Tractor supply work boots

I've got a new project for our community that could change a bit from what we are used to and so I'm sharing the request I've sent to Wizard to make the first multi-planes and country WPN. I hope we can all assemble to make it happen and prove that we are not yet compleated in terms of ideas. I will highly appreciate any upvotes, ideas, contact as a shop or artist.
Take care and Resistance will win !
Hello, My name is Kamil Bourouiba and I'm a magic fan since a long time ago. I always had an idea but I kept it since I was working on my studies. I would want to try to make it happens. It's a simple idea : I would walk around the countries and organise tournaments but all the prizes that I would give will need to be altered cards. I know some good artist and I love travelling so I already have some artists from France for example willing to help me and some shop in the country I'm currently living in which is Italy. As a WPN I would be able to have a good supply to organise sealed and draft, it would help me to have a good pool of foils and different artworks that the artists are craving to have so when I'll walk to their countries I'll bring them what they need to work on the alters for the city event. Also the most important part that I would need is a good supply of promotional product as artist are always asking me for examples the posters in foil version that the shops have for releases. I don't really need a huge money support because as I said people in the community would love to help me making this happening. I think that we should give a boost to our community since especially here in Europe we are having hard times with having fun and escaping a bit of our life. As soon as I get even posters I can actually make an event and try to manage the launch of our social medias (would be appreciate if you could do a shoutout when I kick off the project too). Sincerely yours.

Hi, everyone-
Selling off the pens I don't find myself using as much. Price drop from last week.
Prices include shipping within the continental US.
Verification
Leonardo Momento Zero Grande 2.0 in Spaghetti Baobab - Broad Nib - A2
Wonderful pen to write with, the 14K nib is slightly stubby and the ebonite feed supplies a generous flow to keep up with it. The new La Fenice nib design is a sight to behold, much more beautiful than the old Jowo nibs Leonardo used to use, imo. The colors of the spaghetti baobab really need to be seen in person, it's a gorgeous and vibrant pen to look at. Has a 1.5ml capacity, thank goodness because that broad nib is pretty ink-hungry.
$300
Vintage Pelikan 400 NN , Oblique Broad Nib - B
Superb condition, immaculate apart from some very slight pitting on the clip. Piston is smooth and the seal is in good shape. This pen has been very well cared for during its more than half-century lifespan. The celluloid barrel is gorgeous to look at, much more depth to the stripes than any modern Pelikan. The semi-flexible 14k nib is smooth and wet, with excellent tine alignment. Can flex to 1.5mm easily. Has an enormous capacity of nearly 2ml, more than almost any modern piston filler. Lots of effortless line variation with this pen from the flex and oblique nib. If you're looking for a pleasurable writing experience and gleaming, like-new vintage Pelikan, this is the pen for you.
$225
Mabie Todd Swan Self-Filler, Flex Fine Nib - D
This ebonite-bodied pen is around a century old and it looks its age. The once black ebonite has oxidized into brown, the designs on the body are worn, the gold cap collar has a few dents, and the lever is heavily brassed. However, the famous Swan No. 1 nib writes like a dream. Smooth writing experience, tines are well-aligned with plenty of tipping material, and it's soft enough that it can easily flex to 2mm with no problems. Extremely wet writer, which leads the fine nib to write more like a medium and gives it slightly less line variation than a dryer pen. Lever filling system works perfectly, has a new sac. I love this pen, but it's just too small for my hands.
$135
Ranga 8B, Broad Jowo Nib - B
Glossy black ebonite with a wet Jowo broad nib. It's a reliable, attractive pen. Very lightweight. Takes a good 7 turns to uncap, but it definitely will never dry out or leak from there.
$50

Hey guys, I am using this PC for a NAS, last week I had to power on and off, switching ram slots for many times until it post, now it doesn’t post, I never move the RAM also and was at the same slot my pc boot last time. I had replaced the CMOS battery from CR 2032 to CR 2025. The disk activity flash two times before it no longer shows whenever I start the PC up. I tried clearing CMOS battery but it doesn’t work.
This Old pc was in my room since 2020.

Name: Ad-Ad Fruit
Ability: The Ad-Ad Fruit (Kōkoku Kōkoku no Mi) is a Paramecia-type Devil Fruit that allows the user to create and manipulate advertisements around them. Making the user a Salesman Human.
Appearance: The Ad-Ad Fruit is a white head-sized fruit that has a long pointed nose-like protrusion that sticks out from the large amount of foliage from under the fruit that covers the whole fruit. Sticking out from the top of the foliage is a black stem that comes out of the top of the fruit, the stem form into a ‘G’ shape and then curls flatly similar to dots on both ends of the stem, strangely enough the stem’s coloration switches from black to bright red once.
In-Depth Description: Upon consumption the user is granted the ability to create and manipulate advertisements of any type and through any medium. Through coming into physical contact with an advert, the user is able to completely change the appearance of that advertisement and make it one of their [Ads]. Once that happens, the user is capable of remotely seeing through any of their [Ads] and allowing the user to see the current [wants and needs] of whoever is looking at the advertisement as well as communicate through them; and in-real time the user is able remotely change it’s contents to further appeal to the customer who might take the offer. If the customer were to take the offer on the advertisement through either verbal confirmation, signed documentation, or willingly shaking the user’s hand to officialize the [[DEAL]]. Depending on the few situations after a [[DEAL]] is made will the [true power] of the Ad-Ad Fruit take effect.
After striking a [[DEAL]] with a customer, the user must be able to deliver their end of the [[DEAL]] before being capable of receiving the customer’s payment. If the user is unable to fulfil their end of the bargain, then the [[DEAL]] will be immediately voided and any payment made by the customer will be returned in full back to them. But if the user possesses the [“intended product”], then the deal will proceed as normal with the customer receiving the product while the user receives the agreed form of [payment] while in person or through the [Ad] acting as a gateway for both [product] and [payment]. As to more favour the user, they are able to [[SCAM]] the customer so long as they don’t ask for the user to inspect the [product], sign the [“required”] documentation without reading it, or unconditionally accept the [[DEAL]]. While the user has to meet their end of the [[DEAL]], the quality and condition of the [“intended product”] does not need to meet such requirements as long as it looks like the [“intended product”] or it fulfils the purpose of [“intended product”]. The rules of both of these conditions are incredibly loose in interpretation, allowing the user to exchange a bad copy/bootleg of the [“intended product”] so long as it meets either requirements.
However, in the event that the customer does not possess the required payment either during the immediate [[DEALmaking]] or they fail to meet the steps of alternative paying methods, the user is then able to invoke special string-like green wires that rain down upon the [InDEBT Consumer] and attach themselves into their body from behind them. These [[Silly Strings]] are completely invisible to those who either aren’t indebted to the user or to a customer who hasn’t noticed anything, but if the user were to tell someone how this particular facet of the fruit works, then they will have the capacity to see these green wires. Once someone becomes a [InDEBT Consumer] the user is capable of slowly but surely manipulating them into doing what they want, with the more [[Silly Strings]] embedded into their body, the more overall control and sway the user has over them. So long as one green wire remains, the user will always know where the [InDEBT Consumer] is located. Just having a few green wires attached to you will make one susceptible to the user’s [“sweet words”] and [[Sales Pitches]], as well as being more blind to such actions of the user, to then end up with more [[Silly Strings]] attached onto their body. With a certain amount of green wires, the user is then capable of influencing a [InDEBT Consumer]’s actions through sleight hand movements and or verbal commands, after a few green wires after that stage, they will begin to become more reliant and gullible to such [“endearing encouragement”] from the user.
With enough [[Silly Strings]] attached onto a [InDEBT Consumer], their minds will become fully oblivious to any [“bad publicity”] of the user and do just about any of the user’s whims and bidding. However if a [InDEBT Consumer] were to become too indebted to the user and possess far to many [[Silly Strings]], then their mind will automatically start to deteriorate to the point of insanity, and become potentially become too unstable for the user to verbally manipulate them. When at such a stage, a [InDEBT Consumer] will fully acknowledge the existence of the [[Silly Strings]]. But just like all other [InDEBT Consumers], they themselves are unable to cut their own [[Silly Strings]], requiring the help of [“non-consumers”] to cut these green wires.
Back onto the [Ads] part of the devil fruit, the overall range the user has depends on the amount of [Ads] of any kind relative to each other. With the user’s pseudo-omniscience ranging far and wide as long as an [Ad] is in the relative range of another [Ad]. If a chain of [Ads] are all in relative range of each other and the user is at least in the radius range of one of the [Ads] making up the chain. Then the user will have complete and perfect vision through all of them. If the user is not in range of a mass of [Ads] then the viewing quality from them will begin to lessen. But if there are enough [Ads] in relative range from each other, then that will generally improve the user’s pseudo-omniscience. However the user themselves also possesses an effective range themselves, with the more in range the user and [Ad] are to each other the stronger the connection. The user’s range is able to be widened and increased with the more [[DEALS]] they make, which in turn slowly increases the range of the [Ads]. An individual [Ad] can have their own connectivity increased with the more customers they draw in and the amount of [[DEALS]] the user makes through that specific [Ad].
Now onto the last facet of the devil fruit, the user is capable of manifesting [Ads] from technological mediums such as [Pop-ups], [3D Models], [PNG/JPGs], and [Videos] into the real-world. Taking the same form as viewed on a Computer or Phone and appearing out of them into the real-world, where the user can telepathically move them around, enlarge them, shrink them, and stretch them. Whilst manifested they are very incredibly durable and can withstand any elemental attack as if it were all the same, however by tapping the close button the top right of these digital [Ads] will make them disappear. They function just like regular [Ads] of the physical world, possessing a relative range and can allow the user to see through them.
Weaknesses: The Ad-Ad Fruit is a devil fruit that is not inherently combat-based, requiring a lot of preparation before the devil fruit can be used in such a sense. As on its own it does leave the user with many options besides the primary facets of the devil fruit’s powers. While people who are obvious to the green wires or people who have green wires attached to them but don’t notice the effect they cause are completely unable to see these green wires attached to them and seemingly originate from the sky above. Non-affected people who have been informed by the user themselves of the green wires or have figured out themselves are capable of snipping the green wires. While the user can turn normal advertisable media into their own, allowing for further use of their devil fruit abilities, despite becoming more sturdy in terms of not flying in the wind if a gust came, they will all still possess the same durability and weaknesses as their normal counterparts.
The main demographic for the user are usually run of the mill people, people who aren’t observant enough to pick up the pieces of very slight things that happen to them. Such as the feeling of something latching onto them, their body doing something on their own, or feeling a certain way toward something all of a sudden. All manifested technology ads are the ads usable form combat, however they are at the same time the easiest to deal with. Just by hitting the top right “X” button to close the floating window. Most importantly, the user of the fruit must be somewhat capable of being a sales(wo)man or be willing to learn as a minimum to use this fruit at all or just be able to lie very well to people without feeling guilty.
Combative Info: The Ad-Ad Fruit in its entirety is not inherently for combative use, however it is capable of such use. Through coming into contact with any technological medium that adverts can be placed in, the user can make such ads manifest in the real-world. The windows from computer-like mediums are very durable, easily withstanding multiple cannon fire without such much as a crack. And are also capable of cutting someone by spinning it to further increase the windows cutting power. 3D polygon models act similar to props then anything that the user can telekinetically throw, if it so happened to be an animated model, then once manifested it will repeat its actions in a loop. The user is capable of raising the volume and brightness of video pop-ups to both blind and deafen opponents.
While the user ensnares more people in debt as well as deepening their staggering debt to the user for not doing their end of the deal. The user can forcibly take control of the user’s green wires and puppeteer them into fighting, operating in a similar fashion to Doflamingo’s Parasite technique. And the user is able to detach green wires from nearby indebted customers and manipulate to wrap around or attack the unaffected opponent while at the same time not attaching any debt onto them. However this not only allows the unaffected person to see the green wires, but also be able to cut them while they are in physical contact, even if they manage to snap a green wire, then that wire will not be reattached to their original indebted recipient. But can still be used by the user to attack opponents, but they can still be re-used for their intended purpose on another or an upcoming [InDEBT Consumer].
Non-Combative Info: Despite the absurdly greedy uses of the Ad-Ad Fruit, it is still an incredibly useful devil fruit for normal commercial uses or really any other form of normal trading uses. The user can easily create high-quality advertisements of any kind for any purpose on any advertisable medium. Being able to create a fully fledged security system by viewing through any and all [ads].
Techniques:
[Advertise]: The user physically touches a medium used for advertisement and transforms it into whatever form of marketable advertisement the user can imagine. When used on things such as paper or signs, the user erases whatever was written/printed on them before printing whatever they could think of. When used on a technological device, the user is simply able to instantly create pop-up ads and video advertisements. So long as it was possible on the chosen medium.

