It’s called Mill Lane. It’s a public footpath in Halnaker (pronounced Ha’naker), a hamlet a few miles north of Chichester in West Sussex, in the South Downs National Park. The lane follows an ancient track along the route of Stane Street, the London to Chichester Roman road.
Over the years many have walked along this route forming a hollow way, where the path has sunk down, worn away by centuries of footfall.
They all got life sentences. The dad and son that did the killing got no parole. The 3rd guy that took the video and drove the car to slow Ahmaud down so the other two could catch up got parole possible after I think 30 years. Supposedly he showed some remorse so the judge gave him a possibility of parole.
"To the casual eye, there was nothing amiss about the bottle of whiskey sitting on a shelf at Acker, a wine store on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. But for anyone who knew what to look for, the warning signs were clear.
The whiskey, a bourbon called Col. E.H. Taylor Four Grain that Acker was selling for about $1,000, normally came packaged in a special cardboard tube; this one sat there tubeless. Its strip stamp, attached over the top of the cork, was on backward.
Still, when a producer from the TV news program “Inside Edition” asked in April about the bottle’s authenticity, the store assured him it was legitimate."
I just signed up to volunteer at an archeological dig on Hadiran's Wall at a Roman fort called Vindolanda in April. Hopefully, COVID will have mellowed out by then. Since my last visit to the UK, I've gotten hooked on a TV show called Time Team, an archeological show hosted by Baldrick from Blackadder.
that sounds amazing! When my family I were planning our spring break '20 trip the UK, I had penciled in a stop at the Birdoswald fort en route to Chester from Edinburgh. An offshoot of my fantasy searches for golden visa apartments in Portugal is learning that there are all sorts of interesting Roman ruins on the Iberian peninsula that I need to go look at....
several cool castles as it turns out - we had loosely been thinking either Conwy or Caernarfon, depending weather and energy levels. My family lived in Wales for about 18 months in a village between Wrexham and Chester, so there were a couple things I kind of wanted to see that I dimly remembered from back in the day.
I grabbed my Book of Castles, and couldn't find Conwy - silly me, had to look in the Wales section. Does look quite impressive, in 1609 it was sold for 100 pounds
As I get older, I find that I love going to a country more than once. The first time is to be a tourist. The second time is just enjoy a place without feeling like I need to rush off to the must-see tourist spots. My trip through Wessex a few years back was one of my favorite trips that I've ever done. I want to go through Essex sometime this year because my kid wants to apply to a few universities in England. I also want to study a 12-month Cuisine course at Cordon Blue if SGB2.0 gets in. If I write it, I think it's more likely to happen.
How do you define Wessex? Hampshire and Wiltshire? Dorset? I absolutely love the West Country (Devon and Cornwall, in particular).
I personally wouldn't really recommend spending any time in Essex, but if you go just a wee bit north to East Anglia (Suffolk, Norfolk and Cambridgeshire) there's a lot of beautiful countryside and charming villages, along with a very nice coast.
I think it is also quite interesting to visit multiple times to see how it changes. It is easier to see change in another country than at home. Diachronic perspective is easier to see
Related: I recently watched the movie Train to Busan and was like holy shit there is a train to Busan now! I used to take a shitty intercity bus like a punk
I too enjoy hiking, but I also find it somewhat amusing when people put that on their resume. I feel like in the Bay Area that is kind of similar to saying you know how to use MS Word or some other tablestakes thing
Tuolumne Meadows to 50 would also be really cool. This was on the list for 2021, but then my friend had to rearrange, we ended up hiking in the Marbles and Trinity Alps instead. Might end up doing this hike this summer though. North Bound, you have to get permits super early, south bound you can get them like 4 days ahead and there is no quota.
My 4 year old daughter pointed out how much meaner the Grinch is to Max in the 66 film compared to the 18 version and she is right. It is basically dog abuse. The 18 version sees the Grinch treat Max much more kindly and as a friend.
Also the 18 version has a more flushed out and fun story, that’s probably due to the longer ran time than the original. Lastly, the animation and voice actors are great.
I agree that the 66 version is and always will be my favorite. I grew up with that one but the 2018 version is very good and it seems like a lot of people didn’t see it or know it exist. I wouldn’t know it existed if it were for my kids wanting to watch it.
Finally got around to Ep 2 of the Book of Boba Fett. I like seeing characters from the animated series being brought to live action series. Though I don't remember the Pyke Syndicate looking like bloated fish without their helmets
If you tried to script an interview that epitomized the GOP’s post-Jan. 6 evolution, its subjugation to its more extreme elements and its rewriting of its own narrative of the Capitol riot, you would struggle to do better than Sen. Ted Cruz’s interview with Tucker Carlson on Thursday night.
When Cucker Tarlson embarrasses and cucks you on TV, it’s time to quite. How do “tough” and “manly” Texans keep electing Cruz?
Cruz had his wife called ugly by Trump and he did nothing. Trump claimed Cruz’s dad was part of the Oswalt assassination and he did nothing. He fled to Cancun during the Texas polar vortex deep freeze and blamed it on his daughters. Somehow Cruz thinks he will be President despite being the GQP punching bag.
Custom always lags technology. We obviously need some new gatekeepers for the current social media, user generated content age, as people are plainly too dumb and/or ill intentioned to take their obligations re voting seriously, and pols like Cruz are constitutionally incapable of doing anything but pandering to the lowest common denominator in order to get elected.
