Weekend Open Thread
[guest post by Dana]
Here are a few news items to talk about. Feel free to share any news items that you think might interest readers. Please remember to include links.
First news item
Hm, doesn’t a test come back either negative or positive?
Asked if he's been tested again, Trump says, "I have been re-tested and I haven’t even found out the numbers or anything yet, but I’ve been re-tested and I know I’m at either the bottom of the scale or free."
— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) October 10, 2020
Reminder: Trump is hosting a White House event today with 2,000 invited guests. He will be speaking from a balcony to the masses congregating below on the South Lawn.
Second news item
The Commission on Presidential Debates on Friday canceled the second debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden after the President declined to do a virtual debate despite concerns over his Covid-19 diagnosis, organizers said.
The cancellation is the culmination of a furious 48-hour back-and-forth between the commission and both campaigns and means what would have been the third debate in Nashville on October 22 will likely be the final meeting between the two candidates.
Third news item
The 1619 Project has failed… The 1619 Project is a thesis in search of evidence, not the other way around…
Beyond these political disputes is a metaphysical question that matters. What is a founding? Why have generations of Americans considered 1776 our birth date — as opposed to 1781, when we won our independence militarily at Yorktown; or 1783, when we won it diplomatically through the Treaty of Paris; or 1788, when our system of government came into existence with the ratification of the Constitution?
The answer is that, unlike other dates, 1776 uniquely marries letter and spirit, politics and principle: The declaration that something new is born, combined with the expression of an ideal that — because we continue to believe in it even as we struggle to live up to it — binds us to the date.
Fourth news item
Yelp has started warning users of the crowdsourced business review website of alleged racist incidents at restaurants, shops and other establishments listed on the platform.
The site will add a “racist behavior” alert to a business’ page when it has evidence of “egregious, racist actions from a business owner or employee.” Examples of such behavior include using racist slurs or symbols, according to a post on Yelp’s blog.
To determine if an alert is warranted, Yelp said it will rely on, and link to, what it calls independent news reports of alleged racist actions associated with a business. The company said it will also conduct its own investigation before issuing an alert.
Fifth news item
On a radio show Friday, President Trump’s son said that his father “literally saved Christianity.”
“He’s literally saved Christianity,” Eric Trump told WZFG in North Dakota. “I mean, there’s a full-out war on faith in this country by the other side. I mean, the Democratic party, the far-left, has become the party of the quote-unquote atheists.”
He said the Democrats want to “attack” Christianity and “close churches.”
“They’re totally fine keeping liquor stores open but they want to close churches all over the country,” Trump stated.
Sixth news item
House Democrats introduced a bill Friday to establish an independent commission under the 25th Amendment to evaluate a president’s health and oversee the transfer of power to the vice president if the president becomes incapacitated while in office.
The provision would not apply to President Trump during his current term, but could be invoked in a second term if he is reelected.
Seventh news item
For anyone dug in at the no man’s land of equal-opportunity criticism and loyalty to none:
If you refuse to give much weight to team solidarity, popular front exhortations, and “binary choice” diatribes, it’s easy to find inconvenient truths all over the place: The president is unfit for the job. Joe Biden has lost a step—or several. Nancy Pelosi is hyperpartisan. The Russian collusion story peddled by the most strident Democrats and journalists was wrong. But some claims that Trump and his campaign has behaved indefensibly viz a viz Russia have ample merit. The Republican party isn’t suffused with racism, but there are too many racists on the right and too few Republicans are willing to say so. Antifa is a real problem, and too few Democrats want to admit it publicly for the incandescently dumb reason that they think it would help Trump. Right-wing goon squads are a real problem, and too few Republicans want to say so for the incandescantly dumb reason that they think it would hurt Trump. Republican Voters Against Trump is a legitimate project, even if you disagree with it. The Lincoln Project is largely a Democratic fundraising operation, even if you agree with it. I could do this all day—because it’s kind of fun and because whatever price I’m supposed to pay for not following the party line I’ve already paid, and then some.
Eighth news item
Trump’s recovery tour continues with a new campaign ad:
Content of this advertising. President Trump is recovering from the coronavirus, and so is America. Together we rose to meet the challenge, protecting our seniors, getting them life saving drugs in record time, sparing no expense. President Trump tackled the virus head on as leaders should. I can’t imagine that anybody could be doing more. We’ll get through this together. We’ll live carefully, but not afraid. I’m Donald J. Trump and I approve.
(Video at link. I’m unable to embed it here.)
Biden tells Americans they don’t deserve to know. Say what??:
But while 57% of Americans surveyed in a recent poll conducted by ABC News and the Washington Post say the Senate should wait to replace Ginsburg until after the election, a nearly equal majority, 54%, are opposed to adding seats to the Supreme Court…”You’ll know my opinion on court packing when the election is over,” Biden said…”The people … are voting right now. They’d like to know if you and Joe Biden are going to pack the Supreme Court if you don’t get your way in this nomination,” said Vice President Mike Pence on the debate stage with Harris Wednesday night…He later added, “The American people deserve a straight answer. And if you have not figured it out yet, the straight answer is they are going to pack the Supreme Court, if they somehow win this election.”
Full exchange here.
Have a good weekend.
–Dana
Good morning.
Dana (292df6) — 10/10/2020 @ 9:07 amCurrent Time magazine cover.
Rip Murdock (82f8fa) — 10/10/2020 @ 9:18 amYou left out the story of a debate moderator appearing to collude against Trump and blaming it on hackers (at least the third time he’s blamed hackers for his tweets).
Media ignoring this to make it go away.
harkin (7fb4c9) — 10/10/2020 @ 9:35 am_
Because Twitter posts are the perfect medium for sooper-seekret conspiracies.
Dave (1bb933) — 10/10/2020 @ 9:50 amAlso maybe worth a mention…..
Ben Domenech
@bdomenech
·
The New York Times published this bizarre and embarrassing conspiratorial claim that Trump was standing in front of a “digital backdrop” in a front page story this morning, then scrubbed it without noting any correction.
https://twitter.com/bdomenech/status/1314514473219231744?s=20
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Chris Wilfong
@ongombo
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It’s not bizarre. There is a glitch in the leaves blowing due to compression artifacts that, on first glance, makes it look like it’s a background on loop.
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PollyG
@PollyGHHC
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Whether there is a bit of leaf issue or not, it’s up to the New York freaking Times to verify a story and it’s truth before running it on the front page. Yes. That is bizarre that they would lead with false information and not explain when they remove it.
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btw – The Times endorsed Biden.
harkin (7fb4c9) — 10/10/2020 @ 9:55 am_
So is it fair to examine all of Trump’s tweets to decide whether he is fit to hold presidential power? It shouldn’t be hard to find more than three that are troubling.
Radegunda (e1ea47) — 10/10/2020 @ 10:01 amBecause Twitter posts are the perfect medium for sooper-seekret conspiracies.
You mean the sooper-seekret conspiracy that someone hacked his account? The Russkies strike again!
beer ‘n pretzels (174613) — 10/10/2020 @ 10:05 am#5 —
So bizarre that someone might think Trump did something not completely straightforward. Where would anyone get such a notion?
There was obvious fakery in some photos sent out from Walter Reed. What’s bizarre is believing that he wouldn’t possibly do another deception.
That’s the problem with lying as prodigiously — and often transparently — as Donald Trump does. The rational response to anything he says and does is skepticism.
Radegunda (e1ea47) — 10/10/2020 @ 10:08 amSo is it fair to examine all of Trump’s tweets to decide whether he is fit to hold presidential power?
Based on his tweets, Trump is unfit to moderate a presidential debate that involves him.
beer ‘n pretzels (174613) — 10/10/2020 @ 10:08 amBret Stephens’ piece is a tour de force. Everyone should read it, beginning to end, IMO. He risked his job doing that piece, going against both his bosses and the entire closed-off left-wing PC culture at the NYT. But someone had to say it. His words are sparklingly true about the poor and misleading thought that went into that project.
Paul Montagu (77c694) — 10/10/2020 @ 10:12 amWords mean things. It did “appear to be a loop,” exactly as the Times said.
Dave (1bb933) — 10/10/2020 @ 10:14 amAnd unfit to hold any position of responsibility that calls for sanity and a modicum of human decency.
Radegunda (e1ea47) — 10/10/2020 @ 10:24 amDana’s last entry in this post, where Biden says “no they don’t deserve to know” is classic Biden. When put under a little pressure, he says thoughtless stuff that’s probably a little more articulate than Trump is capable of, but pretty similar in a ‘I can so I can’ attitude.
Trump is running against Hillary’s emails, won’t even let Biden speak at the debate, so the election is just a referendum on a failed president instead of a choice. Oops.
Dustin (4237e0) — 10/10/2020 @ 10:24 amBret Stephens did indeed put his job on the line. I think the NYT is in a bit of a pickle now. If they let him stay on in spite of the inevitable backlash for printing the piece, they will further risk the ire of their supporters and possibly lose subscribers in further backlash. If they fire him, they will prove that they do not want diversity of thought, and are only interested in keeping the left happy. It’s a rock and hard spot in which they find themselves, and I am all the happier to see it happen.
Dana (292df6) — 10/10/2020 @ 10:25 amAnd of course, how dare white male Bret Stephens attack the work of a black woman dealing with the ugliest part of our nation’s history…
Dana (292df6) — 10/10/2020 @ 10:27 amWhy should the standards for debate moderator but so much more stringent than the standards for being president?
Radegunda (e1ea47) — 10/10/2020 @ 10:27 amI wasn’t that impressed with the degree of hysterics from Trump fans about the debates. If Trump cared about a fair debate, his conduct in the last one and his attempt to dodge the second wouldn’t have happened. He trampled all over the American voter’s need to know how these candidates differ.
But as a distinct matter, it’s weird the CSPAN guy pretends to be hacked on twitter. It’s at least a distraction and they should just replace him with someone else. We had a Fox News guy, let’s have someone who is from a legitimate media outlet this time.
Trump will cry wolf and say it’s not fair no matter who they put up there. That’s how people like that are. It makes it impossible to take him seriously (apparently North Korea agrees if you’re reading the news today). But sometimes there is a problem and Trump happens to be right.
Dustin (4237e0) — 10/10/2020 @ 10:43 amI’ve fretted about media bias for a long time. But for the past five years, every rational, fact-based criticism of Donald Trump is met with howls of “You just don’t like him!” Or charges that the critic must be deranged, or be “broken” by him. Trumpsters won’t acknowledge that Trump himself provides abundant reason to criticize him.
It’s true that various media outlets have not been impartial over the years, and have sometimes had serious credibility problems. But there’s practically no one in public life with less credibility than Donald Trump.
The people who regularly defend Trump’s dishonesty and selfishness and craziness, and get incensed when any media reports expose it, might not really be interested in fairness. They might just want the media to favor their side. They certainly weren’t offended by the disproportionate (neutral) media attention that Trump got in the primaries.
I’ve seen comments on the reluctance of the MSM to highlight some of the more disturbing incidents and features of the Trump presidency (partly because they want to retain access), and on the “normalizing” of what would have been judged unacceptable — and nutty — just a few years ago.
Radegunda (e1ea47) — 10/10/2020 @ 10:54 amI think his abysmal conduct in the last debate and efforts to dodge a second one demonstrates clearly to American voters how the candidates differ.
Dana (292df6) — 10/10/2020 @ 10:56 amReadegunda @ 18,
I have often said here that Trump just keeps giving his critics so much to work with. Maybe he should stop.
Dana (292df6) — 10/10/2020 @ 10:57 amGood point, Dana, but consider what Herman Cain has to say:
😬
Dustin (4237e0) — 10/10/2020 @ 10:58 amWell, it still required the VP’s assent, but Pelosi’s commission is perfectly constitutional. How it is appointed is a matter of some concern.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 10/10/2020 @ 11:00 amI don’t know if Jonah’s latest is behind The Dispatch paywall (and, by the way, I don’t regret for a minute paying the $100/year subscription). The relevant part:
While on the topic of Jonah, on the Twitter he reference a glowing piece on a guy I’ve never heard of: Alfred Jay Nock.
Paul Montagu (77c694) — 10/10/2020 @ 11:05 amIt’s not that Trump and his administration don’t know which end is up, but that with them in charge, we don’t either. The continuous chaos that comes from such turbulent “leadership”, with multiple power centers competing and a dishonest press distorting makes the prospect of citizens controlling their country’s destiny fairly impossible.
Step one has to be to end the chaos.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 10/10/2020 @ 11:06 amIt’s also weird to imagine the tweet is legitimate.
No high-profile professional journalist would ask a random hack like Scaramucci (of all people) whether he should respond to Trump’s rantings, much less do it publicly on Twitter less than a week before the debate he was supposed to moderate.
Even assuming he wanted advice for some reason, and had nobody more reputable than Scaramucci to ask, confidential email and private phone conversations are still a thing. Unlike our president, serious people don’t conduct sensitive professional business in the public, reality teevee glare of Twitter.
The article said authorities are investigating, which means a police report of some kind has been filed, and doing so falsely would be a serious crime. I hope they either confirm that he was hacked or expose his false claim, if it was false.
Dave (1bb933) — 10/10/2020 @ 11:08 am@23 I had no problem accessing that Dispatch article, and I’m damn sure I don’t send them a dime. Bad enough the dollar a week I send the WaPo and NYT (the LA Times can be had for a dollar a year if you hold out long enough).
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 10/10/2020 @ 11:09 amNo high-profile professional journalist would ask a random hack like Scaramucci (of all people) whether he should respond to Trump’s rantings
It could have been an accident. He wanted to send that tweet to someone and was “helped” by an autocomplete. Or, maybe he uses his birthday as his password. I wouldn’t call that hacking either.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 10/10/2020 @ 11:11 amThankfully for Scully, the FBI and a Twitter investigative team are now on the case. This should end well.
beer ‘n pretzels (042d67) — 10/10/2020 @ 11:11 amI actually do imagine that.
Greasing a source with unjustified and fake trust, accidentally sending a DM in public? Not really impossible. I agree it’s not that professional.
The people who have the IP that send the tweet (Scully) could just tell us the tweet was sent from Serbia or Texas. It’s interesting that the tweet was sent with an iPhone, same as all of Scully’s tweets. Did the hacker hack his way in and then enter a login and a single tweet into an iPhone instead of using a web browser on a computer?
Which agency is investigating? Was there a police report? Does the prosecutor for low level stuff like that have a year of stacked serious cases due to the way the world is these days, or are they hoping to push the envelope?
Dustin (4237e0) — 10/10/2020 @ 11:19 am“Words mean things. It did “appear to be a loop,” exactly as the Times said.”
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Which is why they made the story disappear instead of correcting or clarification lol.
There were even some in here insisting it was a green screen.
harkin (7fb4c9) — 10/10/2020 @ 11:19 am_
Assume they are all varying degrees of terrible.
Dustin (4237e0) — 10/10/2020 @ 11:20 amTwitter and the FBI are investigating
In one of the previous incidents when he claimed to hacked, a series of ads for some weight-loss product were posted in his name. That doesn’t sound to me like someone trying to hide behind a false hacking claim.
Dave (1bb933) — 10/10/2020 @ 11:21 amI would like to believe that Donald Trump is an honest, hardworking executive terribly maligned by his foes, with a press that only reports bad things about him. That all these attacks on him come from evil apparatchiks in the Deep State, intent on holding onto their anti-democratic power. That his handling of Covid was sabotaged by the CDC, WHO, the UN and the Chinese Communists in order to further their despotic One World conspiracy.
Sadly though, I’ve given up dropping acid.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 10/10/2020 @ 11:23 amThankfully for Scully, the FBI and a Twitter investigative team are now on the case
Dana Scully?
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 10/10/2020 @ 11:23 amIn one of the previous incidents when he claimed to hacked, a series of ads for some weight-loss product were posted in his name.
He gets hacked a lot, then? Hmmm. Why would that be? Just bad luck, like the guy who gets arrested 3 times for drunk driving?
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 10/10/2020 @ 11:26 amjohnny dollar
@johnnydollar01
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Media largely avoids Steve Scully controversy
CNN and MSNBC didn’t touch the subject, nor did the broadcast networks on their morning & evening newscasts. A spokesperson for Twitter had no comment when asked to confirm whether Scully’s account was hacked.
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Techno Fog
@Techno_Fog
·
Update –
We asked Debate Commission co-chair Frank Fahrenkopf two questions on the Steve Scully “hack”
1) Have the authorities been notified?
2) Will the Debate Commission make sure the hackers are brought to justice?
His response: “Call Cspan”
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Abigail Marone Flag of United States
@abigailmarone
·
Right, because someone would hack Steve Scully’s twitter to send one single tweet to Scarramucci, arguably one of the most irrelevant people in politics, and then Mooch would reply…
Makes total sense.
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Mooch responding like it’s part of a conversation is the bestest part.
_
Gillygully
harkin (7fb4c9) — 10/10/2020 @ 11:31 am@Gillygully
·
Maybe choose a more secure password than ‘Biden2020’.
_
I seem to recall a time when a Republican/conservative could criticize a GOP officeholder, perhaps harshly, and the result would be a civilized debate, maybe quite spirited, but it wouldn’t end in deep animosities and unbridgeable divisions.
Then along came a pathological narcissist who’s ignorant and dishonest and cruel and often unhinged, and a lot of people tell themselves that he’s an extraordinarily patriotic, self-sacrificing truth-teller of deep wisdom and towering courage — and that anyone who criticizes him and says he doesn’t represent conservative values is an enemy to be crushed.
Why such an awful person should command such fierce, quasi-religious devotion is a mystery, though not unprecedented in world history.
Radegunda (e1ea47) — 10/10/2020 @ 11:32 amThere was nothing to correct; it did appear to have a loop.
I think it was. First, I don’t believe video compression creates loops like that. Second, his spokesliar said he was “definitely outside” which doesn’t mean he was a few hundred yards away from the WH.
