Small point of order, even if you impeached a President, you couldn't prosecute him for exercising his Constitutional Powers... so there's no 'going to jail' as part of the deal. SCOTUS is correct on this front.* I also strongly suspect that the Pardons themselves would still stand.
Impeachment is a political check, not a legal finding -- which I wish the (too) many Lawyers in Congress would understand and step back from the overly 'legal' reading of the constitutional stipulations on conducting the Impeachment process.
But yes, throw Biden under the bus to build a consensus around Constitutional limitations; it may pay dividends in the future.
*unless there is a separate unique crime to which the Pardon was attached, like, say, bribery.
Now I'm genuinely curious to run a real-world tariff experiment on shifting preferences and policy objectives.
More seriously, the American Empire is crumbling... there are good arguments to divest into a multi-polar world (I personally like some of those arguments), but increasingly there are good arguments to 'own' the Empire and fix it.
I don't think Trump is the right person to transform the Empire, but people who don't understand that the Empire *is* are not serious people. The American Empire was the first 'post-modern' financial Empire, so we didn't fully acknowledge it's existence in a traditional sense... but the unraveling of it will require skill.
Yeah, it's also interesting that the Media team is prepped with notes, have gamed out responses and have follow-ups and 'gotchas' based on expected answers.
The interviewee? No notes (this is for everyone, not just Vance).
Still... I go back to my football scripted opening -- he's clearly ready for the first round of projects, policies and objectives.
We'll see what happens when Trump starts to audible or assumptions go awry.
But technically, he's supposed to do that (send the fleet, not drive the boat)... anytime Congress wants to review the War Powers Act and act like a big boy part of the government it's open to them.
Yeah, I wasn't calling out your comment specifically with regards alcohol... was trying to be polite about the opposition thinking these were good vectors.
Hegseth is the most dangerous Cabinet Secretary... not because of his sexual past or drinking (I have bad news about our War Machine leaders) ... but because he is a 'Ride or Die' man who lacks prudence (or, more specifically, Phronesis).
That sort of man at DoD is bad for the republic... McConnel's comments about him having no idea or plan for geo-political concerns is absolutely the tell and disqualifying.
May his tenure be uneventful; but I hope we don't look back and wonder why the primary line of attack was womanizing and boozing. McConnel (heaven help me) may have cast the only correct and internally consistent vote in the entire Senate.
As someone who works with Life Science companies... testing their drugs on different populations isn't a DEI thing... they will do it for simple $$ reasons. What they won't do is check boxes on populations where the science doesn't indicate a good fit.
...but more seriously the nice thing about programming it is that it has both sides of the bed - so my wife has it set to 'bake a potato' and I have it set to, put some warm embers under the covers so my delicate skin doesn't touch unheated cotton.
Not sure where you're going with this. This is true of every election in my lifetime... there's nothing new to infer about 'missing voters' that isn't also an event of similar or greater magnitude in every other election.
Perplexity AI:
Here are the voter turnout statistics for each presidential election since 2000, including the most recent 2024 election:
2000: 105,594,024 votes cast, 52.1% of voting-age population (VAP) turnout4
2004: 122,349,480 votes cast, 56.7% of VAP turnout4
2008: 131,406,895 votes cast, 58.3% of VAP turnout4
2012: 129,139,997 votes cast, 54.9% of VAP turnout4
2016: 136,787,187 votes cast, 55.7% of VAP turnout4
2020: 158,481,688 votes cast, 62.8% of VAP turnout4
2024: 156,302,318 votes cast, 63.9% of VEP turnout1*
*VEP for 2020 was 65.3%
And, as far as I can tell, it's about 84M eligible population didn't vote - which is surprisingly consistent raw number since the 80s.
We have a mix of casements and double-hung (originally to manage cost), and I can say with the existential metaphysical certainty of 20-yrs living with both, I'll never buy another double-hung window ever. I dream of replacing all of them.
But really, my new home fetish is now ICF; Lady Marchmaine and I have looked at building an ICF cottage on the property... but is seems we're not actually sitting on Scrooge McDuck piles of gold. The cost of building -- and this is me, who signed a contract to build this house in 2006... the actual literal peak of the previous boom -- is beyond outrageous. Still, I covet those 12 inch cement walls with passive heating/cooling and sound proofing (but we live next to a train).
Sort of... but it's Day 4. Let's assess at days 50 and 100.
At this point on the Football analogy, they are moving the ball against a defense that isn't prepared, but no points on the board. These are the easy yards. And we've yet to see what happens when a third team crashes the game.
Our newish house built less than 20-yrs ago is probably only really specced to handle weather in the 20s.... which here in the Valley is about right. But, when the weather dips into the aughts it struggles to keep up. Little things start to malfunction; 'hey, is that draft from the window? never noticed that before,' 'who thought these high ceilings were a good idea?' a laundry room pipe freezes (it's unfrozen now), and the upstairs HVAC in the unheated attic crawl space (counter-intuitively) fails to ignite so we wake-up to indoor temps in the 50s. Not catastrophic or anything (yet), but you can feel the house complaining about the lack of foresight. We need things back in the 30s as God intended for Virginia.
