Weekend Open Thread
[guest post by Dana]
Feel free to talk about anything you think is newsworthy or might interest readers.
I’ll start.
First news item: Voters expect elected officials to enact viable solutions. Unfortunately, more often than not, government can only demonstrate its inability to fix anything:
Homelessness in Seattle has reached a crisis point. Despite some $1 billion in public and private spending, more people live on the streets than ever before. But rather than focus on the causes — addiction, mental illness and social breakdown — progressives in local government have waged war against abstract forces of oppression.
Last week, Seattle homeless advocates hosted their annual conference under the theme of “Decolonizing Our Collective Work.” According to the organizers, to reduce homelessness, government should prioritize “unpacking the current structures of power” and “examine the legacies of structural racism in our systems” to “co-design a path towards liberation with black, indigenous, brown and other marginalized communities.”
What does all that mean?
The director of King County’s homelessness program, Kira Zylstra, used taxpayer funds to hire a transgender stripper to perform during the conference. According to The Seattle Times, the stripper, Beyoncé Black St. James, “danced topless in a sheer bodysuit, gave lap dances and kissed attendees.” The audience — representatives from the region’s taxpayer-funded nonprofits and government agencies — clapped, cheered and handed St. James dollar bills.
Second news item: Elizabeth Warren’s purity test backfires, revealing her own stunning hypocrisy:
On a Saturday evening in June 2018, with temperatures in the 70s and the Red Sox playing at Fenway Park, supporters of Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren gathered at the City Winery Boston for a fundraiser.
They were treated to songs by the Grammy-winning artist Melissa Etheridge and heard remarks from Warren, who was months away from announcing her campaign for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination. For the top donors, those who could contribute or raise $5,400 per couple or $2,700 a person, there was a VIP photo reception and premium seating.
For them and others who gave at least $1,000, there was also a gift: a souvenir wine bottle…
In Thursday night’s Democratic presidential debate in Los Angeles, Warren lit into rival Pete Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, for attending a fundraiser at a “wine cave” in California’s Napa Valley where he dined and sipped under a chandelier with Swarovski crystals and where a novelty large bottle of wine can cost $900.
Billionaires in wine caves should not pick the next president of the United States,” Warren said. Later, she added, “I do not sell access to my time.”
…Even after her pledge not to hold private fundraisers, Warren has continued to attend the very kind of events for which she has criticized others. She has headlined fundraisers for the Democratic National Committee in settings that raise handsome sums, and she said she would continue to do that if she were the nominee, so that Democrats would not be at a financial disadvantage against President Donald Trump.
Third news item: Franklin Graham spills the beans about his father, and glosses over Trump’s behavior because the end justifies the means:
… Yes, my father Billy Graham founded Christianity Today; but no, he would not agree with their opinion piece. In fact, he would be very disappointed. I have not previously shared who my father voted for in the past election, but because of this article, I feel it is necessary to share it now. My father knew Donald Trump, he believed in Donald Trump, and he voted for Donald Trump. He believed that Donald J. Trump was the man for this hour in history for our nation.
Look at all the President has accomplished in a very short time. The economy of our nation is the strongest it has been in 50 years, ISIS & the caliphate have been defeated, and the President has renegotiated trade deals to benefit all Americans. The list of accomplishments is long, but for me as a Christian, the fact that he is the most pro-life president in modern history is extremely important—and Christianity Today wants us to ignore that, to say it doesn’t count? The President has been a staunch defender of religious freedom at home and around the world—and Christianity Today wants us to ignore that? Also the President has appointed conservative judges in record number—and Christianity today wants us to ignore that? Christianity Today feels he should be removed from office because of false accusations that the President emphatically denies.
Is President Trump guilty of sin? Of course he is, as were all past presidents and as each one of us are, including myself.
Fourth news item: President Trump responds to Christianity Today’s editorial calling for his removal from office:
….have a Radical Left nonbeliever, who wants to take your religion & your guns, than Donald Trump as your President. No President has done more for the Evangelical community, and it’s not even close. You’ll not get anything from those Dems on stage. I won’t be reading ET again!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 20, 2019
Fifth news item: Evangelicals to continue looking the other way with regard to Trump’s “moral deficiencies”:
President Trump’s re-election campaign announced the creation of an ‘Evangelicals for Trump’ coalition hours after the president feuded publicly with a Christian publisher Friday.
Mr. Trump’s re-election campaign said in an email Friday evening that the president will launch the “Evangelicals for Trump” group at an event in Miami on January 3, 2020.
“The event will bring together Evangelicals from across the nation who support President Trump’s re-election,” said the announcement.
Sixth news item: Making bank off the impeachment:
An official for President Trump’s 2020 campaign said Friday that it has raised $10 million over the course of two days following the historic impeachment vote in the House this week.
“That’s just in 48 hours, so two days, $5 million dollars a day,” Tim Murtaugh, the communications director of Trump’s reelection team, told Hill.TV. “The president’s reelection campaign gets bigger and stronger.”
“Every time the Democrats in the media into a frenzy like they did on Wednesday with the vote, we collect more data — we have greater interaction with the voters and we raise more money,” he added.
Have a great weekend.
(Cross-posted at The Jury Talks Back.)
–Dana
Good morning.
Dana (643cd6) — 12/21/2019 @ 9:25 amThe thing about Seattle, Dana, is that the voters picked “stay the course” last November. Expect more idiocy to come, such as their continuing to not enforce the law on homeless lawbreakers.
Paul Montagu (e1b5a7) — 12/21/2019 @ 10:02 amAlways trust DPRK News:
Paul Montagu (e1b5a7) — 12/21/2019 @ 10:05 amWhat’s so funny is, some people actually believe that Trump reads CT.
Dana (643cd6) — 12/21/2019 @ 10:54 amCT! I wondered what he meant by ET, but was overwhelmed by the claim that he reads at all.
nk (dbc370) — 12/21/2019 @ 10:59 amhttps://pjmedia.com/trending/santagate-microsoft-removes-santa-hat-icon-after-a-single-user-complained-it-was-pushing-religion/#comments
Snowflake or trolling? Tough to decide.
NJRob (4d595c) — 12/21/2019 @ 11:04 amhttps://hotair.com/archives/john-s-2/2019/12/20/former-nsa-director-cooperating-durham-investigation/
Former NSA director continues to help with the investigation.
NJRob (4d595c) — 12/21/2019 @ 11:06 amKOMO did a pretty good documentary on the homeless issue. Seattle is Dying
Nic (896fdf) — 12/21/2019 @ 11:12 ambwahahahahaha
That is hilarious.
Problem is Trump is so vulnerable. Once you decide to look at him honestly, skeptically, from a moral standpoint, he’s a horrible person that no good person would every support. It’s one thing to say he’s the lesser of two evils (though a very stretched argument at this point, knowing just how corrupt he is, and how terribly helpful he is to the most evil people on the planet). It’s impossible for a good person to actually praise him.
And so it’s easier for people to ‘redeem’ themselves. Could 20-30 GOP Senators have this brave moment where they say they can go no further with this charade? If they did, with the evil in DC today, they would only let us know at the very last moment.
Dustin (cafb36) — 12/21/2019 @ 11:37 amFrom what I understand, the Christianity Today editor resigned in October, and is leaving at the first part of January, so this is more a spiteful shot across the shoulder while running out the door than any kind of moral stance on his behalf.
Georg Felis (0fff9e) — 12/21/2019 @ 11:50 amYANG: It’s clear why Americans can’t agree on impeachment, we’re getting news from different sources, and it’s making it hard for us even to agree on basic facts. Congressional approval rating, last I checked, was something like 17 percent, and Americans don’t trust the media networks to tell them the truth.
The media networks didn’t do us any favors by missing a reason why Donald Trump became our president in the first place. If your turn on cable network news today, you would think he’s our president because of some combination of Russia, racism, Facebook, Hillary Clinton, and emails all mixed together.
But Americans around the country know different.
We blasted away 4 million manufacturing jobs that were primarily based in Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Missouri. I just left Iowa — we blasted 40,000 manufacturing jobs there.
The more we act like Donald Trump is the cause of all our problems, the more Americans lose trust that we can actually see what’s going on in our communities and solve those problems.
What we have to do is we have to stop being obsessed over impeachment, which, unfortunately, strikes many Americans like a ball game where you know what the score is going to be, and actually start digging in and solving the problems that got Donald Trump elected in the first place. We have to take every opportunity to present a new positive vision for the country, a new way forward to help beat him in 2020 because, make no mistake, he’ll be there at the ballot box for us to defeat.
WOODRUFF: Thank you, Mr. Yang.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/12/20/transcript-december-democratic-debate/
BuDuh (313be0) — 12/21/2019 @ 11:55 am“Despite some $1 billion in public and private spending, more people live on the streets than ever before.“
What is this word “despite”?
Bob Smith (1446ac) — 12/21/2019 @ 12:00 pmI was born in West Seattle and, as of right now, am a 39-minute drive from downtown. I worked on a major downtown real estate project for the last 21 months, so I’ve seen quite a bit of late. The documentary is excellent, especially the last 15 minutes where they show how Providence RI is solving the problem. Despite these viable prescriptions, the mayor and city council have barely done a thing and probably won’t because liberals and socialists are still running the show.
Paul Montagu (e1b5a7) — 12/21/2019 @ 12:04 pmLOL. Any time someone criticizes Trump, even for objectively true reasons, this is what they say. I wonder what blog twisted reality to make this brave editor into someone who isn’t speaking from his heart. I wonder how much cash is involved.
Dustin (cafb36) — 12/21/2019 @ 12:10 pmExplain the reason for the editor’s “spite.” If he’s trying to get back at someone, who is it, and for what?
Radegunda (39c35f) — 12/21/2019 @ 12:14 pmIt’s amusing to see Trump defenders seeing spitefulness in other people, but never in Trump. I suspect that some apologists, somewhere in their soul, realize that they can’t refute the criticisms of Trump’s horrible character, so instead they accuse the critics of having evil motives for pointing out the obvious.
That the editor is leaving in January does not mean that his beliefs about Trump and his moral deficiencies are nothing more than a shot across his bow. Rather his observations can be just as significant and spot-on as if he weren’t leaving the publication.
Dana (643cd6) — 12/21/2019 @ 12:21 pmI wish someone in the media, somewhere, would have the bravery to speak out against Trump. Just once.
Munroe (dd6b64) — 12/21/2019 @ 12:24 pmFurther, this reaction is yet another example of refusing to consider, and weigh out the claims about Trump and instead shoot the messenger. All further validating that no criticism of Trump is permitted.
Dana (643cd6) — 12/21/2019 @ 12:31 pm@13 I was living in Seattle 20 years ago and, at the time, there was a pretty big gay and trans kids homeless problem, but that doesn’t seem to be the current issue and you don’t solve today’s problem with 20 years ago’s solution.
Nic (896fdf) — 12/21/2019 @ 12:34 pmRIP – Junior Johnson
harkin (15bd84) — 12/21/2019 @ 12:37 pmThat bravery doesn’t extend to Republicans in the House or Senate. Those who don’t bend the knee to Trump pay the price.
Paul Montagu (e1b5a7) — 12/21/2019 @ 12:42 pm“That bravery doesn’t extend to Republicans in the House or Senate. Those who don’t bend the knee to Trump pay the price.”
Paul Montagu (e1b5a7) — 12/21/2019 @ 12:42 pm
Bravery would be so much easier if they didn’t have to answer to the electorate. What a shame. Can’t we do something about this?
Munroe (dd6b64) — 12/21/2019 @ 12:47 pmI wish someone among the Trump apologists, just once, would acknowledge that when “the media” report things that don’t make Trump look good, it isn’t all just a bad-faith war against him for no reason at all.
And I wish the Trump apologists, just once, would acknowledge that many of the worst indictments of Trump are the words from his own mouth. Critics aren’t just swallowing a “media narrative” pre-engineered against Trump. They are watching and listening to Trump.
Radegunda (39c35f) — 12/21/2019 @ 12:50 pm“Man is the most vicious of all animals and life is a series of battles ending in victory or defeat.”
