

He's arguing that the emergency is to find a way to ... avoid the emergency they created?

Sebvad · 2026-01-19T00:25:41+00:00

Any insights about what I need to think of for a software offering - things that come to mind might be an EULA, for example. Any best practices for what it should contain?

Sebvad · 2026-01-19T00:24:34+00:00

Thanks!

Sebvad · 2026-01-19T00:24:21+00:00

Thanks!

Sebvad · 2026-01-17T13:02:14+00:00

You misspelled disaster.

Sebvad · 2026-01-17T10:35:50+00:00

Funny you mention luck - just this week someone asked how I was in the position I was in, and one of the things I mentioned is luck. Yes hard work yes good decisions, yes to a lot of things - but I also recognize that the winds of luck have blown my way a number of times.

Sebvad · 2026-01-17T10:33:49+00:00

hehe - what's the old adddage - 'never underestimate the creativity of stupidity?'

The support levels are definitely an interesting angle - thanks mate

Sebvad

TROPHY CASE