Pete1111

The pencil helps Vance look forever young. Just like his boss wants to do.

Where I come from "Aunt" is pronounce like the insect. Where I live now I have been corrected. Where I live now, many say "ont". I have also been corrected how to pronounce local cities, for not being accustomed enough how locals do. For example, cities with French or Spanish origin are often mispronounced by locals. I have to remember. 🙂 I would never bother to correct someone unless they seemed like the wanted help with pronunciation.

How did thousands of Palestinians advance so far into Israel and kill so many? For all the $ billions in military support that Congress has sent Israel year after year, does anyone want to know how Netanyahu's government allowed an attack of this scope? Instead of taking responsibility, even resigning, he has shifted blame, and used the attack to strengthen his power. That said, I know how Palestinians treat gay men. I would feel foolish supporting people that freely want to do us harm. The Middle East has become a sh!t hole for gay men since the Arab Spring. Israel is the only place that remains somewhat safe for us. The BBC piece discusses how opinion is shifting among the young. I could ask the campus protesters where are your protests against Trump's colleague in Moscow? Tens of thousands of Ukrainian civilians have died. Wake up.

I guess it's my Dad in me, but I immediately started calculating what it would cost if 10 or 20 million undocumented immigrants took the $1000 deal. What would Trump pay them with? From his tariff windfall? 😃 Crypto? Also, would he pay up? His art-of-the-deal historically has been to stiff people, right and left. How many folks trust his offer? That said, a lot of the recent arrivals paid the cartels much more to get them across the border. $1000 might seem like a joke to them. And none of them want to leave, right? Life sucks where they came from. Fining them $1000 a day, as dog murderer Noem warns, reminds me how the Nazi's fleeced the Jews of everything while hustling them from their homes to the camps. I sense these are some evil f*ckers coming up with these schemes, and I say that with all due respect. I have friends, a lesbian couple, that ultimately became Canadian citizens. Took some time to get that accomplished. For me, I am considering a move. It's just brainstorming. Nothing planned.

Does the GOP care how deporting workers hastens Social Security insolvency? For years their agenda has been to undermine and even privatize Social Security. So, losing the revenue deducted from worker paychecks is nothing more than an "oh well!" to them. I agree, one can hope that Millennials and Zoomers will realize they need to tax the rich. My sense is the momentum is not moving in that direction. Was good to hear Warren Buffet add to the tariff conversation. He also recently reminded that we need to remember some people draw the short straw in life, that it's not their fault. I doubt Jeff Bezos has such thoughts when floating on his $500,000,000 mega yacht.

I love Edmund White and Alan Hollinghurst, yet I went other directions with my 5 books. At Swim, Two Boys A great Irish novel, and an unforgettable story. Call Me by Your Name I enjoy all of Aciman's books, especially this one, which is quite different from the movie and one I've read multiple times. Frederick Douglass Prophet of Freedom Every American should read this Pulitzer Prize winning dramatic biography. The Last of the Wine Mary Renault's first novel set in antiquity, one I've re-read and will again. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay Also a Pulitzer winner, and an epic story, with so much food for thought, I loved how Clay crossed that line with Bacon on top of Democracity.

When I moved to California from the Midwest years ago I was suddenly in a far more diverse world. Looking around, it was clear to me who was willing to get up early each day and get busy. Who was doing most of the jobs. Young immigrants. I remember George W. Bush how his administration admitted we must bring undocumented workers out of the shadows. Back then we heard the term "path to citizenship". Bush admitted we can't just send them all back. To me, he was admitting what few politicians will say, that these millions of workers are a big part of our economic engine. All the years when our economy was chugging along, while other regions weren't, had do be in part due to cheap, young labor that worked hard here in the States. The GOP is using immigrants as an emotional, political hot button. On C-Span I see the same thing happen in Parliament. This is politics. But we are cutting off our nose to spite our face.

At the very least, the Gavel Gang invited where we, how the Supremes failed to rule and then finally ruled in ways that stopped prosecution, allowed King Baby to run and then ruled his actions as President are immune. He was invited to bring this chaos, and now the judicial branch has to scramble to check the Prez. Meanwhile we have a wild, crazy chimp throwing sh!t all over the world economy.

@bkkmfj2648 I am now hungry for that baguette style Vietnamese sandwich. We have those here. Delicious. I love the path Tony Leung's character took at the end, starting with the contemplative visit to the Falls, and how Chang took Lai's sadness to the end of the world to let it go. I appreciate how the film fits your situation. 🙏🏻 I love how Lai was able to meet Chang's family in Taipei. They were as good hearted as one might expect. By the end, Wong Kar Wai shows the Universe brought those two together, that Lai and Chang will potentially meet again someday. From your image above, The Route 66 diner peaks my interest. 🇺🇸

A draft dodger gets a military parade on his birthday.

An article in libertarian magazine Reason suggests what I first thought when hearing Trump had a judge arrested, that it was for show, to demonstrate the power of the judicial branch is no longer co-equal. Specifically, the article by Damon Root says the Trump administration planned "to use the specter of an allegedly criminal judge as additional political fodder in its broader attack on the independence of the courts." The article predicts that settled law will work in Judge Dugan's favor, as follows. In Printz v. United States (1997), the U.S. Supreme Court ruled...... "The Federal Government may neither issue directives requiring the States to address particular problems," declared the majority opinion of Justice Antonin Scalia, "nor command the States' officers, or those of their political subdivisions, to administer or enforce a federal regulatory program." Scalia's opinion was rooted in principles of federalism and the 10th Amendment. Sorry guys if I'm already stating specific ground covered, but if not, then as I do believe was argued in the thread above, the judicial branch interprets the law, and according to Scalia (RIP), the Printz case is the law. Flores-Ruiz still faced domestic abuse charges. Judge Dugan was angered how Federal agents were hovering outside. Perhaps that weighed on her decision, telling him to use the side door to exit. Agreed, how letting such a violent character that is an undocumented immigrant walk out of court seems questionable. But I wonder if the judge had enough of the shit show going on under Trump. Can the Executive branch start respecting the Constitution? Otherwise we're all potentially fucked. From the Damon Root Article