Nevertheless, compared to the routine dishonesty and corruption involving much more serious subjects that goes on every day in TrumpWorld, it’s something of a squirrel either way.
Dave (1bb933) — 10/10/2020 @ 11:32 amCOVID-19 cases in Arizona dropped 75% after mask mandates began, report says
COVID-19 cases in Arizona spiked 151% after a statewide stay-at-home order expired and dropped 75% following local mask mandates, a new report says.
……..
A stay-at-home order in Arizona expired May 15 and two weeks later — between June 1 and June 15 — the daily average number of COVID-19 cases jumped by 151%, the report says.
…….
The number of COVID-19 cases in Arizona peaked between June 29 and July 2, stabilized between July 3 and July 12, and declined by approximately 75% between July 13 and August 7, the report says.
“Mitigation measures, including mask mandates, that are implemented and enforced statewide appear to have been effective in decreasing the spread of COVID-19 in Arizona,” the report says.
What the report doesn’t make clear is that local jurisdictions were prevented by Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey from imposing mask requirements until June 17, when the new coronavirus that causes COVID-19 was already aggressively spreading throughout the state. Arizona does not have a statewide mask mandate.
…….
Decreases in COVID-19 cases in Arizona occurred between July 13 and Aug. 7, approximately two weeks after Ducey ordered the closure of bars, gyms, theaters, water parks and inner-tubing facilities.
…..
The report says mitigation measures such as masks, business closures and the state’s promotion of social distancing and good hand hygiene may not be the only factors that influenced declining COVID-19 case counts in Arizona.
Travel restrictions, measures in neighboring states, and individual choices cannot be ruled out as influencing case counts, the authors write, emphasizing that they did not assess how well Arizonans adhered to COVID-19 mandates and guidance.
Rip Murdock (82f8fa) — 10/10/2020 @ 11:36 am……..
I seem to recall a time when a Republican/conservative could criticize a GOP officeholder, perhaps harshly, and the result would be a civilized debate, maybe quite spirited, but it wouldn’t end in deep animosities and unbridgeable divisions.
Yeah, #NeverRomney was the turning point.
beer ‘n pretzels (042d67) — 10/10/2020 @ 11:37 amMay 2012 and March 2013, if you’d bothered to read the linked article.
So you think he secretly posted ads for some weight-loss scam himself, and covered it up by falsely claiming he was hacked?
Otherwise, why would poor password security disqualify him from moderating a debate?
Dave (1bb933) — 10/10/2020 @ 11:40 amWhereas the President of the United States does it the honorable way: He makes absurdly false statements, blithely contradicts himself, claims that he never said what he’s on tape saying, and asserts that anyone who fact-checks his multitudinous lies is “fake news.”
Being a defender of Donald Trump requires a resolute indifference to questions of honesty and integrity.
Radegunda (e1ea47) — 10/10/2020 @ 11:45 amHas Joe Biden been dishonest? Yes he has, but Trump beats all others in that department, and any Trump defender who claims to be offended by dishonesty from Biden or anyone not-Trump cannot be taken seriously.
Or maybe his deranged girlfriend has access to his account.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 10/10/2020 @ 11:46 amThe Taliban on Trump: “We hope he will win the election” and withdraw U.S. troops
Rip Murdock (82f8fa) — 10/10/2020 @ 11:47 am…….
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told CBS News in a phone interview, “We hope he will win the election and wind up U.S. military presence in Afghanistan.” The militant group expressed some concern about Mr. Trump’s bout with the coronavirus. “When we heard about Trump being COVID-19 positive, we got worried for his health, but seems he is getting better,” another Taliban senior leader told CBS News.
…….
A senior Taliban member told CBS News, “Trump might be ridiculous for the rest of the world, but he is sane and wise man for the Taliban.”
>>>>>>>>
An endorsement Trump can do without (which the campaign did reject) though the Administration’s and the Taliban’s goals are the same.
No matter how the investigation ends, this we know:
Scully actually was hacked —> apocalypse
beer ‘n pretzels (042d67) — 10/10/2020 @ 11:51 amScully made it up —> meh
Kamala Harris says Amy Coney Barrett’s faith shouldn’t be scrutinized in confirmation hearings
Democratic vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris said Amy Coney Barrett should “absolutely not” be questioned about her religious beliefs during confirmation hearings for the lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court.
“One’s faith should never be the basis of supporting or rejecting a nominee,” Harris told KPNX-TV in Phoenix on Thursday.
“But any questions that are about bias, any questions that are about perspective on adhering to jurisprudence and precedent — of course,” the senator from California said.
Rip Murdock (82f8fa) — 10/10/2020 @ 11:52 am……….
Steve Scully is about as controversial and exciting as mayonnaise.
Meh is right.
Rip Murdock (82f8fa) — 10/10/2020 @ 11:54 amYesterday, a federal judge struck down Governor Abbott’s decision to have only one ballot drop-off point per county, concluding that “the public interest is not served.” Prior to yesterday, here’s a map of the drop-off points in Harris County and all of Rhode Island, which has five counties.
Paul Montagu (c3657c) — 10/10/2020 @ 11:56 amHe is very controversial. A lot of republicans legitimately believe, for reasons they can point to, that he will not be fair. There is no great reason to be loyal to him or preserve this majesty of Scully moderation.
Both sides will always complain the moderator was unfair, but if it’s a lot of one side and they have a legitimate concern, why not swap them out? Isn’t that better? We want to focus on the candidates. Scully’s the subject so he needs to go.
Dustin (4237e0) — 10/10/2020 @ 11:57 amHere’s the reason why I don’t think that Trump will have much power over the GOP after he’s gone: for the most part those in the GOP who despised him and could not support him did not have dire policy differences with him. Their opposition was to the man primarily. There will be other figures in the GOP who can claim to continue Trump’s alleged mission and co-opt his supporters without being the total incompetent fraud that Trump was.
Trump was right on China. Trump was right on the need for returning manufacturing to the US and discouraging outsourcing, at least through fiscal measures. Trump was right on making our allies help pay for their defense. He was right on regulation. His DoEd choice was top notch. He was wrong on North Korea and some other places., and his tax cut was flawed.
But the reason that people didn’t support him, and why he will lose to a doddering relic, is that he, himself, was repulsive in so many many ways. Maybe there are some that are so wedded to Yosemite Sam that they can’t see what a fool the bunny makes of him, but most of Trump’s supporters will fall behind the next shiny object going their way.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 10/10/2020 @ 11:58 amIllegal immigrants on the election: “I want Trump out”
Illegal immigrants from Central America streamed into Mexico earlier this year, betting that a Democrat winning the White House next month would dramatically improve the odds of being able to continue north, successfully jump the U.S. border and gain a foothold.
“I want Trump out,” one Honduran migrant, cradling her child, told the Center for Immigration Studies during a January fact-finding mission. “I’ll wait for that because it would make things easier to get it.”
If Democratic nominee Joseph R. Biden wins the presidency next month, he is likely to pay off on the woman’s bet.
Mr. Biden has vowed to wipe away as much of President Trump’s immigration policies as possible, and given how much Mr. Trump has done through executive action, there is much Mr. Biden can nix with the stroke of a pen.
Gone would be the travel ban, the border emergency that is siphoning Pentagon money to the wall and Mr. Trump’s crackdown on bogus asylum claims. The former vice president also has said that given the reins, he would ask Congress to offer a chance at legal status to 11 million illegal immigrants and expand legal avenues for future immigrants.
beer ‘n pretzels (042d67) — 10/10/2020 @ 11:58 amNotorious #nevertrumpers Sean Spicer and Karl Rove say they believe Scully:
Sadly, nobody capable of independent, critical thought is pure enough for Trump and his cultists…
Dave (1bb933) — 10/10/2020 @ 12:00 pmTrue. Nevertheless, the guy is the subject, the American people ill served by legitimate concerns. What’s gained by keeping Scully up there? There’s a cost. What do we get out of this?
Dustin (4237e0) — 10/10/2020 @ 12:06 pmIt is remarkable how almost all of Trump’s ‘promises kept’ are fundamentally of this easy band-aid nature right, BNP? Seems like a deal maker could have made a deal.
Dustin (4237e0) — 10/10/2020 @ 12:07 pmPhiladelphia judge rejects Trump’s poll-watcher lawsuit
…….
The ruling from Judge Gary Glazer was a victory for Philadelphia officials and a loss for the Trump campaign. The dispute revolved around “satellite election offices,” where election officials register voters, process applications for mail-in ballots,and allow voters to fill out and submit their mail ballots.
The Trump campaign sent unauthorized poll watchers into some of these locations last month, but they were kicked out by local officials. President Donald Trump used this incident to spread false claims about anti-Trump bias at the polls, saying at last week’s debate that “bad things happen in Philadelphia.”
………
“The very detailed Election Code contains no provision that expressly grants the (Trump) Campaign and its representatives a right to serve as watchers at ‘satellite offices’ of the Board of Elections,” Glazer wrote in a 15-page ruling.
He later added, “given their scope, timing, and purpose, the satellite offices do not constitute polling places where watchers have a right to be present under the Election Code.”
Rip Murdock (82f8fa) — 10/10/2020 @ 12:08 pm……..
Doesn’t Trump know “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia?”
Were people driving around with big “Romney” flags on their pickup trucks? Were cheesy artists painting worshipful pictures of George Bush walking with (or followed by) Christ?
Back during the primaries, I saw unusually emotional and angry reactions to any criticism of Trump on the popular right-wing websites. Before #NeverTrump was a thing, conservatives who criticized Trump were labeled “leftists,” Hillary-lovers or Bernie bros, and un-American.
There are a lot of people who never identified as NeverTrump who became targets for venom as soon as they publicly criticized Trump. Some of them chose to work in the administration, but eventually saw too many disturbing actions from Trump to continue. Some have gotten death threats for going public with their concerns. (And some have said that many others still in the administration share their views but are trying to counter Trump’s worst impulses from the inside.)
It was the Trump devotees first and foremost who made the basic dividing line in American politics be: Do you love Trump, or do you not?
The main reason that most of the GOP in Congress have been so deferential and even reverential toward Trump is that they fear the wrath of those who see Trump as the only true patriot in America.
Radegunda (e1ea47) — 10/10/2020 @ 12:09 pmI hear a parade of horribles from those insisting that it’s Trump or Communism, and I truly sympathize, but we could have been looking at re-electing Ted Cruz, a man who has many of the beliefs that Trump professes, 70 IQ points and not being a lying, thieving, philandering, incompetent bastard.
And, guess what, Trump fans, this is YOUR fault. Own it.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 10/10/2020 @ 12:11 pm*plus 70 IQ pointws and…
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 10/10/2020 @ 12:13 pmIOW, just like the reaction of Trump defenders whenever Trump makes stuff up.
Radegunda (e1ea47) — 10/10/2020 @ 12:13 pmThat’s very unfair Dustin.
It was long after those promises were made, and more than a month after he was inaugurated, when President Trump discovered that things like health care could be “complicated”.
Trump: ‘Nobody knew health care could be so complicated’
Obviously there was no way President Trump could know that ahead of time!
Dave (1bb933) — 10/10/2020 @ 12:13 pmHow many Americans would be able to identify who Steve Scully is or his photo in a lineup?
Rip Murdock (82f8fa) — 10/10/2020 @ 12:14 pmAMEN
2016 was the perfect year to get a guy like that across the finish line. There’s a reason all the career politicians thought Cruz just didn’t get it.
This election could be Cruz vs Bernie, a real discussion of what the role of government is, from two guys willing to actually say something people don’t want to hear. If Cruz was competent, the COVID situation would be far better than it is.
Dustin (4237e0) — 10/10/2020 @ 12:15 pmOne thing I’ve thought from the beginning is that even if Trump is right on some policies, he makes any policy agenda look vile by stamping his face on it. He and his defenders have caused a large-scale reaction against the GOP and the whole concept of “conservative values,” which now looks more hypocritical than ever.
Another problem is that Trump, being self-centered and erratic, will put his own advantage first in the end, and cannot be relied upon to handle an unexpected crisis in a responsible way. His first and strongest concern is: “How can I get praise right now?” He cares much less about getting the job done than about getting credit.
Radegunda (e1ea47) — 10/10/2020 @ 12:25 pmIt is remarkable how almost all of Trump’s ‘promises kept’ are fundamentally of this easy band-aid nature right, BNP? Seems like a deal maker could have made a deal.
Thanks heavens you have a solution. Electing Biden should make this all better.
beer ‘n pretzels (042d67) — 10/10/2020 @ 12:31 pmBiden enters final weeks in commanding position as Trump wastes precious days
…….
With 24 days until the election and millions of votes already being cast, Biden’s aides and Democratic allies say Trump’s missteps and the former vice president’s message have given him a broad map with numerous paths to 270 electoral votes. Time is running out for Trump to change the race’s trajectory — and he is failing to capitalize on the opportunities that do exist.
In watchers’ eyes, Biden’s running mate, Sen. Kamala Harris of California, bested Vice President Mike Pence in their debate Wednesday night, a CNN post-debate poll found. Trump then wasted a day Thursday by calling into a Fox Business morning show and calling Harris a “monster,” blaming Gold Star families for his infection with coronavirus and saying he would not participate in his second debate against Biden…….
………
Trump’s actions over the week provoked a round of politically damaging headlines and left him without what could have been a valuable opportunity to improve on his first showing against Biden in a debate next week.
…….
Polls in recent days have found Biden with a large lead nationally — he is ahead 57% to Trump’s 41%, a CNN poll this week found — and in the core battleground states of Arizona, Florida, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, where he would likely cross the 270 electoral vote threshold by winning three or four of the six. Quinnipiac showed Biden with a 13-point lead in Pennsylvania and 11 points ahead in Florida. He led by 5 points in Wisconsin, per Marquette. The New York Times and Siena found Biden up 8 points in Arizona. And CBS and YouGov found him ahead by 2 points in North Carolina.
Biden to date has outspent Trump in all six of those core battleground states, making them his campaign’s central focus even as it eyes a broader playing field that includes Ohio, Iowa and potentially Texas and Georgia.
…….
Trump’s campaign has been aimed squarely at his base of White men without college degrees, and the President insisted on Limbaugh’s program Friday that they will turn out in vast numbers on Election Day.
“I think you’re going to see a very big explosion of voting,” Trump said.
Rip Murdock (82f8fa) — 10/10/2020 @ 12:37 pm……..
To paraphrase an anti-science ignoramus elected leader.
The story…
Paul Montagu (c3657c) — 10/10/2020 @ 12:42 pmSo, Trump gives a partisan political speech at a partisan political rally on White House grounds, which is the property of all the People, not just his supporters, but here’s a question: When was the last CV19 Task Force briefing? He had one with Dr. Atlas, not the task force, on September 16th. Maybe September 4th?
Paul Montagu (c3657c) — 10/10/2020 @ 12:58 pmNot asking for a friend, asking for myself.
Speaking of the Chinese virus…….
5 Charts That Show Sweden’s Strategy Worked. The Lockdowns Failed
https://fee.org/articles/5-charts-that-show-sweden-s-strategy-worked-the-lockdowns-failed/?fbclid=IwAR2sRUMOUz-69gTVZ0AkFBTjVkVRWzbM0H8Ra7-VWJuPw_ZYp-Uc4Lj2XVY
Jeffrey A Tucker
@jeffreyatucker
Not only no mask mandate; almost no mask wearing in Sweden. Never closed. God bless this free country.
__ _
Yinon Weiss
@yinonw
Sweden: An Update
This must be getting awkward for Spain, France, and the UK locking down again. Sweden is enjoying open schools, open businesses, and no masks.
Current daily death rates compared to Sweden:
Spain 25x
harkin (a3227e) — 10/10/2020 @ 1:08 pmFrance 10x
United Kingdom 7x
_
It’s amazing the charts you find on the internet.
nk (1d9030) — 10/10/2020 @ 1:15 pmJERRY DUNLEAVY
@JerryDunleavy
·
Biden claims Republicans are “packing the court now.” (Republicans are not packing the court now.) Biden also claims what Republicans are currently doing is “not constitutional.” (It is constitutional.) Biden refuses to say if he’ll pack the Supreme Court.
_ _
Emily Larsen
@emilyelarsen
·
In last three days, Biden:
1. Said he won’t reveal his stance on court-packing till after the election
2. Said voters don’t deserve to know his stance
3. Claimed that Republicans are court-packing &
4. Claimed that the GOP is unconstitutionally proceeding with ACB’s nomination
__
Just wait till Harris gets behind the wheel…..
harkin (a3227e) — 10/10/2020 @ 1:16 pm_
Although there could be something to it. Washington and Oregon are about as Swedish as America gets. What has the Covid been like there?
nk (1d9030) — 10/10/2020 @ 1:18 pmThe GOP has given up fiscal restraint and character under Trump. Now it only cares about culture — which, apparently, is how some evangelicals define their religious/social values. It is understandable they would embrace the King of Culture, Donald Trump. But the Democrats’ embrace of ever-changing culture is why Americans voted for Republican Presidents and Congress. Has the GOP found a way to give up the only thing that let them win elections?
DRJ (aede82) — 10/10/2020 @ 1:20 pmYeah, Ryne Sandberg was from Spokane – had a hard core Swedish accent for someone not first gen, makes perfect sense.
urbanleftbehind (ee810b) — 10/10/2020 @ 1:39 pmSwedes are very different from Americans. To start with, they have virtually eliminated money. They have also developed in an environment where co-operation is imperative. Winters are hard. So, trying to extrapolate their methods and experiences to other places isn’t very useful.
Besides, if you want to compare how other countries do things to the US, then you should be for socialized medicine, the metric system, parliaments and gun control.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 10/10/2020 @ 1:41 pmThe piece on Sweden is not honest. The Swedes adopted social distancing practices when it became obvious that too many were dying per capita compared to their neighbors. They don’t require masks (except in certain venues) but, unlike the US, the Swedish government speaks with one voice and the people trust what their scientists say.
