Patterico's Pontifications

As I noted on the prior thread, some conservatives believe that the best means of conducting foreign relations is to be an asshole towards one’s allies. But of course that also seems to accompanied lately by a deep need to praise and admire despots and strong men. Substance interests them less than performative macho displays.

Victor (9ebafe) — 6/16/2021 @ 9:13 am

That Americans are favoring a Russian president over an American president is stunning. It’s as if they truly believe that Putin has America’s best interest at heart.

Dana (fd537d) — 6/16/2021 @ 9:29 am

Biden is a weak, confused, impotent dummy and the US media is covering for him. I’d be fine with Putin pulling back the curtain and exposing the obvious, but as a smart enemy, he won’t because it is in Putin’s (and Xi’s) best interest to prop up the old fool.

steveg (ebe7c1) — 6/16/2021 @ 9:33 am

Politics should end at the water’s edge. But some of these Trumpmuffins are the same “conservatives” who practically made Edward Snowden a hero in order to embarrass Obama. They’re not conservatives. They’re con-servers.

nk (1d9030) — 6/16/2021 @ 9:44 am

Conservatives who support Putin like how he deals with his enemies.

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 6/16/2021 @ 9:49 am

I’m a broken record on this, but i think it’s tribal. Putin is an authoritarian. He was criticized by dems for his actions in the 2016 election and he has similar cultural preferences so Trumpublicans put him on their team. The fact that he’s not at all an ally of the US doesn’t bother them in the least.

Time123 (b87ded) — 6/16/2021 @ 9:49 am

They also approve of how Putin deals with the press:

Biden-Putin meeting: American press manhandled by Russian security agents

……
The media scuffle was described by those in the room as “chaotic,” with journalists being pushed and shoved.

Russian security pulled the red rope separating the media from the leaders to try to keep journalists away from the presidents.

Russian security yelled at journalists to get out of the room, and began pushing them, according to the TV pool report. That was met with screams from U.S. journalists and White House officials, telling Russian security to stop touching them.
……

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 6/16/2021 @ 9:55 am

Biden is a weak, confused, impotent dummy and the US media is covering for him. I’d be fine with Putin pulling back the curtain and exposing the obvious, but as a smart enemy, he won’t because it is in Putin’s (and Xi’s) best interest to prop up the old fool.

So, you want our enemy to make our president look bad for…funzies? I don’t think I’ve seen that since Jane Fonda…or Mike Flynn.

Colonel Klink (Ret) (1367c0) — 6/16/2021 @ 10:00 am

@4 the phrase was coined by a republican senator in 1947 and only republicans took it seriously

JF (e1156d) — 6/16/2021 @ 10:01 am

There are various historical comparisons possible, but I still think one of the more resonant is that of the French right wing in 1940. They weren’t crazy about the Germans but their real enemy were French socialists and the left wing. They were willing to sacrifice a lot of their country for the purpose of unchallenged power to punish their real enemy.

Victor (9ebafe) — 6/16/2021 @ 10:06 am

I can believe that Putin took our lunch money every meeting he’s had, going back to W. Obama offered it up without being bullied, to show flexibility.

Kevin M (ab1c11) — 6/16/2021 @ 10:16 am

What perplexes me is how Trump’s base could forget that Putin shut down four McDonald’s in Moscow in 2014 over some tiff with Obama. Four! McDonald’s. I mean, like, isn’t there anything they won’t sacrifice for Trump?

nk (1d9030) — 6/16/2021 @ 10:18 am

@10 the american left since the ‘30s comes to mind

JF (e1156d) — 6/16/2021 @ 10:20 am

So, you want our enemy to make our president look bad

Our president looks bad, period. Only in the sycophantic American press does he seem capable. I don’t want that but the last election offered two Bozos, so my wants weren’t considered.

Kevin M (ab1c11) — 6/16/2021 @ 10:21 am

isn’t there anything they won’t sacrifice for Trump?

They’ve already sacrificed FOOTBALL for Trump. Maybe they’d balk at giving up porn.

Kevin M (ab1c11) — 6/16/2021 @ 10:23 am

Melodramatically questioned by an ABC journalist about his political opponents in Russia being killed, Putin points out that Ashli Babbitt was shot dead in the Capitol while expressing political grievances. Doubtless, this parallel has never occurred to the ABC journalist

https://twitter.com/mtracey/status/1405199304697036807

lol

Davethulhu (13b53b) — 6/16/2021 @ 10:25 am

2.That Americans are favoring a Russian president over an American president is stunning. It’s as if they truly believe that Putin has America’s best interest at heart.

He keeps winning. That’s why. =mike-drop=

“Americans love a winner. And will not tolerate a loser.” -George Patton [George C. Scott] ‘Patton’ 1970

DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 6/16/2021 @ 10:26 am

…..and only republicans took it seriously…..

LOL!

