Patterico's Pontifications

11/20/2012

Open Thread

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 7:59 am



I got nothin’. Tell me what’s interesting.

137 Responses to “Open Thread”

  1. Football

    Dustin (73fead)

  2. Alan West conceded his congressional race.

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  3. Liberals are mathematically incompetent.

    Oh, wait. That’s not new.

    I got nuthin’.

    K_P_Brown (88bd1c)

  4. I suggest a caption contest of this or this.

    DRJ (a83b8b)

  5. There should be some news on mediation between Hostess and the bakers today. The game of chicken isn’t quite over.

    Hostess, Bakers Union Agree to Mediation

    Based on the judge’s comments, I suspect he berates both parties a bit, Hostess makes some concessions, and the union decides that maybe people having jobs is better than having no jobs. I’m sure the Teamsters will give the bakers some advice, but we probably won’t hear about that.

    A lot of it will depend on how far gone the company is financially after the last week.

    Steve G (492627)

  6. When is Obama gonna start being pressured to bring the killers to justice? Doesn’t the window get smaller as the group scatters? We’re past the “first 48″…days.

    j curtis (e0fcf6)

  7. Hostess may be back from the dead, like Star Trek in 1968.

    Sammy Finkelman (d22d64)

  8. Lapdog media closely scrutinizes Obama menu on Asia trip. Bow wow chow notably absent.

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  9. The statute of limitations on criminal prosecution of “FOIA”, the person who leaked the Climategate emails has passed.

    Some speculation on whether the accompanying encrypted file’s key will be released.

    SPQR (768505)

  10. My timeline for Bengazi/Petraeas is now an over 75,000 ASCII file, although about 15K of that just space characters.

    Sammy Finkelman (d22d64)

  11. Gloria Allred announced yesterday she is representing Natalie Kwawam and will reveal more today.

    Sammy Finkelman (d22d64)

  12. In late August/early September Jill kelley tried to get a quick $80 million from a New York based company in return for lobbying South Korea.

    Sammy Finkelman (d22d64)

  13. Jill Kelley and her sister appear to have been everywhere from the White House to Senator Whitehouse.

    Sammy Finkelman (d22d64)

  14. President Obama sending Hillary Clinton to the Middle East only guarantees there will be no ceasefire in the coming days.

    Sammy Finkelman (d22d64)

  15. Somebody ask Mitt Romney – does he really believe single (sexually active) women were bought wioth the promise of free contraception?

    Isn’t scaring them that abortion might be made illegal if Romney and Ryan were elected a more logical possibility?

    Sammy Finkelman (d22d64)

  16. That calculation peedoffamerican (sp?) made in the 1980s that a mother on welfare was getting the equaivalent of $50,000 a year – did that calculation include school tuition?

    Sammy Finkelman (d22d64)

  17. An anonymous froiend of Kelly claims the e-mails were really threatening. One of them supposedly said she could make her “go away” and another boasted of having “powerful” friends.

    But do we really know for sure Paula Broadwell sent them? If she sent all of them, why would she be trying to stop her from seeing other military men besides General Petraeus?

    Do we have any kind of a timeline for the different e-mail messages?

    My understanding is the first ones were not sent to Jill Kelley at all.

    Sammy Finkelman (d22d64)

  18. “Isn’t scaring them that abortion might be made illegal if Romney and Ryan were elected a more logical possibility?”

    Sammy – Given that Romney wanted states to decide if I have my position correct, isn’t your question just blatant fear mongering?

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  19. 12. Comment by SPQR — 11/20/2012 @ 8:37 am

    The statute of limitations on criminal prosecution of “FOIA”, the person who leaked the Climategate emails has passed.

    That person would have violated British law. are you talking about that?

    Sammy Finkelman (d22d64)

  20. Amity Schlaes has a good piece in Bloomberg suggesting that next year will be the equivalent of 1937 in returning the country to the Depression.

    She knows a lot about why the Depression lasted ten years. We are only at four now.

    Mike K (326cba)

  21. The jury is currently deliberating (http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2012/nov/20/vanessa-colemans-torture-slaying-retrial-in-of/) in the retrial of the female defendant in the Christian-Newsom torture-murder case in Knoxville, Tennessee. The judge went to Jackson, which is 300 miles from Knoxville for the jury pool, a big favor to the defense.

    The case is being retried because the original judge was buying drugs from a probationer in his own court. There was NO new evidence.

    DN (322684)

  22. Wow! Good morning, Sammy Finkelman!

    Dana (292dcf)

  23. As California goes…

    “The California Republican Party is functionally dead. And how is California doing, now that liberals have successfully terminated the state’s remaining conservatives?” #1 in debt, #1 in welfare, #1 in taxing the rich. And hoping for a federal bailout, I suspect. As is Illinois, which is in similar straits for similar reasons. “One-third of all the nation’s welfare recipients live in the state, despite the fact that California has only one-eighth of the country’s population. That’s four times as many as the next-highest welfare population, which is New York. Meanwhile, California eighth-graders finished ahead of only Mississippi and District of Columbia students on reading and math test scores in 2011.”

    http://washingtonexaminer.com/can-conservatives-prevent-the-u.s.-from-becoming-california/article/2513695#.UKjshcY7rHE.twitter

    Colonel Haiku (fb406d)

  24. Human intelligence ‘peaked thousands of years ago and we’ve been on an intellectual and emotional decline ever since.’

    http://pjmedia.com/instapundit/157965/

    Colonel Haiku (fb406d)

  25. Somebody ask Obama if he won the vote of those making below $30,000 by 30% over Romney, accounting for a multiple of his margin of victory, by expanding the free stuff he was offering them.