• [Limited Time Promotion]: The user creates a special ad under the guise of a promotional campaign, and whatever they are selling will be only available for a limited time. Increasing incentive for unassuming targets to quickly make a deal as the user reduces the time limit to add pressure on them.
• [Auction Sweepstake]: The user creates advertisements through any televised or radio broadcasting linked to a special advertisement that visually presents an auction sweepstake of multiple [“intended product”] that hypes them up and pretends to increase the bidding from a low price to make it look very valuable.
• [Wonder Trading]: The user creates numerous special ads that work off the basis of giving away a random item in response to a target donating a random item through this special advert. The value of the item given and received are completely, but the user can alter such values to weigh to their favour or someone else's. In addition to being able to see one’s wants and needs, the user can give out specific items to targets so that they are incentivized to donate more for similar items they desire.

[[Silly Strings]]: The user summons special string-like green wires from the sky onto the backs of a [InDEBT Consumer]. The more wires attached onto the back of a victim, the more susceptible they are to any of the user’s manipulations. The wires themselves become more durable and stronger the further the number of th deals the user makes, but will decrease the more deals get broken. While general training with them will make the base strength of the wires more stronger.

• [Sleight of Hand]: The user calls for a specific line of [[Silly Strings]] that are attached to a [InDEBT Consumer]. It will descend from the sky and wrap around the user’s finger, from there the user is able to completely control whatever part of the victim the wire is attached to. From making ever so slight hand gestures to weave the [InDEBT Consumer] to do whatever the user wants so long as they don’t make it apparent or obvious that they're being orchestrated.
• [Debt Termination]: The user manipulates all of the [[Silly Strings]] attached to a [InDEBT Consumer] and wrapped them in a dangerous sharp hold; particularly around the neck and in turn strangling them to death. Although when the user does this, the [[Silly Strings]] become visible to anyone around the victim who isn’t in debt, allowing them to snip the wires during this time.
• [Account Freeze]: The user summons all the [[Silly Strings]] attached to a [InDEBT Consumer] and simply halt the movement of the victim, for further entrapment the user wills the strings to wrap around the joints of the [InDEBT Consumer]. However once more doing such an action will cause non-[InDEBT Consumers] to witness the existence of the [[Silly Strings]].
• [Raining Green]: The user releases all the [[Silly Strings]] from a [InDEBT Consumer’s] body, causing them to each detach from that victim. The user then manipulates all of them to rain down upon a target and pierce them straight through. Alternatively the user can wrap themselves in a few of the [[Silly Strings]] to lift themselves off the ground and into the air. Similar to that of the [String-String Fruit].

[Manifested Windows]: The user focuses their [Ad-Ad Fruit] power on an advertisement off a technological screen. This causes the advertisement shown on the screen to begin to distort before literally coming out of the screen and assuming itself a 3d form. These manifested windows can be used in various ways from offence to defence. These 3d advertisements can be interacted with like advertisements the user creates. But the user is able to revert any of these manifests into 2d shapes and place them around like normal handout adverts, minimising them so that they maximise when someone is near, or make them float toward the nearest person and harass them.

• [3D Knockout]: The user creates manifested windows advertisements, and transforms them into 2d windows before having them slide underneath certain parts of a target’s body. And after they’ve slid under, the 2d windows instantly become 3d once more and collide into the target with excessive force.
• [[POP-UP Tabs]]: The user creates manifested windows advertisements, and transforms them into 2d windows before minimising them. The 2d manifested windows then sneak up on a target, and right when they least expect it, the windows maximise themselves and pop-up right in-front of the target.
• [Spam Mail]: The user or their [InDEBT Consumer] sets up many hidden pop-ups, minimised and scattered across every corner, door, window, device, etc and have them activated to the closest sentient being approaches its proximity. The Spam Mail pop-up will surprise and continuously annoy them by playing their own sound clips over and over again. And whenever they are closed, they will slightly shift out of the way.
• [Advertisement Block]: The user either during or out of combat grabs a manifested window and expands the window out to defend against attacks. But when expanded, the user can also turn the entire window 3-D, gaining a sudden immense amount of weight added to it. And crushing whoever the user drops it on, or they can use it as a shield or blockade.
• [Loud Notification]: The user creates a special variation of pop-up tab, that plays a loud and obnoxious-type of ringing noise whenever they are open. They can be programmed to follow targets and continuously play the same sound over again similar to spam mail.
• [Advertised Product]: The user reaches over and sticks their hand into an advertisement that’s showcasing an item and grabs it. Then the user pulls the product out of advertisement and into the real world. The user can use the product similar to the actual version, however it will be only half as effective. All that is left of the product from the advertisement is a white space shaped exactly like the item.

Awakening:
Once the user of the Ad-Ad Fruit awakens, catching up their body and mind to the levels of their own ability. The standard abilities given when first consumed are significantly increased beyond what they were before, the proverbial range of advertisements are increased, the strength and durability of [[Silly Strings]] improved, the intricacies of the [InDEBT Consumer]’s body that can be manipulated are heightened, and much more. The former weakness of the devil fruit where the user needed a pre-established advertisement or materials to use their devil fruit has been lifted to an extent*****. Now all the user needs to do to create an advertisement is to simply make a sales pitch of any kind, with the more grandeur the pitch, the stronger the advertisement. The user can even now conjure pop-up tabs and digital lettering in thin air to help begin a sales pitch, or enhance their own speechcraft. They can even be used in combat if the user desires, though they are not as potent as physical advertisements or manifested tabs.
However that is only half of the entire awakening, the other half focuses on the conceptual power of the devil fruit and what the user can exactly turn into an “Advertisement”. While in the pre-awakening state, the user is only able to bargain for and sell physical objects and beings. Now the user is able to wrap their [[Silly Strings]] on more intangible [products] such as a person’s soul, in turn granting complete control over an individual, or perhaps something that has yet to exist like a person’s first born. Or even something tied to their very being like their devil fruit ability, though [WARNING: ANY ATTEMPT FOR THE USER OF AD-AD FRUIT TO ABSORB INTO THE POWER OF ANOTHER DEVIL FRUIT USER THAT HAD [“willingly”] SOLD THEIR DEVIL FRUIT POWER TO THEM WILL SUFFER FROM SPONTANEOUS EXPLOSION OF THEIR ENTIRE BODY. THERE ARE NO REFUNDS\.]*
Lastly while the user is able to wrap their [[Silly Strings]] on more intangible [products], the user is now capable of extending what they can exactly turn into advertisement. Following more in line with a standard paramecia awakening, but in a thematic way, any land the user comes into [“ownership”] of and becomes their [“property”]. The wielder of the Ad-Ad Fruit is able to freely change and manipulate everything within and connected to the user’s square feet of land into advertisements. While the user is unable to manipulate the environment in the same way as other paramecia users due to the less malleable nature of advertisements. The esoteric nature of advertisements and how exactly the user can portray their power because of how broad an advertisement can be makes up for the lack of traditional control over their transformed land. But there is a singular weakness to this facet of the Ad-Ad Fruit, which is that if the deed or proof of documentation (and if there isn't any, one is automatically created every time the user assumes control of a lone land.) is destroyed or damaged, then the affected environment will either be completely reverted back or parts of it will instead.
Awakened Techniques:
[Deal with the Devil]: The user creates a [specil] one time only [DEAL], however compared to the normal advertisements the user creates, this one is created with the intention of the user trading for something not entirely physical but something that has value to a specific customer. This [DEAL] is more one on one than any other advertisement deal. Requiring the soon to be customer to either sign on the dotted line of a document to finalise the dealmaking, or by [“willingly”] shaking the user’s hand.

• [Deal for Another Life]: The user creates a [specil] one time only [DEAL] for someone who needs assistance in saving someone, be it that they're in a dying state or simply injured. By accepting the [DEAL] for the user to save the life of another, the recipient will have their condition ”heal” in a sense depending on the situation. If medical supplies are in the vicinity capable of mending them, then the Ad-Ad Fruit will use those supplies to instantaneously patch them up. If there are none, then the [“customer”] will have either their own life or a certain amount of years off their life to help save or extend out the recipient’s.
• [Devil for a Devil]: The user creates a [specil] one time only [DEAL] for the intent of trading the devil fruit abilities of two people between them. Once that either sign or shake each other’s hands with the user present to finalise the dealmaking. Both people will begin to convulse and scream from the pain of the swapping of devil fruits, what appears out from them appears to be the will or soul of their particular devil fruits which pass by each other before phasing into their new user's body.

[Ad Infinitum]: The user proceeds to make a literal one time only [DEAL] like no other to whom but the Ad-Ad Fruit itself, arranging a [DEAL] that will allow the user to gain a significant amount of power by absorbing all existing goods received through every [DEAL] the user has ever made. In turn however, once the user has finished with what they had intended to do with the power, parts of their own individuality is exchanged by the Ad-Ad Fruit itself with one perfectly lined with the devil fruit’s function. That of being a Salesman and their job of making deals. However once done, they themselves will be ensnared by [[Silly Strings]] with them even knowing, and secretly manipulating them into performing and doing things that allows them to make more deals and benefit them.

• [NEO]: One of two transformations the user can undergo once the deal has been made, and is mostly done through the intake of many material items the user has ["respectfully"] received from a ["customer"]. Granting them a physiology similar to that of a mechanical machine. Allowing to shrug off a majority of dangers that normally threaten a [MEAT PERSON]. They are able to fly at great speeds and ascend as high as they want due to the [[Silly Strings]] attached to their back once in this form. For combat they have many options, from blasting opponents with their arm cannon, opening their chest cavity for their own mechanical heart to spring out and shoot out white diamonds, and even increasing their own size to ram into and squish their opposition.
• [OMEGA]: The second and most powerful and the two transformations the user can undergo once the deal has been made, and is made when on top of absorbing material items, they also take into both the souls of people who gave them up and actual living people who sold their lives to the user. The main difference between the two forms is not only in power but also in sheer size and mobility being more slow. During both transformations, the user experiences a even higher boost in their ability of manipulating and transforming their [“property”] into anything advertisable.

P/N: I had created this fruit around the beginning of 2022, but never got around to actually starting anything. But then around the time Spamton Sweepstakes started I then, randomly out of nowhere, thought of the entire concept for the devil fruit.
I will say that I gave up at the end with the awakening moves, due to not feeling the best. But I just wanted to get this devil fruit over and done with. Any of the moves are up for interpretation.

Hello! I recently switched from Windows 11 to Linux Mint Cinnamon and so far I've had far fewer problems with it compared to Windows. The only frustration has been the software support. Most incompatible software I've managed to get working or find replacements for, but Davinci Resolve is the last one I need and I can't seem to find a solution to the exact problem I'm having.
For context, I'm using an RTX 3060 video card with the most recent driver available in the Driver Manager (nvidia-driver-525). I also have multimedia codecs installed (during initial installation). All software is up to date according to Update Manager.
I don't fully understand how different Linux distributions work, but apparently, Davinci Resolve is not compatible with Debian (and by extension Ubuntu and Mint). Thankfully, someone's written a script (and accompanying tutorial) to convert Resolve into a *.deb package: https://www.danieltufvesson.com/makeresolvedeb
I was able to follow the guide to install Resolve successfully and it appears in the application menu. For some reason, it cannot be launched by running the application, but for some reason, it can be started via a script in the terminal (sudo /opt/resolve/bin/resolve). Could it have something to do with requiring a password when running the script? Being able to launch it from the application menu would be convenient, but not necessary if that's unrealistic.
Once I actually have Resolve open, there are no problems navigating the UI and I can even create Fusion Compositions in the Fusion Editor, but importing media is completely broken. MKV files (exported by OBS encoded as H.264) don't even appear in the media pool. I think I saw something about MOV files working, so I tried converting them to Quicktime MOV using WinFF (an FFMPEG GUI interface). They can be imported, but when dragging it into the timeline, there is no video track and the lone audio track (there are supposed to be six) is completely silent.
I saw something about drivers but again, I have the latest one from the Driver Manager installed.
What can I do to make Davinci Resolve functional? Ideally, it would work exactly as on Windows, but even having to convert every video file would be acceptable as long as it works.
Although I would like to use Resolve, if it's not worth the effort to fix it, I'm not going to be terribly attached to Resolve and I can switch to a different editor, especially if just works better and offers similar features.
Below I've attached my system information. I'm new to Linux, so please be patient with me!

