You may not have seen it, given that it was on his Truth Social account, but there Trump wrote:
Melania and I are saddened to hear about Joe Biden’s recent medical diagnosis. We extend our warmest and best wishes to Jill and the family, and we wish Joe a fast and successful recovery.
It's not illegal. I'm pretty sure that laws have been passed to make it explicitly legal in a hell of a lot of states (and I'm only hesitating because I'm pretty unsure about Michigan).
Here's my answer: "Crossing a picket line" (or, crudely, "being a scab").
Is it morally wrong? Well... That's really complicated.
Is it somewhat corrosive to the social compact? Well... that's really complicated.
Should the government involve itself? Well... that's really complicated.
I mean I get that I’m probably the only one here who trusts my former White House colleagues, but I do.
We may be using two different kinds of "trust" here.
There's this definition: "I believe that the Biden Team is looking out for the best interest of my country, the world in general, and me and my family. What they say in any given moment is in service to this larger mission and I am on board with it."
There's this definition: "I believe that the Biden spokespeople make statements that conform, more or less, with the state of affairs as it exists."
So when I say "I don't trust them", I am saying "I do not believe that the prepositions spilling from the lips of the spokespeople matches up with the state of affairs in the world" and you hear that and you sputter "YOU DON'T TRUST THEM?!?" as if I were accusing them of being in some secret collusion with the Illuminati and willing to betray America, the world, and, most importantly, you and your family.
And even now, you say "I trust my former colleagues", you're not saying "I believe that the prepositions that they're saying are independently verifiable" but "I believe that they're working for a vision of the world, a vision which I share and things that they may have to say in order to help achieve this vision are things that I am willing to accept at face value (even if it changes again in five minutes)."
And that's fine.
But I am one of those aspy fellows who sees that the prepositions spilling from the mouths of spokespeople as not having a relationship with the world as it exists and takes it into account when they say new things... specifically that the truth value of their statements are secondary to what the statements are trying to accomplish.
As a private citizen, he has every right to adhere to the requirements of HIPPO and keep his medical records private. I'm going to pretend to be offended that you think that everybody's medical records should be publicly available.
In this week's "We're all gonna die" news, cartoonist Scott Adams has announced that he has prostate cancer and his life expectancy is maybe this summer.
One story that has shown up a couple of times is that Trump talks a big talk on deportations but, so far, he's deported fewer than Biden (here's an example from NBC news).
Is it possible to look at stories like that one and be disappointed with Trump's performance?
Is this one of those things where we need to show respect to Biden the man by never talking about what the last two years in the White House were like?
The current conspiracy theory is that prostate cancer takes more than two years to move into bones and so, therefore, the plan was to have Biden win re-election and then die, giving us our first Black Female President.
But Trump messed all of that up by insisting on a debate.
I, personally, wish that we had arenas where we could say stuff like "leave the politics at the door... we're just here to have a good time and play a game/listen to music/watch some cars blow up" but, it was pointed out to me, *EVERYTHING* is political.
The desire to just sit and watch some cars blow up is indicative of great privilege.
In video game news, Ubisoft Ubisoft stock price fell after it announced that it would be using its cash on hand to fund the various titles it is working on.
From the article: "We expected Assassin's Creed Shadows to turn around Ubisoft's financial performance in 2026 after recent weakness. The firm's outlook makes this seem unlikely," Morningstar analysts said.
We don't have Ubisoft's numbers. All we have are Playstation sales numbers and Steam sales numbers. That means that we don't have XBox numbers and we don't have PC-non-Steam numbers.
On “Joe Biden the Man Interrupts Joe Biden the Narrative”
You may not have seen it, given that it was on his Truth Social account, but there Trump wrote:
On “The War on Immigration (Legal and Otherwise)”
It's not illegal. I'm pretty sure that laws have been passed to make it explicitly legal in a hell of a lot of states (and I'm only hesitating because I'm pretty unsure about Michigan).
I agree that it's not illegal.
I'm only speaking in terms of moral gravity.
On “Joe Biden the Man Interrupts Joe Biden the Narrative”
Given what has been said above, I'm not sure that "we" already know that, Dark
On “The War on Immigration (Legal and Otherwise)”
Oooooh, that's a good one.
Here's my answer: "Crossing a picket line" (or, crudely, "being a scab").
Is it morally wrong? Well... That's really complicated.
Is it somewhat corrosive to the social compact? Well... that's really complicated.
Should the government involve itself? Well... that's really complicated.
WAIT WAIT WHY ARE THE UNION MEMBERS REVOLTING
On “Joe Biden the Man Interrupts Joe Biden the Narrative”
Well, Tapper's book comes out tomorrow.
You'll have to pick between "Tapper is telling the truth" and "Biden's staff was telling the truth".
"Fake News" might be the best play, if you want to keep running with your former compatriots in the White House.
I mean, *I* don't particularly trust Tapper so I can see where you'd be coming from.