Radegunda (39c35f) — 12/21/2019 @ 12:56 pmThat’s Trump’s philosophy of life as he told it to People magazine. He has always lived on an “I win / you lose” principle, and he doesn’t exactly hide it as president, but tricks it out with patriotism and piety.
Weirdly, his apologists think that the people who don’t think well of such a person are the ones with evil in their hearts.
This little item in the NYTimes about a week ago is still making me chuckle.
Along w Impeachment and racism hoaxes to soften up the fertile ground of the potential 2020 voter bloc, the msm is still also planting seeds of class and income jealousy rage. You never know what will secure votes:
The New York Times
@nytimes
The distribution of shells in one hermit crab population was surprisingly similar to the distribution of wealth in human societies.
That may make hermit crabs one of the first animals known to experience wealth inequality.
__ _
Ian Miles Cheong
@stillgray
·
I hate to break it to you but every lifeform competes for resources and territory. Inequality ain’t just for humans and hermit crabs.
__ _
Jean Paul Zodeaux
@JeanPaulZodeaux
·
This is because crabs have never tried *real* socialism. I think they tried crab communism years and years and years ago, but even that wasn’t real communism.
__ _
Sandra
harkin (15bd84) — 12/21/2019 @ 1:01 pm@SandraShreve6
·
The NYT denies that the fetus experiences pain but asserts that a hermit crab experiences wealth inequality.
OK, then.
_
In a new study for f.d.a doctors who take money from drug companies proscribe different drugs and more of them then doctors who don’t take drug company money. coincidence or free market capitalism in action!
asset (402241) — 12/21/2019 @ 1:22 pmHow is it “brave” abandon your principles and cave to the electorate? You’re basically admitting that an elected representative should just accede to whatever he thinks will get him elected and abandon any principle that would threaten his incumbency. This is the TrumpWorld we’re in.
Paul Montagu (e1b5a7) — 12/21/2019 @ 1:40 pmYang didn’t refuse to consider and he delivered a very reasoned assessment.
BuDuh (313be0) — 12/21/2019 @ 2:01 pmThis isn’t very different from saying that an elected representative should basically take a poll of his constituency on every issue and just vote with the plurality. I don’t think that’s the right thing to do, but there are plenty of people — people whose opinions I tend to respect — who do.
Chuck Bartowski (bc1c71) — 12/21/2019 @ 2:25 pm29. The electorate likes to flatter itself. Voters think that they are much more important to the process and that voting is much more important to the process than our founding fathers intended it to be. To wit: the popular election of senators, enabled by the 17th amendment, was an important step towards the massive vote-buying scheme that our modern elections tend to amount to.
Gryph (08c844) — 12/21/2019 @ 2:46 pmIt’s also been termed the delegate versus trustee argument.
urbanleftbehind (e5684c) — 12/21/2019 @ 2:50 pmWhen America truly was great: fifty-plus one years ago– Apollo 8 lifts off taking Man to the Moon for the first time, December 21, 1968.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEH12INI2Wk
“One of the joys about the space program; everybody felt they had a piece of it. And they did.” – Poppy Northcutt, Apollo 8 NASA/TRW trajectory engineer
DCSCA (797bc0) — 12/21/2019 @ 4:00 pmChuck,
I see that point of view where a constituency’s opinions on high-profile issues are well known, but how many issues are like that? Often only a vocal minority, maybe even just a few people, are speaking out. And when it comes to Congressional elections, do we know what the voters are voting for when it comes to issues? Can we even identify what the plurality wants and does it stay consistent for the duration of the Congressional term in turbulent times like this?
I live in a long-term decidedly red area where voters have overwhelmingly voted Republican, but I don’t think that translates into widespread agreement on high-profile issues. Some people are pro-choice and some pro-life, some are very engaged about the Second Amendment and some aren’t, some like DACA and others don’t, and some want trade protectionism or a Wall/deport illegals and some are very opposed to those things. Some want government to be involved and some want government to get out of their lives. Frankly, with Trump in office, I am not even sure my area is safe Republican in 2020.
DRJ (15874d) — 12/21/2019 @ 4:02 pmThe New York Times
@nytimes
The distribution of shells in one hermit crab population was surprisingly similar to the distribution of wealth in human societies.
Which trillion dollar plus Omnibus Spending Bill signed by Trump funded that study?
nk (dbc370) — 12/21/2019 @ 4:05 pmThere is an argument that economic disruption (like what happened in the war periods and even 2008) disrupts communities and causes migration, which results in changes to and a less homogenous local electorate.
I don’t think economic migration/change is bad. In fact, I think societies have to change as technology changes (such as what happened after DCSCA’s beloved space program). But I also think disruptions like we experienced and are experiencing post-2008 are not conducive to cohesive politics.
DRJ (15874d) — 12/21/2019 @ 4:12 pm91 minutes after the “perfect” phone call, OMB directed the Pentagon to put a hold on military aid to Ukraine (link). Maybe Mulvaney could explain that under oath in the Senate trial.
Paul Montagu (e1b5a7) — 12/21/2019 @ 5:04 pmNot Seattle specifically, but Washington state
https://www.npr.org/2019/12/20/790192972/washington-legislator-matt-shear-accused-of-domestic-terrorism-report-finds
Davethulhu (fe4242) — 12/21/2019 @ 5:34 pmShroom-head stoners, Davethulhu. You never know where they’ll “trip” to, and neither do they. In other parts of the country, it’s meth and moonshine and sweet, sweet Trump-love.
nk (dbc370) — 12/21/2019 @ 5:42 pmMatt Shea’s district is along the eastern border of the state, east of Spokane. It’s a deep red area and not too far from the white nationalists at Hayden Lake on the other side of the border.
Paul Montagu (e1b5a7) — 12/21/2019 @ 5:43 pmWA State is left-of-center in the counties fronting on Puget Sound and right-of-center everywhere else. There really should be two states, separated by the Pacific Crest Trail.
https://www.foxnews.com/media/ralph-reed-evangelical-magazine-that-slammed-trump-should-change-name-to-christianity-yesterday
Heh! The jackleg is right, at least as far as his cult is concerned, but he’ll probably get mad if you tell him why.
nk (dbc370) — 12/21/2019 @ 5:56 pm1. Failure is its own reward. Imagine how much better Seattle government would be if Donald Trump was mayor.
Kevin M (19357e) — 12/21/2019 @ 6:33 pmhttps://www.theridgefieldpress.com/news/article/Three-skeletons-found-under-Main-Street-house-14897089.php
mg (8cbc69) — 12/21/2019 @ 6:33 pmWhatever side a proper burial is due.
2. Warren is as much a liar as Trump — she’s just backed by all the right people. As a follower of neo-Marxist Thomas Piketty even her truthful utterances are based on lies.
Kevin M (19357e) — 12/21/2019 @ 6:35 pm3. When has this blog otherwise cared about what Franklin Graham thinks? How far from “logic” can one get?
Kevin M (19357e) — 12/21/2019 @ 6:36 pm4. Fight illogic with illogic. They deserve each other
Kevin M (19357e) — 12/21/2019 @ 6:37 pm5. Evangelicals supported Bill Clinton, too.
Kevin M (19357e) — 12/21/2019 @ 6:37 pm6. “If it bleeds, it leads” is as true for political fund-raising as it is for newspapers.
Kevin M (19357e) — 12/21/2019 @ 6:38 pmSix-term Washington state Rep. Matt Shea
First reaction: what report, by whom? (A: Rampart Group, LLC) Not mentioned in the story.
Second reaction: Are you now, or have you ever been involved in a militia movement?
We have an avowed Communist and a closeted Communist running for the Democrat nomination. THAT seems to be OK, but this is not. (And I thinks this shouldn’t be, but people’s tolerance for those who have no regard for people, property or the Constitution seems to be more active for those on the Left.)
Kevin M (19357e) — 12/21/2019 @ 6:48 pm@35.Take note of Poppy: it’s not “my” ‘beloved space program.’
It’s ours.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 12/21/2019 @ 7:09 pm@48 IMO Part of the reason that Bernie is able to run is because the terms Communist and Socialist have been so overused in improper circumstances that are are diluted to almost nothing and now have no meaning. Fascist has almost the same problem.
Nic (896fdf) — 12/21/2019 @ 7:35 pmNot only did Trump withhold military aid because “Putin told me” that Ukraine was corrupt, Trump refused to provide military aid to Ukraine in the latest $1.4 trillion appropriation, because he’s f*cking idiot who is still chumped by the dictator of a hostile foreign power.
Paul Montagu (e1b5a7) — 12/21/2019 @ 8:29 pm“First reaction: what report, by whom? (A: Rampart Group, LLC) Not mentioned in the story.”
I’m not sure what your point is. The remainder of the state Republicans seem to find it persuasive enough that they removed him from all committees and are urging him to resign.
Davethulhu (fe4242) — 12/21/2019 @ 8:35 pmYes, they did, but the reporter did not inform his readers. For all I knew it came from Tass until I drilled down and discovered the group’s name, AND (further digging) that it was not a partisan front.
It is the reporter’s job to inform, and they blew it.
That the state GOP ran and hid doesn’t mean anything — I expect they are as feckless as those in CA.
Kevin M (19357e) — 12/21/2019 @ 8:43 pmBilly Graham did get too involved in politics, and expressed regret about it. He said:
“Evangelists can’t be closely identified with any particular party or person. We have to stand in the middle to preach to all people, right and left. I haven’t been faithful to my own advice in the past. I will be in the future.”
And
“It it would disturb me if there was a wedding between the religious fundamentalists and the political right. The hard right has no interest in religion except to manipulate it.”
Both quotes from Parade Magazine 1981.
Whether or not he voted for Trump, the quotes speak for themselves. His son is a different type of person.
JRH (52aed3) — 12/21/2019 @ 8:55 pmNoooooo!!!
The left-leaning folks at The Onion are trying, but The Bee is still funnier.
Paul Montagu (e1b5a7) — 12/21/2019 @ 9:53 pmhttps://cis.org/Report/Impact-Legal-and-Illegal-Immigration-Apportionment-Seats-US-House-Representatives-2020
Illegal immigration changing America into a leftist state.
NJRob (4d595c) — 12/21/2019 @ 10:43 pmhttps://dailycaller.com/2019/12/20/the-deep-state-resistance-terrorized-innocent-americans-including-me/
JD Gordon responds to the terror he’s experienced thanks to NeverTrump and the Resistance’s lies and smears about him and those who worked with him.
NJRob (4d595c) — 12/21/2019 @ 11:16 pm@56 Trump supporters, who appear to heavily dislike anyone not exactly like them, somehow have not persuaded people not like them to vote for their candidates.
Shocking.
Also your article included legal immigrants and US citizens.
Also Also, get better arguments and people might support them. Keep telling them they are unpeople and likely they won’t.
Also Also Also, the sky is not falling.
Nic (896fdf) — 12/22/2019 @ 1:23 amhttps://www.tierneyrealnewsnetwork.com/post/romney-kerry-biden-mccain-pelosi-schiff-mueller-clinton-are-tied-to-sketchy-ukraine-deals
mg (8cbc69) — 12/22/2019 @ 3:36 amoh de do
httpf://www.gerbilnewsnetwork.moc/post/trump-putin-erdogan-kim-are-tied-to-bedposts-when-spanked-with-magazines
nk (dbc370) — 12/22/2019 @ 4:33 amIf your boss is calling you in the middle of the night and berating you over a typo, get a new boss. And please, please, don’t elect her President of the United States. But that name…. Amy…. sounds so sweet doesn’t it?
Her debate skills are pretty good but she is not debating me in the middle of the night.
noel (f22371) — 12/22/2019 @ 5:47 amDavid Corn spanking with his Mother Jones, nk?
mg (8cbc69) — 12/22/2019 @ 5:54 amDana: “What’s so funny is, some people actually believe that Trump reads CT.”
Trump Claims He is Reading Again.
noel (f22371) — 12/22/2019 @ 5:59 amHe lost me in first paragraph, saying Trump was “terrorized” and an “innocent American”. Trump is more a terrorizer than terrorized, and he’s guilty as sin.
