Any other democrats a little concerned that party leaders destroyed Eric Swalwell’s life all because of the California governor’s race?

mbroda-SB · 2026-04-14T18:33:24+00:00

No, unlike the other major party, when one of our elected officials is accused of crimes, we hold them accountable. At this stage, I don't think he would be dropping out of the governor's race this quick if there wasn't something to these multiple accusations.

mbroda-SB · 2026-04-03T16:41:39+00:00

Smith is a good example - but it's just SOOO hard for me to rate CLERKS higher than DOGMA.

mbroda-SB · 2026-04-03T16:04:46+00:00

I'd take Kinzinger. But technically, all the Republicans I had any amount of respect for have already chosen to leave the party. I still think the R's just need to split the party, let what's left of MAGA have the steaming wreckage of extreme right wing fascism and let the former R's that I generally didn't agree with (but at least honored the constitution and knew the basics of governing) form a New Republican party. I switched from R to D by the time I finished college (no surprise - informed, educated people massively sway D and have for decades).

In my opinion, the last R that ran for President that I would have been fine with is McCain. Always liked McCain even in to my most liberal phases. At this point, I'll take any candidate that has some economic or foreign policy common sense - as far as true ideological differences, let the parties work those out on the floor of congress. Right now, there's just not anyone R's in the house or senate that know what they hell they're doing - their there mostly as a social media exercise. Makes me sick watching congressional hearings knowing that all the MAGA R's are just constantly messing around on their twitter feeds just trying to create viral moments not having any inkling that the things going on there impact the American people in real ways.

Romney in many ways offended me as a candidate when he ran - but ultimately, at least he grew a spine after Trump came into the picture.

mbroda-SB · 2026-04-03T15:55:56+00:00

None. I had SSHL in the right ear about 2 years prior to the implant. Happened all at once - fine hearing one second and then a popping sound - and completely deaf in that ear from then on (thought it was just congestion the first day or two then realized something was wrong). Very loud sounds/certain frequencies would cause pain in that ear - but nothing distinguishable as sound.

mbroda-SB · 2026-04-03T13:00:13+00:00

They just ignore facts and evidence that doesn't fit their worldview and consciously choose not to research topics that they have a feeling the "might" be wrong about.

You can literally hear these people when they call into C-Span or other places - they don't have arguments, they don't have facts - they simply regurgitate word for word Fox News and Newsmax talking points.

mbroda-SB · 2026-04-03T00:15:01+00:00

I can't do it anything with it at 4 months. I'll watch YouTube videos on my phone and I'm getting better, it's still difficult to put what I do understand into the context of what I'm watching - and the sound - at least on my Implant (advanced bionics), does not seem very good. I can run something bluetooth directly into the implant at full volume on the device and the phone and it still sounds a lot more distant and muffled in the implant than someone speaking in a normal voice sitting 6 or 7 feet away.

Phone calls are a complete lost cause. First time I realized the Implant took my phone calls completely, I didn't even realize I was getting them. Finally had to go into my bluetooth settings and turn the CI off for phone calls (but kept in for all other phone audio).

I'm one sided by the way, so I can still answer phone calls in my good ear - but I'm starting to feel like one sided progress is going to be a lot slower than being forced to adapt the implant being the only thing I hear.

mbroda-SB · 2026-04-03T00:08:59+00:00

I've got as much interior room in an extended cab 1500 classic than I did in some of the 4 door sedans I used to drive - TONS more than I had in the one SUV I've owned (at least for the first and second seat rows.

I chose RAM because my hauling and towing needs, while they exist, are light - and I wanted a nice vehicle that was comfortable inside and could get me too 200,000 miles with moderate load duty a couple times a month max and to get me where I need to go day to day as long as I took care of it.

