@Bravo- Nuclear weapons balance it all out though :(
@Marco- I hate how his idiot ideas are globally influential, not because they're good, but because people want to align with him.
@Kawaii- Aw, I never even knew her name :(

——

My cat Mouse who has been recovering since his accident 9 weeks ago has gotten his splint bandage back on his leg and an extra 2 weeks added to his confinement sentence so he can continue to heal :(
Better than the alternative though! I thought he'd have to get an expensive amputation or another operation.

If you have a cat pray that they NEVER break a leg!
It's not a good process.

Randomly last night, I started watching Superman IV: The Quest for Peace.
Since I fell asleep pretty quickly I continued with it this morning for a short while.

Then come to find out that the legendary Gene Hackman passed away last night/today. Lex Luthor himself, among a huge amount of other performances.

On a list of all-time great actors, he's definitely way up there.

The Royal Tenenbaums and Unforgiven are the two best ones I can think of, or at least my own favorites.

But I'm gonna hunt down The French Connection, since I've never seen it and always meant to.

RiP Gene Hackman. One of the very best

And there's two comics on Drunkduck where Gene Hackman has appeared playing characters. He was in Attack of the Robofemoids and he's in Interstellar Battle Girls.

I have two Gene Hackman figures. Been a fan of his going way back. Ninety-five years is a great run.

Banes wrote:

Then come to find out that the legendary Gene Hackman passed away last night/today.

Nope!
It's a suspicious death. Him and his wife and one of their 3 dogs have been dead at least two weeks. Him. 95, fallen over in a front room of the house, walking stick laying by his side, her (in her 60s) in a bathroom I think with some pills scattered around, and the dog in a cupboard.
The other two dogs were running around alive, on in the house and one in the grounds.

No sign of external injury to either person and no sign of carbon monoxide gas in the house or a gas leak.

The amount of mummification on extremities indicates they were both dead about two weeks I believe. (or maybe just the wife?)


Due to all that the deaths are being treated as suspicious… But it could be anything.

I really wish people would understand that lots of voters (most voters in some countries) are looking for a sense of greatness when they elect people to power. A “my dick is bigger than yours” kind of greatness, the type that can only be measured in how many people still talk about you after you're long gone, (like I'm sure millions are talking about Hitler on a daily basis, even though he's been dead for 80 years). It doesn't matter what kind of a person you are, what it takes on a moral level, how many lives you ruin in the process or how smug you're about all that as long as you never show signs of weakness and blame every problem on others, as long as you can sell some nationalistic fantasy, an epic story you pulled out of your ass about how great the average voter is simply because they were born there… (a fact of life is that you don't have to prove things people already believe in) you'll get a shot at immortality, because no one will hand it to you and you're willing to take it. And it shouldn't surprise you that people are idolizing this, people always idolized the top dog, the Don Corelones who didn't take shit from no one. Which is why if you watched that 10 minutes segment between Trump and Zelenskyy, it probably felt like Trump was expecting a willingness to give up territories, pay protection money and a publicly displayed kiss of the ring in exchange for any “assistance” in the future. He idolizes Putin because Putin gets away with anything and clearly that's a quality a huge republican voter base wants to see in someone, because being untouchable, answering to no one, but God is their idea of greatness. Imo the democrats won't get term after term there unless someone comes along, whips their metaphorical dick out and is willing to make every other candidate look like they're incompetent fools (when it comes to displaying dominance, not actually doing something). And playing the jester projects confidence. It's a wink to the people who don't care if you're the richest man alive, they still think you're looking out for them like pals. You'll get away with anything because they believe you're David and not Goliath and they're rooting for you. The one thing democrats could learn from is how confident republicans can get in believing their own bullshit.

I bet he died first and then she killed herself. The dog probably starved

But showing how much smarter and better you are than the guy just measuring his penis even if you show that his ruler is a lie. Especially if you're a woman of color. Harris showed it repeatedly that Emperor Trump had no clothes and was a using centimeter ruler on his penis and claiming it was really inches.

And now Zelensky? Anyone ever read how Hale Selassie was treated by the League of Nations? The leaders of France and the UK called Trump put on his lies. One can only hope that they'll step up and put Putin's cronies (Trump and Vance) in their place.

And as for nuclear weapons? No one nukes what they intend to occupy. Russia wants Ukraine. They haven't even used chemical weapons yet. Why? The Soviets were the best trained CBR warfighters in the world. The contemporary Russians not so much.

I mean . . . she's not wrong. . . .