Paul Montagu (e1b5a7) — 12/22/2019 @ 8:02 amThough Gordon complained about smears, he said not word about who smeared him and what the smears were. The facts are that he had a conversation with Kislyak, he had influence over changing the GOP platform and he put forward a change that softened our support of Ukraine, and it was the only change to the platform that the Trump campaign sought. Gordon’s contacts with Kislyak was appropriately investigated by the Special Counsel.
He partly brought this on himself because he changed his story.
Oh, and Mr. Gordon must have nice noises with Kislyak in that three-to-five-minute face-to-face conversation because, not two weeks later, Kislyak invited Gordon to his ambassadorial residence
Paul Montagu (e1b5a7) — 12/22/2019 @ 8:25 amto recruit him as a Russian assetfor a cozy breakfast meeting. Not being politically tone-deaf, Gordon declined the invite.BBC News (World)
@BBCWorld
Nord Stream 2: Trump approves sanctions on Russia gas pipeline
__ _
David Harsanyi
@davidharsanyi
Worst asset ever
harkin (15bd84) — 12/22/2019 @ 9:18 am__ _
Good morning, Dana. And now for something completely apolitical.
I completely agree with Corbin Smith in his review of Cats.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/why-taylor-swifts-cats-is-the-death-knell-of-the-hollywood-musical?ref=scroll
I haven’t seen the movie or the play, heard the soundtrack, and after reading this review, I never will. Smith’s argument that Hollywood simply cannot make musicals anymore. Directors have forgotten or moved away from the whole purpose of a musical, which is to focus on human performance. He’s right that most musicals are kind of stupid thematically, but audiences love seeing truly talented actors sing and dance. To illustrate his point he imbeds a scene from the 1950 film Summer Stock, where Gene Kelly is alone in a barn that has a creaky floorboard and a newspaper on the floor, and begins an improvisational dance. The floorboard makes one sound, the newspaper another, and Kelly’s tap shoes provide rhythm. It’s really quite brilliant. Smith observes that the director knew the proper use of a camera is to capture the dance and just let Kelly perform.
Not so with Cats, which Smith describes as a horror show. Instead of using talented actors in costumes and letting them perform, the director employs computer generated imaging and close-ups to transmogrify them into hideous cat people, thereby losing the human element.
It’s the reason why the original Planet of the Apes was so much better than the computer generated remake. Actors in costumes are far superior to computer images with voice overs. They connect more to an audience.
Corbin Smith didn’t like Cats much to begin with (he had sing songs from it in his high school choir), but it did have one of the more successful runs on Broadway. However, he finds the movie sadly horrifying.
That’s too bad, because Andrew Lloyd Webber was once a very good songwriter. When he teamed up with lyricist Tim Rice to compose Jesus Christ Superstar, they produced possibly the greatest rock opera of all time. What an album that was. Then it was made into a play and later a movie. Of course, the Evangelicals went berserk, calling it blasphemy, even though Rice’s lyrics follow scripture closely, just set in terms of modern vernacular and with a humanist twist. (Which is something writers have been doing for centuries.) I never saw the play, but I did watch the movie, and it was disappointing. The director had to include images of tanks and what not to make it into an anti-Viet Nam war film. But that was never the theme of the album, and it was not what Webber and Rice intended.
Movie directors taking artist’s work and deforming it. That’s Hollywood today. Over reliance on technology and special effects, at the expense of character and plot, drama and human performance.
And it’s not just Hollywood. Look at Boeing. Business Insider reported last week that they were postponing production of the 737 Max, and will most likely cancel the entire fleet, to the loss of billions. Why? Because the plane has a structural design flaw that cannot be fixed by a software program. Several pilots complained about the plane, but were ignored by management, before the two crashes that killed hundreds.
Over reliance on technology is a terrible thing. Computers remove the human element. Whether it’s in film or on planes, it often ends in disaster.
Gawain's Ghost (b25cd1) — 12/22/2019 @ 9:41 amhttps://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2019/12/we-now-know-perps-chumps-of-the-msm-pulitzer-prize-edition.php
Every time the Times or WaPost is quoted as an authoritative cite for why Trump is wrong and deserves to be removed just remember they lied to the public and played a big part in this scam.
NJRob (4d595c) — 12/22/2019 @ 9:56 amFrom that review:
A review of an ALW musical by someone who admits to hating ALW musicals would only be surprising if they liked the production.
Kevin M (19357e) — 12/22/2019 @ 10:02 amAs for musicals being doomed, let me know when Wicked! closes.
Kevin M (19357e) — 12/22/2019 @ 10:04 am“The left-leaning folks at The Onion are trying, but The Bee is still funnier.”
So is Titania McGrath:
Titania McGrath
@TitaniaMcGrath
I’m going to organise a protest against that hideous nazi terf JK Rowling.
In order to oppose her obvious fascism, I suggest we meet at midnight and burn as many copies of her books as possible.
If you don’t own any, they’re all available on Amazon.
harkin (15bd84) — 12/22/2019 @ 10:27 am_
Hamilton is a musical. =mike-drop=
DCSCA (797bc0) — 12/22/2019 @ 11:13 am11. I am almost surprised that Yang missed the spread of opioid addiction, and the deaths that resulted from crackdown on the sale of legal prescription opioids. People who were addicted didn’t magically become unaddicted. There couldn’t have been anything more stupid and doctrinaire to do – assuming you weren’t interested in increasing mortality.
I think the decline of manufacturing played a minor role. But that’s his shtick. Not only manufacturing but all unskilled jobs are going away so everybody needs to get $1,000 a month, which they can use for political contributions.
Sammy Finkelman (9966eb) — 12/22/2019 @ 11:20 amSome videographers apparently think their job is to create an original work of art rather than show us what was already created by the performers & choreographers et al. I’ve seen wonderful dances chopped into incoherent bits by self-indulgent videographers, and it’s maddening.
Here’s a low-budget, low-tech music video that runs mostly on imagination and personality. The performer is clearly not trying to dance like Gene Kelly, but the uninhibited dance is a little bit of genius. Mark has been part of some quite extravagant shows too, but the personalities of the star performers in the moment are always a crucial element.
Radegunda (0e8745) — 12/22/2019 @ 11:41 am@67 “Cats” is a unique enough conceptual musical that I don’t think we can use it to represent the genre as a whole. It’s pretty much made for weird, experimental techniques and it’s only very loosely hung together with a very thin thread of a story line anyway. And I say that as a person who likes “Cats” and has seen it as a stage production.
Nic (896fdf) — 12/22/2019 @ 11:58 amA friend of mine caught The Producers when it was the hot ticket in NY. His brief verbal review was interesting:
“It’s really quite horrible and an insult to the film. The audience seemed to be there more for the event than the performance. It’s remarkably awful”
This was confirmed by the film of the musical
harkin (15bd84) — 12/22/2019 @ 12:07 pm_
Just eat your bread and be grateful you have so much entertainment you can afford to like it or dislike it, proles!
nk (dbc370) — 12/22/2019 @ 12:17 pmBTW, Gawains’ Ghost, I downloaded Raymond Smullyan’s What Is The Name Of This Book: …., and skimmed ahead to the Dracula exercise. It 1) gave me a headache 2) and reaffirmation of my decision to drop Philosophy 101 in the first week and never take another Philosophy course again.
nk (dbc370) — 12/22/2019 @ 12:25 pmYeah, well, nk, What is the Name of This Book? will really make you think. It makes you wonder what all these philosophers, beginning with Plato (who banned poets from his Republic), are really talking about. It’s certainly not about logic, no matter how much they pretend it’s about reason.
Gawain's Ghost (b25cd1) — 12/22/2019 @ 1:33 pmDavid French, his final paragraph on the Christianity Today op-ed:
Paul Montagu (e1b5a7) — 12/22/2019 @ 2:19 pmLA to Seattle:
steveg (354706) — 12/22/2019 @ 3:04 pm“Hold my beer!”
Item #2
steveg (354706) — 12/22/2019 @ 3:05 pmThere are still people out there who are surprised by Warren’s hypocrisy?
Item #3
steveg (354706) — 12/22/2019 @ 3:17 pmTrump has supported Christian religious liberty even if he has no idea what that means
Plus Franklin had his own checkered past before inheriting Dad’s franchise (my father worked for Billy Graham at Northwestern Bible College after WWII)
Maybe Franklin believes in grace or something equally as nebulous
Item #4
steveg (354706) — 12/22/2019 @ 3:18 pmAt least Trump is consistent. You poke at him, he punches back… oh… and a majority of people love that about him.
Should have said a majority of Republican voters love that about him and project that defensive into their own space
steveg (354706) — 12/22/2019 @ 3:20 pm#5
steveg (354706) — 12/22/2019 @ 3:21 pmSee #3 and #4
#6
See #85
steveg (354706) — 12/22/2019 @ 3:22 pmLets talk about investment opportunities in the field of teledildonics
steveg (354706) — 12/22/2019 @ 3:24 pm@75. Saw Cats on Broadway in 1987. Worth it- stays w/you even 34 years later. Caught Ginger Rogers in London in Mame, in ’71 or ’70– memorable as well. But the most memorable and enjoyable was an off-Broadway show in ’67 – ‘You’re A Good Man Charlie Brown’ – w/a young Gary Burghoff, pre-MASH fame, as Charlie Brown, if memory serves. What made such a lasting impression for 50-plus years was the set– it was just a few geometric shapes on a stage; the actors brought Schulz’s characters to life around just those shapes. Was at the height of the Snoopy/Red Baron craze an a lot of fun for the family.
Musicals all.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 12/22/2019 @ 4:20 pm@76. A bit harsh- Mel was in charge. The film and/of the show added the more risque type of material he likely couldn’t get into the ‘original ’67 film, although the original remains by far the better treatment.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 12/22/2019 @ 4:27 pmBoris Johnson Wishes Jews A Happy Chanukah
https://youtu.be/tx2t2qz0RhI
harkin (15bd84) — 12/22/2019 @ 4:27 pmA Prime Minister named Boris…
And Putin smiled.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 12/22/2019 @ 4:29 pm@87. Oops – 32 years.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 12/22/2019 @ 4:31 pm@67. Best rock operas: Tommy & Quadrophenia
JCSS: a bore.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 12/22/2019 @ 4:37 pmOh, please. A Night at the Opera is better than either one of those two. And Jesus Christ Superstar exceeds all three.
Gawain's Ghost (b25cd1) — 12/22/2019 @ 5:01 pmI suppose, if you’re content with 19th century technological competence.
Or maybe you can hire Russians for anything that high school math and science can’t handle.
Dave (1bca22) — 12/22/2019 @ 5:40 pmSo I asked a logician if his new baby was a boy or a girl and he said “Yes”.
Then we were both banned from the Seattle University of Science for binarism.
nk (dbc370) — 12/22/2019 @ 6:22 pmSo the Pentagon buys a super-computer to run its war games. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, General Jack D. Ripper, asks it: “Should the Blue Army advance to the left or right flank of the Red Army?” The computer answers “Yes”. General Ripper asks “Yes what?” The computer snaps back “Yes, sir!”
nk (dbc370) — 12/22/2019 @ 6:28 pm@96. Shorter: it’s a musical.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 12/22/2019 @ 6:39 pmSo in Episode 7 of The Mandalorian, Werner Herzog’s character says a few words about how things were better during the Empire.
I had to laugh out loud. It’s certainly true about the Star Wars franchise.
Not that the original three were anything to risk getting chewing gum on the bottom of your shoes from a theater floor for, but they were better than the prequels, the sequels, and all the spinoffs (with the possible exception of the Phineas and Ferb episode).
Extra bonus clip.
nk (dbc370) — 12/22/2019 @ 6:56 pmDCSCA (797bc0) — 12/22/2019 @ 4:20 pm
I remember You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown…I must have seen it the same year you did. This was in Boston; my mother took me as a special treat. It was probably the second the ater piece I had ever seen (a regional production of Camelot lives dimly in my memory). Yourdescription of the scenery matches my memory exactly. The cast list of course made no i oression on me (I was 8 years old).