I totally agree with Yang - open primaries would help as it would reduce the stranglehold of influence held by the lunatic fringe. But given that the lunatic fringe is now basically the entire GOP electorate, I am not sure that is enough.
It's as simple as that. But Section 230 is the hill on which social media platforms are willing to die on. Because without Section 230, social media platforms would not exist.
4) Some sort of national service requirement, can be civil not military
Even that is not enough tho I think. Shit is really fucked up. We are one election away from the government collapsing entirely and are too dumb and lazy to realize it.
This worries me and I hope the western state governors are preparing to form a new Western United States with Washington, Oregon, California, Colorado, New Mexico, Hawaii and southern (or all) Nevada, possibly Arizona.
Basically the Pac 12 and some of the MWC could form it’s own country.
I agree with all of this, especially number 4 as that would allow the government to basically make college “free” with a universal National Service college tuition fund similar to what the VA currently offers vets for college tuition assistance.
I tend to agree with this but I struggle with why the Dems and GQP, can’t seem to find a bipartisan way to do this. Is it just a public talking point by the Dems and GQP but in private they don’t want to repeal it?
It seems like the Dems want to stop misinformation on social media and the GQP want to stop deplatforming and worry about 1st Amendment infringement.
If it was repealed what are the potential positive and negatives?
If you really want to stop the spread of idiocracy and disinformation on social media you should charge to use their platforms.
"charge to use their platforms" is antithetical to the entire social media, data gathering, business model wherein the customer is the product being sold.
One positive of repealing Section 230 is that newspapers would thrive again. There's no going back to print as the primary distribution method, but the need to vet sources and verify information would severely limit social media's rumor-mongering aspect.
The liability for spreading false information, deliberately or negligently, would be too great.
Social media platforms are built upon the idea that a moment can go viral and drive traffic.
They were also built on the reality that a too small and too under-resourced, and sometimes either disinterested or agendavized themselves, media industry was not capable or nimble enough to keep up with current events. That trend has accelerated in the meantime. Its why WFC (for example) exists; to fill a void.
Unfortunately, as is usually the case, mis-use and abuse of new tools for personal agenda advancement has happened.
I have trouble accepting the scenario you describe as if the conditions in 1996 were immutable and that the internet would not have changed newspapers at all absent Section 230.
I think that proposition is nonsensical. Nothing stays the same; change is inevitable, sometimes in great waves.
Btw, the greatest irony of all this is that the MAGAs I know blather on about Covid being a Chinese bioweapon. But dude, Xi and Putin probably masturbate to images of January 6. That nonsense is the greatest gift we ever gave them - it delegitimizes democracy greatly, and therefore justifies their authoritarian rule, putting people in camps, executing journalists, yada yada
It's really stretching my Chinese language ability to explain things like the last four years. I just resort to "it's kind of chaotic. .. and not everyone likes Trump" and try to talk about the traffic instead.
FAFO: If you haven't been keeping up with the American Oversight vs. Cyber Ninjas case, it's delicious. Anyways, Oversight - a left-leaning watch group - sued Cyber Ninjas for freedom of information on their process. Cyber Ninjas went all the way to the AZ Supreme Court and appeals - losing each time. They have now been found in contempt with $50k fine PER DAY. So Cyber Ninjas now says they are insolvent with no employees and their AZ-based lawyer says he wants to quit because he's not getting paid (never mind getting spanked in a lost cause). The judge comes back and says bankruptcy cannot discharge this contempt and she is willing to fine it to individuals if needed. The fine starts tomorrow. Meanwhile, Cyber Ninjas other two lawyers cannot speak in court because they don't have an AZ law license.
I love this. Cyber Ninjas are such a joke. I noticed the GQP and their propaganda sites and TV have stopped talking about the Arizona audit and cyber ninjas.
Didn't seem like much noise was made about Jan 6th one way or the other. Just my opinion, I'd rather just not see people bring it up while getting justice done in the background, no one needs any more thrashing or glorification or something that was obvious as to what occurred.
Sorry, no. It must never be forgotten. Just like we stop to acknowledge the attacks on 9/11 or PH, this needs to be acknowledged every year.
Darrell Issa held Benghazi hearings for a year and that was simply a US Embassy that was attacked and he held Hillary Clinton at fault for not sending troops to help defend it. This is the GQP Benghazi times 1,000 and Trump didn’t send anyone to help despite the attack being the US Capitol and on US soil with troops near by.
11 positive cases in 4 days at my kids’ roughly 450 student elementary school. Principal has been sending panicky emails asking parents to volunteer as subs or else she will have to combine some classes due to teacher illnesses. And the Cron Cron rolls on…
our county schools had announced that after any school hit the 5% of student population in quarantine, they'd consider switching to virtual school for 2 weeks for that school specifically.
That standard has now been dropped, and considering that like 80% of the schools were over 5% (and some were over 10!) by Wednesday, I think I can guess why. On the other hand, 3 snow days this week!
Yes but it is a competitive advantage to have a higher vax rate among your players. Given his role as leader / captain, I dont think the off the field stuff is wholly irrelevant. I mean he got Covid and missed time right?
Vaccinated players got COVID & missed time, too, tho.
Again, I don’t agree with the Cole Beasley/Aaron Rodgers school of COVID thought, but his politics have nothing to do with his value to the team, which is immense…lots of players miss a game for injury…
Green Bay doesn’t even make the playoffs with Jordan Love, and it’s not incumbent upon some unknown, douchebag writer in a rival sports market to be arbiter of social justice.
