My quarterly goals are meant to be

• Specific
• Goal oriented

And specifically should not be

• Vague
• Passive

Looking at recent decisions, it's going to go badly for those of us who believe in the anti-establishment clause.

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Congress shall make no law, this actually could be interpreted quite literally by the courts that it is perfectly acceptable for a state to not only establish a religion but to criminalize other beliefs.

I think this would be a 5-4 decision with SCOTUS. I think Barrett would be against it, because she is Catholic and would see that her beliefs may not be the ones promoted. Kavanaugh and Roberts could be a toss up.

They must like fish sticks.

How about Genocidal GOP or Genocidal 45

Language and words have great power. Walking around attaching the word genocide to a man who has at worse not done enough in a very complex situation will cause great harm to the electorate. You may be propping up the uncommitted vote, but not everyone will understand that, many may just see the genocide and not vote for Biden ever or worse vote for the orange idiot.

Meanwhile you have politicians who will kill Americans with their policies. And you have a potential future president who would put boots on the ground in Gaza and do just about whatever they could to see Ukraine returned to Russia.

Words have power. A simple phrase will stick more than the meaning behind it. There is a reason crooked Hilary worked so well, and no one can tell you why she might be crooked beyond her emails and Benghazi. Even then they only know those words, they don't know the meaning behind them. We need all of the votes we can get in November.

I recently went in for the snip because I'm in a state that wants to keep rolling back rights and already have a pretty awesome kid. My area also has a population of people who I don't quite understand that were definitely judging me for my choice.

I went to a highly rated urologist office that was a part of my insurance plan, though the procedure isn't covered, other aspects like the initial consultation were. The first receptionist I talked with quickly changed her tone toward me when I said I wanted a vasectomy and made a big deal about not being sure my insurance was accepted. She said she would call me back by EOD after she checked my insurance. This was midmorning on a Thursday. I never heard back. I called back a week or so later, different receptionist. She put me on hold for a few minutes to verify my insurance plan and we set an appointment for the consultation.

On the day of the consultation, the nurse who showed me to the exam room visibly changed her demeanor as soon as I stated why I was there. Thankfully the doctor was all business and the nurses assisting spring the procedure a few weeks later were professional and kind.

There are definitely some medical professionals out there who want to put their own beliefs over those of their patients. I didn't think it was as prevalent as it likely is.

They don't care if he did. I'd argue most of his supporters in the party (Mike Johnson for example) know that he is a horrible person but will support him because he has energized a dormant portion of the voting population that can help them to gain and hold power. Trump himself isn't even that bad, he's a useful idiot who gives immense power to far right organizations like the heritage foundation.

I really wish media outlets would stop framing this as "Trump harmed by person who doesn't like Trump"

The title should be

"Trump's attempt to subvert the law thwarted by the savvy prosecution team"

His plan is to avoid securing one or more bonds with his assets and instead attempt to fool the court into believing that it's absolutely impossible. The plan is not genuine and is really just another attempt at fraud.

Don't punish the taxpayer, punish the troll.

Requiring a government agency to pay a penalty will only ensure the agency will work with less efficiency. In turn, ineffective agencies are further criticized and will become a target for privatization, which only ever serves special interests and those with means.

Put an end to this one and for all. Pass a law that requires any entity which files suit on the basis of being a parent holder must show that they use the patent to earn income from sales that are proven to be independent from them and their officers. If the suit is only being filed for easy money, they should be fined heavily.

The ban on bump stocks was implemented using the Firearms' Owners Protection Act of 1986. Which was signed into law by Reagan (funny how a failed assassination will change things).

The text at issue is

SEC. 109. AMENDMENT OF NATIONAL FIREARMS ACT. (a) Section 58450)) of the National Firearms Act (26 U.S.C. 5845(b)) is amended by striking out "any combination of parts designed and intended for use in converting a weapon into a machinegun," and inserting in lieu thereof "any part designed and intended solely and exclusively, or combination of parts designed and intended, for use in converting a weapon into a machinegun,"

IMO the majority in this decision is choosing to blatantly ignore the text of the act which was clearly chosen to future-proof for any advancement which would result in an effortless high rate of fire such as bump stock and super safety. Instead they are insisting that Congress must amend the law to include specific parts which of course is a losing battle as there will always be a new part that achieves an effortless high rate of fire.

Now where one could argue that this ruling is correct is the accepted definition of a machinegun requires a single trigger action.

26 U.S.C. § 5845(b)

Any weapon which shoots, is designed to shoot, or can be readily restored to shoot, automatically more than one shot without manual reloading, by a single function of the trigger

Personally I think the laws should be amended to define weapons and munitions by their result (high or continuous rate of fire) instead of their form or function. As it stands, someone could create a weapon that simply fires continuously but does not resemble a gun in any other way. Would such a weapon be a machinegun if it doesn't even have a trigger?

I think the dissenting opinion was more inline with the intent of FOPA.

This woman has done so much work for many people who worked on the campaign. She has spent her own resources to get the NDAs that her and others signed declared non binding, or whatever the legal term is.

I'm not a fan of Trump supporters, but telling them to pound sand because they supported him at some point but have seen the errors in their ways will do us no favors.

Check out some of her work and her story

Her story

Drumpf can't even hold a glass of water, I'm supposed to believe her can hold anything to smoke out of? He'd probably put the lit end of a blunt in his mouth and bite.

I remember getting it from Coca-Cola about that time. Even packed it with a logo.

If that has happened, I doubt we would have a president Biden or an upcoming election.

Fine these mother fuckers! We need legislation to limit income disparity between insiders and grunts. It needs to work on total compensation and include contract workers. Any insider making more than 15x the average or median income should have to pay 50% of the difference and that fine should increase every year it's not corrected.

Even with the responses I don't get it.