Well, I mean you don't have to give people what they want. But if you're trying to go bussiness with it, then it certainly helps.

here is how it goes…people care about their own situation even if its to the detriment to the country. there was this article about how if the economy is bad the incumbent party was always voted out and this was accurately predicted like a ridiculously huge number of times.

the thing about trump is he somehow convinced a lot of people to vote for him despite them knowing who he is and all his bad behavior and lack of real business sense. the stimulus check congress approved that had nothing to do with trump somehow stuck in their heads.

They were in the tank for trump and all these lies about not knowing what kamala would do was just a nice lie. they wanted a old man to save them and that's what they got. but this time there is a little buyers remorse, things are bad when you lose your job and not your neighbor, when the price of everything goes up because someone convinced trump tariffs were the way to go. this zelensky stuff is just more of the same of his bad world policies and him being a puppet of someone.

whether the puppeteers are putin, republicans, white supremacists or elon musk. i'm not one for conspiracy theories but I believe musk somehow helped trump cheat to win.

its okay the cycle continues—republicans mess up then the public craves a democrat, then when a democrat gets in office they forget how bad the republican messed up and vote in a new republican congress and republican president.

What makes it all different this time though, is that in the past, Republicans never plotted to basically conquer and seize control of the entire country, and then not relinquish that power in (an) ensuing election(s). They stole the election this time with help from Russia, China, and Iran, not to mention Muskrat and his kid hackers tampering with voter machines, on top of Muskrat paying people to vote for Trump, and the MAGA crowd targeting blue areas to destroy ballot boxes and the like. Trump himself even said throughout his campaign, “If you vote for me, you'll never have to vote again; we'll fix it.” And he meant it. The Supreme Court has already officially declared him our king, but that's still not enough; now he wants to be emperor. On top of that, the GOP within the White House has been checking off their contents contained within their 900-page manifesto PROJECT 2025/AGENDA 47 at an alarming rate; the last I heard, they were already about 35% through their to-do list, which has so far included targeting and punishing political opponents, pardoning domestic terrorists, firing minorities from their jobs to put white people back in charge, eliminating government programs designed specifically to provide financial aid to the less fortunate, eliminating Separation of Church and State, detain anyone with brown skin and speaks with an accent to deport them (even if they are here legally or have become naturalized citizens) for the purposes of “racial cleansing,” the list goes on. This may have been a fantasy or even a pipe dream at best for red America in years past, but this time, they're making it a reality; America is transforming into Nazi Germany 2.0 before our very eyes, and pretty soon, it will become a full-blown military dictatorship.

Things can veer into conspiracy though unfortunately.

What I find most shocking about the current situation are people and institutions that openly dump their ideals to follow Trump and his agenda because they want that power and the advantage it offers them.

A left wing aligned person who becomes right-wing is the lowest of the low- I don't say that out of a rhetorical standpoint, I say it because it means that the ideals they supported were meaningless, their conviction was never real and had a price.

It'd be like Superman being a hero till Lex Luther offers him a job and he just ditches all be says he believes in and happily works for Luther instead.

I read an interesting article asking whether this is the beginning of the end for the USA as THE superpower now and the start of a fall like what happened to the USSR at the start of the 90s.

Initially I dismissed that because people are always saying the USA is in decline, and that's even why Trump won because that was HIS message and his MAGA crap is the fake solution he invented to “solve” it XD

BUT when you think about what's actually happening- centralising power domestically and acting like a dictatorship, drawing back international influence through aid and institutions like NATO, the UN, Military alliances etc. Becoming needlessly insular. Ruining domestic and international trade needlessly with massive Tariffs and so on…

That sort of internal focus is what ruins all empires. The British empire killed itself when it scaled back internationally. The Byzantine, Ottoman, Roman, Greek, Soviet Union, China…

When focus turns so massively internal, that's when other people take over.

And he still hasn't figured out that the consumer ends up paying for the tariff not the importer. Everyone is talking recession and inflation now. Trump turned the economy upside down in weeks.

@Bravo

Going around in the internet, I think many (most?) reoublicans don't understand how a VAT works, and they believe the high VATs of european countries are some trick against american companies.
Wait when they actually implement a 20% VAT in the USA, but without the services (like a NHS) that the european countries use that money for.

My opinion about Trump (and siomilar movements in other places) is that they just plead to the crowd, and to that part of the crowd who acts like an ostrich and hides the head in the sand, and only accepts simplified, stupidized answers that blame everything on random foreigners/minorities/someone who is not them.

