The Frankish Reich

As an aging guy who still has his own real hair ... WTF? Bezos went full shaved head, attempted to distract with the fake boob girlfriend. Zuck has a full wig. Musk had the hair plugs. Trump has everything (plugs/scalp reduction/combover). Only Pichai stands there confident in his own scalp.

Right on top of things! Pretty sure the "i" in BRIC stands for Italy? The "b" for Britain?

And about girls vs. boys: the work Jonathan Haidt has done about the damaging effects of social media on middle school age girls is pretty compelling. It's not a stretch to say that social media is a cause of depression/anxiety (even suicide) in girls, although somehow it doesn't impact career prospects as much as "new media" (including gaming) does for boys. Neither one is a good thing.

What I saw as a dad of kids moving through middle school and teenage years: girls become addicted to social media; boys become addicted to the video game world. Of course, not all of them. But way too many. Mostly it's self-regulating - they manage to integrate social media/gaming into their lives in a way that is not damaging to their prospects. Girls seem to do better at this than boys. I don't know why, but researchers seem to think it is because social media (unlike gaming) tends to be centered around their social circles in high school rather than as a solitary activity or one that involves a network of distant gaming "friends."

Video game addiction. Seriously, that's my #1 reason for why boys are falling behind.

Looks like she hit a vein.

⬆️ So lame. So obvious. So sad, my Irish Lass doppelganger.

I don't see a Nazi salute. Much more Mussolini than Hitler in my opinion. I think that makes it o.k.?

And she was on Medicaid, then benefited from Obamacare, both assisting greatly with her recovery. Now you know the rest of the story.

Oh, I'll be amping it up soon. So will the courts.

Trump slow swaying with Melania to Elvis's Dixie/Battle Hymn medley thing. Never the wrong time to bemoan the failure of that great Dixie cause.

Hey, I'm the grammar and spelling cop round here.

I wouldn't be surprised. Vivek made what used to be called a Kinsley Gaffe: when a politician inadvertently speaks the truth. He said that there are too many Americans more concerned about who's the prom king and queen than who's the valedictorian, and until that changes we're going to need to import intellect. We know Elon believes this too, but come one, you can't say that ...

Could you then explain to me who the phrasing of this EO will clarify things? I just gave you a few ways they could've done it, but they chose a totally circular definition. It simply won't advance their agenda because it is so poorly drafted. The only thing they've accomplished is to change the conversation from "define woman" to "define female."

Well there's an epic fail. Circular argument. Other side: Yes. And a "female" is a person whose gender identification is as a woman." I don't know why he didn't go with a chromosomal thing, or "has/doesn't have a penis," or at least "is a person registered by authorities as of the female sex at birth, such designation not having been officially changed by a registrar of vital records in the jurisdiction of that person's residence" Maybe nobody really has a handle on that "define woman" thing. Or maybe I need to volunteer to help these Trumpies with that whole law thing.

As your self-appointed legal pundit, allow me to call your attention to: 1. Lawsuits challenging "DOGE" for failing to follow rules relating to special government commissions, etc. Specifically, open information laws. 2. Lawsuits challenging the shutdown of CBP One, which Trump seems to be proposing as a way of ending the ability of someone arriving at the border (or even crossing the border?) completely, in violation of the Refugee Act and our treaty obligations. More to come! Injunction-a-thon!

Last I looked the "person close(st) to Trump" was none other than Elon.

Ahh, I'm always a sucker for a quick-witted Irish Lass. I see I'm not going to find her here. BURN!

I think that's right. They will target second and third rank relatives and supporters.

That's exactly what I'm saying. There's certainly gray areas. I'm not saying everything Obama/Trump/Biden/Trump did/will do in the area of expanding presidential authority is "unconstitutional." But all of the things I pointed to do, at a minimum, violate long-standing understandings of the limits to presidential power. Those understanding - norms - were important, and we're now marching blind into unmapped territory. Note that this is a conservative take, in the sense of "conserve and protect the principles upon which our system of government operates."

I don't like it. I'm all about snark on a day like this. But here's a serious comment. Obama started it. I'll admit it. The expansion of what were understood to be the limits to Presidential power. He said he was being lobbied hard by immigrant rights groups to give undocumented young people status, but that he couldn't do that without an act of Congress. Then he needed an energized left to beat Romney, and he did exactly what he said he lacked the authority to do. Pen and phone, etc. Trump carried it further in numerous ways, exceeding the long-understood limits to presidential authority. And it led to the ultimate conclusion of his presidency: the notion that the president/vice president can pick and choose which electoral slates to count. Biden took Trump's use of unappropriated funds for political purposes (the wall) a few steps further, with student loan forgiveness, etc. And took the willy-nilly use of the pardon power beyond Trump's summary grants to political dirty tricksters on his side (Manafort/Stone) to preemptive grants to his own family members. The power to pardon is now the power not to undo "errors" of the past, but to direct the future too. And the Supreme Court helped all this along with its creation of a new presidential immunity. I hope someday we'll look back on the period of 2012-now as an aberration in American politics. Both parties have done America and its political institutions a great disservice. Jimmy Carter, our nation turns it's lonely eyes to you?

Inauguration observations: Melania as some kind of bizarro Victorian crossing guard from a 1970s porn movie, with her hat conveniently turning Don's cheek pecks into air kisses Trump hand as his side while two - count 'em, two! - Bibles sit in Melania's cold hands. Fingers crossed! We all knew it. JD Vance's wife sitting stone-faced as we celebrate our Jewish-Christian (and Christian-Catholic) heritages. Where's our guru's invocation? When did I miss Biden's growth spurt? Or Trump's age-shrink? Biden was at least as tall, sometimes looked taller than Trump. Prune-faced Mike Johnson can't pull off a credible smile. JD's mom is a weird little druggie dwarf. Limo had to at Eastern Market for her to score heroin? That's all. For now. I'll be here all week.

Gonna double down here ... ... and JD Vance taking a private oath on the Bhagavad Gita

She said she didn't know the words. Teleprompter fail? No second verse. Meanwhile, Trump retreats to the inner sanctum to take real oath on Satanic Bible. https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/trump-inauguration-president-2025/card/trump-takes-oath-without-touching-bible-R4Nv0QALlSoCBs4ifVM7?mod=WSJ_home_supertoppertop_lctimeline

Home field/bad weather won it for us. That's what you play the regular season for.