That is fair, though I think Rodgers’ own mendacity estops him from being righteously indignant. At a minimum he should shut the fuck up and let his coach or a teammate make this argument.
Or maybe the writer should just shut the fuck up rather than trying to make the news himself by saying he won't vote for Rodgers because he's not vaccinated. Just report the news, Hub.
Rodgers is totally within his right to be indignant when asked about this guy.
Maybe, but he amplified it by responding. I dunno, I agree on the one hand that political / social concerns should not dictate an MVP vote (though there must be a point at which they do - say for example he murdered someone). OTOH the mere criticism of Rodgers apart from the voting thing is 100% justified
Oh, absolutely. And AR is absolutely a total dick - if McAfee had just asked him an hypothetical question about some random MVP voter having a problem with his candidacy bc of the tax status, I bet Rodgers would have been a little bit more diplomatic.
But Hub Arkush kind of cast the first stone by really unnecessarily voicing his own opinion...I'm not surprised a somewhat surly focker like Rodgers would be quick to answer when questioned on it....
But this isn't criticism of his vaccination status....this is some clown saying he won't vote him as the League's Most Valuable Player bc of his vaccination status. One thing has nothing to do with the other.
A voter who admits beforehand that he won't vote for someone for a certain reason that has nothing to do with the game of football SHOULD lose their vote...which is what Rodgers is saying.
In my reading of the article, you've mischaracterized the statement from the writer. He didn't say he didn't vote for him because of his vax status but because he thinks Rodgers is a jerk and that he mislead the public about his vaccination status. Those are very different things and the latter ostensibly is about character and leadership, not just politics or orthodoxy. Not defending the writer, but I do think the nuance is important here.
Rumor is that Jim Harbaugh may leave Michigan to go the Raiders, and there's mutual interest. Anyone know if there's any real steam to this rumor or if this is a ploy by Harbaugh people squeeze more money out of Michigan?
have also read he's using it as leverage to get a better deal from Michigan after having to make a ton of concessions after the 2020 season which he took a pay cut and was more or less forced to fire almost the entire defensive staff. Plus seeing Tucker get paid at MSU is fueling part of this
Seeing USC UCLA also adopt the Furd policy of fans along with local high schools like Bellarmine San Jose and St.Francis Mtn View. Not a fan. Kids work too hard to get that community feeling taken away again. You already have to show proof of vaccination anyway, lets show some confidence to the public and those who are indecisive that these truly work.
Also not gonna lie being back on campus for winter quarter at Santa Clara...this place is as depressing as a morgue right now. Online classes optional through the end of the month, half the food options on campus are closed "due to COVID" (if you are getting COVID due a cafe in a science building there were bigger issues to begin with), half the students aren't even here, and basketball hasn't been played in weeks and I'm worried about fans in limbo with Gonzaga coming up on the 15th, especially with our first round of testing coming with with 124 positives (7.4%).
UCSC announcing that they're staying zoom until Jan 31. They say 5% positive rate, though I think it's probably much higher. Said if you haven't come back don't. So I think No 3 is going to be in the East Bay a while.
Is this really a good policy? Seems to me that people on a highly-vaccinated campus are actually safer than being out and about in their home communities.
I know that people are afraid, but IMO if they are vaxxed/boosted and if like 90+% of the people around them in the workplace are too they don't have much to worry about. COVID is basically the flu at that point. That needs to be the message, if not now then very soon.
I'm sure there are SOME people who prefer remote learning, but I very much doubt it's the majority or that you get better educational results across the board from that.
the problem is that it isn't really the flu, it never has been. It's just reached the point where the immediate risks for the median population have dropped below the point at which people have priced risk into their day (e.g. driving the kids to school). After a certain point, leaving kids in school during an omicron surge is essentially making a policy decision to spread it... but nobody wants to say "I'm on board with writing off some unspecified portion of vulnerable populations, and accepting that we'll be replacing some of them with the people who take a hit from long COVID."
I don't know what the right answer is, I've just lost patience with absolutist policies and relitigating the same stupid decisions like nothing has changed.
To be clear: COVID-19 is not "the flu" in a general sense. It's obviously been something far more dangerous, on the whole. I am saying that in a 90% vaccinated population it basically is.
Vulnerable populations still exist, yes. Immunocompromised people are out there. They were before COVID and still will be after. Those people and people who interact with them should continue to take greater precautions. But it doesn't make sense for the rest of society to keep up additional restrictions solely on their behalf.
Maybe that will sound callous to some people, but I don't see any way to end the "emergency" measures without acknowledging that truth. The elderly, immunocompromised, and infants will always be at greater risk from all the diseases floating around out there. But we don't shut down schools and businesses because of that.
also I feel I should be clear, I'm not accusing you of being history's greatest monster or anything, I don't think I'd have approached interventions the same way as you're thinking about it, but we're past that now in any case.
at this point it's just a logistics question: schools are going to shut, and it's going to be because there won't be enough adults to keep them open. I'm writing this from an extremely blue and affluent county where that, in practice, will be the only reason schools close. As Father P used to say in high school, not to decide is to decided: we've already effectively given up on vulnerable populations and we're going to have negative secondary affects from predominantly unvaccinated patients absorbing critical care resources. We're basically at the point where it's just riding out this wave and however many more before the disease becomes truly endemic, and the best of luck to us all.
Cal runs out of steam at the end against a talented USC Trojans squad. I'm really questioning Kuany's fit everywhere because he does nothing on offense, which you can't have with Joel Brown already out there. If you want someone who does what Kuany does with offensive skill I present to you....Sam Alajiki (I get he wasn't available yesterday).