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  26. The objectives of Hamas’s leadership, in order of priority, probably are:

    1) To keep themselves alive. They keep on miscalculating about that.

    2) To prevent Gaza from being completely occupied and being forced into giving up their claim to be ruling some territory.

    3) To make the number of deaths on both sides less lopsided.

    More long term:

    4) To get Israel to accept a small, but steadily increasing number of deaths of its citizens. The
    Peace of the Minotaur, you might call it.

    They are always looking to find that sweet spot where they can kill Jews but not provioke retalitation.

    Even more long term:

    5) To keep the pot constantly boiling, so that if any country wants to start a war with Israel, it would look like an escalation rather tahn something that started from nothing. It makes a difference.

    Sammy Finkelman (d22d64)

  27. * retaliation. I keep on sending this before catching all the typos, especially when i’m not using FireFox.

    Sammy Finkelman (d22d64)

  28. 29. Comment by daleyrocks — 11/20/2012 @ 8:58 am

    Somebody ask Obama if he won the vote of those making below $30,000 by 30% over Romney, accounting for a multiple of his margin of victory, by expanding the free stuff he was offering them.

    The answer is no. He didn’t. He didn’t even promise anything (except to tax the rich)

    What he did mainly was:

    1) Scare people that the Republicans were trying to take away their right to vote, or make it more diifficult to vote by, for instance, cancelling days of early voting. Or asking for ID, which many had to go to some trouble to get.

    2) Scare people into thinking Romney would deport more Hispanics, and just was against them anyway.

    Sammy Finkelman (d22d64)

  29. The Los Angeles Times wants you to know that Marco Rubio is not electable as president because he doesn’t know how old the earth is. And because he listens to Hip Hop – only to be not-Mitt).

    Sleep, there goes 2016.

    http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-pn-rubio-hip-hop-earth-age-20121119,0,162156.story

    Dana (292dcf)

  30. As for that poll showed people were in favor of raising taxes, but not to cut the deficit!

    They wanted higher taxes to prevent budget cuts.

    Sammy Finkelman (d22d64)

  31. Isn’t scaring them that abortion might be made illegal if Romney and Ryan were elected a more logical possibility?

    Comment by Sammy Finkelman — 11/20/2012 @ 8:42 am

    Do most of the women you know expect they’ll be killing their pre-born babies at some point? I would have thought it something most women never expect they’ll be doing. It’s kind of a hideous thing to do, isn’t it?

    j curtis (e0fcf6)

  32. “Sleep, there goes 2016….”

    Sleep = So

    Dana (292dcf)

  33. Comment by Colonel Haiku — 11/20/2012 @ 8:54 am

    The California Republican Party is functionally dead.

    But with the open primary system (basically nonpartisan elections) it doesn’t matter, if only peoiple would drop that Republican label.

    Sammy Finkelman (d22d64)

  34. Debbie Wasserman Schultz loves her racial/gender politics. Of course, no mention that two conservative African-Americans were beaten by whom? A couple of old white guys, of course.

    http://cnsnews.com/news/article/dnc-chair-gop-they-got-whiter-and-more-male.

    Dana (292dcf)

  35. Caption for Joe Biden Birthday picture: Great turnout, Joe. Keep up the good work!

    PatAZ (d1234f)

  36. SF: Isn’t scaring them that abortion might be made illegal if Romney and Ryan were elected a more logical possibility?

    Comment by j curtis — 11/20/2012 @ 9:08 am

    Do most of the women you know expect they’ll be killing their pre-born babies at some point?

    No, but there must be people like that. Most women who expect abortions actually aren’t worried about the law being changed ut maybe only about being embarassed at coming back. And had mixed feelings anyway.

    There was a whole appeal in this campaign to women afraid abortion might be made illegal.

    (perhaps thinking not just of themselves but of friends or family members)

    http://www.npr.org/2012/10/11/162754053/transcript-biden-ryan-vice-presidential-debate

    MS. RADDATZ: I want to go back to the abortion question here. If the Romney-Ryan ticket is elected, should those who believe that abortion should remain legal be worried?

    REP. RYAN: We don’t think that unelected judges should make this decision; that people, through their elected representatives and reaching a consensus in society through the democratic process, should make this determination.

    VICE PRESIDENT BIDEN: The court — the next president will get one or two Supreme Court nominees. That’s how close Roe v. Wade is.

    Just ask yourself: With Robert Bork being the chief adviser on the court for — for Mr. Romney, who do you think he’s likely to appoint? Do you think he’s likely to appoint someone like Scalia or someone else on the court, far right, that would outlaw Planned — excuse me — outlaw abortion? I suspect that would happen.

