2nd to last paragraph:

And this isn’t some anti-AI screed — I’m all-in on agentic software engineering!

Old skool definition of technopope - John Paul II in 1995:

The track he played

Disclaimer: this is all probably fake. Sadeness was old news by 1995. Also I’m high.

Most folks from where I refer to it as a bone in both noun and verb form. I know you think I’m joking, but the head is really stuck in tight…

Instructions unclear. Please advise on how to remove bone from apple unharmed - it is imperative that the bone remain undamaged.

Thanks for the clarification - it wasn’t evident in the article.

23 percent of Republicans say admit they’re worse off since second Trump term began.

FTFY

Yep, got my terminology a bit mixed up, but basically my message is that the Supreme Court needs to tell him to STFU or else we’re going to be seeing this headline every week till he dies, because he will never stop.

Plus:

In federal courts, an appeal is generally a right and can only be taken from final results, allowing typically one appeal. If the appellate court finds no prejudicial errors, they will affirm the original conviction and sentence. Missing filing deadlines can lead to appeal dismissal, leaving the original decision unchanged; failure to comply with briefing schedules can also result in dismissal for lack of prosecution. If a bond principal loses on appeal, they may require a court order for exoneration of the bond.

https://rochybylawoffice.com/how-many-times-can-you-appeal-a-federal-case.html

So I’m unclear why we’re on round two of this bullshit. Is there a reason why we’re seeing the Court allow multiple appeals on a final judgement? Is it because its a civil case subject to different rules, or just because he’s president?

Fucking dismiss it with prejudice already.

Edit: the appeal, not the judgement against Trump

You can’t reform rot.

Soon…

Not that you (or anyone reading this) should start up again, but if you roll your own the price goes down dramatically.

I’m in the US, where a pack of my brand (American Spirits) was $15/pack. At a pack a day that came out to $450/mo. Pack of Drum rolling tobacco is $10 for 1.5 ounces, which will last about two weeks, so $20/month or a cost decrease of 96%.

If you’re near a Native American reservation, you can get 6 ounce bag of Signal or Farmers Gold pipe tobacco for $15 - which will last about two months at the same rate of smoking.

In general, the taste and quality of rolled tobacco is better than what you get in cigarettes. Just get some papers ($3) and a zig-zag cigarette roller ($3) and you’re good to go. You also end up smoking less on average (I’m down from a pack a day to about 8 right now), although it will be unfiltered, so I’m not sure how that balances out from a health perspective.

That’s… actually a remarkable idea. Eugene Debs ran for President from prison in 1920, after he was convicted of sedition.

Do I think Luigi would make a good President? I have no clue, but he certainly couldn’t be a worse one than Trump. Magione now has international name recognition, and is rapidly becoming our era’s Robin Hood. While I’m not certain he’d win, it would send an incredible message to the healthcare industry, and the billionaire class at large. He has the potential to become the figurehead of a revolutionary movement. It certainly would make the 2028 bingo card spicy, that’s for sure.

Money has always been about trust, value is completely subjective.

And thus effectively imaginary, proving the point in my original post. And like all imaginary things, it only holds power over us if we believe in it.

As to gold vs. fiat, if I offer you a currency backed by gold or the same amount in a fiat currency back by the faith in a nation-state, which would you choose, all other things being equal? Which is the more stable investment? Which will hold value after the nation-state collapses?

Hint: it’s not fiat.

You’re missing the point, and the unemployment stats are in the table at the end of the text from the link here . Gold isn’t an ideal currency, I agree, but it’s better than a fiat currency tied to an arbitrary value.

As to the chronology it goes like this:

• 1971 - Gold standard abandoned - Nixon/Ford

• 1973 - 1975 OPEC oil embargo in push to jack price against the dollar, which has lost its connection to real wealth (gold) - Carter

• 1979 - Iranian revolution (in direct relation to the Shah’s use of the suddenly exploding oil wealth) - Reagan uses this in hostage crisis against Carter in the 1980 election and wins

• 1980 - 1982 recession - Reagan. Massive erosion of worker rights during this period (Air Traffic controllers strike, etc).

