unclevlad

I agree that if this can't do it, nothing can. However, I think it's too late. The anti-abortion movement isn't close to new. It's been the rallying cry of the religious conservative/Moral Majority wing since the 80s, at least. Second, this Court will be very hard to reverse...Kavanaugh is the oldest of the 3 Trump selections, and he's only 57. So there's 3 activist, literalist votes that'll be around for 20 years or more. Heck, there may not be a seat opening for 10 years. Third, even if there's backlash...is it plausible to think it can possibly be *enough*? The Republicans have mastered ruling from the minority: by being obstructionist. They'll simply wait til 2024, and continue to suborn the election process. Good GOSH I hope I'm wrong. And I think it'll cost them some borderline seats, but not enough. And, yes, I can't see a path upward...just down. And very violent.

OK, tonight I'm rooting for the Lightning. Because I think the person butchering the anthem is the same one as earlier. And she is AWFUL. Not like it's a good song at the best of times, but slow, overly stylized versions are sooooo hideous.

Vintage ones, yeah, that wouldn't surprise me. New ones shouldn't be, unless they're really high-end cigars. Might be trickier to find them; brick and mortar tobacco shops are scarce.

Definition of a mercy killing, right there....

Today is the 1 year 'anniversary' of the condo collapse in Surfside, Florida. It is also the day where a $1B settlement was finalized. For such a major settlement, that's fast. And that in itself is satisfying; the system's not completely broken.

What's most chilling to me about the decision today is the rationale. From the majority opinion. So, anything not specifically enumerated as protected, is NOT protected. That's scary as heck. Thomas explicitly wants to go further; he wants to reconsider everything in this vein. Sodomy, contraception, and same-sex marriage decisions are all things he wants to target. Plus, should repressive laws resurface...as with all the abortion bans...there will be major pressure to use email and probably even phone location data as evidence in prosecutions. So this isn't even going back to the 1500's; it could be far, far worse. 1500's morality with 1984 intrusive oversight. We can hope today's decision polarizes enough people to turn away from the Republicans. I think there will be some, particularly women voters...but I don't think it'll be close to enough. I don't think they'll bother trying to impeach Biden; I think it more likely they'll focus on positioning for 2024 and beyond. But I could be wrong; they might, just as payback for the Jan. 6th hearings, and to pander to their base. Overall...combined with the gun permit ruling, which is certainly much narrower and may allow workarounds, but is still highly problematic...this feels like the tipping point day. Today feels like it'll be noted as the funeral for progressive policies.

Both 5E and 6E go to great lengths to say it's NOT a rule...that there are decided drawbacks, for example. The AP caps are in there, IMO, to help reduce the complexity of character/campaign building. They're guidelines. The lower end? You generally don't want a base attack lower than 40 AP (at 400 points) because the character isn't going to be effective with it. The high end? Likely to be too effective. But game balance doesn't boil down to just one number. It can be OK to use APs; I think DCs are much better, but what we're arguing against primarily, is using them SO rigidly, and so blindly. No one's countered that you can't do a Multiform or Duplication, at 400 points...on a 60 AP cap. The base power exceeds it. It'd be hard to do a significant Summon...because of the major cost of Amicable. How about Fantasy Hero, where a TON of spells have pretty darn high APs, then massive limitations to make their costs practical? How does that fit with AP caps? Y'all are taking a tool and enshrining it as Holy Writ.

But the Perk is 5 points, so how much can that really cover? (And that's before we even consider reducing it due to being retired.) What you're saying is, it makes a great justification for Contacts, Money, Reputation, etc.

It'd be a social perk. A general can say Jump!!! and a captain will go, How High? Command staff officers in particular have a great deal of power, and quite often discretion. The Navy's been trying to weed out its abusive captains...I remember not that long ago stories about certain ships where morale was horrendous because the captain was similar to Queeg. And they've got lots of discretion in spending, for the unit they oversee. The fringe benefit for rank loosely relates to Followers, Contacts, and Money...altho the costing isn't even remotely related, and activating any of em has limitations and consequences. It also comes with some complications. Once they retire, tho...*POOF*. All that's gone.

But that's why one reason why AP caps don't work. You're saying yourself...it's not a cap, it's about the overall character. And where does the 60 point cap even come from? It's NOT what's listed on 6E1 page 35. That's before even discussing Hugh's observations. No Gravity Penalty is a great example of a flavorful advantage for Flight...but how often does it really come into play? Yet, it's a bloody +1/2. That kills your active points, and raises your END cost...quite often implying you'll need 1/2 END. Indirect is another (as mentioned on 6E2 283)...I like it, but it doesn't provide a clear edge that frequently.

