Secretary of Eumenes

We'll find out.

Never tried it. I didn't care for the Imperator: Rome game and Crusader Kings III was unplayable and unrecognizable as the Empire of Rome so, y'know. I'm out. I'll stick with the games that work.

As I've developed into something approaching an adult over the years I've come to believe that other people are people too, sometimes. Weed does fucking smell. One should make attempt to smoke it outside. That's fucking difficult sometimes with laws and pandemics and shit. We all grow right? Each of our own individualized strain of person or something? I never cared about plants, which made being a quasi-farmer's kid a real pain in the ass.

tsk tsk 1) You think the Chinese will be sanctioned??? And the American people will be ok with that? That's fucking adorable. 2) Prove it. Like, prove that China is making bullets. Go prove that to the Republican party when Donald Trump is all of a sudden saying "we can't lose trade with Ghinaaa, deeep state". As if he's never flip flopped before. 3) Russia is playing short game, China is playing long game, America is playing suicide games Russia is fucked when Putin dies. I don't know what he thought was gonna happen after him, but nobody does. He's a dog caught chasing cars. Ukraine will be his grave or the thing that historians look back on and say "It changed him, and he died a few years later." I'm sure he knows this. He just doesn't care. 4) China is smarter than you. Xi isn't stupid because he's not infallible. He's smart because he learns. The party adapts with him. Bye bye Hong Kong. Nice to know you. How long did outrage last over that? What happened with those sanctions eh? You think old Joe is gonna do... what exactly? To the "news" that some shell casings have Chineseish rightin' on 'em? You think he's gonna put it all on the line. All of it? All of it. Over China doing the exact same thing we're doing? Just imagine what Donald will say on that debate stage. My god, HE'LL BE RIGHT! He'll be right! Again! Xi doesn't need to like Donald Trump to do things that will help him. He just needs to like a broken America. 5) All you care about is money. In a general "western values" kinda sense. Yeah, yeah, democracy or whatever. But c'mon. What China gains by Russian war with Ukraine is the STAG GER ING expenditure of western money and resources on a war that they don't have very much to gain from. I mean what do you -get- at the other end of this fight? Ukraine has been ruined for almost the last ten years. Rebuilding is expensive as well. Meanwhile China can make a little dough or trade for cheap oil or gas or whatever with Russia (they're literally next door, friends) while aiding their psychopathic dictators' ruining of his country. Like I said. He ain't gotta send troops (which America has in Ukraine atm) and tanks and planes. What if he only sends "medical and quality-of-life" equipment? For "humanitarian" reasons? And of course the trucks and whatever else to transport them right? You think the American economy, it's corporate masters, are gonna let you ruin their profits to stop the "alleviation of Russian suffering"? THEY'RE COMMUNISTS

Also, China and Russia have no reason not to be friends. Russia needs a daddy China is literally next door. Putin's not an idiot. Xi isn't gonna make him grovel. Tanks? I don't know. I don't know if China's gonna give those up. But bullets and shells? Why not? The same rationale y'all are making for the supply of Ukraine applies in reverse. 7.62mm is cheap Shells are cheap Russian lives cost China nothing What's the next Ukraine aid package gonna cost? Or the next one? Sleep tight.

