gbear

Jeez...he can't have done all of that...I mean Snyder has to have done some of that right? I mean save some hate material.🤪

Like this never happens at my house...and we have a cool cat tower upstairs too. The one down stairs is 15 ft from the box on the table, but he spends 5x as much time in the little box.

Good luck LSF. Random question relating to while we were in Arkansas, my family found an iphone 11, and I want to know if there is a way to identify to whom the phone belongs. I would be pretty upset if we lost an iphone 11. Unfortunately, it is locked, and all attempts to unlock it have been used. The resort we were staying at said nobody had reported a missing phone. We tried the emergency unlock, but they didn't have any emergency numbers or contacts in it. We took out the sim card, and found out it is a Verizon phone. So I called Verizon and asked if they could ID the owner of the sim card or pass along my contact number to the owner of the sim card for them to call. They said for privacy reasons they can't do either of those. They said try our local police. I did, and they said there was nothing they can do to identify the owner. However, they will take the phone from us if we want them to do so. If we put the sim car in one of our phones, will we be able to see the contacts on it after logging in on our phone or will we lose the ability to just put our sim card back in after we get the contact info? I have to admit I don't understand why they haven't tried to call it or use the "lost my phone" that comes with iphones. The phone is in good shape and charges up normally, but was dead when we found it in the woods. I figure they must have given up on it. Finally, if there is no way to find owner of the phone, can we use one of the unlock aps to reset it and use it? I don't want to do that until we make a good faith effort to find its owner. That would seem too close to theft which is the last thing we want to teach our kids. Morals are worth more than an iphone 11.

I don't want to jinx things so I am knocking on wood as I note this: On 538 poll of polls, the Dems' odds of holding in the Senate and Congress have been trending upwards for awhile now. Granted, it is still only a 1 in 5 for Congress, but it was worse as recently at the middle of June when Rep had an 88 percent chance to take the majority. Further, they are favored in for the Senate now.

I hope so too. I know many in MD were trying to extend it. We got it through rhw summer, but I dont know what happens next month.

I am surprised the required secrecy of the documents isn't more. Simply having to stop talkibg about it when somebody else enters wh doesnt have a need to know and permissions seems too easy. That is what we do with business information at Commerce. I am surprised anyone without clearance and permissions would even be allowed around people working with that information.

I guess the "I declassified everything" defense is off the table then.

While in Arkansas for the past few weeks, the issue of planted evidence came up. I told them I had to laugh every time that came up as a defense. I told them every time I hear it I think of Marion Barry and "the **** set me up!" I told them not to worry overly much and to think about the trial Marion Barry had where he was only convicted of one thing, and eventually he even became mayor again. I then directed them to the Wiki page because in AK, they didn't grow up with the legion of Barry supporters whose opinion of him didn't allow conviction even when evidence was overwhelming. I said Trump is their Marion Barry test for ability to see facts of misdeeds presented in overwhelming fashion, only on a national stage. I told them I hope the nation does a better job than his jury did. " "**** set me up...I shouldn't have come up here...goddamn ****".[54] Barry was charged with three felony counts of perjury, 10 counts of drug possession, and one misdemeanor count of conspiracy to possess cocaine, even though the cocaine belonged to the government informant. The criminal trial ended in August 1990 with a conviction for only one possession incident, which had occurred in November 1989, and an acquittal on another. The jury deadlocked on the remaining charges. Six or seven jurors (of whom two were white and the rest black) believed that the evidence against Barry was overwhelming and that he had displayed "arrogance" during the trial. Against these, five black jurors were convinced that the prosecution had falsified evidence and testimony as part of a racist conspiracy against Barry, and even disputed factual findings that had not been contested in court.[55][56] After scolding the jurors for not following his instructions, presiding judge Thomas Penfield Jackson declared a mistrial on the remaining charges,"

A few weeks ago, I finished Colson Whitehead's, The Underground Railroad, and I really enjoyed it. Now i am back to listening to James Corey's, The Expanse series. I am currently on Abaddon's Gate, and I enjoy the thoughtful Sci-fi action series.