    I guarantee you that will not happen. We picked two people. We picked people who are open-minded. They’ve been good justices. So keep an eye on the Supreme Court —

    REP. RYAN: Was there a litmus test on them?

    VICE PRESIDENT BIDEN: There was no litmus test. We picked people who had an open mind, did not come with an agenda.

    They never give up the douyble talk, do they?

    Notice that Biden doesn’t merely have abortion returned to the states, which is what an overturning of Roe v Wade would actually do. No, he envinsions a possible Supreme Court decision outlawing abortion, like the West German Supreme Court once made.

    (Then one justice was assassinated allegedly in retaliation, by a member of the Beider Meinhoff gang.)

    I would have thought it something most women never expect they’ll be doing. It’s kind of a hideous thing to do, isn’t it?

    Yes, and they may even say I killed my children.

    Sammy Finkelman (d22d64)

  37. All three victims killed by a Hamas bomb in Israel were members of the Chabad community.

    One was a woman who was pregnant, and was a Chabad emissary in India. She was visiting Israel to attend a special service marking the anniversary of the attack on the Chabad House in 2008, killing nine, including Rabbi Gavriel and Rivka Holtzberg.

    Sammy Finkelman (d22d64)

  38. Romney (and Ryan) was not willing to say out loud that certain things were not likely to happen.

    It’s one thing to lose votes because of principle – it’s another thing to lose votes on the basis of something you cannot do.

    Romney was also largely – yes Ryan mentioned it in that debate – but Romney was largely unwilling to point out that raising taxes a few percentage points on the highest brackets would not raise all that much money in taxes.

    It’s clear that Obama wants this for symbolic reasons.

    Maybe to molify people about entitlement cuts, or to raise taxes on other people.

    Sammy Finkelman (d22d64)

  39. SF: Isn’t scaring them that abortion might be made illegal if Romney and Ryan were elected a more logical possibility?”

    Comment by daleyrocks — 11/20/2012 @ 8:48 am

    Sammy – Given that Romney wanted states to decide if I have my position correct, isn’t your question just blatant fear mongering?

    What Obama and Biden did was fear mongering. I don’t think that what Biden said in that debate was any kind of a gaffe, but probably tallied with what the Obama campaign (or its allied PACS) was saying in targeted ads, emails and robocalls.

    Ryan only challenged Biden about a litmus test, not about what the legal consequences of overturning Roe v Wade would be, nor about how easy it would be to see that happen, which is to say, not easy at all.

    Sammy Finkelman (d22d64)

  40. How come nobnpdy poinmted out this blatant lie by Biden about the law?

    Sammy Finkelman (d22d64)

  41. “The answer is no. He didn’t. He didn’t even promise anything (except to tax the rich)”

    Sammy – You would be wrong there.

    Extension of unemployment benefits to 99 weeks.
    Cut of employee contribution to social security
    Relaxation of welfare to work requirements
    Continuation of cheap college loans with hints at loan forgiveness
    Obamacare subsidies

    That’s just a start

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  42. Also in that debate:

    Like Bob Schieffer eleven days later, Martha Raddatz starts off the debate with a wuestion about benghazi:

    MS. RADDATZ: Hey, you got your little wave to the families in. That’s great.

    Good evening, gentlemen. It really is an honor to be here with both of you.

    I would like to begin with Libya on a rather somber note. One month ago tonight, on the anniversary of 9/11, Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other brave Americans were killed in a terrorist attack in Benghazi. The State Department has now made clear there were no protesters there. It was a pre-planned assault by heavily armed men. Wasn’t this a massive intelligence failure, Vice President Biden?

    Biden does not answer the question!!

    He says, instead:

    VICE PRESIDENT BIDEN: What it was, it was a tragedy, Martha. It — Chris Stevens was one of our best. We lost three other brave Americans.

    He goes on to promise that we will find and bring to justice the men who did this and that we will get to the bottom of it, and whatever — wherever the facts lead us, wherever they lead us, we will make clear to the American public, because whatever mistakes were made will not be made again.

    Meaning probably mistakes about security. Not about this starting with a demonstration.

    And Biden then adds that Obama ended the war in Iraq, which Romney said was a mistake to do, and set a date for ending the war in Afghanistan in 20914, while Romney said no date should be set and that as far as 2014 goes, it depends.

    And Obama got bin Laden – why, he Joe Biden, was sitting there on Inauguration Day and witnessed Obama signing an order to the CIA saying his highest priority was to get bin Laden! While Romney was asked a question prior to the (2008) election and said: (says Biden)

    I wouldn’t move heaven and earth to get bin Laden. He didn’t understand it was more than about taking a — a murderer off the battlefield; it was about restoring America’s heart and letting terrorists around the world know if you do harm to America, we will track you to the gates of hell, if need be.

    Sammy Finkelman (d22d64)

  43. “Romney (and Ryan) was not willing to say out loud that certain things were not likely to happen.”

    Sammy – Do you have examples?

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  44. SF: “The answer is no. He didn’t. He didn’t even promise anything (except to tax the rich)”

    Comment by daleyrocks — 11/20/2012 @ 9:59 am

    Sammy – You would be wrong there.