System: Kernel: 5.15.0-67-generic x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 11.3.0 Desktop: Cinnamon 5.6.8 tk: GTK 3.24.33 wm: muffin dm: LightDM Distro: Linux Mint 21.1 Vera base: Ubuntu 22.04 jammy Machine: Type: Desktop System: Gigabyte product: B660M DS3H DDR4 v: N/A serial:  Mobo: Gigabyte model: B660M DS3H DDR4 v: x.x serial:  UEFI: American Megatrends LLC. v: F5 date: 01/17/2022 Battery: Device-1: ps-controller-battery-d0:bc:c1:ee:e9:bc model: N/A serial: N/A charge: N/A status: Discharging CPU: Info: 10-core (6-mt/4-st) model: 12th Gen Intel Core i5-12600K bits: 64 type: MST AMCP arch: Alder Lake rev: 2 cache: L1: 864 KiB L2: 9.5 MiB L3: 20 MiB Speed (MHz): avg: 2713 high: 4500 min/max: 800/4900:3600 cores: 1: 2406 2: 855 3: 4500 4: 4474 5: 4478 6: 4188 7: 1530 8: 2613 9: 1259 10: 884 11: 1351 12: 1355 13: 3332 14: 3395 15: 3400 16: 3400 bogomips: 117964 Flags: avx avx2 ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx Graphics: Device-1: Intel AlderLake-S GT1 vendor: Gigabyte driver: i915 v: kernel ports: active: none empty: DP-1, DP-2, DP-3, HDMI-A-1, HDMI-A-2, HDMI-A-3 bus-ID: 00:02.0 chip-ID: 8086:4680 Device-2: NVIDIA GA106 [GeForce RTX 3060 Lite Hash Rate] vendor: PNY driver: nvidia v: 525.85.05 pcie: speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 16 ports: active: none off: DP-4,HDMI-A-4 empty: DP-5,DP-6 bus-ID: 01:00.0 chip-ID: 10de:2504 Device-3: Elgato Systems GmbH Game Capture HD60 S+ type: USB driver: hid-generic,snd-usb-audio,usbhid,uvcvideo bus-ID: 2-3:2 chip-ID: 0fd9:006a Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 1.21.1.3 driver: X: loaded: modesetting,nvidia unloaded: fbdev,nouveau,vesa gpu: i915,nvidia display-ID: :0 screens: 1 Screen-1: 0 s-res: 3840x1080 s-dpi: 93 Monitor-1: DP-0 pos: primary,left res: 1920x1080 dpi: 94 diag: 598mm (23.5") Monitor-2: HDMI-0 pos: primary,right res: 1920x1080 dpi: 82 diag: 686mm (27") OpenGL: renderer: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060/PCIe/SSE2 v: 4.6.0 NVIDIA 525.85.05 direct render: Yes Audio: Device-1: Intel vendor: Gigabyte driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus-ID: 00:1f.3 chip-ID: 8086:7ad0 Device-2: NVIDIA vendor: PNY driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel pcie: speed: 16 GT/s lanes: 16 bus-ID: 01:00.1 chip-ID: 10de:228e Device-3: JMTek LLC. LCS USB Audio type: USB driver: hid-generic,snd-usb-audio,usbhid bus-ID: 1-6:3 chip-ID: 0c76:2018 Device-4: Elgato Systems GmbH Game Capture HD60 S+ type: USB driver: hid-generic,snd-usb-audio,usbhid,uvcvideo bus-ID: 2-3:2 chip-ID: 0fd9:006a Sound Server-1: ALSA v: k5.15.0-67-generic running: yes Sound Server-2: PulseAudio v: 15.99.1 running: yes Sound Server-3: PipeWire v: 0.3.48 running: yes Network: Device-1: Realtek RTL8125 2.5GbE vendor: Gigabyte driver: r8169 v: kernel pcie: speed: 5 GT/s lanes: 1 port: 3000 bus-ID: 04:00.0 chip-ID: 10ec:8125 IF: enp4s0 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full mac:  Device-2: Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX200 driver: iwlwifi v: kernel pcie: speed: 5 GT/s lanes: 1 bus-ID: 05:00.0 chip-ID: 8086:2723 IF: wlp5s0 state: up mac:  Bluetooth: Device-1: Intel AX200 Bluetooth type: USB driver: btusb v: 0.8 bus-ID: 1-7.1:9 chip-ID: 8087:0029 Report: hciconfig ID: hci0 rfk-id: 2 state: up address:  bt-v: 3.0 lmp-v: 5.2 sub-v: 237e Drives: Local Storage: total: 2.5 TiB used: 1.32 TiB (52.6%) ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 vendor: Samsung model: SSD 970 EVO Plus 500GB size: 465.76 GiB speed: 31.6 Gb/s lanes: 4 serial:  temp: 54.9 C ID-2: /dev/sda vendor: Samsung model: SSD 850 EVO 250GB size: 232.89 GiB speed: 6.0 Gb/s serial:  ID-3: /dev/sdb vendor: Western Digital model: WD5000AAKS-00V1A0 size: 465.76 GiB speed: 3.0 Gb/s serial:  ID-4: /dev/sdc vendor: Western Digital model: WD1002FBYS-18A6B0 size: 931.51 GiB speed: 3.0 Gb/s serial:  ID-5: /dev/sdd type: USB vendor: Samsung model: Portable SSD T5 size: 465.76 GiB serial:  Partition: ID-1: / size: 249.02 GiB used: 113.14 GiB (45.4%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/nvme0n1p4 ID-2: /boot/efi size: 343.6 MiB used: 35.1 MiB (10.2%) fs: vfat dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2 Swap: ID-1: swap-1 type: file size: 2 GiB used: 314.8 MiB (15.4%) priority: -2 file: /swapfile Sensors: System Temperatures: cpu: 27.8 C mobo: 16.8 C gpu: nvidia temp: 55 C Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A gpu: nvidia fan: 0% Repos: Packages: 2536 apt: 2515 flatpak: 21 No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/microsoft-prod.list 1: deb [arch=amd64,arm64,armhf] https: //packages.microsoft.com/debian/11/prod bullseye main Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/official-package-repositories.list 1: deb https: //mirrors.ocf.berkeley.edu/linuxmint-packages vera main upstream import backport 2: deb http: //archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy main restricted universe multiverse 3: deb http: //archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy-updates main restricted universe multiverse 4: deb http: //archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy-backports main restricted universe multiverse 5: deb http: //security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ jammy-security main restricted universe multiverse Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/vscode.list 1: deb [arch=amd64,arm64,armhf] http: //packages.microsoft.com/repos/code stable main Info: Processes: 464 Uptime: 1d 13h 58m Memory: 31.13 GiB used: 13.89 GiB (44.6%) Init: systemd v: 249 runlevel: 5 Compilers: gcc: 11.3.0 alt: 11/12 Client: Cinnamon v: 5.6.8 inxi: 3.3.13 

I've been trying to set up dual boot with windows on a single NVME (laptop). I got rEFInd working fine but I wanted secure boot support, so I looked to shim. I understand that an SBAT section is required for shim to work properly. I feel like I've tried most things that I can try but one thing that I haven't been able to try is adding an SBAT section myself using the instructions provided here. So I created a file at /boot/EFI/refind/refind_x64.csvwith the sample content provided in the github issue above (my grubx64.efi is also rEFInd so I believe it should translate just fine). Then, I ran the command, replacing refind_x64.csv with the entire path, as objcopy didn't seem to be able to find the file without. However, it simply returns the following

objcopy: /boot/EFI/refind/stmeJumg: can't add section '.sbat': file in wrong format 

Googling this doesn't give many results and I'm basically at a dead end now. I'm pretty sure I copied the sample file accurately (I initially tried updating the version number of rEFInd then later changed it back; both attempts yielded the same result).
Also, I'm trying this despite probably knowing that the binary efi already has an sbat section (both grubx64.efi and shimx64.efi) have it, according to objdump -j .sbat -s /boot/EFI/refind/*binary.efi*
Furthermore, I've likely ran refind-install --shim /usshare/shim-signed/shimx64.efi --localkeys and signed my kernel about a half dozen times, using keys provided by /usshare/refind/keys/, as directed here, and keys I've generated myself following these instructions.
How do I get dual boot set up and running? There doesn't seem so much documentation about this sbat chicanery as it was introduced to shim in 2021 and patched in rEFInd a bit more than a month ago, so I suppose not enough people have had this trouble yet.
I'll be glad to provide any clarification (i.e. sources, methods, system states, etc.), and I'd appreciate any help. Also, here are some notes I took along the way: https://pastebin.com/kqjQNfrF

I'm doing a little project (I'll explain it more at the end) so I was wondering if someone could throw out some tint numbers. I haven't had to pay for tint since maybe 2001 so I'm a little out of touch.
*How much would you charge for a basic tint job for a small hatchback (maybe a Civic)?
*How much would this cost you to do this work (supplies + hourly rate)?
*How much would you charge a dealership to do this work, assuming you're they're go to vendor?
Here's what I'm working on. Yeah, it's Friday night, whatever lol.
I was looking at new cars and they have a LOT of add ons. I get it, they're trying to make a buck in this crazy market. But it got me thinking how can they make that same buck but give a better deal to the customer? The one I'm looking at does a few add ons (cheap ones) and tint. I can figure out the add ons costs but I'm left with about $2,500 for the tint. I know the vendor isn't getting that, maybe 5% at most.

For whatever reason, as of today, Battlenet won't launch in game mode or through steam in desktop mode.
It was totally fine up until today, it ran Diablo 2 Resurrected without issues, and I was able to install the D4 beta this morning, but then this evening I go to play it and when I boot it up, it just goes to the generic steamdeck app start screen for a few seconds, then closes and nothing happens.
Another weird thing is after it does that once, the proton settings in the properties menu becomes inaccessible and no longer shows my currently selected proton version.
I've tried rebooting, full screening battlenet when launched through Lutris in desktop mode, deleting and recreating the steam shortcut, changing Proton versions, disabling proton override etc etc. Just nothing seems to work.
Any suggestions that aren't reinstalling the whole damn thing?

My shop is in my garage and any paint or other finishes I spray on will also be done in my garage in a temporary spray booth I will set up when needed. I’ve never worked with any kind of sprayer before, just brushes and rattle cans. I know there are so many different types and brands of sprayers, from electric ones to ones run off a compressor. What do y’all recommend I use/purchase and why? If I haven’t supplied enough info for you to be able to answer, just lmk what other info you need. Thanks!

Alright..
I'm wanting to know if my boyfriend has cause for wrongful termination or not.
In November he was hired for seasonal work for snow removal and ice control and was told that come winter he'd be paid off and rehired for the summer landscaping work.
The summer work started on Monday (March 20th) and he worked two days before being dismissed.
They told him they received a complaint from a customer that he was working too slowly.
He's got a bad foot but told the woman who hired him this when he was hired in November. He hadn't had work for two weeks when the summer work started and had never done landscaping before. He was breaking in new steel toe boots as well. So he was going a little slow on the first day. The second day his co-worker dropped a lawnmower on his bad foot, which causes him to work slower.
It was after his second shift that he got a call from his boss saying they had to let him go.
It's sketchy as hell in my opinion. Even if they received a complaint, shouldn't they have given him a chance to pick up the pace? I get he was rehired and was technically in the probation period of his employment but come on.
Should he be seeking legal action?
Thanks in advance.