Greatest piece of live theater I have ever seen came about nine years later, watching Jack Klugman in All My Sons. I have never seen a better piece of acting in my life than what Klugman achieved. And it was actually just a dress rehearsal before the touring production opened in Fort Lauderdale.
Kishnevi (3734a9) — 12/22/2019 @ 7:16 pmhttps://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2019/12/help-im-being-held-prisoner.php
Does this qualify as free trade or should sanctions/negotiations apply?
NJRob (4d595c) — 12/22/2019 @ 10:43 pmI think it qualifies as a hoax. And it’s not even April 1.
nk (dbc370) — 12/23/2019 @ 5:21 amThis was confirmed by the film of the musical
Indeed.
Kevin M (19357e) — 12/23/2019 @ 5:57 amHere we are in day 4 of Wily E. Pelosi’s crafty scheme to have an impeachment in the Senate conducted under rules not concocted by the Senate majority. What’s the news?
Well, there were some new Trump/Ukraine documents released by Court order showing that military aid to Ukraine was suspended shortly after the infamous call. On the Trump nefarious scale, not too huge an item, but maybe worth a day or two of coverage.
But what’s out there instead? Articles suggesting that (i) Trump isn’t truly impeached or (ii) McConnell has every right to start the impeachment trial now. Instead of stories about Trump’s ongoing criminality, we have the media, yet again, focused on process. If you doubt me, take a look at memeorandum. (Item 5 on process, nothing on actual Ukraine matters, as of 9:20 AM)
When the history of the 2019-2020 impeachment is written, the GOP will be the villain. But Pelosi isn’t going to win any plaudits for the way she has payed this.
Appalled (1a17de) — 12/23/2019 @ 6:27 amThe media wants NEWS! F*** them! Pay somebody to f*** them.
If the House had sent the impeachment to the Senate last week, the hue and cry from the TrumpKlan would have been “Rushed through!” “Railroaded!” Where’s the Dude’s (sic) Process?” Even if she had said she would send the impeachment when Congress reconvenes after the Christmas break, the hue and cry from the TrumpKlan would have been “Rushed through!” “Railroaded!” “Where’s the Dude’s (sic) Process?”
As long as it’s sent when Congress reconvenes after the Christmas break. I don’t want the orange to be too old and frail to stand up before the firing squad when he’s removed and afterwards tried for treason.
nk (dbc370) — 12/23/2019 @ 6:52 amremoved and afterwards tried for treason.
Yes. Then convicted and executed. You could drop him off Kishnevi’s 26,000 foot tall lighthouse in the Bahamas. That would be, like, soooo cool.
PTw (894877) — 12/23/2019 @ 6:59 amI followed NJRob’s Powerline link @103 and perusing a little saw that they also believe, correctly, that Jeffrey Epstein was murdered. But they don’t discuss the fact that the only ones with means and opportunity were Bill Barr’s Bureau of Prisons, and Bill Barr doesn’t fart unless it relieves Trump’s tummy-ache.
nk (dbc370) — 12/23/2019 @ 7:16 am#107
There’s nothing wrong with ministerial delay. If Nancy P. had kept quiet and sent the impeachment up upon return from Christmas holidays, nobody would have noticed or cared. Instead, she chose to make an issue of it.
In the great scheme of things, it’s all probably nothing. But somebody felt that Nancy had to look like she’s being clever, and advised this step. And, as they wisely observe in This Is Spinal Tap, “There is a fine line between clever and stupid”.
Appalled (1a17de) — 12/23/2019 @ 7:34 amDon’t believe it when they tell you that Biden is the one to beat. The debate showed who they rest are aiming at and Bernie just went after the “wine caves” too. I seriously doubt that wine is going to move voters for more than a couple of hours.
noel (f22371) — 12/23/2019 @ 7:53 amIt also calls to mind if the white half of the Biden coalition is a stock reply to pollsters for “Trump, but I’m not going to tell you“
urbanleftbehind (5eecdb) — 12/23/2019 @ 8:31 amPete is certainly a hit with women. What’s up with that? Does he bring out their maternal instinct?
But what’s up with him being seriously considered for the Presidency by anyone? He’s barely 38-years old, he held down one real-world job for less than three years, his military service was in the Naval Reserve with an alleged seven-month deployment to Afghanistan (a desk-job in a double-landlocked place), he’s been the mayor of 100,000 population town for eight years, and now he thinks he can be the ruler of the world? That’s scary, from a lot of perspectives. From his ambitions, not to say grandiose delusions, to the absolute sh!ttiness of the other contenders.
nk (dbc370) — 12/23/2019 @ 8:45 amOne of my summer interns from several years ago was Naval Reserve out of a Detroit-based supply depot, but at least that town touches international waterways and had a shipbuilding legacy (that gave it an edge to build from for the automobile age).
urbanleftbehind (5eecdb) — 12/23/2019 @ 8:56 am103.
There’s secret message written in English in ROMAN capital letters (probably more than one attempt was made) smuggled out in a Christmas card:
(He had held in the same prison, and the link was to some article he had written.)
So what does the card manufacturing company do? Does it try to help them? No, just the opposite.
They cut off their link to a friendly source in the outside world.
Powerline:
The prisoners would have been in trouble anyway, or procedures would have been changed. Peter Humphrey, or the greeting cad company, should not have said a word about how the message was smuggled out. And the company should have made it easier to smuggle out messages. But all they did is they took it a possible criticism of the company.
“They use prison labour.”
They only cared about their purity. They didn’t do a thing to help the prisoners.
They could have maybe forced China to upgrade the conditions there. Scheduled an inspection. Treied to establish a more regular form of communication. Maybe gotten a few out, by pretending they found out some other way. Just making inquiries about some of the people there, by name. Sent parcels.
Although they wold have to be careful what they tried.
Sammy Finkelman (845007) — 12/23/2019 @ 9:11 amthe spelling of “organisation” with an -s instead of -z and “labour” with a -ou is an important clue and raises several questions:
1. In English instruction in China, are the American English or British Commonwealth spellings usually taught..can that vary widely between schools/instructors?
2. If the workers were not formally educated in English but learned the words phonetically they could have seen Tesco/subcontractor materials and then pieced together their message using spellings that were ready available from observations in the factory.
3. Perhaps this is also a hoax in the form of practical joke, or a scam to obtain funds from sympathetic but unsuspecting consumers.
urbanleftbehind (5eecdb) — 12/23/2019 @ 9:19 amCrash and burn: Boeing fires CEO Dennis Muilenburg. 737 Max… Starliner clock snfu… ’bout time.
Hit the silk, Nikki!!
DCSCA (797bc0) — 12/23/2019 @ 9:29 am113. nk (dbc370) — 12/23/2019 @ 8:45 am
And he’s incompetent too, or just doesn’t understand social dynamics, but doesn’t, or didn’t, realize it.
He;s been criticized both by “progressives” and by conservatives:
https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:C8goYOWuB9wJ:https://jacobinmag.com/2019/06/mayor-petes-war-on-the-homeless+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us
https://www.nationalreview.com/magazine/2019/12/22/pete-buttigieg-progressive-saint
A lot of the homeless were probably homeless because they were drug addicts who paid for their drugs with unreported income derived through crime, or maybe had been evicted for, in essence, not getting along with people. And Mayor Pete just caved in instead of trying again to do thinngs in in a different way..
He was criticized for having made a statement eight years ago that black Americans often lack positive role models by someone who said that’s not true, and indeed it is not quite true; the problem is not the <i< absence of positive role modes; the problem is the presence of negative role models, and mentors. We need more students suspended from schools.
Sammy Finkelman (845007) — 12/23/2019 @ 9:29 amI think that it’s a scam by the Widddicombe family to showcase their totally adorbs six-year old with a card they block-printed printed themselves, and with the before, during and after the fact connivance of the journalist. That is my opinion and I am allowed to express it in America. Were anyone to express it where Great Britain used to be, I could be sued for libel and slander and the truth would not necessarily be a defense. That’s why the innocuous non-statement statement by the card company.
nk (dbc370) — 12/23/2019 @ 9:33 am@113. He’s not a known plagiarist.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 12/23/2019 @ 9:34 amThat progressive link is no good.
They had actually selected for drug addicts forgetting, or neglecting to realize, that drug addicts needed to steal to pay for their drugs, or even alcohol. Apparently they were never used – they were supposed to be shelters for the night but some people knew about them and broke in to steal building parts.
https://www.southbendtribune.com/news/local/south-bend-paying-to-throw-out-portable-buildings-donated-for/article_324adf76-868a-5c3e-af3e-4128d9e6f0b5.html?mod=article_inline
Sammy Finkelman (845007) — 12/23/2019 @ 9:38 amBTW, foreign and domestic prisoners in United States prisons can be, and are, forced to work against their will. It is the one exception to the Thirteenth Amendment.
Also, the well-known author Donald E. Westlake wrote a novel Help, I’m Being Held Prisoner in 1974, about a prisoner in a U.S. state prison who included the message with the license plates he was making.
Pass the salt-shaker, please.
nk (dbc370) — 12/23/2019 @ 9:39 am
nk (dbc370) — 12/23/2019 @ 9:43 amIthey could be sued for libel and slander“I’m never afraid and I’m rarely surprised.” – Nancy Pelosi
Trump won.
Now why do you make America some coffee and clean House, dear.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 12/23/2019 @ 10:07 amWell said, nk.
At a minimum, he should have a few seasons hosting a reality TV game-show under his belt before aspiring to the throne.
Dave (1bb933) — 12/23/2019 @ 10:27 amI’d say he should host an NYE overnight show, but that lane is already taken by Cohen/Cooper on the mandatory Airport/Gym network.
urbanleftbehind (5eecdb) — 12/23/2019 @ 10:31 amSeen on the interwebs:
Salman Rushdie to JK Rowling:
“Welcome to the party pal!”
harkin (d6cfee) — 12/23/2019 @ 10:35 am_
Thank you for the segue to America’s possibly 3rd favorite Christmas movie.
urbanleftbehind (5eecdb) — 12/23/2019 @ 10:43 amDCSCA @120. In 1987, Joe Biden was not so much a plagiarist, as a liar about his own biography.
Calling his lifting of some words or ideas from Neil Kinnock’s plagiarism is being kind. He lifted bits of Neil Kinnock’s life history. (he had mentioned Neil Kinnock for awhile but later apparently stopped mentioning him.)
https://www.nytimes.com/1987/09/18/us/biden-admits-plagiarism-in-school-but-says-it-was-not-malevolent.html
He also, separately, lied about his rank in law school. (he claimed he was in the upper half – he was 76th in a class of 85.)
There were other things that were maybe just plagiarism.
A Wikepedia article:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Biden_1988_presidential_campaign
…tells you that in a February 3, 1987, speech to the California Democratic Party he reused passages from a 1967 speech by Robert F. Kennedy, and in 1985 and 1986 he reused a passage from a 1976 speech by Hubert H. Humphrey. (without saying it was a quote) and in the California case he’d also used a short phrase from the 1961 inaugural address of John F. Kennedy. But maybe that was short, and also familiar to people and shouldn’t count.
We still don’t know who it was that publicized all this – aides to Dukakis played some part and Dukakis fired his campaign manager John Sasso.
https://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/441028-schneider-how-i-inadvertently-helped-joe-biden-ruin-his-first-white-house-run
I auapect the hand of Bill Clinton was responsible for getting this out.
Once he decided not to run for president in July 1987, he got behind Dukakis – probably so that he might get another chance in 1992 if the Democratic nominee lost and what was a better formula for losing than to nominate a Massachusetts liberal?
Sammy Finkelman (845007) — 12/23/2019 @ 10:48 amAbout the evangelicals embracing Trump (CT editor in chief notwithstanding). Its kinda like evangelicals felt threatened and unable to defend themselves so they hired some muscle — a mercenary — to do their fighting for them. The muscle of course is Trump. He doesn’t share their values but he is an effective battler in the culture war arena. The question I’d have is — is that what Christianity is about? Winning the culture war? And, is this winning?