This weekend is a do-nothing weekend after last week's Daughter #1 wedding. We're people'd out.
Here's my current take on this. Unlike 2016 he has a team that has (let's say) a 100-day plan... a little bit like the scripted plays a football team can use to open a game.
Continuing the football analogy, the real question is how he reacts if a) the scripted plays stop working, and b) what does he do when they are over. And, unlike football, what happens when some outside event intrudes.
I joke that Suzie Wiles is the chewing gum, baling twine and duct tape of the administration... but I'll also add that while I've seen a lot on the conservative side go cynical on Trump, they figured out how his game is played and are currently trying to further their agenda 'as if' it were a Trump agenda. Here I'm not talking about Performative Congress critters, but donors and policy lobbyists.
In that sense 2024 is different from 2016, the question in my mind is how 2026 will differ from 2018.
Ultimately Trump is unreliable and untrustworthy... so it will end badly for some of those folks; but, some will get what they wanted.
New conspiracy theory... it's just the Warren Commission report and supporting documents. The good stuff was obviously not used for the Warren report and is still hidden in a secret location.
Good point... never underestimate Trump's complete ambivalence about legislating for the future.
But, there's only so far the administration can go with EO's and Reconciliation. But yeah, extending Trump's tax cuts and a few other financial goodies will likely just be some sort of omnibus reconciliation.
However, if they want transformative Immigration Policy, they are going to have to legislate it.
Given the right odds, I'd take the bet that they are willing to Nuke the filibuster.
On “Open Mic for the week of 1/27/2025”
Small point of order, even if you impeached a President, you couldn't prosecute him for exercising his Constitutional Powers... so there's no 'going to jail' as part of the deal. SCOTUS is correct on this front.* I also strongly suspect that the Pardons themselves would still stand.
Impeachment is a political check, not a legal finding -- which I wish the (too) many Lawyers in Congress would understand and step back from the overly 'legal' reading of the constitutional stipulations on conducting the Impeachment process.
But yes, throw Biden under the bus to build a consensus around Constitutional limitations; it may pay dividends in the future.
*unless there is a separate unique crime to which the Pardon was attached, like, say, bribery.
On “Group Activity: First Press Briefing of Trump’s Second Term”
Prediction: 9 months.
She's too invested and earnest to survive the inevitable miscues, lies, and reversals. Not the right temperament for this role.
On “Open Mic for the week of 1/20/2025”
Now I'm genuinely curious to run a real-world tariff experiment on shifting preferences and policy objectives.
More seriously, the American Empire is crumbling... there are good arguments to divest into a multi-polar world (I personally like some of those arguments), but increasingly there are good arguments to 'own' the Empire and fix it.
I don't think Trump is the right person to transform the Empire, but people who don't understand that the Empire *is* are not serious people. The American Empire was the first 'post-modern' financial Empire, so we didn't fully acknowledge it's existence in a traditional sense... but the unraveling of it will require skill.
"
Yeah, it's also interesting that the Media team is prepped with notes, have gamed out responses and have follow-ups and 'gotchas' based on expected answers.
The interviewee? No notes (this is for everyone, not just Vance).
Still... I go back to my football scripted opening -- he's clearly ready for the first round of projects, policies and objectives.
We'll see what happens when Trump starts to audible or assumptions go awry.
"
He's as good a wordcel as the journalists.
"
Heck, he's driving the big boat.
But technically, he's supposed to do that (send the fleet, not drive the boat)... anytime Congress wants to review the War Powers Act and act like a big boy part of the government it's open to them.
"
Everyone already knows this; I don't see why people keep bringing it up.
"
Yeah, I wasn't calling out your comment specifically with regards alcohol... was trying to be polite about the opposition thinking these were good vectors.
"
Hegseth is the most dangerous Cabinet Secretary... not because of his sexual past or drinking (I have bad news about our War Machine leaders) ... but because he is a 'Ride or Die' man who lacks prudence (or, more specifically, Phronesis).
That sort of man at DoD is bad for the republic... McConnel's comments about him having no idea or plan for geo-political concerns is absolutely the tell and disqualifying.
May his tenure be uneventful; but I hope we don't look back and wonder why the primary line of attack was womanizing and boozing. McConnel (heaven help me) may have cast the only correct and internally consistent vote in the entire Senate.
"
As someone who works with Life Science companies... testing their drugs on different populations isn't a DEI thing... they will do it for simple $$ reasons. What they won't do is check boxes on populations where the science doesn't indicate a good fit.
On “Weekend Plans Post: Was Last Year This Cold?”
That's analog bluetooth.
"
Just tell her it has micro-plastics ... I understand that this is the new kryptonite for women.
On “Open Mic for the week of 1/20/2025”
compromise: only flavor for vapes is Menthol.
On “Weekend Plans Post: Was Last Year This Cold?”
Sir, it has bluetooth.
...but more seriously the nice thing about programming it is that it has both sides of the bed - so my wife has it set to 'bake a potato' and I have it set to, put some warm embers under the covers so my delicate skin doesn't touch unheated cotton.