It seems to me that, unfortunately, if people really, really want to believe in something stupid they will only change their heads when they hit said head on a wall.
It was the same with Brexit.

marcorossi wrote:
@Bravo

Going around in the internet, I think many (most?) reoublicans don't understand how a VAT works, and they believe the high VATs of european countries are some trick against american companies.
Wait when they actually implement a 20% VAT in the USA, but without the services (like a NHS) that the european countries use that money for.

One hundred percent agree. I've been to Europe and know about VAT. And a NHS would be great here, but it's SoShiLlIsm and mean the end of FREEDOM for all 'Murica (and the greed of insurance companies so many pensions are invested in)

bravo1102 wrote:
And he still hasn't figured out that the consumer ends up paying for the tariff not the importer. Everyone is talking recession and inflation now. Trump turned the economy upside down in weeks.

Apparently he does, because he's going around and outright saying he doesn't give a shit what happens to any of us in the event of an economic recession (or even depression), while whining about how we're all breaking the law by boycotting Tesla and being worried about Muskrat.

The SAS were training in their base up the road from me yesterday as they are wont to do
.. And the sound was carrying on the wind.

There was the usual automatic fire, probably just 5.56mm. but added to it were whistling sounds followed by a little boom: a while bunch of those. It was very cartoonish.

What would that be? A mortar? It's a very small base though.in a wealthy suburban area with a beach on one side.

So I'm still in my hibernation phase where I don't spend enough time on the site. I had something big happen in life that I wanted to share. I'm not able to share it in a more public vehicle like Facebook, so I thought I would subject you guys to it.

I was adopted at birth almost 37 years ago. Since I I'm a rather chill person, I didn't invest too much in a search for my biological family until about 9 years ago. At that time I did a 23 and Me test and joined some databases for adoption matches including the one hosted by my state. I got a big fat goose egg for my trouble and back burned my search. Every once in a while I would see if I had more matches and try to go through the information I had with no success.

Last Wednesday, one of the databases I used sent out a PSA that 23 and Me data could be uploaded to other websites. I uploaded my file a week ago.

On Sunday, I was matched with my maternal grandmother and we have been emailing back and forth all week. She has been so loving and attentive and more than what I was hoping for in a match. She told me all about her kids (my mom and uncles/aunts) and grandkids (my half-siblings and cousins). She is working up the courage to contact my biological mom who is living in my area after moving around several times after my birth. Unfortunately, they don't have a good relationship, so she is unsure of the outcome. I told her a really don't want to be in contact with other family members until my bio-mom knows what is going on. (Hence me not posting this on a more public forum like Facebook.) I am making plans to visit my grandmother this summer who lives in another state, regardless.

This whole week has been overwhelming for me and although I love my family, learning about biological family has been amazing. I see better reflections of myself in them than I do in my family. The straight up outpouring of love has been just overwhelming.

Unfortunately for my husband, even in writing, it appears that my grandmother and I use similar turns of phrase. “Oh great, now there are two of them.”

What an amazing turn of events, it's wonderful to hear that you and your biological maternal grandmother have really hit things off in a click, but I can understand your apprehension about making contact with any other members of your biological family until you see how things unfold between you and your birth mom . . . and from how you're describing the iffy relationship between the two of them, it may not be the most pleasant or satisfying experience . . . but, you'll never know until you try.

Good for you, dude! .
Adoption is some crazy stuff, I hav a kid out there somewhere that is probably my son. He's be gotta be in his mid 20s by now.

Lothar 2.0.

He will run across Grind one day while searching the web and give it two e-props.

I have a younger half-sister named Nikki and my half brother and older my oldest son have the same name. I am having a bit of an existential crises.

Least I have something different to focus on than the news.

Niccea wrote:
Unfortunately for my husband, even in writing, it appears that my grandmother and I use similar turns of phrase. “Oh great, now there are two of them.”

That is amazing! Your family has suddenly massively grown! <3

kawaiidaigakusei wrote:
Lothar 2.0.

He will run across Grind one day while searching the web and give it two e-props.

HAHAHA!

Sometimes I wanna punch everyone I see on the train. And sometimes I'm just stone cold grooving. You know what I mean?