I'll step on this third rake (that's how that saying goes right?) first, I suppose. All this talk of TERFS (and a little bit of the devil's lettuce) got me to wrap up the podcast series, as I've been reading from Bari Weiss' site the past few months and well lo and behold... I think she makes a lot of good points! Mostly from the perspective that I'm basically a free speech absolutist, I have hated twitter since the second I met it, and I know exactly how stupid and hateful human beings are so... uh, yeah. I agree with her that I think a lot of young people have latched onto ideas about the gender and identity in ways that are... kinda not healthy. It's not their freedom to be whatever they want that I'm concerned about, its the fervor of it. I have held this opinion for a while. It's cool to be however you are. And I think it's brave to stand up to bullies. But the internet makes people terrible people. (Hi, my name is Jalen and I'm an internetaholic) I don't like being accused of being TERF or anti-woke or parroting right wing talking points because I have a principle that I hold more dearly than someone else does. For anything! Gimme a fucking break man, the first amendment is my thing. I'm a writer. I wanna write what the fuck I wanna write and say what I wanna say without worrying that my own people. My fucking liberal brothers and sisters and (Egdod bless your pea pickin hearts) the xers. Without worrying that my own side is going to leap to bad faith assumptions and make me afraid to... do shit! Chill, guys! Chill the fuck out! I'll stop using exclamations! But for real, yo. I get defensive too. I am also an internet asshole. But I got some real trauma and shit. And yo, I'm allowed to think that you're being weak when you let the fact that J.K. Rowling has opinions like impact your life and shit. I'm allowed to think that without being accused of enabling my own genocide. C'mon guys. We're better than that, as a society. I'm allowed to think that TERF is a nasty word without being one. I mean if I cross the line I get it, help reel me back in. And I would do the same except that I have trouble remembering where the line is It's a real fuckin problem. I see people about it and shit. Compared to that, yo. I just don't give a fuck about culture wars and shit more than that I have to navigate a minefield. Talking to my cousin, I'm dancing around trying not to find out what he watches on YouTube 'cause I ain't seen him in a long time and I'm trying to be nicer to people. I don't wanna know, I hope he doesn't tell me. I watch Stephen Kotkin. And U.S. Naval War College and the School of Transnational Governance and shit about WWI and WWII and sometimes I watch a funny fucking movie review and that's all I do and I don't give a single goddamn fuck about cancel culture or woke or anti-woke or whatever stupid horseshit you people waste your time with on Twitter. And sometimes I listen to Professor Chomsky too, when he's not being a pussy. Guy's got a lot of smart shit to say and I hope he lives forever. Love ya, out!

America needs a lot of help...

I actually -was- thinking Chief of Staff, but then I thought you were promising to pardon me

So I'm penciling you in for VEEP?

Yeah I whimed that out in like fifteen minutes. Don't make more of it than it is. I mean it's true or whatever. But I ain't a fucking poet. I'm a writer. Total difference.

And I think I missed you most of all, Scarecrow When I'm running for President in five years I'll cite this comment for why, when I go on the MSNBCs and FOX and CNN, I'll only appear from behind a Scooby Doo shower curtain. I'm gonna be the "Do It for the Vine" candidate, you'll all see

I never cared whether or not he's indicted for his whore payments I want him to hang from the neck until he's dead for the murder of Brian Sicknick, Ashli Babbitt, Kevin Greeson, Rosanne Boyland, and Benjamin Philips - All of whom were victims of his malicious and explicit campaign to end American democracy Enjoy your twitter trial

They Screen For That: Since I was six and sick I knew; they screen for that No trips to space, no Moonscapes faced, no zero gee that's not for me Be what you want whatever you'll be but oh not me; they screen for that No F-16's, I have bad dreams and so it seems I should not fly And when asked why I like to high it's just because it's that or cry; they screen for that Nowhere goes your little prose it's just a bunch of words in rows But best you use the ones we want in our right way or you'll never even hear us say; they screen for that Did you know it's fun to learn but only when you get a turn, to ask your learner right from wrong It's not wanted, not a quibble, put your head back down and scribble too much asking takes nowhere, lesson plans are better square; they screen for that Here come child take a pill, let it sap away your will You're a bad one you might kill, good boys sit so fucking still; they screen for that Raise your hand and ask for help, it's okay but just don't yelp Don't raise your voice don't make a sound, they'll put you in the goddamn ground; they screen for that Prove your worth it's all for love, love of fellows- every one Oops wait these aren't your friends, they're passing shadows making fun- they'll take away your empty gun; they screen for that What's it like to be so glad that you don't live angry-mad, I just don't know I couldn't say But let me tell you anyway They Screen For That