    Extension of unemployment benefits to 99 weeks.

    I don’t recall that being promised, but of course there was no campaign here. However this is just a continuation of the status quo.

    Cut of employee contribution to social security

    No, he didn’t promise that. He pointed out he had done that. At esst he poiinted out he had cut taxes. He is not now asking for an extension.

    Relaxation of welfare to work requirements

    He didn’t promise that, he just did that.

    There is a whole story about that I didn’t post. This is something that was outlawed by Congress.

    He used a deliberately defective measure – the absolute number of people who went off welfare to work – to measure success. This is a number that is always rising if caseloads rise.

    The problem now was that caseloads were not rising so much.

    He changed a couple of thing. The reason was to avoid impacting state budgets. The attention of the grass roots was not being drawn to this.

    Continuation of cheap college loans with hints at loan forgiveness

    That he did.But the target is not particularly poor people, but the middle class.

    Obamacare subsidies

    Nobody knows a thing about them, and they were aklready in the law – not a campaign promise. he was misleading people also about just what Obamacare does and how it would work.. He never actually mentioned Obamacare.

    In the Biden-Ryan debate they argued about cutting Medicare.

    Sammy Finkelman (d22d64)

  45. They argued over who was going to cut entitlements in away so as to hurt people:

    ….REP. RYAN: Seven point four million seniors are projected to lose the current Medicare Advantage coverage they have. That’s a $3,200 benefit cut.

    VICE PRESIDENT BIDEN: That didn’t happen.

    REP. RYAN: What we’re saying —

    VICE PRESIDENT BIDEN: More people signed up.

    REP. RYAN: These are from your own actuaries.

    VICE PRESIDENT BIDEN: More — more — more people signed up for Medicare Advantage after the change.

    REP. RYAN: What — what they’re —

    VICE PRESIDENT BIDEN: No — nobody is getting shut down.

    REP. RYAN: Mr. Vice President, I know —

    VICE PRESIDENT BIDEN: No — no — (inaudible) —

    REP. RYAN: Mr. Vice President, I know you’re under a lot of duress — (laughter) — to make up for lost ground — (laughter) — but I think people would be better served if we don’t keep interrupting each other.

    VICE PRESIDENT BIDEN: Well, don’t take all the four minutes, then.

    REP. RYAN: Now let me just — let me say this. We are not — we are saying, don’t change benefits for people 55 and above. They already organized their retirement around these promises.

    VICE PRESIDENT BIDEN: They already are —

    REP. RYAN: But you want to — (inaudible) — these programs for those of us —

    MS. RADDATZ: Let me ask you this: what is your specific plan for seniors who really can’t afford to make up the difference in the value of what you call a premium support plan and others call a voucher?

    REP. RYAN: A hundred percent coverage for them.

    MS. RADDATZ: And what —

    REP. RYAN: That’s what we’re saying.

    MS. RADDATZ: — what cost —

    REP. RYAN: So we’re saying income-adjust —

    MS. RADDATZ: How do you make that up?

    REP. RYAN: — these premium support payments by taking down the subsidies for wealthy people.

    Look, this is a plan — by the way, that $6,400 number, it was misleading then. It’s totally inaccurate now. This is a plan that’s bipartisan. It’s a plan I put together with a prominent Democrat senator from Oregon.

    VICE PRESIDENT BIDEN: There’s not one Democrat who endorsed his —

    REP. RYAN: It’s a plan —

    VICE PRESIDENT BIDEN: — not one Democrat who signed his plan.

    REP. RYAN: Our partner is a Democrat from Oregon.

    VICE PRESIDENT BIDEN: And he said he does no longer support (you for that ?).

    REP. RYAN: We — we put it — we put it together with the former Clinton budget director.

    VICE PRESIDENT BIDEN: Who disavows it. (Chuckles.)

    Sammy Finkelman (d22d64)

  46. Later:

    MS. RADDATZ: OK, on to taxes. If your ticket is elected, who will pay more in taxes? Who will pay less? And we’re starting with Vice President Biden for two minutes.

    VICE PRESIDENT BIDEN: The middle class will pay less, and people making a million dollars or more will begin to contribute slightly more…

    Sammy Finkelman (d22d64)

  47. Ah, you’re bored? Try this: Yaron Brook’s (President of the Ayn Rand Institute) talk to the Minnesota Tea Party. (http://www.ustextalert.com/temp/TP_20121112_YaronBrook2/TP_20121112_YaronBrook2.html)

    As I’ve mentioned before, the problem is that the Republicans can’t defend capitalism morally, so the socialists win by default. Sad, but its true. Brook gives a splendid explanation of why this is so.

    You want to defeat these socialist thugs? Then you have to attack them at their weak spot and the Republicans have no clue as to where that is. So how do we expect to win? It’s time to listen to someone who knows where the socialists are really vulnerable.

    J.P. (bd0246)

  48. “Romney (and Ryan) was not willing to say out loud that certain things were not likely to happen.”

    Comment by daleyrocks — 11/20/2012 @ 10:08 am

    Sammy – Do you have examples?

    The two things I was thinking about were:

    1) Nothing much was going to change about the legality ad availabiility of abortion.

