August 30, 2023

I'm going to miss those Jardiance commercials

...not.

Jardiance is one of the drugs that Medicare will target for the first round of price cuts.

https://www.npr.org/2023/08/29/1195984752/medicare-drug-price-negotiations

The ad campaign for this drug is absolutely relentless. This shitty commercial with its shitty song blankets CATV/SATV as well as streaming platforms. Drugs that are reasonably priced, safe, and effective pretty much sell themselves and don't need direct advertising to the public. So, you are getting gouged by this drug and/or it may cause gangrene on your taint.

August 28, 2023

I want to speak with the DOJ manager

My 2024-2025 schedule is booked solid, you need to reschedule this trial for 2026!

August 26, 2023

Can an independent vote for Trump in 2024?

Technically, of course. But can you really vote for Trump and claim to be an independent in good faith? In 2016, sure. He ran as an anti-politician. In 2020 this was becoming a bit of a stretch as he already had one impeachment under his belt. In 2024, he's up to two impeachments, 91 felony charges, and broke his Oath of Office for the Presidency by not facilitating the peaceful transfer of power. What's the attraction there for an independent? I submit that a Trump vote in 2024 exposes you as a hardcore MAGA-Republican.

August 22, 2023

What's the World Record for the number of federal charges successfully defended against in the U.S.?

Would 44 straight wins get in the Guiness Book? Al Capone only beat 18 out of 23 charges in his 1931 trial.

The feds have a conviction rate of over 90% as I understand it. That doesn't bode well for RICO Suave.

August 20, 2023

Top 5 Bee Gees Bass Lines

August 15, 2023

Trump earned himself a new shitty theme song and nickname

RICO Suave!

August 13, 2023

Neil Diamond "I Am... I Said"

August 10, 2023

Will the Republican 2024 presidential candidates debate in good faith at their primary?

A "good faith" political debate is one you might have with friends while enjoying cigars and scotch. It is characterized by alternating between addressing previous statements and genuinely listening to the next. Good faith debaters will employ the conversational technique of paraphrasing to confirm understanding. These debaters will even concede a position when definitively outmaneuvered.

This is in stark contrast to what we get at political debates pitting Democrats against Republicans. These tend to be unwinnable shitshows with Republicans largely engaging in the opposite strategy: talking points, straw man arguments designed to smear, brazen assertions of righteousness, pettifogging, etc. This has become the norm and will continue in 2024.

That said, Trump debated in this way in the 2016 primary. Why don't Republican voters demand more? This style of debating is lazy and ultimately uninformative (and arguably disrespectful) to the viewers. How is a party to best choose their candidate this way?

Can we expect the same in 2024? Is Trump even capable of more? Doesn't the job function require this skill?

August 4, 2023

The moment Game of Thrones jumped the shark

For me, it was the death of Myrcella in Season 5

The show started off by scattering the families of the various houses around Westeros. It was a slow burn, and the prospect of joyful reunions was always dangled over our heads. But in Season 5 I became a bit skeptical that there would ever be any such payoff. When Jamie and Myrcella were on the boat, I was thinking to myself: how will she die?? An arrow fired from the beach? A shark? Drowning? DOH so it was poison lipstick. It occurred to me that the show had become predictable. The whole deal with this show was that it was totally unpredictable, but that was no longer the case in Season 5. Seasons 6 - 8 were a slide into mediocrity, but the slide started with that moment in Season 5 in my opinion.

August 3, 2023

Ozzy Osbourne - Rock 'n' Roll Rebel