@89th said in SCOTUS possibilities: I think it depends how the economy looks like 1-2 years. If it's getting better, that increases the likelihood of Vance taking over from 2029-2033, which may slow any conservative retirements. I'd imagine Sotomayor will hold on until death similar to RGB so as not to give Trump a slot. Diabetic.

@Horace said in Come on, America: Well, I think the "free market" has always been a joke when it comes to health care, so I'm not too concerned with putting out feelers for this sort of thing. It seems to me that the only real thing that differentiates different health-care systems is which parts suck. So, you can choose whether you prefer horrendously high premiums, enormously long waiting lists, inability to find a GP, etc. etc. Hopefully not all of the above, unless you live somewhere really bad.

@George-K said in Succinct case for lab leak origin: @Jolly said in Succinct case for lab leak origin: when trusted government officials are not telling him something or are feeding him misinformation Why did Fauci's preemptive pardon start in 2014... Because that's as far back as Joe Biden can remember on a good day?

My father was a high school headmaster in Boston in the 70s. He had metal detectors in his school. And I remember a couple big boxes in our basement full of knives. The detectors worked.

@George-K said in $Swag$: @LuFins-Dad said in $Swag$: Most of this is end of the year acquisitions.A department or agency realizes that they are $75 Million under budget, and they need to spend it or get their budget slashed next year. And that's the problem - the "We gotta spend it because if we don't, we'll lose it next year" thinking. Totally. @LuFins-Dad had a good idea a while back about rewarding agencies that come in under budget.

@George-K said in Cropped: @89th said in Cropped: It's almost like we finish each other's... ...kiss? DAMMIT!

Hahahahahahahaha

Link to video

Burgers and a lovely caprese salad.

Did anyone cross-check what DeepSeek has to say on the matter?

@LuFins-Dad said in Trump Being Trump: Yes. How so?

Nope. Normal word association. We just had the Melania thread and then two minutes later someone says fake.

I had a rather unique visit to Auschwitz and Birkenau. I was dating a polish girl at the time, and we drove in from Krakow. Almost everyone arrives in a tourist bus. We started in Auschwitz when there were still tourists around. But by the time we got to Birkenau the last bus had left. So the last half hour it was open we were walking through Birkenau (which people confuse with Auschwitz) where the train stops at the tower and the selection was held. It was very cold, and we were totally alone in the camp. It felt timeless, it could have been June of 1945. [image: 1738033762691-img_2625.jpeg]

And that picture is from the first inauguration, so the captions don't work.

Im going to guess no. Very few presidents pardoned people on their last day and even fewer pardon on their first.

Take the mechanical umpires from baseball and put them in football. Or maybe let the fans vote on close calls.

"So you can expect me to be pretty stoned at work. It's medically necessary."