    2) Tax increase on the rich would not raise much money.

    Sammy Finkelman (d22d64)

  49. Great Britain is considering dropping out of the E.U.

    Icy (666709)

  50. “I don’t recall that being promised”

    Sammy – I doesn’t matter if he promised these things during the campaign, does it? These are things he did during his administration and the implication unless otherwise stated is that they would continue.

    Did he promise to end them?

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  51. Annie? Get yo gun…

    http://youtu.be/IjIcDWYAXUM

    Colonel Haiku (fb406d)

  52. Comment by daleyrocks — 11/20/2012 @ 10:41 am

    < Sammy – I doesn’t matter if he promised these things during the campaign, does it? These are things he did during his administration and the implication unless otherwise stated is that they would continue.

    Did he promise to end them?

    No, not even the payroll tax cut, which he in fact intended to let expire, as near as anyone can tell, although maybe replacing it with something else.

    You have your best case with unemployment benefits, although I don’t either Obama or Romney said anything about that. Under current law, it expires.

    Sammy Finkelman (d22d64)

  53. In case ben Gurion Airport is shut down due to rockets?

    http://security.blogs.cnn.com/2012/11/19/u-s-sends-warships-near-israel-in-case-evacuation-needed/?hpt=hp_t1

    But Iron Dome seems to be working 90% of the time. Missiles not heading toward heavily populated areas are allowed to fall where they may. The system is not yet fully installed.

    Deployment to the tel Aviv area was rushed last week.

    The system is not good enough for missiles coming from Hzbollah in lebanoin – another system is under development for that which may be ready by 2015.

    Sammy Finkelman (d22d64)

  54. here’s some great news about the booming economy

    redc1c4 (403dff)

  55. “No, not even the payroll tax cut”

    Sammy – Apart from increasing taxes on the rich, why not make a list of any promises Obama made during the campaign. It shouldn’t take long.

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  56. “You have your best case with unemployment benefits”

    Sammy – No, you are just rationalizing. All the things I listed were done during the Obama administration and affect people making under $30,000 per year. That is objectively true. That they may also affect people making more than $30,000 is completely irrelevant.

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  57. BS or not BS?

    “Top Israeli Middle Eastern affairs expert to IMRA: Israel Radio report BS that Palestinians will be allowed to continue killing Israelis a few days under ceasefire.”

    Sammy Finkelman (d22d64)

  58. Comment by daleyrocks — 11/20/2012 @ 11:17 am

    All the things I listed were done during the Obama administration and affect people making under $30,000 per year. That is objectively true. That they may also affect people making more than $30,000 is completely irrelevant.

    That didn’t turn out the vote.

    By the way, the Republican Party in general has something extremely valuable to offer people making under $30,000, but they never talk much about it.

    …the voucher system for K-12 education.

    It would save money for the government, give people more money to spend, and improve education.

    Win-win-win.

    Sammy Finkelman (d22d64)

  59. “As I’ve mentioned before, the problem is that the Republicans can’t defend capitalism morally”

    J.P. – With respect, pure baloney. I think the moral case for Cuba, China, Russia or any similar country was thrown on the ash heap by any honest thinker years ago.

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  60. “That didn’t turn out the vote.”

    Sammy – Who won the under $30,000 income vote and by what margin? I am repeating myself.

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  61. The sister, or a sister, of Egyptian President Morsi died just after midnight today Egyptian time.

    Her funeral will take place today or did already..

    Sammy Finkelman (d22d64)

  62. “That didn’t turn out the vote.”

    Comment by daleyrocks — 11/20/2012 @ 11:27 am

    Sammy – Who won the under $30,000 income vote and by what margin? I am repeating myself.

    That happens every election.

    Things that aren’t going to change are never an issue in any election.

    What turned out the vote was fear, and despisal not hope or love.

    It was the idea that people were trying to deprive them of the right to vote or make it difficult, also in some areas, the Dream Act (which Romney cited, but treated it as a gift that costs moneyز

    Sammy Finkelman (d22d64)

  63. Hamas out of long range rockets?

    http://www.israeldefense.com/?CategoryID=483&ArticleID=1763

    Sammy Finkelman (d22d64)

  64. “That happens every election.”

    Sammy – Not really, but I’m glad you feel the confidence to intuit the reason people vote the way they do.

    George Bush won more than 40% of the vote of those with income between $15,000-30,000 in both 2000 and 2004 and almost 50% of those with incomes between $30,000-50,000 in the same elections.

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  65. “Things that aren’t going to change are never an issue in any election.”

    Sammy – The funny thing is that I highlighted things that changed, more free stuff provided by Democrats, while you highlighted the same old playbook of Democrat fearmongering that has been their staple for the past 30 years. On the margin, what changed?

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  66. Obama didn’t promise (or do) much. Romney claimed it was extraordinary.

    Sammy Finkelman (d22d64)

  67. Oh, it’s only a 48-hour ceasefire.

    Israeli air attacks were interfering with visits by Arab diplomats. THEY GOT TOO SCARED.

    Sammy Finkelman (d22d64)

  68. Emily Littela Department:

    I wrote something that could be interprted two ways:

    generators don’t produce even enough power for computers

    What’s important is that the word “even” appears after thwe word “produce” and not before.

