Heh... all 75M of them. The daily riots are... oh wait. Sheesh.

Honestly, this is just textbook othering.

Eh... it'll be something catchy like the Reformed Democratic party or the Democratic League or some such. Our parties aren't anything useful other than a branding mechanism. I don't think the Democratic Party as it's constituted has much of a shelf life anyway, though.

Trump is Yeltsin/Berlusconi levels of Authoritarian... that's not a good level, but we're getting about as much danger as those figures entail. Stylistically Trump is like Yeltsin - incompetent and buffoonish - but unlike post-Yeltsin, I don't think the US is institutionally as weak, so Trump doesn't usher in a Putin... Unfortunately Trump doesn't have the good grace to drink himself to death, so we'll have to endure his post-Presidential nonsense for as long as CNN continues to insist we must.

Personally I'm less worried about a Putin than I am about a Xi.

Xi's rise is methodical, fully systematized, popular where it needs to be, it is supported by elite institutions and people, and will reproduce itself. Trump is an idiosyncratic detour to the Xi scenario. The thing about Xi is that he's not "enormously popular" as a personality...I'm less worried about enormously popular idiots... If I worry, I worry about the systemic consolidation of powerful institutions by people I've never heard of. One of them is our future Xi. It has nothing to do with The Squad and their back-bencher performative acts.

Hah... nice.

Yeah, corn syrup is just sugar... this 'issue' is we put sugar in all sorts of foods where we don't need to put sugar. Now if you read labels carefully they break out HFCS, Dextrose, Palm sugar, etc. etc.

Of course a popsicle has sugars... that's the point; the turn-about to that commercial is putting Honey on Pizza or piling sugar on potato chips or coating your salad in a thick ooze of Dextrose. Which is basically how we eat.

Heh... Done and Done.

There's not the slightest ambiguity about the health impact of HFCS.

The nicest thing I could say is we're currently debating the flavor of our authoritarianism.

But you're delusional if you think this is a problem peculiar to the right.

In fact, the meanest thing I can say is that the Left is much further along and in a much better position to impose their flavor... the dissolving that Lee mentions is the solvent of technocratic liberalism that has the broad minority support of 'all the right people' and will impose a benevolent authoritarianism that we'll all agree is just right. How else could we not?

Among the bad things Trump has ushered in will be the constant whirl of "well, Trump did it" and "we're not doing what Trump did, that was bad... we're doing this, and this is good." In my ongoing One Ring analogy... we're not embarking on the hopeless mission of destroying the ring, we're going to use it for good!

Article forgot to mention that he signed it with the Gr8t Kr4ken of Line-Item V3toes.

Yeah... that's why it's so funny... if they could've waited until Jan 21 all of this would have come off the usual way(TM).

I think there's a Tumblr for that.

Heh.. co-writing assistant based on my writing tics and bad habits? How anyone doesn't see that output as pure parody that should crush your soul? Shit, only the least self-aware writers will ever keep writing... and commenters.

It's pretty interesting in that clearly McConnel and Pelosi had moved into a Post-Trump mode and it turns out the king isn't quite dead yet.

Also interesting because while Trump is doing this to screw a) McConnel, b) Pelosi, c) Congress, d) Post-Trump Republicans, e) Post-Trump Democrats, and f) Yes, a big 'F' to all'y'all... He's doing it from the "High-Ground" of giving people *more* money. Heh.

I mean... he loses nothing... if they don't pass anything, its because Post-Trump Dem/Repubs are just the same as Pre-Trump Dem/Repubs... never doing enough for the little guy... always buying off their sponsors and making you grateful for scraps... etc. etc. And if they *do* turn around and increase the grant to $2k... well who did that?

The Presidency in the hands of a competent President who wasn't also part of the take* would be a fascinating thing to behold.