Nixon’s Vietnam Treachery

…….Nixon insisted that he had not sabotaged Johnson’s 1968 peace initiative to bring the war in Vietnam to an early conclusion. “My God. I would never do anything to encourage” South Vietnam “not to come to the table,” Nixon told Johnson, in a conversation captured on the White House taping system.

Now we know Nixon lied. A newfound cache of notes left by H. R. Haldeman, his closest aide, shows that Nixon directed his campaign’s efforts to scuttle the peace talks, which he feared could give his opponent, Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey, an edge in the 1968 election. On Oct. 22, 1968, he ordered Haldeman to “monkey wrench” the initiative.
…….
……Nixon had a pipeline to Saigon, where the South Vietnamese president, Nguyen Van Thieu, feared that Johnson would sell him out. If Thieu would stall the talks, Nixon could portray Johnson’s actions as a cheap political trick. The conduit was Anna Chennault, a Republican doyenne and Nixon fund-raiser, and a member of the pro-nationalist China lobby, with connections across Asia.

“! Keep Anna Chennault working on” South Vietnam, Haldeman scrawled, recording Nixon’s orders. “Any other way to monkey wrench it? Anything RN can do.”

Nixon told Haldeman to have Rose Mary Woods, the candidate’s personal secretary, contact another nationalist Chinese figure — the businessman Louis Kung — and have him press Thieu as well. “Tell him hold firm,” Nixon said.

Nixon also sought help from Chiang Kai-shek, the president of Taiwan. And he ordered Haldeman to have his vice-presidential candidate, Spiro T. Agnew, threaten the C.I.A. director, Richard Helms. Helms’s hopes of keeping his job under Nixon depended on his pliancy, Agnew was to say. “Tell him we want the truth — or he hasn’t got the job,” Nixon said.
…….
When Johnson got word of Nixon’s meddling, he ordered the F.B.I. to track Chennault’s movements. She “contacted Vietnam Ambassador Bui Diem,” one report from the surveillance noted, “and advised him that she had received a message from her boss … to give personally to the ambassador. She said the message was … ‘Hold on. We are gonna win. … Please tell your boss to hold on.’ ”

In a conversation with the Republican senator Everett Dirksen, the minority leader, Johnson lashed out at Nixon. “I’m reading their hand, Everett,” Johnson told his old friend. “This is treason.”
……..

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 6/16/2021 @ 10:27 am

the american left since the ‘30s comes to mind

Do tell? You think the American left is the real enemy?

Victor (9ebafe) — 6/16/2021 @ 10:28 am

“You think the American left is the real enemy?”

The left has been one election away from the destroying the country for the last 90 years.

Davethulhu (13b53b) — 6/16/2021 @ 10:32 am

@19 umm, no, they regard the rest of americans as their real enemy

JF (e1156d) — 6/16/2021 @ 10:33 am

Putin presser- “I am ready for my close up Mr.De Mille.”

Biden presser- “I told him… I told him… I told him…”

Yeah. To get off your lawn.

“They gave me a list of who I’m supposed call on.”- President Plagiarist, Geneva,Switzerland,6/16/21

Idiot.

DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 6/16/2021 @ 10:35 am

@20 it’s failed so far due to lack of intent i suppose

JF (e1156d) — 6/16/2021 @ 10:38 am

“All foreign policy is is an extention of personal relationships.” — Squinty McStumblebum, Geneva, Switzerland 6/16/21

O.M.G.

Thermonuclear idiot.

DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 6/16/2021 @ 10:39 am

I am listening to Biden right now and it continues to baffle me why some people here and in the Right generally despise him and think he’s a drooling idiot. You guys really look for what you want to see.

Victor (9ebafe) — 6/16/2021 @ 10:41 am

25.I am listening to Biden right now and it continues to baffle me why some people here and in the Right generally despise him and think he’s a drooling idiot. You guys really look for what you want to see.

So am I- and what you see is what you get: he’s incapable of even calling on reporters at will- they gave the ‘drooling idiot’ a list.

DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 6/16/2021 @ 10:47 am

@25. What you’re ‘seeing’ is a sh-t shoveling old senator demonstrating the Peter Principle to the world at large.

DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 6/16/2021 @ 10:50 am

Look at him– what a loser; stoop shouldered Squinty McStumblebum, clutching sunglasses with coat over his arm—waiting for the Early Bird special line to open.

But hey– “you bought him; you own him.”

DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 6/16/2021 @ 10:54 am

DSCA
In other words you have no actual objection to anything he said.

Victor (9ebafe) — 6/16/2021 @ 10:55 am

@29. Scroll up. Then tally up what it cost the American taxpayer to send the old clown there.

DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 6/16/2021 @ 10:59 am

8.Biden is a weak, confused, impotent dummy and the US media is covering for him. I’d be fine with Putin pulling back the curtain and exposing the obvious, but as a smart enemy, he won’t because it is in Putin’s (and Xi’s) best interest to prop up the old fool.

