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bolverk

Certifiably Surly
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Everything posted by bolverk

  1. There's the Party, and then there's the voters. Yeah, I'd say about 75% of the Party wants that, but I'd argue that about 40% of people who vote Republican in the general election desire that outcome (i.e., fascist, authoritarian theocrats). The rest are what I'd call Reflexive Republicans, voting that way out of habit through either ignorance or naïveté. This latter group largely didn't vote in the primaries but will show up in the general election and just reflexively select Team R without actually knowing why other than some vague notion of conservatism. I'm certainly not downplaying the threat, though. Hell, I've been arguing since the early 1990s that the GOP was headed in this direction. But I will also argue we have two political problems here: First, the fascists. Second, those who are lazy, ill-informed, and/or naive team players. I realize this might hurt some feelings here among former Goppers, but I'd classify many of them as part of that second group, having been either ill-informed or naive Reflexive Republicans. For whatever reason, they didn't see the end game until the last few years.
  2. At least I didn't say, "Get a load of the Petroleum Engineers."
  3. Click on the Fossil Fuels one to get a taste of the Petroleum Engineers.
  4. Not that I started out with many, but I feel like I'm losing IQ points by the day. Wordle 915 5/6 ⬛🟨⬛🟨⬛ 🟨⬛⬛🟩⬛ ⬛🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⬛🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Connections Puzzle #193 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟨🟨🟨🟨 🟪🟪🟪🟪 🟦🟦🟦🟦 Daily Quordle 696 6️⃣4️⃣ 5️⃣7️⃣ m-w.com/games/quordle/ 🟨🟨⬜⬜⬜ 🟩⬜🟩⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜🟨🟩 🟨🟨⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜🟨⬜ 🟨⬜⬜⬜⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⬜⬜⬜🟩⬜ ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ 🟨⬜🟩🟨⬜ ⬜⬜🟩⬜🟨 ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜🟨⬜ ⬜🟩⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜🟨⬜ 🟨⬜🟩⬜⬜ ⬜⬜🟩⬜🟨 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⬜⬜🟩⬜⬜ ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ ⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜ ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Daily Sequence Quordle 696 5️⃣7️⃣ 8️⃣🔟 m-w.com/games/quordle/ ⬜🟨⬜🟨🟨 ⬜🟨🟨⬜⬜ ⬜⬜🟨🟨⬜ ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟩 ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜ 🟨🟨🟩🟩🟩 ⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜ ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ ⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜🟨⬜🟨 ⬜⬜⬜🟩⬜ ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟨 ⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ 🟨⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜🟨⬜ ⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜🟨⬜ ⬜⬜🟩⬜⬜ ⬜🟨⬜⬜🟨 ⬜⬜🟩⬜⬜ ⬜🟨⬜⬜🟨 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ ⬜🟨⬜🟨🟨 ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Blossom Puzzle, December 21 Letters: A D K E R S T My score: 301 points My longest word: 10 letters 🏵 🌻 💮 💐 🌹 🌷 🌼 🌸 🌺 🏵 #Worldle #699 1/6 (100%) 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🎉 ⭐⭐⭐🏙️🪙 https://worldle.teuteuf.fr #travle #372 (4/9) ✅✅✅✅ https://imois.in/games/travle/ ClickWord.org Daily 320: 438 points (top 40% 👏) 12 words: 🟪🟪🟪🟪🟥🟥🟥🟥🟧🟧🟧🟩 💪 Best word: 74 points 🔥 Streak: 7 days 🐭 #ClickWord #ClickWordDaily320
  5. @Gatorubet From the above, here are the various engineering professions. This is apparently based on campaign contribution data from the FEC.
  6. I just googled "political ideology by profession" and found this. Having barely glanced at it and not looking into the methodology, I can't judge the accuracy. https://verdantlabs.com/politics_of_professions/ Caveat emptor
  7. Q: What the fuck is wrong with you, Fredericksburg? A: Idiotic paranoia. Sounds like it's going to be a lesson in FAFO and hilarious to watch. Texas Republicans in one rural county will hand count ballots. Experts say it’s “a recipe for disaster.”
  8. Some pretty gnarly drone video links. I'm not going to embed them, but you can watch if you'd like. https://www.reddit.com/r/UkraineWarVideoReport/comments/18ms9av/not_a_repost_uncensored_version_of_the_russian/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3 https://www.reddit.com/r/UkraineWarVideoReport/comments/18mxxe2/new_brutal_compilation_of_drone_drops_by_110th/ This one I will embed with the Google translation screencapped below.
  9. I started watching the comedy "1670" on Netflix last night and was pretty well entertained. It's about a very minor nobleman in Poland set in a small village (that he owns the smaller half of) during that year. He's an insecure and overconfident buffoon with a strict and frigid wife and three adult-ish kids: 2 sons (one the "bad boy" and the other a repressed priest) and one daughter (liberated intellectual). It's pretty amusing and bingeable, with short 35-minute episodes. I think there's only 8 in this first season. I've been watching it dubbed in English, which doesn't seem to detract from it at all. A lot of the humor is based on xenophobic stereotypes from a Polish perspective, many of them self-effacing, along with some contemporary sociopolitical themes. They seem to make fun of all sides. It might also help to know a few basics about Polish history, like quick references to the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Winged Hussars, etc., but that's not really needed. I'll probably try to wrap it up tonight. ETA: This ended up being a really good show.