Also Drew Peterson has a very punchable face that reminds me of the Furd of high schools, St.Ignatius of SF.
Now just imagine if Joel Brown had any semblance of an offensive game in him...he'd be like Davion Mitchell man....
Agreed. I think Kuany has incredible upside, but just started playing basketball too late to be able to maximize production at the collegiate level, despite the physical gifts...he’s long, quick, and can handle the ball...he’s more of a stretch 4 than Grant, but there he is, playing on the wing. Would love to see him down low on the block, with his back to the basket...see what happens.
There is clear progress this year, though...they are a better team without Bradley...but there are too many players in the rotation that really don’t give you much.
As for Joel, totally...if he could consistently finish at the rim and develop a little pull-up jumper, he’d be lights out. But along with Kuany, Lars & Hyder, that’s 4 guys in the rotation that are net-negatives scoring the ball on O...tough to take the next step with that.
This Cal team moves the ball pretty well and gets decent looks. They don't necessarily have the shooters to be a top-half Pac-12 team, but they're definitely more competitive than what people expected going into the season. They're getting to be a pretty tough out, especially at home. Last season was just a covid year washout - don't give it another thought. Fox is a high-floor coach, after all. (Not sure about the ceiling yet.)
Hell, I'd settle for just 1 of the players SC has...Mobley is a lottery pick, Boogie Ellis is a 1st rounder, Goodwin will get drafted, and Kyle Peterson would be Cal's leading scorer...
Racists get life sentences
Ahmaud Arbery's killers sentenced to life in prison
https://www.cnn.com/us/live-news/ahmaud-arbery-killing-mcmichael-bryan-sentencing/index.html
Two of the three got life correct? What did the 3rd get?
They all got life sentences. The dad and son that did the killing got no parole. The 3rd guy that took the video and drove the car to slow Ahmaud down so the other two could catch up got parole possible after I think 30 years. Supposedly he showed some remorse so the judge gave him a possibility of parole.
Thanks, the headline I quickly saw today said two got life sentences and didn’t mention the 3rd so I assumed he didn’t get life.
Cold comfort for a heinous crime.
Isn't that *always* the case?
No. Some murderers escape conviction and punishment.
SGB will be interested -
"To the casual eye, there was nothing amiss about the bottle of whiskey sitting on a shelf at Acker, a wine store on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. But for anyone who knew what to look for, the warning signs were clear.
The whiskey, a bourbon called Col. E.H. Taylor Four Grain that Acker was selling for about $1,000, normally came packaged in a special cardboard tube; this one sat there tubeless. Its strip stamp, attached over the top of the cork, was on backward.
Still, when a producer from the TV news program “Inside Edition” asked in April about the bottle’s authenticity, the store assured him it was legitimate."
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/06/dining/drinks/fake-bourbon.html?surface=icymi-home&fellback=false&req_id=856356568&algo=clicks_raw&variant=holdout_icymi_home&pool=pool/833b02ab-9307-44a7-b218-306ecf7adef0&imp_id=153280777
Looks really cool!
Sidney Poitier passes away at 94...he was good.
Betty White, Peter Bogdonovich and Sidney Poitier all within a week. Brutal.
Always seems to be in 3's....dagger.
94 . . . that's a good run.
Damn.
En-Ger-Lan
I just signed up to volunteer at an archeological dig on Hadiran's Wall at a Roman fort called Vindolanda in April. Hopefully, COVID will have mellowed out by then. Since my last visit to the UK, I've gotten hooked on a TV show called Time Team, an archeological show hosted by Baldrick from Blackadder.
THAT is awesome!!!!
that sounds amazing! When my family I were planning our spring break '20 trip the UK, I had penciled in a stop at the Birdoswald fort en route to Chester from Edinburgh. An offshoot of my fantasy searches for golden visa apartments in Portugal is learning that there are all sorts of interesting Roman ruins on the Iberian peninsula that I need to go look at....
Cool! I haven't been to Birdoswald yet, but Time Team did a show there. Worth a watch if you've got 45 minutes:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gY0kTN_5aOM
Chester is quite quaint, there is a cool castle nearby.
several cool castles as it turns out - we had loosely been thinking either Conwy or Caernarfon, depending weather and energy levels. My family lived in Wales for about 18 months in a village between Wrexham and Chester, so there were a couple things I kind of wanted to see that I dimly remembered from back in the day.
I grabbed my Book of Castles, and couldn't find Conwy - silly me, had to look in the Wales section. Does look quite impressive, in 1609 it was sold for 100 pounds
As I get older, I find that I love going to a country more than once. The first time is to be a tourist. The second time is just enjoy a place without feeling like I need to rush off to the must-see tourist spots. My trip through Wessex a few years back was one of my favorite trips that I've ever done. I want to go through Essex sometime this year because my kid wants to apply to a few universities in England. I also want to study a 12-month Cuisine course at Cordon Blue if SGB2.0 gets in. If I write it, I think it's more likely to happen.
How many places have you doubled or more? (not counting Taiwan or the Philippines work trips)
Thailand - close to 20
Japan - close to 20
Taiwan (leisure) - somewhere around 7-10
Singapore - 6 or 7
Malaysia - 3 times
South Korea - twice
Russia - twice
UK - Twice
How do you define Wessex? Hampshire and Wiltshire? Dorset? I absolutely love the West Country (Devon and Cornwall, in particular).
