Original borders, NATO membership, and the return of nuclear weapons. Fuck Russia and their agent Trump. Get out of Ukraine.

The cruelty is the point. It’s ridiculous. How can people be so driven by hate and greed to do such a thing?

I read it to my kids when they were each around 7-8 years old. They still have not yet watched the movies.

There are scary parts, but it makes the resolution that much sweeter. But they were also prepared for it because we were reading at that level. I didn’t go from Dr Seuss to Tolkien.

(Also, as a casual book nerd, if you’re at the point of reading LOTR to your kids, I’d also highly recommend reading them Moby Dick.)

It’s like the coolest scene in the movie, too. Bernard Hill crushed it.

First you have to have an understanding of “the common good”, which I’m quite certain he is lacking. There is only “the good for me”.

That would have been an instant return for me.

Ain’t getting a sweetheart deal this time, though. Hope the EU holds their feet to the fire if they try to rejoin.

If you want really disgusting, my grandmother had a mayonnaise cookbook with all sorts of crimes against humanity presented as normal, everyday meals. Thankfully she was a good cook and thus never subjected us to those horrors, but I still get kinda sick just thinking about some of them.

I’ve pulled back as well. They’ve eliminated all their good coupons and increased all their prices to the point where a more upscale restaurant is on equal footing in price and far ahead in quality.

McDonald’s, Taco Bell, Wendy’s, and Burger King all compete on being cheap, filling, and of adequate quality for most people. Now they’re not cheap anymore and I can get Cane’s, Popeye’s, Culver’s, and Five Guys for nearly the same price. What incentive to I have to choose McDonald’s/BK/TB/etc? Also, I don’t drink soda, so no value meal options anywhere for that. I’ll never buy that $5 meal deal.

Taco Bell’s chili cheese burrito is $3.79. Beef and bean burritos are $2.49 for gods sake. That shit used to be 89 cents. Even with inflation it should only be about $1.50. McDonald’s double cheeseburger is $3.79, too. BKs app deals are a joke and what was once a pretty good value meal is basically toast. Same at Wendy’s, and they’re also investigating surge pricing for food, even though they walked it back.

I’m glad folks are voting with their wallets and saying no more to this crap. I get prices go up in the long term but damn, this feels more like price gouging than inflation.

Tell me you’ve never administered at scale without telling me you’ve never administered at scale.