Computer Type: Desktop
GPU: Radeon rx 6750 XT
CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 1600 Six-Core Processor, 3200Mhz, 6 Core(s)
Motherboard: PRIME x470-PRO
BIOS Version: American Megatrends Inc. 5204
RAM: 16GB CORSAIR VENGEANCE 3200 Mhz
PSU: evga 60watt n1
Case: NZXT H510i
Operating System & Version: WINDOWS 10 PRO 19044 (trial version)
GPU Drivers: ??
Chipset Drivers: ??
Background Applications: ??
Description of Original Problem: Both monitors would turn black/off specifically when playing games (eg. apex legends) and would say "no DP signal from your device. Entering power saving mode" but my pc is still on. If I turn off my monitors and then back on, it would still say no DP signal. I would need to force shut down my pc to restart and once pc is booted only the main monitor would show the display. I also got a message stating "AMD software detected that the display driver has failed to load on your system" when I tried installing the driver back. I've also noticed that my NZXTCam app says "no supported graphics cards were found"
Troubleshooting: I turned off windows auto update on the driver, still didn't work. Temporary troubleshooting I've done is to constantly uninstall the driver and then reinstall it which would take about 20 min to do the whole process only for the problem to show up again if I try playing games. This has been going on for 3 months now, on and off.
​
ANY HELP IS AMAZING!! I just want to play Apex :-(

The previous thread revolved around Plinkett's logic/realism comparison between the Death Star's interior and the "Theed power room", the much more reasonable Bespin comparison that was left out of the picture, and how this omission compromised the point that was being made.
https://old.reddit.com/RedLetterMedia/comments/11yn4jh/flawsinsufficiencies_in_rlms_spacewar_commentary/
This post is going to be about the high/low stakes of the Ep1/Ep4 plotlines and the way those are analyzed by RLM:

Plinkett audio commentary: SW Ep1
And he has one last chance, and he puts that part in the pod - and finally, the pod starts working, and he can enter the big race - you know, to win the big prize at the end which will save.. the whole.. family.
And then he says "it's woorrrkiiing.." and you know, then you swell the dramatic music... - and that's when that scene works?
That scene doesn't work.. 20 minutes into a movie that's not about podracing.
I'm sorry to get all bitchy on you, but-.. but-... d'you ever watch this movie and, and be like... why did that happen, or, or-.. "I don't feel anything inside".... you know, I'm- like "I'm dead inside"?
Well.. - I'm.. just trying to explain why you feel dead inside when you watch this movie, or you don't feel excited - even at the end when they have the, big.. celebration? You know, [impression]- [...]
But even at the end when they have the big, like, festival - like-... you're just like.. "So?" So what, there's a midget there now with an eyepatch on, and-... some boring-ass bitch.. gives a frog a glowing ball. Wwhy the fuck do I care?
It's not like the end of the original Star Wars when Luke, Han, and.. Chewbacca, get medals from Princess Leia - it's like, those guys saved the fucking day; what did these guys do? Oh, they resolved a tax dispute...

Plinkett: Ep1
Number 10: Anakin Skywalker
[...]
Oh we're still on this planet are we?
So Qui-Gon manages to pull off the most convoluted bet ever, and somehow wins everything except for Anakin's mother.
Even at the end of the movie when they save the day and probably could get the cash to buy the mom from Watto - they don't go back for ten years.

So - what's going on here?
In one quote, he says "they save the day (at the end of Ep1)", and then in another he says they don't save the day - in contrast to the heroes at the end of EP4 who do save the day.
This is of course a direct self-contradiction;
and between two excerpts that are both talking about Anakin on Tatooine, in the context of the podrace, no less.

Plinkett audio commentary: Ep1
Oh.. - that's a good question, are you here to free the slaves Qui-Gon? No, actually we're.. we're in the process of settling a tax dispute... ohhh.
Yeah I guess freeing slaves would've made a better movie...
it's good we went with something boring, we wouldn't want to excite the audience too much...

So instead of joining the dramatic high-stakes cause of freeing the slaves, Anakin instead joins the undramatic low-stakes cause of settling a tax dispute,
quickly and easily fixing his pod in an undramatic low-stakes fashion, reflecting the undramatic low-stakes nature of said tax dispute where they don't save the day, that is contrasted with the dramatic high-stakes Ep4 ending where they do save the day, and then forgets to return to pick his mom up after saving the day with the tax dispute?

Plinkett audio commentary: SW Ep4
But the real thrust of this scene is, this is when the stakes are really raised - insteada just a giant floating ball in space, we are now shown that the Death Star is capable of blowing up whole planets; and our ragtag group o' heroes are the only ones that can stop it...
Tension, stakes, a ticking clock!; heroism, and adventure - it's what makes Star Wars great.
Much like the Phantom Menace - when the Gungans fight the Robots to help Queen Amidala find the Viceroy, so that she doesn't have to sign a treaty to make the non-violent invasion legal in the courts...
[crickets...] Uhmm.. [..........]

Now it's an "invasion" instead of a "tax dispute", however a "non-violent" one - hence still low-stakes.

Number 6: Invasion! Of Boring…

Plinkett: Ep1
Number 10: On to Planet Number 3. Is it time for death yet?
Welcome to Coruscant - home of the mid-air collision; and BORING SCENES.
So the Queen waits around for some kind of approval, o-.. for something, to stop her people from dying- Why are they dying? I guess they're dying though...
But I didn't see anyone die?
In fact I haven't even seen any Naboo citizen at all - as far as I know it's a city with 20 or so pilots, a couple of bureaucrats and officials.

Now there's talk of "people dying" all of a sudden - how "non-violent" was this invasion tax dispute again?

Why are they dying? I guess they're dying though... But I didn't see anyone die?

"I guess x is happening" = treating it as an uncertainty (although arguably also some indifference);
the fact that it isn't shown is presented as a reason for doubting that it's happening (although it could also be referring to presentation - implying that not showing it leads to indifference:

Plinkett: ST Generations
He was trying to save a pre-industrial civilization that we never see... - or care anything about.

);
"why" is literally inquiring about the reasons and causes behind it, but really it also kinda means "why am I supposed to believe that it's happening".
Clearly along with lines like this:

So the Queen waits around for some kind of approval, o-.. for something,

, Plinkett isn't making any moves to go through the movie and analyze the information - instead he's just comically trying to piece together his foggy memories of the plot, while channeling confusion and indifference.
A more proper look at this, one that the review probably should've taken, potentially reveals the source of this uncertainty and confusion:

"How will you explain this invasion to the Senate?"
"The Queen and I will sign a treaty that will legitimize our occupation here - I have assurances it will be ratified by the Senate."
"I will not cooperate."
"Now, now, Your Highness - in time, the suffering of your people will persuade you to see our point of view.
Commander." "Yes, sir." "Process them." "Captain - take them to Camp 4."

Makes what can be called a "credible threat" about doing something to the people.

"Your Highness, under the circumstances, I suggest you come to Coruscant with us."
"Thank you, Ambassador - but my place is with my people."
"They will kill you if you stay."
Sio Bibble: "They wouldn't dare!"
Panaka: "They need her to sign a treaty to make this invasion of theirs legal, they can't afford to kill her!"
"There is something else behind all this, your Highness - there's no logic in the Federation's move here. My feelings tell me they will destroy you."

Here the psychic Jedi senses some lethal intentions on their part, probably making the earlier threats even more credible;
of course Panaka already thinks they're capable of murder - and seconds earlier, Qui-Gon's retort was probably meant to be understood as "they tried to kill us instead":

"Your negotiations seem to have failed, Ambassador."
"The negotiations never took place. It's urgent that we make contact with the Republic."

Either way, now there's a credible threat of "suffering" against the population, and a credible danger of them killing the Queen.

Number 8: I'm gonna slit my wrists
[Sigh...] It's hard to stomach any more of this shit - I still don't know who the main character is and why we should care about any of this.
At around this point in the original Star Wars movie, we've been with Luke almost the whole time getting to know him.
We see his plight;
his hopes and dreams...
we feel his frustration...
and then his sadness...
The slow build-up added depth, and emotion; and anticipation for the story to expand.
In the Phantom Menace we have nothing - we've a monotone queen, who's hiding from signing a treaty that's supposed to do something.
Why in fuck's name should we care at all.. I don't care about any of these characters?

What is the treaty supposed to do again?

Number 6: Invasion! Of Boring…
So what exactly is the purpose of this invasion?
It's almost like after Lucas wrote the invasion scenes, he didn't.. really know what to do next? - so he thought he'd make the Queen have to sign a treaty, to make the invasion legal; I mean, why not?

The guys that want this treaty signed (whatever it's about) threaten her with making the people "suffer" - and the content of this treaty is that this faction that threatens the population with suffering while invading, arresting and keeping them as hostages, will get to "legally" stay there with no one doing anything about it.
The stakes of fending these invaders off vs. succumbing to them already seem quite high - and Plinkett is obviously going out of his way to downplay it all (if he's remembering it to begin with, at that moment):

In the Phantom Menace we have nothing - we've a monotone queen, who's hiding from signing a treaty that's supposed to do something.

One might wonder how he managed to miss or forget this; a look at the part where he covers the threat scene, reveals a few things:

Invasion! Of Boring...
Inside the city, Queen Aminalan has been captured by the green guys; but instead of forcing her to sign the treaty right then and there - or keeping her locked up inside the big capital building under heavy guard - they inexplicably send her away from them. ["I will not cooperate." "Now, now, Your Highness - in time, the suffering of your people will persuade you to see our point of view."]
"Commander." "Yes, sir?" "Process them..."
Remember - this is the most important person in their whole plan - and they send her to be... "processed"?, in some place called "Camp 4".
Droid: "Captain - take them to Camp 4."
Ohh; but at least they remember to send her with a whopping 8 battle droids to protect her from the 2 Jedis that they just discussed they had not found yet.
"You didn't tell him about the missing Jedi..." "No need to report that to him, until we have something to report."
But don't worry - these battle droids have proven very effective against Jedi Knights.

So there are 2 alternative options that Plinkett is suggesting the green guys should've gone with, instead of "sending them to Camp 4":
a) "Forcing her to sign the treaty right then and there" - this is of course in the very scene where they're expressing the threat against her population if she doesn't sign it.
While it's possible to speculate about what other more direct forms of force or coercion they could've applied there to accomplish it "right then and there", these pseudo-euphemistic threats against the population are the method of coercion they're going with here, and it's not clear whether Plinkett is even aware of this at all.
b) "Keeping her locked up in the Palace instead of sending them away, where the 2 Jedi could jump in."
This is correct - however his focus on just this one aspect of this scene causes him to talk over the part where Gunray is verbalizing his threat, and only turn on the sound right after, when Nute moves to the "Camp 4" part:

they inexplicably send her away from them. ["I will not cooperate." "Now, now, Your Highness - in time, the suffering of your people will persuade you to see our point of view."]
"Commander." "Yes, sir?" "Process them..."

So now as a result, Plinkett is talking over the part where Nute is issuing his threat to the Queen, saying how they should force the Queen to sign the treaty "right then and there"...
And, this of course also facilitates the massive downplaying of this situation later in the review:

Number 8: I'm gonna slit my wrists
In the Phantom Menace we have nothing - we've a monotone queen, who's hiding from signing a treaty that's supposed to do something.
Why in fuck's name should we care at all..

Now they escape the planet instead of "cooperating", so the possibility arises that the Trade Federation might repeat their threats a bit more emphatically, or even start making them real in order to exact pressure:

"The death toll is catastrophic... We must bow to their wishes! You must contact me!"
"It's a trick. Send no reply - send no transmissions of any kind."
"It sounds like bait to establish a connection trace."
"What if it is true - and the people are dying?"
"Either way, we're running out of time."

So now it sounds like they're making it real - "catastrophic death tolls".
Going a step further however, instead of merely exacting that pressure, they're also trying to trace them in case they merely decide to just reply at first - even if they refused to "bow to their wishes" at first, they'd already betray their location.
The "bait" conclusion is stated with a high level of certainty here - and is in fact immediately confirmed to be real, even if the details of it seem inconsistent and confusing (since the ship didn't reply, but Darth Maul still has a trace?):

"Tatooine is sparsely populated - if the trace was correct, I will find them quickly, Master."

However the possibility that the assertion about the "death tolls" might still be true, is left up in the air - the Jedi / Queen don't know, and the audience isn't clued in either.
That is until they've left Tatooine for Coruscant, where it's then also confirmed as true:

"Your Queen is lost, your people are starving... and you, Governor, are going to die much sooner than your people I'm afraid..."
"This invasion will gain you nothing! We're a democracy - the people have decided!"
"Take him away."

However upon a closer look, 2 factors still cause a certain amount of doubt, or uncertainty:
1) Technically the only thing that's confirmed here is that Bibble hadn't been made to lie, and in fact does believe that "the people are starving" (or at least isn't shown doubting it)- however he's shown to be alone with Gunray and some of his droids in what looks like an empty part of the palace; if this is representative of his general situation, and he's being kept here isolated while being told about mass starvation, how is it a certainty that he's not being lied to as well?
Perhaps the movie isn't thinking that far, and considers the confirmation that he was being honest and hadn't been performing under pressure or threats, as an automatic confirmation that it's all true - however it's not clear.
2) "The people have decided"? This makes it sound as if the pressure is being applied to the population itself, to presumably accept the Trade Federation as their new rulers - as opposed to the Queen or even him or any of the other remaining officials to "sign the treaty".
So some kind of different thing seems to be going on here, and this casts doubts on whether this scene even takes place in the same continuity, or might be from a different script version.
However, the very next scene it cuts back to the ship, and Padme is replaying a recording of his message (not having seen it herself while on Tatooine) - and, with no thoughts given to it having been a confirmed trick, and possibly untrue, seems to believe it without question:

"The death toll is catastrophic! We must bow to their wishes! You must contact me!"
"You all right?"
"It's very cold."
"You come from a warm planet, Ani - a little too warm for my taste. Space is cold."
"You seem sad..."
"The Queen is worried - her people are suffering, dying...
She must convince the Senate to intervene, or... I'm not sure what'll happen."

