I know you said to avoid the “just don’t connect it” advice, but I frankly think that’s your best bet without shelling out absurd amounts of money. I hate the concept of smart TVs, so like you I tried to find a reasonably priced dumb TV. Had zero luck. Instead, I bought a 55” Hisense TV (U8K) about 6 months ago, and have never once connected it to the internet. I think it’s technically a Google TV, but I wouldn’t know, since I just connect my devices to it, no internet necessary. It’s a gorgeous display with amazing picture quality. All the features are enabled, nothing was stuck behind an internet-wall. I don’t regret it.

Well that’s some backwards bullshit.

Everything you said is true, but I still think her shift is being overblown. The opinion in which she criticized Thomas’s historical approach was a concurring opinion, she agreed with the result, but not the methodology. The result is what the vast majority of Americans will see, not that she happened to take a different road to get to the same place.

And in the same concurring opinion, she had the audacity to hold up stare decisis, despite her hair-trigger willingness to overturn precedent in critical cases like Dobbs.

I follow the court, and read the article. I guess I’m just way more cynical than you. I appreciate your moderating tone though, I hope I’m wrong about her.

It’s these kinds of whitewashing bullshit articles that are why the court isn’t even more unpopular. There’s a concerted effort to make the court appear reasonable. It’s not. Barrett might ask a question here or there during oral argument that sounds reasonable or moderate, but she still almost always votes with the extreme right wing majority. She is not an impartial jurist, she’s a hateful Christian extremist with a normal-sounding voice. Don’t fall for it.

lol I see what you did there.

For those curious, simchat means something like “rejoice” in Hebrew. It’s pronounced sim-khaat. Probably its most common usage to Jews around the world is as part of the name of the holiday Simchat Torah, when it’s customary to get absolutely shitfaced drunk and dance around with torahs. It marks the end of the reading of the torah, and the beginning of the reading of the torah. A very fun holiday.

Keep in mind, this enhanced program lasted only six months (if I’m doing my math correctly) and resulted in these mental health improvements, on top of all the other benefits of not having a country full of starving children. All it took was six months. Imagine what a properly compassionate social safety net would do for everyone?

The republicans who prevented the program from being extended have once again shown a crass lack of compassion and empathy. They should be ashamed of themselves, though of course they won’t be.

Think of the children! Oh wait, this was their opportunity and they chose to be unsympathetic assholes.

This makes me sick. Or rather, them sick. Or, whatever, this was a totally fucked up and inexcusable thing to do.

….Chuckles nervously……

True that.

The Onion was recently bought, and the new CEO is a well-regarded former disinformation reporter. Literally a journalist who reported on fake news, is now running the world’s preeminent fake newspaper. Only the Onion could make that work. There have been some great interviews with the new CEO, he seems to really give a shit about the company.

To run Global Tetrahedron as CEO, Lawson hired Ben Collins, formerly senior reporter at NBC News covering “disinformation, extremism and the internet.”

“My friends and I now own and run The Onion. I’ll be the CEO,” Collins posted on X. “We’re keeping the entire staff, bringing back The Onion News Network, and sharing the wealth with staff. Basically, we’re going to let them do whatever they want. Get excited.”

Yeah I almost watched Baby Driver the other day, but then I saw him on the poster and got that revolting feeling in my stomach. Decided that if I have a choice, there’s just no reason to watch him. I like Ansel Elgort though, so I’ll just watch Tokyo Vice.

Well said. Fat lot of good the “Never again” mantra did…

Wow, these extremists are getting really good at talking out of both sides of their mouths.

Catholics and evangelicals appear to be increasingly “putting aside theological differences in order to bond together so that they can push back against the creeping, secular humanism that is happening in America.”

And yet, in one of the recent Rolling Stone pieces about Alito, he was caught on tape essentially saying seculars and religious nuts can’t live in peace, one side has to win out.

Justice Samuel Alito spoke candidly about the ideological battle between the left and the right — discussing the difficulty of living “peacefully” with ideological opponents in the face of “fundamental” differences that “can’t be compromised.” He endorsed what his interlocutor described as a necessary fight to “return our country to a place of godliness.”

So it’s okay for different sects of Christians who disagree on a lot to band together to fight against secularism, but god forbid the same grace is extended to seculars to live in peace with Christian nuts (puns intended).

As a Jewish atheist, I’m flabbergasted. I’m clearly not welcome here according to any of these assholes.

I get why geologists might be hesitant to add a whole new epoch named after us, they deal in absurdly long timescales. That said, I’ve read a number of climate and environment papers going back at least 5 to 10 years where Anthropocene is used without a second thought.

We did this, so it’s only fitting that we at least take the inconsequential step of calling a spade a spade.

Yeah there are a ton of these on Craigs List lately too. It’ll be a whole listing that appears to be a standalone separate unit, but it turns out to be shared. Sometimes there will be hints like “private entrance” or something, but it’s still pretty deceptive.

Good question, I wish I knew. The closest I’ve found is sometimes Zillow, but it’s pretty different, not really comparable.

I’m not on Facebook, but from what I hear they’ve got the monopoly on this kind of thing now.

Revenge of the Sith

At least as far as apartment listings in California go, in my experience most of them are scams and phishing schemes. So yeah, 5-10 years ago most were legit postings, now it’s flipped.

I believe there are 3 kinds of musicians. Keep in mind I have no evidence for this, it’s just what I’ve experienced through a life of playing music and being around lots of musicians.

#1 is someone with natural ability, these are the people who seem to be able to pick up any instrument and intuitively understand how to make it sound like music. This is the rarest kind of musician.

#2 is someone with a little bit of #1’s natural ability, but like 70% of their skill comes from honing it through sustained, long-term practice. It’s hard, and can be incredibly frustrating, but also very rewarding. I’d say many if not most successful musicians fall into this category.

#3 is someone with none of #1’s natural ability, but a passionate desire to learn. With grueling long hours of practicing the basics, studying some theory, and intentional instruction, #3 is perfectly capable of playing an instrument beautifully, but it will be a lot more work for them than it would be for #’s 1 and 2.

It’s probably pretty similar to sports. Some people are naturals, but almost anyone can learn to be really good at them, it just takes a shitload of work.

That’s super interesting, thanks for sharing your experience! The way you describe it, it actually makes a lot of sense that deference would be given to the defense side.

I’m so conflicted, because I tend to automatically sympathize with most defendants since the system is so often stacked against them. Trump has turned that upside down. Never thought I’d cheer for a prosecutor…

Yeah, I could see it as a conflict if she only appointed him after they started dating, but Willis testified vehemently that they only started their relationship after she appointed him. She said the witness who claimed otherwise was either lying or misremembering. I guess it comes down to who should be believed, and while I would never blindly believe any officer of the state, I think she has more credibility than Trump and his defense team.