I tried to sneak closer to get some shots that weren’t obstructed by the fence, but by the time I got close enough, the babies had all scrambled away, running to their moms for protection and comfort. Still, yes, beware of Steve, always.
Belated good morning Wonkeroos! I'm posting again after many days of silence caused by illness. Missed you all muchly. Here's some links to the legal wars (law nerds delight).
Oh my god I want to clone Mamdani a hundred times. Where I work outsourcing has NEVER led to better services which means it has never led to savings. "Oh, you spend 60 hours a month fixing problems with our new service instead of your job" does not seem to count as a cost.
The baffle-gab that goes along with any outsourcing project: synergies, right-sizing, increased operational efficiencies, reduced overhead....(runs away screaming)
Bringing all contracted services in-house seems like a good idea, until you start digging. Some services such as trash removal have such a specialized tail (the actual disposal of waste) that the government wouldn’t be able to do it without spending billions on landfills or incinerators, money which contractors have already spent. Other things like grounds care are labor intensive when they are required, but may be minimal or nonexistent when they aren’t required. So we hire a bunch of people who sit on their thumbs for half the year? Or we have to hire and fire and hire an entire workforce every year?
Clearly contractors need to do their jobs right, pay their workers appropriately and care for the environment. Currently the rules require that, although of course there is room for improvement. And right now you can have one full-time person managing two contracts, for groundskeeping and snow removal, instead of having to internally manage dozens of people and millions of dollars worth of equipment. Contracting out new functions has always required a cost-benefit analysis, to determine if in-house or contracted makes more sense. Again there is undoubtedly room for improvement in that process, but it’s bent not broken.
Not aware how state or local governments do it, but for Uncle Sam there is something called “inherently governmental” functions. These are things which must be done by a federal employee, such as criminal investigation, commanding troops, diplomacy, setting policy, budget, etc. Other things may very well make sense to be handled by the business community.
They would be state investigations, state charges, state prosecutors, state judges, state laws on qualified immunity. The premise here is that the feds have declined to prosecute, and that the alleged criminal activity is outside the scope of the federal agents' legal duties (like murdering a protester/monitor in cold blood, for example).
Apparently there have been examples of this happening historically.
Seems to me like a pretty high-priority use of scarce prosecutorial resources, stopping the gestapo from repeatedky murdering people in the street without any consequences.
If you’re the Republicans, why not literally bribe Trump to resign for health reasons (“it was * completely unforeseeable* but the president has dementia”) then have Vance pardon him right away because when it comes to evil old fuckers the GOP just has sooooo much compassion, then tie up state charges claiming due to his mental Trump can’t be tried. Then enjoy a wave of fawning, credulous coverage from the bootlicking press about how JD Vance suddenly became so presidential and Trump secured his legacy. Then fundraise off how they have to stop the evil Democrats from hounding an old, sick man.
It would all be bullshit, of course, but when has that stopped them before?
It sure feels good to feel good again. I still have some tenderness to the touch in that area where the Endodontist was cleaning out a lingering infection. But I no longer have that systemic feeling of being unwell, and that pain that had me watching the clock for my next dose of medication. After five rough days, I have nothing but respect for people who live with chronic pain and still managed to carve out a meaningful life for themselves.Still gonna take it easy today, but I’m hopeful.
And I have a calendar that is wide open for the next couple of weeks. No need to go anywhere or do anything. It feels like the world is alive with possibility. Three more days of below zero at night forecast, and then after that, the belows are behind us, and starting next week it’s above freezing every day. It’s supposed to get up to 25° today, which sounds really beautiful.
We had a lot of snow this year, but these cool nights and warm days and light winds are perfect evaporating weather, which means less flood danger, less mud.
I got up, attended cats and the fire, took some pain medication, and I’m going back to sleep. There was a time in my life when I probably would not have understood that this in aggregate is what a really good day looks like, but I am wiser now, and feeling quite giddy.
"Trump, during remarks at a House Republican fundraising dinner on Wednesday:“I won’t use the word war because they say if you use the word war that’s maybe not a good thing to do,” Trump said while railing against Democrats. “They don’t like the word war because you’re supposed to get approval, so I’ll use the word military operation, which is really what it is. It’s called a military decimation. They don’t like the good publicity,” Trump added about Democrats, even though polls show a majority of Americans oppose the U.S. strikes." [HuffPost]
It's been clear for awhile that Trump is disconnected from reality, both cognitively and by intervention (the 2 minute highlight reel briefings he gets).