Thank you everyone. I've already screened and enjoyed one mentioned above, more to come. I made a list of 15 movies and whittled that down to 5. The last 2 left out were Gosford Park and Mulholland Drive. So, here are my 5. Purple Rose of Cairo Somewhat of a sleeper. Mia Farrow is a treasure in this. The implausible story is the basis for so much hijinks. Gene Siskel Chicago Tribune called it "a classic film about our love affair with fantasy." Vincent Canby New York Times said, "at 84 minutes, it's short but nearly every one of those minutes is blissful." The Godfather Al Pacino is everything. And there's Marlon Brando. 💗 Casablanca While watching the Ken Burns WWII documentary "Defying the Nazis", what people went through to get out before being captured, I thought about Casablanca, how well Hollywood had their finger on the pulse of what was really happening in Europe. As well as amazingly true-to-life, Casablanca was a gripping, romantic, wonderful screenplay. And so many great lines. Play La Marseillaise! Play it. Kiss me as if it were the last time. etc. etc. A Room With a View How many people realize that's Daniel Day Lewis playing the character Cecil Vyse. Who else could portray Cecil's snobbery so exquisitely? We ultimately feel sorry for him. Only Daniel Day Lewis could get us there, I think. Judy Dench, Maggie Smith, Denholm Elliott, and on and on. What a cast! Happy Together After Leslie Cheung died, a film tribute, including Happy Together, screened at a theater on La Brea in Los Angeles, 20+ years ago. I still have my poster from the tribute, framed and hung in my guest bedroom. He was so talented and died so young. I still get a bit verklempt when watching his music videos. I recently bought Criterion's box set of films by the great director Wong Kar-Wai, which includes Happy Together. As far as gay movies go, this one is in a class by itself. The three leads are tremendous. The handsome Tony Leung received the most awards, and rightly so. Wong Kar-Wai won best director at Cannes. Perhaps western audiences here in the States are less accepting, that a simple, poignant lesson is too maudlin for their taste, how Lai was brought to tears the night before his friend leaves Buenos Aires. That scene always gets me. It's the best. Tony Leung Leslie Cheung

I would like to think Hoover followed some bad advice, how he reacted to the Great Depression. Certainly some very unfair decisions came from his administration. Knowing his background, an orphan that came from simple means, it is difficult to think of him as the kind of scoundrel Trump can be. The small home he grew up in is within view of his grave, his plan to show he never forgot humble beginnings. One doesn't hear much anymore how drought (the Dust Bowl) made the depression much worse and that WWII was a key factor that ended economic depression. Banking reform and New Deal programs were definitely needed. Roosevelt guided in the right direction. Growing up, I remember holidays where relatives that were kids back then, reminiscing about getting by. Raising chickens in the backyard, trapping skunks, raccoons and rats to turn in for a small bounty, backyard gardening, canning and so on. I should revise one thing above, that Hoover Library is closed for remodel, and will reopen sometime next year. His granddaughter, Margaret Hoover had visited there just prior to my touring.

I remember in high school during economics class the teacher pointed at the white board (or was it a chalk board?) and said this board represents our economy. Then he drew a small square in one corner and said "this is how much we understand about the economy". Fast forward many years, even in our current age of supercomputers and market controls, the reaction to U.S economic policy is not always understood well enough. To say that tariffs caused the Great Depression as in this brief opinion piece might not be a sound idea. Jerome Powell admits we can't know where the economy will go with Trump's tariffs. We have to wait. Bill Gross does warn that tariffs might cause stagflation, that tariffs are a bad idea. Yes, how tariffs made the Great Depression worse is an accepted fact by economic scholars and historians. But these experts may not accept that tariffs were the original cause. What bothers me (I may have said this before) is how Democrats like to equate Trump and Hoover. For example, all of the corruption, scandals, and tax cuts that happened in Washington 100 years ago preceded Hoover. The stock market crash itself was not caused by Hoover. Alan Greenspan used to discuss how irrational exuberance will escalate asset values. That concept is much closer to what lead to the 1929 crash. Investors were buying stocks on credit. These were not "value investors" I am weary of how Democrats like to parrot ideas about Hoover without understanding history. Hoover was in a class by himself comparted to King Baby. Hoover had many admirable accomplishments in his life and was already well known and admired around the world before he became President. He was a famous mining engineer. He played a role in international relief efforts during World War I, helping many Europeans avoid starvation. I recommend anyone heading down I-80 in Iowa stop at the Hoover Library to learn another side of Hoover, what kind of man Hoover was. Yes, politicians and some historians like to trot out a lot of bad policy decisions they assign to Hoover, that make him seem pretty evil, but there was a good side to the man, a side that Trump will never achieve. Donald Trump will never accomplish what Hoover did in his life.

This YouTube channel below continues to post far-fetched fictional stories about Jasmine Crockett. Even though the channel mentions in the fine print these are fictional, IMO this bullsh!t should not be allowed. The narrative paints her as worthy yet all of these nonstop confrontations are false. One gets an impression that she grinds all these people to dust when she hasn't. From the comments, one can tell many many people believe these reports are true. A lot of negative emotions are stirred. Again, the above is fictional. I complained to YouTube. Thoughts?