DMC

Texas officials are blaming the National Weather Service for bad forecasting on the downpour that led to the floods. Of course, the NWS warned of "degraded" forecasts after DOGE gutted their staff. This is what happens when you let the richest person in the world do some ketamine and fuck around with the government.

He’s a tiny old man that believes in thetan levels and a galactic dictator named Xenu. Might as well be Yoda jumping around against Dooku at the end of AOTC.

Yeah whenever I watch Tom Cruise as a sixty year old captain saving the day, first thing that comes to mind is “Regular Guy.”

I knew McMahon more from his roles in Nip/Tuck and Charmed. What’s weird is my siblings and I were just randomly talking about him as Doom on Tuesday. Also weird is he died in Clearwater, not far away from us.

I’m just saying negative partisanship, affective polarization, toxic discourse, whatever you wanna call it. Its correlation to “pro-wrestlization” is clearly coincidental. Political theater has always shared similarities. I guess you could say Trump has always had a relationship with the WWF/E, and the McMahons, and Dana White for that matter. But the trend you’re referring to is obviously bigger than the squared circle.

Here's an informative summary of how much each income bracket is benefitting from the tax cuts in the reconciliation bill. Feel like it should be cited that the numbers are taken from the Tax Policy Center's analysis:

Both of those episodes were pretty fun. The second one was also about Sam dealing with his father's infidelity.

I would assume the market already priced in the reconciliation bill passing some time ago. It was always incredibly likely the GOP would eventually pass the major aspects of the bill (extending the 2017 tax cuts, gutting Medicaid and SNAP, repealing Biden’s new energy tax credits).

They may both be owned by Ari Gold now, but even you should know UFC is not pro-wrestling.

I wouldn’t be surprised if the main event of Trump’s 250 anniversary celebration is literally gladiators.

Madsen was pretty damn good in Hateful Eight, which I like more than most. He also made Kill Bill 2 a lot better in the first half. The scene Ran posted is one of my favorites of the film(s), linked it quite a few times on here over the years. It woulda been cool if Tarantino could've wrote him a role in Django. Maybe as Leo's number two, or even Don Johnson's.

On Tuesday I told my niece it was July 4th on Friday and if she knew what that meant. She said "it's America's birthday and there will be fireworks and cheeseburgers and hot dogs." That's about the only good political news this week I can report.

I think NBA coaching is actually fairly similar to MLB managers, at least with competing teams. They're largely there to manage egos and make the final call on exploiting advantageous matchups. It can be useful to change schemes mid-game or mid-series in the playoffs, but let's face it, most coaches are too arrogant to do this anyway - even the great ones. Where I think NBA coaches are useful is on a young and developing team. Building chemistry and tangible goals for improvement can make a big difference between molding a solid young core and staying in tank-mode for years. This is where I appreciate Moseley. Anyway, on Brown to the Knicks, I think he will help because he should improve their offense - which is what is needed for the team right now. He also has so much experience you don't have to worry about the players running roughshod over him.

I've been getting the verification check quite a bit the last few days, but it does confirm and send me to the site after a few seconds - so no real spinning wheel of death. I'm on a Mac or IPad and Chrome. Hasn't bothered me yet - and if it does I'll clear cookies - just FYI.

The apples scene obviously happened after he picked Minnie Driver up, and she wasn’t there.

The ACS questionnaire is more extensive than the standard decennial census. That's actually the point.

Thanks. The salary item is standard. The other two I'm not sure about.

I wouldn't worry about being randomly selected, nor answering them honestly. The annual survey has been around for decades. I am very curious though, could you at all specify what items made you uncomfortable, etc.?

I'm hardly one to judge, but to clarify a bit, I get where you are coming from. The only time I've been to therapy was when I was 13 and it was court-ordered. I was very resistant to it. Sat in silence for I think about four sessions. Eventually I broke and was like, "ok, what do you want to ask me?" Dude was like, "simple question, why did you run away?" I said I don't know. I still don't, really. Pretty sure we talked a bit afterwards, but honestly I don't remember the rest. Regardless, that was the last session he made me attend. Point is, I thought like you, but I was thirteen. If you don't want to go to therapy, then don't. Gods know I avoid it too. But don't act like you know better than trained professionals. More importantly, don't assume that they can't help you because you are too smart for it. They can and you're not.

More than anything, you need to be treated for unearned arrogance.

I like all of the things you mentioned, including this one, but not sure you can put an age maximum in a bill called the Textualism Act. Well, obviously you can, but it's pretty oxymoronic.

Nah, this was more than that if you followed all the wrangling. Part of the reason this bill would have been in danger if it lasted longer is because it's the most unpopular piece of legislation in recent memory/I can recall, granted, but even Trump's GOP involves a lot of competing intraparty factions when trying to pass such an omnibus-type agenda bill. We've seen that over the last three months. In contrast, we saw how deliberations led to extreme delays and neutering of Biden's key agenda bill - only getting passed as the IRA shortly before the midterms in August 2022. That'd of course be the equivalent of this passing over a year from now. Granted, Biden also had the stimulus and infrastructure bills early on, but still. It's a useful strategy to replicate.

Really like the Tyus Jones signing for the Magic - wanted them to sign him last year. As long as they re-sign Mo Wagner, they've already completed a great offseason. With Bane and Jones they've addressed their glaring weaknesses of shooting and playmaking. In the draft, getting Jase Richardson and trading up in the second-round for Noah Penda, they managed to add two great fits and interesting prospects while not picking until 25. Again, as long as they retain Wagner, their roster is DEEP. I also like how virtually every player, other than perhaps Carter, has positive trade value, maintaining flexibility. They've done a very good job surrounding Paolo and Franz with every opportunity to lead this team to contention. It's now up to them to improve their efficiency and, more importantly, figure out how to complement each other offensively instead of just taking turns.

Since reconciliation became the norm for major bills, they really don't do conference committees anymore. Not even for budget resolutions, which don't go through reconciliation. It's mostly leadership from each chamber ironing out the differences in an unofficial way.* The GOP House is going to whine about this - which is why Trump is now hedging on the July 4 deadline. Now that the Senate and the House have each passed versions though, there's virtually zero danger of this not eventually passing. Objectively, have to give Trump and Thune credit for setting that July 4th deadline even if they don't achieve it. It forced a plethora of dealmaking to happen in a condensed timeframe - whereas dragging it out almost always leads to further consternation that threatens enactment. The Dems would do well to copy this strategy if they ever get a trifecta again. *For my class I still include "conference committees" in my "how a bill becomes a law" under regular order spiel. I've thought about eliminating it, but it's part of the matching section on my final exam and I'm lazy. Also don't feel like confusing students too much on the legislative process - just cuz Congress doesn't technically do conference committees anymore doesn't mean it's still not important to work out the differences between each chamber's bills.

So sounds like the wraparound amendment on the reconciliation bill WILL get rid of the excise tax on solar and energy projects. It also will delay the elimination of the IRA tax credits until after 2027.