"
I mean I get that I’m probably the only one here who trusts my former White House colleagues, but I do.
We may be using two different kinds of "trust" here.
There's this definition: "I believe that the Biden Team is looking out for the best interest of my country, the world in general, and me and my family. What they say in any given moment is in service to this larger mission and I am on board with it."
There's this definition: "I believe that the Biden spokespeople make statements that conform, more or less, with the state of affairs as it exists."
So when I say "I don't trust them", I am saying "I do not believe that the prepositions spilling from the lips of the spokespeople matches up with the state of affairs in the world" and you hear that and you sputter "YOU DON'T TRUST THEM?!?" as if I were accusing them of being in some secret collusion with the Illuminati and willing to betray America, the world, and, most importantly, you and your family.
And even now, you say "I trust my former colleagues", you're not saying "I believe that the prepositions that they're saying are independently verifiable" but "I believe that they're working for a vision of the world, a vision which I share and things that they may have to say in order to help achieve this vision are things that I am willing to accept at face value (even if it changes again in five minutes)."
And that's fine.
But I am one of those aspy fellows who sees that the prepositions spilling from the mouths of spokespeople as not having a relationship with the world as it exists and takes it into account when they say new things... specifically that the truth value of their statements are secondary to what the statements are trying to accomplish.
On “Open Mic for the Week of 5/19/2025”
Found nothing in spam nor trash... can you give a hint?
"
As a private citizen, he has every right to adhere to the requirements of HIPPO and keep his medical records private. I'm going to pretend to be offended that you think that everybody's medical records should be publicly available.
On “Joe Biden the Man Interrupts Joe Biden the Narrative”
What was the quotation that Biden gave? Did it specify "skin cancer" or was the clarification given later by a spokesperson?
"
That stuff might have to be in the sequel. "Duplicate Sin: President Biden’s Cancer, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again"
"
Thanks to the current situation, I'm curious as to whether more people than just Joe Biden knew that Biden had cancer back in 2022.
On “Open Mic for the Week of 5/19/2025”
In this week's "We're all gonna die" news, cartoonist Scott Adams has announced that he has prostate cancer and his life expectancy is maybe this summer.
On “Joe Biden the Man Interrupts Joe Biden the Narrative”
Jake Tapper's Original Sin: President Biden's Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again gets released tomorrow.
I'm not sure that arguing that this stuff is baseless is the right play.
And, if I'm right about that, the "HOW DARE YOU" position is definitely not the right play.
"
Part of the problem, it's argued, is that there already was a conspiracy to cover up Biden's mental decline.
Is wondering whether there was also a conspiracy to cover up his physical decline beyond the pale?
Are we not allowed to wonder if Biden was actually running things?
On “The War on Immigration (Legal and Otherwise)”
One story that has shown up a couple of times is that Trump talks a big talk on deportations but, so far, he's deported fewer than Biden (here's an example from NBC news).
Is it possible to look at stories like that one and be disappointed with Trump's performance?
On “Joe Biden the Man Interrupts Joe Biden the Narrative”
Yeah, I hate making my arguments explicit too.
"
"With the benefit of hindsight"
How did the conspiracy theorists somehow acquire their promethean foresight?
"
Well, this is where "Biden said he had cancer back in 2022" is interesting.
At the very least, it's an indicator that Biden knew that he had cancer back in 2022.
"
Is this one of those things where we need to show respect to Biden the man by never talking about what the last two years in the White House were like?
"
The current conspiracy theory is that prostate cancer takes more than two years to move into bones and so, therefore, the plan was to have Biden win re-election and then die, giving us our first Black Female President.
But Trump messed all of that up by insisting on a debate.
"
Remember how he tripped up in 2022 and said that he had cancer and then the news had to trip over itself explaining that he merely made a mistake?
Maybe it was a for-realsies Kinsley Gaffe.
On “Open Mic for the Week of 5/12/2025”
Yeah. I'm kinda surprised they let Israel even participate.
"
A ship has just hit the Brooklyn Bridge.
Please drink responsibly.
"
I, personally, wish that we had arenas where we could say stuff like "leave the politics at the door... we're just here to have a good time and play a game/listen to music/watch some cars blow up" but, it was pointed out to me, *EVERYTHING* is political.
The desire to just sit and watch some cars blow up is indicative of great privilege.
"
In video game news, Ubisoft Ubisoft stock price fell after it announced that it would be using its cash on hand to fund the various titles it is working on.
From the article: "We expected Assassin's Creed Shadows to turn around Ubisoft's financial performance in 2026 after recent weakness. The firm's outlook makes this seem unlikely," Morningstar analysts said.
We don't have Ubisoft's numbers. All we have are Playstation sales numbers and Steam sales numbers. That means that we don't have XBox numbers and we don't have PC-non-Steam numbers.
But the numbers we do have aren't great.
The stock price fell about 20%.