Yep. Never tip off the mark.

DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 6/16/2021 @ 11:05 am

This is only going to get worse, too– every day he gets older and increasingly befuddled. Staffers aren’t going to be able to cover for him. Expect a day he gets away from Jill and wanders out on to the South Portico in his boxer shorts.

DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 6/16/2021 @ 11:09 am

Tucker Carlson is on board to repeat the propaganda: Tucker Carlson Says Vladimir Putin’s Posing ‘Fair Questions’ About Ashli Babbitt Shooting https://t.co/M7QjoCvjJH

Except in this case, he’s right.

What’s to hide: who shot and killed Ashli Babbitt?

DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 6/16/2021 @ 11:12 am

The left has been one election away from the destroying the country for the last 90 years.

I could name a few where that was true. But they lost. And then there’s Henry Wallace who was a Soviet friend, if not asset, when he served as VP. Had FDR ran with him again, he would have been in the Oval Office.

Kevin M (ab1c11) — 6/16/2021 @ 11:13 am

Front man for the Democrat’s politburo. A Chernenko with a Grigory Romanov, not a Gorbachev, waiting in the wings.

Kevin M (ab1c11) — 6/16/2021 @ 11:16 am

Even ‘hero’ Kasparov says this ‘summit’ was an across the “chess” board win for Putin.

DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 6/16/2021 @ 11:17 am

“I could name a few where that was true.”

The Republicans say this about every election. It’s never been true.

Davethulhu (13b53b) — 6/16/2021 @ 11:23 am

#30 Could you be more specific? Could you explain to us how what he said constitutes a “win” for Putin? And what do you have against squinting? You never squint?

Victor (9ebafe) — 6/16/2021 @ 11:23 am

“what a loser; stoop shouldered Squinty McStumblebum, clutching sunglasses with coat over his arm—waiting for the Early Bird special line to open”

Sounds just like Trump….no real substance…..just superficial crap. One could go to RedState for this level of commentary.

AJ_Liberty (ec7f74) — 6/16/2021 @ 11:46 am

@39. ROFLMAOPIP. Take it up w/Kasparov.

DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 6/16/2021 @ 11:49 am

@39-

Even better, go here.

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 6/16/2021 @ 11:49 am

President Plagiarist: “They want me to get on the plane.”

Reporter: “It’s your plane- you can go when you want to.”

DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 6/16/2021 @ 12:01 pm

Sounds just like Trump….no real substance…..just superficial crap.

ROFLMAO! It’s called Reaganoptics.

DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 6/16/2021 @ 12:03 pm

“It is one thing for literally criminals to break through the cordoned window of the Capitol, kill a police officer and be held unaccountable”

but, but biden’s lies are good lies

JF (e1156d) — 6/16/2021 @ 12:59 pm

This will disappoint DCSCA, but the truth needs to be told: Putin, for all his tactical skill and unscrupulousness, has been a terrible leader for Russia.

After all the damages done by the Soviet system, Russians needed years of reform and peace in order to heal. Instead, Putin gave them institutionalized corruption, and quarrels with most of their neighbors.

Polls in Russia are not great, for obvious reasons, but there is some evidence that the Russian people are beginning to sour on Putin, as his failure at grand strategy becomes ever more obvious.

Jim Miller (edcec1) — 6/16/2021 @ 1:10 pm

#44 So you think Biden should have agreed with Putin that the 1/6 participants were the equivalent of protestors in Russia?

Or are you fixated on the question of exactly why an officer died a day after battling 1/6 rioters and feel that that’s the most important thing to look at as regards this summit?

Victor (9ebafe) — 6/16/2021 @ 1:41 pm

Putin, for all his tactical skill and unscrupulousness, has been a terrible leader for Russia.

ROFLMAOPIP.

‘As Russian leaders have come and gone, Vladimir Putin is, relatively speaking, a good leader. He is not nearly as controversial as leaders who have gone before him, and has kept Russia fairly steady and contributed to an improved world view of Russia. Therefore, I believe he is a good leader.’ – debate.org

‘Vladimir Putin is not only a good leader for Russia, he is a great leader. He has given back to the Russians something essential: pride in being Russian. Vladimir Putin has enabled Russia to regain its weight in the world. Before him, during the Boris Yeltsin era, many people made fun of Russia.’ -quora.com

Thanks for playing, Jimbo. What do we have for him, Johnny?

DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 6/16/2021 @ 1:43 pm

Biden threatens cyber response against Putin, gives him a ‘red-line list’ of 16 no-hack infrastructure locations

Only 16? Not ALL American companies?

Idiot.

DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 6/16/2021 @ 2:00 pm

More Biden’s speed

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5ObycvN3DA

steveg (ebe7c1) — 6/16/2021 @ 2:02 pm

I don’t know where this goes, but I read Tom Cotton’s request for Biden to not support China in the 2022 Winter Olympics, or something. He makes 3 points, 1 and 3 are fine but #2 is a doozy.

