- A small correction to my half-baked meaningless babble about the jack Smith report yesterday: It has been pointed out to me that even if the concerige judge Cannon gets overturned, it will be appealed to SCOTUS, where Concierge Justice Thomas will accommodate them. So, if you’re asking the overall question “Did the insurrection work?’ the answer is yes. Yes, it did.
- The more I think about it, the more I believe that while we should be afraid of what happens when these people in power have no guardrails, it might be the best thing to happen to our society in the long term. This came to me when I saw a post by Nancy Mace, AI’d to look like a knight in armor in front of a ladies’ room door. She also felt free enough to call people on the left dumbasses, which is usually something left for the rabble to do. Watch this space.
- Re: Meta. I’m torn about what to do with my Meta accounts. Some people in my life I can only contact through Meta, so I need to keep the account. I rarely use it for posting anymore, so he’s not getting money or clicks from me. I think I can remove the Instagram/Threads accounts on principle. I was concerned about where to post photos to share, Glass (paid) or Pixelfed (Fediverse), but I’m forgetting First Principles here. I have a place to share my photos: MY place.
- A little PSA from my day job: Here’s a hypothetical: If you call the bank on behalf of your elderly parents or in-laws, and we can’t get permission from them, we can’t talk to you. Also, you can’t DO anything. In most cases like that, the bank would need a Power of Attorney. So, don’t turn around after the bank tells you that and try to make a withdrawal online on, say, a day when you think no one is paying attention. We’re paying attention, and you just got the account frozen. No withdrawal for you. We need the POA. Period. Thanks for playing.
Tag: SCOTUS
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Tuesday, November 1st, 2022
• Back in the deep, dark 1980s, there was a shop at Pembroke Mall called A Bit of England. This was the place you went to find chessboards and darts accessories, and most importantly, role-playing games stuff. It was in that store I found my two favorite games, Shadowrun and Paranoia. Pembroke Mall has gone through a cubic shitload of changes in the ensuing years, and Bit of England got the shit end of the stick. Eventually, they got evicted from the Mall because getting knocked down to build a senior living community. If you consider that the demographic that still goes to a Mall is my age, it was already a senior living community.
I ran some errands and found the store’s new location. I had to walk in. It was just how I remembered it. I ended up walking out with a set of RPG dice on impulse. I haven’t played in years. Call it a memento, I guess. I’ll put them on my ‘shelf of the ego’ and look at them now and then. Nice to walk in the past for a moment.
I’m not a person who chooses to walk in the past for very long. Like a lot of people, I didn’t have a particularly nice childhood. I have parts of the backstory that I love of course; I will talk your ears off about Guantanamo Bay in the early 80s. There was something special about that place, and I loved living there. But the common thread of my backstory is how often I was left to my own devices. I understand that’s common among my generation, but I don’t wear it like a badge of honor like some creators do on TikTok. I’m Gen X, and as we like to say, “Whatever.”
• I see the former guy appealed to SCOTUS in another attempt to keep the House from seeing his tax records. I don’t know why you’re even trying at this point. If trends are accurate, the House is going to flip Republican, and that’s it. That effectively means Trump is going to get away with a lot of stuff he should be going to jail for, because our justice system grinds ever so slowly for people in that rarified air. You and I would be well into our first year in Federal lockup. Of course, once the former guy announces he’s running for President again, all investigation is going to halt. He’s counting on that, and he’s counting on heading back to the WH so that he can’t be touched for another four years. We should have arrested him when you had the chance. We’re all kinds of fucked.
• A serious question: What is the objective reality that we agree exists? I’m afraid it got drowned in a bathtub somewhere. Not to delve too far into Ayn Rand, but one of the central tenets of Objectivism is that A is A, or a chair is a chair. I honestly believe that we have somehow split off into two groups, one that believes in an objective reality that can be observed, and one that believes what they are told is reality. Maybe it’s been this way for a long time, but this darkest timeline we’re living in has brought it into a sharper focus for me. I don’t know how else to explain it other than to say when presented with a demonstrable fact, there is a group of us here in [American] society that can deny its existence based on [insert bullshit here]. How do we resolve that? Can we resolve that?
• Finally, the first bonus pod dropped into the Patreon Feed today if you’re so inclined. First ep of the main show will be this weekend. LFG, as the youngs say.