*I recognize that Trump is doing this purely for Trump and *his* Take/Grift... but its still interesting to see McConnel/Pelosi with their underwear around their ankles - just because Trump is playing a solo grift doesn't end the collective grift that's the status quo.

Yeah, I had the exact opposite experience... every time I went outside there was this guy in my neighborhood who kept staring at me and my bespoke mask.

I haven't changed jobs in quite sometime... but when I've entertained some interviews I've noticed a massive sea change in the questions.

The new code is: Culture is very important here, and we want to make sure this is a good cultural fit for you. For *me* mind you... this is for my benefit.

What I'm looking forward to is not only the moral impact of your choices, but also the aesthetic - cultural - impact.

You played Shadowbane? Could go one of two ways:
1. I'm sorry, but studies show PvP games indicate reduced levels of collaboration and...
2. Lolz SB.exe right? You're hired.

I have no idea how many 'cultural fits' I've failed.

Wow, this game is fraught with a capital F. I'm taking my gaming $$ elsewhere.

Future employers: So March, we see from your steam profile (standard background check in future world) that you played Cyberpunk2077... tell us about that.

He is.

In the scenario we're living through? Yes. The partial benefit back to us the community is that the size of the subsidy might be proportionally less if the business(es) can operate at some reduced capacity.

If we through Govt. are unilaterally changing the rules of the market - especially at this scale and not simply an accidental byproduct of some other law - then that cost is a social cost we [ought] to account for.

Administering these subsidies? Well, mostly a nightmare.

The only thing Congress wants to do is raise funds (for themselves and their allies) and allocate tax expenditures... when they don't have a green light for expenditure expenditures.

One of the reasons why I could be persuaded by an overhaul of the tax code and/or UBI would be to reduce some of the directed spending they do via taxation. Note, this isn't to say taxes should be lower or higher... just that they shouldn't be policy proxies.

Lady Marchmaine and I considered going to the Movies one of our "lame" date nights. But after a year of not having even lame dates we''re dreaming of lame. But even then our go-to was an Alamo which is like combining lame dinner with lame drinks and a lame movie. But it's still better to have a beer and some quesadillas while watching super heroes destroy critical infrastructure.

I'm thinking that there's even more room for a Movie 'Experience' than Alamo. I mean, we already pay Alamo more than the price of the ticket... bump up the 'experience' and I'll pay even more so that the lame date becomes a date date.

The whole "you have to see it on the big screen" thing?... I believe that's true for a tiny fraction. Most of us are fine watching movies -for the first time- one the back of an airline seat, on our computers, and heck, on our phones. It isn't the screen. Change the experience, sell the experience. Otherwise I'm perfectly happy to experience the genius of Fatman this Christmas season on my TV.

But I'd like to go out on a date with my wife again.

Yeah, I always thought she peaked in Community anyway.

Imagine thinking bankers were just transactional middle men with government sponsored fiat and not the forces for social good we know them to be.

Well, everyone loses a little bit in a compromise...

Think of it more like building your Citizen Social Presence Score. On the plus side, we're tightening up the vote and making it more secure, on the negative side we live in a society.

Sometimes we just need the middle to step-up and broker a compromise.

Voter ID : Vaccine ID
=
Unity in ID

Of course it is preposterous to question the outcome of the election as illegitimate.

It is, however, a rather preposterous system and we should make it less so. In these fractious days, I think all legislation should be of the "I cut / You chose" methodology.

This is sort of a musical blind-spot for me. As a child of the 70s there are swaths of music that hit me like an allergic reaction... the Carpenters are one of those allergies.

That said, one of the many things I love about Christmas Music is that they are all (almost all) covers! It's 100% about mood and style... there's no originality involve... well, other than arranging the covers into the right mood and style.

And this is a great thing! We can make Christmas playlists (thanks Cloud!) for every mood and style imaginable. And for someone such as myself who makes a Christmas playlist almost every year (and labels them by mood/style and year - thanks Cloud!) I really appreciate this shared culture.