For the US, we were on the cusp of a ventilator shortage and maxed out hospital capacity. I don’t believe Sweden reached that level, so it’s understandable that we had to take more severe measures. However, masks work. We can reopen the economy with masks and appropriate distancing and we can keep opening further up as the positivity rates and other numbers go down.
nk, WA and OR probably are more Swedish than the other states. Our numbers are pretty good because the respective governors are taking the counsel of their medical authorities, and residents are going along with it, for the most part. The result is that WA and OR are 44th and 48th in cases per million, respectively. We’re pretty far down in deaths per million (36th and 46th), which is saying something because the very first superspreader event in the US was 20 miles from my house.
Portland and Seattle have had no shortage of protests but there hasn’t been a major outbreak because the protesters mask up. My son has been to several; he showed up maskless one time, and he was shamed into putting one on by the other protesters.
Paul Montagu (c3657c) — 10/10/2020 @ 1:43 pmBiden will probably take his coming victory as a mandate and do as Obama did and overreach. The fact is that his victory is 98% on the basis that he isn’t Trump and he has narrow support past that. Any attempt at radical change will be met with strong opposition and, like Obama before him, will be punished at the midterms.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 10/10/2020 @ 1:47 pmThe GOP has given up fiscal restraint and character under Trump
To be fair, they gave up fiscal restraint under W, if not Nixon.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 10/10/2020 @ 1:49 pmKeep the churches open! Do you know how much preachers have to pay in car payments every month for the new mercedes benz model? As the license plate said on the rolls royce in the movie car wash. TIGHTE!
asset (e86db0) — 10/10/2020 @ 1:51 pmThe Tea Party movement started out with what appeared to be a serious concern about ballooning debt, while Dems kept saying it was just a bunch of racists who were upset that a black man was president. I went to a Tea Party event where the main speaker was a mayor (of a predominantly white and Asian city) who was more black than Obama.
When most of the Tea Partiers went full Trumpist, it became easy to look back on it all as a bunch of angry racists who cynically waved the banner of fiscal responsibility. But the Tea Partiers were not all white; they didn’t riot or loot, and typically they didn’t even leave trash behind. Their events were quite civilized in comparison with the normal leftist protests.
The current claim that the Tea Party brought ugliness and insanity into a formerly civilized political landscape is dishonest. But it does now appears that most of them really didn’t care much about the national debt.
Conversely, now a lot of Dems are pretending to care about it again.
Radegunda (e1ea47) — 10/10/2020 @ 2:15 pm@77. To be fair, the GOP never did: Reaganomics.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 10/10/2020 @ 2:19 pmLOL
lurker (d8c5bc) — 10/10/2020 @ 2:26 pmO.M.G. Plagiarist JoeyBee eerie in Erie.
Rambling about bald tires, ‘millions of union jobs’… graveyard shift, eh Joe? Brings up his speech to the dead at Gettysburg…and insists he won’t ban fracking. Won’t discuss Packo Court. Shuffles away from press…
‘Night of the Living Dead’ was filmed in Western PA too, Joe.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 10/10/2020 @ 2:36 pmBiden tells Americans they don’t deserve to know. Say what??:
He’s a brain-damaged IDIOT.
And it appears his mask is on upside down.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 10/10/2020 @ 2:47 pmFederal judge in Pennsylvania dismisses Trump campaign lawsuit on voting, calling fraud claims ‘speculative’
A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by the Trump campaign in Pennsylvania seeking to block the use of drop boxes as receptacles for mail ballots, require ballot signatures to match voter registration records and allow nonresident poll watchers at polling places, ruling that the president’s claims of potential fraud were “speculative.”
In a sharply worded opinion issued Saturday morning, U.S. District Judge J. Nicholas Ranjan of the Western District of Pennsylvania ruled that the Trump campaign has no standing because of the lack of evidence of actual fraud.
“While Plaintiffs may not need to prove actual voter fraud, they must at least prove that such fraud is ‘certainly impending,’ ” Ranjan wrote. “They haven’t met that burden. At most, they have pieced together a sequence of uncertain assumptions.”
Rip Murdock (82f8fa) — 10/10/2020 @ 2:49 pm……..
I supported the Tea Party and am not a Trump supporter. I support fiscal restraint, too, unless there is a good reason to spend money. National defense is a reason Republicans used to support, such as standing up to Russia with Reagan and terrorists with Bush. Under Trump, Republicans apparently want to show Americans they can spend money just like Democrats.
DRJ (aede82) — 10/10/2020 @ 2:51 pmThank you, lurker 81. Trump is a joke.
DRJ (aede82) — 10/10/2020 @ 2:55 pmTwo men arrested in plot to kidnap Michigan governor were Marine veterans
Rip Murdock (82f8fa) — 10/10/2020 @ 2:58 pmThat is a great video, Lurker.
DCSCA, I know you don’t like Reagan, but he was merely the president. He didn’t have this incredible effect. He wasn’t even the body passing the budget. What he spent then was a lot less than what your boy spends now, at any rate. Excusing your vote for Trump because all sins belong to Reagan is a cop out, my man.
I was on board with the Tea Party. Wouldn’t vote for Trump in a million years.
Dustin (4237e0) — 10/10/2020 @ 3:07 pmFrom the Biden campaign point of view, not answering the court packing question is good strategy. If the answer is that he favors court packing, it gives the Trump campaign a club to beat him over the head with. If he comes out against (which has in the past) he alienates his left.
Given the fact that this a non-salient issue (way behind Trump’s character, the pandemic, and the economy), the typical voter doesn’t care.
Rip Murdock (82f8fa) — 10/10/2020 @ 3:09 pmStolen from somewhere else…
While suturing a cut on the hand of a 75 year old Virginia farmer, the doctor
struck up a conversation with the old man.*
*Eventually the topic got around to Biden and his possible role as our
president. The old farmer said, ‘Well, ya know, Biden is a ‘Post Turtle”.
Not being familiar with the term, the doctor asked him, what a ‘post turtle’ was?
The old rancher said, ‘When you’re driving down a country road and you come
across a fence post with a turtle balanced on top, that’s a ‘post turtle’.
*The old farmer saw the puzzled look on the doctor’s face so he continued to explain.
“You know he didn’t get up there by himself, he doesn’t belong up there, he doesn’t
know what to do while he’s up there, he’s elevated beyond his ability to function,
and you just wonder what kind of dumb ass put him up there to begin with.”
*Best explanation I’ve heard yet.*
whembly (d96e8b) — 10/10/2020 @ 3:42 pmHe’s legitimizing the concept by acting like we don’t even deserve an answer about it. It would really screw things up. The nation needs stabilization of its processes, not even more tit for tat extremism (and this is extreme). If each political party can just add a few more justices each swing of the pendulum, the presidential election means a lot more than it has for centuries, particularly with regard to our civil rights.
If this alienates the left, he needs to explain that they don’t want President Ivanka Trump having this power either.
Dustin (4237e0) — 10/10/2020 @ 4:01 pmDRJ, regarding fiscal restraint, I joined the Concord Coalition back in the early 1990s when I became alarmed that our deficit was approaching $300 billion, so I’ve always considered myself a fiscal conservative. The sad part is that Republicans have only been serious about fiscal restraint when a Democrat wa president and when the GOP controlled the House and Senate. It worked that way during Clinton and Obama, less so under GW Bush.
Paul Montagu (3192f9) — 10/10/2020 @ 4:12 pmAs for the Tea Party, since I only agreed with about a third of their platform (theforvm *dot* org/diary/bird-dog/not-tea-partier), I wasn’t with them because IMO they were more about opposing Obama than budget reform. But that said, they get credit for the spending-constraining sequester. However, Harry Reid gets credit for it, too, since he was Senate Majority Leader, and Obama gets credit for signing the bill.
Trump threw all fiscal restraint out the window, and Democrats, too, what with all their spending bills. Even in good times, like 2019, we were hitting trillion-dollar deficits, thanks in part to the Trump tax cuts, which the CBO estimated would add $1.9 trillion to our debt. After all the virus dust has settled, we’re not going to collect enough revenues, so I favor ridding the tax cuts on incomes higher than $400k, but we’re not going to solve anything on the spending side without entitlement reform. Fiscal restraint is dead.
That’s interesting, Paul.
DRJ (aede82) — 10/10/2020 @ 5:02 pmHere’s the truth about Sweden and COVID.
For months, Sweden’s per capita death rate was 10 or 100 times higher than those other European countries – nearly as high as ours. Sweden’s rate is now down to where the others were in early August.
Because of their success, the other European countries gradually let down their guard and – predictably – cases and deaths have crept back up.
The moronic suggestion that preventative measures can be safely ignored is exactly the wrong conclusion to draw from the data.
Dave (1bb933) — 10/10/2020 @ 5:11 pm@91-
Rip Murdock (f8a200) — 10/10/2020 @ 5:24 pmBiden should oppose court packing, but a Democratic Congress will probably then strip the federal courts of jurisdiction to hear certain cases.
I wonder whether Kim will honor his “lover” Trump by naming his newest ICBM, capable of delivering multiple nuclear warheads anywhere in the continental US, after him?
Dave (1bb933) — 10/10/2020 @ 5:35 pmTaking Page From Authoritarians, Trump Turns Power of State Against Political Rivals
President Trump’s order to his secretary of state to declassify thousands of Hillary Clinton’s emails, along with his insistence that his attorney general issue indictments against Barack Obama and Joseph R. Biden Jr., takes his presidency into new territory — until now, occupied by leaders with names like Putin, Xi and Erdogan.
……..
He took a step even Richard M. Nixon avoided in his most desperate days: openly ordering direct, immediate government action against specific opponents, timed to serve his re-election campaign.
……..
“It is crazy and it is unprecedented,” said (Jack Goldsmith, who led the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel under President George W. Bush), now a professor at Harvard Law School, “but it’s no different from what he has been saying since the beginning of his presidency. The only thing new is that he has moved from talking about it to seeming to order it.”
……..
Presidential historians say there is no case in modern times where the president has so plainly used his powers to take political opponents off the field — or has been so eager to replicate the behavior of strongmen. “In America, our presidents have generally avoided strongman balcony scenes — that’s for other countries with authoritarian systems,” Michael Beschloss, the presidential historian, wrote on Twitter after Mr. Trump returned from the hospital where he received Covid-19 treatment and removed his mask, while still considered contagious, as he saluted from the White House balcony.
……….
Mr. Pompeo has always bristled when reporters have asked him to explain what the world should believe when it reads Mr. Trump’s most authoritarian-sounding tweets. He answers that what distinguishes the United States is that it is a “rule of law” nation, and then often turns the tables on his questioners, charging that even raising the issue reveals that the reporters are partisans, not journalists, intent on embarrassing Mr. Trump and the United States.
But his anger is often wielded as a shield, one that keeps him from publicly grappling with the underlying question: How can Washington take on other authoritarians around the world — especially China, Mr. Pompeo’s nemesis — for abusing state power when the president of the United States calls for political prosecutions and politically motivated declassifications?
Rip Murdock (f8a200) — 10/10/2020 @ 5:41 pm……..
By ordering these actions, Trump is showing how fundamentally weak his position is.
Coronavirus cases set new single-day records in six U.S. states and worldwide
……..
Missouri, Montana, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma and West Virginia all had record single-day increases in cases on Friday, according to NBC News’ tally.
……….
“We’re sick of wearing masks, we’re sick of all of this, and I get it, but we’ve got to hang in there for our kids. We’ve got to hang in there for ourselves,” Gov. Mike DeWine, a Republican, said.
“The best way to summarize it, I think, is that people are simply not being cautious,” the governor said. “They’re going about their family life and meeting with people.”
Ohio set a single-day record of 1,840 new cases, and Oklahoma of 1,524.
Missouri recorded just under 3,000 new cases, according to NBC News’ tally. The state also set a new single-day record for deaths at 129.
Cases have also risen in West Virginia with 382 new cases Friday; Montana with 722; and North Dakota with 656, according to the tally.
In Montana, cases have more than doubled in the last two weeks, compared to the two weeks before. There has also been a staggering 230 percent jump in Covid-19 related deaths in just over two months, according to Gov. Steve Bullock.
Rip Murdock (f8a200) — 10/10/2020 @ 5:46 pm……..
Coronavirus cases have nearly doubled over a two-week period in New Mexico, New Hampshire, and Vermont.
………
Regarding Breonna Taylor, the suspicious packages that went to her apartment in her ex-boyfriend’s name were from Amazon. This is on the detective who failed at verifying this information with the Postal Inspector.
Paul Montagu (77c694) — 10/10/2020 @ 5:47 pmHe took a step even Richard M. Nixon avoided in his most desperate days: openly ordering direct, immediate government action against specific opponents, timed to serve his re-election campaign.
Was this the meeting where Spiro Agnew brought up the Logan Act?
beer ‘n pretzels (042d67) — 10/10/2020 @ 5:58 pmDustin, why would they just add a few? If they add “n” it will be treated as a declaration of open war and resounded to with “n+1”
Might as well take it 29 or 37 or something.
Make sure you’re first move makes it hard for a 2nd. It’s not like it will be treated as reasonable.
A better answer from Biden would be.
“I don’t want to, but I need to see how this latest move by the GOP goes”
Time123 (e0a71b) — 10/10/2020 @ 6:02 pmWas this the meeting where Spiro Agnew brought up the Logan Act?
Rip Murdock (f8a200) — 10/10/2020 @ 6:12 pmI don’t think either Nixon or Agnew publicly ordered the DoJ to prosecute individuals for violating the Logan Act.
Here! Edumacate yerselfs about FDR’s court-packing plan! A Switch In Time Saves Nine. Nobody was even talking about it until the Court started stymieing the New Deal, and they stopped talking when the Court stopped stymieing.
So when, for example, President Harris’s executive order makes killing cows a capital offense and includes ganja in SNAP, all Roberts would have to do is make sure there’s a 5-4 majority to uphold the executive order. Provided, of course, that the country is in deep depression and Harris carried 46 states like FDR did, in the first place.
nk (1d9030) — 10/10/2020 @ 6:27 pmIt worked didnt it
https://mobile.twitter.com/BennSteil/status/1315013316926935041
Bolivar di griz (7404b5) — 10/10/2020 @ 6:40 pm@88. ‘He [Reagan] didn’t have this incredible effect.’
Except he did.
The damage done by that ‘affable dunce’ and his rabid righty minions in the 1980s created the gaudy, glittering cesspool -the swamp- that spawned the excesses of that era and nurtured the rise of Trump. Rembemer the Wall Street Crash of ’87? The S&L Collapse? The rise of junk bonds?
Trump is a Reagan Creation, Dustin.
So any ideological conservatives on the outs now whining about debt, deficits and so on are piping propaganda up your skirts. They created this Hell and lost control of it.
Payback is a b-tch.
Glorious. The whiners are but bitter dregs- and left America this echoing line:
“Reagan proved deficits don’t matter.”- VP Dick Cheney
Until they do.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 10/10/2020 @ 6:51 pmSmart!
On the contrary, you couldn’t find two more different people if you searched for 1000 years. They are opposites. Trump and his fans (not you, though you support him and oppose Reagan) are pretending. It’s not real.
Trump is Biden, just dialed up to 11 and with his soul destroyed by childhood trauma. We’re way past ideology.
Dustin (4237e0) — 10/10/2020 @ 6:55 pmno but I was in Houston so I know that was a hard time economically.
Dustin (4237e0) — 10/10/2020 @ 6:56 pm@106. You must have missed the 1980s:
Trump is a Reagan Creation, Dustin.
So much so that Ronnie’ Foundation is terrified of being associated with their monster that got loose. He is their ‘Picture of Dorian Gray.’ Just look at the roster of Reagan era rodents steering the Ship of State today. From Snowman Kudlow to the mouthpieces on and recruited from Fox. Trump is a Reagan Creation, D.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 10/10/2020 @ 7:17 pmThe only similarity between Trump and Reagan is that Reagan liked California girls and Trump wishes he was one.
nk (1d9030) — 10/10/2020 @ 7:20 pm@109. LOL Nancy, Kamala and Diane are not his type.
Trump is a Reagan Creation.
He. Is. You.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 10/10/2020 @ 7:25 pmSomeone didnt watch clash of the titans
https://mobile.twitter.com/TheCriticalDri2/status/1314692766409068546
Bolivar di griz (7404b5) — 10/10/2020 @ 7:28 pm“Someone didnt watch clash of the titans”
Someone isn’t familiar with the original sculpture that this is riffing off of.
Davethulhu (1ebef9) — 10/10/2020 @ 7:39 pmThe demon has to win, i guess this is like the carp wicked where the witch is deemed the sympathetic figure
Bolivar di griz (7404b5) — 10/10/2020 @ 7:41 pmActually, it’s amiable dunce and, with all his gaffes, Biden is far more an amiable dunce than Reagan ever was. Just because things get said over and over, doesn’t make them more true.
Paul Montagu (77c694) — 10/10/2020 @ 8:00 pmTranshomomatriarchal globalist collectivists. What’re you gonna do?
I don’t have much to do with “those people”, in person or at a distance, but I have noticed the trend to call all the relationships of the Greek gods rape, going on for maybe 20 years, among Tor Books’ editors and ghost writers.
nk (1d9030) — 10/10/2020 @ 8:08 pmAnd don’t nobody tell me what the environmentalists are saying about George Washington and the cherry tree. J.u.s.t. d.o.n’.t!
nk (1d9030) — 10/10/2020 @ 8:17 pmI found into the woods alittle tedious when it was performed in college, there isnt any positive element they cant ‘subvert expectations’
Bolivar di griz (7404b5) — 10/10/2020 @ 8:18 pm@114. Affable/amiable-; a dunce is a dunce. He voted for FDR… four times. 😉
Keep that candle lit, fella.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 10/10/2020 @ 8:22 pmWhen Reagan was elected President, we still had pinball machines and jukeboxes, 3 games or 3 songs for a quarter. I would play this tribute to Medusa on the jukebox while playing the pinball machine at the corner lunch counter (yeah, we still had those too.)
nk (1d9030) — 10/10/2020 @ 8:34 pmJason Whitlock is gonna lose a lot of his strange new respect over his choice of comparables.
urbanleftbehind (43a7d5) — 10/10/2020 @ 8:54 pmI don’t know why the link doesn’t work.
https://www.foxnews.com/sports/lebron-james-black-trump-journalist-jason-whitlock
Of course Jason Whitlock is full of sh!t. He doesn’t even understand himself what he’s writing.