So, reporters need to ask the big questions to get things moving: When will Steiner break through with the 12th army and smash the Russians?
“Here’s why we went into Iran. We had no choice. The president didn’t start a war; he was trying to stop a war,” Sen. John ["Foghorn"] Kennedy (R-La.) told Larry Kudlow on Fox Business. He insisted Tehran was solely responsible for the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, the vital shipping lane through which about one-fifth of the world’s oil passes. “Iran shut it, we didn’t! We’re not to blame,” he said."
"House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) drew swift mockery on Wednesday after he awarded the president the first-ever “America First Award” at the National Republican Congressional Committee fundraiser, which he claimed would now be given “annually from this point forward.” “We could think of no better title for what that is,” Johnson said of the golden eagle statue. “That’s this beautiful golden statue here. Appropriate for the new golden era in America.”"
Jen's mockery keeps me little bit saner, much in the same way Wonkette does, but with less cusses. Off camera, I suspect the cuss-quotient is about the same.
I was, many years ago, doing a river trip in the middle of nowhere. Met a couple of older guys who had floated down through an area well northeast of the middle of nowhere, and I was a bit in awe. I asked them about conditions upriver, and one of them replied that the bugs were so bad it would’ve been enough to make a colored preacher swear.
I think the fact that Jen is able to keep from bringing profanity to the front of the camera speaks either to her extreme professionalism for her qualification for canonization.
LA Times, today: "President Claudia Sheinbaum on Wednesday said Mexico will continue to have Cuban doctors work in the country at a time when other nations across the Americas have ditched their agreements with Cuba’s government in the face of mounting U.S. pressure.
The leader’s support of the Cuban medical program comes as President Trump has suffocated Cuba by effectively cutting the island off from oil imports and has sought to isolate the Caribbean nation in an effort to push for regime change. The U.S. has pushed to end such missions, with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio calling it “forced labor” and a “form of human trafficking.”
A number of Latin American and Caribbean nations like Honduras and Jamaica have abruptly shut down the missions, and sent Cuban doctors home."
Local lambs, leaping. Your hed gif info: https://martiniambassador.substack.com/p/leapin-lambs
And your meme chat: https://open.substack.com/chat/posts/4962bfab-b5f3-471b-8bb2-a3a934d159d6?utm_source=share
STAMPEDE! Capping things off with mass lamb zoomies! Almost too much to take. 😋
Talk about being on the right side of the fence. It's all good when you're a lamb!
The Ram will ram you
so too, the Ewe
if either finds itself
with nothing better to do
Mary had a little lamb
A little toast
A little jam
A Little soda
Topped with fizz
Now, oh how stuffed
My Mary is.
Leaping lambs!
I like baby sheep almost as much as baby goats! And now I know how to tell the difference. I'm going to go and watch it again, thank you.
I would rather see lambs leaping than lords. Yay! Spring!
Maybe the 'lords' were a-larping?
"C'mon, let's go exploring! . . . Mom, we're home!"
seeing the lambs reminded me of a simpler time when we used to get baby goat videos in The Tabs
There's still tomorrow.
Tomorrow, tomorrow, there's always-----STOP THAT!
But mother...
Father son, father!
Where is local?? I want to see them!!
Get a move on, lambs, Chop, Chop!
Mint Sauce!
Those adorable zooming lambs are all “WAKE UP SHEEPLE!”.
DON'T, YOU FOOL!!!
https://xkcd.com/1013/
Now, but I just want to play on my pan-pipes
I just want to drink me some wine
As soon as you're born you start dyin'
So you might as well have a good time, oh no
.
Sheep go to Heaven, goats go to Hell
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYxs4esLI_E
Reminds me I am late. I will be there in 2 shakes of a lambs tail.
I feel better with all them behind a fence. That fucker Steve might be hiding among them!
I tried to sneak closer to get some shots that weren’t obstructed by the fence, but by the time I got close enough, the babies had all scrambled away, running to their moms for protection and comfort. Still, yes, beware of Steve, always.
