China has a low vaccination rate, stopped tracking positive tests, is counting COVID deaths in the least-useful way possible, and has generally abandoned any meaningful risk-mitigation strategies.

So…no.

That's definitely what ends up happening—and it's probably what most politicians who support that slogan actually mean—but there are probably a non-trivial number of people who either only understand that phrase to mean "maximize operational efficiency" (without bothering to really parse what that entails) or genuinely don't understand that government should be a service, not a business.

It's historically laughable and demonstrably false, but I'm sure plenty of people still think that way, somehow.

This is what “running the government like a business” gets: a preoccupation with minimizing spending, particularly on non-immediate (but necessary and inevitable) expenditures.

(To clarify: Not because human-like object Ted Cruz would actually do anything helpful; rather, he'd just cut & run if it actually got bad.)

I suppose it's better than nothing, but Meta's market cap is 310$Billion, so it could pay that fine one hundred times over and still be worth well over 200$Billion—which would still make it more valuable than Shell, McDonalds, Toyota, or Nike.

Until these companies have t pay fines that would make every single member of their C-suite sit down and cry for days, these sorts of things are just going to be the cost of doing business. (Specifically, the business of mishandling private user data.)

If SpaceX can do it, it’ll be the first positive thing I’m willing to say about Musk in a while.

Those are just scientists up there: If they can get home, they should get home, and I honestly don’t care who does it, if they can do it.

1. It's a WordPress blog with no About section or ownership statement and a Twitter feed that hypes up The Crazy Pillow Guy.

2. The much better source it references does not say anyone "is planning" on doing anything: It says USMC commissioned a study, and the brass was looking at it, but they had reservations. And that's all.

Edit:

Wait a minute.

You spend a lot of time submitting that shitty WordPress blog to various subs around this site.

Is it...your shitty WordPress blog, by chance?

Seems like they're the old Qanon, too.

It’s entirely possible that police didn’t provide any description besides “long gun”, and no credible news outlet would (or should) just make up their own details for flavor.

What the others said: It manages to establish real emotional stakes—and pay them off in a poignant, understated way—all in a single hour of television.

And watching Peter Weller and John Noble share scenes together was fantastic.

I know this isn't as impressive, but he was also the featured guest star in a Fringe episode called "White Tulip", which was probably the best episode that show ever did and is possibly one of the finest episodes of sci-fi television ever made.

It’s OK: Not everyone understands how peer-review or consensus work.

• Liz: "My word, our handout to the rich certainly was unpopular with both the citizenry and economists! We need a distraction!"

• Suella: "Hold my tea."