Is “athletic privilege” anything like talent, dedication and hard work, and are those anything like having a rich daddy?
nk (1d9030) — 10/10/2020 @ 9:19 pmWhitlock is the type of fellow who calls himself conservative until he gets pulled over for a minor traffic offense or gets butted in line at a rib joint by a white dude.
urbanleftbehind (43a7d5) — 10/10/2020 @ 9:25 pmBut according to alphabet boy Lindthay Graham, that’s all you need to fly straight in the Palmetto state.
urbanleftbehind (43a7d5) — 10/10/2020 @ 9:28 pmDana,
Thank you for linking that article by Jonah Goldberg. It’s the best thing I’ve read about our political situation.
norcal (a5428a) — 10/10/2020 @ 9:32 pm@119.When Reagan was elected President, we still had pinball machines and jukeboxes, 3 games or 3 songs for a quarter.
Biden still talks of record players.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 10/10/2020 @ 9:45 pmI am looking at my 1968 Panasonic stereo console, walnut, with twin 22″ speakers, LP, 8-track, AM/FM/FM Stereo, and headphone/guitar jack right now.
nk (1d9030) — 10/10/2020 @ 9:54 pmI should sort through my LPs. I think the last one I bought was a pre-Born In The USA Bruce Springsteen live concert.
nk (1d9030) — 10/10/2020 @ 10:05 pmMy fake ballot arrived! Woo-hoo!
Dave (1bb933) — 10/11/2020 @ 2:12 amstuff it, Dave.
mg (8cbc69) — 10/11/2020 @ 2:40 amI am looking at my 1968 Panasonic stereo console, walnut, with twin 22″ speakers, LP, 8-track, AM/FM/FM Stereo, and headphone/guitar jack right now.
nk (1d9030) — 10/10/2020 @ 9:54 pm
My dear departed sister asked me to suggest a good brand that made VCRs not too long after they came out. I told her “you can’t go wrong with Panasonic.” She purchased one and it never broke down. she had it for 22 years before selling it in a garage sale designed to lighten the requirements of a move. I forget how much she got for it.
felipe (023cc9) — 10/11/2020 @ 4:23 amnk (1d9030) — 10/10/2020 @ 8:34 pm
I’ve got one of these pinball machines. It takes dimes. The top glass has been replaced and the coin lock repaired, but no other work has been done to it. It needs new rubber bands around the bumpers, but still works well. It was given to me as a gift. One of the most satisfying gifts ever.
One of these days I need to replace the rubber bands before they are no longer available!
felipe (023cc9) — 10/11/2020 @ 4:40 amMy 1985 Panasonic VHS still decorates the TV stand, felipe. The TV, though, the third to grace that stand, is now connected to a Roku by HDMI.
nk (1d9030) — 10/11/2020 @ 5:22 amhttps://mobile.twitter.com/MrAndyNgo/status/1315058807240904704
Bolivar di griz (7404b5) — 10/11/2020 @ 6:11 amWont be mentioned elsewhere
https://mobile.twitter.com/MiamiYRs/status/1314990594884866050
Bolivar di griz (7404b5) — 10/11/2020 @ 6:50 amAs it turns out, Trump wasn’t one of the diers. With all the drang and drama out there, there are writers who produce consistent clarity and insight about what’s going on, and Ms. Nuzzi is one of them.
Paul Montagu (46c5d4) — 10/11/2020 @ 7:00 amStephen L. Miller
@redsteeze
·
The internal polling on court packing has to be off the charts bad for Biden to not answer it and now Dems + media allies all repeating and rehearsing in unison the bogus “Akshully it’s Republicans doing it…” (they aren’t) talking point.
__ _
Boy, they all got the memo, didn’t they?
harkin (7fb4c9) — 10/11/2020 @ 7:03 am_
Well you gotta vote for that box of chocolates
Bolivar di griz (7404b5) — 10/11/2020 @ 7:05 amU jelly!
I’d be interested to hear Patrick’s take on the CA cash bail referendum. The voter guide has groups I tend to be skeptical of arguing both for and against it.
Dave (1bb933) — 10/11/2020 @ 8:18 amRe Pinball:
I had a chance to buy a Bally’s Bow and Arrow long ago and didn’t, sigh.
Along with Bally’s Flicker and Eight Ball, one of the three greatest machines ever made.
Nothing fancy, just pure player machines from the mid-70s.
harkin (7fb4c9) — 10/11/2020 @ 8:18 amThe Tea Party movement started out with what appeared to be a serious concern about ballooning debt
Radegunda,
The Tea Party got the spotlight and the press and everyone on that side of the spectrum with an issue they wanted aired climbed on board. At the end, no one knew what the Teas were about; it was cacophony.
The same thing has happened to BLM, btw. The initial demand that the system treat blacks no differently than whites would be in the same situation has been consumed by all kinds of attention-seeking. Part of this is the fault of the attention-seekers, part of it is the result of the original BLM folks trying to grow their numbers.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 10/11/2020 @ 8:20 am‘Well, ya know, Biden is a ‘Post Turtle”.
And Trump is the post holding him up.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 10/11/2020 @ 8:25 am“The same thing has happened to BLM“
__
The Tea Party and BLM are not remotely similar in regards to getting out of hand.
The Tea Party, in all its manifestations, never rioted, burned, looted etc. In fact they were famous for assembling peaceably, saying their say, cleaning up after themselves and then going home.
BLM is a zoo of political agitprop and civil disobedience to the point of riots, looting, fires and destruction.
The most disturbing thing about the Tea Party was its treatment by the media while they coddled the trash and crime-fests known as Occupy.
harkin (7fb4c9) — 10/11/2020 @ 8:28 am_
For months, Sweden’s per capita death rate was 10 or 100 times higher than those other European countries – nearly as high as ours.
In April and May, death rates were higher in Italy, Spain, the UK, France, Belgium. At no time after the outset was Sweden’s death rate even 10 times higher than the European average. There are some European countries (e.g. Greece) that report death rates of 2 or 3 per 100K, but those are better explained by lying than any public health measures.
Sweden’s death rate is about 55/100K which is fairly typical in the first world.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 10/11/2020 @ 8:39 amre: Pinball
The machine in my college dorm was the unflashy but amazingly fun and addictive El Dorado
Dave (1bb933) — 10/11/2020 @ 8:41 amThe feds arrested 13 Boogaloos in seven days in Michigan and Delaware (plus killed one in an armed stand-off). A number of the Wolverine Watchmen, who plotted sedition against the State of Michigan, are Boogaloos.
Paul Montagu (77c694) — 10/11/2020 @ 8:43 amMight as well take it 29 or 37 or something.
This is why I feel the Court will take it as an attack on the independent judiciary, and not allow it. It would be extremely destabilizing no matter how many seats were added as it would inevitably lead to further additions. The Court would know that acquiescing once would mean acquiescing again and again.
Their only real option would be to declare the Court to be fixed at 9 members due to the passage of 150 years since that size was determined. It is no less reasonable than many other things that have come out of that court, and it is really the only way they can defend against utter domination by the other two branches.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 10/11/2020 @ 8:45 amSo who starts bloodily pruning the Boogs embedded in their respective midst first?
urbanleftbehind (4c2201) — 10/11/2020 @ 9:03 amTrump is a Reagan Creation.
Reagan would be appalled. Among the things he insisted upon were decorum, respect for the office and representing the United States as best he could. Trump is trailer-trash. Rich trailer-trash, but trailer-trash none the same. On a scale of world leaders, Trump is closer to Batista than Lincoln.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 10/11/2020 @ 9:07 amI remember, not long ago, that conservatives lamented the unelected and unaccountable court’s domination of the other two branches. Something about “our black-robed masters,” or words to that effect.
Now, suddenly, they are an endangered species…
Here’s an interesting hypothetical: suppose Thomas announces his retirement the day after Biden’s victory, and the GOP rams through a forty-something replacement in the lame-duck session. All good?
Dave (1bb933) — 10/11/2020 @ 9:16 amIt was a cool move that Reagan was wearing a Superman T-shirt underneath his suit when he was returning to the White House after getting shot. Why wouldn’t Trump want to emulate that. Oh, wait.
Paul Montagu (77c694) — 10/11/2020 @ 9:18 amACB opening statement:
https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/11/politics/read-amy-coney-barrett-opening-statement/index.html
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 10/11/2020 @ 9:26 amOkay, if I’m ever going to do it, this is a good time as many, even if it does violate the Subprime Directive:
nk (1d9030) — 10/11/2020 @ 9:29 amI am a time traveler from the future, sent here to observe a dangerous juncture in the time stream. If Trump maintains his influence in the Republican Party, by winning the election or otherwise, his supporters will increase and coalesce all the more and, with the uncontrolled inbreeding, every Republican in 2120 will be his own grandpa.
Here’s an interesting hypothetical: suppose Thomas announces his retirement the day after Biden’s victory, and the GOP rams through a forty-something replacement in the lame-duck session. All good?
Yes. That is what almost always happens. John Marshall was nominated by a lame-duck president (Adams) and confirmed by a lame-duck Federalist Senate after they had gotten wiped out in the 1800 election.
There is NO case where a president failed to make a nomination to an open Supreme Court seat when it occurred, regardless of the election cycle. There is only one case where a Senate of the president’s party failed to confirm (although one was withdrawn for technical reasons).
This has even happened during the election period: Charles Evans Hughes resigned from the Court to accept his party’s nomination for President in 1916, and Wilson and the Senate quickly nominated and confirmed his replacement.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 10/11/2020 @ 9:31 amDave (1bb933) — 10/11/2020 @ 8:41 am
I always thought that the secret of fun pinball machines was the “bank targets” that you needed to knock down to increase their value. The most maddening target, imo, were the end targets, which I always got last. You are right. El Dorado is fun,
felipe (023cc9) — 10/11/2020 @ 9:33 amevery Republican in 2120 will be his own grandpa.
Wait’ll you see the “grandfather clause” whey are working on.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 10/11/2020 @ 9:34 amalthough i admit ive had my suspicions it hurts that youve been less than honest with us all this time mr nk
Dave (1bb933) — 10/11/2020 @ 9:36 amThe Mayor of Chicago recently declared herself The Corona Destroyer.
Meanwhile, the People Destroyers in her city are still hard at it:
brobert545
@brobert545
30 shot so far in Chicago this weekend. Four dead. 24 hours to go.“
harkin (25433a) — 10/11/2020 @ 9:40 am_
On “ElDo” (as we affectionately called it) the left-most target was easy, but we called the right-most one, which wasn’t, “The B*tch”.
Dave (1bb933) — 10/11/2020 @ 9:42 amWhat I think you’re missing is that there are things that can be done other than not confirm a SCJ.
Time123 (b87ded) — 10/11/2020 @ 9:55 amI don’t know if the dems are open to them, or if the GOP would be willing to even consider them absent some acknowledgement of the rights of the minority party I think this ends badly. In the bad scenario I think the best move by the Dems is to weaken the court by a expanding it to a large enough extent that rebalancing through further expansion would be difficult. Like upping the court to 37 justices.
Like upping the court to 37 justices.
Congress can effectively up it to 792 justices by limiting the Supreme Court’s appellate jurisdiction to only resolving splits among the circuits.
The Supreme Court’s appellate jurisdiction is only what Congress says it is. They should do it anyway. No fuss, no muss.
nk (1d9030) — 10/11/2020 @ 10:16 amAnd a week after Marshall was confirmed, Adams and the lame-duck Federalist Congress passed the so-called “Midnight Judges Act,” which, among other things, reduced the size of the Supreme Court by one justice, effective upon the next vacancy, to prevent Jefferson from being able to nominate a justice until there were two vacancies.
Reverse-packing, if you will…
It also created 16 new judgeships for Adams to fill in his last month. A separate, but similar piece of legislation created the office that became the subject of Marbury vs. Madison after Marshall’s brother was unable to deliver a few of the commissions on the last day of Adams’ term.
Dave (1bb933) — 10/11/2020 @ 10:22 amI think the best move by the Dems is to weaken the court by a expanding it to a large enough extent that rebalancing through further expansion would be difficult. Like upping the court to 37 justices.
It would be easier to weaken the court by stripping its jurisdiction over abortion cases, for example.
Rip Murdock (f8a200) — 10/11/2020 @ 10:46 amI wish Trump would have come out with a Nuclear New Deal, because that would’ve been a real contributor to lessening CO2 emissions and such. A Biden administration will be anti-nuclear power, which is stupid. I wasn’t a big Yang fan, but he is smart about nuclear energy.
Paul Montagu (77c694) — 10/11/2020 @ 10:50 amJaime Harrison shatters Senate fundraising record for South Carolina race
South Carolina Democrat Jaime Harrison raised a staggering $57 million in the third quarter of this year, shattering the previous record for a Senate candidate as he seeks to unseat GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham.
……..
…….. Harrison’s campaign said he received 1.5 million donations during the three-month period from 994,000 donors, with an average of just $37. His campaign did not share how much cash Harrison had on hand as of Sept. 30.
Graham has not yet released his third-quarter fundraising totals. He raised $8.4 million in the second quarter and had $15 million in the bank as of June 30. Graham has increasingly signaled that he’s in dire financial straits: Late last month, he went on Fox News twice in a single day and implored viewers to donate to his campaign, saying he was “getting overwhelmed.”
Rip Murdock (f8a200) — 10/11/2020 @ 11:10 am……….
………. A poll from Quinnipiac University late last month showed the race tied at 48 percent. ……
……….
ah firestarter, how did she get back without a boat,
https://legalinsurrection.com/2020/10/get-everyone-to-vote-biden-climate-activist-greta-thunberg-throws-her-support-behind-joe-biden/
bolivar de gris (7404b5) — 10/11/2020 @ 11:20 amKevin @ 143,
I think deaths per capita are probably the best way to measure performance.
Per this chart we’re doing terribly.
We’re at 600 per million, which isn’t an outlier, but we’ve been trending up for months. Other comparable countries in that range had an early rise and then leveled off.
Time123 (7cca75) — 10/11/2020 @ 11:35 amYou can see Tapper grill Biden’s deputy campaign manager over Biden’s refusal to just admit that yes, they want to pack the court (which in turn means they will need the keys to the Senate too). The amount of obfuscating and spinning the deputy campaign manager does is really impressive.
Dana (292df6) — 10/11/2020 @ 11:39 amRepublicans Are Suddenly Afraid of Democracy
“We’re not a democracy,” Republican Senator Mike Lee tweeted in the middle of Wednesday night’s vice-presidential debate. He was reacting to something he’d heard onstage there, in his home state of Utah. Another tweet: “The word ‘democracy’ appears nowhere in the Constitution, perhaps because our form of government is not a democracy. It’s a constitutional republic. To me it matters. It should matter to anyone who worries about the excessive accumulation of power in the hands of the few.” Hours after the debate Lee was still worrying the thought: “Democracy isn’t the objective; liberty, peace, and prospefity [sic] are. We want the human condition to flourish. Rank democracy can thwart that.”.
……..
………Worried about an election in which the people can express their will, Lee was laying the groundwork to contest the results or block an elected majority from governing.
The Trump administration is using the last weeks of the campaign to soften up the country for a repudiation of democracy itself. ……..
Trump keeps promising to try. Every time he talks about “massive fraud” and sending the election to a Supreme Court with a conservative majority, he’s preparing you to have your vote taken away—to make that shocking prospect a little more normal, even inevitable. Each new controversy, each norm broken, each authoritarian pose makes Trump’s intention to nullify the election results clear.
……….
Senator Lee made a constitutional case on Twitter for what President Trump will try to do by chin-jutting fiat. What Lee calls “rank democracy,” Trump calls a “rigged election.” Later, Lee explained that he’s concerned about the protection of minority rights from a coercive majority. That sounds like a hedge against an election blowout.
……… Like the antebellum South, today’s Republican Party is composed of a demographically and economically weakening population. It appeals ever harder to an ever-shrinking base of older, white, male, rural, less-educated Americans. And, like the antebellum South, the Republican Party holds on to power by exploiting the Constitution’s unrepresentative features—the Senate, the Electoral College, and unelected justices with lifetime appointments. These institutions have concentrated outsize power in a minority party that doesn’t hesitate to break the rules for maximum advantage. Its skill in drawing inside straights and turning weak hands into political domination has been impressive. But next month’s election seems poised to begin the return of majority rule.
If so, then Republicans who trashed checks and balances for four years in order to consolidate conservative power will suddenly rediscover them. Not to constrain presidential abuses, but to thwart the popular will—first by trying to send the election to legislatures and courts and then, failing that, by blocking every move of a Democratic president and Congress. We’ll hear a lot of talk about the rights of minorities, the importance of separation of powers, and how America isn’t really a democracy. ……..
Rip Murdock (f8a200) — 10/11/2020 @ 11:43 am…….
Having chained their party to Trump, Republicans will follow him in his frantic effort to delegitimize the coming election. ……..
Accused of fear of Democracy because they point out we are a Republic is lol.
harkin (25433a) — 10/11/2020 @ 11:44 amIrony has a crunchy nacho flavor.