It seems like the moment it's "confimed" to the audience via a villain cut-away, the protagonists now automatically start treating it as true as well.

Plinkett audio commentary: Ep1
the audience knows - but he doesn't know.

This continues into this later scene:

"The Courts take even longer to decide things than the Senate! Our people are dying, Senator - we must do something quickly to stop the Federation!"
"To be realistic, Your Majesty... I think we're going to have to accept Federation control for the time being."
"That is something I cannot do."

Later in the Senate session, even before anyone mentions anything about death tolls, the very notion of the invasion is already placed under doubt:

"Honourable representatives of the Republic - I come to you under the gravest of circumstances. The Naboo system has been invaded by the droid armies of the Trade-"
"I object! There is no proof! This is incredible... We recommend a commission be sent to Naboo to ascertain the truth!"
"The Congress of Malastare concurs with the honourable delegate from the Trade Federation - a commission must be appointed!"
"The point..."
Mas Amedda: "Excuse me, Chancellor."
"Enter the bureaucrats - the true rulers of the Republic; and on the payroll of the Trade Federation, I might add. This is where Chancellor Valorum's strength will disappear."
"The point is conceded. Will you defer your motion to allow a commission to explore the validity of your accusations?"

Initially by bad actors, of course - and Valorum seems to be under pressure to act like he's sharing or at least respecting these doubts:

Number 3: Death and Space Taxes
At the end of the movie, Amidalen goes back to the planet to solve the problem herself - cause the Senate wanted to send an independent team to investigate whether or not the invasion was real.
"Will you defer your motion to allow a commission to explore the validity of your accusations?"
I guess the testimony of two Jedi Knights wasn't good enough; [Qui-Gon talking to Valorum on the Coruscant platform] those were the guys that Valorum trusted enough to settle the whole dispute in the first place? That don't make sense?..

However the Malastare speaker may or may not be genuine, and generally the Senate is not presented with any additional proof for these allegations;
could the Jedi have been used as witnesses, given how they had been sent in "secret" to begin with?

"the Supreme Chancellor has secretly dispatched two Jedi Knights, the guardians of peace and justice in the galaxy, to settle the conflict...."

Given how backed into the corner the Valorum is,

"Chancellor Valorum seems to think there is hope?" "If I may say so, Your Majesty, the Chancellor has little real power - he is mired by baseless accusations of corruption; the bureaucrats are in charge now."

probably not.
Then, after all the preceding interruptions, Amidala finally brings up the deathtolls - stating it as fact (even though she has no reason to be certain, unlike the invasion and "attack on sovereignty" itself):

"I will not defer - I've come before you to resolve this attack on our sovereignty NOW. I was not elected to watch my people suffer and die, while you discuss this invasion in a committee!"

Proof or reason aside, the room is instantly won over and apparently has no doubts left.

"Yousa tinking yousa people ganna die?"
"I don't know..."
"Gungans get pasted too, eh?"
"I hope not."

In this scene it's not clear whether Jar Jar is just getting things wrong and she's merely humoring him, or whether this talk about "gonna die" (as opposed to already dying in the present - does this mean he's asking if they're all gonna eventually die?) and her uncertain response ("don't know whether they'll all die before they can intervene"?) are rather, again, from yet another alternate continuity / script version,
where the Neimoidians haven't yet started claiming to be already causing death tolls, but are rather threatening that they'll genocide them all if their demands aren't met - and that Amidala doesn't really know if that's gonna happen or not, if they'll manage to prevent it or not.

"I fear by the time you have control of the bureaucrats, Senator - there'll be nothing left of our people, our way of life."
"I understand your concern, Your Majesty - unfortunately, the Federation has possession of our planet."
"Senator - this is your arena; I feel I must return to mine.
I've decided to go back to Naboo."
"Go back? But your Majesty, be realistic, th-they'll force you to sign the treaty!"
"I will sign no treaty, Senator. My fate will be no different than that of our people."

Apparently Palpatine agrees with Plinkett that they could potentially apply some more direct and successful form of "force" here - since otherwise the pressure they're applying now (causing those "death tolls") isn't going to fundamentally change if she returns.
Apparently the talk is about them threatening her directly, which she responds with "my fate won't be different than the people's.
However this line here:

"I fear by the time you have control of the bureaucrats, Senator - there'll be nothing left of our people, our way of life."

once again casts doubts on what is being referred to, or which script version continuity is currently on display - especially if compared to this:

"The Trade Federation has destroyed all that we have worked so hard to build - if we do not act quickly, all will be lost forever."

What have they "worked hard to build"? And what "way of life"?
Before that it was all about drastic life-and-death issues - however these lines, esp. in a vacuum, rather make it sound like the Federation is just eroding their culture/projects/values/sovereignty/spirit/etc. which is worth fighting for, but isn't blotted out by the even a lot worse CATASTROPHIC DEATH TOLLS.
Back here on Naboo, however, things seemingly undergo another shift - after the somber tone of the Coruscant stay, where one might say depressing notions about death tolls matched the general mood, here in this new chapter the tone is upbeat and optimistic, and perhaps for this reason nothing more about any deaths is brought up again:

"What is the situation?"
Panaka: "Almost everyone's in camps.
A few hundred police and guards formed an underground resistance movement. I brought back as many of the leaders as I could.
The Federation army's also much larger than we thought - and much stronger. Your Highness, this is a battle I do not think that we can win."

"Almost everyone's in camps", but that's all he says.
No one cares to find out whether

"What if it is true - and the people are dying?"

It's never confirmed, nor refuted, nor ruled out - just no longer mentioned.
However at the very least, at this point they're already firmly planning to end this occupation, and now have the means to do it (more on the confused unclarities regarding this aspect at some later point) - they're no longer faced with the decision to either contact Sio Bibble and potentially expose themselves, or accept further death tolls; and no longer powerlessly stuck on Coruscant hoping the government does something; now there's just one way forward.
So does that somewhat account for all of this? Well, somewhat, sure, appears so.
Earlier, they checked on the Gungan city - and there, Panaka did voice speculations about what might've happened to them:

Obi-Wan: "Do you think they have been taken to the camps?"
Panaka: "More likely they were wiped out."
"Mesa no tink so."
Qui-Gon: "Do you know where they are, Jar Jar?"

However that was of course instantly resolved.
Ultimately, between its different "chapter", this movie has a noticeable cognitive dissonance about how high these particular stakes are:
at first a threat is made;
then the villains claim to have started making the threat real, however they're using that as a trap in order to trace them - creating a sense of creeping uncertainty about it all, as Darth Maul is closing in on them;
then once "the audience is shown", everyone starts treating it as a fact, in the context of the somber tone of the Coruscant stay;
and finally it all gives way to an upbeat tone during which this notion softly disappears from the narrative, and the lines that are used to refer to the nature of the occupation are now much more compatible with the notion that this is a:

Tension, stakes, a ticking clock!; heroism, and adventure - it's what makes Star Wars great.
Much like the Phantom Menace - when the Gungans fight the Robots to help Queen Amidala find the Viceroy, so that she doesn't have to sign a treaty to make the non-violent invasion legal in the courts...

However while it's possible to view this all as a fragmented combination of several mutually continuities, it also remains true that Gunray had expressed a violent threat, the protagonists were shortly after given the impression that he may very well have started putting it into practice, this was then "all but confirmed" by the cut to Sio Bibble on Naboo (though only to the viewers, not the protagonists), and then none of this was ever explicitly contradicted, or ruled out - even not by all the lines that, in isolation, would make a very different impression.
The selective memory of these lines seems to be the basis for this "non-violent invasion" comment - without the realization that they are effectively refuted by all the other (much more emphasized and explicit) parts that indicate a violent one (or, at the very least, one in which a mass starvation is induced);
an equivalent, albeit a very disproportionate one, would be if someone selectively remembered these lines from Ep4's black roundtable here:

"The Imperial Senate will no longer be of any concern to us; I have just received word that the Emperor has dissolved the council permanently. The last remnants of the old Republic have been swept away."
"That's impossible! How will the Emperor maintain control without the bureaucracy?"
"The regional governors now have direct control over their territories. Fear will keep the local systems in line - fear of this battle station."
"And what of the Rebellion? If the Rebels have obtained a complete technical readout of this station, it is possible, however unlikely, that they might find a weakness and exploit it."
"The plans you refer to will soon be back in our hands."
"Any attack made by the rebels against this station"

Never mind the "fear of this battle station" or "attacks" or "

This scene is pretty important to the plot, but it's really just there to engage an element they call the "ticking clock" - it's a basic function used to create tension in a story. They almost have the Death Star ready; it's ready to shoot giant lasers, and they plan to use it to crush the Rebellion - by destroying their hidden base.

; the plot of this movie is about governors non-violently controlling their local territories while non-violent rebels want to exploit the technical readouts of a station.

So the Queen waits around for some kind of approval, o-.. for something, to stop her people from dying- Why are they dying? I guess they're dying though...
But I didn't see anyone die?
In fact I haven't even seen any Naboo citizen at all - as far as I know it's a city with 20 or so pilots, a couple of bureaucrats and officials.

While obviously some "citizens" are eventually shown in the celebration at the end, the closest the movie ever gets to "showing anyone die", or confirming that it's taking place, is by showing Nute Gunray bringing it up to Sio Bibble who's acting like he accepts it as true (with the possibility that he's seen it not ruled out, but not confirmed either), and otherwise by having Padme believe his hologram transmission after that palace scene (although before that, the very same message was explicitly doubted).

Why are they dying? I guess they're dying though...

It looks like Plinkett is remembering the Padme lines, but not why she believes it's taking place, or what the cause of it is supposed to be in the first place;
obviously the answer to the first question is that "she's believing the governor's hologram message", and the answer to the second question is "because Gunray is trying to pressure her into agreeing to that treaty".
His uncertainty seems to primarily stem from ignoring and forgetting the information in the movie instead of going through it properly - however if he had gone through it, he would've also found a degree of uncertainty surrounding this: first as a direct part of the plot,
later in the form of residual doubts about how much of a "confirmation" the Bibble/Gunray scene is supposed to be (followed by Padme's sudden acceptance of his claims without learning anything new since it had been determined as dubious),
and eventually by the seeming dissonance created by lines that convey a milder version of the events and cast doubts on this plotline's internal continuity.
It's possible that this actual uncertainty created by the film subconsciously contributed to his uncertainty in some ways as well, in addition to him just not remembering stuff.

I guess they're dying though...

This seems like a casual acceptance of her claims - which coincides both with Padme's (unjustified, by rational metrics) acceptance of Sio's "death tolls" claim in the message, and the film's largely overwhelming (but not full) confirmation that it it was in fact true,
and, once again, may have been subconsciously influenced by that angle, but isn't directly based on any precise analysis or recollection of those elements.
Aside from all this, his indifferent and semi-dismissive tone is also incongruent with, and unrepresentative of the dramatic intensity that those scenes are presented with - even if going farther with it (say, for starters, by showing any "Naboo citizens" before the very last scene) could have increased this intensity further.
Jumping to the preceding step of the Neimoidian's master plan -

But the conflict from the blockade and the subsequent invasion

:

Number 11: Please, God - make it stop. Make it end.
I mean I know George wanted the Jedis to fight in a cool place that's really Star Warsy? - so.. so what this is like a power generator? What does it power, the Universe??
So you're expecting me to believe that the people that built this technological wonder were dying without space supplies for 2 days??
Number 3: Death and Space Taxes
So the Trade Federation have set up a blockade around... Naboo, in order to stop them from getting space supplies - which instantly causes some kinda... crisis? - that we never see.
[...]
Anyways, so I realize that Senator Palpatine was using the Trade Federation to create a crisis to advance himself politically; like that was the plot I think? But the conflict from the blockade and the subsequent invasion is the entire movie! Understanding what role the Trade Federation played in this, is important...
You know what the blockade was about, who was getting taxed, what kinda supplies were so crucial to the Naboo - what was it, like medical supplies? Just some kinda plague? Did they not have the capacity to survive on such a lush planet with a huge power reactor for one day without space trade?
You see I would've accepted the idea of some kinda mystery villain if the basics were at least clear...

