Pretty descriptive of me at the BARPod/Soyboyz event in DC last night. Going seemed like something fun to do on the last day of the Fiscal Year. When I was still working it would have been something that would have been a big sigh-of-relief; we’re finished. Time for fall weather, and the holiday between Thanksgiving and the Super Bowl.
But, really, with the incredible mismanagement of the budget over the past few Administrations, and Congresses, I guess it’s less important now than it used to be.
Trying to figure out how to best describe my thoughts; the assemblage seemed to be very either from the Northeast or Midwest.
- I am old. Though there seemed to be people describing chronological age similar to mine, I do think I’ve been “in the world” longer. Oh, the AIpacolypse is gonna be like Y2K.
I don’t think so, really. There’s not a firm date like there was with Y2K. If I brought up the 2038 problem, I’d probably get confused looks; why come you maths? I suppose there’s some similarities with the worry, but I think absent the drop-dead date, it’s ummm, less pronounced. I think there was some relation of it to the Millerites. So, no great disruption, but the fear is similar. I don’t know that there’s a way to neatly-divide populations. To the younger Boomers, really, it’s fine. All of you can now spend your pre-tax savings without penalty. If you’re worried because you have so much debt that you’re still working, that’s another problem.Learn To CodeFind something different to do until you reach a point where you’re comfortable stopping, then stop. I wonder if I’m going to live long enough to regret not having done that, myself, but I was trying to stick around until the new stuff was ready. (As an aside, the stuff on America.gov actually looks kinda awesome. I don’t know really what more I need to do at this point; and I have lawyers taking money to do things for me for the next couple of years, but this is actually the sort of thing that the 18F/USDS/DOGE folks were brought in to do. I also was sipping on a Tom Collins, and enjoying it very much; I don’t think that’d have happened when I was 22. - Politically, I’m very much on the outside. My parents were Nixon Republicans. My not-nearly-as-white as Liz Warren grandmother was a Republican in the South in the 50s; I don’t know how many times I was told that after she was old enough to vote, her daddy had told she needed to go vote for “Hairy Ass” Truman (And that needs to be said in a Cajun accent, which is very different than Birmingham, Alabama, Hollywood), but she didn’t. The Northern Aggressors really have no idea how bad Southern Democrats were. Though Strom Thurmond eventually became a Republican, Fritz Hollings never did. Let’s just gloss over Jimmy Carter. He, um, deregulated the airlines. No! He hired Paul Volcker as Fed Chairman, who raised interest rates! (I think my parents’ VA Loan in 1980 was something like 16.5%) Nah, that’s not it. Um. He lowered the Georgia flag to half-mast for Lt. Calley. Uhh. He ended Federal funding for Abortion, which paid a good chunk of them during the Ford Administration! Pfft. He let people brew beer! I also remember coming to Virginia after being in school in Kansas and overseas with the new MLK holiday. “Lee-Jackson-King?” Oh, those are Robert E. Lee, and Stonewall Jackson, famous Virginians. I think the Lee-Jackson prefix got removed sometime before the Great Awokening, but, it still happened with the General Assembly in Republican hands. But, back to the politics, because of what Democrats did in the “Solid South,” I’m very, very, very hesitant to vote for any of them. I’m even more worried about anyone who claims to have any affinity for Socialism. The filth I experienced first-hand in Eastern Europe is something completely unimaginable to younger people. So, too, is the authoritarianism. That authoritarianism accompanies so many really-powerful government systems. It’s not normal. It’s not okay. Well, it could be Sweden! No, setting up a government based on that sort of mistrust and hidden brutality inevitably leads to Kampuchea. Or, if you put a religious coat on it, Occupied Iran.
- The venue is actually better than the last time I was there for a Reason event. The Reason mention ties in a few brief mentions of the Cornell news. Robby Soave has a pretty good piece at first glance. I really don’t want to dig too deeply, but I’m starting to come to really not-too-uncommon conclusions. A) Something happened. B) The University handled it through its own Kangaroo courts. C) Actual law enforcement probably can’t do anything about it because there’s no evidence that’s admissible in criminal court, especially since it was sat on by the university for two years, and D) the people really upset about it won’t be satisfied short public punishment. Which could be castration, but execution would work, too. And, the people named and served are totally the right ones. Even if they’re on duty at Camp Lejeune. You know, this is why you actually go to law enforcement when the crime happens, and don’t mess around with the Mall cops…
I’m really off in space on this, I think. I’ll run it