I personally wouldn't really recommend spending any time in Essex, but if you go just a wee bit north to East Anglia (Suffolk, Norfolk and Cambridgeshire) there's a lot of beautiful countryside and charming villages, along with a very nice coast.
Yay East Anglia! I have a ton of recommendations.
I think it is also quite interesting to visit multiple times to see how it changes. It is easier to see change in another country than at home. Diachronic perspective is easier to see
Related: I recently watched the movie Train to Busan and was like holy shit there is a train to Busan now! I used to take a shitty intercity bus like a punk
Wessex? There is no such place now. Too successful, it's just England. Kinda like Prussia.
Colin Firth in Shakespeare in Love was Lord Wessex....
Hiking
None for me, thanks.
I will note that I have been hiking with you, TBB.
Let's just put on our dresses and go get some cake.
Yessssss
I like cake...
Well put on your dress and join them...
How about WFCCakeHH after all this stuff is over. Not sure we'll be able to have WFCπHH this year
Oh it'll happen. As soon as i'm back, and double vaccinated.
If there's cake, I may not wear anything....dress, no dress...maybe just a pair of Oski socks and my Iheanyi Uwaezuoke jersey....
It’s good, lots of good spots in San Diego county.
I too enjoy hiking, but I also find it somewhat amusing when people put that on their resume. I feel like in the Bay Area that is kind of similar to saying you know how to use MS Word or some other tablestakes thing
I had a boss who moved here from NYC and was very unhappy that everyone she met considered hiking on a weekend to be a desirable activity.
Was just thinking in the shower last night about hiking the JMT in 2023.
You need to talk to Turkey.
ragnarok too - he hiked a giant portion and disappeared for like a month (digitally I mean)
With campus looking like a utopian cemetery, I might have to resort to going to Mt.Umunhum, which is a nice place when I went back in October.
same. any good trips planned?
Tuolumne Meadows to 50 would also be really cool. This was on the list for 2021, but then my friend had to rearrange, we ended up hiking in the Marbles and Trinity Alps instead. Might end up doing this hike this summer though. North Bound, you have to get permits super early, south bound you can get them like 4 days ahead and there is no quota.
DBD Not Financial Advice
DBD Test Kitchen
Had a newish dish last night: roasted harissa cauliflower with sauteed chickpeas and kale and pearl couscous on the side.
DBD AV Club
Just watched The Tender Bar, a George Clooney-directed ditty starring Ben Affleck and newly released on Amazon Prime.
Good movie. Poignant.
Late and hot take:
2018 The Grinch>>>>1966 How the Grinch Stole Christmas
1966 version lends itself to audio very well and my 6 year old had it on repeat this year. He was singing Trim up the Tree until just a few days ago.
WHAT?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!? BLASPHEMER!!! 👿
My 4 year old daughter pointed out how much meaner the Grinch is to Max in the 66 film compared to the 18 version and she is right. It is basically dog abuse. The 18 version sees the Grinch treat Max much more kindly and as a friend.
Also the 18 version has a more flushed out and fun story, that’s probably due to the longer ran time than the original. Lastly, the animation and voice actors are great.
Hmmmm... I will call off my demand for you to be burned at the stake, since I was unaware that this version even existed.
But OTOH, why is there a need to reprise perfection?
I agree that the 66 version is and always will be my favorite. I grew up with that one but the 2018 version is very good and it seems like a lot of people didn’t see it or know it exist. I wouldn’t know it existed if it were for my kids wanting to watch it.
same. love the OG
Finally got around to Ep 2 of the Book of Boba Fett. I like seeing characters from the animated series being brought to live action series. Though I don't remember the Pyke Syndicate looking like bloated fish without their helmets
I love Favreau and Filioni paying homage to all of Lucas' inspirations (and arguably better than ole George did himself)
Our Crumbling Democracy (Jan 6 edition)
We know who really calls the shots:
If you tried to script an interview that epitomized the GOP’s post-Jan. 6 evolution, its subjugation to its more extreme elements and its rewriting of its own narrative of the Capitol riot, you would struggle to do better than Sen. Ted Cruz’s interview with Tucker Carlson on Thursday night.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/01/06/ted-cruz-grovels-tucker-carlson-over-jan-6-terrorist-attack-remark/
When Cucker Tarlson embarrasses and cucks you on TV, it’s time to quite. How do “tough” and “manly” Texans keep electing Cruz?
Cruz had his wife called ugly by Trump and he did nothing. Trump claimed Cruz’s dad was part of the Oswalt assassination and he did nothing. He fled to Cancun during the Texas polar vortex deep freeze and blamed it on his daughters. Somehow Cruz thinks he will be President despite being the GQP punching bag.
Custom always lags technology. We obviously need some new gatekeepers for the current social media, user generated content age, as people are plainly too dumb and/or ill intentioned to take their obligations re voting seriously, and pols like Cruz are constitutionally incapable of doing anything but pandering to the lowest common denominator in order to get elected.
I totally agree with Yang - open primaries would help as it would reduce the stranglehold of influence held by the lunatic fringe. But given that the lunatic fringe is now basically the entire GOP electorate, I am not sure that is enough.
Repeal Section 230.
It's as simple as that. But Section 230 is the hill on which social media platforms are willing to die on. Because without Section 230, social media platforms would not exist.
I repeat - Repeal Section 230.
Agree but that is only one piece of the puzzle.
