The New Coffee Room

Time for me as well - though I could also obtain a Canadian passport if necessary.

As with Trump's past life, the law is to be used a bludgeon - a tool that a minimum requires the adversary to spend a great deal of time and money in self defense. On a recommendation of John Kiriakou I've started reading this book that pretty much says if they want to come after you, you've probably done something that qualifies. Kiriakou tells the story of a woman on Hawaii who had a whale watching business. Someone posted a video of whale watching on her boat when a passenger blew a whistle. That violated a federal law - and over the next few years she essentially lost everything to legal expenses. If they want to destroy you, they can - and will. Discretion of prosecutors is not always reasonable. Another case I heard of was of a woman who when she was 10 years old was bullied by boy. In an act of revenge, she pulled down his pants on a playground. As a 10 year old, she was prosecuted for a sex crime and required to be listed as a sex criminal. She ended up having to leave the country. Even the boy involved admitted it had NOTHING to do with sex.

@jon-nyc said:

Speaking of trap bars, a guy at my gym this morning had FIVE forty-five pound plates on each side of a trap bar and did a dead lift with it.

That’s 495 lbs.

As Clint Eastwood noted, "man's gotta know his limitations" - and Clint has lifted weights for most of his life.

The trap bar is some protection of my L4/L5 issues which is there is nothing between them two discs. I'm trying to do more leg work. I do serious lifting with bench - and leg press - but much more modest weight with the trap bar. Right now, I'm doing about 150 lbs. Even after I get a bit more time with the bar, I don't think I'll be doing anything too silly.

Latest addition to my home gym to help with leg workouts

Yup - sad to see him go. I'll always think of him as a young conductor.

Stalin also appreciated loyalty above all else

Yeah, the internet has really helped build the conspiracy industry. I was always a new junkie - but now everyone is. On social media this past year I've seen a lot more fake stories - whether showing police behaving badly or some redemption story.

To his credit, Tucker has hit some real issues on occasion - but he has also undermined his credibility with some of the goofy rabbit holes he's gone down - e.g. his fear mongering that we only had a 30 day supply of diesel fuel. Admittedly, no news or commentary person will always be right - but there have been times where a 5 minute Google search would save the world from a fair amount of angst.

Kind of like when Emanual Ax stepped on Yoyo Ma's cello.

@Klaus said:

@kluurs said:

Reporting says the Archdiocese was notified on March 25, before the public escalation in tensions between Trump and Pope Leo XIV that the meme is pointing to.

The meme machine doing what it does best - misdirects.

How about this one?

This really plays well

https://x.com/FrancisWegner/status/2043822490208624902/video/1

@LuFins-Dad said:

So far there’s a $200 to my benefit difference with me and TurboTax filling them out than the accountant. I’m thinking about running both returns through an AI to see what that says…

I imagine that within 4-5 years, Tax Preparer as an occupation will be obsolete.

Depends on how much the tax preparer companies are willing to purchase lobby congress.

@jon-nyc said:

120-140 ships a day traverse the strait per day in peacetime. If Iran gets to charge each of them $2MM, that’s a billion dollars every four days.

Makes Obama’s palates of cash look like chump change.

Both Russia and Iran are making more money from the sale of oil thanks to the great leader’s efforts.