Notices by M.S. Bellows, Jr. (msbellows@c.im), page 4

@skinnylatte @mloxton How do you identify what things you're smelling without vision?

Question for anyone who still thinks Musk is improving government efficiency and saving taxpayer dollars:

How much would it cost to pay a bad mechanic to tear things out of your engine until it stops working?

Now, how much would it cost to pay a good mechanic to repair that engine until it was working again?

Musk says he'll fire every federal worker who doesn't respond to his mass email asking, "what did you do last week?"

The only safety is in numbers. If no federal employee answers that email, he'll have to retool. It's the only way. Anyone who wants to cave in and answer out of fear should be reassured and supported, but anyone who then actually answers it out of fear should be shamed and shunned. This is serious, and the only safety is in numbers.

@Lana @skeletor Wow, I must be *really* brave!!!

The Death of the World America Made | Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
https://carnegieendowment.org/emissary/2025/02/trump-executive-order-treaties-organizations?lang=en

@GottaLaff I wish to hell Judge Ho would issue a tentative ruling allowing the dismissal but only if it is with prejudice, because the dismissal without prejudice is not in the public interest given the perception of a quid pro quo. That seems like a sustainable ruling, and would put DOJ in a real spot.

My bride Lyricdancer shared an article on FB about the closure of most of JoAnn Fabrics' stores, mentioning "corporate raiders." My MAGA cousin replied: "Who are these alleged corporate raiders? 🤷🏻" Here's Lyricdancer's response, which I consider 🔥💯👍:

"Venture capitalists from private equity firms. They gain control of a valuable and usually popular company and 'reorganize' allegedly to make it more profitable. They stop carrying stock, there are fewer people there to help you, and soon stores begin to close. Goodbye Toys R Us, Bed bath & Beyond, Sears, KMart... We noticed one of our favorite breakfast places, a chain called Shari's started going downhill. They couldn't serve everything on the menu because they couldn't order food- I mean things like hamburger buns. Our waitress was also doing the dishes; none of the usual staff was there. It closed about a week later: all their stores- because an unethical group of people chose money over people. They take the valuable assets out of the business and the business limps along until it closes. Our current governmental takeover under the guise of 'running it like a business' is an example that you can watch. (Businesses MAKE MONEY for their shareholders. Who are the shareholders?) Putin is one of the wealthiest men in the world because he took the wealth of Russia for himself and his cronies, the Russian oligarchs. Our American lands will be liquidated, our protective institutions and the services that make our lives liveable will be decimated. At the end of these four years, America will look like Shari's or Joann's: not enough to go around, dirty and disheveled, not enough staff to keep up."

I want to live in a society where I can be a centrist again, which in my definition means "Someone who wants tremendous public transportation and diverse solutions to the final mile problem and also wants superb air quality that makes the world safe for everyone including the disabled but who also fantasizes just a little about having their own chauffeured limousine with a wood burning fireplace because dude wouldn't that be freaking cool??!!"

@w7voa Czechoslovakia wasn't invited to the talks between Neville Chamberlain (England) and Adolf Hitler (Germany), either. They just decided Czechoslovakia would surrender the Sudetenland, then Chamberlain came home and told everyone this was a great deal that would ensure "peace in our time."

Then World War 2 began anyway.

@GottaLaff In a past life, I was part of a press pool questioning Chuck Schumer. The journalist before me asked a really good question that Schumer dodged. So I "wasted" my turn saying, "your answer to the last question seemed evasive, so I'll ask it again" and repeated it.

There were audible gasps. Schumer gave me a dirty look that still hurts my eyeballs to recall (sort of like the photo). It was one of my proudest moments, but I could not understand why the actual career professionals there weren't doing the same thing all the fucking time.

We were out of butter, so I made some! First time!

@ned Removing any mention of #trans people from the Stonewall site is like removing any mentions of Texans from the Alamo.

@malwaretech Yeah, I'm fairly certain this part is what is known in the legal profession as a "lie": "The employee was meant to only have read access to treasury systems, but was accidentally granted write access."

@fisherstudio @Wileymiller But also encouragement. Acting like of *course* the right thing will be done is one of the ways of ensuring that it actually is. It's the counterpart to the Nazis' efforts to convey a sense of their inevitable victory.

@fisherstudio @Wileymiller I'm not giving up hope! Far from it! I was a centrist despite knowing how flawed our institutions were because I knew that those institutions still contributed more value, and losing them would entail more cost, than most people recognized. (And I was right!) But since they're being torn down anyway, fine: let's help the Nazis destroy themselves, force them back into their spider-holes for another 70 years, and rebuild a "better* nation and a better world. Yes, this will cost, but it's also an opportunity.

@w7voa Call me when the WHCA boycotts all WH events until AP's access is restored.

"UnitedHealth hired a defamation law firm to go after social media posts criticizing the company."

Also, United Health is a mob of pedophile space aliens who sell patients' confidential medical information to witch doctors to aid in the preparation of hexes. #SueMe
https://fortune.com/2025/02/10/unitedhealth-defamation-law-firm-social-media/
^@nando161

@steter @nicolesandler @MisterMoo Okay but tbf "all of [the Beatles] resemble Mo of the Three Stooges" is pretty good.

@HG @RamenCatholic Only dry rub is *real* bbq. (Ducks)

Watching The Rockford Files instead of the game. This may be the best bad first aid I've ever seen on teevee (and I'm a connoisseur of bad first aid on teevee).