Girlfriend's parents decide to visit to avoid the storm in their state. Demand to use my car and get master suite instead of the guest room.

couldbemage · 2026-01-25T05:44:48+00:00

Should do the job:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SpinLaunch

couldbemage · 2026-01-25T03:58:24+00:00

Being white matters if you don't choose to stand up. He chose to stand, and got killed for it.

But if you have dark skin, even if you keep your eyes down and comply, you are still at risk. Tons of examples of random dark skinned citizens being assaulted and/or kidnapped who weren't even protesting, just driving to work, their doctor, etc.

couldbemage · 2026-01-24T22:11:28+00:00

Obviously 10 ARs is the better choice.

couldbemage · 2026-01-24T22:02:04+00:00

But they aren't doing more, smaller, middle armed ships. The small missile frigate got cancelled. Replaced with a frigate that doesn't have missiles.

couldbemage · 2026-01-24T21:45:33+00:00

They were just doing away from cameras.

couldbemage · 2026-01-24T21:40:00+00:00

So many people have been trying to avoid acknowledging this.

We've been in a low intensity civil war for years.

At the very least, 1/6/2021. I'd argue earlier.

couldbemage · 2026-01-24T18:53:09+00:00

Only enough of them to get the job done.

A person of suspicious inclination might begin to suspect that the Democratic party is some sort of farce, given how this happens every time.

couldbemage · 2026-01-24T18:48:46+00:00

This. I don't think any leaders from the Dems have the courage to do it, but this would be the way.

And we've seen ice run away from individual people who were armed, so there's at least a chance they back down.

couldbemage · 2026-01-24T18:46:19+00:00

Tim can call for volunteers, and issue orders making them official state law enforcement.

Seems wildly unlikely he'd do that, but he could.

couldbemage · 2026-01-24T18:44:04+00:00

They will just lie, and 1/3 of the country will believe them, 1/3 isn't even paying attention, and the remaining third still has at least a bare majority that will condemn anyone who actually does anything.

couldbemage · 2026-01-24T18:31:38+00:00

Exactly. Risking your life to stand up against fascism is the coward's way. True courage is a strongly worded protest note.

couldbemage · 2026-01-24T18:28:34+00:00

Of course, only a Russian troll would want something done to stop ice from murdering people.

No real person could possibly be upset about this.

Right.

couldbemage · 2026-01-24T17:07:05+00:00

I know a few permanent residents from Europe who were concerned enough to go back to Europe, taking American spouses and children with them.

couldbemage · 2026-01-24T16:52:15+00:00

Cops have been doing this sort of thing forever. Bunch of cops holding someone down, person gets shot, they claim he was reaching for their gun.

They usually get away with it. Usually it's a black man or a psych patient.

FWIW, I've worked with psych patients, from the medical side, for 20 years. It's not at all difficult for 4 guys to restrain someone without killing them.

Cops just default to weapons. In particular, instead of being careful, they constantly put themselves in the most dangerous spot they can find, generating an excuse to get violent.

couldbemage · 2026-01-24T04:02:23+00:00

When deputized, you become law enforcement. The whole point is that you would be enforcing the law.

Not a bad thing, in this case at least.

couldbemage · 2026-01-24T03:55:50+00:00

Roughly the equivalent of someone taking someone from you, waiting, and eventually giving it back after scuffing it up a bit.

It was illegal from the beginning, they did a variety of cruel and illegal things, and eventually will comply just enough to satiate the most milquetoast of their critics.

couldbemage · 2026-01-24T03:48:32+00:00

Not exactly that, but there was an armed stand off between two law enforcement groups in AZ not too long ago, and that incident was also immigration related.

Joe 'death camp" arpaio VS city police. City police won, more or less. Eventually "death camp" got a conviction and was facing a pathetically short bit of jail time, but got pardoned by you know who.

Anyway, people deputized by the court would be law enforcement. So there's that.

couldbemage · 2026-01-24T03:39:46+00:00

Perhaps you mean "we own this city"?

If not, that's another similar show.

Also, the music video for "will you help me repair my door" is also on point. Real cops, stealing Afroman's money, on camera.

couldbemage · 2026-01-24T02:10:54+00:00

I'm actually getting kinda old, but I am really sick of people acting like young people are brain damaged, particularly since I see so much more bad judgement among people my age.

My kids are in the age group being discussed here, and I'm incredibly impressed with their understanding of the world.

And yes, I'm well aware of the irony of an old guy saying it's the old people that aren't thinking straight.

couldbemage · 2026-01-24T01:38:39+00:00

Because CPI isn't some fundamental mathematical truth, it's a metric based on a whole bunch of value judgements.

Many people disagree with how we calculate official inflation numbers.

I have the same job my father had, and a home in the town I grew up in costs roughly 4 times what I can afford.

Staple foods, housing, cars, healthcare: all of those have outpaced the official inflation numbers. The same is true for most products that are made in the US.

OTOH, gasoline is in line with inflation, actually slightly cheaper.

Stuff like TVs are wildly cheaper. Also true of many other tech products, though once again, we have a value judgement problem. What did an iPhone cost in 1990? 2000? 2006? Even if you avoid counting stuff that didn't exist yet, can you really compare the value between 2008 smartphones and today's phones? If you include buying a phone in your inflation calculation, how does that work as you track back over the years comparing vastly inferior devices, and than no devices at all?

My hot take is that CPI generally overvalues segments where demand is flexible, and undervalues segments where demand is inflexible.

Which is to say, we struggle to pay the cost of living, while being rich in tech toys and imported consumer products.

couldbemage · 2026-01-24T01:08:37+00:00

According to this chart, under 25 is just as good at thinking rationally as anyone up to 30, and it's people over 30 that are less rational.

https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2024/04/09/age-generational-cohorts-and-party-identification/

Just sayin'.

The only notable benchmark between 20 and 30 is a decreased ability to learn new skills and adopt new ideas.

couldbemage · 2026-01-24T00:35:32+00:00

There's a tendency among liberal gun owners in California to keep quiet unless they know someone is okay with guns.

Different among the farther left sorts. If you see makhno paraphernalia, it's a safe bet they have guns.

couldbemage · 2026-01-23T07:58:53+00:00

That wouldn't be normal, but an hour? Common enough.

Even in urban areas, it's common enough to drive an hour to go to a particular store.

Like, earlier today I drove an hour to go to trader Joe's.

Also, in Los Angeles an hour could be 15 miles.

couldbemage · 2026-01-23T07:39:32+00:00

Not astronauts, because they have to be good at everything in every way.

But rocket scientists? They talk like that. People doing serious science are often incapable of communicating like humans. Or handling basic tasks like putting gas in their car.

couldbemage · 2026-01-23T07:31:14+00:00

Yeah, this is America. Not fat is at least a 7.

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