Second, the CCP also considers DNA collection a vital intelligence-gathering objective. As the U.S. National Counterintelligence and Security Center recently noted, “The PRC views bulk personal data, including health-care and genomic data, as a strategic commodity to be collected and used for its economic and national-security priorities.”[2] The CCP has reportedly conducted tests to develop biologically-enhanced soldiers and intends to use DNA data to catapult Chinese biotechnology companies to global market dominance.[3]

In 2022, thousands of world-class athletes will gather to compete in China. Their DNA will present an irresistible target for the CCP. Thus, we should expect that the Chinese government will attempt to collect genetic samples of Olympians at the Games, perhaps disguised as testing for illegal drugs or COVID-19.

I looked up the references, boy, do they not say that. They do not say they are going to collect DNA of Olympic athletes [anyone] to develop biologically enhanced soldiers, nope, not today, not in 50 years. First off, robots, second, AI, third, good lord. There’s like a tiny kernel of truth in there somewhere, but you know what else has tiny kernels in that you don’t want to pick through…

But he’s one of the not Trump GOP candidates for 2024, but Biden definitely looks terrible…just not in comparison to this rejected cast of a clown car tiktok video.

Colonel Klink (Ret) (7a0b01) — 6/16/2021 @ 2:04 pm

No matter how many note cards Biden needs, he’s unlikely to favor Putin’s word over our intelligence services, or spill state secrets to impress…

He’ll just give him a list of key infrastructure sites essential to the U.S. instead. And why not throw in a map of Pearl Harbor and mark the ships and installations that better not get bombed and torpedoed, too. 😉

DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 6/16/2021 @ 2:05 pm

. No matter how many note cards Biden needs, he’s unlikely to favor Putin’s word over our intelligence services, or spill state secrets to impress Biden

Shouldn’t that be “to impress Putin?”

I guess that’s like saying Libya when you mean Syria. You don’t have to be 78 years old or on the verge of losing your marbles to do that. It’s easier to do in writing than in speaking, though, I think.

I don’t think Trump said something to impress Putin. Trump didn’t care for secrets. He “revealed” something in order to use it as an argument. He wanted Russian co-operation in Syria, ad maybe fe;t Russia should be warned. So he mentioned there was supposed to be an upcoming ISIS operation in Syria.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Trump%27s_disclosures_of_classified_information

There was no real secret revealed, except by those who leaked it and said Russia could deduce something from it.

Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c) — 6/16/2021 @ 2:23 pm

48. DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 6/16/2021 @ 2:00 pm

Only 16?

Can;t ask for too much,

Obama thought he had a deal: The U.S. won;t complaint about hacking for spying, especially military purposes, but using the information to affect U.S. events was a bridge too far.

There’s evidently been a debate within the U.S. governemnt about whether to hack the hackers and damage their programs. Biden is telling Putin that if they go after X Y or Z, they will.

They already recovered cryptocurrency ransom.

Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c) — 6/16/2021 @ 2:29 pm

As someone who was red-baited constantly for a long time, I find this grimly amusing. And it is useful, in a way, that the masks are down, and these fascist shills are open about how much the hate our country.

The next “conservative” that questions my patriotism just gets laughed at, like the orange failtroll they worship.

Speaking of failtrolls, Mini-Donnie (maybe should be just be Donito?) spoke up recently, didn’t he?

john (cd2753) — 6/16/2021 @ 2:30 pm

DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 6/16/2021 @ 2:05 pm

He’ll just give him a list of key infrastructure sites essential to the U.S. instead. And why not throw in a map of Pearl Harbor and mark the ships and installations that better not get bombed and torpedoed, too.

The “saving grace” is that none of these things are really as important as the worriers say they are.

And anyway, if Russia wants to destroy things, they have nuclear bombs. He’s telling Putin messing with these things is a little like using nuclear weapons.

Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c) — 6/16/2021 @ 2:31 pm

Here’s the single most important statistic from Demographics of Russia: “Since the 1990s, Russia’s death rate has exceeded its birth rate.” As a result, Russia is, literally, shrinking.

That is especially true for Russian men, who have a life expectancy ten years less than Russian women. (About 68 years versus about 78.)

Jim Miller (edcec1) — 6/16/2021 @ 2:33 pm

Thee problem with the summit, and other summits, is what Biden doesn’t tell Putin. He can relieve worries. But he thinks he is successfully deterring him.

Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c) — 6/16/2021 @ 2:42 pm

I can guess 4 of the 16 no hack zones

Hunters Laptop
Hunters Cell Phone
BHR Partners
Georges Berges and his list of the anonymous buyers of Hunters artworks https://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/hunter-biden-art-selling-500k

steveg (ebe7c1) — 6/16/2021 @ 2:44 pm

5.Conservatives who support Putin like how he deals with his enemies.