Can't do *that* with a single plug.
On “Open Mic for the week of 1/20/2025”
Compared to smoking? And as a transition out of smoking? Huge win.
"
Not sure where you're going with this. This is true of every election in my lifetime... there's nothing new to infer about 'missing voters' that isn't also an event of similar or greater magnitude in every other election.
Perplexity AI:
Here are the voter turnout statistics for each presidential election since 2000, including the most recent 2024 election:
2000: 105,594,024 votes cast, 52.1% of voting-age population (VAP) turnout4
2004: 122,349,480 votes cast, 56.7% of VAP turnout4
2008: 131,406,895 votes cast, 58.3% of VAP turnout4
2012: 129,139,997 votes cast, 54.9% of VAP turnout4
2016: 136,787,187 votes cast, 55.7% of VAP turnout4
2020: 158,481,688 votes cast, 62.8% of VAP turnout4
2024: 156,302,318 votes cast, 63.9% of VEP turnout1*
*VEP for 2020 was 65.3%
And, as far as I can tell, it's about 84M eligible population didn't vote - which is surprisingly consistent raw number since the 80s.
Supporting docs: https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/statistics/data/voter-turnout-in-presidential-elections
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voter_turnout_in_United_States_presidential_elections?
"
Boom! Easy 15 yds with linebacker mismatch on slot receiver.
Next, quick slant to Will Truman for 10 and and new set of downs as they remove the restrictions around vaping so people smoke less.
"
That's what I said about POE2... just make a better POE1. But no, we have a VISION (tm)
Plus, I thought everyone had already realized that Mobile gaming is dead and solely the preserve of gacha crack games.
All those hours wasted on AAA mobile titles... Diablo! On your phone! crickets.
On “Weekend Plans Post: Was Last Year This Cold?”
5 words: wifi enabled heated mattress pad.
Two different sides, programmable to turn on before you go to bed and turns off so you don't wake up in a pool of sweat.
"
Replacing windows is such a rush.
We have a mix of casements and double-hung (originally to manage cost), and I can say with the existential metaphysical certainty of 20-yrs living with both, I'll never buy another double-hung window ever. I dream of replacing all of them.
But really, my new home fetish is now ICF; Lady Marchmaine and I have looked at building an ICF cottage on the property... but is seems we're not actually sitting on Scrooge McDuck piles of gold. The cost of building -- and this is me, who signed a contract to build this house in 2006... the actual literal peak of the previous boom -- is beyond outrageous. Still, I covet those 12 inch cement walls with passive heating/cooling and sound proofing (but we live next to a train).
On “Open Mic for the week of 1/20/2025”
Sort of... but it's Day 4. Let's assess at days 50 and 100.
At this point on the Football analogy, they are moving the ball against a defense that isn't prepared, but no points on the board. These are the easy yards. And we've yet to see what happens when a third team crashes the game.
On “Weekend Plans Post: Was Last Year This Cold?”
Our newish house built less than 20-yrs ago is probably only really specced to handle weather in the 20s.... which here in the Valley is about right. But, when the weather dips into the aughts it struggles to keep up. Little things start to malfunction; 'hey, is that draft from the window? never noticed that before,' 'who thought these high ceilings were a good idea?' a laundry room pipe freezes (it's unfrozen now), and the upstairs HVAC in the unheated attic crawl space (counter-intuitively) fails to ignite so we wake-up to indoor temps in the 50s. Not catastrophic or anything (yet), but you can feel the house complaining about the lack of foresight. We need things back in the 30s as God intended for Virginia.
This weekend is a do-nothing weekend after last week's Daughter #1 wedding. We're people'd out.
On “Open Mic for the week of 1/20/2025”
Here's my current take on this. Unlike 2016 he has a team that has (let's say) a 100-day plan... a little bit like the scripted plays a football team can use to open a game.
Continuing the football analogy, the real question is how he reacts if a) the scripted plays stop working, and b) what does he do when they are over. And, unlike football, what happens when some outside event intrudes.
I joke that Suzie Wiles is the chewing gum, baling twine and duct tape of the administration... but I'll also add that while I've seen a lot on the conservative side go cynical on Trump, they figured out how his game is played and are currently trying to further their agenda 'as if' it were a Trump agenda. Here I'm not talking about Performative Congress critters, but donors and policy lobbyists.
In that sense 2024 is different from 2016, the question in my mind is how 2026 will differ from 2018.
Ultimately Trump is unreliable and untrustworthy... so it will end badly for some of those folks; but, some will get what they wanted.
"
New conspiracy theory... it's just the Warren Commission report and supporting documents. The good stuff was obviously not used for the Warren report and is still hidden in a secret location.
"
Good point... never underestimate Trump's complete ambivalence about legislating for the future.
But, there's only so far the administration can go with EO's and Reconciliation. But yeah, extending Trump's tax cuts and a few other financial goodies will likely just be some sort of omnibus reconciliation.
However, if they want transformative Immigration Policy, they are going to have to legislate it.
Given the right odds, I'd take the bet that they are willing to Nuke the filibuster.