    I meant power that was steady, regular, and even enough for computers.

    Computers are very sensitive to power surges, much more so than other things.

    Even when they don’t get damaged, they can reboot.

    Sammy Finkelman (d22d64)

  69. Raddatz, lied at the tail end of that question, there was no intelligence failure, as the LOC report reveals,

    narciso (ee31f1)

  70. Comment by J.P. — 11/20/2012 @ 10:25 am

    As I’ve mentioned before, the problem is that the Republicans can’t defend capitalism morally

    Winston Churchill had a problem in 1946, but it hasn’t been a problem for a long time. I don’t know if he ever developed an answer, but the experience of living underr a Labour government with its continued rationing brought him back to power in 1951.

    What Republicans have atough time defending are tax cuts for the “rich”

    , so the socialists win by default. Sad, but its true. Brook gives a splendid explanation of why this is so.

    You want to defeat these socialist thugs? Then you have to attack them at their weak spot and the Republicans have no clue as to where that is. So how do we expect to win? It’s time to listen to someone who knows where the socialists are really vulnerable.

    Sammy Finkelman (d22d64)

  71. 1945, but their had been nearly 20 years of Tory rule, through the Depression’s darkest times, the 1929 interregnum, Ramsay McDonald, being the exception,

    http://jacksonville.com/news/crime/2012-11-20/story/george-zimmerman-prosecutor-de-la-rionda-mistakenly-leaks-witness-names

    narciso (ee31f1)

  72. Another “mistake” by de la Rionda.

    SPQR (768505)

  73. Everything is free in Massachusetts for the criminal alien crowd.

    mg (31009b)

  74. “What Republicans have atough time defending are tax cuts for the “rich””

    Sammy – What tax cuts are you talking about? What Democrats have a hard time doing is defining “fairness.”

    The U.S. already has the most progressive income tax system in the developed world, with the rich paying the highest share of taxes relative to their share of income. That isn’t fair enough apparently, we need to get more out of balance with the rest of the world.

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  75. SENATE BILL LETS FEDS READ YOUR EMAIL?

    Harry Reid can kiss my mammajammin’ ass and he can do it three times on Sundays.

    Colonel Haiku (ff2a68)

  76. i got some Split Enz
    but went for Squeeze while sneakin’
    Sally thru alley

    Colonel Haiku (ff2a68)

  77. So, Clapper as suspected ghost-authored the Benghazi intelligence talking points(like professionals ‘eff with talking points).

    His story is–anonymously to this point–is CIA and FBI signed off on automatic editing under ergot-induced transcendental vision.

    Over to you Mr. Mueller.

    gary gulrud (dd7d4e)

  78. 87. Ace is similarly persuaded:

    http://minx.cc/?post=335092

    gary gulrud (dd7d4e)

  79. someone needs to go “Dead Rabbits” on the administration personnel and start culling the herd. Bunch of confused, sick f*cks they are.

    Colonel Haiku (ff2a68)

  80. On I think November 15, The Wall Street Journal reported that under the Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986, no warrant is needed to access e-mails older than 6 months, (on third party servers I would think) because they are considered abandoned, and Google wants the law changed.

    (This abandonment rule may apply only to e-mail that was never opened or read.)

    Sammy Finkelman (d22d64)

  81. Comment by daleyrocks — 11/20/2012 @ 12:37 pm

    Sammy – What tax cuts are you talking about?

    Actually, you are right. A continuation of the current tax rates is not a tax cut. Although Romney was also proposing a separate tax cut and Mitt Romney tied himself up in knots trying to show there would be no net tax cut, on average, for those in the highest income tax brackets.

    Midway through the campaign apparently, somebody showed him the idea of limiting the maximum total amount of deductions. This was an answer to the charge that cutting tax brackets while not reducing taxes paid by the highest brackets was impossible. This answer was ignored during the campaign but now Obama and other Democrats like the idea, and they are even crediting Romney.

    Previously, Obama’s proposal had been to
    limit some deductions so that taxes could only be reduced 28% and not by whatever bracket they were in.

    Romney had also said, but he never said it clearly enough, that he didn’t want to reduce the proportion of all income taxes paid by the top bracket – top 1% – people over X number of Dollars of income per year – or whatever. This could happen if more people made more money.

    He would say this but never deviate from his phraseology so that it became clear it was an answer.

    What Democrats have a hard time doing is defining “fairness.”

    The U.S. already has the most progressive income tax system in the developed world, with the rich paying the highest share of taxes relative to their share of income. That isn’t fair enough apparently, we need to get more out of balance with the rest of the world.

    And you are right – the income tax code is plenty progressive. Well, of course you had Warren Buffet. The thing there is capital gains and nobody’s proposing raising it to the level of ordinary income, or more. (more because of the special Obamacare surtax on investment income)

    Dividends, yes. But if you want honest financial accounting you should be promoting dividends.

    Sammy Finkelman (d22d64)

  82. 82. October 1945, right.

