That’s four of them. I rather think Carter was a good human being, regardless of whether or not you think he was a good president.

No shit! I’d worry I’d be drinking polonium tea, get chopped up with a bone-saw and then buried on a golf course for a tax break.

Hydrogen peroxide is not the same as bottled water. Water is H₂O. Hydrogen Peroxide is H₂O₂. Don’t drink it.

Because, for the last four or five decades, the wealthy in America have used assorted media to foment never ending religious, economic, and racial culture wars between different elements of the middle and lower classes. That constant state of conflict keeps the American people from ever being able to unite and accomplish anything at all.

You’re just trying to stir shit up for no reason.

They are stirring shit up to, I assume, advocate for change.

Nukes and earthquakes look very different on a seismometer.

Firstly, the waveforms look very different. While an earthquake generates strong S-Waves, the seismograms of underground nuclear test lack most of these waves. Instead, the P- (or primary or pressure) waves dominate the seismogram from the detonation of an atomic bomb below ground (see figure 1).

A second way to distinguish between the origins of the elastic waves is to analyze the data collected by many stations in what is known as a “Moment Tensor Solution.” By performing this computation, seismologists trace the elastic waves back to their origin. That not only pinpoints the precise location of the focus, it also shows the mechanism of the forces initially shaking the rocks. During an earthquake, rock breaks in a shear fracture, which results in the rapid sideways movement of two flanks of a fault. In an explosion, however, the origin is indeed a point, from which elastic pressure waves travel concentrically outward.

If they used a nuke, they would not be able to keep it a secret.

Why were they not already avoiding it? This isn’t the first time that a passenger plane was shot down flying in or near a war zone. Hell, it’s not even the first time Russia shot one down over Ukraine. Commercial flights really should stay away from war zones.

Depends what you like. I’ve been enjoying Space Pirate Trainer and Gun Club VR. Single player FPS types where you shoot down waves of attackers. Hands down favorite, though, is Half-Life: Alyx. Great story, very immersive, and the use of VR is top notch.

He can’t blanket pardon people.

Where did you get that idea? It’s been done before. In 1977 for example, President Carter, issued a blanket pardon to everyone who dodged the draft during the Vietnam war.

There are, in fact, very few limitations on the power of the pardon.

This ProPublica article is good reading. It discusses a company used by many insurers, including UHC, to deny claims using AI. The name of the company is EviCore. I suppose the “Evi” is supposed to be short for “evidence” but I think it is pretty clear that it’s just short for “evil.”

Your quote is included in this Financial Times piece (archived version) but it’s immediately followed sorry, preceded by my favorite. And by favorite, I mean one of the most vile things I’ve ever heard.

One former Cigna executive recalled how the US health insurer used to frequently face threats when claims were denied. “We’d have times when you’d deny proton laser therapy for a kid with seizures and the parent would freak out,” said the former executive.

Proton Laser Therapy is used to precisely kill tumors. You know, like tumors in a brain that are causing seizures. How dare those parents “freak out” just because you are refusing to cover their child’s cancer treatment? These fuckers are completely out of touch. They honestly think they have the moral high-ground letting kids die in order to increase shareholder value. I now really understand why the guillotine was invented.

They don’t hate the idea of concentration camps. In fact, they like them if they’re for the people they’ve been trained to hate.

A bipartisan group of 12 senators has urged the Transportation Security Administration’s inspector general to investigate the agency’s use of facial recognition, saying it poses a significant threat to privacy and civil liberties.

To which the TSA probably said, “Well, duh!”

“Bwahahaha!” - UK MPs probably.

Not one they love or, I imagine, that loves them.

I’m rapidly coming to the conclusion that people who cannot be bothered to vote shouldn’t really count.

Not how it works. Gestures, like words, have a meaning. Even in the USA, saying certain words in certain ways can get you arrested; harassment, threats, etc. This gesture is meant to convey threat and to harass religious and racial minorities. There is no other reason to make the gesture.

And the little bugger is still chugging along. Amazing.

Trump has refused to say what he’ll do because threatening Social Security during an election would cost him a lot of votes from seniors. On the other hand, now that he has won, Republicans have started freely admitting that Project 2025 is the plan for this administration. Project 2025 has this to say about Social Security.

Project 2025’s 900-page Mandate for Leadership fails to propose any solutions for Social Security and says, on page 710, that its proposals for the program could not be “covered here in depth.” Notably, that line was co-authored by economist Stephen Moore, who has advocated to slash and privatize Social Security, once calling it a “Ponzi scheme” and encouraging students to burn their Social Security cards. Kevin Roberts, the president of the Heritage Foundation, has also gone on record to say the Mandate for Leadership manifesto is just the basis of their plan and “there are parts of the plan that we will not share with the left.” Last month, his organization called for raising the retirement age, and the author of that analysis, Rachel Greszler, is listed as a Project 2025 contributor.

I would hazard to guess that the incoming administration will, at the very least, try to raise the Full Retirement Age to 69. I will be pleasantly shocked if they don’t try to privatize it as well.

You better watch your mouth or he’ll send Seal Team 6 to delete your ass. It’ll be an official act so it won’t be illegal for him to do so.