Book 2 in the Children of Time series has a civilization of genetically modified octopuses. They have a sort of dual intelligence, with their more conscious mind handling big ideas and emotions while their arms host a distributed intelligence that handles stuff like math and problem solving, and the two function independently and are only somewhat aware of each other.

They are incredibly alien and yet so very relatable. It was weird listening to the description of how their minds work on two different levels at once and realizing that this was coming from an audiobook that I was using to keep one half of my brain occupied while the other half gets work done.

The Trump administration claims that the children of immigrants who are born here only inherit their parent’s legal status rather than becoming citizens. And they claim they can revoke legal status at any time, even for those who become citizens. Since everyone in the country has ancestors who weren’t citizens, the combination of these two ideas would mean that anyone could be deported.

Well, that and anything is possible when you can deny do process. The next administration could round up everyone from the previous administration and deport them to Atlantis. Hope they’re good swimmers.

When do they start asking for forgiveness?

Am I the only one here who looked at that picture and thought “Oh look, the rhino’s giving birth.”

They stand by him through fraud, treason, rape and murder. They line up to support him as he strips them of their authority. They go to insane lengths to help him dodge accountability for pedophilia.

Why the fuck would you expect them to draw the line here‽

Oh absolutely, this is everyone’s problem. If it only affected the knuckle-draggers that made the decision it wouldn’t be an issue. If it only affected them and their unvaccinated kids it would be sad but at least contained. If it was limited to their own community it would be similar to a lot of other egregiously bad policies that make life worse for the people living under them. Instead, what we have is a policy that will radiate harm into the world around it.

All I was pointing out is that vaccines (and masks, and self-quaratining, etc) still help and in the long term, natural selection will favor those who choose vaccination. That may happen slowly over many decades, especially as the current generation of nurgle worshippers gradually age out and die. Or it may happen rapidly due to some particularly nasty strain of something sweeping through the population. You never know when the next pandemic will hit, and if something particularly deadly comes along while these asshats are still adamantly opposed to literally anything that reduces their own risks, we might see that timetable accelerate considerably.

Sooner or later this problem will solve itself. It’s just a question of how long it will take and how many people will have to suffer and die needlessly before that happens.

Chicken is dinosaur meat.

Mike Johnson is so afraid of sinning that he has his son policing his masturbation habits. And yet he seems to have no problem bearing false witness.

I mean, he’s also ignoring all the parts about seeking justice, and how to treat the poor, the alien, the least of these etc. But that’s all policy and I’m sure he thinks that doesn’t count because it’s not him doing it personally. But when he lies about his opponents he is personally, intentionally breaking one of the commandments. Not that I expect any better from that humanoid shit stain, but it’s worth pointing out. One more hypocrisy for the pile.

And of course, it’s even more telling that he feels the need to lie. He can’t acknowledge what the protests are about or why the shut down is happening because he knows that most people would support those positions.

Sort of like how most people would prefer he not dismiss congress early in order to shield pedophiles from justice.

Sort of like how RFK Jr could just dismiss sexual assault allegations from when he was in his mid 40s as being part of being a “very rambunctious youth.”

The press only had a presence in the pentagon because it was advantageous to have them there. The media isn’t disappearing just because they are no longer given easy access. They will just have less of a relationship with the department of defense. Yes, it’s bad for the journalists, but it’s worse for the administration. Those reporters had been there so that they could spread the official talking points. Letting reporters become dependent on their easy access and maintaining a reasonable working relationship makes it a lot easier to seed stories, to ask for small favors and to give off the record comments that shape narratives. Ol’ Whiskeyleaks is failing at coercion and in the process is sacrificing influence. That he doesn’t understand this is amazing considering he was (theoretically) a journalist until less than a year ago.

As with so many things, they are destroying what their predecessors spent the last century building by being both malicious and incompetent.

People can rationalize anything.

The ones actually doing this shit can tell themselves that this is just how the game is played, that they are doing it for the right reasons, that it’s not wrong to seek a political advantage, that they earned the right to do this when they won an election, and so on. It’s bullshit, but they aren’t starting this particular conversation as idealistic believers in democracy and the rule of law. You only get to this point by either not giving a shit about democratic principles to begin with, or by accepting smaller lies along the way until you are living in a fantasy world of your own making.

For their supporters, it’s a lot easier. They’re all soaking in propaganda and have an entire media ecosystem that’s designed to make them feel justified in anything they support and outraged by anything they oppose. Escaping that trap means questioning things they have already accepted, seriously reconsidering ideas that they know to be abhorrent, actively seeking out sources they have long since dismissed as untrustworthy, and potentially facing the stark realization that the worldview they have cultivated is dishonest and destructive. It’s possible for people to see the disconnect between what they claim to stand for and what they actually support, but for that to work they have to actually be principled enough to put those ideals ahead of loyalty to their side and what they perceive to be their own interests. And they need to have the perspective to see the contradiction in the first place, which is tricky when all your info is coming from sources that only tell you how right you are.

It takes a lot of work to get out of that intellectual rut and ask yourself “are we the baddies?” Much easier to stay where you are and be angry at all those assholes that constantly lie and cheat because they hate everything you believe in.

Off the streets and into the Whitehouse.

Unless I’m mistaken, they would need to win every senate race, even the safest seats in the deepest of red states. Anything less than a clean sweep would mean that some number of Republicans in the senate would have to join them to get to the 2/3 majority needed to convict.

That said, if they were to get such a huge landslide in the midterms that they came anywhere near a 2/3 majority, I wouldn’t be surprised to see a few Republicans decide that maybe the Trump administration isn’t something they want to be handcuffed to. Still highly unlikely, but less implausible than a clean sweep.

The headline is underselling it. The settlements were part of the deal. They were literally bought off.

At this point, there is no position so indefensible and abhorrent that I would bet against the Supreme Court ruling in favor of it.

Not to mention that the bullshit in AI videos made by the left would absolutely get called out in every propaganda outfit on the right. It would just give them more ammo (without the usual lies).

But even more important, it will grant legitimacy to everyone who responds to damning video evidence by claiming it was AI. We don’t need to make shit up, the reality is already horrifying. All AI will do is make it harder for people to believe their own eyes.

We need to have criminal charges for this shit and throw the assholes responsible in prison. And not the minimum security bullshit either, they need to get the same punishment that the rest of us would get if we stole that much from them.

Do that, and seize the money, and hit them with fines, and make them pay for the cost of their prosecution if they are convicted. Then we might start taking the legal risks a bit more seriously.

IIRC, a contempt charge has to be voted on (not happening) and if it passes it is then referred to the US attorney’s office for them to pursue. And since that office is currently held by a Fox News host whose only qualifications are loyalty to Trump and a total lack of ethics, that case wouldn’t go anywhere.

Assuming the 23% and the 28% aren’t overlapping, that makes 51% that think a shut down is woth it if it gets their side what they want.