JRH (52aed3) — 12/23/2019 @ 11:44 am@130, How many years have been an Evangelical Christian?
rcocean (1a839e) — 12/23/2019 @ 11:47 am@131. Way longer than you’ve been a trump defender.
JRH (52aed3) — 12/23/2019 @ 12:11 pm“Congress can walk and chew bubble gum at the same time!” – Sen. Bernie Sanders
As can most children, Bernard.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 12/23/2019 @ 1:52 pm#130
In some ways… yes.
Things like the War on Christmas wasn’t a figment of one’s imagination.
Politics *is* downstream from culture.
The other thing I would point out is that endorsing Trump to be your President is NOT the same thing as endorsing Trump’s character flaws.
whembly (c30c83) — 12/23/2019 @ 2:18 pmThat is a convenient rationalization.
It’s also untrue.
Dave (1bb933) — 12/23/2019 @ 2:45 pm134. I bet that Bill Clinton’s fans said the same thing about him back in the 1990s. It’s no truer today than it was 25 years ago.
Gryph (08c844) — 12/23/2019 @ 3:30 pm2020 SR 1:
“Any Articles of Impeachment must be presented to the Senate for trial within 30 days of passage, or the charges are dismissed with prejudice.”
Kevin M (19357e) — 12/23/2019 @ 3:42 pmIt’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas.
http://www.barnonegroup.com/2017/12/merry-christmas-from-mason-williams.html
Gawain's Ghost (b25cd1) — 12/23/2019 @ 3:51 pm#137: I made that up, just in case you’re looking for it. But they oughtta
Kevin M (19357e) — 12/23/2019 @ 4:10 pmBe careful. Adam Schiff was received a presidential deathmark for doing something similar.
Dave (1bb933) — 12/23/2019 @ 5:25 pm
Dave (1bb933) — 12/23/2019 @ 5:25 pmwas116. urbanleftbehind (5eecdb) — 12/23/2019 @ 9:19 am
The word “labour” there is written by Tesco, in England. Organisation was in the message, assuming that the spelling was “corrected.”.
The message in the gift card was probably written by just one person, who was held in the same prison as Peter Humphrey had been held in. In fact, Peter Humphrey thinks he has a good idea of who that person was!
It is interesting that the writer of the message in the gift card knows of URLs but not of the ability, outside of China, to search and find out things – he expects Peter Humphrey to be contacted through his old newspaper, which is what would have happened before the world wide web. He might be showing his age, too.
There is probably a simple explanation for the unusual (for China) British English that we would know if we knew more about China or its prisoners.
Peter Humphrey described his imprisonment himself in 2018 and one of the (minor) things he mentioned was that there is prison labor there.
https://www.ft.com/content/db8b9e36-1119-11e8-940e-08320fc2a277
Excerpt:
In that prison they still had a little bit of that business of obtaining confessions, and promising (not necessarily giving too much) better treatment familiar from the time of Mao. Obtaining confessions goes back to 1949 and before and includes of course prisoners held during the Korean War.
Sammy Finkelman (845007) — 12/23/2019 @ 5:35 pmBoeing CEOs used to be engineers, the thinking being that the engineers in them would refuse to let a software program cover for an un-airworthy plane.
Paul Montagu (e1b5a7) — 12/23/2019 @ 5:50 pmThe software program was supposed to cover for unskilled pilots. Of course, pilots needed to be more skilled than they needed to be on previous Boeing aircraft. The second plane crashed because the frustrated pilots out back on the autopilot. But that doomed them.
Sammy Finkelman (845007) — 12/23/2019 @ 5:58 pmhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vXtywOlayc
Gawain's Ghost (b25cd1) — 12/23/2019 @ 7:42 pm“ Thank you for the segue to America’s possibly 3rd favorite Christmas movie.”
https://twitter.com/johnnysmooth/status/1208578311988879360?s=20
After A Christmas Story and Psycho, right?
harkin (c0ad39) — 12/23/2019 @ 8:49 pmBrian Stelter
@brianstelter
·
Spot-on, @Sulliview: “In an unceasing effort to be seen as neutral, journalists time after time fell into the trap of presenting facts and lies as roughly equivalent and then blaming political tribalism for not seeming to know the difference.” https://washingtonpost.com
__ _
Charlie Kirk
@charliekirk11
·
Media hoaxes in 2019:
Covington Catholic
Jussie Smollett
Russian Collusion
Ukraine Quid Pro Quo
Army/Navy “White Supremacy”
What do they all have in common?
Every one was intended to take down Trump
And every single one was fake news
harkin (c0ad39) — 12/23/2019 @ 9:01 pm__ _
I would have thought It’s a Wonderful Life is #2… or have too much of the Boomer and pre Boomer cohorts left the coil?
urbanleftbehind (a009ac) — 12/23/2019 @ 9:04 pmhttps://therightscoop.com/watch-alexandria-ocasio-cortez-tells-crowd-at-bernie-rally-america-is-not-an-advanced-society-but-fascism/
JVW’s clueless niece calling America fascist while trying to push fascism. I’d call it sad if it wasn’t so dangerous.
NJRob (4d595c) — 12/23/2019 @ 10:54 pmIt was a design flaw, Sammy. I know at least a couple guys who worked at the Renton plant, and they were just shaking their heads. Management tried to cut corners by stuffing a new engine design onto an existing airframe, and then tried to cover the flaw with software.
Paul Montagu (e1b5a7) — 12/23/2019 @ 11:01 pmNone of those was a “media hoax”. Charlie Kirk is lying.
Dave (1bb933) — 12/24/2019 @ 2:45 amhttps://townhall.com/columnists/victordavishanson/2019/12/24/recalling-the-battle-of-the-bulge-n2558428
mg (8cbc69) — 12/24/2019 @ 3:11 amhttps://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2019/12/isikoff_hosenball_and_the_mediadeep_state_war_on_truth.html
mg (8cbc69) — 12/24/2019 @ 3:17 am@153
Interesting. American Thinker pushes the TWA 800 hoax to strengthen the claim that Russian collusion is a hoax.
Whereas in fact the idea that the collusion and quid pro quo are hoaxes is itself a hoax that shows the level of mendacity to which the American Right has descended.
Merry Christmas, y’all.
Kishnevi (a321ca) — 12/24/2019 @ 6:26 amFISA Judge Orders FBI To Identify All Cases Involving Lawyer Who Allegedly Altered Carter Page Email
https://dailycaller.com/2019/12/21/fisa-carter-page-fbi-review/
An Apology To Carter Page
https://thehill.com/opinion/judiciary/474570-an-apology-to-carter-page
harkin (c0ad39) — 12/24/2019 @ 6:44 amKishnevi (a321ca) — 12/24/2019 @ 6:26 am
No, it’s absolutely correct that that video, which showed TWA Flight 800 acting in contravention of the laws of gravity, was preposterous.
The FBI commissioned that video to justify is pushing of the missile theory. This happens to be the most glaring thing tha indicates that the investigation was rigged, that’s why that American Thinker article mentiooed it..
The missile theory was part of the cover up and was invented in the White House. See July 29, 1996 issue of Newsweek. They pretended to see a blip on the radar. I’ll find the exact quote if you want.
Sammy Finkelman (845007) — 12/24/2019 @ 7:08 amFor Gawain’s Ghost, a little clarinet and such.
nk (dbc370) — 12/24/2019 @ 7:09 amHere’s one place I found it – extracted from something written July 14, 1998:
– July 29, 1996 Newsweek, page 32 (printed, probably Saturday night, July 20, 1996.
Later, in the NTSB Chairman’s Briefing/Status Report for November 15th, 1996 it is claimed that a letter will be written in which the person who supposedly made the original observation would be named (but this seems not to have happened at least in anything that became public):
I guess they had to drop that idea. Maybe they never found anyone who was willing to pretend to be that person.
In reality, I think, nobody informed any White House official of anything. No observation or thought. It was invented out of whole cloth by somebody close to Bill Clinton. The call to the NTSB by the FAA was either never placed or placed to cover someone’s back. It came too late already, for this had already been stated in the White House around 6 A.M as is sated in the Newsweek article:
Sammy Finkelman (845007) — 12/24/2019 @ 7:20 amI also wrote:
President Bill Clinton rigged the whole investigation. The FBI was charged with finding out if it was a crime. The NTSB was only allowed to find causes that were not crimes. Not even unintentional things because any departure from regulations would be a crime.
It was like as if a medical examiner was only able to declare a death a homicide if the police told them it was.
I wrote a lot about this.
Sammy Finkelman (845007) — 12/24/2019 @ 7:25 amThe CIA video (CLinton involved the CIA in order to involve more investigators so that it would be harder to argue there was a conspiracy to lie) ..was commissioned in order for the FBI to give an explanation for the missile witnesses that did not involve them either lying or seeing something else other than TWA Flight 800 (like flares shot up later in the night)
Sammy Finkelman (845007) — 12/24/2019 @ 7:29 amI think it was a psycho, likely a mechanic, at JFK. Same for the Swissair and American flights.
nk (dbc370) — 12/24/2019 @ 7:48 amBill Clinton controlled the FBI (at least for very important matters) after he replaced FBI Director William Sessions with Louis Freeh. I believe all the disputes between them were staged or allowed.
The FBI, at the top levels, has not been very honest since, or at least through James Comey.
Sammy Finkelman (845007) — 12/24/2019 @ 8:41 amMedia hoaxes in 2019:
Covington Catholic
Jussie Smollett
Russian Collusion
Ukraine Quid Pro Quo
Army/Navy “White Supremacy”
None of those was a “media hoax”. Charlie Kirk is lying.
If “media hoax” means a pre-planned conspiracy to defame someone, then these were not media hoaxes.
Bored Lawyer (998177) — 12/24/2019 @ 8:44 amIf “media hoax” means the mass media glomming onto an event in real time to affirm a biased narrative, acting in reckless disregard of the truth (not to mention complete abandonment of basic principles of journalism), and in the process disseminating false and defamatory content that smears good people, then these were media hoaxes.
162. nk (dbc370) — 12/24/2019 @ 7:48 am
Most likely somebody like that. Somebody who had access to the plane but did not board the plane.
But there’s got to be something a little more to it for Bill Clinton to prefer any explanation other than that. It may have something to do with Gregory Scarpa’s people at JFK Airport. It could also be an attempt to smuggling something gone wrong.
(A competent terrorist would not have wanted the plane to explode so close to land, and they were getting at this, so this wasn’t an terrorist attack.)
The best theory I have is that a small explosion in the cargo compartment (from something that was not supposed to be on the plane) burst a tiny hole through the fuselage of the plane, and a fire started, burning on the outside of the plane, till the hole got bigger and the plane was torn apart by the super hurricane force winds it was generating. (and which every commercial jetliner generates to keep it aloft.)
I think Bill Clinton knew almost immediately what had gone wrong, or at least who had done it or what union he belonged to, and didn’t want the truth uncovered. Because it would open up a whole can of worms.
Sammy Finkelman (845007) — 12/24/2019 @ 8:59 amSharyl Attkisson, n her book The Smear (HarperCollins 2017) talks about a smear machine, or machines, that use reporters.
(In other words, the media doesn’t originate them, even if, as she says, some of them have become “little more tan thinly beiled political operations.”)
Sammy Finkelman (845007) — 12/24/2019 @ 9:07 am@165
That seems to be a recurring theme. The fact that you have reason to look into something does not absolve you of making efforts along the way to see that you are accurately stating the truth.
The IG report is a perfect example. Having reason to start an investigation is one thing — the bar for that is, appropriately, low. But that does not absolve you from honest investigation along the way. The notion that the whole process was legitimate because Step 1 in a 20-step process was done correctly is classic misdirection.
Bored Lawyer (998177) — 12/24/2019 @ 9:31 amHappy Holidays, Sammy.
mg (8cbc69) — 12/24/2019 @ 9:55 amnk: I think it was a psycho, likely a mechanic, at JFK.
This theory was known as the “Kevorkian mechanic” on the LSoft TWA 800 discussion board.
That was Kevorkian as in Dr. Jack Kevorkian. not the pilot on the plane, Captain Ralph G. Kevorkian. He’d be 80 years old now.