It’s more a respect. How can you not “respect” a guy who keeps winning big pots with a pair of deuces against others holding a hand of jokers? The harsh reality is Russia is ‘bearly’ a superpower these days compared to the days of Thatcher’s ‘we can work with this guy’ advice to Ronnie when Gorby helmed the ol’CCCP. Yet Putin keeps projecting power with, “fear, surprise, and ruthless efficiency!” a la Monty Python’s Spanish Inquisition. It’s a ‘Crimean’ shame. Ol’ Adolf was a winner, too- until he went a bridge too far. So face it; the guy’s winning for his team. And he has restored Russian pride. If he ‘liberates’ Ukraine back under Mother Russia’s roof, who is gonna stop him- energy dependent NATO? You want America go to war over Ukraine when your adversary has hackers who can stop your engines cold with some malware on a $5 thumb drive– and you’ve just given him a list of key Homeland targets? Putin is winning because he’s the better poker player.

DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 6/16/2021 @ 2:45 pm

Putin can relieve himself of worries from paying attention to what Biden does not say. But Biden and Blinken think they are making credible threats because of what Putin does not do that he was too worried before to do.

Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c) — 6/16/2021 @ 2:46 pm

59. THE LIAR (anagram) was always going to go as far as he could and then start a war.

Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c) — 6/16/2021 @ 2:50 pm

59. DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 6/16/2021 @ 2:45 pm

and you’ve just given him a list of key Homeland targets? Putin is winning because he’s the better poker player.

It wouldn’t be a good idea for either Russia or China to rely on that list. There’s more resiliency than our defense establishment likes to claim.

Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c) — 6/16/2021 @ 2:52 pm

I am listening to Biden right now and it continues to baffle me why some people here and in the Right generally despise him and think he’s a drooling idiot.

To each his own, Victor. If you find Joe Biden to be focused, articulate, perspicacious, dignified, and honest, well, I hope for your sake that nobody ever bursts your bubble.

JVW (ee64e4) — 6/16/2021 @ 3:00 pm

There’s more resiliency than our defense establishment likes to claim.

Evidence to the contrary; 9/11 says nyet to that- along w/the recent ‘probing’ hacks of meat processing facilities, the Colonial pipeline fiasco, election attacks, hospitals and so on…

DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 6/16/2021 @ 3:10 pm

We know that many Germans thought that, in his time, Hitler had given them back their pride, that many Soviet citizens thought the same of Stalin, that many Chinese thought the same of Mao, and I would not be surprised if many Cambodians thought, early in his rule, that Pol Pot had given them reason to be proud.

Objective observers, who generally stay off the floor so they can see better, may disagree with those early prideful sentiments about those national leaders.

Jim Miller (edcec1) — 6/16/2021 @ 3:18 pm

Biden-Putin meeting: American press manhandled by Russian security agents

That might have been a blessing in disguise: CNN reported one of the U.S. press pool reporters got through and she asked Squinty McStumblebum if he ‘trusted Putin’ an ol’ Squinty nodded affirmatively. Psaki had to try clean it up later. They spent- what- 5 hours BS-ing w/nothing substantive resulting. It’s the senator in him; as POTUS, he never should have asked to have this so-called ‘summit’ at all. A phone call would have sufficed. The incompetent handed Putin an across the board win.

DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 6/16/2021 @ 3:24 pm

Jim Miller (edcec1) — 6/16/2021 @ 3:18 pm

I would not be surprised if many Cambodians thought, early in his rule, that Pol Pot had given them reason to be proud.

No, I don’t think so, since the whole population was in slave labor camps, and they could be executed for violating rules that they didn’t even bother to tell them about. Not to mention anyone wearing glasses. There were almost no children born in Cambodia between 1975 and 1979.

Jimmy Carter kept them in power two more years by dissuading Thailand from invading. Then he (and Reagan) kept Pol Pot’s government – or a supposed coalition – in the United Nations for another ten years.

There’s a little bit more to the other examples.
.

Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c) — 6/16/2021 @ 3:25 pm

I don’t think Commander in Farce Biden needs help from anyone in highlighting his unfitness for the office. He’s doing an excellent job of that all by himself.

What a sh*tshow.

“Great to have a President who meets with Putin and puts America first.”

—- Bill Kristol

Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 6/16/2021 @ 3:26 pm

In the meantime why no protests about the capture of the hero of “Hotel Rwanda” He was tricked into boarding a chartered plane. Just because the pilot was in the know and was not forced to land doesn’t mean this is much better than what happened to the opposition leader in Belarus.

Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c) — 6/16/2021 @ 3:27 pm

Who woulda thought Hunter Biden would transition to the art world – known as a place used for money laundering – to further his grift!?!?

Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 6/16/2021 @ 3:31 pm

Reporter Gives Putin Hell on Dead Political Opponents: ‘You Didn’t Answer My Question!’
……..
“The list of your political opponents who are dead, imprisoned, or jailed is long. Alexei Navalny, whose organization calls for free and fair elections and an end to corruption,” Scott said during a press conference following Putin’s summit with President Joe Biden. “But Russia has outlawed that organization—calling it extremist. And you have now prevented anyone who supports him from running for office. So my question to you, Mr. President: What are you so afraid of?”

After Putin engaged in whataboutism by focusing on social and political turmoil in the United States, Scott fired back at the autocrat. “You didn’t answer my question, sir,” the ABC reporter forcefully exclaimed. “If all of your political opponents are dead, in prison, or poisoned, doesn’t that send a message that you do not want a fair political fight?”
…….
If only American reporters were just as aggressive with our politicians.

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 6/16/2021 @ 3:38 pm

@71. What?? No questions about his favorite ice cream flavor???!!!! 😉

DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 6/16/2021 @ 3:41 pm

Sammy – I think you may have missed my three qualifiers. By the way, some leaders of the losing side in the Cambodian civil war chose to stay, rather than be evacuated, trusting in the promises the Communists made. And I don’t doubt that many of Pol Pot’s followers were proud of what he was doing, especially early in his rule.

Jim Miller (edcec1) — 6/16/2021 @ 3:46 pm

Biden threatens cyber response against Putin, gives him a ‘red-line list’ of 16 no-hack infrastructure locations

Not locations or companies. Types of targets. This is not like pointing out what ships not to bomb at Pearl Harbor.

Biden snapped at a reporter who accused him of being confident. He said no such thing. He said we would have to wait 3-6 months to see what happened. Later, he apologized to the press for being too curt.

Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c) — 6/16/2021 @ 3:54 pm

Biden said at some point that there was a difference between what happened on Capitol Hill on Jan 6 and a peaceful protest.

Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c) — 6/16/2021 @ 3:55 pm

Pol Pot was thought to be backed by Hanoi, but it turned out Communist China had stolen him.

Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c) — 6/16/2021 @ 3:58 pm

Obama mocked Romney for saying that Russia was a big threat.

And don’t forget, “After my election, I’ll have more flexibility.”

It cuts both ways.

norcal (c66c6b) — 6/16/2021 @ 5:34 pm

If only American reporters were just as aggressive with our politicians.

Oh, they are. Half of our politicians anyway.

Kevin M (ab1c11) — 6/16/2021 @ 5:34 pm

Pol Pot was thought to be backed by Hanoi, but it turned out Communist China had stolen him.

Hanoi eventually invaded and removed him from power.

Kevin M (ab1c11) — 6/16/2021 @ 5:35 pm

Biden threatens cyber response against Putin

Don’t make threats you won’t carry out; you invite your bluff being called.

Kevin M (ab1c11) — 6/16/2021 @ 5:37 pm

Hanoi eventually invaded and removed him from power.

Kevin M (ab1c11) — 6/16/2021 @ 5:35 pm

Yes, and then Cambodia became Vietnam’s “Vietnam”.

norcal (c66c6b) — 6/16/2021 @ 5:42 pm

To each his own, Victor. If you find Joe Biden to be focused, articulate, perspicacious, dignified, and honest, well, I hope for your sake that nobody ever bursts your bubble.

He was competent, coherent, spoke in complete sentences (unlike our past president) made his points forcefully, and contradicted a reporter who claimed he and Putin were old friends. I don’t know what standard you are judging him by, but he’s not the drooling idiot being spoon fed in a basement that right wing media insists on claiming him to be.

But then again conservatives also believe that Obama thought there were 57 states.

Victor (9ebafe) — 6/16/2021 @ 6:00 pm

He was competent, coherent, spoke in complete sentences (unlike our past president) made his points forcefully, and contradicted a reporter who claimed he and Putin were old friends. I don’t know what standard you are judging him by, but he’s not the drooling idiot being spoon fed in a basement that right wing media insists on claiming him to be.

Except he wasn’t:

“we old these truths evident; all men and women created equal…”

DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 6/16/2021 @ 6:07 pm

“You never ask positive questions!” – Squinty McStumblebum

Really?

What flavor today, Joey? ‘

I scream; you scream; we all scream for ice cream.’

DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 6/16/2021 @ 6:10 pm

DCSCA,

How do you manage to find room for more pins in your Biden voodoo doll?

norcal (c66c6b) — 6/16/2021 @ 6:16 pm

Scratch a Trumpmuffin and borscht will leak out. Taking their cue from their orange Putin-panty sniffer who took two Soviet-bloc wives.

nk (1d9030) — 6/16/2021 @ 6:37 pm

Which said “borscht” reminds me that DCSCA took Putin’s side against Trump just as much as he is taking Putin’s side against Biden now. Which should tell us a thing or two.

