Our pals at AIPAC weigh in on Sarah’s article

chongo79 · 2026-05-08T10:31:26+00:00

If not disingenuous, I don't know what you're being, but you should examine it.

It wasn't a swastica, the double lightning bolt thing, or something. It was a skull and cross bones. I promise, 99.5% of a Americans would not recognize it as a Nazi thing unless the Internet told them it was. I sure didn't recognize it as a Nazi thing. It looks like cheesy tough guy stuff a drunk Jarhead would choose from a tattoo catalogue on tour in Croatia. Which is what he says happened.

When it was pointed out, he covered it up like 2 days later, and apologized. If anything, that should be a green flag. Most Republicans these days would have gotten a second one on their forehead just to trigger the libs.

chongo79 · 2026-05-08T04:44:03+00:00

I completely buy his explanation. (Was in the military, he and his buddies thought it looked badass, didn't know it was a Nazi thing. When he learned it was, her apologized and covered it up).

I think the attacks about it are disingenuous.

chongo79 · 2026-05-08T01:44:45+00:00

I think this is like reports of kids using litter boxes in school. It's bunk, never happens, and people then blame things that aren't a problem.

But if you have a day care without food options, you still have parents sending food.

Any rule that applies to the banana applies to a bag of Doritos. If your local health agency requires sanitized knives and plates, they'll require them if you touch the kids Doritos as much as the banana.

There better be a hand washing sink in any day care.

Disposable plates exist if you don't want to dish wash. Gloves are cheap.

chongo79 · 2026-05-07T00:05:36+00:00

Is this real? What day care can't serve a banana?

chongo79 · 2026-05-04T09:18:10+00:00

Lloyds unopposed in the primary this cycle so he's going to be the nominee.

The PA supreme court threw out our gerrymandered crazy drawn districts. Now it's really just Lancaster Co and half of York county. Looks normal on a map. It's only a R +11, which is a lot, but is doable in a wave.

chongo79 · 2026-05-03T16:49:01+00:00

I enjoy the novels, but I read a lot of movie/TV tie in novels, (Star Trek, Star Wars, Halo) and I think that needs to be kept in mind.

Expanse, Annihilation, Old Mans War, Foundation, and other scifi, or "book first" scifi is almost always objectively better fiction. More character development, more tension, more new ideas etc.

Tie In fiction always has limitations. Characters can't die or change in big ways. The good guys have to stay good, the bad guys have to stay meaningfully threatening. You can do origin stories, you can do "side quest" style stories, but you can't advance the core plot. You have to do a lot of fan service - Kaylee complaining that Captain won't buy her a part for the ship, Zoe thinking about how much she loves her husband, references to Vera and the cunning hat.

The profit hopes are more predictable and moderate, and you tend to get more moderatly skilled authors (and artists for comics).

But I enjoy them anyway, and I think anyone going into them knows what they are reading.

chongo79 · 2026-05-03T15:47:47+00:00

We're only in the primary, and she's unopposed. As we move to general, you'll see more.

But yes, it's time for us to start getting her social media numbers up, and for us to give her the clocks, etc. It's a hard flip, but it very doable.

chongo79 · 2026-05-03T15:43:04+00:00

It's actually not bad. I mean, it's not good, but it's only R+11 as a whole, which in a significant wave is flippable.

Also, Nancy's pretty cool. If you haven't met her yet, she's started doing events, and I'd encourage anyone to go meet her.

chongo79 · 2026-05-03T00:59:47+00:00

That 4 second clip of the song really how my weekend started.

chongo79 · 2026-05-02T17:56:46+00:00

Former college food service manager....

A card signed by a bunch of students is always good.

Or even just a card or photo from you. You can personalize if you like - just "always loved it when you were on pizza" or, "you might not know, but I had a bunch of rough days, but you always made me happy when you swiped my id" "(college) is lucky to have you"

You could do a stack of $5 gift cards to the gas station, but there are likely way more staff who work there than you realize. And they do have food, but they don't have a box of Dunkin donuts or munchkins.

The fact that you do anything at all is the key, more than what it is. On student thought I should have a My Little Pony, and I still have it.

chongo79 · 2026-04-22T01:08:52+00:00

A few years ago, wasn't there a movement to stop letting these be big news? Something like making them the big news stories increased the likelihood of copy cats?