I often disagree with your policy preferences, but I always thought you are a a reasonably thoughtful poster. Don't stop. Labels are just things we use so we can stop thinking about positions or people. Lately, I have tried to distance myself from being a "liberal" or a "conservative", a "Dem" or a "Rep." I still find myself supporting more liberal ideals, but I am open to more Republicans. For example, I voted for Hogan the first time around. I didn't the second time because there are some areas I wanted changed, like census reapportionment, to allow more of the ideals I support to become law. Still, I just spent two weeks in Arkansas, and I bet they all thought I was the liberal from D.C., especially when I talked about healthcare. I may have a few of them over though when talking about what they should do and need to do (many of them help run or own a pharmacy)...maybe...right up until I told them I thought the whole Pro Life movement needs to put its dollars and time where its mouth is. I told them they need to start fostering and adoption many more if they want the mothers who would abort to give birth and "just put the kid up for adoption." Still, it was a family reunion, and I had my four adopted children with me, so they could see I did put my money and time where my mouth is on that issue when I told them I was pro choice until the families with the kids (adopted or raised) can get the support they need... but in the end, I think I was still the liberal from D.C., no matter how well intentioned and devoted to my family...which has included them for the past 18 years.

I note the expected revenue in the bill may not come from the tax on buy backs if there is a change in behavior. However, there is also a part of the bill funding the IRS which has seen nothing but cuts recently. There is also the expectation more audits will result in more tax dollars from mistakes caught. I would bet on increases in tax revenue in coming years, but they had no way to model that increase in revenue. So, I believe that was left out of the CBO report

LD, I am with you on the need to be outspoken. I have spent a week with my in-laws family at a big family retreat in Arkansas. It was fun explaining to little kids how they are related to my four kids (3 Black and one El Salvadorian). I love how they all just accept my dress/skirt wearing R (name with held sort of). R is just R. As little kids they get it and don't need the labels we adults seem to need. I do think my kids might be the majority of non-White people at the resort. I haven't seen any other minorities, and I think it is great to at least let people put faces and memories and relationships to counter some stereo types they will hear in their lives.

I am the lone hold out from apple in my family. I just don't want to pay for everything under the sun. I like my android phone being able to load what ever app, ringtone, etc. I got questioned at our family reunion where I got starwars ringtones and alert sounds and how much I paid for them. The answer is zero because I don't have an apple phone. My phone is 3 year old and the pictures I take with it are still nearly as good as my wife's new iphone turns out. My biggest grype with my g7thinq is that it is not a 5g phone.

I keep looking at Manchin and thinking he looks like Joe Theisman. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Theismann

My Catholic school bus had a pro choice bumper sticker on it. The priest who drove it said, "It is my job to teach you not to put yourself in a position to need an abortion. It is not the government's job to mandate thou shalt not do so."

So, do the children have the legal rights to be heirs to their dead father's estate? Can the the dead father's estate be forced to pay child support?

As I read David and Goliath, there is a part in it where the author describes Britain prior to getting bombed by the Germans. Everyone, including the British, thought it would be a disaster leading population to panic. They built mental hospitals and prepared for psychological devastation about their inability to stop the Germans from bombing them. Night one went pretty much as expected w roughly 40k dead and lots more injured, but very little panic. You see, there were roughly 8 million people in London. Most werent amongst the injured. The dead dont panic. Night after night, most of London wasnt directly impacted. It bread a sense of societal invincibility. The panic never happened because there was no singular incident which impacted enough of the population. I wonder if Russia isnt making the same mistake in Ukraine. Yes, the combined impact is ruining cities, much like London was in WW II. However the survival breeds a sense on invinsibility which is much harder to overcome.

I know my oldest son wants/wanted to serve in the military. However, he uses ADD medication which I believe rules that career out for him. It's a shame because I suspect he would benefit from the rigid life, and he would have a lot to offer. Physical fitness wouldn't be an issue, but alas, I don't think it is in the cards for him.

