Rob Fahrni

Daring Fireball

But I want to add another note. The main footage here comes from bystander Caitlin Callenson. Here’s her full 4m:25s footage, uncensored, hosted — with credit, and I hope, permission — on the YouTube account of Minnesota Reformer. Be warned that it shows Good being shot to death (albeit sans gore), and contains many loud profanities. This is very good and clear footage. It is difficult viewing but you should watch it. Callenson was very close to Good’s vehicle. I’d say about 30 feet or so. You can see why she thought to start filming before the murderous agent drew his gun and fired.

Go watch that video. When the ICEholes get out of their vehicles you can hear Ms. Good tell them “go around.” One agent approaches aggressively and tries to open the door. The other one is saying something but it’s hard to make out.

Then the asshole agent shoots her on the face. Once he does that he walks to the SUV, checks it out, turns around and walks away, ultimately LEAVING THE SCENE.

That man needs to get out of this kind of work if he’s that afraid.

He also needs to be brought up on murder charges, which he won’t, because the Trump administration is full of sissies who must’ve been bullied on their grade school playground so they hate everyone and have to carry a gun to feel safe.

In an email today from RetroSnap. (This site for this link may disappear soon.)

Alex here, founder at RetroSnap and the geekiest geek of retro gadgets. You may be receiving this message as part of a store-wide notification. If you have already received your order, please disregard this email.

We’re writing to share an important update regarding our store.

Due to recent increases in international import tariffs and related cross-border compliance costs, we’ve been forced to make the difficult decision to close our store and discontinue operations. These tariff changes are outside of our control and have made it impossible for us to continue operating sustainably. Please note that our business email will also be deactivated shortly.

So, I ordered one of these for Kim in early December, for Christmas. It still hasn’t arrived and I was really worried it wouldn’t get here, but I just checked and it’s due in Richmond, VA today. That’s a relief.

Also, thanks you damned Jackass in the White House whose last name rhymes with Dump. Those tariffs have been a real boon to the economy, right? 🤬

Jackass.

I’m mostly well now. I still have a cough that’s working hard to get those last remnants of irritation out of my lungs but I’m mostly whole. 🤧

I made it to the coffee shop this morning because I really need to work on Stream. It’s been three or four weeks since I’ve been able to work on it and I miss it.

I have lots of thoughts swirling around in my pea brain this morning. Mostly around a strong desire to retire. Retire from working for someone else, not retire from working. At this time of the year I always think about what it would be like to work on my own stuff full time. Stream and top secret project would get so much attention. I looked at top secret project last week for a moment and realized it’s been over a year since I touched the code. That didn’t seem possible but the dates don’t lie. My brain though it had been a few months, not over a year. It was a shock to the system. I’m not gonna be here forever and someday I may not want to write code any longer. Who knows? I certainly don’t. The way I feel about things now I can see writing code until I drop dead behind my keyboard. Someone finding me face down, my computer in some weird state from my face unintentionally issuing a command. 😄

Of course, as it stands today, I still need a job and I’m very happy to have one.

Oh, sorry for missing Saturday Morning Coffee yesterday. My body needed the sleep. I managed to sleep until 4:30PM and still sleep last night. I’m still tired this morning. This darned bug took it out of me.

I know I’ve said this many times but the weather in Charlottesville is completely unpredictable. It can be 30F and snowing and 80F and sunny the next.

When I got up with the dogs this morning it was 13F. According to our forecast it’s going to be 60F and sunny Christmas week.

It’s been cold and snowing off and on for a few weeks now. I was hoping for a white Christmas, instead it’s gonna be warm and sunny. 🤣

I’m outside putting up Christmas decorations and it’s cold, 35F (2C), but I really am enjoying it. I’ll take this over 80F with 80% humidity any day.

It reminds me of being a kid in the San Joaquin Valley of California on days with dense Tule fog.

Finally got a little snow. ❄️

Does anyone ever take honest pictures of their desk setup? Seriously. They’re alway super clean and uncluttered.

Mine? Mine is a mess, all the time. With random trinkets and junk all over the place.

I moved one item before taking this picture because it had my address on it. Other than that, this is how it looks most days.

This biting horsefly landed next to me and the darned thing is huge!

I’m tellin’ ya, east coast bugs are scary.

I think it’s planning on eating me. 😳

Kim hangs two ferns on our porch every summer. She has to hang new ones because the birds that nest in them destroy them.

As I was taking pictures of the two babies in this shot the one on the left flew away. The other one is still hanging out.

On the other side of the porch we still have two smaller babies hanging out.

Kim’s gardenia is very happy.

Hello little feller.

