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Samson's Wig

Certifiably Surly
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Everything posted by Samson's Wig

  1. Truth. Plus, they're a bunch of weirdos.
  2. Tell me you weren't in Austin without telling me you weren't in Austin.
  3. lol. This is probably the worst thing that could have happened to Ken. Cornyn must be ecstatic. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/10/us/ken-paxton-wife-divorce.html?campaign_id=60&emc=edit_na_20250710&instance_id=158257&nl=breaking-news&regi_id=85243815&segment_id=201639&user_id=6c73b0c6b1cc055d8363fbcd27a113a9
  4. I'm sorry, but I'm not following your line of thinking here at all, up to and including whatever leap you're talking about at the end. Perhaps I just need more coffee. I agree that authorities denying early and often that a lab leak was even a possibility fueled the conspiracy crowd. My comment that it's a shame that it was the anti-vax nutjob crowd that largely latched onto the lab leak notion, is not a personal issue in the slightest. It's just what happened. Like with every thing these days, the most radical among us (of whatever persuasion) latch on, make it political, and drive people into camps based on their teams, reality be damned. A lab leak was always the simplest explanation to this, and should have never been dismissed outright until proven not to be the case, but when the wingnuts were the ones screaming about it the loudest, it's going to make non-conspiracy driven people less likely to consider it. That's all I was getting at. If some dumbass who actually believes vaccines cause autism tells you that water is wet or the sky is blue, you might pause for a second and consider whether that's actually true. It doesn't make the dumbass wrong in that instance, it just muddies the water. No doubt they've always been around and like every other marginal group, the Internet has allowed them to clump up, strengthen their resolve, and multiply like rats. Yes, they're the same type of people, as it involves the same type of magical thinking. It's not really that different than religiosity. Some folks just can't stand it when there isn't a clear answer to a question, so when none are forthcoming they'll just make some shit up or believe some shit someone else made up to fill in the gaps. It's a comfort seeking activity for the highly sensitive. Even though it's easy to blame it on a lack of education or general dumbassery, I've known some highly intelligent and successful professionals who were also completely lost in conspiracy land. Perhaps higher intelligence just makes for more elaborate conspiracies, but ultimately it comes down to succor for folks who simplly cannot handle chaos, ambiguity, and open ended stories. Working hypothesis: If you're somone who enjoys puzzles but would lose your fucking mind if you work your way through a puzzle only to find you're missing a couple of pieces, to the point you then go grab some cardboard and some markers to make new pieces to fill in the gaps, you might be susceptible to conspiratorial nonsense and other magical thinking.
  5. Not what Dumbledore had in mind back in '67.
  6. What I've learned today is that next Wednesday, when I take an Uber from San Francisco to the Oakland Airport, I will by no means allow the driver to stop for gas.
  7. Glad this wasn't an uglier event, as it easily could have been. The only people who care about the difference beteween a Citizen and an Omega are douchebags, so at least those kids have that going for them.
  8. They're armed and ready to ensure every neighborhood becomes a soulless clone of walkable, yet still unaffordable, communities across the country. With enough vigilance, we'll all be living in an undifferentiated hellscape of brightly painted cheap building materials stretching from one coast to the other. This nine-fingered hero is doing us all a service, really.
  9. It's the epicenter of where people who didn't grow up in Texas (and therefore are less likely to learn how to handle firearms growing up) live around these parts. Makes sense to me as a self-inflicted wound story. If she had shot someone else, then yeah, I would be surprised.
  10. It's helpful when you hear a solid lament about Rainey Street changing. It reveals a great deal about the person. I love this analogy.
  11. I can at least somewhat understand the appeal of Trump to certain people, even if it's lost on me. He says what they want to hear, has a certain kind of confidence, and has been a public figure for a long time, which carries weight for some people for whatever reason. In short, he's a populist. It doesn't do it for me, but I can understand it and the tactic has been used successfully throughout the history of democracies. What I will never understand is how these same folks are not concerned that someone like RFK Jr. has his hands in anything meaningful. That man couldn't find his way out of a wet paper bag if you gave him a knife. How is this shit even possible? Outside of the absolute dumbest motherfuckers alive, who listens to this man and thinks, "Yep, that's the guy for the job!" I just can't wrap my head around it. Anyway, back on topic. Fuck AI, fuck tech bros, fuck private equity, and fuck anyone who profits from any of it. Go find work that actually means something before your humanity is completely lost. A fry cook adds more value to society for fucks sake.
  12. White collar uprisings, historically speaking, are what we more commonly refer to as actual revolutions. The idiots in charge, along with the tech bro asswipes, should be doing everything they can to steer away from that situation. It hasn't ended well for their kind in the past.
  13. I agree with both of these statements, so I'm simply adding to this with no intention of being contrary. Setting aside the ethics of the death penalty in general, the notion that it is what's best for the survivors/families has been largely debunked. There's plenty of data out there that victims' loved ones, even those who support the death penalty and want it for the perpetrator, find no solace in it once it's done. Most of the time, it merely drags the case out for years, or even decades, delaying any closure and extending the grieving process for an insanely long time. I know I would likely want the death penalty were I ever in those shoes, and I completely understand the impulse. Still, I hope that I would be able to find a sliver of rationality about it in the moment and recognize that the death penalty is ultimately just further punishment for the surviving victims than it is anything else. The main reason we have the death penalty at all is to satisfy the vengeance lust of the community at large. We know it doesn't deter crime, it doesn't bring peace to the victims' families, and it doesn't serve the state's needs from a financial perspective or any other perspective. Setting aside any moral/ethical discussion, there aren't any rational arguments for the death penalty that hold water. The nations in red on this map are the ones with an active death penalty. We can draw some pretty obvious conclusions from it in terms of what factors drive the desire for the death penalty, both from the perspective of the state and its citizens.
  14. This is sustainable so long as we allow grifters to dominate our economy. This is nothing new, as we've been gobbling up shitty tech for decades now with little to show for it outside of PE jags laughing all the way to the bank. Profitability? What does that have to do with anything anymore?
  15. Evangelicals are every bit as weird as Mormons, but lack the introspection to see it. Indoctrination of the young works.
  16. That's a lot of work to get rid of a mediocre QB at a football program that isn't exactly miles ahead of Utah. Not to mention, that even if BYU suddenly sucked this seaon Utah still has almost no chance of finishing in the top third (or even half) of their conference. Every fan base is delusional.
  17. I understand what you're saying. My wife was here for decades as a permanent resident, but after the first Trump term ended, we quickly got her naturalized. While I'm relieved about it with everything going on now, I also wonder if we've just trapped her on a sinking ship.
  18. I don't want to create an account to read them. Are they threatening not to vote for Patrick or Abbott?
  19. Southern Baptists, and evangelicals in general, hate Catholics so much that they were pro-choice up until the 90s or so, to make sure no one thought they were in alignment with the Catholics on any issue whatsoever. Most of the brainwashed cult members of today seem to be operating in ignorance of that reality. They are a political cult, not a religion.
  20. We'll allow only one religion to proselytize in public schools, and there will be nothing anyone can do about it. That's the American way of doing things.
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