    Sammy Finkelman (d22d64)

  83. Rutgers University is leaving the Big East and is going to become the 14th member of the “Big Ten” [sic]

    Sammy Finkelman (d22d64)

  84. All operating systems since DOS (that don’t always use a keyboard) seem to have a bad habit of doing things you didn’t tell them to do.

    For instance Windows has an occasional habit of changing the language I am typing in from English to Arabic, and it sometimes is hard to change it back.

    Sammy Finkelman (d22d64)

  85. I saw a small little article last week in the new York Post.

    New York State is planning to change its driver’s licenses from color to black and white.

    And no, it’s not cheaper.

    Highest Bidder Wins Driver’s License Contract

    The Department of Motor Vehicles tentatively awarded the contract to the high bidder 10 months after New York advised the current vendor, De La Rue North America, that because of “significant budgetary constraints” the state would have to reduce the cost of the contract, according to the court filings.

    As a result, De La Rue submitted a bid 10 percent lower for the new, eight-year contract, which ended up being nearly $38 million less than CBN’s bid.

    Sammy Finkelman (d22d64)

  86. Somebody told me he never drove. he had a hard time getting a state ID. They wanted him already to have a picture ID. This was this year. So he got the ID in New Jersey.

    Sammy Finkelman (d22d64)

  87. Don’t any of you commenters have silver to polish or tablecloths to iron, or potatoes to peel? (Or is that wimmins work to you people?) Yeah, I suppose you’ll get out the big ass knife and make a theatric production of carving the turkey on Thursday after all the hard part’s done.

    elissa (3c39b4)

  88. Tuesday is apparently false narrative day in Sammy World.

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  89. “Yeah, I suppose you’ll get out the big ass knife and make a theatric production of carving the turkey on Thursday after all the hard part’s done.”

    elissa – Only iffn we don’t drop it first!

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  90. No wait, the election was in July, 1945. Clement Attlee replaced Winston Churchill in the middle of the Potsdam conference.

    It is supposed by some that if the election had been held in October, he would have won. October stuck in my mind for some reason.

    There hadn’t been a General Election in the United Kingdom since 1935. It was way overdue, but wasn’t held during the war.

    Sammy Finkelman (69e89f)

  91. From narciso’s link at #2:
    Plaintiffs have not cited, and the court has not found, any case concluding that secular, for-profit corporations such as Hobby Lobby and Mardel have a constitutional right to the free exercise of religion,” the ruling said.

    Hmmm, I imagine there may be some issues when a company is publicly owned vs. privately owned, but I find it interesting that an individual’s right of religious freedom is not assumed when the person is running a business. The article says the store is not open on Sunday, so there is evidence of “sincerely held religious belief”.

    Always a bit difficult to pull things out of Revelation with the symbolism, but there is the idea that the ability to buy and sell becomes dependent upon willingness to compromise religious conviction.

    MD in Philly (3d3f72)

  92. Surely Citizens United is precisely on point. Or is the first amendment severable?

    Milhouse (15b6fd)

  93. When it happens, the change in language is limited to the program you are in, and sometimes the window.

    Maybe always the window in Internet Explorer.

    You can end it by closing the window. But the window itself is hopeless.

    Its Arabic because that is he first language in he menu (alphabetical order) after English.

    Sammy Finkelman (69e89f)

  94. A Father To His Son

    A father sees his son nearing manhood.
    What shall he tell that son?
    “Life is hard; be steel; be a rock.”
    And this might stand him for the storms
    and serve him for humdrum monotony
    and guide him among sudden betrayals
    and tighten him for slack moments.
    “Life is a soft loam; be gentle; go easy.”
    And this too might serve him.
    Brutes have been gentled where lashes failed.
    The growth of a frail flower in a path up
    has sometimes shattered and split a rock.
    A tough will counts. So does desire.
    So does a rich soft wanting.
    Without rich wanting nothing arrives.
    Tell him too much money has killed men
    and left them dead years before burial:
    the quest of lucre beyond a few easy needs
    has twisted good enough men
    sometimes into dry thwarted worms.
    Tell him time as a stuff can be wasted.
    Tell him to be a fool every so often
    and to have no shame over having been a fool
    yet learning something out of every folly
    hoping to repeat none of the cheap follies
    thus arriving at intimate understanding
    of a world numbering many fools.
    Tell him to be alone often and get at himself
    and above all tell himself no lies about himself
    whatever the white lies and protective fronts
    he may use against other people.
    Tell him solitude is creative if he is strong
    and the final decisions are made in silent rooms.
    Tell him to be different from other people
    if it comes natural and easy being different.
    Let him have lazy days seeking his deeper motives.
    Let him seek deep for where he is born natural.
    Then he may understand Shakespeare
    and the Wright brothers, Pasteur, Pavlov,
    Michael Faraday and free imaginations
    Bringing changes into a world resenting change.
    He will be lonely enough
    to have time for the work
    he knows as his own.

    C. Sandburg

    scott (b8618e)

  95. elissa – I did cook Thanksgiving dinner with all the trimmings for 25 on a camp out over the weekend, including two deep fried turkeys and the stuffing, taters and veggies cooked on Coleman stoves. The three different kinds of pie were purchased, however.