Both when discussing the invasion as well as the preceding blockade, Plinkett consistently doesn't bother with going through the available information (while already not remembering it properly to begin with, naturally) - however for some reason the two instances are given the polar opposite treatment:
While seemingly intent on downplaying/doubting/denying the "death tolls" and high stakes of the invasion (or, more specifically, Gunray's methods of trying to force the treaty agreement) way beyond the residual amount of uncertainty left by the information in the film,
the effects of the blockade are instead being vastly overblown here not based on anything in the script.

"Hoping to resolve the matter with a blockade of deadly battleships, the greedy Trade Federation has stopped all shipping to the small planet of Naboo.
While the Congress of the Republic endlessly debates this alarming chain of events,"

"Deadly battleships" implies potential danger, and "alarming" just means that everyone is "alarmed" by this (easily explainable by it being perceived as a "bold move", or something people hadn't been sure was legal to begin with - judging by Gunray's emphatic insistence that it is "perfectly legal", and Sidious' ability to "make things legal" that weren't so before) - no resulting high-stakes crisis is implied by this at all; let alone one emerging after just a few days.

So the Trade Federation have set up a blockade around... Naboo, in order to stop them from getting space supplies - which instantly causes some kinda... crisis? - that we never see.

The bolded part is invented; "we never see it", nor does anyone imply it's taking place at all, or behave as if it does.

"Turmoil has engulfed the Galactic Republic. The taxation of trade routes to outlying star systems is in dispute."
"Supreme Chancellor, delegates of the Senate - a tragedy has occurred, which started right here with the taxation of trade routes, and has now engulfed our entire planet in the oppression of the Trade Federation."

The "trade/taxation dispute" has long escalated into the blockade before the movie even begins - which then escalates into the invasion a few minutes into said movie; the threats against the population start shortly after, eventually followed by the Governor's distress message.
Somehow during those segments of the audio commentary, Plinkett seems to have forgotten all about this, and apparently thinks that the "tax dispute" is still the full extent of what's at stake at any point after the 1st paragraph of the opening crawl:

Plinkett audio commentary: SW Ep1
And he has one last chance, and he puts that part in the pod - and finally, the pod starts working, and he can enter the big race - you know, to win the big prize at the end which will save.. the whole.. family.
And then he says "it's woorrrkiiing.." and you know, then you swell the dramatic music... - and that's when that scene works?
That scene doesn't work.. 20 minutes into a movie that's not about podracing.
I'm sorry to get all bitchy on you, but-.. but-... d'you ever watch this movie and, and be like... why did that happen, or, or-.. "I don't feel anything inside".... you know, I'm- like "I'm dead inside"?
Well.. - I'm.. just trying to explain why you feel dead inside when you watch this movie, or you don't feel excited - even at the end when they have the, big.. celebration? You know, []- [...]
But even at the end when they have the big, like, festival - like-... you're just like.. "So?" So what, there's a midget there now with an eyepatch on, and-... some boring-ass bitch.. gives a frog a glowing ball. Wwhy the fuck do I care?
It's not like the end of the original Star Wars when Luke, Han, and.. Chewbacca, get medals from Princess Leia - it's like, those guys saved the fucking day; what did these guys do? Oh, they resolved a tax dispute...
Oh.. - that's a good question, are you here to free the slaves Qui-Gon? No, actually we're.. we're in the process of settling a tax dispute... ohhh.
Yeah I guess freeing slaves would've made a better movie...
it's good we went with something boring, we wouldn't want to excite the audience too much...

All in all, on a general dementia--accuracy spectrum, Plinkett's commentary on this aspect of the plot keeps oscillating between these cases of sincere amnesia on the one side, and this bit on the other side:

So the Queen waits around for some kind of approval, o-.. for something, to stop her people from dying- Why are they dying? I guess they're dying though...
But I didn't see anyone die?
In fact I haven't even seen any Naboo citizen at all - as far as I know it's a city with 20 or so pilots, a couple of bureaucrats and officials.

This is the closest he ever comes to being "accurate", and it's still very far.
However while leaving out all the most dramatic scenes revolving around this, he also imagines a mass death crisis on Naboo caused by the pre-invasion blockade;
it's possible that this is him misattributing Padme's "people are dying" lines to the blockade and the resulting lack of space supplies - perhaps even forgetting that a subsequent invasion occurred at all, in those excerpts that is.

Number 8: I'm gonna slit my wrists
[Sigh...] It's hard to stomach any more of this shit - I still don't know who the main character is and why we should care about any of this.
At around this point in the original Star Wars movie, we've been with Luke almost the whole time getting to know him.
We see his plight;
his hopes and dreams...
we feel his frustration...
and then his sadness...
The slow build-up added depth, and emotion; and anticipation for the story to expand.
In the Phantom Menace we have nothing - we've a monotone queen, who's hiding from signing a treaty that's supposed to do something.
Why in fuck's name should we care at all.. I don't care about any of these characters?
Plinkett audio commentary: Ep1
But even at the end when they have the big, like, festival - like-... you're just like.. "So?" So what, there's a midget there now with an eyepatch on, and-... some boring-ass bitch.. gives a frog a glowing ball. Wwhy the fuck do I care?
It's not like the end of the original Star Wars when Luke, Han, and.. Chewbacca, get medals from Princess Leia - it's like, those guys saved the fucking day; what did these guys do? Oh, they resolved a tax dispute...
Plinkett audio commentary: Ep4
But the real thrust of this scene is, this is when the stakes are really raised - insteada just a giant floating ball in space, we are now shown that the Death Star is capable of blowing up whole planets; and our ragtag group o' heroes are the only ones that can stop it...
Tension, stakes, a ticking clock!; heroism, and adventure - it's what makes Star Wars great.
Much like the Phantom Menace - when the Gungans fight the Robots to help Queen Amidala find the Viceroy, so that she doesn't have to sign a treaty to make the non-violent invasion legal in the courts...
[crickets...] Uhmm.. [..........]

Since all the segments with the direct Ep4 comparisons happen to be the amnesia ones, this causes the Ep1-Ep4 stakes comparisons to completely fall apart - as opposed to partially/overwhelmingly fall apart, if the less amnesia segments had been used instead.

Hello,
I got a second hand graphics card out of a HP prebuilt. its a RTX 2060. I threw it in my computer and it started up fine however after rebooting it wouldn't work, tried afew more boots and it wouldnt work (Speaker beeps as if its going through to bios however no display out) doesnt power cycle or anything and ive tried both hdmi and displayport. I took it out and put it back in afew days later and had the same experience of it working only once. I've taken it apart, cleaned it with contact cleaner and put thermal paste back on.
Any ideas on what might be causing this?

Hi everyone, I’m an HVAC tech in SoCal and I had an install where homeowner remodeled home and replaced their furnace with variable speed heat pump and air handler.
I was given access to some of the walls and ceilings so I was able to make some modifications but it wasn’t the best result. I was honest with homeowner several times and provided him with realistic expectations. System has been running for a week and although I exhausted everything I could do during install, I’m wondering if there’s anything that can be done with the existing registers and ducts that are not accessible.
The registers closest to the air supply plenum are obviously the strongest and noisiest. Is there some special modification or some way to install a damper in existing registers or ductwork that can provide an actual solution.
4 ton system with undersized ductwork. I was going to enlarge the main flex duct into the living room, dining, office, kitchen, breakfast nook, and 1 living room register; however, his building contractor came in before me and installed a tiny 10” duct to supply all these rooms and then framed the entire home around it so there was no way to make it larger. I had to run an 8” flex into living room to help and it supplies plenty of air but I couldn’t add anything else to help balance out the pressure.
Homeowner is aware that he’s “screwed” because he went ahead with general construction work before having me come in. Now it’s just playing catch up to try and fix what he already has.
I have two problem bedrooms and two bathrooms with too much cfm and noise that I need to find a way to balance.
Any help would be great! Can provide more info if needed.

Social Policy
I am pro-choice up to viability.
I support funding for planned parenthood.
I support gay couples being able to adopt.
I think health insurers should be required to offer free birth control.
LGBTQ+ should be protected under anti-discrimination laws.
I support the death penalty, but the burden of proof should be raised.
Transgender athletes should not be allowed to compete against athletes that differ from their assigned sex at birth.
Government employees should be required to go through racial sensitivity training.
State governments should not be allowed to display the Confederate flag, propaganda of our enemies, or any traitorous material.
Assisted suicide for the terminally ill should be allowed.
​
Domestic Policy
I think there should be some more restrictions on the process of buying a gun, like having to get a license and getting liability insurance.
Victims of gun violence should be allowed to sue manufacturers and dealers.
I oppose an assault weapons ban, but I would not mind a voluntary gun buy-back.
I think every school should be required to have armed security.
Weed should be made legal nationwide, but other drugs should be kept illegal.
I oppose term limits in all offices.
I support the Patriot Act.
People on the no-fly list should not be allowed to purchase weapons until they are removed.
It should be illegal to burn the American flag.
The NSA should be allowed to collect metadata for citizens' phones.
I support net neutrality.
Redrawing of congressional districts should be controlled by an independent, non-partisan commission.
The government should regulate social media sites to prevent fake news and misinformation.
I oppose affirmative action.
I support eminent domain in cases of national emergency
The government should not cut funding or raise the retirement age for social security. It should only do those things if they have to save the program, like in France.
Traitors to the country should be locked up at ADX Florence
The Jan 6 rioters should be locked up for life.
Edward Snowden should be brought back to the US and locked up for life.
​
Environmental Policy
I think there should be more environmental regulations.
I support the Paris Climate Agreement.
Disposable plastics should be phased out over time.
I support nuclear energy
The government should give tax credits and subsidies to nuclear, wind, solar, etc.
We should not construct any new pipelines, and we should move pipelines that are near native American land.
I oppose fracking.
The US should not expand oil drilling.
We should increase spending on environmentally friendly public transportation.
The government should build a network of electric vehicle charging stations across the country.
I support a carbon tax and a gas tax.
​
Science Policy
I think there should be a vaccine mandate for all vaccines for all citizens within my country. Those who can not get them for health reasons are exempt.
We should increase funding to NASA, begin colonizing the moon and mars, and bring our military further into space.
​
Immigration Policy
More restrictions should be placed on our current border security policy.
I think the US should build a bigger and stronger wall across the US-Mexico border.
Immigration from countries that could be deemed a terror threat should be more scrutinized.
DACA children and future illegal immigrant children should be granted citizenship.
Working illegal immigrants should be given amnesty the rest should be deported.
End catch and release.
Immigrants should be required to pass a citizenship test, but it should be made more simple.
The US should increase the number of temporary work visas given.
I support dual citizenship.
​
Crime
I think we should increase funding to all law enforcement agencies across the US.
Every police officer within the country should be required to wear a body camera.
Police departments should continue to militarize.
I support mandatory minimum prison sentences for drug dealers.
Drug traffickers should receive tougher sentences.
I oppose private prisons.
I support qualified immunity for police officers.
Convicts should be allowed to vote after completing their sentence.
I support CCTV cameras being used by police with facial recognition.
Make fines proportional to income.
​
Healthcare
Health insurers should not be allowed to deny people who have a pre-existing condition.
Illegal immigrants should not have access to government healthcare.
Medicaid funding should be decreased and preferably repealed.
Medicare funding should be kept the same.
Most of Obamacare should be repealed, but some things from it should be kept.
Drug prices, for the most part, should not be regulated except in some rare cases.
The federal government should be allowed to negotiate drug prices for Medicare.
The government should increase funding for mental health treatment.
I oppose single-payer healthcare.
The government should increase funding to the WHO.
While Medicaid is around, people should be required to work to receive its benefits.
Veterans should have free healthcare and be able to see any doctor of their choice.
Businesses should be allowed to ask customers about their vaccination status.
Medical boards should penalize doctors that give health advice that contradicts contemporary scientific consensus.
​
Foreign Policy
pro-intervention
Military spending should be increased.
There should be two years of mandatory military service for all able-bodied citizens.
I support NATO and believe it should be expanded from just the north Atlantic to cover the whole world, that way, nations like Japan, and South Korea can join.
I support the UN for the most part.
Enhanced interrogation techniques should be allowed.
The government should attempt to influence foreign elections in countries that do not ally with the west.
We should conduct strikes against Iran.
The president should be able to authorize military force against any terrorist group without congressional approval.
I support drone strikes.
Foreign aid spending should be increased, but more should be done to keep it out of the hand of the wrong people. Foreign aid to some countries should be ended.
The US should continue to support Israel with more aid and support.
We should conduct strikes against North Korea.
We should mobilize the US military against Mexican Drug cartels
We should continue providing military supplies to Ukraine and increase the amount.
Russia should be designated as a state sponsor of terror.
After the war, Ukraine should join NATO.
We should not have withdrawn from Afghanistan.
The US should sell military weapons to India to counter Russian and Chinese influence
The military should upgrade Air Force One.
One day allied nations and militaries should unite into one country.
​
Education
I oppose President Biden's student loan forgiveness program.
I support the concept of common core.
I oppose the open for learning recovery benefit program.
I support charter schools
I support school vouchers as long as they don't go to a private religious school.
​
Economic policy
Cut most taxes and mostly deregulate except for some industries and things.
If taxes have to be raised to pay for some of these things, the tax that should be increased is the income tax, but overall I'd say make it a flat tax and remove deductions and loopholes.
Tie the minimum wage to inflation
Businesses should be required to provide maternity leave.
Reduce the national debt.
Welfare recipients should be tested for drugs.
Lower corporate tax to 15% but also eliminate deductions and loopholes.
If most of the jobs were taken over by automation, I'd support UBI
There should be more restrictions on current welfare benefits.
I think labor unions are good.
Lower capital gains tax.
I oppose economic stimulus unless we are in a 1929-type depression.
Lower the estate tax.
To combat tax evasion, increase the size of the IRS and the number of audits.
I support NAFTA
I support the TPP
I support total free trade with allied countries
Increase Tariffs on China and countries opposed to the US
Penalize businesses for operating within countries that are opposed to the west.
I support farm subsidies.
I support the federal reserve but believe it should be audited by congress.
Offer tax breaks to individual companies to keep jobs in the US.
I support increasing taxes on alcohol and tobacco as well as legalizing weed and taxing it.
I support increasing pension payments for government workers when we can.
​
Elections
I support voter ID, but it should be free.
Voting should be compulsory, and everyone should be registered once they turn 18.
The electoral college should be abolished.
There should be a limit to the amount of money a candidate can receive from a donor.
Politicians over 75 should have to pass a mental competency test.
​
My preferred style of government
A unitary government with a parliamentary system. I would also be open to having a constitutional monarch.
​
I am sorry for making this so long thank you to anybody that decides to read through this and respond.

