This Is Fine

User1865345

02:34

Obituary: Jimmy Carter, longest-lived US president, dies aged 100

Former President Jimmy Carter dies at 100

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FULL REMARKS: Joe Biden delivers remarks on the passing of Jimmy Carter

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Jimmy Carter: The Last Progressive Evangelical

Opinion: Why Jimmy Carter’s Life Should Make The Christian Right Feel Ashamed

He did his job. Survived long to vote for Kamala. And passed away escaping the Trump presidency.

User1865345

02:56

User1865345

03:14

> Members of the Carter Protective Division of the US Secret Service are in mourning tonight as agents privately share stories in person and in group messages of the agency’s work guarding the former president and his family for nearly half a century, CNN reports.

“We’ve been planning for (today),” said the official, “but it’s still a gut punch.”

While in office and beyond, the Secret Service has maintained a protective detail for the Carter family based in Georgia.

“We’re not finished,” said the official, noting the Secret Service was working with the Defense Department to plan for Cart…

User1865345

03:38

Inside former President Jimmy Carter's work through the Carter Center

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User1865345

04:09

Writer James Fallows on the "magic" of Jimmy Carter

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Hey @Jolenealaska.

It's a sad day. But Carter spent a life worth celebrating.

Jolenealaska

Hi. I just learned about Carter. I'm sad.

He sure did. Best ex-president ever.

User1865345

Really 😭

A bad, bad year.

Of course. All knew he was coming to his end. Nevertheless, really sad.

Analysis: Jimmy Carter’s death comes at a time when rancour and uncertainty prevail

> The ex-president died as Biden, a fellow one-term president heads for the door and chaos agent Trump returns to power

I am somewhat happy he has not to endure the chaos of the upcoming presidency.

Jolenealaska

I have one bright spot in my life right now. I met a new friend IRL. Author of this book: amazon.com/gp/product/B08L4MZHFZ/ref=kinw_myk_ro_title

User1865345

04:24

Wow. That's some story.

Jolenealaska

It has been years upon years since I have had a relationship with an intellectual peer except online.

Yeah. And it's right up my alley.

User1865345

> Thankfully, Kristian recognized what was happening to him and he was able to escape and rebuild his life. His emotional responses are very similar to those of combat veterans with PTSD—loss of trust, avoidance, broken relationships. In sharing his story with us, we are challenged to engage in conversation and improve our understanding of these issues as we move towards a more accepting, inclusive, and just society.

@Jolenealaska 👍🏻

@Jolenealaska he lives near you or what?

Jolenealaska

He also has a MS. I met him at the neurology center where I get my monthly treatment.

User1865345

Ahh. I see.

Jolenealaska

He loves to talk. As we talked he picked up very quickly on the fact that I could keep up with him.

User1865345

04:27

Yeh. It's good to have someone with an enduring intellect to talk with.

Jolenealaska

My stories are different from his, but mine are doozies too. Maybe he can help me put my autobiography together. I've been working at it off and on for years but it's going nowhere... Kind of like my life, I guess.

User1865345

That would be great.

Jolenealaska

His political views and attitudes are obviously right in line with mine, which is to say - correct. :)

User1865345

🤓

Jolenealaska

Have you ever seen my riddle on puzzling?

I want to lay that on him.

User1865345

04:34

@Jolenealaska I wish I were good at puzzling. 😅

@Jolenealaska sure!

Jolenealaska

When I was in basic training, the drill sergeants rounded up about 2% of the recruits in the battalion and brought us to a room with desks. They handed out a paper turned upside down on the desks and told us to turn it over and try to solve the puzzles. We would be timed exactly 20 minutes. After the 20 minutes was over we turned in the papers, and half the recruits were sent back to their companies.

The 10 or so of us that were left were called into the office one by one.

User1865345

Wow 😳

Jolenealaska

Everybody spent like 5 minutes in the office and then were taken back to their company.

Everybody one by one until only I was left.

User1865345

🥸

Jolenealaska

And then I sat there for what felt like forever, but there were no clocks and I didn't have a watch.

User1865345

04:40

This is sort of mental drill, isn't it?

