I hate when cats do that to you.

The IQ weighs over 9,000 pounds

I’ll bet it eats tires for breakfast.

Underscores the fact that “deportation” is just a political tool to punish the people that Trump doesn’t like.

The site is loaded with engagement bots, and that has increased exponentially in the last year. Before I left, I was constantly getting pinged with inane questions to try to elicit a response (engagement). So much different here.

Must be the U.S.

And now they’re pissed off and look forward to using the bomb they develop.

They’ve got that ass-kissing down now, don’t they!

I agree with you completely. He’s fascinated with nukes, and believes naked demonstrations of power show that he’s strong. If he does drop a nuke in Iran, you can guarantee that Russia will use them in Ukraine, and that quickly opens the door to a much wider war in Europe. Strategic thinking is not Trump’s strong suit, and he’s likely to bumble us into a nuclear WWIII.

3.5 babies if you count the horizontal line.

I’m a car guy, and electric cars have taken high performance to the next level for sure. However, apart from being spectacularly useful appliances, I have less interest in them these days. They’re typically much heavier than conventional ICE vehicles, which makes the handling less refined, there is no manual transmission to row through the gears, and they don’t make the cool sounds that ICE vehicles make.

Think of it like the transition from self-winding mechanical watches to quartz movements. Quartz watches are infinitely more accurate and reliable, yet if you’re a watch aficionado, it’s the high-end mechanical watches that you lust after. Simply put, electric vehicles lack the analog tactile engagement of ICE vehicles.

With Trump in the White House and Republicans controlling both houses of Congress, surely Trump will get his wall built, and then he’ll leverage tariffs to make Mexico pay for it, right? LOL.

Not surprising, given:

1. The housing market cycle peaked in 2022, has been slowly trending down since, and the pace of decline is picking up. Inventory is way up and prices are down.

2. Tariffs have greatly increased the cost of inputs used in making homes, increasing the price of lumber, steel, copper, appliances, etc., etc.

3. Deportation of the labor force greatly increases the cost of labor to build the homes. After agriculture, the largest industry using immigrant labor is construction. Kicking a major portion of the construction labor force out of the country is guaranteed to drive up the price of the labor that remains.

The saying “one bad apple spoils the whole barrel” rings true. Even if bad cops were only the minority, the overwhelming majority of cops tolerate the bad ones, rather than working to get rid of them, spoiling the whole “barrel”. Look at the Chris Dorner situation. His downward spiral resulted from retribution resulting from his filing of a report alleging excessive force by another cop. He was then targeted for retaliation, which ultimately broke him. The system is rotten to the core.

I wish more people would be open about it. Alan Ritchson is one of the few Hollywood celebrities that has candidly spoken about his use of exogenous testosterone to prepare for his role as Reacher, but clearly so many others are getting help. I’m in my late 50s trying to add muscle mass, and it’s a huge challenge. I’d say that I’m better off than all of the men in this 1919 photo, but not by that much.

Yes. The U.S. GDP is around $30 trillion. China is around $19 trillion. California is around $4 trillion.

Maybe, maybe not. What you have to consider is that when you are in the military, the federal government owns you like livestock. They feed you, house you, and can send you to your death. You don’t necessarily need money, especially in the short term. Moreover, there are rules that prevent active duty military from being ejected from housing. You might not be happy about dollar devaluation, but the blame will be focused on the “bad” people of California and you’re there to make it right. It would take a lot for the U.S. military machine to grind to a halt, and a lot of damage can be done while it is happening.

Another common idea is that the good folks in the military aren’t going to shoot civilians, and would rebel if ordered to. While there might be some isolated rebellion, most people in the military are conditioned to follow orders, and will do so, even if such orders are illegal. People will do what they have to to keep the pressure off themselves.

realizing they aren’t gonna get paid or that their money has become essentially worthless.

If California’s taxes suddenly evaporated, it would create a massive budget deficit that would have to be plugged by printing money, would debase the currency and likely cause hyperinflation.

That would break the bank. California is 4th largest economy in the world, after the U.S., China, and Germany. It would probably cause Trump to declare martial law and send troops to California.

It used to be that phone technology improved relatively quickly, and a 2 year old phone was significantly worse than the latest and greatest. Now, not so much. I use a Pixel 6 Pro running Graphene OS, and I don’t feel like I’m missing out on the latest tech. The camera is great, certainly more than good enough for me, and the phone is responsive and does everything I need it to do, and it’s 3+ generations old. I see no need to spend $1000+ on a new phone.