1) Repeal 230
2) Open primaries
3) President elected by popular vote
4) Some sort of national service requirement, can be civil not military
Even that is not enough tho I think. Shit is really fucked up. We are one election away from the government collapsing entirely and are too dumb and lazy to realize it.
this exactly correct, thank you, and yes 1 election away from collapse and it's scary as hell
This worries me and I hope the western state governors are preparing to form a new Western United States with Washington, Oregon, California, Colorado, New Mexico, Hawaii and southern (or all) Nevada, possibly Arizona.
Basically the Pac 12 and some of the MWC could form it’s own country.
WUSA! WUSA! WUSA!
Yes but I would also want to keep the Hoover Dam, Lake Mead and the Grand Canyon.
We would certainly be renaming the Hoover Dam and I wouldn’t be against painting it Blue and Gold.
I agree with all of this, especially number 4 as that would allow the government to basically make college “free” with a universal National Service college tuition fund similar to what the VA currently offers vets for college tuition assistance.
I tend to agree with this but I struggle with why the Dems and GQP, can’t seem to find a bipartisan way to do this. Is it just a public talking point by the Dems and GQP but in private they don’t want to repeal it?
It seems like the Dems want to stop misinformation on social media and the GQP want to stop deplatforming and worry about 1st Amendment infringement.
If it was repealed what are the potential positive and negatives?
If you really want to stop the spread of idiocracy and disinformation on social media you should charge to use their platforms.
"charge to use their platforms" is antithetical to the entire social media, data gathering, business model wherein the customer is the product being sold.
One positive of repealing Section 230 is that newspapers would thrive again. There's no going back to print as the primary distribution method, but the need to vet sources and verify information would severely limit social media's rumor-mongering aspect.
The liability for spreading false information, deliberately or negligently, would be too great.
Social media platforms are built upon the idea that a moment can go viral and drive traffic.
They were also built on the reality that a too small and too under-resourced, and sometimes either disinterested or agendavized themselves, media industry was not capable or nimble enough to keep up with current events. That trend has accelerated in the meantime. Its why WFC (for example) exists; to fill a void.
Unfortunately, as is usually the case, mis-use and abuse of new tools for personal agenda advancement has happened.
I have trouble accepting the scenario you describe as if the conditions in 1996 were immutable and that the internet would not have changed newspapers at all absent Section 230.
I think that proposition is nonsensical. Nothing stays the same; change is inevitable, sometimes in great waves.
Btw, the greatest irony of all this is that the MAGAs I know blather on about Covid being a Chinese bioweapon. But dude, Xi and Putin probably masturbate to images of January 6. That nonsense is the greatest gift we ever gave them - it delegitimizes democracy greatly, and therefore justifies their authoritarian rule, putting people in camps, executing journalists, yada yada
It's really stretching my Chinese language ability to explain things like the last four years. I just resort to "it's kind of chaotic. .. and not everyone likes Trump" and try to talk about the traffic instead.
FAFO: If you haven't been keeping up with the American Oversight vs. Cyber Ninjas case, it's delicious. Anyways, Oversight - a left-leaning watch group - sued Cyber Ninjas for freedom of information on their process. Cyber Ninjas went all the way to the AZ Supreme Court and appeals - losing each time. They have now been found in contempt with $50k fine PER DAY. So Cyber Ninjas now says they are insolvent with no employees and their AZ-based lawyer says he wants to quit because he's not getting paid (never mind getting spanked in a lost cause). The judge comes back and says bankruptcy cannot discharge this contempt and she is willing to fine it to individuals if needed. The fine starts tomorrow. Meanwhile, Cyber Ninjas other two lawyers cannot speak in court because they don't have an AZ law license.
https://news.yahoo.com/cyber-ninjas-company-led-arizona-025600651.html
I love this. Cyber Ninjas are such a joke. I noticed the GQP and their propaganda sites and TV have stopped talking about the Arizona audit and cyber ninjas.
Didn't seem like much noise was made about Jan 6th one way or the other. Just my opinion, I'd rather just not see people bring it up while getting justice done in the background, no one needs any more thrashing or glorification or something that was obvious as to what occurred.
just the dems embarrassing themselves with the cast of Hamilton singing
Why are they so bad at politics like this?
I think we are reaching peak LMM phase and starting to get LMM fatigue, at least I am.
They should have had a kids choir do the singing.
post. Honestly if he would stop putting himself in everything - he's usually the worst singer or actor in any project he does.
(But the Encanto songs are great - but so signature LMM. So many patterns that were Hamilton and Moana too)
Not making noise about Jan 6th is exactly what the GOP wants.
Well maybe not exactly what ALL the GOP wants.
Sorry, no. It must never be forgotten. Just like we stop to acknowledge the attacks on 9/11 or PH, this needs to be acknowledged every year.
Darrell Issa held Benghazi hearings for a year and that was simply a US Embassy that was attacked and he held Hillary Clinton at fault for not sending troops to help defend it. This is the GQP Benghazi times 1,000 and Trump didn’t send anyone to help despite the attack being the US Capitol and on US soil with troops near by.
Huh?
Today in Omicron
11 positive cases in 4 days at my kids’ roughly 450 student elementary school. Principal has been sending panicky emails asking parents to volunteer as subs or else she will have to combine some classes due to teacher illnesses. And the Cron Cron rolls on…
our county schools had announced that after any school hit the 5% of student population in quarantine, they'd consider switching to virtual school for 2 weeks for that school specifically.
That standard has now been dropped, and considering that like 80% of the schools were over 5% (and some were over 10!) by Wednesday, I think I can guess why. On the other hand, 3 snow days this week!