Little surprised I'm the first to report this. The Uvalde police chief has been placed on administrative leave. https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/22/us/uvalde-texas-elementary-school-shooting-officials-wednesday/index.html The mayor is also fed up with the obstruction. I'm hopeful one or both of them has the power to force the UPD to cooperate.

Colorado buries Tampa Bay with a landslide of players in the offensive zone...can't readily find the game stats, but time in the Avs' offensive zone, and shots, were totally one-sided. Vasilevskiy was brilliant..... ....until even he couldn't withstand the pressure. Avs 3-2 in OT.

AP caps are a house rule.

Daniel Snyder told Congress he couldn't talk to them...he was busy. Congress just said....oh yeah? Well, now...we're not *asking.*

And that's only a warmup. In EVERY aspect of life, there would be massive changes. It'd make Brexit's issues look like moving across town or switching family doctors. Highway funds. Education funds. Agriculture funds. El Paso maybe doesn't collapse if Bliss leaves, but it's huge: https://comptroller.texas.gov/economy/economic-data/military/fort-bliss.php#:~:text=The Texas Comptroller of Public,the Texas economy in 2019. Look through it. The indirect aspects are huge. There's 37,000 dependents and 33,000 vets that use its services. And we're barely scratching the surface. So, yeah, I agree with LL and Beau. It won't happen.

Mother...or mother in law? You need to hide your computer activity better, I suspect.....

Romulans (yeah, it's the easy way out)

I've said the same thing, but it's probably more true to say that Trump is symptom AND cause. The issues existed before him, yes. His actions and attitudes showed there was little or nothing that would cause blowback in the political arena, and encouraged and empowered politicians like Boebert, ad campaigns like the "shoot the RINOs", QAnon, etc. Lots of things that were stewing under the surface came to the forefront...and didn't get slapped back down.

It's 5E. Looks like figured stats isn't an issue; the sheet goes with the values there. But it has things like Find Weakness/Lack of Weakness, and doesn't have damage negation at all. All the usuals. You can largely ignore the stuff that was dropped in 6E like Find/Lack, but you'd want a line for negation for sure, and might need to look at how to handle Desolid with Selective, versus Affects Phys World. That's just at first glance.

It still isn't clear what Trump's actual thoughts were/are, but it stopped being about that a LONG time ago. If that's all it was, just Trump's delusion, it would've died. Since it didn't, it became the hammer to smash through "voting protections" to ensure "fairness." The Republicans want to take as much electoral power out of federal hands and keep it in local hands...that they control. This is simply one facet; the refusal to certify election results in Arizona because of the voting machines is another.

Hound, Toy, Herding and Non-Sporting tonight; Sporting, Working, and Terrier tomorrow FS1, starts at 7:30 ET both nights

Sorry, I may have reversed cart and horse. It's part of the *appeal* of secession, to claim those funds. A clarification, perhaps, on why they'll push this: to create an issue about which their base can feel dissed, to continue/reinforce Texas First tribalization.

And has anyone calling for secession taken a look at the MESS that's Brexit? And it'd be far, far, far messier. The connections between the UK and the rest of the EU were, I believe, mostly fundamentally trade-related. Between a state and the US as a whole, they're far more interconnected. My New Mexico driver's license is valid in Texas...would that hold? That's one example. Geographically, Texas borders...4 states, I think. MANY, MANY miles. Beau's assertion was, this was all about continuing the narration towards the Trumpist base. I'll offer up another: the Republican want to grab the tax money by saying the Federal taxes belong to them. They know it'll never work that way, but so what? It maintains the fiction that Texas and (the right kind of) Texans are special and privileged, and the Damn Libs are keeping them from their birthright. The signal for me will be how many Texas Republicans switch affiliations.

This story has quite a bit of analysis: https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/34125788/civil-lawsuits-deshaun-watson-where-things-stand-20-settlements-next-cleveland-browns-qb It's *plausible* that this'll allow a decision sooner, but there's a lot up in the air right now. Also note that simply settling those cases, has no bearing per se on what the NFL does. What is likely is, there's going to be no more information about those 20 cases, so *maybe* the NFL can now make a decision, based on what they know about them. (I presume there's confidentiality agreements that'll keep the women from talking any further to the NFL.) IMO what this does do, is increase the pressure on the NFL to complete their process *soon*. The longer they take now, IMO, the worse they look. Which is hard to do, given their horrible track record.

The LIV circus continues as Brooks Koepka signs on. How meaningful this is, is rather up for debate. A USA Today opinion piece labeled him another frat boy. He's got 4 majors, to be sure...but he's also far down in the FedEx Cup standings, and not having a good year at all. Conversely, as players jump ship despite the consequences, the more the pressure rises.