Now that's fuckin cooool! Forget an Alienware! Put some ads on this forum so we can get Ty one of THOSE

HoI IV and Crusader Kings II are my most played games on steam. No RPGs worth the name were made from basically Mass Effect 3 until this Hogwarts game, as far as I'm concerned. (ROLE playing games) I like to play strategy games while I listen to podcasts/YouTube lectures/audiobooks. Compulsive multitasker, and the 15/30 second back buttons exist for a reason. I don't like what Bezos has done to shopping or the environment but I like his audiobook app

Hearts of Iron IV Sadly Eee ta lee went and made a goddamn Balkans alliance while I was Pivoting to the Past instead of getting bogged down in conflicts with the imperialists. They fucking mauled me before I could get my military rebuilt. SAD!

Reading about this odyssey of a computer repair effort is making me sadder than a goddamn greek tragedy Meanwhile: Nobody said restoring the Sultan would be easy, but speaking of the Greeks. They joined the civil war on the side of the perfidious Kemalist loyalties. But the Romanians had my back and gave lend-lease aid without actually contributing to the war effort. So I ate all the IS LLANDS, Makedon, and Epirus just for the steel and chromium of it. I left Athens and the Peloponnese because I'm a nice God Empress like that. Puppeted, of course. I mean they joined the civil war. Sixty thousand dead Turks from the Hellenes alone. Romania gets my eternal gratitude and we can race to blitz Bulgaria. But that's in the distant future of '39. For the rest of '38 we're celebrating baby! The Sultan's back in towwwwn!!! France went all communist. Hitler was deposed for the Kaiser (Always depose Hitler, c'mon). And the U.S.S.R. devours itself (long live Ukraine, eh!). Japan went off-course and chose rapprochement with U.S.A. and Briton, which is fucking weird. But whatever. That fascist civil war should be popping off in one of them any day now... And I know which one I think it'll be.

@Maithanet I hate to dogpile (but I also love to hate, so... ) Some kind of sub-nato alliance for the countries of eastern Europe is a good idea. And they should be working on that yesterday. But yo, that shit's hard. It's hard to have a multinational alliance that can stand up quickly against something like Russia while working together. Like, I don't just mean in the prewar phase. I mean operationally. In the field. You're talking about multiple multi-ethnic and multi-language nations that have to coordinate in real time against a much much more standardized enemy. And on that bisects them already! Don't forget Konigsberg. Lithuania gets pincered to piss in this scenario. It's fucking grim if all of NATO doesn't actually do what it takes to keep Russian aggression in hand. At the end of the day how much of the Polish army is its commanders going to be willing to put in that natural salient? To help defend the borders of Estonia and Latvia? Lithuania? Maaaybe. But I wouldn't order my troops off Polish soil to get slaughtered against the sea by Russians. I couldn't do it. I'd resign. The absolute best I could do - THE BEST I COULD DO is to promise a sort of Baltic Schlieffen action to sweep Konigsberg while holding against Belarus. And frankly I don't love that either, because the Russians would be doing the exact same thing coming the other way. "Bloodbath" doesn't do that inevitability justice in any language.

Just to follow up on this real quick (before I go get kite-wise for the first time in almost a month): I'd point out that it's very very fortunate for the Communist part(y) of the People's Republic of China equation that employment of advanced automation and "AI" systems means that they'll have no trouble transmuting themselves from a labor market to a welfare state. If that's what they want to do. Y'know, to maintain power. And keep the people content? What's the Chinese version of Disney+ ??? I don't know, but I'll bet it's in the works if not in use already. All that sweet sweet western debt should help cushion the landing too. Especially when a cool-T of it is owed by a war weary, government insecure, and politically shattered country that is 15-20 months away from just letting Hitler's aborted clone take power. Again!