Omicron's transmissibility is throwing all the old case-related metrics out of whack. We need better metrics.
it's a bit late for that now, I'm afraid, we're just going to be muddling along
We are all feeling our way through the fog! Is that your arm I am grabbing or..?
For now, yeah. It's something to think about for future waves.
Pro
This just popped up on my youtube feed. How golf was invented.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fui7yvebIdk
forgot how funny RW can be just talking about normal stuff
TIL: They're restarting the USFL
https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/33008421/todd-haley-kevin-sumlin-mike-riley-bart-andrus-named-head-coaches-usfl
I’m sure it will go bust quickly, but I like new leagues. Increases innovation and keeps entrenched leagues on their toes
Also new team names, jerseys, logos, mascots and such are fun
I had no idea they were trying to resurrect the USFL until last night.
and Kevin Sumlin is the HC of the houston team.
Mike Riley is also a HC and Todd Haley.
I have never heard of Bart Andres
We had season tix for the old Oakland Invaders....Bobby Hebert...fun memories
Aaron Rodgers fires back at NFL MVP voter who refuses to vote for him: 'He's an absolute bum'
https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/aaron-rodgers-fires-back-at-nfl-mvp-voter-who-refuses-to-vote-for-him-hes-an-absolute-bum/
As he should. This holier-than-thou, BBWA HOF voter-type bullschitt is a joke.
Yes but it is a competitive advantage to have a higher vax rate among your players. Given his role as leader / captain, I dont think the off the field stuff is wholly irrelevant. I mean he got Covid and missed time right?
Vaccinated players got COVID & missed time, too, tho.
Again, I don’t agree with the Cole Beasley/Aaron Rodgers school of COVID thought, but his politics have nothing to do with his value to the team, which is immense…lots of players miss a game for injury…
Green Bay doesn’t even make the playoffs with Jordan Love, and it’s not incumbent upon some unknown, douchebag writer in a rival sports market to be arbiter of social justice.
That is fair, though I think Rodgers’ own mendacity estops him from being righteously indignant. At a minimum he should shut the fuck up and let his coach or a teammate make this argument.
Or maybe the writer should just shut the fuck up rather than trying to make the news himself by saying he won't vote for Rodgers because he's not vaccinated. Just report the news, Hub.
Rodgers is totally within his right to be indignant when asked about this guy.
Maybe, but he amplified it by responding. I dunno, I agree on the one hand that political / social concerns should not dictate an MVP vote (though there must be a point at which they do - say for example he murdered someone). OTOH the mere criticism of Rodgers apart from the voting thing is 100% justified
Oh, absolutely. And AR is absolutely a total dick - if McAfee had just asked him an hypothetical question about some random MVP voter having a problem with his candidacy bc of the tax status, I bet Rodgers would have been a little bit more diplomatic.
But Hub Arkush kind of cast the first stone by really unnecessarily voicing his own opinion...I'm not surprised a somewhat surly focker like Rodgers would be quick to answer when questioned on it....
Also he is a public figure, and profits handsomely from so being. That by its nature involves subjecting oneself to criticism
But this isn't criticism of his vaccination status....this is some clown saying he won't vote him as the League's Most Valuable Player bc of his vaccination status. One thing has nothing to do with the other.
A voter who admits beforehand that he won't vote for someone for a certain reason that has nothing to do with the game of football SHOULD lose their vote...which is what Rodgers is saying.
In my reading of the article, you've mischaracterized the statement from the writer. He didn't say he didn't vote for him because of his vax status but because he thinks Rodgers is a jerk and that he mislead the public about his vaccination status. Those are very different things and the latter ostensibly is about character and leadership, not just politics or orthodoxy. Not defending the writer, but I do think the nuance is important here.
Rodgers having Boomer Esaison leak that he is considering a Super Bowl boycott if some NFL covid rules arent changed is pretty silly though
Yah, THAT'S lame.
Raiders vs Chargers predictions
LETS GO RAIDERS
RRRRAAAAAAIIIIIIIDDDDDEEERRRSSSSS!
The Autumn Wind is a pirate...
Let’s go Chargers. I am rooting for Keenan Allen and Herbert.
that is not A COMMITMENT TO EXCELLENCE
Rumor is that Jim Harbaugh may leave Michigan to go the Raiders, and there's mutual interest. Anyone know if there's any real steam to this rumor or if this is a ploy by Harbaugh people squeeze more money out of Michigan?
Whatevs.
Not sure any coach matters in Las Vegas until they get a front office that can weed out the guys who can't resist the Sin City pitfalls.
Have read on multiple outlets that he’s definitely looking to get back to the NFL.
have also read he's using it as leverage to get a better deal from Michigan after having to make a ton of concessions after the 2020 season which he took a pay cut and was more or less forced to fire almost the entire defensive staff. Plus seeing Tucker get paid at MSU is fueling part of this
Tucker's contract is absolutely insane...chances are he'll be fired within 5 years.
Other College
Seeing USC UCLA also adopt the Furd policy of fans along with local high schools like Bellarmine San Jose and St.Francis Mtn View. Not a fan. Kids work too hard to get that community feeling taken away again. You already have to show proof of vaccination anyway, lets show some confidence to the public and those who are indecisive that these truly work.
Also not gonna lie being back on campus for winter quarter at Santa Clara...this place is as depressing as a morgue right now. Online classes optional through the end of the month, half the food options on campus are closed "due to COVID" (if you are getting COVID due a cafe in a science building there were bigger issues to begin with), half the students aren't even here, and basketball hasn't been played in weeks and I'm worried about fans in limbo with Gonzaga coming up on the 15th, especially with our first round of testing coming with with 124 positives (7.4%).
