Humanity's greatest talent is its ability to make shit up as it goes along.
-Ian McDonald

Happy to see Bluesky deleting the bots.
Sad to confirm I'm not really popular with the ladies.

From Hopeland by Ian McDonald. Published 2023 chapter 51

We just bought a Pixel 9pro through Verizon. 3 years 0% financing and they are going to pay us the same amount for a trade in. Net cost is $0 but we have to keep Verizon service for 3 years.

Google Pixel 7. 2 years old with moderate to heavy daily use and the battery seems to hold a charge like new. Adaptive charging works, the key is to not let the battery get hot.

I wonder if other studies have been done on the reduction of glutamate levels? Particularly in people suffering from mental illness?

I can't stress how important it is to have an advocate. My friend's advocate (not me) kept him alive for several years. The quality of life was not good but I suppose it beats being dead.

He had worked some shitty jobs and it just wasn't worth it. He was trying to build an eBay business then he got sick. Fortunately he had gotten on Medicaid. I remember him telling me he made some money on eBay and Medicaid started charging him premiums. The premium amount was so low.

There were some questionable things. At one point he was put into a subpar rehab center. Fortunately he had an excellent advocate who took him out. They had him on heavy doses of opioids. He would have died a zombie in that place.

Sure running off to Hawaii, who wouldn't want to do that? He ditched his family. Makes no sense, they could have supported him. Something else is going on? I'm betting on a political divide. Maybe his family are Trump supporters and they disgusted him?

My best friend recently died of lung cancer. A dedicated pack a day man it had moved into his brain. Brain surgery at Johns Hopkins, 4 years of chemo and countless rounds of radiation. Who paid? Maryland Medicaid paid, we the citizens of Maryland paid. Best insurance ever.

Unfortunately I'm paywall blocked, I have to make assumptions based on the headline.
The guys family is loaded and they have high up connections in the healthcare industry. They are big donors to a large hospital in Baltimore.
It was not a money issue. Something else is going on.

Of course it does. The thing is, it's doubtful that if the killer has ever received a rejection letter from a health insurance company he cared. His family has enough money to pay for anything. What pushed him from an entitled rich kid to murder?

That radio station his family owned, WCBM, was right wing before Fox became the mouthpiece of the right wing. Their top program spewed fourth Rush Limbaugh's sewage.

Luigi Mangione’s sprawling family found success after patriarch’s rise The patriarch of a sprawling Italian American family, who died in 2008, was a self-made multimillionaire real estate developer who owned country clubs, nursing homes and radio stations while supportin...

Fascinating article about Luigi Mangione's family. My wife put forth a theory that he revolted against his family. His family has long been involved in heathcare with both philanthropic and profit making motives. Apologies if you are paywall blocked.

www.thebaltimorebanner.com/community/cr...

The guy is entitled as they come. His aunt is a Maryland legislator, his parents own 2 high end golf courses, he was valedictorian of his class in the best prep school in Baltimore and an Ivy League college. I'm fascinated to find out how he got from there to where he is.

I put together our new coffee bar/ wine bar/liquor cabinet. I love constructing flat pack furniture (no, I'm not being sarcastic).

6th overtime, I'm hanging in there.

In all fairness Rome was a Republic for about 300 years.

Getting a root canal has got nothing on watching this Cowboys Giants game.

Let round 1 commence

And racism, memes of Obama as a monkey. "It's only a joke" "Stop being woke" Yeah, lies racism and fear have been wonderful for the Republican party.

At this point it does not matter if those studies were real. In 2000 the Republicans won the presidency by a handful of hanging chads and the Supreme Court. They had to pivot. Their initial nice pivot failed. Their second pivot succeeded because it was nothing but lies and fear.

The Democrats among all their failures their biggest failure was to underestimate their enemy. The Republicans have been able to scare enough minorities to give themselves the majority of the popular vote. Their manipulation of our democratic system has been masterful. Diabolically masterful.

At that point the Republicans took the gloves off. Gerrymandering (particularly at state level), dealing judgeship appointments and creating an environment of fear. Remember the Liberty party and their lies? This strategy has worked like a charm.

In the early aughts studies were shown that by 2030 white people would no longer be the majority. The Republicans went into a tizzy. Their initial policy change was to attempt to recruit minorities. Remember compassionate conservatism? Well, that failed and we elected a black person president.

Sadly I agree. Between putting a woman on top of the ticket and irrational fear of trans people scared many black and Hispanic male voters to Trump (white men were a foregone conclusion). They are about to get a heavy dose of the chaos they asked for. The older I get the less I suffer fools.

It's no accident I use male pronouns in the above statement. Our county is based on a system of patriarchy. Maybe it's time we changed that as well. Men have been fucking things up for 250 years, it's time we gave women a chance. 🤔

Correct, it was a compromise that made the new constitution acceptable to the underpopulated states in the south. Slaves were made 3/5 of a person with the slave owner deciding their vote. For that sickening reason alone it can go away.

Exactly. Ironic how those two institutions have managed to bite us in the ass.