    With temperatures dropping into the mid 20s overnight, sleeping off a turkey coma in a tent was a great way to go.

    Will be eating with friends this week.

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  96. Does “open thread” = “Sammy Finkelman blog?”

    carlitos (49ef9f)

  97. carlitos – Sammy has needs. Special ones.

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  98. Daley @ 104,

    Obviously nomwimmin on the trip, eh?

    Seriously, very impressive.

    Dana (292dcf)

  99. Yah, but notice that Sammy only wrote sentences where before there would be paragraphs …

    SPQR (768505)

  100. Obviously nomwimmin on the trip, eh?

    Should be no wimmin….

    Seriously not liking iPad.

    Dana (292dcf)

  101. ==Will be eating with friends this week.==

    Your cookout sounds like it was fab. I hope the company of your friends on Thursday will be better for the digestion than when you’re dining with (and are trying to make polite conversation with) your oft mentioned east coast liberal relatives. 🙂

    elissa (3c39b4)

  102. 108. Comment by SPQR — 11/20/2012 @ 4:18 pm

    Yah, but notice that Sammy only wrote sentences where before there would be paragraphs

    Variety of topics.

    Sammy Finkelman (d22d64)

  103. Sammy makes me smile.

    Dana (292dcf)

  104. There will be no ceasefire tonight in the rocket and other prjectile shooting competition because hamas may not find it necessary to have arab diplomats visit Gaza since Hillary Clinton went to Cairo raises their status enough.

    Sammy Finkelman (d22d64)

  105. Frederick Humphries On the Case – Seattle Times special report by Hal Bernton, Mike Carter, David Heath and James Neff · June 23 – July 7, 2002

    Humphries read Noris his rights in French. Then he asked, “Voulez-vous parler de ce qui est arrivé?” Do you want to talk about what has occurred?

    “Non monsieur, je ne veux pas en parler.” No sir, I do not want to talk about it.

    That single sentence told Humphries plenty. He asked that Gahan turn off the speaker and get on the line.

    What ID does this guy have? Humphries asked. A Canadian passport and baptismal certificate from Montreal, with the name Benni Antoine Noris, came the reply.

    “There is no way this guy is who he says he is,” Humphries said. “There’s no way he’s from Montreal.”

    The agent knew Quebecois French — and this wasn’t it. The accent, he thought, sounded like that of a language instructor he had in the Army — a man from Algeria.

    Sammy Finkelman (d22d64)

  106. WTF

    JD (318f81)

  107. “Obviously nomwimmin on the trip, eh?”

    Dana – Just one, but she did not spend the night this year. She did last year. She came back this year for the meal even though she knew she could not spend stay over.

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  108. “I hope the company of your friends on Thursday will be better for the digestion than when you’re dining with (and are trying to make polite conversation with) your oft mentioned east coast liberal relatives.”

    elissa – I was out east the prior weekend doing college visits with son No. 3 and unfortunately did not have time to visit with one of my liberal relatives who is afflicted with the gift of universal knowledge. It still feels like enenmy territory each time I go back, though. 🙂

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  109. The significance of that last bit, JD, is we didn’t know that aspect of Humphries, just the stalker FBI agent who went half Wiener, just like Zimmerman’s history of speaking out against police brutality, or anything laudatory about Sarah,

    narciso (ee31f1)

  110. Daley, at least you had a wimmin there to do the dishes, and bring you a beer while you manned the birds.

    Dana (292dcf)

  111. Daley, at least you had a wimmin there to do the dishes, and bring you a beer while you manned the birds.

    Can I get an A-MEN ?!

    JD (419d6b)

  112. Teh Finkelman File…

    Colonel Haiku (ff2a68)

  113. some dots some dashes
    and then one or two flashes
    Sammy on teh case!

    Colonel Haiku (ff2a68)

  114. Comment by daleyrocks — 11/20/2012 @ 3:55 pm

    I don’t know what happened, daley, I never got the invitation.

    I assume “out east” didn’t include Philly…

    MD in Philly (3d3f72)

  115. “Should be no wimmin…”

    i don’t want to live in such a place!

    Colonel Haiku (ff2a68)

  116. 86, Col – And up pops the wife?

    mg (31009b)

  117. “Daley, at least you had a wimmin there to do the dishes, and bring you a beer while you manned the birds.”

    Dana – No running water for dishes except from a hand pump well. Didn’t bother with tubs for hand washing and air drying pots and pans. Just loaded ’em up for home cleaning. Caved in on paper plates.

    Nice pit toilets.

    No adult bebages unfortunately because a national homophobic ute paramilitary organization outing.

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  118. Allen Toussaint is a great songwriter, nk.

    Colonel Haiku (abb56a)

  119. Now that college is for everyone, it isn’t college anymore. It’s 13th grade.

    The Sanity Inspector (93bc4f)

  120. 131… not nk… MG!!!

    Colonel Haiku (abb56a)

  121. Hostess / Bakers Union mediation failed. Hostess to liquidate. 11AM hearing tomorrow in bankruptcy court.

    SPQR (768505)

  122. Col. – Al Hirt was the first musician I remember playing his tunes.
    “Java”, I believe was the song.

    mg (31009b)


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