Woah things have gone nuts since I was around last! What happened?

I am not too surprised by that, but what his the grounds for it?

That will never stick. Even if what they're saying isn't true, how the heck does he expect to prove that they know it's not true?

I think that's too flimsy even for Onision. He has to know the full context will come out in discovery. I think he'll argue that the actions of making videos and the benefit of high viewership indicate some lack of belief that anyone was in danger and a motive to lie.

He has a lawyer, right?

Then he's no longer that dumb with respect to that case. Someone else is thinking for him.

He might have bad enough judgement to ignore his lawyer, but I doubt it.

Also there is the obligation to be a zealous advocate.

It's complicated. I am not a lawyer but it can be considered harming a person if you agree to take up their case and then drop them in the middle of the process because then the opposition has an advantage.

No I mean mid preparation.

By the time a trial happens (if it happens) both sides pretty much know each other's arguments. If your attorney drops, then the other council has had more time to prepare.

They can refuse.

If the attorney thinks the case isn't worth taking up, they don't have to unless they are a public defender or something of the sort.

That depends. Being in this discord, we are all probably pretty biased. We don't know what potential council has seen.

Or not seen.

I don't think this case is too high profile. This isn't a big deal outside of the YouTube bubble.

That's probably more due to Chris Hansen's fame.

Here is my reference point: all kinds of millionaires and public figured like news personalities get into disputes every day and we rarely hear about it. A Google algorithm might put this one in front of you more because you're watching videos about it already. I bet you most people haven't heard if this.

Onision can't strike the videos down and even if they aren't on YouTube they're still recorded and usable in court.

I expected Chris Hansen to get sued, but not Daniel, unless something just went out that would do it.

At least I'd expect the interviewed victims to be more likely to be sued.

Right, but that's a decade where he never got sued. That's bad for Onision.

It's bad for Onision because if this has been a repeated pattern with Daniel for 10+ years, then it suggests that the problem isn't false statements. He is also known to threaten to sue and then not do so. If he tries to pull some of his fake contract/notice antics that won't go well either.

Waiting this long really has only a couple routes to explain it:

1. He did not sue because the content was not sufficiently harmful for him to deal with the hassle until now.

2. Some new dimension of the recent content is responsible.

Either could be reasonable.

Pretty sure that Twitter is wrong.

It was going to happen. I am interested in how the Parnas statements are going to pan out in the public discourse.

Also, tall you won't die if/because Iran and the US hostilities continue.

The House voted to impeach back in December. They just voted to send the articles of impeachment to the Senate this week.

He has officially been impeached.

He probably won't be removed from office, but he has been impeached.

The trial proper starts a week from now. They're just setting everything up.

There have been three impeachments of Presidents: Andrew Johnson, Bill Clinton, Donald Trump.

They can still run again, but no one has ever been reelected after impeachment, though my money is on Trump getting reelected anyway.

It has serious consequences.

An impeachment is essentially like charging the President with a crime of abusing the presidency.

There is a trial in the Senate, which must convict the President with 67 senators voting for removal.

Right. If the Senate is so partisan that they won't vote to remove even a "guilty" President, the only power of impeachment is to stain that President's name in history.

I mean a simple majority vote in the house is too low a bar for removing a president.

It's the one time the Constitution let's the government simply agree to overturn the will of the electorate.

A fair trial has nothing to do with it. This is a political trial.

Not a criminal one. If Trump is removed, that won't make him convicted of any crimes.

Yes he can run, because he's still an American citizen with a clean record and of age to run. He can still run if he hasn't served two full terms.

Generally impeachment makes you unelectable, but Trump's base thinks the impeachment is illegitimate party politics.

If the allegations are true, yes.

The allegations are that he had his personal lawyer spy on diplomatic officials and intentionally failed to carry out his duty as President until Ukraine promised to hurt his most likely political opponent.

Not really. Republicans love spending when it goes into Republican controlled districts.

Being a Republican lawmaker is a hell in and of itself right now, especially if you represent a district with a heavy agricultural component.

Things will happen. Whether or not the register in the public perception, I don't know.

I worked with some Iranians and they're not worried either.

Sorry. Autocorrect is messing me up today.

What's everyone up to?

Server problem? What's going on?

It's a pretty popular service. It could be a lot of things.

That kind of transmission rate is definitely concerning.

Prime that really depends. Mortality rates are not independent of the number of cases. If they are having that much trouble containing it, then that rate may increase.

Sorry that came out a bit late.

I was just explaining to a friend out in Chicago that the utility of a respirator is going to be pretty low. If it makes you feel good to know you have a pack of them, go ahead but it probably won't be an issue.

There is a problem with mutation rate though, where each infection is an opportunity for a strain resistant to treatment emerging even in immunocompromised patients.

I am wondering what approaches they've taken to contain it. Normally you close off transit ahead of a buffer zone and focus treatment in that buffer.

Unless you or your loved ones are living in or near the Hubei province, it's probably not somethig to worry much about.

At least from a safety perspective. Based on that video, I may look for a way to donate some resources for their efforts out there. The well being of the people out there definitely warrants our concern.

What time is it out there?

Squeaks

What's going on this time?

I am a purist. Just butter on my Brussels sprouts.

In this context: as few additions as possible.

Haven't tried them many ways though. I'm probably missing out.

Oh yeah. That's the way to do them. Do you cut them in half first?

Yep. Reverse psychology worked really well on me as a kid. I like liver too. Just had to be told not to eat it.

Brassica oleracea alone might be the most flavorful species we eat besides a few grasses.

My uncle makes a liver dressing that's outstanding. I tried chicken liver with curry recently and somewhere along the way we skipped a step and it turned out bad.

You too.

That's gorgeous.

The one I posted is some howler monkeys with their babies in Juniquillal, Costa Rica.

I imagine it is. Always wanted to take a trip out that way. Haven't had a professional justification to do so yet.

Phidippus audax.

Sorry. I didn't know.

If it's any consolation, he was only about 8mm across.

Dekay's brownsnake. I don't know it's Latin name by heart yet.

@Locus I am not sure that's very accurate.

He's not a communist.

I know about 4 people formally trained in economics (degrees and experience). Of those, 1 canvases for Bernie, 2 prefer Biden, 1 is libertarian, all 4 think Trump is terrible.

Now the one that canvases doesn't work directly in economics anymore, but that's because he earns more in another career path.

That's no fun. Pulled a super day yesterday so I'm right there with you.

I've gotta master a few concepts in the next few hours.

Doing alright. Got bored and decided to look at Onision's socialblade.

Did socialblade recently reduce the resolution of their subscriber counts?

Yeah. Looks like they did around September last year.

That's par for the course with him I think

Also, for the first time ever, I now have two monitors at home. It is really special.

How is everyone?

How is everyone holding up?

What's wrong?

Gotcha. No fun being sick.

Hey, silver lining: it's an excuse to catch up on studies, binge a show, or play some games.

Gotcha. That's good too.