Information on this situation
-54 ASVAB - Popped Hot for Weed at MEPS - Suddenly got diagnosed as “color blind” at MEPS even though I can literally see all colors and believe the Meps Doctors are just retarded. Couldn’t even retest because they’re arrogant.
My recruiter basically said I have 2 options. Admin or Open Contract
I researched about the open contract PN and basically learned it’s a roll of the dice and I can either get something really shitty or something I might actually like, so I’m overall thinking the open contract is a big gamble. I talked to the Liason at MEPS and he told me how open contract works is and I quote “ first they ask you if you want something combat related or non combat related. Then they pull the jobs of the people who dropped out of boot camp and then they give you the job that you choose based on your ASVAB score and that the mindset that I’ll be either an egg beater or Infantry is an old marine idea.”
My Recruiter said this: If I go open contract, my Drug Waiver will essentially be nullified and the jobs I wouldn’t originally be able to get before would be available to me, but just that the marine corps will choose them for me.
Can anyone confirm or deny this. I really need advice/ Guidance. I truly want to be a marine, like honestly I love the idea of it. But I don’t want to absolutely hate my life while I’m in because I’m stuck with some shitty job that can’t even help me in the civilian if I wanted to.
I’m supposed to ship this Sunday, be there on Monday. I sign the contract Sunday, what do you guys think I should do?