Jolenealaska

Finally a Colonel walked in, who didn't look at me, just went into the office.

User1865345

I see.

Jolenealaska

Finally, the guy who administered the test brought me into the office and said to the colonel - "This is Private Brown, 20 out of 20 in 20"

User1865345

Great! Terrific!

Jolenealaska

I couldn't help but laugh and be a smart-ass and say, "I take it that's good?"

And that's how I ended up at NSA, after a year in Korea being groomed.

User1865345

04:42

So, you were into puzzling early as a kid, I guess @Jolenealaska?

@Jolenealaska 👏🏻👏🏻

Jolenealaska

No, not really, I would just do them if I came across them. And these were all different kinds of puzzles. Some were visual some were riddles some were word games others were fill in the missing number.

I visit puzzling once in a while and most of the puzzles there kick my ass

User1865345

😯

You do crossword or sudoku?

Jolenealaska

I used to. Especially crossword. I did the New York Times crossword all the time

Not Sudoku never got into it

User1865345

Ahh. I see.

New year wishes in advance @Jolenealaska.

It would be tough year ahead.

Jolenealaska

I used to play very high level Scrabble. That was when I also played the crossword. I don't think I could pick up a Sunday nyt crossword today and solve it without assistance from Google. I wouldn't get 20 out of 20 on that test today either. Nor could I pull that Les Miserables riff in 8.5 minutes like I told you about.

Happy New Year to you too, but it is going to be a bumpy ride.

User1865345

04:51

I read somewhere it's time for interacting with your closed knit community. Make bond.

Have a sense of belonging.

@Jolenealaska I see.

I saw it yesterday:

He Beat Them At Their OWN Game… AGAIN #shorts

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This guy won Spanish Scrabble without knowing Spanish. 😅

Well technically he crammed the whole Spanish dictionary. He was playing words even the natives weren't aware of.

Dude has some photogenic memory. That's for sure.

Jolenealaska

I pull out parlor tricks showing off crazy ass memory once in awhile, but damn! I got nothing on him.

User1865345

@Jolenealaska 😅

These are some outlier nerds living in the society only showing their prowess to astound us once in a while. 🤠

Jolenealaska

I have won bar bets many times by reciting the books of the Bible from Genesis to Revelations or the prologue of Canterbury Tales in Middle English or the entirety of The Tell-Tale Heart. Which sadly I can't do anymore. I peter out after "Ha! would a madman have been so wise as this?"

But memorizing an entire dictionary without learning the language? Crazy

User1865345

@Jolenealaska that is great too! I am too dumb to do that. Lol.

@Jolenealaska 🥲

Jolenealaska

Rote memorization does not equal intelligence. It's just a parlor trick.

User1865345

05:01

@Jolenealaska agree completely.

That's why I somewhat thrived in statistics.

I am bad at cramming but somehow am doing fine in the subject.

Jolenealaska

The further you get to the edges of the bell curve of intelligence the crazier it gets.

User1865345

True

Jolenealaska

@User1865345 When I went back to school to finally get my degree, statistics was the first class I took. I figured that if it kicked my ass, I would know that I wasn't up to the challenge of getting a degree in my 50s. That was a great choice because the other class I took that term was incredibly lame and pissed me off. I enjoyed statistics and ended up with something like 99.5% in the class. It was just an introductory class in the subject, required for several majors.

User1865345

That's great!!

Jolenealaska

The risk in introductory statistics is yawning as median versus mean thinking wake me up when this gets interesting. Cuz it gets interesting real quick.

Hats?! Who said anything about hats? Maybe I should pay attention now.

User1865345

05:30

@Jolenealaska true 😄

Median actually plays a great role once you delve deep in hardcore stats.

Because it's more robust.

Jolenealaska

I enjoyed introductory statistics enough that I looked at the only other statistics class available at Purdue global - Advanced statistics. I read the description of the class and said oh hell no. I'm going to quit this subject while I'm ahead.

22 days until the inauguration. How long do you think it'll be before his first impeachment vote this term? I'm going to pick 96 days.

User1865345

@Jolenealaska 🤣

I am waiting for dems to sue the hell out of this administration's agendas.