  10. First off, I'm not a law and certainly not a constitutional scholar. From that layman's perspective, I was trying to say that the Constitution states who is and isn't eligible to be president. Yes, the original text says who is eligible based on place of birth (the US), length of residence, and age. Then, the 14th Amendment added the insurrection qualifier to those who had previously held office and had sworn an oath to the Constitution. I'm just saying that the argument before SCOTUS should be that if you're going to enforce the original text, then you should also enforce the amendment. To a layman, such as myself, that's an effective argument. However, I'm under no illusions that this Court will follow through.
  11. The bolded right there would be my argument were I to argue this case. The Constitution plainly states the requirements for eligibility: Article II, Section 1, Clause 5: No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any Person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States. You might not think any of that is fair. You might think that goes against the will of the people supporting a certain candidate, but that's what the Constitution says, and it's always been enforced. Hell, Trump himself made a big stink about Obama's fucking birth certificate, arguing that he shouldn't be president with the lie that he wasn't born in the United States. Wouldn't it be the height of irony if the man whose political fortunes rose based on that lie was himself disqualified for eligibility due to what the Constitution said?
  12. I didn't say they were, but not all who move here are politically motivated. Some are sure, and I pointed out that a good portion are kooks and fascists. Also, I spoke in the past tense when talking about how I used to think they'd save us (some of that was skewed by living in Austin and knowing several liberals who'd recently relocated here from the Northeast). This is what I meant by "Republican-leaning". A year or so ago, I read that, because of O&G, Texas was one of the very few states that had a growing manufacturing base that provided good-paying blue-collar jobs, so, yeah, there is that pipeline in addition to the others.
  13. The 2023 population estimates from the Census for states came out yesterday. In the past, I had the hope that Texas's growing population and the influx of folks moving here from other states would moderate our politics. But what seems to have been borne out is that a slim majority of those migrants tend to be more Republican-leaning, and a goodly portion of those "conservatives" are straight-up kooks and fascists. So, at this point, we can all assume they alone won't save us from the worst among us. Then we have the matter of the redistricting process where the GOP majority in the lege has shown no shyness in repressing the non-Anglo and/or liberal vote, either through splitting them up among several districts or concentrating them into tightly-bound homogenous ones. Anyway, this is all a preface for the maps and tables posted below and makes me fear what the growth of Texas and Florida's populations will do to our national politics. https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2023/population-trends-return-to-pre-pandemic-norms.html And here's the kicker if the 2020-2022 trend continues (NOT UPDATED FOR NEWEST 2023 DATA). Some of the shrinking population in California and the Midwest moderated/reversed in 2023 (see the first map above), but it still gives me pause. https://thearp.org/blog/apportionment/2030-forecasted-apportionment/
  14. The grocery store in Buffalo, too, where African Americans were targeted.
  15. When a 50/50 guess goes wrong. Pretty much a meh day. Wordle 914 3/6 🟩🟨🟩⬛⬛ 🟩⬛🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Connections Puzzle #192 🟦🟦🟦🟦 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟨🟨🟨🟨 🟪🟪🟪🟪 GRRR Daily Quordle 695 9️⃣7️⃣ 8️⃣5️⃣ m-w.com/games/quordle/ ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ 🟩⬜⬜⬜🟩 ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜🟨⬜🟨 ⬜🟩🟩🟩⬜ ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ 🟩🟩⬜🟩🟩 ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ 🟨⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ 🟩🟩⬜🟩🟩 ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ ⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜ ⬜🟨⬜🟨⬜ ⬜⬜🟨🟨⬜ 🟨⬜⬜⬜🟨 ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ 🟨⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜🟨⬜ ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜ ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ ⬜🟨🟨⬜⬜ ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ Daily Sequence Quordle 695 4️⃣5️⃣ 7️⃣8️⃣ m-w.com/games/quordle/ 🟨⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜🟨⬜🟨 ⬜⬜🟩🟨🟩 🟩⬜⬜⬜🟨 ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟨 ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜ 🟩⬜⬜⬜🟨 ⬜🟨⬜🟨⬜ 🟨⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜ ⬜🟨🟨⬜⬜ 🟨⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜🟨⬜ ⬜⬜⬜🟨⬜ 🟨🟨⬜⬜🟩 ⬜🟨🟨🟩🟨 ⬜⬜⬜🟩⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⬜⬜⬜🟩⬜ ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Blossom Puzzle, December 20 Letters: A E G L O R Y My score: 270 points My longest word: 8 letters 🌼 🏵 💮 🌸 🌹 🌷 💐 🌺 #Worldle #698 1/6 (100%) 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🎉 ⭐⭐⭐🏙️🪙 https://worldle.teuteuf.fr #travle #371 (5/10) ✅✅✅✅✅ https://imois.in/games/travle/ ClickWord.org Daily 319: 450 points (top 40% 👏) 11 words: 🟪🟪🟪🟪🟪🟥🟥🟧🟧🟧🟨 💪 Best word: 68 points 🔥 Streak: 6 days #ClickWord #ClickWordDaily319