“God said to Abraham, "Kill me a son"
Abe say, "Man, you must be puttin' me on"
God say, "No, " Abe say, "What?"
God say, "You can do what you want Abe, but
Next time you see me comin', you better run"
Abe said, "Where do you want this killin' done?"
God said, "Out on Highway 61"
The radio, a martyr’s relic from a bygone era, sounded half as faded as I was.
I reeked of vodka and middy weed. I didn’t care. This lonely stretch of highway belonged to no one as far as I was concerned, and you gambled taking the curves in the dark.
It was your fault if you choose to gamble with me. Least, that’s the way I saw it.
Texas felt so far away.
“Well, Cowboy Dan's a major player in the cowboy scene
He goes to the reservation, drinks and gets mean
And he's gonna start a war
He's gonna start a warrrrrr
And he hops in his pickup
Puts his pedal to the floor
And says, "I got mine
But I want more"
Because Cowboy Dan's a major player in the cowboy scene
He goes to the reservation, drinks and gets mean
He goes to the desert, fires his rifle in the sky
And says, "God, if I have to die, you will have to die"
I hacked up what felt like part of a lung. My hand was stained, the oxidized rust of old blood mixed with a fresh coat of red, a fresco that highlighted a life poorly lived.
Wait.
What happened to Bob Dylan?
Or was it Johnny Cash?
Wasn’t I just listening…
Gaps in time. I prayed I hadn’t taken the ketamine.
That was for later.
If you want proof time is just a strongly worded opinion, just slip into a k-hole.
That was for later.
My eyelids felt heavy.
There were no stars.
Endless pines, only shadowy outlines in the dark, still cover for the night’s starving predators, were all I could make out.
I just guessed at where the road kinked and turned and straightened.
I was playing a game with God, and I wanted to lose.
I wanted us all to lose.
“Dance, Dance to the radio
While the, Devil takes control,
Dance, Dance to the radio,
While the, Devil takes control…”
The warm hug of oblivion, a feeling like endless cookies and Saturday morning cartoons, began slipping its infinite arms around me.
Come and See, and I saw.
It was still the witching hour when I woke with a startled gasp. I could feel the claws of need, withdrawal, dragging up my arms, burrowing into my skin, making the back of my eyeballs vibrate.
Every day the need grew stronger, and every day, I killed off a little bit more of me.
One is too many, and a thousand is never enough.
I was in a ditch.
This wasn’t new or news. I tended to wake up in a lot of ditches. Beats Motel 6. Fewer roaches and you could smoke in every room.
My truck wouldn’t start.
Not even the wheezing gasps of a machine trying to cling to artificial life. Just a click and utter silence.
The battery couldn’t be dead. I checked my watch.
5:55 A.M.
I figured I’d tried to hit the eternal snooze button around 3 A.M. It had only been a few hours. Battery should be fine.
A cursory inspection showed no external damage. No blown tires, no misbegotten wires or missing spark plugs. Hell, it seemed like I’d just slowly cruised into this dark little corner of the universe.
It was as though the truck just gave up the ghost and said, "I’m done." The thirsty horse dropping to the ground in an endless desert, done with the death march.
I bear crawled up the small ravine and onto the highway.
A generous term for a lonely road in whatever the Hell backwater burg America had shit out here.
All I could see were outlines in the dark.
Fitting, I thought.
And then an explosion stole my vision.
Let there be light.
And there was.
And it was good.
Especially good.
Because it was a bar.
A ramshackle of a spot, dive joint meets biker meth hangout, from the looks of it, and it was just powering up.
Shit, if you couldn’t drink on Sunday morning, were we really free? Were we really God’s children at all?
I started ambling toward the light, my eyes adjusting to the deep gloom.
“The Man from Capernaum.”
Hell of a name for a spot in the middle of BFE.
Hell of a name.
Hell.
Hell, I needed a drink.
My watch read 6 a.m. but it was 5 o’clock somewhere, and this place had electricity buzzing it had to pay for and didn’t much strike me as the sort of establishment that probably saw the law as anything more than a nuisance.
I sauntered up to the door, my black boots clicking loudly against the rotten wooden porch.
Into the lion’s den we go.
Unsurprisingly, it was empty as a church on Friday night. Why kill the Son if you can’t have the sin, after all?
But it was unlocked and music was softly crooning from somewhere.
“As I went down in the river to pray
Studying about that Good Ol’ Way
And who shall wear the robe and crown
Good Lord, show me the way”
Fantastic. No bartender and proselyting in a shit joint. That’s just what my migraine and itchy skin called for.
I considered hopping the bar and grabbing a bottle of Jack Daniel’s, but this struck me as a place where your head might become acquainted with a shotgun right quick and nobody would kick up much fuss.
I was going out, a lamb among wolves, but on my terms. I’d had enough violence. I wanted to feel the void swallow me whole, not feel a hole swallow my head.
Plopping down on an empty stool, I risked lighting up a smoke. Certainly they wouldn’t get bent out of shape over a cowboy killer or two.
And shit, who was there to kick up dirt anyway? A ghost town without the spirits, save the ones just behind the bar and out of reach.
The tantalizing fruit in the garden.
God, I need a cold one, now.
“Till armageddon no shalam, no shalom
Then the Father Hen will call His chickens home
The wise man will bow down before the throne
And at His feet they'll cast their golden crowns
When The Man comes around”
The hairs on my arm stood up.
That wasn’t the gentle croon of some A.M. gospel channel. That was someone singin’ in the bar.
In the furthest stool at the left end of the bar, a wild looking man sat, intermittently taking greedy gulps of amber beer and singing loudly, his other arm flailing frenetically as though conducting an unseen orchestra.
Ah, good, a ninja crackhead. That’s just what I need.
He looked over at me and I leapt from my chair and damn near outta my boots.
Ancient as the hills, this man looked like he’d just come down the mountain from communing with the darkness itself.
God damn.
A wild, grey, patchy beard splayed out in every direction, as though the hair itself was trying to escape the vessel that grew it.
The crown of his head was bald but the rest was shaggy white hair, matted in some places, errantly sticking up in others, as though it couldn’t choose between electrocution and submission.
He wore what looked like a white robe, but it was stained with all manner of mess. Copper, brown, yellow, black. Blood, shit, piss, and Heaven only knows what. A fetid robe of many colors.
Tattered, rudimentary sandals held in dirty feet with long, yellowed toenails.
The man reeked worse than sulfur. Worse than death. It was like the pungent stank of the human stain clung to him with reckless abandon.
He was chubby and withered and maddened.
But none of that held a penny to his eyes.
Orbs of the purest white, ringed with seared, blackened flesh around the edges.
Nothing but endless, empty white that somehow felt like it saw nothing but what we all couldn’t see. Nothing of this world but everything we hide in it. Our lies, the horrors behind the masks, what we do in the dark, this tattered, horrible amalgam we have the audacity to still call “a soul.”
Fuck this.
I went to run but found I had no will to do so.
My boots had become one with the earth, like the leather was finally gonna join the cattle that had to die for me to feel like a man.
A crash of thunder stole my hearing, a tiny whirlwind began lifting and smashing bottles from behind the bar.
The seals of the bottles came open, spraying spirits everywhere.
The bar was alight with white fire and a light blasted through the bar that would embarrass the Sun.
Then all was silent and still.
“Nice hooves,” the man said in a velvety baritone.
I looked down at my black boots and back up at him.
There is probably a drug cocktail somewhere in existence where, if mixed properly and taken with utter scientific precision, probably unlocks the gates to Heaven in the human consciousness.
I think I might have found the one’s that unlocked Hell’s.
The man wore a wide, warm grin. Authentic and inviting, the jovial visage of every TV grandfather. Creature comfort. He no longer looked like a raving maniac.
Far from it.
The man was now young, maybe late 20’s.
Golden, feathered locks elegantly curved just behind his ears.
A black cardigan, dark jeans, and new Grecian sandals graced a well-kept temple, a body of with seemingly perfect porcelain skin.
Sapphire blue eyes, pools of painful beauty, the kind that feels like a knife twisting your gut, looked at me with compassion.
I could smell lilac and some spice that seemed reminiscent of a world long gone by but made me what want to curl up with a blanket and read a good book by the fire wafted my way.
A single, marred tattoo of a small cross ran down the index finger of his left hand.
The man sat down and said, “why don’t you and them hooves join me, Pappy?”
I go by a lot of names to keep myself safe in this shithole world, but I hadn’t gone by my real name since I beat a kid black and blue in elementary school for mocking me for it and my daddy had told me he was proud of me. Put a cigarette out on the back of my neck later that same night after a few too many for causing trouble.
The duality of man or whatever the Hell the academics prattle on about, I guess.
“They’re boots,” I snarled, playing at bravery, bluffing like I did every day of this wasted life, hopin’ it might but him back on his heels.
I didn’t know if I was messing with some damned creature not of this world or was just higher than a kite and seeing nonsense. While the latter seemed far more likely, I wanted to prepare for the former.
“Sure,” he said kindly, “sure.”
I sat down on the tattered stool.
“Where’s the bartender? And how the Hell do you know my name?”
“Calm down, son. You look like you could use a drink of the old blood. Sure beats those poisons you keep sticking in that body we gave ya.”
A wine glass appeared before each of us, filled to the brim. The man, or whatever it was, sipped away, humming some forgotten hymnal.
“I ain’t much of a vino fan. Got any Irish whisky?”
He lifted his glass as though to toast me and said “Sure. And you certainly will need that later. For now, the grapes of wrath, as it were.” A soft chuckle left his lips.
I sipped the wine. No sense bucking the bull when you don’t know how big or angry it really is.
It tasted like nothing I had ever had before. An indescribable, wicked deliciousness.
It warmed me up and filled me with light and hope and covered up all the dark holes that had punched through me by others.
Even plugged the ones I’d punched myself.
“We?”
The man took a small sip. “Sorry?”
“You said ‘the body *we* gave ya. *We*.”
It was only then I noticed he was crying.
There were no sobs, no audible gasps, no tremors or shakes, just slow, steady tears of blood dripping from those perfect blue orbs.
“Name’s Arah. I’m an Angel.”
Arah downed the goblet of wine, flecks of his bloody tears caking the glass’s rim.
“Behold, I send an angel before you to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place that I have prepared.”
This obvious machination of my drug addled brain chuckled louder this time, a slight slur and anger tinging his words.
“I’m even less for all that religious babble than I am for wine. Though this shit’s pretty damn good, I gotta admit.”
“LIAR!” Arah screamed, shaking the whole bar. His eyes were wide and obsidian and his chest heaved heavily.
“Liar.” This, a quiet whisper.
“You spent your whole life in church.
You soaked up every hopeful word, every promise of redemption and fixing, and the truth of that still rattles around inside you.
You can stick all the needles you want into that arm so you can lie to yourself and take away the pain you were meant to bear, but you can’t lie to me. We see everything, for we are many.”
Arah refreshed his glass with a small flourish of his hand before downing it again, his disposition getting slightly wobblier.
“DRINK!” he screamed, and when the world stopped shaking and those eyes turned blue again, I sure as shit started pounding the fermented fruit.
Ain't the time to be picky.
“You aren’t having a bad trip. I'm having a bad trip.”
The endless tears of blood fell quicker, like a swift red river coursing from a deep blue waterfall.
Small pools of it began forming of the bar. A slight acrid smell was on the air, barely noticeable behind all the wonderful aromas.
I felt warm and real and firm. I felt human again. My glass had been refilled and I downed another.
Okay, so I was getting wasted with an angel. Admittedly a first, even for my winding and warped road, but getting blitzed on Jesus Juice sure beat pissing off some emotionally unhinged cherub motherfucker.
“I can’t find Him. I can never find Him.”
Slight groans left Arah’s lips and he gulped down another glass.
With a minor twitch, the glass flew and smashed against the wall.
A nanosecond, if even, after the sound of shattering, it reappeared anew, full of the deep blood wine, before him, and he slurped it down his gullet.
I was trying to keep pace with him.
Shit I could drink a fifth of whisky and make it home alive but something in this good good had me slippin’. A part of me knew I should be petrified to ask, but the rest of me was too faded to care.
“Find who? What brings you here, cryin’ tears in yer beers?”
Now I was the one slurring.
“Take them.”
I looked down at the bar.
A belt. A syringe full of something brown and beautiful.
All the gear.
And six shots of what I prayed was Jameson.
“But where sin increased, grace abounded all the more.”
Arah was slurring hard now, slowly spinning in his chair, laughing and crying.
“Have a taste. At least there’ still manna.”
I shot the whole thing and downed that beautiful Irish whisky. Warmth and light filled me up and stole me away from this putrid rock.
Somehow, as wrecked as I was, I felt I could see Arah all the clearer, like the Sun pushing out the remnants of a storm. His hands looked withered, and those blue eyes looked heavy and tired.
“I miss Him. God. Father.”
I began to mumble some apocryphal question, but a raised hand silenced me.
“We’re taking communion here, son, an act of contrition, of grief, celebration and loss. I’m not giving about to give you a seminar on the finer points of how you all bungled what we gave you and called it ‘religion.’ Just shut the fuck up and drink.”
We downed a glass of wine in unison, a broken human and clearly a broken angel, performing a ritual at the alter we were left with.
“You wanna know why I’m here drinkin’? I know you do. I can hear it rattling around in that little rat brain of yours, gnawing, gnawing, gnawing.
Well, here’s why. GOD LEFT.
You remember your Bible.
Like a schizophrenic mother when the voices just crept too far in, he drowned all his children in the bathtub. He felt regret.
You apes can’t come to terms with the fact that it isn’t cognitive dissonance to be perfect and make mistakes. Your binaries and absolutes are the pathetic crutches you rest on, the prisons you build for yourselves. You think you live in the grey but you don’t. You are the simple minded mistake of something far greater than you could possibly fathom.
Hell ain't nothin' but a door locked from the inside.
He was right to drown all of you, ya know.
You’re an abortion that didn’t take.
You’re the science experiment gone wrong.
You’re the motherfucking poisonous residue left over when the manufacturing process goes the slightest bit awry.
He TRIED. He gave you EVERYTHING. And you chased him away.
He wanted to put you all down. Wipe the slate clean. Shoot the wolf with the broken leg caught in the trap. Mercy. But He had made those fuckin’ rainbows, and He kept his word.
You all sit and pout and scream and gnaw and gnash and blow each other up. Always the same shit in this horrible flat circle.
"My god is real, your god is fake! "
You never once consider you’re all talking about the same damn thing, and more to the point, you're spend your entire lives debating His existence. What a catastrophic waste to be so far from the mark.
Is He real? Is He a fairy tale?
Is there a big bearded man with a sword in the sky or is it just what some primitive apes told themselves to explain the lights in the night sky, a mechanism of control and purpose in an entropic and meaningless world?”
I felt frozen listening to Arah rant.
Somewhere, between the distant sound of brutal words, I heard that radio kick on.
“The Third Planet is sure that they’re being watched
By an Eye in the Sky that can’t be stopped
And when you get to the Promised Land
You’re gonna shake the Eye’s hand”
“You won’t.”
Arah spoke quietly and sipped and audibly sobbed.
“I…I won’t what?”
“Shake his hand. He’s GONE.
You all fight with words and books and swords and shells and atoms about whether he exists. It’s your relentless, simpleminded addiction to dichotomy. It would be so boring if it wasn’t so sickening.
You think He exists, and if He does, He is here and He loves you and hears your stupid little prayers about football and bone cancer and bank accounts and AIDS.
And if He doesn’t exist, well, it’s just a bunch of conmen working over some fools with a fairy tale.
Any of you shitbirds ever consider He exists and LOATHES you? That he cut the cord to that existential phone line and ain’t nobody on the other side of that line anymore?
You live in an infinite universe that is forever exploding and expanding. He exists outside of even that.
You think you’re special? You’re one tiny experiment among so fucking many, I couldn’t make the smartest mathematician in the history of this planet understand how infinitesimally numerically irrelevant you are.
The question isn’t, is God real or is it all a hoax, a self-delusion?
The salient question, Pappy, is whether He’s here. And He ain’t.
He kept his word and let you all live and fester and replicate and mutate like the virus you are. The fruit that ate itself.
But daddy split. Went out for smokes and He ain’t never coming back. Moved onto a new family. Just like He's done again and again and again. And I'm guessing will keep doing 'till He decides He got it right. Ain’t been here for a long time. Long, long time.”
6 glasses of wine appeared before Arah and he downed them all with lightning speed, spewing blood, sobbing and gasping and drinking.
His hair greyed and whitened and fell to the floor.
His nails began to decay and yellow.
The smell of shit and piss and bile crept up and began to make me nauseous.
“And you know who got really fucked? US. The angels.
God gave us instructions and we followed it. We knew what we had and we didn’t deviate. We did our duty. And He left us behind, too.”
Arah’s clothes began to whiten and dirty.
The enrapturing blue of his eyes began to fade, growing paler and lifeless. A wild, twisted beard and belly began to sprout.
“Then it goes and takes along with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there; and the last state of that man becomes worse than the first. That is the way it will also be with this evil generation."
Arah began shrieking.
"Fucking humans.
I AM AN ANGEL OF THE LORD YOUR GOD, AND I AM BOUND FOREVER TO THIS SHITHOLE OF A ROCK, ENDLESSLY SEARCHING THE COSMOS FOR A FATHER I CAN NEVER FIND, TRAPPED IN A PRISON I CAN NEVER LEAVE, FOR A CRIME I DIDN’T COMMIT.
YOU ALL DID THIS.
YOU ALL DID THIS.
YOU DID THIS.”
Arah leapt up and grabbed me by the throat, lifting me on high.
Fire scorched his eyes, leaving empty pale pools singed to a blackened crisp at the edges.
The wild, infested thing I’d seen before held me as though I weighed less than the judgment feather.
He was sobbing.
“I…I just did what I was told.
Do you know what Hell is? There’s no fucking lake of fire or torture rack with goats.
It’s this.
An endless existence having tasted God’s grace and love and then forever being separated from it, eternally searching for that one drug you know you can never find.
'Abashed the devil stood and felt how awful goodness is and saw Virtue in her shape how lovely: and pined his loss.'
This, this place, is Hell.”
All the opium in the world couldn’t save me from the stark terror of this celestial’s tortured judgment.
I was quaking and pissed myself.
“Now I got ya shakin’ in your boots. Nice hooves.”
He threw me and I slammed against the wall and I felt every ounce of wine and heroin and whisky spill out of my body and onto the floor.
In that moment, I felt the unmitigated suffering of absolute sobriety, and I’ve been sober every moment since.
This wild, unfettered thing inched closer to me.
It was only then I noticed the tattoo on his finger more closely. It was…clearer to me now. Everything was. That little cross on his finger was upside down as it faced me.
“What does your name mean, Arah? What did you do that made God leave all his angels behind?”
Arah opened his mouth and two snakes, one a viper, the other a colorful coral, slid out of his mouth and began encircling his head and neck, never striking, never squeezing, simply coiling infinitely.
“YOU FUCKING APES. I’LL RIP THE SOUL OUT OF EACH OF YOU AND EAT IT FOR LIFE ETERNAL.”
Arah, this manifestation of man’s worst nightmare, leapt at me, blood spewing, snakes dancing, the bar shaking and burning and reeking.
Alas, Babylon, for me.
Inches from me Arah froze, held still by some unseen force, his mouth snarling words that only came out as unintelligible, wet squelches.
A voice from the bar’s door whispered a single word.
“World.
In the first tongue, 'Arah' meant ‘World.’
At the door stood an older black woman with the kindest eyes I’d ever seen.
She wore a bracelet of thorns and a dress made of every flower my mind could conceive.
Golden eyes flecked with amber looked at me lovingly.
She quietly sauntered up to Arah and shook her head wistfully, a disapproving but loving mother wishing her child would just behave.
“You would do well to accept your place here, Arah. The Father may be gone, but this is where you and your lot stay. It was not man’s fall that bound you here.
Tell him what you did...Angel.”
Arah fell suddenly to the barroom floor, all the strength clearly sucked out of him.
“I..I did what I was told. I followed the orders I was given. It was for Him, Uriel.”
Uriel tutted her tongue as though an impudent child had told her a silly, obvious fib.
“You can lie to yourself all you want, Arah, but you cannot lie to me.
You, who whispered endlessly to Herod.
You, who dwelt in Caligula.
You, who served Qin Shi Huang.
You, who sought refuge in Robespierre .
You, who possessed Mengele.
‘And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their proper dwelling—these he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day.”
Uriel helped me to my feet, brushed me off, and lightly put her hand on her cheek. It was the only moment in my life I knew what the word “home” meant.
“And you won’t lie to Man, either.
You remember the deal you begged for, Arah? Let remind you:
'They began to entreat Him, saying, “If You are going to cast us out, send us into the herd of swine.'
You had the gall to call his creation, however staggeringly imperfect, swine.
You got what you asked for, then.
And you will have it for all time.
Get behind me.”
Uriel picked me up as though I were a mere baby and carried me to my truck. She laid me gently in the passenger side and started the engine.
The radio kicked on.
“I’m a rolling stone
All alone and lost
For a life of sin
I have paid the cost
Take my advice
Or you’ll curse the day
You started rollin’ down
That Lost Highway”
As she pulled away, I looked back at The Man from Capernaum one last time.
It was consumed in fire and the squeals of pigs shrieking carried through the cool night air.
“Do not pity him.
‘You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons.’
God may have left this world but let the Demon burn.”