I live in San Diego, CA, which apart from a bit of rain in December and January, has really nice weather year round. They’ve been slowly upgrading the bike lanes to provide better isolation from cars. There’s still lots of room for improvement, but I bike most everywhere these days and it’s awesome. With e-bikes becoming so cheap and widespread, I can’t help but think better bike lanes would benefit a lot of people.

We’ve found the blood-thirsty criminal Mexicans. Quick, deport them.

“He should cool it on immigration,” said Edgar Cautle, a 30-year-old Mexican American oil field worker who said he is a Trump fan but is increasingly distressed by images of immigration agents detaining children and splitting families apart. “It’s making people not like him.”

No shit, Einstein. All of this was easily foreseen before you helped vote him into office. I hope this guy gets to enjoy interacting with Trump’s gestapo, as they ignore the “American” part of Mexican American. What a moron.

He looks blazed. Tell Koda to lay off the catnip!

Sunday Assembly is what you’re looking for.

That little seal point Siamese face poking out is adorable! Looks like the face at the bottom on the right is a sibling.

The headline is very misleading. It should have read “Three Republicans mildly condemn the attack, while the President lies about it and stokes further stochastic terrorism.”

“Small government”

They have rich soil, a moderate climate, and an abundance of fresh water, so it is easy to grow food and raise livestock. They import virtually all their oil and gas. While the interconnected globalized world supplies a lot of what they use, if push came to shove and NZ were isolated the people would survive independent of the outside world, though there would be some challenges as thy learned to live without what they purchase from abroad.

Everything is relative. I currently live in Southern California in an area where the median home price is $930K USD ($1.565M NZD). A $1M NZD home is only $590K USD, which would be a “steal” here. Accordingly, housing, the biggest expense in the cost of living here, seems like a relative bargain in NZ.

Yes, other things may be a bit more expensive, but overall I’d be looking at a reduction in the cost of living. As far as “standard of living” goes, it depends on what you value. Personally, I love nature, the outdoors, and am an avid surfer and mountain biker. From my perspective NZ’s less crowded waves and spectacular natural beauty makes for a very attractive standard of living.

The challenge for me is that given my age (~60), I am not a preferred immigrant, so residency offers some challenges, as I am not yet to the point financially where I can spring for the golden visa (though I should be at that point in not too long of time). Accordingly, if I were to move there I’d have to implement other strategies. I’d probably start with a tourist visa to check it out and see if I wanted to live there, then perhaps enroll in some classes and apply for a student visa to buy more time.

Meh. “Friendly” is a relative term. While NZ may be swinging a bit towards the right these days (as opposed to when Ardern was PM), NZ has ranked choice voting, which mitigates some of the political polarity seen in places like the U.S. where things stratify into two camps. This tends to make political power more responsive to the people, so even if the current administration is favorable to Trump, as the U.S. slides off the rails I would expect the NZ government to step back.

Shhhhh!

And how the cross is hidden in the 4th panel by the cleavage.

RealID is insufficient to confirm citizenship, yet a facial recognition app that is known to make errors is “definitive”? Sounds like racist bullshit to me.

A majority of Americans polled in the survey – 58% – characterized Trump’s first year of his second term as a “failure,” according to the poll.

Just 42% of respondents said Trump’s second term has been a success.

Imagine how dim the 42% must be.

I’ll disagree here. I’m one of those mythical independent voters. I have no party affiliation, and subscribe to Jefferson’s philosophy:

I never submitted the whole system of my opinions to the creed of any party of men whatever in religion, in philosophy, in politics, or in any thing else where I was capable of thinking for myself. Such an addiction is the last degradation of a free and moral agent.

However, most conservatives see me as a lefty, because most of my views, especially on social issues, are consistent with left-wing policies.

Disney’s response to the Jimmy Kimmel controversy a few months ago shows the way. Defend the company’s principles while simultaneously defending the company from Trump’s demented wrath. You can take the position of “Fuck you, make me” without ever saying those words. Objection is not confrontation. Do the right thing and enforce the App Store and Play Store guidelines, and remove X and Grok from the stores. Make Musk object. Make the Trump administration object. Make them defend the indefensible — in public. Make clear why the apps were removed from the app stores and force Musk — and Trump, if he chooses — to argue that those things are A-OK by them. In court.

. . .

It’s wise for Cook and Pichai to pick their battles. This one, I think, is worth picking. This is a moment when the App Store and Play Store can stand firmly on the side of longstanding and correct societal norms.

I’d love to see them do what is right; but sadly, I’m not holding my breath.

Tom Selleck’s mustache.