Affogato

I imagine Kier was a bustling area back when the mines were running. Now it is old restaurants, old fashioned diners, old cars. Most of the mining and manufacturing plants have closed and been taken overseas. The college or university Mark and Gemma taught at was probably part of a city that has seen better days, and they likely could afford that amazing house because of low property values. We learned that Gemma will die if Mark finishes ‘cold harbor’, so it is good that we learned this before he went back to work. Maybe she will melt down into a liniment that will balance tempers. Or is it a program that can be run in the Severance chip, which will be dangled in front of the world, so they all will be severed. Like Soma. A drug to keep people placid, they can all be innies. It is still winter, isn’t it? Even with that, the mansion is not on attractively landscaped grounds. The beginning of this episode, the swimming, was different and cinematic. She is swimming in deep waters, indeed. I find myself worrying how Irving will manage, did he bring money? Are their credit cards, which he shouldn’t use, and ID to get another job. I hope he can contact another antiLumon cell and continue the good fight. If that is possible. He isn’t going to take a train to Svarlsbad or I’d wonder if he’d meet up with Miss Huang. This episode seemed to tie off his story for now, so I don’t think we will learn what happens to him until next year. Miss Huang should have facilitated better and is likely better suited to empathy work, whatever that is, poor Dylan. That was doomed from the start. I continue to think Drummond is an Eagan. I wonder about the egg ritual and if it is an indication of purity. I wonder if there is incest in the Eagan family. I wonder if it is possible to take the export hall and have a different outcome than in the regular elevators. Cobel changed her appearance right at the end, good acting and camera work, and I am frightened to think what that means.

Mark thinks his innie is still Mark, but Mark without his load of grief and regret, without the baggage. I imagine most people would think, something like that, me without the weight of the world. That seems to be what Dylan, in fact, is…

It is not just the immediate safety. It is the aftermath. Not just long term repairs, either. Fresh water, food, medicine, help relocating.

Wearing a US flag patch upside down is simplest.

He did, but his marriage is probably not great. When was the last time Gretchen and oDylan had a moment?

Trump can’t run a hotel or casino. There is evidence. There is absolutely no evidence that he understands the tariffs and while some people can explain them with a positive slant he just repeats the idea. It is like he is remembering something from a bad tv show. Speaking of which. Art of the deal? Ugh. Trump sucks as a business man and got a big knee up at the beginning. He is a bully. He bullies people into deals. He doesn’t pay, hasn’t paid contractors. First if it works it isn’t ripping us off. This isn’t a big deal to me or to anyone who is not self centered and transactional. We wnt a better country and a better world and if that means an immigrant or the Ukraine gets a helping hand, that isn’t bad. It is even ‘Christian’. (i’m not, but it isn’t a bad value) “Thus, as you do to the least of ny brethren, so also do you do onto me.” also, yeah, the shutdown would have hurt. Not shutting down may hurt more long term.

If we can’t keep jets from hitting helicopters, imagine the accidents if we had flying cars.

I think they should let the shut down happen and make a stand against what is happening. Going along, even with good intentions….is enabling.

The District of Columbia is being gutted. Traditionally democratic, too. Losing jobs and money for public services.

You tell them the baby died. Alternatively you pay them well and set them up elsewhere. Maybe you kill them. I’m not devoted to this, but it is a thought.

Yes, it is an AU. I haven’t read the book you mention. Interesting idea.

It isn’t set in the 90s. That isn’t the point. The point is not that. You are not supposed to ‘pin down a time period’. Of all the mysteries here, that one isn’t a mystery.

The babies can be birthed severed and taken away from the mothers.

‘Trump’ is dismantling the government. Musk is doing it chaotically. Vought and project 25 are doing it systematically, putting control in the hands of a dictator. Control of money and information. There is a genuine reason to fear that there will not be an election in four years, as we have known them. What is happening is not we have won and we are fulfilling our vision. This is a takeover of the government, using an emotionally dis regulated, unhealthy, childish old man (who is for some reason popular) as an initial wedge into the system . Trump doesn’t understand how to use usaid to create precedents to vet control of congresses pursestrings, nor does he care who it hurts. You know this. Does he seem smart? It also provides an opportunity for China to step in and provide aid, by the way will they? The US is writing itself out of world politics

Because he can do both. Personal i formation is personal. Also competence has not been the watchword. Petty personal revenge has been common. And Trump appears to have been cultivated as a Russian asset since the 70s. That sort of thing. I do want to point iut that he may not have been a russian asset earlier but that everyone in the world is aware that he is one now.

Yes but he is not that healthy. The bruising on his hand indicates blood thinners, not virility, and there are some indications of a stroke, which would explain the blood thinners. He eats and sleeps poorly and appears bored by long discussions.

Not Musk. Not Vought.

an interesting essay (and quote from same):: https://scienceblogs.com/denialism/2007/04/30/unified-theory-of-the-crank Unified theory of the crank By denialism on April 30, 2007. A crank is defined as a man who cannot be turned. - Nature, 8 Nov 1906 Here at denialism blog, we're very interested in what makes people cranks. Not only how one defines crankish behavior, but literally howpeople develop unreasonable attitudes about the world in the face of evidence to the contrary. Our definition of a crank, loosely, is a person who has unreasonable ideas about established science or facts that will not relent in defending their own, often laughable, version of the truth. Central to the crank is the "overvalued idea". That is some idea they've incorporated into their world view that they will not relinquish for any reason. Common overvalued ideas that are a source of crankery range from bigotry, antisemitism(holocaust deniers), biblical literalism (creationists - especially YEC's), egotism (as it relates to the complete unwillingness to ever be proven wrong) or an indiscriminant obsession with possessing "controversial" or iconoclastic ideas. Some people just love believing in things that no one in their right mind does, out of some obscure idea that it makes them seem smart or different.

I agree. Vance is giving off a Quayle vibe. He may have a useful place behind the scenes, but not in front of the camera. I doubt anyone around Trump will be allowed to have any strength of purpose or character or charisma. Most of the congressional Republicans with moral fiber have backed away, or will soon enough. Governors, I think, are the big pool of contestants. Or billionaires.

Really, who could win the next election?

Back to the narcissism. He loves the attention. Tariffs on. Tariffs off. You’re fired. Etc. He wants negative attention as much as he wants positive attention. Simply stopping is a fantastic strategy. I think there really won’t be much America left. People will have ro sell to other countries. In the end we will be a foreign subsidiary. 47s legacy.

I’ll be under the bed.

No. Pacifism and Socialism are respectable, long standing philosophical traditions that have been extensively studied and discussed. They are not faith based, even if people believe in them and even if they are important principles held by major religions. They are not the same as wearing a tinfoil hat to keep the aliens from controlling you.

I’d LOL but I can’t.

They are looking forward to the time when there are no taxes or regulations. Occams razor points out that calling 47 a narcissist explains most of his personal behavior and can predict it. I still believe someone is finessing his attempts to take over control of the countries finances from congress, and other things he is doing. I believe he wants another third term in office, because narcissist. I doubt anyone really believes this will happen. I believe others are tossing it around as a distraction from what is really happening.