• 1991 recession - Bush - war in Iraq to maintain Kuwaiti oil supply and thus keep Iraq from being able to devalue the dollar (which at this point is tied more to oil than to gold)

• 1992 - 1999 - Clinton - best economic years in American history, but at the same time, significant erosion of labor capital with NAFTA and various neo-lib policies. Union membership drops further. Manufacturing begins to leave the US, further eroding the labor market.

• 2000 - Dotcom crash, preceded by the Asian market crash (I was actually working in the market around this time. It was not fun). Bush, 2nd Iraq war and Afghanistan, all ostensibly about oil, and propping up the dollar. Manufacturing accelerates its movement out of the US.

• 2008 - 2009 the degradation of labor capital comes full circle with the Great Recession, permanently displacing a significant portion of the middle class and beginning a homelessness crisis we’ve yet to resolve. You can see this in frozen minimum wage, the inflation we now grapple with, and the current collapse of the economy.

Right now, the dollar is holds its value based on faith in the American empire. When that faith in America is too tarnished to hold a shine, the dollar will fully collapse, and with it, the empire.

Gold won’t. It will always be used as a measure of wealth, regardless of a particular currency’s collapse. This is why Trump wants to “take a look” at Fort Knox. Even if he earns billions, a dollar collapse would wipe out his empire, but if he has a huge pile of gold, well…

Even when detainees overcame these obstacles and succeeded in winning court orders for their release, ICE has frequently delayed execution of the orders or outright defied them, deliberately prolonging detentions in an effort to coerce immigrants into “self-deporting.” In Minnesota, where ICE and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) carried out mass repression of immigrants’ rights protests, including the murder of Renée Nicole Good and Alex Pretti, Federal District Judge Patrick Schiltz, an appointee of Republican President George W. Bush, catalogued 90 court orders that ICE was defying.

We’re at the phase of the game where the judiciary is shown to have no teeth, and soon will only exist to rubber stamp the administration’s cruelty.

People are people, so just let it be.

Man, there goes history rhyming again…

The value of the gold is imaginary… You cannot eat it, you cannot drink it, it is not a tool of production. There is no inherent value of gold other than it is a shiny malleable metal that does not tarnish. None of that helps when you are starving.

Sorry, you’re flat out wrong here. While the value of gold is heavily inflated due to its association with currency, it absolutely does hold inherent value, particularly in electronics.

Those scenarios are the same. How would we eat if we didn’t have gold to pay for it? Well, another object of value would arise as a currency and gold would lose its value. Why couldn’t the person also use the gold to purchase the means of production? Because buying the means of production would distribute the gold. The same way buying the means of production would disperes fiat currency if you purchased the means of production.

Nope, they’re not. A central bank can make more fiat currency to make up for the reduction in liquidity. You can’t make more gold. Once you’ve spent it all it, its gone.

They both have a subjective value… The subjective value of the gold surpassed the subjective value of the dollar.

Yes, but only gold has inherent value. Yes, inflated, but it still has worth beyond its use as currency. That’s the point that you’re missing.

Lol, first of all the oil crisis happened because Iran had a revolution and stopped producing oil. Secondly, there has been more economic stability post 1971 than there ever was in the pre war era.

As someone who lived through it, no, that’s not what happened, although it was a result. OPEC saw a weakness in the dollar as a result of the decoupling from gold, and used the embargo to artificially drive up the price of oil to where it became a commodity with the strength of gold. The Iran coup was a result of the Americans attempting to get in on that same boom and ride the suddenly increasing value of oil. But they bungled it and Khomeni ended up riding that wave.

The US has experienced 34 recessions since 1854, all but 7 of them happened while on the gold standard.

You’re incorrect here as well, and misrepresenting the statistics. There are 48 official recessions in the US, and if you look though the statistics on the link above, the recessions after 1971 occur more frequently, last for longer, and have higher unemployment rates when you compare to the 50 years previous, with the exception being the Great Depression.

The cycle of boom and bust is just inherent to capitalism.

Yes, but I believe the root of that destructive cycle is in the failure of the concept behind, currency itself. Until the de facto currency represents true value capitalism will continue to grow like a cancer.

This is why I say money is imaginary - we believe it holds true value, when in fact the only value it holds is what we give it.