Bolivar di griz (7404b5) — 10/11/2020 @ 11:45 amFor anyone who hasn’t had the chance to read Bret Stephens’ excellent critique of his own paper’s 1619 Project, here’s a copy not hindered by a paywall:
The 1619 Chronicles
https://newsfinale.com/news/the-1619-chronicles/
harkin (25433a) — 10/11/2020 @ 11:47 am_
LG gets the Ted Cruz 2018 trophy. Or will the mg equivalents down in SC outsmart themselves into an R defeat?
urbanleftbehind (4c2201) — 10/11/2020 @ 11:47 amWhat I think you’re missing is that there are things that can be done other than not confirm a SCJ.
Historically it goes much like ACB or Garland, depending. Sometimes nominations are withdrawn and another sent up. John Tyler had a terrible time.
Obama could have withdrawn Garland and tried to find someone more palatable — the NRA’s opposition to Garland suck him with the GOP as badly as NARAL opposing a justice would have done with Democrats. If he had sent up a abortion-friendly civil rights judge with a pro-2nd-Amendment record, they might have gone for it. But Obama really didn’t want the judge confirmed since Trump’s success made Hillary a slam-dunk,
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 10/11/2020 @ 11:50 amRe Bret Stephen’s, what’s the big deal? Both the Sun-Times and the Trib had to learn to live with Dennis Byrne, their unlikable, not-concerned with a POC walkway, paleoconservative. Stephen’s seems closer to David Brooks on that particular spectrum.
urbanleftbehind (4c2201) — 10/11/2020 @ 11:50 amWhat makes you so sure it’s not the opposite?
Dave (1bb933) — 10/11/2020 @ 11:53 amHe gets the set of steak knives (glengarry glen ross)
Bolivar di griz (7404b5) — 10/11/2020 @ 11:53 amMore from the anti-Mike Lee camp:
“Trump can be and must be expunged….His enablers…the Mike Lee’s, the William Barr’s and the Sean Hannity’s and the Mike Pence’s…and the Amy Coney Barrett’s must be prosecuted and convicted and removed from our society” – Keith Olberman
harkin (25433a) — 10/11/2020 @ 11:54 am_
Historically also: away from an election, the President’s choice is accepted by the Senate barring special considerations. Although RBG, Sotomayor, Kagan and Breyer were all confirmed while the Senate was Democrat-controlled. RBG and Breyer only had token opposition. Things didn’t get testy until Reid started playing games.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 10/11/2020 @ 11:55 am@126. Worked for Panasonic back in the day. Here’s a few tips from the people who actually made and sold the stuff. 1. The products are designed and marketed for 5 year lifetimes. The marketing plans are on display in a locked room in each product group department. The Japanese did not vary the plans. Goes for everything from turntables to car stereos. [The engineers insisted consumers should never buy a belt drive turntable; the belts wear and ‘liquify’ over time.] 2. Always purchase separate components; never buy integrated pieces; when one element goes bad you have to cart the whole unit in for repair. 3. LEDs were added to most components [in the 80s] as a marketing gimmick- specifically for the American market- which research confirmed like the lights; the ‘bells and whistles’ do nothing but eat power. 4. The product engineers said the radios are the best components- the tubed television sets, second [Sony sets were the best]; by far the worst: the speaker systems. They had an acoustic room set up for testing the products and the speakers were always rated poorly; considered ‘tinny’ in sound. They’re cheap.
The most prolific product sold worldwide under the Panasonic logo [and aftermarket labels] are the batteries. They are date stamped on the bottom w/date of manufacture. America was just another market to them, albeit a big one. Only in the U.S. was this date issue a problem when first introduced into American markets. U.S. manufacturers date stamp their products with an expiration date. Matsush!ta, [Panasonic’s parent company along w/Technics,JVC, etc.,] cracked the U.S. market w/battery sales by deliberately marketing them at below cost to undercut American product prices. The 3-5 year plan was to gain market share– and it worked. They can apply this w/a all the product groups for product introductions; the corporate structure in Japan allowed Matsus!ita to absorb ‘short term’ losses just to gain long term market share which most quarterly driven U.S.manufacturers cannot. Without doubt the most hilarious sight was when Sony would introduce a new product; the white-coated engineers would run out, purchase a system, cart in down to the lab and literally take it apart to see how it was designed and operated.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 10/11/2020 @ 11:56 am“What makes you so sure it’s not the opposite?”
_
Just maybe the Dems’ attempt to redefine court-packing as the currently Republican effort to follow the Constitution.
harkin (25433a) — 10/11/2020 @ 11:56 am_
I thought Garlad was a pretty centrist Dem….am i mistaken?
Time123 (235fc4) — 10/11/2020 @ 12:00 pmHere’s a real question: Suppose the Senate is left in GOP hands, Biden is elected and Breyer or Thomas retires. In theory it should make no difference which. Biden sends up an anti-gun critical-race-theorist black lesbian judge. Can/should the GOP demur? How about a left-center statist like Sotomayor who thinks Heller was wrongly decided?
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 10/11/2020 @ 12:01 pmFauci to Trump: Leave me out of your ads
Dave (1bb933) — 10/11/2020 @ 12:03 pmI thought Garlad was a pretty centrist Dem….am i mistaken?
No. But his few gun rulings were seen as anti-2nd-amendment which made the rest irrelevant. This is a third rail to the base, Trump notwithstanding. The NRA made their feelings very clear, and it was echoed by most of the party. Our host was among them at the time.
This also has to be viewed in the post-Reid environment. Reid’s filibuster strategy had short term advantages but it has done some long-term damage, hardening attitudes on both sides.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 10/11/2020 @ 12:07 pmLet is kiss the unfallible fauci except when hes wrong, then ignore it.
Bolivar di griz (7404b5) — 10/11/2020 @ 12:09 pmIf Scalia’s seat had opened 6 months earlier, and Garland had been sent up, he would at least have gotten a vote. Much as Bork did.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 10/11/2020 @ 12:09 pmCourt-packing is also “following the constitution.”
Dave (1bb933) — 10/11/2020 @ 12:11 pm@132. That VCR must weigh a ton, nk. They were sold for $600-$800 and eventually the price point was dropped to $200 as components moved from metal to plastic and so forth. Was in the middle of those ‘video wars’ back in the day. The most amusing thing about them was the Sony Beta system actually has a better picture quality— but the tapes only recorded 4.5 hours max. Sony’s mistake was not licensing their Beta format to other PAL/NTSC manufacturers. Matsush!ta, which invented the VHS system, did– and gained a huge market share worldwide. It was Hollywood that ultimately decided which format would win when studios w/large libraries licensed to distributors, rental outlets and retailers decided the VHS format was the way to go chiefly due to the availability of the VHS VCR formats.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 10/11/2020 @ 12:11 pmhttps://mobile.twitter.com/MrAndyNgo/status/1315058807240904704
Bolivar di griz (7404b5) — 10/11/2020 @ 6:11 am
Tweet’s been deleted, but let me guess: shooting in Denver.
Because lol did you and harkin’s favorite twitter personalities step on their d!cks over that.
Davethulhu (1ebef9) — 10/11/2020 @ 12:23 pmInteresting, in the very interview with Tapper that Dana mentioned, Tapper plays tape of Biden saying in 1983, and again less than a year ago, that court-packing is a stupid idea that he wants no part of.
He has never expressed any intention to do so, but explicitly disavowing it right now would likely cost him more votes than it gains him. Of course, that’s exactly what his opponents want, but it’s wise not to oblige them, and also wise not to try to split the difference (dishonestly) by professing a “we’ll see what happens” attitude.
In fact, he is pointedly *not* saying there is any uncertainty in his own mind about what his position is or will be. He knows he’s against it, he’s just not going to demoralize some of his supporters by saying so out loud right now.
Dave (1bb933) — 10/11/2020 @ 12:25 pmHeavy.com has the word on the shooter at yesterday’s rally in Denver. He’s a Bernie Bro, he attended Occupy protests nine years ago, he’s definitely liberal but pro 2nd Amendment (he sold honey from his farm at gun shows, and he hunts turkey), he was a fan of Charles Krauthammer, he’s terrible at spelling and grammar.
Paul Montagu (77c694) — 10/11/2020 @ 12:54 pmAlso, police denied he’s Antifa, so far.
An unusual combination, Paul.
DRJ (aede82) — 10/11/2020 @ 1:01 pmIf Trump loses, I actually look forward to being entertained by TrumpTV or his version of Rush Limbaugh’s radio show. I think he has had some (very limited) limits on himself as President, but there will be no limit on what he will do or say, or how he will monetize himself, as a former President.
DRJ (aede82) — 10/11/2020 @ 1:05 pmAllahpundit has a nice analysis of the court-packing kerfuffle:
New Dem Talking Point: Republicans Packed The Court First
Dave (1bb933) — 10/11/2020 @ 1:09 pmSouth of the border
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.com/news/amp/world-latin-america-54492226
Bolivar di griz (7404b5) — 10/11/2020 @ 1:11 pmIf he’s in prison, or a psychiatric ward, there will.
Dave (1bb933) — 10/11/2020 @ 1:12 pmHe’s a Bernie Bro, he attended Occupy protests nine years ago…
It’s a race between Biden staffers and Jay-Z as to who bails him out first.
beer ‘n pretzels (042d67) — 10/11/2020 @ 1:12 pmDRJ @193-
The original Trump TV.
Rip Murdock (a9a78d) — 10/11/2020 @ 1:40 pm@190. In fact, he is pointedly *not* saying there is any uncertainty in his own mind about what his position is or will be.
In fact, he is.
This guys candidacy was dead. He let Clyburn corner him into limiting his VP pics to blacks to save his azz– then chose poorly. He has lied about fracking and won’t reaffirm his position on Packo Court at a time when it most matters most to voters just to keep his left wing from breaking off so he doesn’t crash and burn. And the idiot doesn’t even have the brains to articulate a smart response- ‘if I answer my answer it will be front page news.’ Duh! He’s running for CiC for God’s Sake.
His whole history is peddling access for favors- from Hunter to MBNA to DuPont. He’s a 47 year Swamp Creature Deluxe; a plagiarist and a lir wh ha not lived in Scranton, PA in 67 years.
And idiots like Biden are precisely the reason Trump beat out similar swamp-creatured weenies infesting the GOP and was elected in the first place.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 10/11/2020 @ 1:46 pm@148. Reagan would be appalled.
So ‘appalled’ he and his rabid-rightie-minions championed the creation of the gaudy, gilded, excessive, cesspool that nurtured and spawned the likes of Boesky, Milken– and Donald Trump. Or is it just Rawhide he slept through his 1980’s hell, too.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 10/11/2020 @ 1:53 pm@167. Tapper has lost all credibility– especially after giving Jill Biden a pass on discussing JoeyBee’s gaffes. No Sam Donaldson he.
Grilling the campaign manager is minor league softball. He’s not running for office; Joe Biden is.
It’s the candidate who needs the grilling– and given Tapper’s pass on Jill, he won’t get it from him–nor be allowed to grill Plagiarist JoeyBee for fear of a meltdown live on camera.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 10/11/2020 @ 2:01 pmHuman beings, especially those of us with strong opinions on everything, really suck at noticing when things have changed. Whether it’s always fighting the last war or not knowing there’s nuclear power technology that’s orders of magnitude safer than Three Mile Island, much less Chernobyl, we can be real idiots.
lurker (d8c5bc) — 10/11/2020 @ 2:10 pmIIRC there used to be a lively Ebay market for John Wayne Gacy’s prison artwork.
lurker (d8c5bc) — 10/11/2020 @ 2:14 pmWait. What? On one hand you are critical of Tapper for giving Mrs. Biden – who is not running for the presidency – a pass when she declined to discuss her husband’s gaffes. You then tell us that it is the candidate that needs to be questioned, not the campaign manager because she isn’t running for the presidency. Again, neither is Mrs. Biden.
Dana (292df6) — 10/11/2020 @ 2:20 pmCourt-packing is also “following the constitution.”
Court packing is WAY abnormal, last done DURING the Civil War. Pretending otherwise is dishonest (not that you are doing that).
Midnight judicial appointments are as old as the Republic. Marbury v Madison was ostensibly about just such an event (although the precedent usually cited is incidental to the case). The author of that decision, John Marshall was nominated to be Chief Justice by defeated President Adams on January 20th, 1801 (changeover was March 4th back then) and confirmed by the lame-duck Senate on January 21st.
There have been nearly 20 justices nominated and confirmed in an election year, some by lame duck presidents.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 10/11/2020 @ 2:42 pm*confirmed Jan 27th
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 10/11/2020 @ 2:43 pmCourt-packing is also “following the constitution.”
… only because the size of the Court was not defined, the number not being obvious. It’s been 9 for 150 years, so now it could be said to be the clearly working number. Once you go off that, there is no next choice except “more” (“less” is unlikely because the court would have to decline with attrition, so you could not replace people for a while, and no party in power would want that).
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 10/11/2020 @ 2:47 pmI could think of no legal action more likely to break our constitutional system than court-packing. The “Rule of Law” would be an auction.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 10/11/2020 @ 2:49 pmPersonally, I think that Biden is holding his tongue on this is because he knows it’s a terrible idea and he doesn’t want his base to know that yet.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 10/11/2020 @ 2:51 pm@200:
“There you go again!”
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 10/11/2020 @ 2:53 pmHunter Walker
@hunterw
·
It’s amazing how brazenly conservative operatives and right wing media outlets have coordinated responses to tweets they don’t like.
__ _
Caleb Howe
@CalebHowe
·
500 “journalists” decide in the same 5 hour span to redefine court packing in a way that perfectly matches Democrat talking points and this guy is over here wondering if the OBJECTIONS are “coordinated.”
__ _
Just prepping for Biden/Harris.
harkin (25433a) — 10/11/2020 @ 2:55 pm_
An unusual combination, Paul.
I know a 2nd Amendment zealot who wears Mao caps and thinks Cuba is a great place. He’s got his guns for when the corporations come for us.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 10/11/2020 @ 2:56 pmRobert williams who inspired the black panthers broadcast radio dixie from havana
Bolivar di griz (7404b5) — 10/11/2020 @ 3:02 pmThis keeps happening
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/10/09/terrorist-had-undergoing-deradicalisation-tried-murder-prison/
Bolivar di griz (7404b5) — 10/11/2020 @ 3:04 pmExactly.
And he said as much in a debate last October.
Dave (1bb933) — 10/11/2020 @ 3:21 pmThe story of the sketchy Great Barrington Declaration here. Good grief.
Paul Montagu (77c694) — 10/11/2020 @ 3:49 pm@210. “I don’t recall.”
DCSCA (797bc0) — 10/11/2020 @ 3:52 pm@204. She would be First Lady and clearly, as a life partner for decades and family member, well within the circle rating a grilling, just as Nancy Reagan or Michelle Obama were. Nancy was even a colse friend w/Mike Wallace and in interviews he didn’t pull any punches.
Jill is certainly not in the same category as a ‘hired hand’ like a campaign manager.
Her blantant ‘we’re not gonna go there’ stand and Tapper’s weak, biased deferral said it all. He’s an editorial cartoonist at heart -not a real journalist– and certainly no San Donaldson.
Sam would never have let Jill Biden get away with that evasion. Nor would a Mike Wallace.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 10/11/2020 @ 4:00 pm215.Personally, I think that Biden is holding his tongue on this is because he knows it’s a terrible idea and he doesn’t want his base to know that yet.
Translation: scared.
He’s weak.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 10/11/2020 @ 4:09 pmAs Trump stumbles, voters finalize their choices, and Biden’s lead grows
………
……… Trump has stumbled through a disastrous stretch that has included embarrassing leaks, a ridiculed debate performance and a Rose Garden ceremony that became a superspreader for a deadly virus.
……..
In the homestretch of the 2020 campaign, there has been little good news for the incumbent. And that is showing up as an ominous turn for him in the polls as Biden consolidates support. What had been a steady national lead for Biden in the high single digits during the late summer has expanded to 12 points in early October, according to a Washington Post polling average.
A Washington Post-ABC News poll released Sunday fits with the trend, putting Biden at 54 percent nationally and Trump at 42, a 12-point lead that is similar to the 10-point advantage Biden held in a September survey. While key battleground-state polls have shown a somewhat closer contest, the trajectory has been clear.
Rip Murdock (a9a78d) — 10/11/2020 @ 4:32 pm……..
Four years ago, voters who decided in the presidential campaign’s waning days broke decisively for Trump, a political newcomer, delivering him a shock victory. This year, evidence suggests there are few who have yet to make up their minds. But many of those who had been on the fence appear to be coming down on Biden’s side.
………
These two stories are probably related. Dr. Fauci was mischaracterized in this dishonest Trump ad (yes, using dishonest and Trump together is redundant), which probably explains why the Trump White House refused to let Fauci appear on This Week. Worse, White House flack Ms. Farah lied, asserting that Karl did not request other members of the task force to appear.
Paul Montagu (77c694) — 10/11/2020 @ 4:45 pmWhich is a greater enemy of the people, a left-biased mainstream press or a presidency that lies every day, multiple times a day?
Joe Biden’s polling better than any challenger since 1936
…….
In the 21 previous presidential elections since 1936, there have only been five challengers who led at this time. Of those five, only one (Bill Clinton in 1992) was ahead by more than 5 points. None of those five were earning more than 48% of the vote in the polls.
In other words, Biden is the first challenger to be above 50% at this late juncture in the campaign.
This also continues to mark a massive difference with the 2016 campaign. While Hillary Clinton was ahead of Trump by as high as 7 points in October 2016, she never came anywhere close to approaching 50% of the vote. Trump merely had to win the lionshare of the undecided or third party voters (who would bolt their candidate) to earn a victory in 2016.
Rip Murdock (a9a78d) — 10/11/2020 @ 4:45 pm…….
New polls out on Sunday from CBS News/YouGov demonstrate that Biden’s above 50% in some key battlegrounds. He leads 52% to 46% in Michigan and Nevada. In Iowa, a state that Trump took by 9 points in 2016 and is not anywhere close to must win for Biden, the race is tied at 49%.