UCSC announcing that they're staying zoom until Jan 31. They say 5% positive rate, though I think it's probably much higher. Said if you haven't come back don't. So I think No 3 is going to be in the East Bay a while.
Is this really a good policy? Seems to me that people on a highly-vaccinated campus are actually safer than being out and about in their home communities.
Yeah, but from an administrative view, even if the students were safer, no students equals less risk and less management.
So it's CYA rather than serving the students. But it's justified by claims of safety. Yeesh.
Not that I agree with it, but that is probably what risk managers and underwriters are telling them.
My friends who teach are stressed about being in the classrooms and bringing COVID home. Faculty and staff need to be protected, too.
There are also students who would prefer remote learning: https://twitter.com/Joey__Schafer/status/1478988462879494144?s=20
Yes, it all sucks.
I know that people are afraid, but IMO if they are vaxxed/boosted and if like 90+% of the people around them in the workplace are too they don't have much to worry about. COVID is basically the flu at that point. That needs to be the message, if not now then very soon.
I'm sure there are SOME people who prefer remote learning, but I very much doubt it's the majority or that you get better educational results across the board from that.
the problem is that it isn't really the flu, it never has been. It's just reached the point where the immediate risks for the median population have dropped below the point at which people have priced risk into their day (e.g. driving the kids to school). After a certain point, leaving kids in school during an omicron surge is essentially making a policy decision to spread it... but nobody wants to say "I'm on board with writing off some unspecified portion of vulnerable populations, and accepting that we'll be replacing some of them with the people who take a hit from long COVID."
I don't know what the right answer is, I've just lost patience with absolutist policies and relitigating the same stupid decisions like nothing has changed.
To be clear: COVID-19 is not "the flu" in a general sense. It's obviously been something far more dangerous, on the whole. I am saying that in a 90% vaccinated population it basically is.
Vulnerable populations still exist, yes. Immunocompromised people are out there. They were before COVID and still will be after. Those people and people who interact with them should continue to take greater precautions. But it doesn't make sense for the rest of society to keep up additional restrictions solely on their behalf.
Maybe that will sound callous to some people, but I don't see any way to end the "emergency" measures without acknowledging that truth. The elderly, immunocompromised, and infants will always be at greater risk from all the diseases floating around out there. But we don't shut down schools and businesses because of that.
also I feel I should be clear, I'm not accusing you of being history's greatest monster or anything, I don't think I'd have approached interventions the same way as you're thinking about it, but we're past that now in any case.
at this point it's just a logistics question: schools are going to shut, and it's going to be because there won't be enough adults to keep them open. I'm writing this from an extremely blue and affluent county where that, in practice, will be the only reason schools close. As Father P used to say in high school, not to decide is to decided: we've already effectively given up on vulnerable populations and we're going to have negative secondary affects from predominantly unvaccinated patients absorbing critical care resources. We're basically at the point where it's just riding out this wave and however many more before the disease becomes truly endemic, and the best of luck to us all.
UCSD staying remote until the 31st too
And yet Cal doesn't want to go remote at all, yet.
SHUTDOWN OUTDOOR FOOTBALL BUT NOT INDOOR CLASSES
WHERE IS THE COB WHEN WE NEED THEM?!?!
I DON'T KNOW WHAT WE'RE YELLING ABOUT
https://giphy.com/clips/hamlet-debate-argue-out-of-the-loop-QNvOkY2y4bU212laQw
Cal
Go Bears!!!
Cal runs out of steam at the end against a talented USC Trojans squad. I'm really questioning Kuany's fit everywhere because he does nothing on offense, which you can't have with Joel Brown already out there. If you want someone who does what Kuany does with offensive skill I present to you....Sam Alajiki (I get he wasn't available yesterday).
Also Drew Peterson has a very punchable face that reminds me of the Furd of high schools, St.Ignatius of SF.
Now just imagine if Joel Brown had any semblance of an offensive game in him...he'd be like Davion Mitchell man....
Agreed. I think Kuany has incredible upside, but just started playing basketball too late to be able to maximize production at the collegiate level, despite the physical gifts...he’s long, quick, and can handle the ball...he’s more of a stretch 4 than Grant, but there he is, playing on the wing. Would love to see him down low on the block, with his back to the basket...see what happens.
There is clear progress this year, though...they are a better team without Bradley...but there are too many players in the rotation that really don’t give you much.
As for Joel, totally...if he could consistently finish at the rim and develop a little pull-up jumper, he’d be lights out. But along with Kuany, Lars & Hyder, that’s 4 guys in the rotation that are net-negatives scoring the ball on O...tough to take the next step with that.
This Cal team moves the ball pretty well and gets decent looks. They don't necessarily have the shooters to be a top-half Pac-12 team, but they're definitely more competitive than what people expected going into the season. They're getting to be a pretty tough out, especially at home. Last season was just a covid year washout - don't give it another thought. Fox is a high-floor coach, after all. (Not sure about the ceiling yet.)
Ceiling depends on recruiting, if Fox had the players USC had, I think we win easily.
Hell, I'd settle for just 1 of the players SC has...Mobley is a lottery pick, Boogie Ellis is a 1st rounder, Goodwin will get drafted, and Kyle Peterson would be Cal's leading scorer...
That SC team is a serious Final 4 contender.