...and an equally funny follow-up - read the entire thread https://x.com/shockproofbeats/status/1247520505789210625

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[image: govspending_totalSpending-_700px.jpg] Sorry, the captions did not post. Not sure why. The above graph is federal spending starting Jan 20 for 2023 (gray line), 2024 (light green line) and 2025 (dark green line). Federal spending is UP USD$154 BILLION compared to the previous two years at teh same time. Of course, maybe it is early in the process.................... . https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/trump-doge-government-spending-increases-5903992d

@Tom-K 555

@jon-nyc said in Just now at Newark airport: I walked into an elevator in Boston, I think, where, unbeknownst to me, the Georgia basketball team was staying. I got into an elevator and I was the shortest one on it. Hasn’t happened to me since I was 12. Weird, a penis length contest in an elevator...

To @AndyD ’s point, he does look very different.

Happiest of birthdays to you George! Hope you've enjoyed the day

A string of fraudulent charges hit one of my cards a few months back. Before that, I think I have went 20+ years without incident. If as @Jolly says these things go in waves, then I suspect it’s due to some business’ database getting hacked.

Cunning ones at that.

@jon-nyc said in According to Michael O'Keefe...: You had the curries already in 1990. England got better after that with EU immigration and much, much worse with middle eastern and south Asian migration. By which I mean Islamic immigration. It's ironic that Brexit was sold as a solution to the immigration from Europe, which I agree improved the country no end. What's happened since then is definitely problematic, and the points based system that was introduced seems to have increased the number of immigrants, which presumably wasn't its intent.

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Nah, Xi already declared that he won't raise the tariffs above 125% because there will be "no market" for American imports in China at that tariff level.

I posted the above before watching the video. Note half of the people in the video touching the statue are women. And literally all are posing for pictures. Irish authorities should leave it be and deal with their real problems.

And Ricardo sighed. It almost is designed to eliminate comparative advantage. I’d prefer tariffs (and industrial policy) that were entirely national and economic security based. Do we care if Vietnam makes all of our socks? No. In a pinch we could go sockless until we figured it out. Or we could learn how to darn them again like our grandmothers did. Do we care if Taiwan makes all of our chips? Hell yes, even though they’re friendly. Do we care if China makes all our drones? (Or most of them). Hell fucking yes.

You can appeal the law itself. A lower court once found it unconstitutional but since it was a lower court it didn’t set precedent. Judge was Trump’s sister.

APMEX is my go to. Sold to them too. That takes a leap of faith, putting gold worth thousands in a box and mailing it away hoping it gets there and they don’t say ‘dude the box was empty’ or something.

@Doctor-Phibes said in Who am I?: I know the main actor. Not sure about supporting actor ***=NSFW content***click to show Humphrey Bogart, Casablanca Supporting actor - I'm guessing Paul Henreid, because I can't imagine it being Peter Lorre or Claud Rains. I guess it could be Peter Lorre. Thought you would get it.

Movie making, as a craft, has passed the phase where small teams of people with limited budget can make significant breakthrough. They need high tech that need big money to truly push the envelope. Happened to Physics, happened to medicine, happened to the car industry, happening to AI … not really new. Films with smaller budget? Look to China. They keep churning out these so-called “vertical screen dramas”, where you watch them on cellphones in portrait mode. In their original form they were released as short episodes, each a few minutes long, and a “complete” story arc would span dozens to 100+ episodes. But on YouTube you can fine “complete compilation” that you can binge on, usually two to three hours per “movie.” Quality is usually between “mediocre” and “quite good” but never “great.” Very little originality with the big story arcs but a lot of creativity in creating variations within similar story arcs and cross-pollinating elements from the few distinct story arcs that are there. And oh so entertaining, you can sit through them well-entertained without doing much, if any, thinking — like Lifetime and Hallmark movies but can also be exciting, edgy, and actually interesting. Tons of these on YouTube, multiple “new releases” of complete “movies” every day. (And as far as I know, viewers here can watch them tariff-free.) Looking across the world and across history, I cannot think of an even more productive or prolific production of “low budget movies” than this.