I just looked at my Cotton Bureau store earnings. I’ve sold one t-shirt and one phone case, if I’m reading it correctly. 🤣

Thank you to whoever bought the t-shirt. I do appreciate the business! 🙏🏼

I bought the case. Guess I should go grab a t-shirt while supplies last!

I messed with my Lock Screen and Home Screen a bit today. I updated McClockface to use the Get Schwifty style. I like it.

The Lock Screen is super simple. Black with the simple text “hello, human”.

Had to run to our storage to get our ice chests, corn hole stuff, and ice cream maker and found this fella. Yeah, he’s long dead, but very impressive!

Our grandkids love putting “makeup” on our happy garden monk. 😃

Our little bunny friend is in the front yard tonight!

Seth Abramson via Bluesky

Stunning how media has turned passage of the Abominable Bill into a will they-or-won’t they romcom with a July 4th deadline for Cinderella to kiss the prince, rather than a situation in which multiple members of Congress say they’re terrified they or their families will be killed if they cross Trump

This is what we’ve come to. I hope these member of Congress stand up and do what’s right for our nation.

Mike Brock • Techdirt

Let me be specific about what I mean. This week, Donald Trump posted explicit orders on Truth Social directing federal law enforcement to conduct “Mass Deportation Operations” targeting “America’s largest Cities” because they are “the core of the Democrat Power Center.” He used the term “REMIGRATION”—language borrowed directly from European fascist movements. He accused Democratic officials of treason for opposing him. He framed resistance to his orders as hatred of America itself.

We are a fascist nation and that’s disgusting. My sincerest hope is we can force that orange asshole out of office after his four year reign of terror is over.

My grandson loves Spider-Man.

Here are the various different types.

Kim’s berries are looking pretty happy. They’ve struggled for years to produce berries.

Coffee with Bug this morning.

And… we’re off to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. ⛺️⛱️

Our granddaughter found herself a friend. A little firefly. Her name is Sparkles.

I had such a rough night sleeping. I didn’t sleep much due to pain and not being able to find a comfortable position.

I’m thankful I had some Hydrocodone/APAP left over from knee surgery. At least it takes the edge off. 😊

My trip to the ER today was a success, in a way, but also a failure.

My hope was I’d get an MRI to better understand what’s going on with the discs in lower lumbar. It’s where my pain is focused.

I arrived, got in pretty quickly, and had a great doc visit me. I explained what was going on and my hope for the outcome of the visit. She listened intently and asked a series of questions I answered.

She explained to me the only thing that would result in an MRI is the inability to empty my bladder, being unable to defecate, or weakness in a leg or legs. That’s it.

She shared that my insurance company would outright reject the MRI because I didn’t meet any of those conditions. She also said “You can pay for it yourself but I don’t know how you feel about a $10,000 MRI bill?” 😳

TL;DR - I don’t qualify for an MRI because I’m just in, at times, excruciating pain. But I can still walk (kind of) and pee and poop. 🤬

So, I got two injections; a muscle relaxer and a steroid. I don’t recall the names. The doc also prescribed a different muscle relaxer than I was prescribed prior because it did funny things to me.

This afternoon by 3PM or so the pain was back to a bearable level. In that regard, it was a success.

The lack of an MRI is a complete failure. Sure, I had X-rays a few weeks back so we know the bony parts are in rough shape, but we have zero clue how the soft tissues look. Do I have a bulging disc, or more? Who knows? The doctors don’t know and the physical therapists I visit won’t know exactly what PT plan I need to, hopefully, feel better.

We live in one of the richest nations in the world and our healthcare industry is driven by penny pinching insurance companies claiming we don’t need certain procedures, even though they don’t know.

One of the questions I was asked by the doctor was “Do you feel like hurting yourself or someone else?”

Think about that for a minute. Chronic pain can really screw with your mind. You get tired of it physically and mentally and just stop caring.

Yes, people commit suicide because of pain and insurance company games; Delay, Deny, Defend.

People also murder insurance company CEO’s because of their crap policies that delay and deny people the care they need.

I said “No” to both questions because I haven’t reached that “I can’t take this anymore” phase. I’m doing ok and I hope I’ll bet an MRI after my physical therapy, but I’m losing hope.

Oh, yeah, this seems to be the way in Virginia. I’ve had MRI’s in California that were never challenged by the insurance company. Maybe it’s because I have a different insurance company now? It’s probably the latter.

If you don’t need a back I’d recommend against having one. 🤣

Off to the ER we go. I’m hoping they’ll do an MRI so we know how much damage there is to soft tissues.

I’m so over the pain of it all.