  16. You know how I know they're not bookfags? ~me, bookfag
  17. Maybe he just isn't a HaRdCoRe jackwagon like the rest of you bird-chested shitfucks.
  18. Fuck you, Republican lurkers. Cowards. https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/polls-show-many-gop-voters-warm-trumps-authoritarian-rhetoric-rcna130408 The Des Moines Register published this report over the weekend: Many likely Iowa Republican caucusgoers have no issue with several of Trump’s recent controversial statements, a new Des Moines Register/NBC News/Mediacom Iowa Poll has found — and more often than not, they say the same statements make them more likely to support the former president. According to the survey results, 42% of likely GOP caucusgoers said Trump’s “poisoning the blood” rhetoric makes them more likely to support the former president’s candidacy. The same poll found that 43% of likely Republican caucusgoers are more likely to support him because of his fascistic references to American “vermin.” The data dovetails with a national Fox News poll that asked respondents: “Some people say things in the U.S. are so far off track that we need a president willing to break some rules and laws to set things right, while others say the president should always follow the rules and laws. Which comes closest to your view?” The survey found that 30% of self-identified Trump voters — nearly a third — were on board with a president who operates outside “rules and laws.”
  19. Texas Companies Say Republicans Are Ruining Their Business A coalition of Texas businesses have said ambiguity over abortion bans in the Lone Star State is making recruitment harder, following the near all-out ban enacted by Republicans. An amicus brief originally filed by law firm Reed Smith and signed by 40 Texas companies was filed in support of 22 women who are suing the state of Texas over its abortion laws. Numerous businesses have endorsed the letter. These include dating platforms such as Bumble and Match Group (owner of Match.com and Tinder); prominent advertising agencies Preacher and GSD&M; event organizers SXSW; and the United States Women's Chamber of Commerce, along with various Texas real-estate companies, law firms, and restaurant groups. The companies say that Texas abortion laws render the state less appealing for families considering relocating to a place where they can comfortably start a family. The Texas Legislature, dominated by Republican representatives, passed a trigger law on abortion in 2021. It is currently illegal to have an abortion after a fetus has a heartbeat, which typically occurs around six weeks, often before the woman knows she is pregnant, unless there is a significant threat to the mother's life. The overturning of Roe vs. Wade by the Supreme Court in 2022 gave states the power to limit abortion access. Those in Texas seeking abortion services at any point in pregnancy will now need to travel outside the state, explore options beyond U.S., resort to illegal means, or to carry the unwanted pregnancy to term. Birth control and emergency contraceptives, such as Plan B, are distinct from the medications used for inducing abortion and continue to be legally accessible. Abortion access has been popular among voters in the wake of Roe vs. Wade ending. Numerous polls have found majority support for abortion rights in most states, red or blue, and every state-level election concerning the matter in the last year has seen voters come out strongly in support of protecting access to abortion. In the November 2022 midterms, for example, voters rejected anti-abortion ballot measures in Kentucky and Montana. The plaintiffs in the Zurawski vs. Texas case are former patients who say that they were denied medically necessary abortions due to physicians being scared of potential legal ramifications. The amicus brief filed in support says the ban "has impacted, and will continue to impact, companies doing business in Texas, companies thinking about doing business in Texas, employees living in or traveling to Texas, and individuals considering relocating to Texas." The brief adds: "Because of those undeniable realities, businesses are now forced to confront this issue head on—not for moral or legal reasons—but to keep the lights on and people working, making money." "As a multinational, publicly traded tech company led by many women, we feel it's our duty not just to provide our workforce with access to reproductive health care, but to speak out – and speak loudly – against the retrogression of women's rights," said Whitney Wolfe Herd, founder, executive chair, and former CEO of Bumble. "Texas's confusing medical exceptions increase business costs, drive away talent, and threaten workforce diversity and well-being. We must unequivocally support equal rights for our employees and customers to make their own reproductive choices." Bumble's filing cites research indicating that almost half of young women in nine battleground states are either contemplating or actively planning a move to a state offering "comprehensive protections" for reproductive health care. The filing highlights that nearly two-thirds of college-educated workers across the nation would not contemplate employment in a state with abortion restrictions. In 2022, research conducted by nonprofit The Institute for Women's Policy Research found that across America "currently employed women aged 15 to 44 would gain $101.8 billion in higher earnings annually" if state level restrictions on abortion didn't exist. On December 7, Texas Governor Greg Abbott lauded Texas' "continuing economic momentum" as the Bureau of Economic Analysis revealed the Texas economy expanded "faster than the nation as a whole for the fourth quarter in a row." "Opportunity knows no bounds in Texas, thanks to the hardworking men and women of this great state," Gov. Abbott said. "Texas' continuing economic expansion, well ahead of the United States as a whole for the fourth quarter in a row, is further proof that when given the freedom to aspire, businesses invest and people prosper. Together, we continue to build a bigger, bolder Texas of tomorrow."
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