Maybe a less creative penis then what I learned on IRC

"I am reporting this call to the FTC."

donotcall.gov

If you want, you can also attempt to get a callback number and company name, state they are registered in before telling them you are reporting the call.

The more info you can report the better.

You mean the judgement that he has to start paying this week? The one which I'm pretty sure he hasn't even filled a boneless appeal in.

Not to mention he already posted the 5M+ bond to appeal the other Carroll defamation ruling. If he's too rich to have to secure his judgement, why'd he do that?

This waste gets up and complains about the 2 tiered justice system and says he's a victim of it, yet he's trying to create a tier just for himself.

The impossible needs to happen. We need constitutional amendments to further define and protect our democracy. But that would require those in power to be willing to close the gaps to limit individuals and party power, and I think very few in state houses (states have to ratify amendments) or Congress want to do that. It's like the poor man who wants to protect the rich man's wealth from taxes because someday he will be rich too.

I think this is my favorite dig on it

Trump’s Truth Social reportedly owes over $1 million in backdated payments (August 29, 2022)

Donald Trump's Truth Social has lost $23 million this year. Its accountants warn it may not survive. (November 14, 2023)

Luckily they don't have access to those. I'm not even sure the judge did. I think only the Marshalls and the clerk of courts. Otherwise they are completely sealed.

Judge Kaplan said Trump will face an anonymous nine-person jury, with the names, addresses and places of employment of prospective jurors kept secret, saying he found "strong reason" to provide special protections for jurors at the civil trial.

https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-e-jean-carroll-trial-judge-jury-1861347

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/25/nyregion/trumps-defamation-trial-carroll-jury.html

Kaplan also did this on the first Carroll case he presided over, for which this case was held to determine damages.

https://www.ncsc.org/newsroom/jure/2023/mar-31

https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/23721313-kaplan-ruling-in-carroll-v-trump-jury

They pretend like a 100% tax free nation is a possibility.

They know this isn't possible. They want no income tax for the wealthy and increased taxes on goods and services, which will mostly affect the working masses.

I will now learn to speak this word fluently and use it often to announce my farts.

Excuse me, I must retire to the veranda to tune my bumbulum.

“It depends on what the meaning of the word ‘is’ is.”

Can we get an uno reverse on this?

Any federally elected politician who does not school acknowledge the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and that that crisis is the direct result of actions taken by the Israeli government should also serve 6mo service in Gaza.

E: a word

Original plans to allow licensed shops and pharmacies to sell cannabis have been scrapped over EU concerns that this could lead to a surge in drug exports.

Instead, non-commercial members' clubs, dubbed "cannabis social clubs", will grow and distribute a limited amount of the drug. Each club will have an upper limit of 500 members, consuming cannabis onsite will not be allowed, and membership will only be available to German residents. Growing your own cannabis will also be permitted, with up to three marijuana plants allowed per household. This means that Germany could be in the paradoxical position of allowing possession of rather large amounts of the drug, while at the same time making it difficult to purchase.

Those over 18 can possess 25g and 50g can be held in private residences.

I think Florida is in the way.

Gemini doesn't work like Google assistant.

It doesn't seem to be able to actually take actions.

Things I used to do with assistant that do not work with Gemini

• play something
• Play "song title"
• Play artist

I don't know about other things like seeing timers or running routines, I shut off Gemini as soon as I realized it couldn't handle my most used requests.

If they would have assassinated Pence on J6, before the certification, someone else would have stepped in, most likely Grassley. He would have accepted the alternate slate of electors and Biden would not be president.

That is a chill-inducing phrase.

FYI PBS gets very little from public funding.

Tiny hands, tiny tongue. He barely noticed it.

Magic smoke.

Can't convince me otherwise. Anyone that disagrees is a dirty communist.

They finally found their useful idiot who was capable of energizing a portion of the population who previously didn't believe voting was important.

The majority of the GOP in office will continue to bend the knee to anyone they view to have the same power. And I fear eventually we will see the same action taken on the left.

Power is the most addictive drug.

I always thought Google Glass looked pretty sleek. Much better than having a full VR set on your face. You had a full field of vision, just a small HUD.

I hope you're correct in your analysis.

To me the argument was leaning more into the idea that it would be a violation of Stinky's rights to prevent him from being in the ballot. I think it's nuts to say, allow a traitor to run and be elected, then they can attempt to have their disability removed by Congress.

If they rule to overturn Colorado's decision, they will have essentially nullified section 3.

I don't think the reconstructionists ever imagined that a large number of people would look at someone who pointed a cannon at the Constitution and say that person should definitely hold office. If section 3 is not self-executing I struggle to see how it could be effectively used in any scenario.

Also super soakers are way too conspicuous. Animal urine in a dollar store squirt gun is perfect. Animal urine actually requires less fluid to be effective.

No but I did buy a pill from a pop-up ad.

As a male who just got snipped after 1 kid and still with her mother. My friends were asking me about if I found myself single and ended up with someone younger who wanted kids. I was actually shocked that was why they didn't want to do it. We're all in our 40s and have kids. Personally I have a hard time relating with women who are much younger and would be unlikely to get involved with someone who did want more kids. More importantly, I plan for a future with my partner, not some scenario where I end up single.

2018 Subaru Forester

It might be a bit more updated than most, but in general less smart than most cars today.

• Still have to press a button on the key to unlock the doors, or use the convenient key.
• Need to put the key into the ignition to start.
• Doors do not automatically lock out unlock.
• Manual parking break.
• Rear door is 100% manual (if you didn't count un/lock with key fob).
• Basic Bluetooth functionality.
• Equipped with OnStar, and Sirius.
• Shipped with 3G cellular, which no longer works. They do offer a free upgrade, I never bothered.

By my own assessment, it's the dumbest modern car you can get.