…….
Today, Biden has a huge advantage over Trump when it comes to the pandemic. The clear majority (59%) of likely voters in the last CNN poll said Biden would better be able to handle the outbreak. Just 38% said Trump would do a better job than Biden.
……..
The CIA concluded with confidence that Putin was paying bounties to Talibaners to kill American soldiers. Trump shrugged it off, not even a whisper of adding sanctions.
Paul Montagu (77c694) — 10/11/2020 @ 4:58 pmWe also have pretty good confirmation that Putin attempted to assassinate his chief political rival, Mr. Navalny, with the same kind of Russian nerve agent that was used to try to murder a couple Russians in the UK. The response from Trump? Crickets, while UK, France and Germany are preparing for new sanctions. Not acceptable by this buffoon of a president.
Josh Marshall
@joshtpm
Any Democrat who uses the term “court packing” to describe expanding the number of seats on the Supreme Court should be smacked upside the head. This is not only idiotic politics. More importantly it is wrong, incorrect, not what anyone is proposing.
__ _
JERRY DUNLEAVY
harkin (7fb4c9) — 10/11/2020 @ 5:04 pm@JerryDunleavy
·
“Any Democrat who uses the correct descriptive term to describe expanding the number of seats on the Supreme Court should be smacked upside the head” is a take.
_
222.Joe Biden’s polling better than any challenger since 1936
ROFLMAOPIP Alf Landon?!
Landon was defeated in a landslide by incumbent President Franklin D. Roosevelt who won the electoral college vote 523 to 8. -source, wikiloserville.lickwound
DCSCA (797bc0) — 10/11/2020 @ 5:04 pmBuzz grows around Cuomo as Biden’s attorney general pick
https://www.axios.com/andrew-cuomo-biden-attorney-general-97fba9a0-03c5-4709-80b9-5e254c2e1e1f.html
_
At least you know if you vote for it, you’re gonna get it.
harkin (7fb4c9) — 10/11/2020 @ 5:06 pm_
@225
Poor Deezy-eska, speaking up and removing all doubt again…
Since Biden has better numbers than any challenger since 1936, the point is that the challenger in *1932* (FDR) had better numbers…
Dave (1bb933) — 10/11/2020 @ 5:11 pmScare all the boomers and silents back into the fold, eh
urbanleftbehind (4c2201) — 10/11/2020 @ 5:38 pmFrom HotAir today:
https://hotair.com/archives/jazz-shaw/2020/10/11/pa-mayor-fires-police-chief-wifes-pro-trump-fb-comments/
qdpsteve (8d496a) — 10/11/2020 @ 5:38 pm@227. Davey– he lost… in a frigging landside.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 10/11/2020 @ 5:44 pmNot Jeff Sessions? Bummer, man!
nk (1d9030) — 10/11/2020 @ 5:44 pmNonsense. Court packing would be a naked power play, legally, morally and politically indistinguishable from the GOP’s dishonest handling of Garland and Barrett. I’m old enough to remember the shamelessness of the justification for that about-face: It’s power politics and it’s legal. We’re doing it because we can.
I oppose court-packing by either side because even though the Trump-McConnell GOP deserves to be taught a lesson its enablers never forget, I do believe in the importance of norms and I reject the partisan bullshit that two wrongs make a right. But the Trump-McConnell GOP deserves only scorn and mockery if it thinks it has the moral standing to tell anyone what they shouldn’t do because it would be bad for the Constitution or the rule of law.
lurker (d8c5bc) — 10/11/2020 @ 5:46 pm225, the 1936 pre election polling actually a common example of lies, damned lies and statistics brought up in both history and math classes. Pardon the college linked from.
urbanleftbehind (4c2201) — 10/11/2020 @ 5:49 pmSooooooooooo many ‘Conservatives for Biden!” Where were all you ‘principled’ “folks” when he ran in 1988 and 2008? 😉
DCSCA (797bc0) — 10/11/2020 @ 5:50 pm@230
Poor Deezy-eska
Dave (1bb933) — 10/11/2020 @ 5:52 pmI’ll go with DCSCA on this one. “Since 1936” is just CNN being “historic” and “unprecedented” (but more “historic”, that’s their favorite and they always reach for it first) and “so what?” all at the same time.
nk (1d9030) — 10/11/2020 @ 5:53 pmDana or other mods,
I’m a bad boy. I’m in moderation again (#232). This time I think I know why. I spelled out BS. Sorry. I thought I’d seen that done here. My bad. If instead of releasing the comment from moderation, you’re rather I re-post it without the offending word, please let me know and I’ll be happy to do so.
Thanks.
lurker (d8c5bc) — 10/11/2020 @ 5:55 pmTrump wants nuclear accord with Putin by election
President Trump is looking to Vladimir Putin to close the deal on a pre-election nuclear agreement, a timetable that’s an October surprise even for senior Republicans and some in the White House.
……..
On Friday, a source familiar with the discussions said the Trump administration believed it now had an agreement in principle, blessed by Putin and Patrushev, that could be finalized within a week once negotiations resume in earnest.
But Ryabkov countered on Saturday that “there are still huge differences in approaches, including to the central elements of such an agreement.” Talk of an imminent deal is hardly “realistic,” he said.
…..
Election day isn’t the only deadline driving this process. New START, the last major bilateral treaty limiting the nuclear arsenals of the U.S. and Russia, is due to expire on Feb. 5.
……..
The Trump administration has said it would only extend the Obama-era treaty with a parallel agreement in which both sides agree to freeze their nuclear warhead stockpiles.
The U.S. also wants Russia to agree to future negotiations toward an arms control treaty that brings China to the table.
Russia has rejected anything that explicitly pressures China, so the U.S. is trying to find language both sides can live with, the source familiar says.
Rip Murdock (a9a78d) — 10/11/2020 @ 5:56 pm…….
……..The Russian position, at least publicly, is that they’re willing to wait and see what happens on election day.
>>>>>>>>>
I’m skeptical of arms control treaties. I do applaud Trump for withdrawing from the INF and Open Skies treaties. Frankly nuclear arms agreements constrain nuclear weapons development, particularly testing. Instead of signing a new treaty with our adversaries, he should withdraw from the Partial Test Ban Treaty and resume underground testing.
Where were all you ‘principled’ “folks” when he ran in 1988 and 2008?
I voted for Dukakis in 1988. All the way. Sarah Palin had my full attention in 2008.
nk (1d9030) — 10/11/2020 @ 5:57 pmI spelled out BS. Sorry. I thought I’d seen that done here.
You have, but you did not notice that the “i” in sh!t was “!” the exclamation mark.
nk (1d9030) — 10/11/2020 @ 5:59 pmThat certainly shouldn’t be held against you — you had the same excuse as a Louisiana motel and gas station mogul circa 2007.
urbanleftbehind (4c2201) — 10/11/2020 @ 6:00 pmThe Guild saw the Stephens piece:
NYTimesGuild
@NYTimesGuild
It says a lot about an organization when it breaks it’s own rules and goes after one of it’s own.
The act, like the article, reeks.
__ _
JP
@ishouldnobetter
·
The kids at NYT got the Twitter p/w again
__ _
NYTimesGuild
@NYTimesGuild
We deleted our previous tweet. It was tweeted in error. We apologize for the mistake.
__ _
Rils
@RilsRislan
·
Lots of accounts getting hacked these days
__ _
Warrior Poet 808
@warriorpoet43
·
NYT – “All the news thatʻs fit to delete…”
__ _
Carol WVane
harkin (7fb4c9) — 10/11/2020 @ 6:00 pm@CarolWVane
·
Was it because they used ‘it’s’ incorrectly twice?
__
Show me one pro-Biden conservative who pretends they’d be voting for him against a normal GOP opponent. What’s unprincipled about preferring an undeserving candidate with bad policies against an historically atrocious and dangerously disordered one? Seems more principled to me than choosing party over country.
lurker (d8c5bc) — 10/11/2020 @ 6:01 pmRight you are.
lurker (d8c5bc) — 10/11/2020 @ 6:03 pm@233
In 2008, I wasn’t writing fat checks to Hillary Clinton and bloviating about what a great president she would be, like your guy Trump was.
Trump has donated to Hillary, Joe *and* Kamala.
Making a campaign donation to a known plagiarist is quite the character tell, isn’t it?
And it makes your votes for Trump votes for plagiarism.
Biden is you.
Dave (1bb933) — 10/11/2020 @ 6:08 pm@Kevin M, while we’re waiting for my first response to your court packing comments to emerge from moderation, here’s a tweet from Popehat that says it better than I did:
lurker (d8c5bc) — 10/11/2020 @ 6:20 pm@242. Normal? Those normal weenies were cooked in 2015/16. Voters ordered up Trump Steaks instead. Conservative whine; bitter dregs. It’s tough being on the bottom of the deck now, L.
Welcome to 1964.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 10/11/2020 @ 6:20 pmSpeaking of LP players with busted belts…
urbanleftbehind (4c2201) — 10/11/2020 @ 6:23 pm@244. Trump endorsed Romney, too, Davey. Its a hard life being a private sectored wealthy free market capitalist. Something neither government teet-suckling Joe nor Kamila know anything about.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 10/11/2020 @ 6:26 pm@248. Joe brought that up in Erie again?
Erie went for Trump.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 10/11/2020 @ 6:29 pmI think Nancy Pelosi and the Democratic lawyers are deliberately misinterpreting the constitution.
The 25th Amendment says:
https://constitutioncenter.org/interactive-constitution/amendment/amendment-xxv
I think they’re reading it as meaning that Congress may be law substitute that 16 or 17 member (bipartisan) commission not only for the Cabinet members, but for the Cabinet members PLUS the Vice President.
Sammy Finkelman (4eddd7) — 10/11/2020 @ 6:45 pmWhat difference does it make
https://mobile.twitter.com/sloandickey/status/1315419397629108225?s=21
Bolivar di griz (7404b5) — 10/11/2020 @ 6:49 pmIt’s fairly close to the MO in the opening scene of the series epilogue Homicide: The Movie (2000).
urbanleftbehind (4c2201) — 10/11/2020 @ 6:54 pm44,
Translation: It’s true, they hope Trump wins, * but no Taliban leader was supposed to say that
publicly.
—————
Sammy Finkelman (4eddd7) — 10/11/2020 @ 7:13 pm* They’re assuming no other potential American president would just want to finish with Afghanistan, so, even if they can’t be sure Trump will follow through, his winning would be something that would increase their confidence that they could regain power in Afghanistan.
Every enemy of America wants Trump to win. Every! No exceptions.
nk (1d9030) — 10/11/2020 @ 7:16 pmBiden tells Americans they don’t deserve to know
Biden was repeating the terminology of the reporter’s question. What was he supposed to say if he had no intention of answering?
He – and all Democratic candidates for the United States Senate – should be asked – if they won’t
Sammy Finkelman (4eddd7) — 10/11/2020 @ 7:26 pmanswer that question, will they at least commit to voting against or vetoing anything that adds more than two seats to the United Sates Supreme Court? I bet most will refuse – and a few so say they won;t go above two, something has been gained.
@255. Every enemy of America wants Trump to win. Every! No exceptions.
Conservative whine; bitter dregs.
50 million or so Americans wanted Trump to win in 2015- and voted so.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 10/11/2020 @ 8:46 pmNaw china iran and qatar are firmly in bidens wheelhouse, considering they only sent rations to ukraine putin is just licking his chops
Bolivar di griz (7404b5) — 10/11/2020 @ 9:38 pmBuzz grows around Cuomo as Biden’s attorney general pick
No more namby-pamby recusals there. After 4 long years of ineffective guidance from from the President, finally an AG who knows how to go after political enemies!
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 10/11/2020 @ 10:29 pmNonsense. Court packing would be a naked power play, legally, morally and politically indistinguishable from the GOP’s dishonest handling of Garland and Barrett
You hate Trump so much you are willing to sign on to the Democrats’ lies? Sad. Learn some history, not what you get from the 5 o’clock news.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 10/11/2020 @ 10:30 pmIt’s power politics and it’s legal. We’re doing it because we can.
Adding justices would raise the level of breakage to a constitutional crisis. It is such a severe escalation that I doubt the system would recover without a Constitutional Convention.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 10/11/2020 @ 10:33 pmReally, Kevin? So our power grab is actually them just lying about us, but their power grab will break the republic. And obviously we’re powerless to stop them, because if it were possible to stop something that will break the Republic and we didn’t do it, what would that say about us? And yet we haven’t done the thing yet that they threaten to respond to with the thing we say will break the Republic. Yup. Our hands are clean. Those b@st@rds.
lurker (d8c5bc) — 10/12/2020 @ 12:21 amLOL lurker!
Dave (1bb933) — 10/12/2020 @ 12:35 am1) They won’t have the votes in the Senate
Manchin has already said “ix-nay”. Sinema would likely say “ix-nay”. Most of the Dem candidates who might win seats in November and create a Dem majority have ruled it out:
Kelly will be facing re-election in 2022; so freshman senators in Nevada and New Hampshire who were elected with less than 50% in 2016. The Dem senate majority will likely be no bigger than the GOP’s right now; not they just won’t have the votes.
2) They may not have the votes in the House, either. The Dem House majority relies on reps from swing districts. Assuming Biden wins, the Dems would be facing the prospect of the midterm pendulum swinging against the party in the WH, as it did with a vengeance in 2006, 2010, 2014 and 2018.
3) Biden won’t go along with it; he’s going to have a hard enough time cleaning up Trump’s messes without creating new ones. And squandering political capital by coming out in favor of a controversial, divisive proposal that you can’t pass in either chamber would be Trump-level stupid.
Dave (1bb933) — 10/12/2020 @ 1:05 amso *will
Dave (1bb933) — 10/12/2020 @ 1:06 amDave (1bb933) — 10/12/2020 @ 1:05 am
Oh, I don’t think Biden would ever push it. Biden most likely wouldn’t specifically endorse it – he will equivocate, and only after counting the votes (and not admitting he did.)
If the votes are there in the House and the Senate, he would sign a bill expanding the size of the court. That he would sign a bill packing the court is an impression Biden is intentionally creating. That’s the only explanation for his non-answer. He is not afraid to disappoint “progressives” by coming out against an absolute ban on fracking. But then fracking is merely an single issue, and Biden’s not saying he will veto anything, but here he issue is too clear.
Now whether the votes can be there is another question. Maybe the proponents of this are deluding themselves as to how big and how solid a majority they are likely to get, even if they make it s priority, and Biden doesn’t want to disabuse them of the notion that that can realistically happen, to keep them working on his campaign and keeping up the level of contributions.
Sammy Finkelman (4eddd7) — 10/12/2020 @ 3:18 amhttps://andmagazine.com/talk/2020/10/11/exclusive-coup-plotters-considered-never-allowing-trump-to-be-inaugurated/
mg (8cbc69) — 10/12/2020 @ 3:28 amround zem up
Someone on NPR who gave a report managed to say that Biden gave a bad answer and a better one would have been to say the court would be better kept out of politics (if Biden is afraid to come out against court packing, how could he come out against political considerations in making sureme Court appointments?)
He also said, perhaps deluding himself, that while in previous elections, including 2016, the Supreme Court was an issue more important to Republicans, now it might be more important to Democrats, because with a 6-3 majority, [conservatives] would feel they had won and people don’t vote to give thanks, but they do out of anger.
Of course they can’t feel they had won or had enough unless the issue of court packing is dead. Besides which they wouldn’t want more bad justices even if they retained a majority, for the time, on the court.
Sammy Finkelman (4eddd7) — 10/12/2020 @ 3:34 am51.
The New York Times more or less agrees with that assessment but is not so sure he wll be able to undo enough. They had a ery long editorial about this yesterday:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/10/opinion/sunday/trump-immigration-child-separations.html
The editorial starts off with one particular change Trump made.
Sammy Finkelman (4eddd7) — 10/12/2020 @ 3:45 amthis was the last guy you carried water for,
https://freebeacon.com/democrats/coons-confirming-barrett-constitutes-court-packing/
bolivar de gris (7404b5) — 10/12/2020 @ 5:59 amwhat you’re most recent guest seem to have missed,
https://reason.com/2020/10/02/the-conservative-trans-woman-who-went-undercover-with-antifa-in-portland/
bolivar de gris (7404b5) — 10/12/2020 @ 6:00 amnothing to see here:
https://freebeacon.com/2020-election/kansas-dem-backs-gun-confiscation/
bolivar de gris (7404b5) — 10/12/2020 @ 6:03 amConservative trans woman.
Conservative trans woman.
Conservative trans woman.
Nope. It does not scan.
I did wonder, the other day, why nobody was talking about men in drag in women’s bathrooms anymore since Trump got elected. The whole last four years have been a Monty Python “Dead Parrot” sketch. Up is down, black is white, men in women’s clothes are conservative.
nk (1d9030) — 10/12/2020 @ 6:10 amSammy, The only leverage the Dems have right now is what the could do if they win. Based on the posture of McConnel I think he would be gleeful to put ACB up for a floor vote with no hearings and approve her with a party line vote at any point in time. This posture is part of his leverage; if the Dems make it too hard he’ll just do that, and go on Hannity to smirk about it.
Right now the GOP has all the power, and it’s up to them if they want to release a little of it out of respect for the rights of the minority party. If that changes it will be up to the Dems. Every time the part with power choses not to do that it becomes that much harder the next time around.
Time123 (f5cf77) — 10/12/2020 @ 6:21 amAnimal Farm Revisited: Barnyard Rules, by Donald J. Trump.
nk (1d9030) — 10/12/2020 @ 6:33 amsummon the kaiju
https://www.oregonlive.com/portland/2020/10/protesters-topple-portland-statues-of-theodore-roosevelt-abraham-lincoln-in-day-of-rage.html
bolivar de gris (7404b5) — 10/12/2020 @ 6:36 ambuttery croissant,
https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2020/10/france_cracks_down_on_everyone_to_avoid_singling_out_islamic_terrorism.html
bolivar de gris (7404b5) — 10/12/2020 @ 7:10 am@166
per capita comparison can be a tricky comparisons method for something like the United States.