LSoft used to keep discussion archives in the correct (forward) chronological order. But then they changed. They also closed the TWA Flight 800 discussion list eventually,
Sammy Finkelman (845007) — 12/24/2019 @ 10:36 amPut down that Big Gulp:
Bloomberg campaign vendor hired prisoner labor to make campaign calls.
Hitler’s Nazis employed slave labor, too.
Dictators: birds of a feather.
Bloomberg…
Watch him.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 12/24/2019 @ 11:53 amDrudgereport is my go to for UFO stories, this used to be the go to site for all things butt gerbil.
Mark Steyn opined today that Ann Coulter is mad at Trump because he is not as Trumpian as promised. I don’t follow her, but that is what I thought Drudge was upset about… not that Drudge is a NeverTrumper… but he wants more Trump, not this squishy middle of the road blowhard but the down the carpool lane blowhard, one person driving 755 HP Shelby Ford 150 tossing piss bombs out the window at the westside weenies in their Prius’
steveg (354706) — 12/24/2019 @ 12:52 pmAny puns on 20-20?
Sammy Finkelman (845007) — 12/24/2019 @ 3:15 pmThe Christian Post answer to Christianity Today was lame and amateurish, resorting to ad hominem instead of addressing what CT actually said about this president’s conduct, and their answer that Trump was legitimately elected is a deflection. Also disappointing is this “elite” business that they were trying to push on Galli. Trump is the top 1% of the top 1%, which puts him in the elite by default.
Paul Montagu (e1b5a7) — 12/24/2019 @ 3:30 pmHere’s a link re DCSCA’s comment at 169. https://www.cnn.com/2019/12/24/politics/bloomberg-prison-labor/index.html Bloomberg hired a call center that gives your name and number and who knows what other information to people being held for crimes.
Now, that is one kind of spam calling we can do something about. That the FTC can enforce. No spam calls by prisoners. Very simple. But the FTC won’t do it until they get the order from Putin. Anybody know his number?
nk (dbc370) — 12/24/2019 @ 4:02 pmCovington Catholic – I didn’t follow it, but let’s say you’re right here and we’re talking about inaccurate/incomplete reports from a news organization rather than somebody speculating on their personal Twitter feed. As I recall, the media reported a more complete and substantially accurate account within a day or less. It was half a day’s news cycle, if that – a total irrelevancy that is being kept alive by grievance mongers determined to feel persecuted.
Jussie Smollett – The guy (a well-known celebrity) filed a report and the police opened a case. The media reported that the guy filed a report and the police opened a case. The odd/suspicious elements of the story were reported from the beginning. The collapse of the false narrative was also reported speedily and extensively. Not clear if you think each media organization should have duplicated the Chicago Police’s investigation before reporting anything.
Russian Collusion – Russia’s intervention in the election on Trump’s behalf, the Trump campaign’s contacts with Russian government officials and intelligence operatives (and their false statements to the voters about them) and Trump’s attempts to cover-up that intervention and thwart the government’s response after the fact, are all established beyond any doubt. “The media” had nothing to do with the origin of this – law-enforcement was investigating it about six months before it surfaced in the press.
Ukraine Quid Pro Quo – Ditto; c.f. readout of call released by White House and multiple sworn statements to Congress. “The media” likewise had nothing to do with the origin of this story, which originated with an ethics complaint filed within the executive branch, which the official responsible for handling such complaints found worthy of follow-up.
Army/Navy “White Supremacy” – The service academies opened an investigation; that in itself makes it a legitimate story. The media reported that they opened an investigation. The media noted that there were possible innocent explanations. The media reported a couple days later when the investigation cleared those involved.
So of the cases mentioned, there is one instance where the media may have acted irresponsibly, and it took 24 hours or less to for the mistake to be corrected.
When will the White House start issuing corrections for their repeated factual errors and misrepresentations? There’s a bit of a backlog.
Dave (1bb933) — 12/24/2019 @ 5:06 pmThese are some of the things that Trump has never said or tweeted:
Paul Montagu (e1b5a7) — 12/25/2019 @ 9:49 am(1) “Jesus Christ is my personal Lord and Savior”
(2) Anything specifically critical of Vladimir Putin
(3) “I apologize”
(4) “I made a mistake”
(5) The complete unvarnished truth for longer than 12 hours.
On #2, now would be a good time for Trump to stand up and criticize Putin for starving 4 million Syrians by his cutting off food and humanitarian aid (link).
FTFY
Kishnevi (cd9bd1) — 12/25/2019 @ 12:23 pmBloomberg actually hired a company that subcontracted the calls, in part, to a minimum security womens’ prison in Oklahoma.
The company has call centers in at least two prisons in Oklahoma. They say they got paid $7.25 an hour – the minimum wage in Oklahoma. But prisoners are limited in the amount of money they can earn. That may indicate somebody violated some policy. The State of Oklahoma Department of Corrections says they get only $1.45 an hour.
Toward the end of the call, the women told the people in California that they called that they were calling on behalf of the Bloomberg campaign, but they didn’t say they were in a prison.
In any case, the Blooberg campaign terminiated its relationship with the vendor.
Sammy Finkelman (dec35d) — 12/25/2019 @ 12:46 pm176.
I wouldn’t want to bet on that. Never?
Trump, as a matter of fact, has said on occasion he made a mistake:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPnAP6_3ZNM
He said he made a mistake…
…hiring Michael Cohen.
On the other hand, he tweeted that he didn’t make a mistake, “at the beginnings of Hurricane Dorisn” – it wasn’t so early – in saying that Alabama may also be grazed or hit.
https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/1169981017794535432?lang=en
And in 2015, when he’d just announced two months before for president he said:
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/week-transcript-donald-trump/story?id=33086722
In that same interview he said he wasn’t willing to call Secretary Clinton a liar about her emails. Maybe she was just terribly mistaken.
Sammy Finkelman (dec35d) — 12/25/2019 @ 12:59 pm* “Hurricane Dorisn” is my typo. It should be Hurricane Dorian. I put it in quotes because Trump tweeted this was at the beginning. It was before it hit any part of the United States, but it was not near the beginning of coverage about it.
I think it never actually hit any part of the United States.
But it did cause Trump to cancel his trip to Warsaw (or his wanting to visit any state he carried in 2016 if a hurricane hit it) and so he did not meet Ukrainian president Zelensky there.
Sammy Finkelman (dec35d) — 12/25/2019 @ 1:07 pmFTFY
Dave (1bb933) — 12/25/2019 @ 4:25 pm“So of the cases mentioned, there is one instance where the media may have acted irresponsibly, and it took 24 hours or less to for the mistake to be corrected.”
Dave (1bb933) — 12/24/2019 @ 5:06 pm
Oddly enough (as James Taranto would say), a media acting responsibly errs on the side #NeverTrump each and every time.
Munroe (dd6b64) — 12/25/2019 @ 9:20 pmhttps://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2019/12/this-year-in-judicial-confirmations.php
mg (8cbc69) — 12/26/2019 @ 3:24 amSuch a wonderful gift from orange man bad.
Re; Covington MAGA hat mockers
Maybe for the first partial correction to be made, I don’t know, but it actually took a few days for this to go away, and not before there were calls in Kentucky to boycott the school and apologies issued by organizations etc.
And the only reason any correction was made (at least soon) was that video of the encounter was posted online by a group of Black Hebrew Israelites, who were in the habit of videotaping and posting on YouTube all their encounters with the public, where they got into people’s faces, as the expression goes, and argued and shouted at them and told people the “truth.”
The reason the Washington Post ran with the story in the first place was that they chose to believe Native American “activist” Nathan Phillips, a known liar (if you were not afraid to let people know) but a well connected one. He didn’t even tell the same story throughout. He kept modifying his story as more became known.
Sammy Finkelman (dec35d) — 12/26/2019 @ 6:10 am176. 177. 181.
That would mean Donald Trump cannot go more than a sentence or two without telling some sort of a lie.
Maybe so.
Do you believe that you could go through a speech, or an interview, with or by Donald Trump, and find something you can label false in virtually every sentence? That would be an interesting exercise.
Sammy Finkelman (dec35d) — 12/26/2019 @ 6:16 amAlive, alive, oh!
nk (dbc370) — 12/26/2019 @ 6:36 amAlive, alive, oh!
Keep that Trump grievance-mongering
Alive, alive, oh!
Why, they even cut him out of Home Alone 2!
Orange is the new race-hustle.
nk (dbc370) — 12/26/2019 @ 6:39 amIf he’s reading a speech written by someone who is less dishonest than he is (which is to say: anyone else), he could certainly avoid lying for some longer period of time. OTOH, his prepared speeches tend to include ideas and sentiments that are obviously alien to him, and which he would never utter on his own, so they are in some sense one big, long lie.
But when he’s unleashed at one of his cult rallies, surrounded by adoring gerbils on Fox & Friends, or being confronted with questions he can’t control at one of his impromptu press availabilities, the MTBF (mean time between falsehoods) is measured in seconds, not minutes. Remember that he often manages to cram several lies into a single rambling, run-on sentence.
Dave (1bb933) — 12/26/2019 @ 10:45 amYou have to consider, though, he ad libs, so that could reduce the MTBF.
Here;s his most recent rally – try going through this one:
https://www.rev.com/blog/donald-trump-michigan-rally-transcript-trump-holds-a-rally-in-battle-creek-during-impeachment
Sammy Finkelman (dec35d) — 12/26/2019 @ 10:54 amThat’s not from that speech (the Dec 19 Michigan one)
That’s from the Turning Point USA Student Action Summit in West Palm Beach, Florida on Saturday night December 21.
This is the official Whiite House trancript
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-turning-point-usa-student-action-summit-west-palm-beach-fl
(whitehouse.gov link will be broken and change after Trump’s term, as has happened with every president since Bill Clinton started this in 1993.
Trump is trying to say, and garbling, the fact that if you calculate carbon emisisons you have to calculate also the emisisons caused by the manufacturing process. And by saying “world is tiny compared to the universe” he must be garbling the idea that the effect of having a windmill instead of burning natural gas is tiny compared to the entire amount of carbon dioxide added to the atmosphere every year. You just have to think it through.
I think he’s right about the bald eagles. Although the proper terminology is wind turbine not windmill. And they’re probably not killing enough to “destroy the bird population?”
https://windmillskill.com/blog/california-leads-nation-wind-turbine-eagle-deaths
But apparently wrong about the maxiumum sentence for deliberately kilingg one. It’s 2 years not ten years says Vox. They try to make eveyrthing worng and try to say tall buildings kill more birds. (But maybe not bald eagles.)
Sammy Finkelman (02a146) — 12/26/2019 @ 1:05 pmIt was pointed out, and it seems to be very accurate, that whenever he relates some story that involves someone calling him “sir”, it’s a lie.
For example, many of the dozens of times he’s repeated the lie about making “eight or nine strong tough guys” cry (somehow, just before every rally!) when they meet him, one of the guys usually says something like “Sir, thank you for saving our country”.
Bingo!
Dave (1bb933) — 12/26/2019 @ 1:36 pm192. Dave (1bb933) — 12/26/2019 @ 1:36 pm
That sounds like a good catch,or a tell. Some American military might do that in the right circumstances – but they don’t really.
But to imagine “prime ministers, presidents, sometimes dictators” saying “Sir, we’d like to buy a nuclear submarine.” Not even Genersal Martis saying to him: “Sir, Recep Tayyip says Turkey would like to buy a nuclear submarine.” I can’t even imagine Emmanuel Macron asking for that on pbehald of France. Former British Prime Minister Angela May. Or perhaps it was Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Or maybe China wanted to buy a U.S. manufactured nuclear submarine as part of the trade deal. (In addition to buying pigs because they killed so many pigs in China.)
Sammy Finkelman (02a146) — 12/26/2019 @ 3:10 pmLet’s see in what context what we have people saying “Sir” to Trummp, as cited as saying so by Donald Trump in his last two rallies.
1. Union reps:
I don’t know who is supposed to ahve said “sir” here.
2. Several people in a delegation of farmers:
Donald Trump said he’s never seen anyybody not wanting money from the federal government, bt preferring opportunity.