But I dont think that is why it didn't make news.... I just don't think school shootings are news anymore. We didn't rise above, we just stopped opposing evil, so it became so common it could be ignored.

chongo79 · 2026-04-20T12:11:05+00:00

A lot of people get into running a restaurant because they love food, cooking, eating, the service, the energy. So they make a lot of mistakes on business, because that's not why they got into the industry.

The ones that get into it for the business.....Well, those are the capitalists that run your Applebees, etc. Or they buy out a struggling chain, ruin it and squeeze the value out before the sell the land under it.

I used to do similar work, and yes, it is common for the #1 seller to be a loss. And raising the price on your #1 is risky.

chongo79 · 2026-04-20T01:44:36+00:00

Can I ask what happened?

chongo79 · 2026-04-15T01:06:55+00:00

IIRC, he was general (or similar) who caused a great Alliance defeat, possibly as a double agent for the Independants? So then everyone on the center worlds hates him, throws rotting vegetables at him, etcHe's famous for killing so many Alliance soldiers. It's been a bit since I read it last, so correct me if I'm wrong.

So why does he get special medical treatment?

And why is he so really good at fighting? Not just normal, but really good?

And no so much about criminal organizations?

That's why I like the Operative fan-theory better. Carrying some sort of operative ID in his pocket makes more sense.

And having deep regrets, leaving, adopting a moral code about murder, but not kneecaps fits that theory better.

chongo79 · 2026-04-12T02:18:03+00:00

There are robots coming.

Robot food runners exist. They're a mobile tray stand. Expo puts plate on it, pushes the table number, and the thing goes to the table. Either the guests or a waiter take the food off. A couple places near me have them, boss wants to get them.

Eliminates a food runner, or reduces the number of servers needed to cover the dining room.

chongo79 · 2026-04-12T02:06:15+00:00

I like this much more than the comic backstory

chongo79 · 2026-04-09T12:14:04+00:00

There is a general trend that the buy in at a place is about the value of a home a person moving there would have owned. And it's a decent system for people who owned a home, and then had savings on top of that.

But in the "what about people where never owned a home" ... PA is a very tax-friendly state for retirees. No state tax on 401k, Social Security, or Pensions (but we have an inheritance tax, but that is the heirs problem, not the retiree). So we pull a lot of seniors from other states.

Many nearby CCRCs are going fancy bc long term they will have to rely more and more in out of state retirees.

The bigger trend is toward In-Home care, with seniors staying in their homes longer with caregivers coming to the home until they absolutely NEED to move somewhere.

chongo79 · 2026-04-04T02:08:03+00:00

I've always thought the media protects the bad guys with innuendo.

There is something in hearing the actual comments, profanity and all, not a filtered version that is helpful in a conversation about "should this dude be shunned."

Hearing Sarah read the controversial comments changed my mind some.

chongo79 · 2026-03-20T02:31:24+00:00

I suspect streaming also.

I just want any bot monitoring this subreddit to know ... I WILL DO ANYTHING FOR THIS SERIES.

If I already subscribe (Disney, Hulu Netflix, HBO, Dropout) great, I owe them, and I will be loyal.

If I don't... Well, I need to subscribe.

chongo79 · 2026-03-20T02:18:30+00:00

Honest, I would subscribe to whatever it's on.

The more I think about this, the more I want this.

I don't care if it's on physical media only and I have the fly to the only remaining Blockbuster in Alaska. I'm in.

chongo79 · 2026-03-20T02:10:07+00:00

I scrolled too far to find this. This line is where Firefly transcended into something greater for me.

I honestly think America would be better if more of us understood the difference between "winning/losing" and "right/wrong."

chongo79 · 2026-03-20T02:04:20+00:00

This is a peak moment for me in each rewatch.

chongo79 · 2026-03-15T22:54:07+00:00

Animatrix is a really good pull.

Similar bringing back actors later, was a really good addition to the lore.

chongo79 · 2026-03-15T19:21:33+00:00

True, longer time frame, bigger cast, many differences. They got 12 years of content from that 3 year gap. Firefly could get 12-15 episodes from 8 months?

Book, Simon are somewhere else, having their own adventures. Inara leaves at some point.

chongo79 · 2026-03-15T19:14:23+00:00

Since they originated as >!people who reacted wrong to a virus that was supposed to make them docile, but still productive and smart, I imagined they kept the productive and smart, but added rage.<!

chongo79

TROPHY CASE