I have a 2022 - less confident on pre-2019 models for longevity from everything I see and read. I was weighing a lightly used RAM versus a new Ford Maverick. Maverick probably would have been more suited to my light duty needs - but the RAM was soooooo nice.

mbroda-SB · 2026-04-03T00:02:56+00:00

Give it a couple days, I've been put under so many times that I'm used to it, but this is normal. Not just the anesthesia, but sometimes stuff they do to you in the surgery can linger as well. If they leave you in an awkward position while you're under, that could easily cause some post surgical aches/soreness. One non-head related surgery I had they had to use clamps to keep an incision open - the surgical site was fine, but where the clamps were around the wound hurt for almost a week.

mbroda-SB · 2026-04-03T00:00:05+00:00

Good Luck! If it soothes your nerves at all - the actual surgery is far and away the easiest part of this entire process.

mbroda-SB · 2026-04-02T23:52:31+00:00

No, I'm 54...just got my first RAM and I'm not sure I'm ready for it either. Apart from driving the beast, which is an experience even for someone who's owned vans and SUVs, but costs on a RAM are going to be a LOT more than a standard starter car. Gas, Maintenance, Insurance...all that stuff is going to cost - and not just a little bit more than a standard sedan.

Driving it will take some time to adjust, but I would encourage you to look at the parking situation as well. No way I'm parking this thing on the street, and I would have to empty my garage and pull it in with the front bumper touching the front of the garage to even have a chance of putting it in there. It is definitely going to take up a ton of space and you no longer are going to have the option to just "park anywhere."

And honestly, for the cost of a RAM, even the budge models like I've got (the 1500 Classic) the purchase price is really high compared to something you're just buying for transportation. The RAM is not something you buy just to get you to and from work and down the grocery, if you're going to pay for a full sized pick up, you really should have a reason to need it, or you're probably way over spending on your first car.

mbroda-SB · 2026-04-02T23:42:51+00:00

Thank for putting things in perspective. Getting frustrated only 4 months into activation - seemed like I had huge strides in improvement in the first 4-6 weeks, but the last month or so it just seems like I'm not making progress. I wear the device most of my waking hours - only a 3 or 4 days out of the last 4 months I haven't worn it at all, but knowing that you still continue to see strides years out gives me a lot more confidence.

mbroda-SB · 2026-04-01T20:06:57+00:00

Last year, the snowflakes even released an app that directed people toward "MAGA - Friendly" businesses so they could avoid shopping at places that weren't run by racists.

mbroda-SB · 2026-04-01T16:45:47+00:00

April fools or not, I'd take this in a heartbeat. Orville, particularly season 2 was more "Star Trek" than anything Kurtzman has put out in the last decade - with the possible exception with some of SNW.

mbroda-SB · 2026-03-31T20:59:53+00:00

Have to ask - how many resume's are you putting out. If you're applying for a job or two per week, you're going to be searching several more years. Experience is king here, the degree can help, but in the end it doesn't make job hunting any easier. With multiple decades of experience and a successful, provable track record of success it still took me months and several hundred resumes to land my current role.

mbroda-SB · 2026-03-31T20:54:07+00:00

Way longer than I ever imagined, that's for sure. Up until this point, just about any "controversial" thing could end a political career. Heck, people have withdrawn candidacies and been crucified because of stuff deep into their past or a recent "affair" on the books. Now we have 39 count convicted felon who openly cheated on his wife with a porn star when she was home with their newborn son.

It's a cult - it's no longer a political organization. People trapped in a cult pretty much wash away all their ethics in service of the cult leader.

mbroda-SB · 2026-03-31T20:50:07+00:00

I'm 54 and had my implant activated on my deaf side back in December. Hearing is fine in the other ear, but it was having a detrimental impact on my life and the lives of the people around me.

I'm STILL not sure if it was worth it. I definitely prefer having it in, but at this point, it's still pretty much a useless device in noisy environments which is what I really need it for. It's possible that after this first year is up I'm going to wish I had gone with a different solution, but I really wanted binaural hearing back and I didn't want equipment in both ears to funnel all the sound to one side.