My playlists start with Advent: Benedictine Sisters of Mary and Roger Wilcock make up two excellent lists which dominate airtime between 1st and 3rd Sundays of Advent. We're sort of semi-Pelagian purists when it comes to Thanksgiving/Christmas... we insist on some Advent... right up until Gaudete Sunday, then we fall apart in our self-defined works of virtue.

After Gaudete Sunday (yesterday, by the way), we jump into the popular milieus... Country, Crooner and Jazzy ...depending on the time/mood of day: Afternoon, Cocktail hour, Supper. Mornings are still contemplative Advent Benedictines of Mary... the Semi part of the Pelagianism. These are the songs of communal friendship, wintertide musings, and the silly goings on of romance and party planning... maybe a few country singers thinking about Mary.

We don't really break out the Choral powerhouses until the last few days... the Christmas Eve anticipatory days. Kings College, Choer Rhapsodes and other choirs who have mastered mood/style/technique. These are the big hymnal songs, the lessons mixed with the carols. Arrangements that make Phil Spector weep in awe. I still spend hours looking for Choirs that have a 'take' on these Christmas covers. Kings College is the baseline... after that I'm looking for style and nuance... I abhor the dirgey style of false liturgy that some choirs produce. Ugh.

BUT NEVER ADESTE FIDELIS... this alone must be saved for Christmas Day. Even as we sneak in a few of the others on the anticipatory days to the anticipatory day.

So mood, style, technique and themes can all be grouped as we listen to the same songs that we all know. I even revisit playlists (hence the dates) to see if new entrants have arrived... Dean, Bing and the Andrews sisters joined by Michael and the Puppini Sisters... even found a new crooner this year.

Someday, maybe, I'll even make a Carpenters Christmas mix. Or, more likely, my children will make one.

I suppose I'll virtue signal that that I think the outcome is correct.

On the lesser point of Standing, I'd appreciate some constitutional lawyerly thoughts on how to read the plain text.

If it were I, I'd simply assume that this is denied owing to Article II and the selection of Electors and *therefore* Texas, et al. don't have standing to bring suit.

But, if I were writing such an opinion, I'd include the part about Article II which makes the part about Article III relevant. Because if its not simply assuming and skipping over Article II and is making an Article III claim, then I think Alito and Thomas are correct.

But, it seems to me so obviously an Article II issue that I can only wonder why only Article III is specified.

We finally saved up enough to enclose a screened porch into a sort-of she-shed for my wife... a room for her projects, computer, homeschool, etc. etc. I'm told I'm allowed to use the room conditionally. It is something we've been planning for a long time. And it was her Birthday Month (it used to be Birthday, then weekend, then octave, now Month, soon to be quarter) so we pulled the trigger. Found a young contractor just getting started (a friend of my daughter) who was reasonable and available, because... everyone in the entire world is doing home renovations.

Everything is going along swimmingly, work is great, contractor shows up every day, the usual things that pop-up are quickly resolved and the project is more-or-less on schedule. Just waiting on the ceiling insulation - that we ordered 6-8 weeks ago - no biggie, just a couple of annoying snafu's on the supplier side. Right?

Friday the supplier informed the builder that there's no R38C (for vaulted ceiling) anywhere in the US because... everyone in the entire world is doing renovations.

This is where being young/new will cost us in a delay... he didn't have the juice or experience to make sure his materials were held for him and not delivered to another project... and/or making sure the supplier gave him warning with enough advance to make alternative plans.

So now I'm researching whether we can compress R49 with a baffle or whether new materials (hey, Mineral Wool is thinner!) would pass code. Code sometimes being outcome based - does it conform to the spec? Yes? Good, pass. Versus Inspectors being process based - hey this isn't R38C... we like to see R38C here... why aren't you using R38C?

But we don't know if the inspectors will be jolly, it being the holiday season and all, or grumpy... because everyone in the entire world is doing renovations.