@Jolenealaska ne fault of yours. Things can get messy there especially with clinical aspects.

User1865345

08:37

Daily Beast: Jimmy Carter Passes Away With One Final Parting Gift for Trump

> According to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, the American flag should fly at “half-staff for 30 days at all federal buildings, grounds, and naval vessels throughout the United States and its territories and possessions after the death of the president or a former president.” This means that on Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20, 2025, all flags will be at half-staff in honor of the late president.

Carter got the last laugh. 🇺🇸

Jolenealaska

Thank you Jimmy Carter! Flag at half staff for Trump's inauguration is chef's kiss

It's not the DoVA that decides it though. That is the current president's decision.

So Trump could just be an ass and raise them as his first act. Before he even leaves the inaugural stage.

That would be so Trumpy that I'm almost predicting it.

User1865345

12:48

@Jolenealaska true absolutely.

@Jolenealaska noo!!

Daily Beast: ‘Decency, Decency, Decency.’ Biden Uses Jimmy Carter’s Death to Go After Trump

> Asked if there was anything the president-elect could take from Carter, who died on Sunday aged 100, Biden said: “Decency, decency, decency.”

The president went on to draw a stark contrast between the gentleman farmer from Georgia and the often brash and abrasive Trump.

> “Can you imagine Jimmy Carter walking by someone who needed something and just keep walking?” asked Biden, inferring that was something he perceived that Trump might do.

His next remark was even more pointed and was a clear reference to Trump hurling insults at him—he has at various times called him a “dummy” and a “loser” and nicknamed him “Sleepy Joe”—and at other political opponents.

> “Can you imagine Jimmy Carter referring to someone by the way they look or the way they talk? I can’t,” continued Biden.

> “The rest of the world looks to us. And he was worth looking to,” he added, referencing Carter.

Carter is the anti thesis of Trump. Speaks volume of where America stands now.

User1865345

13:13

Austinite shares memories of working alongside Jimmy Carter at Habitat for Humanity

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Jimmy Carter’s lasting legacy through community service in Jacksonville

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User1865345

13:25

NPR: Jimmy Carter had an early ally in the Senate: a young Democrat named Joe Biden

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14:26

From the archives: Jimmy Carter's advice, faith and more

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User1865345

15:17

Raw Story: Key Jimmy Carter legacy set to be dismantled by Trump administration: report

> "The linchpin of Carter’s plan to revolutionize and diversify the judiciary depended on the creation of a brand-new federal commission to pick appeals court judges, wresting the power to make judicial nominations away from individual senators," Stern wrote.

> Carter managed to get fierce segregationist Sen. John Eastland (D-MS), the then chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, on board with the plan as a fellow Southerner — and made substantial progress while he was in office, Stern wrote.

> The purpose of diversifying the federal bench was to get people from a broad variety of backgrounds and life experiences, who might have wider perspectives on the law. In particular, Carter's commission leaned on the American Bar Association to put more emphasis on defense and public interest lawyers over prosecutors.

> Carter appointed 40 women, including eight women of color. Similarly, before Carter, just 31 people of color had been confirmed to federal courts, often over Eastland’s strenuous disapproval.

> "The peanut farmer from Plains appointed 57 minorities to the judiciary."

The result was often a strengthening of the law for disadvantaged groups; most notably, a Carter-appointed judge set in motion the case that reined in racial discrimination in jury selection.

> Trump has been advised chiefly by Leonard Leo, a white man who has primarily recommended other white male members of his Federalist Society, a network of conservative attorneys and law students," wrote Stern. "Leo wants to return the courts to a pre–New Deal era. He opposes expanded rights for women, LGBTQ people, and racial minorities, and especially loathes Roe v. Wade; other targets include progressive economic legislation like the Affordable Care Act."

> After Trump left office, Biden largely used Carter's philosophy on judges, appointing large numbers of women and minorities to the bench and drawing from a variety of nontraditional legal backgrounds. And Trump will have far fewer seats to fill in his upcoming term than his last, as Democratic senators worked tirelessly to leave as few vacancies for him as possible.

User1865345

17:13