Reaganomics!

nk (1d9030) — 6/16/2021 @ 6:41 pm

I mean the thing is, DSCA, who seems to be mentally disturbed or at the very least weirdly prejudiced against people who squint or are Scottish, or JVW, really need to believe that Biden is senile. Their world view is built around that concept. They need to believe this because otherwise they might have to admit that he’s an improvement over Trump.

But when challenged to point out the senility all they got is verbal stumbles or vague insults. Meanwhile at this summit he got along great with our allies (unlike Trump), managed to reduce trade problems (unlike Trump) and was firm with Putin without being weird (unlike Trump) and did just fine in a press conference.

None of which will make the slightest bit of difference in the insistence that he is clinically senile. That is now an axiom of conservative thought, a bedrock principle. You could go on any number of conservative sites, RedState, Breitbart, and not a single person will challenge or question the point.

It is weird to share a country with so many people wedded to their own delusions.

Victor (9ebafe) — 6/16/2021 @ 6:46 pm

Well, I personally think, that people should not be allowed to vote after age 70, let alone hold any consequential office, and I think that Trump is halfway to being a drooling idiot, too, so I don’t mind them saying those things about Biden, as a general principle.

What I object to, and think is treasonably un-American, is taking the side of a damn foreigner against the President of the United States, whether it’s Biden or Trump or Obama or Bush or ….

nk (1d9030) — 6/16/2021 @ 6:54 pm

I mean the thing is, DSCA, who seems to be mentally disturbed or at the very least weirdly prejudiced against people who squint or are Scottish, or JVW, really need to believe that Biden is senile. Their world view is built around that concept. They need to believe this because otherwise they might have to admit that he’s an improvement over Trump.

I just find it amazing that your hatred of Trump (or perhaps admiration of Biden?) is so vast that you have apparently convinced yourself that our current President is Franklin Roosevelt, Dwight Eisenhower, and Ronald Reagan all rolled into one. But then I remember that it was people just like you who swallowed up completely the legend of Barack Obama.

Is Biden “an improvement” over Trump in terms of comportment? Probably. Is he “an improvement” over Trump policy-wise? Not hardly, at least not from what I have seen. But if he’s more to your liking in that regard too, well then, as I wrote earlier, to each his own.

JVW (ee64e4) — 6/16/2021 @ 7:36 pm

Just asking for a friend and those playing at home. Patriotism now means people can’t criticize POTUS? Or it means we’ve all got to nod along and agree that Biden is really doing a bang up job at foreign policy?

Just to double check, the guy walking around the summit in a daze in sneakers getting caught up calling Putin Trump? We’re all supposed to play along and not wonder if other countries are taking advantage of the buffoonery?

frosty (40e1bb) — 6/16/2021 @ 8:06 pm

@88. I mean the thing is, DSCA, who seems to be mentally disturbed…

Victor: lest you be reminded; it is Squinty McStumblebum who has had the multiple brain surgeries.

DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 6/16/2021 @ 8:49 pm

@87. Helsinki. =mike-drop=

DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 6/16/2021 @ 8:50 pm

How do you manage to find room for more pins in your Biden voodoo doll?

It’s a scarecrow.

DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 6/16/2021 @ 8:51 pm

Victor (9ebafe) — 6/16/2021 @ 10:28 am

Do tell? You think the American left is the real enemy?

Not “the” enemy. This is a cheap leftist framing device. Segments of the American left allied themselves with the Soviets when that was a thing. When that collapsed they wandered around until they paired up with the CCP collecting new converts along the way. Some of them show up now and again with fake outrage when they have an opportunity to pretend patriotism. Or they like to claim the threat they pose isn’t really a thing hoping that since it’s worked so many times before it will work again.

Victor (9ebafe) — 6/16/2021 @ 6:46 pm

DSCA, who seems to be mentally disturbed … really need to believe that Biden is senile. Their world view is built around that concept. They need to believe this because otherwise they might have to admit that he’s an improvement over Trump.

I still remember when you were here trying to convince everyone that chaz/chop was just something people in Seattle did for fun and that the reports of violence were right-wing fake news. Now you’re telling us Biden is just dandy and we’re all imagining what we’re seeing in the videos.

It sounds like this criticism more accurately fits you.

It is weird to share a country with so many people wedded to their own delusions.

Yes it is but it is what it is. Lefties usually like a good purge so maybe you’ll get one of those.

frosty (40e1bb) — 6/16/2021 @ 8:55 pm

@88/90. Thing is, Victor – as JVW alludes to- this has moved out of the realm of partisan politics, D or R, and is simply– and increasingly– an issue of basic human mental and physical competence.

He is a public official with the responsibility of lives and property in his hands. He has shown a problem walking up a flight of stairs and has demonstrated issues with memory and language. His frailty is increasingly evident and capacity to think on his feet dwindling. His staff is literally protecting him from himself and trying to hide it.