Alan! Alan! Alan! Oh, that’s Steve. Steve! Steve! Steve!
"Abughazaleh!"
"Gesundheit!"
Belated good morning Wonkeroos! I'm posting again after many days of silence caused by illness. Missed you all muchly. Here's some links to the legal wars (law nerds delight).
Voting under attack as always- https://chrisgeidner.substack.com/p/scotus-right-imagines-ways-to-fight?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
The gulag wars continue- https://chrisgeidner.substack.com/p/lawyers-seek-full-fifth-circuit-review?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
Mueller was a hero- https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/the-situation--the-enduring-truths-of-the-mueller-report
Apparently trans peoples have no rights- https://chrisgeidner.substack.com/p/trans-west-virginians-ask-full-appeals?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
Looks like Trump may triumph- https://chrisgeidner.substack.com/p/eighth-circuit-mandatory-detention-ruling?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
That's all folks!
Oh my god I want to clone Mamdani a hundred times. Where I work outsourcing has NEVER led to better services which means it has never led to savings. "Oh, you spend 60 hours a month fixing problems with our new service instead of your job" does not seem to count as a cost.
The baffle-gab that goes along with any outsourcing project: synergies, right-sizing, increased operational efficiencies, reduced overhead....(runs away screaming)
Let's circle back.
"Something something Romancing the Stone." Never leaving your poor heart alone?
Bringing all contracted services in-house seems like a good idea, until you start digging. Some services such as trash removal have such a specialized tail (the actual disposal of waste) that the government wouldn’t be able to do it without spending billions on landfills or incinerators, money which contractors have already spent. Other things like grounds care are labor intensive when they are required, but may be minimal or nonexistent when they aren’t required. So we hire a bunch of people who sit on their thumbs for half the year? Or we have to hire and fire and hire an entire workforce every year?
Clearly contractors need to do their jobs right, pay their workers appropriately and care for the environment. Currently the rules require that, although of course there is room for improvement. And right now you can have one full-time person managing two contracts, for groundskeeping and snow removal, instead of having to internally manage dozens of people and millions of dollars worth of equipment. Contracting out new functions has always required a cost-benefit analysis, to determine if in-house or contracted makes more sense. Again there is undoubtedly room for improvement in that process, but it’s bent not broken.
Not aware how state or local governments do it, but for Uncle Sam there is something called “inherently governmental” functions. These are things which must be done by a federal employee, such as criminal investigation, commanding troops, diplomacy, setting policy, budget, etc. Other things may very well make sense to be handled by the business community.
They would be state investigations, state charges, state prosecutors, state judges, state laws on qualified immunity. The premise here is that the feds have declined to prosecute, and that the alleged criminal activity is outside the scope of the federal agents' legal duties (like murdering a protester/monitor in cold blood, for example).
Apparently there have been examples of this happening historically.
Seems to me like a pretty high-priority use of scarce prosecutorial resources, stopping the gestapo from repeatedky murdering people in the street without any consequences.
If you’re the Republicans, why not literally bribe Trump to resign for health reasons (“it was * completely unforeseeable* but the president has dementia”) then have Vance pardon him right away because when it comes to evil old fuckers the GOP just has sooooo much compassion, then tie up state charges claiming due to his mental Trump can’t be tried. Then enjoy a wave of fawning, credulous coverage from the bootlicking press about how JD Vance suddenly became so presidential and Trump secured his legacy. Then fundraise off how they have to stop the evil Democrats from hounding an old, sick man.
It would all be bullshit, of course, but when has that stopped them before?
But think of the children!
Their pardons!
Going hog wild for your sheepish humor Martini.
It sure feels good to feel good again. I still have some tenderness to the touch in that area where the Endodontist was cleaning out a lingering infection. But I no longer have that systemic feeling of being unwell, and that pain that had me watching the clock for my next dose of medication. After five rough days, I have nothing but respect for people who live with chronic pain and still managed to carve out a meaningful life for themselves.Still gonna take it easy today, but I’m hopeful.