3. The next one is prime ministers, presidents, sometimes dictators who tell him they’d like to buy a nuclear submarine from the United Sattes. And he turns them all down. Jow Biden couldn’t have told it better himself.
Sammy Finkelman (02a146) — 12/26/2019 @ 3:22 pm4. After that: A U.S. military fighter pilot:
A fighter pilot tells the commander in chief he doesn’t want to be a movie star.
5. More U.S. military rank and file soldiers:
Sammy Finkelman (02a146) — 12/26/2019 @ 3:23 pm6,. Ad now a high ranking general.
Donald Truymp says he won’t tell you the story (the full story?)
More:
Sammy Finkelman (02a146) — 12/26/2019 @ 3:25 pm7. A policeman at a rally one year ago when the value of 401ks wasn’t as high as they’ve gotten now:
Maybe I’m wrong, but I don’t think Madison Avenue ever made a commercial quite like that. Including for any form of fianancial servides. Maybe for a toothpaste or a car
Sammy Finkelman (02a146) — 12/26/2019 @ 3:32 pmDonald Trump make your wife love you long time.
Dave (1bb933) — 12/26/2019 @ 3:36 pmAnd we’re not done:
8. A campaign worker on Election Day, 2016: (before he is president – maybe he throws in “sir” without even realizing it)
He tells us how Bill Clinton addresses his wife: (of course by thsui piont, he’s just being a stand up comedian)
Wait a second. Who’s Bill Clinton speaking to here? You can’t switch things around like this. What is this, a dream? Donald Trump is not saying he’s narrating a dream.
Continuing:
Hillary sent people to Iowa instead.
Sammy Finkelman (02a146) — 12/26/2019 @ 3:42 pmNow Donald Trump seems to name the person who addressed him as sir in 2016: Ronna McDaniel, granddaughter of George W. Romney and then Chair of the Michigan Republican Party and now then Chair of the Republican National Committee.
9.
Sammy Finkelman (02a146) — 12/26/2019 @ 3:47 pm10. (Diplomats?) from other countriesin general:
11. Secret Service agents:
Sammy Finkelman (02a146) — 12/26/2019 @ 3:56 pm12. Congresswoman Debbie Dingell:
Sammy Finkelman (02a146) — 12/26/2019 @ 4:00 pmI’m not done
13. Somebody, about hjis prospects for 2020:
14. some Repulicans members of Congress?
15. Foreign trade negotiators:
That’s it for the Michigan rally.
Donald Trump also defebnded himself against the impeachment charges in that speech but he didn’t use the word “sir” anywhere in his monologue about that.
Sammy Finkelman (02a146) — 12/26/2019 @ 4:25 pmI read Bloomberg is using women in prison to make rob calls.
mg (8cbc69) — 12/26/2019 @ 4:31 pmTrump should have Russians from the Gulags disperse Make America Great Again calls.
robo
mg (8cbc69) — 12/26/2019 @ 4:34 pmIn the Florida speech:
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-turning-point-usa-student-action-summit-west-palm-beach-fl/
1. A gentleman who tells him how manyu federal judges Obama left over for him to appoint:
2. A moderator at the Democratic debate Thursday,, Decedmber 19, 2109 – in a twist, in this case addressing Joe Biden as “sir”
Now how did that actually go?
Yes, Donald Trump is lying! They didn’t ask Joe Biden a question about it. Joe Biden had to insert a defense in the middle of answer to another question:
The question was:
https://www.rev.com/blog/december-democratic-debate-transcript-sixth-debate-from-los-angeles
Down in the middle of his answer, Joe Biden says:
Sammy Finkelman (02a146) — 12/26/2019 @ 4:38 pmBy definition, people don’t make robocalls.
Kevin M (19357e) — 12/26/2019 @ 4:39 pmThat would be step backwards, it’s like tying a hand behind your back and using a five chamber wheel gun revolver instead of the semiautomatic pistol you used in the previous duel. (free Russians making mischief on the internet with algorithms and half-truths).
urbanleftbehind (56aaf2) — 12/26/2019 @ 4:39 pmBloomberg was using women in a prison in Oklahoma – but not because he picked them, but because the contractor he hired operates call centers in Oklahoma prisons.
Sammy Finkelman (02a146) — 12/26/2019 @ 4:39 pmHere is more of Donald Trump’s attack against Joe orm maybe Hunter Biden in his Florida speech. he says he hopes Joe Biden wins (the Democratic nomination I presume- I don;tthink he waiting for his impeachment.)
Sammy Finkelman (02a146) — 12/26/2019 @ 4:42 pmDonald trump addresses someone else as “sir”
Sammy Finkelman (02a146) — 12/26/2019 @ 4:43 pmhttps://theaspenbeat.com
mg (8cbc69) — 12/26/2019 @ 4:51 pm“Trump is trying to say, and garbling, the fact that if you calculate carbon emisisons you have to calculate also the emisisons caused by the manufacturing process. And by saying “world is tiny compared to the universe” he must be garbling the idea that the effect of having a windmill instead of burning natural gas is tiny compared to the entire amount of carbon dioxide added to the atmosphere every year. You just have to think it through.”
It should be immediately obvious to anyone speaking honestly (ie not Trump) that the carbon footprint of a wind turbine, while not zero, is much less than the equivalent power from a coal plant. I’ve seen studies that claim that it takes about 6 months for a wind turbine to become energy and carbon neutral.
I think he’s right about the bald eagles. Although the proper terminology is wind turbine not windmill. And they’re probably not killing enough to “destroy the bird population?”
The leading manmade cause of bird deaths cats, ranging from 1-3 billion. While cats are probably rarely killing eagles, the second leading cause is structures like buildings and power lines, around 400 million.
Wind turbines kill around 300k birds. It’s not great, but Trump (and other people who claim it’s a problem) don’t really care about birds.
Davethulhu (fe4242) — 12/26/2019 @ 5:23 pmhttps://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2019/12/disgraceful-ig-report-reveals-john-mccain-was-a-mule-funneling-junk-trump-russia-documents-from-chris-steele-to-the-comey-fbi/
mg (8cbc69) — 12/27/2019 @ 3:00 amI wish john was alive to do time.
https://thefederalist.com/2019/12/26/if-the-fbis-contempt-for-the-law-is-not-reined-in-its-abuses-will-get-worse/
mg (8cbc69) — 12/27/2019 @ 3:32 amI could deal with them all dying before prosecution, like mccain, but would rather see them hang.
https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2019/12/two_possibilities_in_trump_wiretapping_and_neither_is_good.html
mg (8cbc69) — 12/27/2019 @ 3:36 amround zem up
Any citizen in possession of information about a foreign attack on our country should turn that evidence over to law enforcement, as McCain did. It is not the citizen’s job to conduct their own investigation or withhold information based on their own guess about what is or isn’t relevant.
The most important element of Steele’s reports (that Russia was actively engaged in trying to swing the election to Trump) has been verified beyond any reasonable doubt.
Dave (1bb933) — 12/27/2019 @ 5:04 amHe’s impeached!
Impeached!
Twenty votes, just twenty itsy-bitsy, teensy-weensie little votes from Removed!
But let’s keep grievance alive, and do the hustle. The orange hustle.
nk (dbc370) — 12/27/2019 @ 8:12 amYou wanna grievance? Grievance this, https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/476017-navy-seals-who-turned-in-gallagher-he-is-freaking-evil, and tell me whom the Navy should have hanged.
nk (dbc370) — 12/27/2019 @ 8:18 am”The most important element of Steele’s reports (that Russia was actively engaged in trying to swing the election to Trump) has been verified beyond any reasonable doubt.”
Dave (1bb933) — 12/27/2019 @ 5:04 am
Viva le Deflection
Munroe (dd6b64) — 12/27/2019 @ 9:10 am218. Dave (1bb933) — 12/27/2019 @ 5:04 am
That wasn’t the result of Steele’s work; that Putin was supporting Trump was the premise that he started from, and he uncovered nothing about what Putin was doing.
The basis for the premise that Putin was supporting rump was either
A) their public statements, in which case they didn’t know that Putin and Trump were doing anything beyond trading complimentary or semi-complimentary statements, with Trump seeming to endorse some ideas that Russia would want the U.S. to adopt, like weakening NATO and opposition to American intervention in Syria and maybe working together with Russia on terrorism issues
Or
B) it may have been the DNC discovery of the hacking. But Fusion GPS was already hired by the Democrats in March. Steele may have started a=later.
What Steele set out to find out was why Putin was supporting Trump. Not if .
He got told nothing but lies, and they were basically of two types:
1) The Russian government held “compromat” on Trump.
2) Trump was a long term Russian asset, and the Russian government had been secretly subsidizing him for at least five years.
The real reasons probably were:
1) That Putin believed that Hillary Clinton was against him, either for reasons of principle, or because she saw an independent Ukraine as in the U..S. (and her) interest. He believed that because Victoria Nuland and been instrumental in overthrowing the Yanukovych government and Euromaidan Revolution in February, 2014. (Putin knew that because he had bugged her when she was in Kiev)
He also knew that Hillary Clinton still was, on occasion, still giving advice and communicating with people in the State Department and he mistakenly believed that Victoria Nuland was one of Hillary’s women. (she was not – all aides close to Hillary, like Huma Abedin and Cheryl Mills, had left almost simultaneously with her)
2) That he had a good chance of penetrating the campaign, and a future Trump administration.
Tat did not happen because of efforts by various people to get rid of Mike Flynn (Paul Manafort had no intention of becoming a Russian spy or an agent of influence – he was just stringing them along in the hopes of getting some money or debt forgiveness and he needed much more money than a government salary would give him, so the efforts to get rid of him weren’t needed but some people in Ukraine tried and got him mostly out of the picture early.)
Now these efforts to penetrate a Trmp Administration were not totally unsuccessful: In the third year of the Trump Administration, lies sponsored by Putin resulted in a 55-day total freeze on U.S. economic aid to Ukraine.
The reasons the Russians did not totally ignore Christopher Steele was that they wanted him (and the British government) to still have confidence in the information he had been given during the 00s.
They also didn’t have any idea that he was working for the Democrats, and not somebody British, and so thought all the false derogatory information they gave to Steele would stay in the United Kingdom – and, as a bonus, might possibly create distrust and non-co-operation between the UK and USA if Trump was elected.
To what Steele reported was added some old public information, and the whole thing was turned over t the FBI.
The premise of the FBI investigation was NOT that Putin was supporting Trump, but that they possibly conspiring together </B/ which was not true.
No way would Putin take any Americans into his confidence.
Sammy Finkelman (dec35d) — 12/27/2019 @ 9:16 amHas a incoming President ever rescinded a pardon and issued letter of marque for said subject?
urbanleftbehind (5eecdb) — 12/27/2019 @ 9:16 amputins plan was for the middle class to get a pay raise and record stock market and record unemployment for minorities and more conservative judges etc. etc.
mg (8cbc69) — 12/27/2019 @ 9:29 amFricking putin is a genius.
I don’t think pardons can be rescinded.
Letters of marque must be authorized by Congress.
Sammy Finkelman (dec35d) — 12/27/2019 @ 9:56 amVery true. If you love the USA you consider this to be by far the most important aspect of the Trump presidency. If you don’t… then you don’t.
Nothing matters to you other than deflection so it must bother you that Trump’s critics can just point out the USA has any kind of values. That’s at the heart of what you and Putin are against. Trump support = nihilism.
Not to get religious, but hopefully whatever you trolls get out of this is worth the cost.
Dustin (cafb36) — 12/27/2019 @ 10:07 am”If you love the USA you consider this to be by far the most important aspect of the Trump presidency. If you don’t… then you don’t.“
Dustin (cafb36) — 12/27/2019 @ 10:07 am
Nothing says Love For ‘Merica like a doctored surveillance application to spy on an American citizen CIA asset you so desperately need to cast as a Putin asset.
Munroe (dd6b64) — 12/27/2019 @ 10:54 am“The unemployment number, as you know, is totally fiction.”