The EU and the US are very similar in size, but when doing these analysis it’s almost never US vs EU, it’s US vs individual European countries.
At the very least, we ought to be comparing US States vs European countries as a more approximate size comparison.
What that’ll show, is that the various disparate US state’s policies and attributes in much clearer light.
I remember seeing a website devoting to that, but I’ve lost it. But, my point here is that while some states were horrendously bad (ie, NY and NJ)… most are either in line (ie, Florida & MO) and some are doing exceptionally well (MT and CA).
whembly (7c17c7) — 10/12/2020 @ 7:56 am@181
Yes.
Most political “democrats” aren’t centrist of any shape or form, ala Joe Manchin.
Garland was very much for gun control legislation and gave much deference to government regulation than individual rights.
whembly (7c17c7) — 10/12/2020 @ 8:01 am@262
You’re going to have to explain what you mean when the GOP made a “power grab” that gives Democrat the “cover” to pack the courts.
It’s one thing that the could…but it’s another question if the should.
…and don’t say “but Garland!”. That’s not a power grab in any shape or form.
whembly (7c17c7) — 10/12/2020 @ 8:14 am274. Time123 (f5cf77) — 10/12/2020 @ 6:21 am
They’re not using it, because they don’t say that
IF
Amy Coney Barrett is NOT confirmed
THEN
They won’t add any new Justices.
They’re not saying that at all.
You could maybe read that into some of Joe Biden’s and Kamala Harris’s words, but it’s not an exact match. You would have to want to really believe that for that to be leverage. The proponents of court packing seem to be for it irregardless of what happens to this nomination, nor are any Senators or Senatorial candidates making their support or opposition to court packing conditional on what happens to this nomination.
There’s a whole page of letters to the Editor today in the New York Times about how Supreme Court justices might be otherwise appointed.
The letters: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/11/opinion/letters/supreme-court-reform.html
Sammy Finkelman (4eddd7) — 10/12/2020 @ 8:22 amWhat’s unprincipled about preferring an undeserving candidate with bad policies against an historically atrocious and dangerously disordered one? Seems more principled to me than choosing party over country.
The principled response is to say that both parties have failed utterly and to endorse a third party candidate.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 10/12/2020 @ 8:25 amReally, Kevin? So our power grab is actually them just lying about us, but their power grab will break the republic.
Well, you characterize it how you will, but the two are not comparable to rational people. One is the same way it is ALWAYS done — nominations are made and the Senate deals with it according to politics (something that the Senate sometimes engages in). The other is a break with 150 years of stability — stability based on repeated choices not to go there ever again.
You attack McConnell for his special pleading with Barrett and Garland, but the Democrats were equally disingenuous making the opposite argument. I dare to to claim that, had Garland been confirmed, the Democrats would today be saying “Oh, it’s only fair!”
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 10/12/2020 @ 8:31 amTime123:
The Election itself is also leverage. That’s why there probably won;t be any last minute charges that would make Amy Coney Barrett unacceptable. They won’t even talk about her being a Catholic (and therefore supposedly not impartial on Roe v Wade – they even talk about Rie v Wade – instead they gave focused on a court case coming up November 10 in which some states (joined in now by the Trump Administration) attempt to argue that the Affordable Care Act is unconstitutional – or has lost its legitimacy – because the individual mandate was zeroed out, as of the 2019 tax year.
The lawsuit argues that since it collects no revenue, the individual mandate is no longer a tax,and they somehow argue that a lot of the insurance regulations in the PPACA, like coverage of children in their parent’s insurance policies until age 26, or no discrimination according to pre-existing conditions must all with the mandate ecause it can;t be severed from the est of the legislation, but this is an extremely weak argumentt, even if ione Court of Appeaks at leat went along with it, because if it can;t be severwd, Congress repealed the individual mandate ina separate pice of legislation.
This argument creates trouble for the Administration because Trump and Pence an;t argue, we;re not serious about asking to overturn the law. Instread, Trup argues he’s for protecting pre-existing codnditions and for a beautiful law that he somehow can; propose (he can;t propose it because it entails removing pre-existing conditions from the insurance system and having the federal government fund it, which it could in a few ways, one of them being Medicare like kidney dialysis.
But Trump is in fact not serious about overturning Obamacare and did not name ACB to help nring that about and as a matter of fact ina moot court case she ruled againats doing that
Sammy Finkelman (4eddd7) — 10/12/2020 @ 8:31 am*I dare you to claim…
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 10/12/2020 @ 8:32 amIf Biden is elected, and the Democrats control Congress, the ACA will be replaced anyway. Hopefully with something constitutional.
Now, I happen to think that the current case is weaker than the original one that failed. Further, having allowed the ACA come into law, rather than forcing the two parties to fix it in a bipartisan manner in 2012, the Court would be even less inclined to toss it out now, leaving a vacuum as the status quo ante is unreachable today.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 10/12/2020 @ 8:38 am@278, if you want to look at it that we’re doing much worse.
Florida, for instance, has 72 deaths per 100,000 people, or 720 per Mil.
Time123 (36651d) — 10/12/2020 @ 8:41 amGermany is as 119, France is about 500, UK is 630.
Link to US data
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/coronavirus-us-cases.html#states
Time123 (36651d) — 10/12/2020 @ 8:42 amThere are two things that were done early in our history that were seen as mortal threats to the independence of the judiciary: impeachment of justices for political reasons (the Jeffersonians’ failed impeachment of Justice Samuel Chase) and court-packing, which was done ONCE, during the Civil War, to prevent the Court from interfering in the conflict.
Up until then the Court’s size matched the number of Circuits, having risen from 5 to 9. Lincoln had it grow to 10, then it was reduced to 7 (to prevent Andrew Johnson from appointing anti-Reconstruction justices). In 1869, the number was set again at 9 where it has remained.
The Jeffersonian experience led to an agreement that justices would never be impeached for political reasons, something that has held true for well over 200 years. People have talked about it (e.g. Earl Warren), but it’s just been talk.
Were the size of the Court to become a political football in normal course, it would make the Court’s decisions transparently political. Not only would this delegitimatize the Court (something some Democrats are clearly trying to do in the Barrettt hearings), but it would ALSO destabilize it. The third branch of government would become the plaything of the political branches.
For this last reason, I believe that the Court should block attempts to expand it for political reasons on separation of powers grounds.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 10/12/2020 @ 8:54 amMike Lee, who tested positive ten days ago, spoke without a mask at today’s Judiciary Committee hearing.
I’m embarrassed to admit that I once respected him.
Dave (1bb933) — 10/12/2020 @ 8:57 amThen again, if the Democrats DO view the Court as a superlegislature, making it a blatantly political body might not concern them. It’s much easier issuing ukases than all that passing bills crap.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 10/12/2020 @ 8:58 amI’m embarrassed to admit that I once respected him.
Dr Dave has spoken.
Hey, maybe he was cleared by Senate doctors. I’m pretty sure that there are Senators who take this stuff seriously. They aren’t all young people.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 10/12/2020 @ 9:01 am@287
And, what does that tell you?
We’re doing poorly, as your said, because of why?
whembly (7c17c7) — 10/12/2020 @ 9:02 amI’m willing to bet that nobody who is speaking will be doing so from behind a mask.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 10/12/2020 @ 9:03 am“Power Grab” — neither the tabling of the Garland nomination, a confirming of Barrett, or Court packing are power grabs in the Constitutional sense. The first two are committed to the Senate; the last is committed to both houses of Congress and the President, as for ordinary legislation.
This means that the exercise of this power is subject to the correction of politics — what will the electorate stand?
The first two arguably deviate from prior unwritten norms, although IMO they don’t.
Court-packing clearly deviates from prior norms, and those norms are much longer standing and enshrined in law, since the 9-member SCOTUS court has been the law since Reconstruiction. (Although in the early days of Reconstruction, the Republicans engaged in what can be described as reverse court packing to deny Andrew Johnson a nomination to SCOTUS. See here for more details: Judicial Circuits Act )
And do not forget that Franklin Roosevelt tried court-packing and was rebuffed, even though he was more popular than Biden will ever be, and the Depression was a much worse crisis than COVID-19.
So the real issue is how much the political climate will allow. It is clear that the Democrats feel that this is a loser for them, otherwise they would just come out and say, “Yes, we are going to pack the Courts.”
So Trump would be wise to press the issue, since the Biden/Harris team clearly wants to obfuscate.
Bored Lawyer (7b72ec) — 10/12/2020 @ 9:07 amFlorida has a much higher aged population. It would be surprising if they had the same death rate as a more homogeneous society. Comparing apples to oranges, then saying the oranges are bad, isn’t really all that persuasive. Comparing Illinois (69/100k) to New York (168/100k) would be fair as they share many similar characteristics. Florida (at 72/100k) is doing pretty well compared to the national average (62/100k), given it being a retirement capital. Better than Arizona (79/100k), another retirement capital which should have benifitted by less congenial weather for viruses.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 10/12/2020 @ 9:13 amKevin, I doubt there are many here who think manipulating the court by increasing the number of seats is a desirable outcome.
But four years ago the GOP essentially manipulated it by reducing the number of seats, under the pretense of a principle that they have now rather cynically repudiated. (Compare clips of Ted Cruz assuring us that the court would be just fine with eight justices going into the 2016 election with his dire warnings about a vacancy as we head into this year’s election…)
There was nothing unlawful or unconstitutional about what Cocaine Mitch did in 2016, or what he’s doing now, but there would also be nothing unlawful or unconstitutional about the Dems adding seats next year.
I think lurker’s point is not that it is a desirable outcome, but rather a predictable one, given that one perceived escalation invites another.
Dave (1bb933) — 10/12/2020 @ 9:18 amMr Bored, as question.
The Court has been at 9 for 151 years. Is that any kind of ratchet? If it was 9 for 1000 years, would only custom and political calculation keep it there? Or is there a point where it’s just the way it is. Did the Founders not set a number because they just didn’t know what the proper number should be? Or did they anticipate it being adjusted from time to time for political reasons?
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 10/12/2020 @ 9:19 amI think it’s ironic that an originalist would say that the Court’s size was never set and so it can be changed at any time Congress and the President want to do it, but a Living Constitutionalist might say that time and custom have set a number.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 10/12/2020 @ 9:22 amLooking at the Senate hearings today, I think it’s terrible that the Senators have muzzled the nominee.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 10/12/2020 @ 9:22 amI think if Democrats want to get more support to increase the SCOTUS seats is to not be so nakedly partisan about about.
Say that the Democrats want to expand it by 4 seats… allow the GOP to select 2 of the seats.
That way, in the future there’s more “chances” for seats to change due to attrition and the balance can swing depending who’s in the Whitehouse.
whembly (7c17c7) — 10/12/2020 @ 9:24 am@298
Unless you believe in a “living Constitution,” which I don’t, then no.
Obviously, the longer a tradition remains, the more entrenched it becomes as a matter of norms and expectations. Nine seats on SCOTUS is pretty far down that road. It’s been the law for 150 years, and the one attempt to change it since then met with abject failure.
Compare this to another extra-constitutional norm. The Constitution originally had no limit on the number of terms the president could seek, but George Washington set a precedent of not more than two terms. And presidents from all parties respected that for a bit less than 150 years, until FDR ran for a third term and won in 1940. Nothing in the Constitution prevented that, although it clearly ran against a long-standing norm. And if I am not mistaken, that was raised as an issue in the election.
(In the end, the American people amended the Constituion to turn that prior unwritten norm into a Constitutional command.)
Bored Lawyer (7b72ec) — 10/12/2020 @ 9:27 amWhoa, the 1970s are dying as DCSCA was saying, but there was probably a couple years in the mid late 60s all these 6 HOFers were active at the same time.
https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/joe-morgan-former-reds-second-baseman-and-hall-of-famer-dead-at-77/
urbanleftbehind (d8fd6e) — 10/12/2020 @ 9:34 amWhembly,
-States hit early had poor treatments and protected Hospitals at the expense of nursing homes.
-States hit later have better treatment, but we don’t seem to be as effective if tracing the spread and stopping it from growing.
See here for more detail
https://covidactnow.org
Time123 (b0628d) — 10/12/2020 @ 9:38 amZero chance that the dems can increase the size of the court in a way that is perceived as reasonable. If they’re going to do it they should go all in.
Add 30-50 SC justices.
I would prefer they not do it, but a slow +2 every few years seems pointless.
Time123 (36651d) — 10/12/2020 @ 9:40 amSay that the Democrats want to expand it by 4 seats… allow the GOP to select 2 of the seats.
And all nominees have to be over 70.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 10/12/2020 @ 9:42 amIn the end, the American people amended the Constitution to turn that prior unwritten norm into a Constitutional command.
The problem with that in the case of Court size is that you cannot easily reduce the size later, even with an Amendment. You can’t remove a justice, you can only remove the opportunity to replace a justice until the lower number is met, meaning that the politicians favoring the decrease are taking a very long view.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 10/12/2020 @ 9:46 amAdd 30-50 SC justices.
Boy, that would make the Court seem legitimate, all right. And just think of all those annoying “rights” those deplorables have been hiding behind!
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 10/12/2020 @ 9:48 amBTW, as long as we are on the subject of hypocrisy, how come the Democrats had no problem back in 1951 when the entire Court was their appointees, or later in the 60’s when it was 8-1 liberal? Or even today, as they go on about extreme conservatives when the last 4 Democrat appointees voted as a predictable political bloc time and again?
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 10/12/2020 @ 9:51 amSenator Booker calls Roe v Wade “the will of the American People.” Did I miss the vote?
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 10/12/2020 @ 9:52 amAnd now he’s complaining that evil GOP plotters are trying to use the Court as a super-legislature.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 10/12/2020 @ 9:54 amWith an amendment you can do (literally) anything you want, up to and including abolishing the Supreme Court in toto…
Dave (1bb933) — 10/12/2020 @ 9:54 amIf you’ve been listening to what your opponents have been saying you know that they feel refusing to vote on Garland, and then pushing through ACB, in rendering the court illegitimate in their minds.
I think they would have been upset by either, but both in combination feel ‘unfair’ to a large part of the Dems. I hope Team Biden (if they win) is able to find a way through this. But I don’t hold out a lot of hope.
Time123 (36651d) — 10/12/2020 @ 9:56 amI think some comrades here do not know how important the perceived legitimacy of the courts is to a do-nothing Congress and to a pass-the-buck President. Which is most Congresses and Presidents. They rely on the courts to make the decisions that they are too lazy or too scared or too stupid to make themselves. They are not going to cripple the horse that plows their acre with divisive nonsense like court-packing. This is all talk that’s not going anywhere.
nk (1d9030) — 10/12/2020 @ 10:02 amIf you’ve been listening to what your opponents have been saying you know that they feel refusing to vote on Garland, and then pushing through ACB, in rendering the court illegitimate in their minds.
No, I know that they are using that argument to make the Court illegitimate in OUR minds. Battlespace preparation.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 10/12/2020 @ 10:03 amYeah I’m sorry but the Senate gets too deny consent, so what happened with Garland might seem on the edge of what’s ok, but it is lawful.
I don’t like Trump, but he is the president and he gets too appoint judges, again with the Senate consent.
At to root here is that elections have consequences.
Dustin (4237e0) — 10/12/2020 @ 10:07 amI am reminded of the GOP attacks on the Warren Court in the 60s, where they too tried to neuter the Court’s authority. And it worked, too. When Fortas was nominated to succeed Warren, in 1968, this allowed the GOP (and Southern Democrats) to hold up the nomination. In the end, it didn’t help as the judges that Nixon and Ford appoint were, with the exception of Rehnquist, quite liberal themselves.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 10/12/2020 @ 10:08 amAt to root here is that elections have consequences.
And that the terms don’t end until January. Biden will appoint one or two justices (Breyer for sure, Thomas probably), and I am sure that there will be no delay in doing so as long as the Dems control the Senate.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 10/12/2020 @ 10:11 am@315, When I read them complaining about it they seem sincerely upset. But YMMV.
@316, Yup, that’s what the rules say is allowable.
Time123 (b0628d) — 10/12/2020 @ 10:12 am#304 Time123, I work in the healthcare industry, neck deep in support our mitigation efforts for this disease. (Mainly datawarehouse analysis for my clinicians.)
Much of the disconnect in these analysis about the disparate impacts of the mitigation strategies, is that lack of understanding how viral transmission occurs AND the regional differences of health/demographic characteristics.
This stuff is hard.
This stuff cannot be explained on just a few websites or graphs.
Many of the institutions that we’ve regularly appealed to authority have gotten these things wrong. (the WHO is now saying lockdowns are more harmful!! The flip-flops about mask effectiveness)
We have to recognize that we’re learning as we go, and be willing to update our understanding and adapt.
Straight up comparison between regions, is often couched to frame a criticism rather than good faith analysis. Many times correlation doesn’t mean causation.
So, you’re right about:
But, we’ve now recognized that mistakes and efforts are being to try to ameliorate that. (although, not enough in the skill nursing sphere imo).
Here’s the thing. You cannot stop the spread without intervention. You can only mitigate it, or slow it down. We’ve done a POOR job and weighing these mitigation strategies to how it impacts our lives (ie, school shutdowns, economic shutdowns, non-covid treatment/hospitals cares was shut down).
There’s also a HUGE difference between surveillance of the disease and a robust contact tracing program. The former is what we’ve always had, which is a program that works like this – that Clinics and hospital ER communicate to regional governance. (ie, seasonal flu, novel disease like cancer from environmental exposure, world outbreak of diseases like avarian flu/ebola/etc..) That latter, contact tracing, is extremely intrusive to folks private lives and I don’t think the advocates for this don’t really fully understand the scope of what that means and how intrusive this is. It works if there is discrete group you want monitored, ie The NHL players and all support staff. But, to unleash that sort of thing to the public? I doubt it would work, much less that enough folks would comply.
