He is a party elder and their poster boy from 2012. His positions haven't really changed, yet he found himself completely out of lockstep with Republicans by 2016. He's now the RINO poster boy. How can this be the case in a political party which claims to be so firmly rooted in the unwavering Constitution? The reality is that they now fall in line as a cult of personality behind their leader and accept his wavering, unsupported claims on faith.

Romney isn't a one-off, the previous elders Bush also garner little respect nowadays from said cult.

They have two choices moving forward as I see it:

1) Pull up their pants, retreat with at least a shred of dignity
2) Shout support for the "Red Knight" with their Medieval Times red crowns proudly worn and pants down

The E. Jean Carroll defamation case has him on the hook for millions in damages and counting. This involves an intentional tort and can't be dismissed in bankruptcy court as I understand it. But there are all these other mounting legal bills as well as a real estate business reportedly in decline and the prospect of heavy fines. He's already making moves to shield assets; will this be the final move? One more punt for the home team before the inevitable defeat?

Trump won't be expected to achieve any great legislative accomplishments in his second term. On the contrary, his base will expect him to obstruct any new legislation from going through and issue executive orders to chip away at existing legislation.

Trump won't be expected to score on political layups. He can offend America's Gold Star Families, enrage our allies, and trumpet "Happy Memorial Day!" at ceremonies, and that's OK. KKkrrrrrrrrrrrANG!

Trump won't be expected to remember facts. He sort of has to remember some key facts to misstate though.

Trump won't be expected to deftly thread the needle crossing the aisle. On the contrary, his role is to be a big obnoxious personality who can make people cry and flood the zone with shit. Hell, we all know an old-as-dirt neighbor or relative who's proficient at that!

Trump won't be tasked with handpicking Supreme Court nominations from a large field. He need only pick from a pre-vetted shortlist provided by the Federalist Society should vacancies ever appear.

The reality is that Trump and Biden aren't running for the same job. The POTUS role has always been tailored around the incumbent. Biden fulfills that role as Commander-in-chief, while Trump's only job function is Useful-idiot-in-chief.

We're going to feature the Klingons quite a bit, but they are going to look differently because reasons. So what...the TOS Klingons looked like Afghans!

We need a new take on the conflicted Vulcan officer, so we are going to go with a human who was raised as a Vulcan this go-round. That hasn't been done before. This officer will start a war with the Klingons even though the captain said not to. Spock disobeyed an order once, so it's basically like that.

There is this spore drive. So, you take these spores and...umm...connect up a computer to...umm...an alien and, well, you transport anywhere instantly. This is more advanced than anything that came later in TOS or TNG. We have time loop devices so we can square that up later. The alien is an ultraviolent mass-murderer unless you feed it, so like a reverse Gremlin.

We're going to have these cool Pahvan aliens who are just puffs of smoke. They built this really rickety antenna. Discovery's engineer has no idea what it is for but has concluded it can be used to decloak the Klingon vessels. Despite being easily detectable and destroyable, it can be a gamechanger in the war. Starfleet laptops connect right to it (it is probably a standard USB connection).

Would such a bumper sticker indicate the driver is a sardonic Biden supporter, or a conspiracist MAGA Republican?

It could sort of go either way.

It's mostly harmless but makes your hair grow really long post-infection and compels you to breakdance.

You might develop cravings for Bartles & Jaymes wine coolers. I hear they are making those again.

I'm unabashedly basic when it comes to this sort of thing. I have a make-at-home rendition of a pumpkin spice latte which is pretty damn good. I like pumpkin ales like Southern Tier Pumking (that one can sneak up on you). The Pumpkin Pie Blizzard is out at Dairy Queen and I recently snarfed one of those down. I bought a box of the new Monster cereal "Carmella Creeper". It is good but is essentially green Waffle Crisp.

One year Dunkin came out with a Spicy Ghost Pepper Donut. That was great! It was a strawberry donut with just a hint of ghost pepper heat.

Any other garbage food or drink items I should know about this year?

...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.