those who did the wrong thing.

For people wondering what the point of these hearings will be if DoJ doesn't indict (and I still think it's likely they will), telling the stories of ordinary people suffering threats and injustice and still telling the truth is the point. These people deserve their time in the sun and to have an opportunity to inspire others to do the same.

The January 6th hearings today illustrates for me again why it was always a terrible idea to elect a businessman to run the country "like a business".

There's a cult in corporate management culture which glorifies imagining a goal and then not letting anything get in the way of achieving that goal, certainly not facts. If you can dream it, you can do it. And that's exactly what Trump was doing - what his background trained him to do.

The self-evident problem is that facts are facts and the law is the law. And good government is usually about determining the least bad course of action on the basis of the best facts that can be mustered within the constraints of law and due process.

While Trump is his own whole self-contained bag of snakes, I think he also manifests a dangerous American cultural trend that prioritizes "vision" over living in a fact based reality.

Being good at government takes a lifetime of study and experience. We need to fight back harder against sneering attacks on the professionalism of the civil service and of career public servants.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/covid-19-omicron-outbreak-parliament-protest-speaker-trevor-mallard-plays-barry-manilow-macarena-over-loud-speakers-to-deter-crowd/KRZ3NHOVFXS2GNPMDAWZOQU2HA/

"Speaker of the House Trevor Mallard has started his next attempt to make life uncomfortable for the protesters outside Parliament, by setting up speakers to boom Barry Manilow, the Macarena, and Covid-19 vaccination messages at them...

Mallard, who had Parliament's lawn sprinklers turned on last night, had his speakers turned on as Freedom and Rights Coalition speeches ended...

Mallard said: "We wanted to make sure everybody here had the warning about trespass and because of the number of unvaccinated people in the audience, we believe it's important to promulgate messages about vaccination.

He said the 15-minute loop of music and Covid-19 ads would play on repeat, possibly through the night."

And there's a cyclone on the way. Seriously, screw these people. They've been digging trenches through the middle of the lawn in front of Parliament to try to get the sprinklers to drain away from their tents and throwing things at school kids wearing masks as they try to walk by.

"God, grant me the serenity to accept the horrific consequences of my greed and incompetent mistakes on others,
except where I can make political hay by blaming those consequences on Democrats trying to fix them,
and an electorate too ignorant to know the difference."

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/christchurch-mosque-attack-movie-jacinda-ardern-says-they-are-us-too-soon-too-raw-for-nz/NV3OMYIREPR2OET6YLYX6N7QL4/

https://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/film/125426510/family-of-christchurch-mosque-attack-victim-writes-open-letter-to-hollywood-actress-rose-byrne-to-refuse-her-role

I'm a bit torn on this one. I think Jacinda Ardern's (and New Zealand in general's) response to the mosque shootings was exemplary and should be held up and celebrated.

But at the same time we've had enough white saviour complex movies and it is ultimately a story that should be primarily about the victims and their families.

Unbelievable was one of the best films I've seen in the last twenty years because it actually took the time to portray the impact of rape on the victim and didn't give any screen time at all to the perpetrator. It completely upended the standard narrative where at least half the screen time goes to a sexy, scenery-chewing villain. Part of what was so good about NZ's response to the mosque shooting was that the media embargo on the shooter's name and social media. The focus was kept on the pain, suffering and humanity of the victims instead of giving a wider platform to the creepy loser who did it.

It's ultimately down to the skill of the writers and actors but I have a terrible feeling this film is set up to be half-Rose Byrne looking compassionate in a scarf and firing off press releases from her desk and half-Tom Hiddleston packing an ominous black bag, adjusting his body cam, and typing out manifestos and two or three minutes focused on the real heroes of the day - the average people throwing themselves in front of bullets and chasing after a man with a AK-47 to protect each other.

So I don't know that they shouldn't make it, but I do think it's too soon and if they insist on doing a Jacinda-centric version they should wait until after there has been a victim-focused one.

Any thoughts?

which are the top three that you would cure?

It gives me hope that, properly motivated and funded, we got a Covid vaccine in less than a year. If we took all the money and time and brainpower we currently waste on weapons and pointless apps to monitor egg freshness and boner pills and hair loss treatments and focused it all on researching how to cure something, what would have the biggest impact?

Mine would be:

1. Alzheimers
2. Diabetes
3. Asthma/COPD

Alzheimers and diabetes because they are horrific ways to die and asthma because it's so widespread, kills young people and reduces quality of life so much for decades.

"On or about January 22, 2021, Anna Morgan-Lloyd went to the Greene County Sheriff's Office ("GCSD" ) to obtain a firearms permit. While processing the application, a GCSD employee recognized Morgan-Lloyd as a person that posted on Facebook about the January 6th events at the US capitol... GCSD referred Morgan-Lloyd to the FBI"

https://extremism.gwu.edu/sites/g/files/zaxdzs2191/f/Dona%20Sue%20Bissey%20and%20Anna%20Morgan-Lloyd%20Statement%20of%20Facts.pdf

I think this just edges out the stupidity of the multiple people who went there wearing their court-ordered ankle bracelets.

Reading some of the posts from Q Anoners, I can't help thinking some of these people are having major depressive, anxiety, bipolar or schizophrenic episodes and needed someone to talk to and couldn't afford actual therapy.

It's not an excuse for anything that went down last week, but I think we do need to understand how so many people are such easy pickings for radicalisation.

Not that many people can afford $200 a week for decent quality mental health counseling or access to drugs, especially when access to that kind of care is tied to their employment.

But we can't afford to let free online conspiracy theory communities continue to pick up the slack.

Total up how many minutes of his time he lost to interruptions and all four networks give him that time to answer the questions he was asked. They can take it out of the time allocated to the third debate so no one is out of pocket. Add on any time in the second debate that Trump steals.

The American public deserves to hear from its Presidential candidates and no one should be able to take that away.

Trump's getting even more free airtime about how he "dominated" the debate stage and that's even less time we get to hear about policy proposals or substantive discussion.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/121494289/coronavirus-hollywood-looks-to-new-zealand-amid-us-covid19-crisis

"Segments of Hollywood are looking to move to New Zealand's near-Covid-free shores as the country's film industry stands to win big in coming months...

All signs were positive they could soon start again. International productions tended to hire about 90 per cent locally and there were already positive talks with the Government to allow the extra 10 per cent in, with proper safety procedures.

On top of that were a "large number" of productions now looking to come to New Zealand in the coming six months to a year, lured by New Zealand's low number of Covid-19 cases."

Once all of these productions are set up elsewhere, inertia will mean a lot of them will not return.

A lot of the tech sector is probably not far behind.

Why live like a hermit surrounded by an AR-15 toting death cult when you can spend two weeks in quarantine and then have a more or less normal life in Australia or New Zealand?

Countries that have dealt with this crisis better than the US are chomping at the bit to attract the best and the brightest.

Just in case any MAGAts are wondering why none of these industries ever seem to end up Mississippi and West Virginia... you and the incompetent legislators you keep electing are why.