Educating the public that this disease is here to stay and that we have to live with it has been the #1 failure, imo, by ALL PARTIES involed. (from Trump taskforce, to WHO, to scientist, to media, to folks unwilling to use common sense).
The lockdowns are not a panacea to address this.
Masks are not the talisman that wards off potential infections.
Our focus is to develop therapeutics to MANAGE the disease until we gain more understanding how to effective deal with it ala, the seasonal flu. That includes vaccines, proper hygiene and the eventual herd immunity will come in time. More understanding and work must include changes to mitigate this disease in skilled nursing homes (mean, the paradigm needs to change, more funding to effectively quarantine, etc).
I get many of you don’t like Trump and is gleefully laying the pandemic taskforce’s results at his feet. If you need a “the buck stops here” thing, yes Trump owns it. However, it’s the government… they’re trying to address it and it goes to show that the vaunted government and the scientific community were WRONG about a lot of things about this pandemic. That is not to say that it was due to incompetence or malfeasance. It just means that government and the scientific community doesn’t always have the answer. But, we must recognize that efforts were/are being made and that we need to willing to adapt and respond accordingly. The easiest way to achieve that, is to look at these objectively w/o any partisan glasses on. Only then, we can reasonable address this effectively and move on with our lives.
whembly (7c17c7) — 10/12/2020 @ 10:12 amIf you’ve been listening to what your opponents have been saying you know that they feel refusing to vote on Garland, and then pushing through ACB, in rendering the court illegitimate in their minds.
If so, then the Court has never BEEN legitimate as the process in both cases was EXACTLY as it is always done. That it was (and still is) surrounded by hypocrisy on both sides in the Senate should not come as any surprise.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 10/12/2020 @ 10:14 amIt seems to me like a problem he would prefer to simply ignore.
When I’m feeling optimistic, I think: Biden is a traditionalist and an institutionalist who may be less likely to try aggressive innovations in executive power like Trump and Obama, which lead to court challenges. If he wants to focus on beating the virus and rebuilding the economy (as he should), there’s no reason a conservative majority should trouble him. Even with ACB on the court, it’s hard to see radical shifts on abortion happening; that seems like the only thing that would put tremendous pressure on him (it would be a huge national political crisis). Assuming the Dems control Congress, overturning Obamacare might even be a blessing in disguise for them, allowing them to pass something better thought-out and maybe even with bipartisan support (as my mom would say, “if you’re gonna dream, dream big”…).
Dave (1bb933) — 10/12/2020 @ 10:17 amwhembly, an honest question:
Google and Apple devised a bluetooth protocol for phones that collected contacts from other phones by token, so that — in the case of a positive test — all those within bluetooth range during the assumed hot period could be anonymously notified.
Few, if any health authorities have signed onto this plan. I assume because it left those authorities out of the loop on contact tracing, and without statistics. But it might have worked better than the 20th century methods they are attempting.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 10/12/2020 @ 10:19 amOh, the question: Why wasn’t this adopted?
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 10/12/2020 @ 10:19 amI typed that comment on my phone. I am a dumb fella, but not quite that dumb!
I agree, Kevin. Biden will get to select his people. He’s not a victim here, and this argument that Team R’s one real long term win is some kind of injustice or ‘court packing’ is pure propaganda.
The interplay between Senate and president is what it is. Things have gotten worse since Bork and Clarence Thomas, up to Garland, but we all know the rules. If the dems can’t win both, it’s harder to get what they want. They have to think long term. I plan to vote for Biden real soon. If the dems interpret that as a mandate to politicize the judiciary even more, I won’t do it again. As soon as one side decides that character and respect for the nation as a whole is important, they will have more power. That’s why the dems are probably winning, and also why they will probably lose in the midterms.
RBG made a decision not to retire when Obama was president. One of the amusing aspects of Trump’s upset win is that it was no trick. The dems really thought they had a sure thing and the upset made a difference in how many judges Trump got to appoint.
Dustin (4237e0) — 10/12/2020 @ 10:20 amWhembly, thank you for the response. I haven’t had time to write a long response to you. I don’t disagree with anything you wrote. Except the part about Trump. It may be true that the results wouldn’t have been any better if he’d been more competent. Since there are a number of rich countries that did a LOT better then we did I don’t think that’s the case.
You’re 100% right about contact tracing being an invasion of privacy. I think it’s a good eIt would take persuasion to get wide acceptance in our system. Trump would have had to put political capital into it to get many of his supporters on board, even then there would have been hold outs. He would also have had to work to keep his opponents from trying to demogauge against it for political ends. But I don’t see that he even tried.
Time123 (36651d) — 10/12/2020 @ 10:21 am@322: And here Dave and I agree completely. Particularly about ACA, which has serious flaws — particularly in disparate impact on pre-Medicare older Americans.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 10/12/2020 @ 10:21 amI plan to vote for Biden real soon.
I’m gonna wait to see if Trump makes it to election day.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 10/12/2020 @ 10:23 amAhhh, the power of television imagery. Masked, arms at side rigidly seated in a chair, it’s
Amy Held Hostage- Day One [think Fargo]. That’s no accident.
Do not adjust your sets: Kamala is looking very white today; whiter than Amy. That’s no accident of lighting either.
BTW- Amy is wearing dress.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 10/12/2020 @ 10:24 amYou’re 100% right about contact tracing being an invasion of privacy.
And places where there is an assumption of anonymity — like an AA meeting — this can get really touchy.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 10/12/2020 @ 10:26 amBTW- Amy is wearing dress.
I had hoped she’d show up in an ankle-length Little House on the Prairie dress, complete with bonnet.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 10/12/2020 @ 10:29 am@323
Very technically feasible, but again, highly intrusive. Not to mention an absolute battery hog, which is why it wasn’t pushed as hard.
whembly (7c17c7) — 10/12/2020 @ 10:29 amBiden is a traditionalist and an institutionalist
Swamp Creature Deluxe.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 10/12/2020 @ 10:30 amDustin,
I stated some time back that Biden would do well to make his campaign about national unity, something we need and that he was well-equipped to provide. A Nixon-to-China kind of thing. He still can, once the election is over and he doesn’t have to pander to the Left. Assuming that Harris and PElosi don’t 25th Amendment his ass.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 10/12/2020 @ 10:33 amVery technically feasible, but again, highly intrusive.
How intrusive? The data was never reduced until needed. And have you seen your Google travel footprint?
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 10/12/2020 @ 10:34 amThe batter hog thing might be true, especially if it ran GPS a lot. Bluetooth beacons aren’t that bad.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 10/12/2020 @ 10:36 am@303. What a bummer. 🙁
On deck, Johnny Bench???
DCSCA (797bc0) — 10/12/2020 @ 10:36 am@335
As to Google travel footprint, yes that’s very intrusive, but not as precise as what the aformentioned bluetooth contact tracing program.
This program, in matters of several feet, would show who’s your association/bubble HELD by several mega-corporation where we have ZERO expectation of privacy.
whembly (7c17c7) — 10/12/2020 @ 10:41 am“I’m not going to be told by political opponents to wear a mask.” – Lindsey Graham (R-SC)
Lawd all mighty, he gots the vapors.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 10/12/2020 @ 10:41 am@336
The GPS component is required in order for this to work, with the idea being that government officials/healthcare administrators can have accurate datapoints of the active infections. The idea being that, government would be able to rapidly ensure resources are placed where needed.
On a technical matter, it’d drain the battery in only just a few hours, such that folks would simply disable it. Thus, making the whole program moot.
whembly (7c17c7) — 10/12/2020 @ 10:44 amOn deck, Johnny Bench???
Pete Rose. Oh, wait.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 10/12/2020 @ 10:46 amEast Coast RINOs gonna RINO.
urbanleftbehind (94df8a) — 10/12/2020 @ 10:48 ampete rose is near beer at this point,
https://babalublog.com/2020/10/12/spanish-vice-president-praisses-che-guevaras-mass-executions-in-cuba-as-an-act-of-social-justice/#comments
bolivar de gris (7404b5) — 10/12/2020 @ 10:48 amActually, occasional GPS, co-operative location comparison and inertial positioning could keep that battery draw much lower.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 10/12/2020 @ 10:49 amI guess the only surprise is sununu, maybe he’s some kind of changeling at this point,
bolivar de gris (7404b5) — 10/12/2020 @ 10:50 amIndiana Senator Mike Braun R-IN) attacks East Coast of the TeeVee.
Lose the old sport coat w/t 1988 lapels, Mike. Who do you think you are- Joe Biden? And wear a tie.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 10/12/2020 @ 10:52 amYou would think that after 6 months of Covid, people would be able to use Zoom.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 10/12/2020 @ 10:52 amSo what is Venn diagram overlap of those 30,000 Latins that did the drive around for Trump/liberation from communism and would also praise Cristobal Colon?
urbanleftbehind (94df8a) — 10/12/2020 @ 10:54 amNo wifi checkd to operate for Amy intro at Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana?
“Oh you city slickers.” – Rodney Dangerfield
DCSCA (797bc0) — 10/12/2020 @ 10:55 amGood lord, Braun might be inching toward the Less Nessman look.
urbanleftbehind (94df8a) — 10/12/2020 @ 10:57 amBut that would require acknowledging that there’s a problem.
Dave (1bb933) — 10/12/2020 @ 10:57 amporque no, why wouldn’t they,
bolivar de gris (7404b5) — 10/12/2020 @ 11:00 amActually thought of that possible dichotomy because one of the Babalu commenters echoed the same complaints as the Indigenous Peoples Day types, when remarking about the Spainish VP.
urbanleftbehind (94df8a) — 10/12/2020 @ 11:03 amAll Amy has to do is answer these questions:
Do you believe the sun stood still in the sky? Yes or no?
Do you believe Jonah was swallowed by a whale? Yes or no?
Do you believe an ark was built for animals, two by two, to survive a Great Flood? Yes or no?
Do you believe Heaven is Hell or Hell is Heaven as opera for Scalia and Ginsburg? Choose.
Do you ascribe to Divine Creation or Evolution? Choose.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 10/12/2020 @ 11:08 am@350. LOLOLOLOLOL you ain’t kidding.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 10/12/2020 @ 11:09 amhttps://thehill.com/homenews/news/519268-barrett-participated-in-mock-supreme-court-ruling-exercise-on-affordable-care
https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2020-10-01/trump-supreme-court-nominee-already-ruled-on-pending-obamacare-case-in-moot-court
The Los Angeles Times says it is not known how she ruled – who voted for what was not revealed – but she either said the rest of the law could stay in place or that the states had no standing to sue.
Sammy Finkelman (4eddd7) — 10/12/2020 @ 11:12 amRIP Joe Morgan (77).
Rip Murdock (a9a78d) — 10/12/2020 @ 11:12 amIf he wants to be a Mt Rushmore grade president, we are badly in need of such a leader. I know DCSCA is optimistic.
Dustin (4237e0) — 10/12/2020 @ 11:19 am@344
I don’t think so. In order for this to be effective, the GPS must remain on all the time to continually plotting once it detects any “contact changes”.
whembly (c30c83) — 10/12/2020 @ 11:19 amAnd the twitch in his left arm died an hour later. Damn. Another legend passes.
Paul Montagu (77c694) — 10/12/2020 @ 11:27 amPolitifact rates the allegation that she has a track record against the law as Mostly True but it should be Mostly False
She criticized Chief Justice Roberts opinion back when she was a law professor. And then in a book review in 2017 she wrote:
I think King v. Burwell was a stronger case, because indeed Congress did not write a law that it expected to work. The law, as written, was not designed to work.
It depended on there being health care exchanged, but there was nothing forcing any state to establish a health care exchange AND Congress did not give the Secretary of HHS a right to establish healthcare.gov.
Congress wrote a law so as to come in under $1 trillion dollars according to the Congressional Budget Office and to that end they laid off all or most administrative costs on the states, and they intended to fix it in the next Congress, but the Democrats lost control of the House of Representatives in the 2010 election, and they couldn’t fix it.
So the Obama Administration, after the Democrats failed to regain control of the House in the 2012 election, created healthcare.gov. Which it had no authority to do.
Politifact also writes that, in a 2015 National Public Radio radio interview o the show “On Point” , according to the Washington Post but Politifsct was unable to find a complete transcript or interview but try this if you can find the date of the program:
https://www.wbur.org/onpoint/archive
According to Politifact, the Washington Post says Amy Coney Barrett said in 2015 (presumably about NFIB v. Sebelius:
That argument, howeverm is not, or should not be the argument now. Even if the mandate is a penalty, and would forbid anyone not to have insurance, and is unconstitutional because it is a directive from Congress, and it has to be knocked and it cannot be severed from the other parts of the law and the whole law should failed, when Congress in the 2017 tax bill zeroed out the mandate it 1) didn;t change anything and 2) knew exactly what it was getting and there is no issue if severability and if the result would be economically crazy, which is debateable, Congress passes train wreck legislation all the time and it is up to Congress to fix it. It is not up to the Supreme Court, said Chief Justice Roberts to save the American people from the consequences of their political choices.
Right now Congress is not passing any new stimulus which it is generally recognized is needed. Because Nancy Pelosi is holding what everybody (Dems Reps and Trump) agrees on hostage to what they do not agree on. If Nancy Pelosi truly expects Biden to win why can’t she wait till January? Even if the some states are that near bankrupt, is she getting what she wants?? Unless, of course what she wants is an election issue. Or perhaps to put some elephant in a mousehole. The Republicans are also also almost sticking out for liability protection for businesses for giving people Covid-19.
Sammy Finkelman (4eddd7) — 10/12/2020 @ 11:29 amDo you believe Jonah was swallowed by a whale? Yes or no?
No. It was a “great fish.”
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 10/12/2020 @ 11:31 am340. whembly (7c17c7) — 10/12/2020 @ 10:44 am
You expect anyone to think a government program through that much.
People could use it occasionally, when they went into crowds/
Sammy Finkelman (4eddd7) — 10/12/2020 @ 11:38 amI don’t think so. In order for this to be effective, the GPS must remain on all the time to continually plotting once it detects any “contact changes”.
Most of the power used in GPS is in acquiring the satellites. That only needs to be done after a long period off. The time-tick correlations are much simpler. Given the protocol with the contract tracing, only static or near-static situations are of interest. You don’t really want to “connect” with passing motorists. Both these things allow you to mitigate the GPS effort.
Anyway, it never happened since they were asking state health departments to co-opt it, and none did.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 10/12/2020 @ 11:39 amThe Republicans are also also almost sticking out for liability protection for businesses for giving people Covid-19.
Without some clear tests of responsibility, there is no way to defend against a liability suit in many jurisdictions. “They got hurt. You got money. It might have been your fault. Guilty!”
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 10/12/2020 @ 11:50 amBond Girl Margaret Nolan dies (76).
Rip Murdock (a9a78d) — 10/12/2020 @ 12:07 pmAn argument I first saw here right after RBG’s passing seems to be gaining some traction:
The Supreme Court deal is done
Read the whole thing, it’s entertaining…
Dave (1bb933) — 10/12/2020 @ 12:10 pm362. LOL Saw that coming…. doesn’t let her ‘off the hook’;even more improbable. 😉
DCSCA (797bc0) — 10/12/2020 @ 1:54 pmheh
https://dailycaller.com/2020/10/11/bill-maher-adam-schiff-california-taxes/
bolivar de gris (7404b5) — 10/12/2020 @ 1:58 pmOnly problem is the democrats are making clear that re-electing Trump actually does preserve the supreme court’s new state, since they can’t pack it. The messaging that Trump packed the court first is too consistent. There’s an end goal in mind.
Dustin (4237e0) — 10/12/2020 @ 2:12 pmIts called the journolist
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/10/12/read-left-wing-radicals-post-online-guide-to-disrupting-the-country-if-election-is-close/
Bolivar di griz (7404b5) — 10/13/2020 @ 5:44 amGuess who pops up here, cody shearer
https://amp.dailycaller.com/2020/10/12/fbi-spreadsheet-steele-dossier-trump-russia
Bolivar di griz (7404b5) — 10/13/2020 @ 5:49 amwhat is arabic for surprise surprise,
https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2020/10/while-cuomo-targets-orthodox-jews-muslim-mass-daniel-greenfield/
bolivar de gris (7404b5) — 10/13/2020 @ 6:39 amDustin (4237e0) — 10/12/2020 @ 2:12 pm
There’s an Op ed column in the New York Times that says the Republicans are hypocrites (and therefore all arguments against court packing should be ignored?)
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/12/opinion/republicans-supreme-court-barrett.html
She cites the following facts:
1) In October 2016, Senator Ted Cruz proposed that the senate should not move on a Hillary Clinton Supreme Court nominee all four years of her term. (Micehhle Goldberg doesn’t say that Ted Cruz said all four years)
2) Senator McCain also endorsd this, although he backtracked.
3) During the Obama Administration, Republicans described attempts by Obama to fill vacant seats on the Court of Appeals as :”court packing” (note: If federal judges half retire, which they can at age 70, it creates an additional seat.)
4) Senator Tom Cotton, then in the House, introduced a bill that he called the Stop Court Packing ct, that would have reduced the number of judges on the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia from 11 to 8, so that a Democratic president couldn’t fill them. (of course it was going nowhere because the Democrats then controlled the House)
5) In several states, Republicans made an effort to expand the number of judges on the state top court, and they succeeded in Arizona and Georgia. (where trends are going against them)
So I suppose the argument is: What’s good for Arizona should be good for the nation.
She doesn’t mention some things Democrats did, like the New Jersey legislature refusing to confirm any top court judges picked by Governor Chris Christie for six years because he refused to reappoint one particular judge. Christie eventually struck a deal.
Sammy Finkelman (4eddd7) — 10/13/2020 @ 7:20 am