I saw his children's book at my niece's book fair. She wanted a diary though and the boychild had already picked something out earlier.

In DA2, I think, the Captain (or whatever) of their little refuge place says something like the Qunari breed folks without horns to be like ambassadors or something. That could be in the 3rd game, but I don't think so - I DEFINITELY know that that bit of dialogue exists somewhere in one of those games though. And I'm a big big fan of DA2. I like its story better than DA:O, again with acknowledgement of a lot of cracks in the final product. It just feels so much more interesting and novel than DA:O or DA:I

Well, we've all seen Putin compared to Roose Bolton... From a certain angle I suppose it makes sense; if the country needs a leeching then it needs a leeching

And? What would you call our system, if you wanna get right down to it? My Y'alls tax dollars pay for the security and solvency of your business elites. The only relevant difference is that China's state controls its corporations - effective fascism America's corporations control its state - larceners fascism

Oh, how did I know you were gonna say that? Scotty, scotty, scotty. My dear sweet scotty. Communism isn't some sterile university checklist. It's not even an economic system or values vehicle. It's a power structure. An ideological excuse to gain and retain authority. The fact that is pretends to promote socialism is just a black hole of superficiality that -not to be mean- procedurally minded folks just can't quite seem to wrap their minds around when they're looking from outside the system... Which I find ironic, because if you were born in the system I think you'd do quite well! China is what communism looks like. So is North Korea. The fact that China allowed ALLOWED for limited private ownership of property and supposedly free markets (when they couldn't afford to keep them out) isn't the great evidence against the efficacy of their communist system that you think it is- It's proof that their version of communism is better than any version we've seen before. I mean goddamn, look what they've accomplished in the last seventy years! It's amazing! They beat us at war in Korea before even catching their breath from the civil war. They beat us. US! U.S.A.! And that's after a hundred years of rape and poisoning -literal poisoning for profit- by the West. To say nothing of Japan. They turned that corner and are now 1 of 2. I know you can't be sexually attracted to a state (unless you're Josephine Boneparte, I suppose ) but goddamn if I don't think of China any time I'm feeling flaccid. Perks me right up in no time. Hey, when was China's last war? Y'know, that they actually did stuff in? What does their military look like? What is its capacities? What do you really know about the way their system works, besides the fact that it's remarkably stable? Especially compared to ours? How many school shooters has U.S.A. had this year? How many has China had? We'll never know the latter, but I'd still bet that it's probably fucking none The party has one objective: maintain power in order to project strength. It's really, really, fun to watch: in a fuck-you-robber-barons-maybe-I'll-see-you-burn-after-all: kinda way. 'Murica is all puffed up with pride at stopping a third-rate despotate from blitzkrieging their former province. It's fucking adorable, the military hards on (syntax). Meanwhile, our economy is a shambles. Our reputation in tatters, and diplomacy a forgotten word in the American language. MOAR SANCTIONS!!! MOAR MOAR, FOR IRAN AND RUSSIA BOTH! Because -clearly- the American hegemony is just too valuable a system for anyone to oppose eh? Yeah, that's what happened for sure. Since the fall of the Soviet Union, right? The end of history? We won! Behold all your victory, my fellow Americans.

I'm not a hater on Dragon Age III, I thought it was fun when I played it. But I've never finished a second playthrough after multiple attempts- never gotten to that DLC that's supposed to tie it to DA: IV, this could be a motivation to do so. I most-definitely love the Character Creator in DA: III, I just get board with resource gathering and stuff. Still, optimistic! Mass Effect: Andromeda (In IRL I make my disdain for this one known my pronouncing it " And Droh Me Dah"... that's a different story. I was very, very, optimistic about that one. But... wow. Talk about a game that felt empty and incomplete upon release! Ugh! To say nothing of the almost-antithetical story type when compared to the Orig-Trig. And I'll go to the mat to defend Mass Effect 3, stupid StarChild and all.