Dave (1bb933) — 12/27/2019 @ 10:59 amDonald Trump – December 8, 2016
FTFY
Dave (1bb933) — 12/27/2019 @ 11:02 am”FTFY”
Dave (1bb933) — 12/27/2019 @ 11:02 am
I guess you’re a fan of the “doctored” part. LOL
Munroe (dd6b64) — 12/27/2019 @ 11:15 amSo let’s see.
Under Obama, the unemployment rate fell from 10.0% in October 2009 to 4.7% in January 2017. A drop of 5.3% in 87 months (7.25 years), or 0.73% per year.
Under Trump, the unemployment rate fell from 4.7% in January 2017 to 3.5% this month. A drop of 1.2% in 35 months (2.92 years), or 0.41% per year.
Sorry to whip out the advanced math and all, but does that make Obama almost twice the economic genius that Trump is?
Or is 0.41 greater than 0.73 in TrumpWorld?
Dave (1bb933) — 12/27/2019 @ 11:17 am“Sorry to whip out the advanced math and all, but does that make Obama almost twice the economic genius that Trump is?”
Dave (1bb933) — 12/27/2019 @ 11:17 am
No, it makes Bush Jr the moron some us knew he was.
Munroe (dd6b64) — 12/27/2019 @ 11:24 ama lot of other people had to be “morons” for the housing inflation and crash to occur, Mainly Alan Greenspan. He raised interest rates after lowering them. We had adjustable rate mortgages.
Sammy Finkelman (dec35d) — 12/27/2019 @ 12:44 pmIn the construction world I’m in – minorities have never seen an economic boost like this. Ever. They are happy happy and are all in for orange man bad.
mg (8cbc69) — 12/27/2019 @ 1:19 pmPerhaps you people in academia need to get out from your mahogany paneled walled sanatariums and experience working with craftsmen who make the world function.
Johnny “The Mule” McCain and his hooker dossier is a sign rino love for Americans is a hoax.
mg (8cbc69) — 12/27/2019 @ 1:33 pmhttps://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2019/12/why-trump-will-cruise-to-victory-next-year.php
mg (8cbc69) — 12/27/2019 @ 1:43 pmAll about the benjamins, professor.
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2019/12/27/dirty-spooks-concerned-about-barr-and-durham/#more-179510
mg (8cbc69) — 12/27/2019 @ 1:47 pmand the beat goes on
Finally caught Richard Jewell. Fantastic film. Emotional experience and doesn’t hold back. Really makes you realize how easy it is to destroy someone even if they do the right thing, but end up being a convenient scapegoat.
NJRob (2203b5) — 12/27/2019 @ 2:15 pmrip -Don Imus
mg (8cbc69) — 12/27/2019 @ 2:31 pmReal disposable income per capita is the best measure of whether people are able to buy more, and live better, since it takes both taxation (lower taxes mean more disposable income) and price levels (inflation can absorb any apparent wage increases), and it has gone up by 7.7% since January 2017, or 2.7% per annum.
That’s certainly good, but hardly life-altering.
For comparison, between the bottom of the recession in October 2009 and January 2017, it rose by 13.8% in 7.25 years, or 1.9% per annum.
The difference is understandable, since wages rise more when the unemployment level is low and there is more competition for available labor, so the 6.5% drop in unemployment over the last decade has steadily tightened the labor market.
The difference between 1.9% per annum and 2.7% per annum amounts to a whopping $28/month in real disposable income. Nobody will turn down more income, but representing it as some kind of unprecedented miracle is dishonest. During the Bush economic expansion, real disposable income rose at a nearly identical rate of 2.5% per annum.
Thank you for the personal attack.
Dave (1bb933) — 12/27/2019 @ 3:10 pmThe Democrats push $15HR as the minimum living wage. In construction where I live unskilled labor starts at $15… no law needed except for supply and demand. The demand for labor is high, so even the unskilled can set a high price for their time.
Another factor here is that the marijuana growers are paying $15HR to manicure buds.
The Democrats fixate on regulations on wages and benefits, but the market resets itself higher if you just grow the economy.
My experience parallels mg. I see people in construction upgrading their cars, trucks, better living situations and if you go to a construction site in Southern California, the language spoken is Spanish. Trump has earned some quiet support amongst SoCal hispanics in the non union part of the construction industry. But you’d have to speak Spanish and have long term hispanic friends in the industry to get the confidence…. the reverse Tom Bradley effect is in play.
steveg (354706) — 12/27/2019 @ 3:52 pmMost hispanics are not going to tell anyone that don’t know and trust that they support Trump but anecdotal evidence in my trades says that Trump support is growing amongst those hispanics that can vote
RIH Don Imus.
Gutter snipe.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 12/27/2019 @ 3:55 pmNo problem, Dave. Other than trade schools academics in America is a hoax.
mg (8cbc69) — 12/27/2019 @ 3:55 pmR.I.P. Don Imus
Icy (6abb50) — 12/27/2019 @ 3:57 pmOTOH: Imus In The Mourning?
Not a chance, pork chop.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 12/27/2019 @ 3:57 pmLOOK SQUIRREL!
Dustin (cafb36) — 12/27/2019 @ 4:23 pmhttps://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7830547/One-nations-biggest-school-districts-let-pupils-protest-days.html
mg (8cbc69) — 12/27/2019 @ 4:29 pmThe school system in this country should be run by robots.
Here’s a pop quiz, Trumpsters.
As of the end of November, the last month for which official economic data is available, the Great Helmsman, Mr. President Donald J Trump, had been in office for 34 full months.
In how many of those months was the US trade deficit lower than his first full month?
(Hint: by an uncanny coincidence, it’s the same as the number of big, beautiful border walls that Mexico has paid for!)
Dave (66f02a) — 12/27/2019 @ 4:42 pmVladimir Vladimirovich Putin, the President of the United States, has his own goals for making his own country, Russia, great again, and whether his orange puppet gives the proles $28 more a month to spend; or which gay crybabies said orange puppet appoints to some court of appeals; or what Tesla stock is listed for, are of little interest to him, except as orange lipstick on his orange pig.
nk (dbc370) — 12/27/2019 @ 4:47 pmIf it were, who do you suppose would have the skills necessary to program them?
Dave (1bb933) — 12/27/2019 @ 6:37 pmhttps://twitchy.com/sarahd-313035/2019/12/27/times-up-its-been-18-months-since-cnn-legal-analyst-jeffrey-toobin-made-this-bold-prediction-about-what-would-happen-in-18-months-howd-he-do/
mg (8cbc69) — 12/27/2019 @ 6:38 pmThe Russians, Dave. Geez.
mg (8cbc69) — 12/27/2019 @ 6:40 pmhttps://www.theepochtimes.com/2019-in-review-us-economy-remains-strong-in-2019-entering-the-longest-expansion-in-history_3183057.html
The hugest. Guess who is upset this is the case?
NJRob (4d595c) — 12/27/2019 @ 6:41 pmThe hugest. Guess who is upset this is the case?
Last year’s GDP growth was 2.9%, not 3. And I’m old enough to remember when not having any years with 3% GDP growth was a strike against Obama.
Davethulhu (fe4242) — 12/27/2019 @ 7:07 pmHelp me out here.
When Trump was running for president and the (totally fake, fictitious!) unemployment rate was a crushing 4.7%, America was supposedly hell for the working people – so bad that they elected a reality TV game-show host to save them from destruction. And this, we were told, was because China and other countries were “stealing” $500B/year from us in trade.
In less than 3 short years, President Mr. Trump, also known as Donald (who would totally have won several Nobel Prizes if they hadn’t removed his cameo from Home Alone 2) has turned America into a workers’ paradise with a (totally believable, completely accurate!) unemployment rate of 3.5%. And yet – unexpectedly! – this transformation has happened while the annual trade deficit was increasing by something like 20-25%.
Dave (1bb933) — 12/27/2019 @ 7:57 pmWell I guess we know who is upset. Merry Christmas.
NJRob (4d595c) — 12/27/2019 @ 8:29 pmYou’re upset enough to combine an insult with a ‘merry christmas’ like the evil mother in law on some cheesy movie. Most people don’t like Trump. No need to take it personally.
People will disagree about how poor or healthy the economy is, but you know it’s not the ‘hugest’ anything. It doesn’t compare to, say, Bill Clinton’s record. I’d say the economy is more or less the same as it has been for a long time. Tons of government debt propping up a sense of stability. Low labor participation. Lots of gains for investors. Maybe a debt bubble about to burst, maybe not.
Dustin (cafb36) — 12/27/2019 @ 11:45 pmoh my
mg (8cbc69) — 12/28/2019 @ 12:29 amhttps://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2019/12/wow-crazy-nancy-whats-going-on-boom-trump-exposes-nancy-pelosi-and-son-pauls-shady-dealings-in-ukraine/
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2019/12/27/working-class-secures-largest-wage-hikes-thanks-to-tight-labor-market/
mg (8cbc69) — 12/28/2019 @ 12:34 amheh
The economy has been remarkably good since the Reagan expansion started in 1984. Since that time, “cyclical” recessions have been infrequent and mild by historical standards. Economic volatility since the mid-80’s has been about half as large as before – a phenomenon economists refer to as “The Great Moderation” (see graph accompanying this article).
A number of causes have been proposed – I think in general the advent of near comprehensive real-time economic data helps businesses and central banks make better-informed decisions.
Distortions of the economy – like debt crises, the dotcom, housing and subprime bubbles, etc – can still cause problems, but it’s harder for them to develop.
Dave (1bb933) — 12/28/2019 @ 2:37 amHow long until mittens gets caught with his hands in the Ukraine cookie jar?
mg (8cbc69) — 12/28/2019 @ 3:42 amTrump is fortunate to have a growing economy so as to absorb the negative impacts of his tariffs.
The negative effects of Trump’s tariffs are not arguable. This was taught in Econ 210 at the UW Business School, back in the early 1980s. Maybe Trump should fire the authors of the Fed study for disloyalty, because their conclusions don’t align with his FakeNews narrative.
Paul Montagu (280314) — 12/28/2019 @ 7:25 am“The negative effects of Trump’s tariffs are not arguable.”
More than twice as much has been spent on compensating farmers for the tariffs than was spent on the great recession auto bailouts.
Davethulhu (fe4242) — 12/28/2019 @ 9:02 amHi Dustin
My feelings on those polls that say most people do not like Trump are two fold (at least).
1. “most people” includes a lot of people who like Trump somehow, and some way enough, to vote for him once and would do so again.
2. Within the group of “most people” who are asked if they like or dislike Trump, there is very likely a substantial subgroup who like Trump, but are not going to say so to a pollster.
steveg (354706) — 12/28/2019 @ 11:34 amTariffs were about the only tool that could get China’s attention within the last two years of a 4 year term.
I predict the new Democrats will win the Presidency soon and use tariffs to try to control China’s carbon output while simultaneously torpedoing US innovation with wealth taxes, corporate taxes and energy regulations. That will be a disaster of yuge proportions
steveg (354706) — 12/28/2019 @ 11:47 amDave @229. already have recordings of Russian agents discussing recruitment of [Carter Page] as a Putin asset.
When? Or was that George Papadoupolous?
There was quite a bit of lying and misinforming of the FISA court judge.
Steele’s reporting was said to have been checked out with his source. (Steele didn’t actually contact many Russians – he contacted one person who said he contacted them.)
It was checked out, as the FBI said. But Steels’s source said the information he provided wasn’t reliable! That they didn’t tell the FISA court.
Page was regularly letting himself be debriefed by the CIA. An email was altered to say the opposite The person who did it is no longer working for the FBI.
Carter Page was probably chosen as a target so that the FBI could tell Harry Reid they were investigating Trump campaign connections to Russia,
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/08/29/us/politics/document-Reid-Letter-to-Comey.html
(letter dated August 27, 2016)
But at the same time they wouldn’t be eavesdropping on anybody close to Trump.
The FBI was not siding with the Democrats; it was hedging its bets.
Then they kept the surveillance on so maybe they could find something that would justify it in retrospect, like bad police and prosecutors do.
Sammy Finkelman (dec35d) — 12/28/2019 @ 10:32 pm