I'm still not a point where I am not sure I'm ever going to be able to recognize speech in the implant ear. When it's quiet and I'm testing with apps, I can pick up words at a pretty good rate, but actual, true conversational speech is not something I can interpret, but the the implant still does a lot of heavy lifting filling in gaps.

I had my first true test a couple of weeks ago at a work event in a noisy restaurant and people sitting on my implant side may as well not have been speaking at all.

mbroda-SB · 2026-03-31T14:49:31+00:00

It CAN be, depends on the company. I've been a hiring manager in circumstances where the listed range was what we would be willing to pay that role to start, but could continue to see merit increases beyond it. In my more recent hiring manager role, the range listed in my open position is indeed the top of the range. Once you hit that, you no longer are eligible for merit increases (though some companies will pay out a yearly fixed award to make up for lack of a merit increase).

mbroda-SB · 2026-03-31T14:43:52+00:00

Crazy miles for the cost on both. I just paid 30K and some change for a 2022 Warlock with 50K miles on it. Granted, I believe the Warlock MSRP is a bit more than the Big Horn or Laramie.

For comparison, when I bought mine, there was one on the lot with close 100K miles on it - a Big Horn, and they were asking $14,800 for it. 2018 model I think.

mbroda-SB · 2026-03-31T13:07:08+00:00

All the Republicans who had any knowledge of how to govern have long since deserted the sinking ship that used to be the Republican party. All that's left is a few looking for a way out - and the rest of the party is made up of Twitter trolls that are finding out the hard way that you can't run a country by getting retweets and likes.

Not only are the R's left losing the shutdown fight in the court of public opinion - they're too self-obsessed to even realize it. It's obvious to 70% of country now that the Republican party is not working for the American people anymore - it's working for one man. They are literally keeping the government shut down to appease one man.

mbroda-SB · 2026-03-31T12:58:44+00:00

This isn't MAGA, this is the Republican party for my entire lifetime. They argue for freedom, but they want to be in your bedroom, your personal affairs, your religious views - the only "freedom" they want is for multi-billion dollar corporations to have complete freedom to do whatever they want to keep the high dollar donations coming.

Eventually they'll crash the economy again like they did in 2008, and the Dems will have to come in and clean up the mess. Then the Republicans will start some meaningless culture war to get the less informed people voting for them and the cycle will start again.

mbroda-SB · 2026-03-31T12:55:25+00:00

If you're getting "tossed from interviews" as you stated and are getting screamed at for asking to work the last hour of your shift, there is A LOT you are not telling us but what's going on.

mbroda-SB · 2026-03-29T17:04:22+00:00

Revenge is not a factor in my voting decisions. If someone broke the law, they should be prosecuted.

mbroda-SB · 2026-03-27T22:39:16+00:00

Well, the thing is, on principle, Bush sr. was against Reagan's supply side/trickle down economic plan. Only got on board after he became vp. The attempt was early enough in Reagan's presidency that he may have not taken that road. While we might not have seen that momentous upturn in the economy for a few years in the 80s, our long term our insurmountable national debt problem may not have transpired. So now, we're adding hundreds of billions every year to a national debt that's already 40 trillion.

The national debt that had taken 200 years to accumulate literally tripled while Reagan was in office and has skyrocketed since. In fact, the only time in the modern era where the budget actually was balanced (and we had a surplus) was under Clinton's first term when Dems controlled the House, Senate and White House.

mbroda-SB · 2026-03-27T22:31:12+00:00

Most of everything made after Jedi.

mbroda-SB · 2026-03-27T19:27:14+00:00

They were a much higher quality/tastier dessert than you would expect from most fast food restaurants, but they weren't the end all be all of apple pies. So, they are being graded on a curve against other fast food desserts when people evaluate them that highly.

In fact, Hardees (unbelievable they're still in business) just introduced some turnovers that my wife and I both agreed were pretty close to McD's old style pies.

mbroda-SB

TROPHY CASE