I've thought about this question many times through the years. I want to say not much in my life would change. Knowing somebody whose parents really did win a big lottery about ten years ago, I have always liked what they did. They found a nice street in a new development, and they had three houses built. One was for them, and the others were for their two kids and their families. They bought new cars but nothing flashy. They paid off their kids' student loans, and now they live their normal pre-lottery lives if having to work much less. Their spending habits after that initial set up haven't changed much, and they are happy. I think about the study where half of lottery winners are bankrupt in 10 years. I think sports stars have similar problems unless they get a good money manager. I try to tell myself my goal as a teenager was to make enough money that money would never be the major reason I did or did not do something I really wanted to do. I defined being rich as living in a house where traveling and staying in a hotel was never as comfortable as my home. I also thought a family income of 100k a year was rich too (view from a teenager in the 80's and 90's have changed as a father of 4 in the D.C, area now). Still, having hit those wealth goals, I am not sure how much I would change my life. I might quit my job to become a full time patient advocate or lobby for healthcare changes, but that is about it.

My gracious, you sound like me when it came to the Wire. I tried to convince my wife to watch the show for years...like when the show was still airing new episodes. SHe always politely refused. Then a couple of years ago, her friend was visiting and told her she should try the Wire...she did and over the next month watched the whole series. Afterwards, she was like, "The Wire is one of the best series ever!" I just reminded her somebody else in the house said that more than a decade ago...

I was a patient advocate for the American Board of Internal Medicine for five years (the maximum allowed tenure). As such I am still on their mailing list as they roll out new programs and continuing education initiatives. The one they rolled out recently struck me as one of my kids has shown some trans signals. He is six, and we will support him regardless (still using he for the time being). I was just happy to see them pushing for more awareness from the medical profession when trans people often don't feel comfortable going to a doctor or feel recognized for who they are when they go. The round table they had included some stats worse than I thought going into the presentation. 40% try to commit suicide. The perceptions of how doctors treat them are worse for Black patients (many studies about this and not just for trans). Still if ever there was a topic a doctor who got a medical degree 20 or 30 years ago might need an update on, I thought this was spot on. If you are interested, here is the link for the round table discussion (probably skip the first few min of intro and saying who is who).

I have little faith in the OL going into the season. It seems like we are basing our expectations on how they were last year. However, 3/5 of the starters are likely to be different or out at the beginning of the year. Then I think about how much of the OL play relies on familiarity with what the person next to you is going to do in any given situation. I just see the OL as real potential weak spot on this team at the beginning of the season. This then tempers my expectations for any unit on O because they all require time and space created by the OL. On D, I think our DL is probably our best bet, but even them I question. Our two stud DE are coming back from season ending injuries. Having had serious leg injuries, it seems optimistic to me to expect them to come back at an elite level. It takes time before your body trusts the injured parts to perform as they should. It's why a lot of knee injuries really show a jump in play from 1 year out to 2 years out. The trust where one does rather than thinks then does jus takes time. Sadly, that moments hesitation can also increase the risks of further injuries. I am just in a "show me" position on our DE. That puts more pressure on our back end of the D. Sadly, I am not overly confident in any position on our D being a strength going into the season. I guess by default that leaves me with special teams. Our punter is good, and our kickers at the end of the season seemed capable. I would hope we could have a reliable special teams unit. It's just hard to get excited for them.

Is Tucker Carson complaining about lowering prices? Did Fox not just run stories complaining about inflation? A guy could get whiplash trying to figure our with what they would be happy.

There is an additional benefit for the U.S. in our being a global reserve currency. When the government spends more money than we take in through taxes, they are barrowing money from somewhere or creating money with a click on a key board. If they are creating it with a click, people worry it will drive the value of existing money down (greater supply with same demand should drive the price of dollars down). Alternatively, if we barrow the money, they has to be somebody who wants us to owe them dollars. The amount of dollars out in the world to the number of governments who use it as a reserve means the number of countries who want our dollar to maintain its value is large. There is an old economist joke about when the bank lends you 100k, it owns you. However, when the bank lends you 100 billion, you own the bank. To a large extent, there are already a number of countries who can not have the value of the dollar go down too far without it killing their savings. The ability of our government to spend its way out of recessions/create a softer landing for us is a luxury we have because it is in nobody's interest for our currency to plummet in value. Thus, they will still try to trade it for a relatively stable value. As long as we are thought more stable than other currencies, we will keep this advantage, and we will likely maintain our status as the richest country in the history of the world.

He looked to be a bit too close for that shot...