Fantastic, Niccea! Real happy for you. :)

Meanwhile, here they basically banned Pride parades and any gathering that promotes homosexuality. If you're thinking: that's anti-democratic… yes, it sure is. But they literally putting it in our own version of the “constitution” that with the exception of one's right to live, all other rights come after the right of a child to a healthy development, that must be protected. And they already included there that the father is a man, the mother is a woman, that there's no other gender and “ideas” contrary to that are contrary to a child's healthy development. So based solely on that, in theory… if they'd decide that being a liberal parent is a way of promoting harmful propaganda, they could take your child away and strip you of your rights, might even put you in prison or just starve you out making it impossible for you to get a job… because you see… now you have no right but to live if they find that taking away all the rest helps “protect children”. They're also making it possible for the police to use some face recognition software (China-style) for all kinds of things and they made sure that the current state of governing (they're extending it since COVID-19, since it gives them the power to literally pass laws like this in a single day) wouldn't expire. So yeah, we're on the brink of a literal, complete, 100% dictatorship and unlike the people of Serbia, here almost no one gives a shit. Like a few thousand, maybe, who go home after a few hours of demonstration. All that's left is for the world to pray for the lives and safety of all LGBT+ and open allies in this country, ‘cause it’s Russia all over again.

lothar wrote:
You know what I mean?

YUP!


———

I went to a concert last night.

I rarely go to concerts because my friends aren't into the music I like and going alone gives me anxiety.

I bought the ticket in November last year after seeing it advertised on Instagram. I HAD to get them when I saw the names Wang Chung and Katrina from Katrina and the Waves.
They sing some of my FAVE feel good songs.
I listen to Walking on Sunshine and Dance Hall Days all the time.

ALLL the time

I thought if I didn't get the tickets I might never see them perform live again.

The full list of 80s bands…
Katrina (Katrina and the Waves)
Wang Chung
Kids in the kitchen
Uncanny X-Men
The Chantoozies
The Escape Club

Most of those were just background for me in the 80s. Escape Club had an cool song called “Wild, Wild, West” which I loved though.

Two big observations:
-Though all these people are much older now since the 80s, they still ALL have rock-star energy and presence on stage exactly the same as their young selves. None of that has changed at all. The perform and sing the same.
-The music was mainly guitar rock driven, the musicians have excellent skill and it's all effortlessly high energy and positive.

That is absolutely missing in pop-music today. I really DO miss that level of energy, positivity, and the rawness of actual music being played by real people, not just samples and synthesised perfectly cleated stuff and endless loops made on a computer and “sung” over the top by a person who can never actually sing with boring lyrics about how amazing and rich and sexy they think they are.

InkyMoondrop wrote:
Meanwhile

Awful! :(
Hasn't Hungary always had a rightwing tilt? (aside from communism).
With all that I would definitely leave if I were you :(
Go west?

Awful! :(
Hasn't Hungary always had a rightwing tilt? (aside from communism).
With all that I would definitely leave if I were you :(
Go west?

It's hard to tell where to go, we don't have the money to start over somewhere else. In fact, we won't have enough money for years because everything is so expensive and we barely make enough to provide for ourselves for the upcoming months. As I hear, many countries in Europe are also turbulent, more and more right-leaning, impossible to tell if it'll be safe a few years from now. Of course right now almost anywhere would be better than here. Ever since the early 90s when the socialism they've built fell apart, the PM of this current government has been working on becoming an oligarch, cheating his way to the top, but yeah, it's safe to say most Hungarians are very nationalistic and pretty xenophobic and homophobic, which is how these fuckers manage to get 2/3 of the votes over and over again, no matter what they do. But such blatant violation of basic human rights has not been the case since the soviet occupation. Still… it's always like this. They don't care until their rights are violated. Some gays and transpeople don't matter as far as they're concerned. If we'd have like $5000 we'd probably be trying to get by in Austria or whatever, learning German to get and hold a job. But since we're expecting (yeah, that is the actual reason I've stopped making comics) securing a home is a must and a priority. So we're stuck here for at least a few more years I guess.

And this is where my family and I are starting our European vacation in May. Ohe totalitarian wanna be to another. Well, at least in Hungary I won't have to pretend I'm Canadian eh.

Your English is pretty good, I'd recommend Canada. Being a white male I can make do in the US for now and hope that the checks and balances catch up to Imperator Trumpus Maximus. Already looking like the fact that the executive branch can't disassemble agencies set up by congressional legislation is catching up to him. And where's the Congressional legislation setting up DOGE? Pretty soon they're going to figure out that they need congressional consent to overhaul government set up by congressional legislation.

bravo1102 wrote:
checks and balances

Part of me wants to see him just continue to mess stuff and and ruin things… so the US takes a tumble from its perch as the main superpower, the way the British did before it, and the French, the Spanish etc…

But that's childish.

Adult me knows well the chaos that will cause internationally as the balance shifts and the seismic waves of change are felt around the planet.
And of course the new leader will have their own crappy quirks.
Are we really ready for China to take over?