And I have a calendar that is wide open for the next couple of weeks. No need to go anywhere or do anything. It feels like the world is alive with possibility. Three more days of below zero at night forecast, and then after that, the belows are behind us, and starting next week it’s above freezing every day. It’s supposed to get up to 25° today, which sounds really beautiful.
We had a lot of snow this year, but these cool nights and warm days and light winds are perfect evaporating weather, which means less flood danger, less mud.
I got up, attended cats and the fire, took some pain medication, and I’m going back to sleep. There was a time in my life when I probably would not have understood that this in aggregate is what a really good day looks like, but I am wiser now, and feeling quite giddy.
"Trump, during remarks at a House Republican fundraising dinner on Wednesday:“I won’t use the word war because they say if you use the word war that’s maybe not a good thing to do,” Trump said while railing against Democrats. “They don’t like the word war because you’re supposed to get approval, so I’ll use the word military operation, which is really what it is. It’s called a military decimation. They don’t like the good publicity,” Trump added about Democrats, even though polls show a majority of Americans oppose the U.S. strikes." [HuffPost]
Dumb pumpkin head thinks pete smegseth crowing about lethality is good publicity.
OT!
Has anyone else seen the diss tracks Iran has been posting about Orange Boy? I think the world needs to collectively turn the damn Internet off!
It's been clear for awhile that Trump is disconnected from reality, both cognitively and by intervention (the 2 minute highlight reel briefings he gets).
So, reporters need to ask the big questions to get things moving: When will Steiner break through with the 12th army and smash the Russians?
If they asked nonsense questions like this, Trump would go into full kid-who-didn't-read-the-book-trying-to-bullshit-the-oral-book-report mode.
Then, the pundits can play the clips and ask, "How is this not elder abuse?"
“Here’s why we went into Iran. We had no choice. The president didn’t start a war; he was trying to stop a war,” Sen. John ["Foghorn"] Kennedy (R-La.) told Larry Kudlow on Fox Business. He insisted Tehran was solely responsible for the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, the vital shipping lane through which about one-fifth of the world’s oil passes. “Iran shut it, we didn’t! We’re not to blame,” he said."
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/john-kennedy-donald-trump-iran-war_n_69c4e8a5e4b081f8eb14f671?origin=home-latest-news-unit
Senator, I don't know how to break this to you, but Han shot first.
"House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) drew swift mockery on Wednesday after he awarded the president the first-ever “America First Award” at the National Republican Congressional Committee fundraiser, which he claimed would now be given “annually from this point forward.” “We could think of no better title for what that is,” Johnson said of the golden eagle statue. “That’s this beautiful golden statue here. Appropriate for the new golden era in America.”"
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/new-award-donald-trump-reaction_n_69c4cb1de4b0e447525c3260?origin=home-latest-news-unit
Spoiler Alert!
There will not be a second America First Award awarded.
"golden era" in this context, refers to the golden showers we receive every day labeled as rain.
Jen Psaki had so much fun with this: https://www.rawstory.com/jen-psaki-2676622110/
Jen's mockery keeps me little bit saner, much in the same way Wonkette does, but with less cusses. Off camera, I suspect the cuss-quotient is about the same.
I was, many years ago, doing a river trip in the middle of nowhere. Met a couple of older guys who had floated down through an area well northeast of the middle of nowhere, and I was a bit in awe. I asked them about conditions upriver, and one of them replied that the bugs were so bad it would’ve been enough to make a colored preacher swear.
I think the fact that Jen is able to keep from bringing profanity to the front of the camera speaks either to her extreme professionalism for her qualification for canonization.
LA Times, today: "President Claudia Sheinbaum on Wednesday said Mexico will continue to have Cuban doctors work in the country at a time when other nations across the Americas have ditched their agreements with Cuba’s government in the face of mounting U.S. pressure.
The leader’s support of the Cuban medical program comes as President Trump has suffocated Cuba by effectively cutting the island off from oil imports and has sought to isolate the Caribbean nation in an effort to push for regime change. The U.S. has pushed to end such missions, with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio calling it “forced labor” and a “form of human trafficking.”
A number of Latin American and Caribbean nations like Honduras and Jamaica have abruptly shut down the missions, and sent Cuban doctors home."
One Cuban hospital, when they lost all power, every patient on a ventilator died.
Trump's getting off on this shit.