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Their appeals court just overturned the ban on bump stocks that was introduced after some madman shot about 58 people (from memory). The gun lobby argued that the bump stock technically didn't make the rifle into a machine gun as per the definition of a machine gun, because the trigger was pulled separately on each `bump'. Therefore it was just a rapidly firing rifle and not a machine gun/automatic weapon. The court agreed. What is it with these people?

Yes, ran it a few times.

We're on MBN and fast.com says our speed is only 12Mpbs. That sounds pretty poor, although our connection speed seems OK. Maybe a case of what you don't have you don't miss?

If McCarthy eventually rolls over enough to somehow get his hands on the gavel, he will be so weak the loonies will run the show and Congress will be completely dysfunctional. If he doesn't, the loonies will run the show and Congress will be completely dysfunctional. What a shambles.

I periodically get invitations from Microsoft to upgrade from Windows 10 to Windows 11 for free. Reading through the list of differences between 10 and 11, it seems to actually be more limited in most areas, and do more in things I'm not interested in. Is upgrading worthwhile?

Heard a BBC journalist based in Moscow today comment on what the Russian population think. He said his team had travelled widely through the country talking to people. His view was that a very vocal 10% or so were fully behind Putin, while a less vocal 10% were totally opposed to the war. The rest were being fed a steady diet of official propaganda but also hearing lots of stories and rumours that were making them feel uneasy, but not enough to take any action. Basically they were trying to ignore Putin and the war and just getting on with their lives. His view was that the longer this drags on the more likely the silent majority may start to show some real opposition to what’s going on. No doubt Putin is well aware of that risk too.

Not much room for improvement.

That's just one of them.

Looks like the House Committee has decided to make Trump's tax returns public. Should be interesting but I would have thought a risky move politically. I half expected them to rely on the returns turning up as evidence in his business trials, being leaked to the newspapers and made public that way. The result would have been the same but they would have avoided setting what will be seen as a partisan precedent.

Even if they decide not to make them public they could presumably be subpoenaed by the various prosecutors investigating Trump’s business dealings.

Apparently unrestricted free speech actually has limits when the owner doesn’t like what was said. What a clown.

The money he made from his swap cards will probably only pay his legal bills for a week.

He and Alison Krause have performed regularly in recent years.

Twitter seems to be like aviation - a good way to turn a large fortune into a small one.

Sold out in two days apparently, so if that’s true he’s pocketed about $4.5m despite being widely ridiculed.

Has anyone signed up for Trump's cartoon cards yet? Can't wait to collect the full set myself. Might even win the round of golf prize if I'm lucky. I thought he might be announcing he was splitting from the Republicans to start his own political party. He could probably drag enough supporters along with him to make it worthwhile, at the same time deny them to the Republicans and also avoid having to compete with others to become the eventual Republican nominee. I was a bit off-track. He was obviously thinking on a completely different level. What a genius!

I thought it was very imaginative and conveyed an air of profound contentment with the state of the universe in your backyard.

Brevity is a virtue... unless you're filling in time waiting for the turf grow.

Open air Christmas Play in my opinion.

I think the dates of both events have been unreliably reported.

I think his days are numbered. Even the Republicans are likely to be sick of hearing his constant bleating and moaning about fraud and corruption (the only thing he actually knows anything about, ironically) for another two years. With any luck he will be in jail and bankrupt again well before the next election.

The damage likely to be caused by the odd drone or two hitting Russian bases hardly seems worth the downside of providing Putin with useful domestic propaganda to support his war in Ukraine.

That's probably what most people think happened, but there was no way to prove it one way or the other.

One concern is whether the current level US aid to Ukraine will be maintained after the GOP takes control of the House of Representatives. There are a significant number of Republicans who would be happy to undermine both Biden and the Ukrainians.

Model planes have come a long way.