There’s no way you’d want this dude driving your kid’s school bus, piloting your 767 or performing brain surgery on you– but it’s swell to have him cast as the most power person on Earth with his his finger on the button to launch a thermonuclear war?

No.

DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 6/16/2021 @ 9:10 pm

DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 6/16/2021 @ 9:10 pm

but it’s swell to have him cast as the most power person on Earth with his his finger on the button to launch a thermonuclear war?

No.

This gets to the heart of why leftists will run interference for Biden on foreign policy. His finger isn’t on the button. He can’t find the button. If he can keep track of the codes he can’t remember which one is the valid authentication code. Not only can’t he launch a nuke, he can’t participate in any strategic response to aggression of any sort. He can’t act as commander and chief if he wanted to and that’s exactly why some people like him on this issue. They consider this a feature not a bug.

frosty (40e1bb) — 6/16/2021 @ 9:18 pm

@97. My POV is this is not about partisan politics anymore. It’s about physical and more importantly, mental competence. His human skill set is literally evaporating before everybody’s eyes. If he wasn’t POTUS it would just be sad. Instead, it is increasingly dangerous.

DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 6/16/2021 @ 9:33 pm

john (cd2753) — 6/16/2021 @ 2:30 pm

As someone who was red-baited constantly for a long time, I find this grimly amusing. And it is useful, in a way, that the masks are down, and these fascist shills are open about how much the hate our country.

Why would someone red-bait you? It sounds like you didn’t like it but are now amused that someone else is being accused of a false or groundless accusation?

frosty (40e1bb) — 6/16/2021 @ 10:26 pm

I still remember when you were here trying to convince everyone that chaz/chop was just something people in Seattle did for fun and that the reports of violence were right-wing fake news. Now you’re telling us Biden is just dandy and we’re all imagining what we’re seeing in the videos.

Can you quote me saying that? I don’t think so.

Victor (9ebafe) — 6/16/2021 @ 10:36 pm

Oh and frosty, your evidence that Biden is incompetent to deal with the nuclear codes is…. what again?

Victor (9ebafe) — 6/16/2021 @ 10:38 pm

#96

This is quite purely a matter of partisan politics. Your deep need to believe Biden is senile is nothing less. Your seizing on a stumble and a squint demonstrates it.

You, still, have not pointed to anything in particular regarding the summit , with our allies or Putin, or the press conference afterwards that would make me particularly worried about Biden.

And given that Biden, unlike Trump, was able to sort out the Boeing/Airbus thing? To make firm statements to Putin as to lines not to be crossed? I mean in terms of policy? What exactly am I supposed to be worried about here.

You despise Biden and apparently spend a lot of your time making up new insults for him. bully for you. But don’t expect to be particularly persuasive outside your right wing bubble.

Victor (9ebafe) — 6/16/2021 @ 10:42 pm

So Frosty, the American left is “a” enemy because “some segments” allied themselves with Soviets at some unnamed time. I’d love your cites to history on that.

But today “some segments” of the American right openly yearn for a strong psychopath like Putin or Trump instead of a reasonable old man like Biden. So I have my own ideas as to who the enemy of American democracy is today. Those people who deny that democracy is of value.

Victor (9ebafe) — 6/16/2021 @ 10:45 pm

@102. Except it’s not.

He is.

DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 6/16/2021 @ 11:00 pm

But don’t expect to be particularly persuasive outside your right wing bubble.

ROFLMAOPIP. You must be new here.

DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 6/16/2021 @ 11:03 pm

Except it’s not.

Do you believe that Obama thought there were 57 states and that he was incapable of speaking without a teleprompter?

Right wing credibility on the question of the competence of presidents is nonexistent. You will continue to scrutinize Biden’s appearances for hints of stumbles stutters and squints and meanwhile he will be doing a perfectly acceptable job of trying to lead a narrow majority in Congress and working with allies abroad.

You are a deeply strange person. What really do you want out of politics? God knows you hate Biden with fervor. Who or what do you favor?

Victor (9ebafe) — 6/16/2021 @ 11:15 pm

Victor, as you’re finding, DCSCA is not exactly about substantive good-faith engagement. Instead, it’s classic poo slinging, wrapped around an odd populist mantra…..that is decidedly anti-conservative (hence Reagan is at the epicenter of his ire) but simultaneously anti-royalist….which pits him against Biden and his 49 years of perceived political entitlement. The creepy part of it is that it then makes him unambiguously pro-Trump…..and seemingly for tearing down all civilty and norms….if it provides maximum entertainment value and the correct people are seen to be losing. Hence, he’s perfectly fine declaring Putin the winner in some imaginary publicity contest with Biden….though the world perfectly understands which is the authoritarian monster.

As a philosophical conservative, I’m no fan of Biden’s politics….but what I’ve seen over the past 15 years is that stark tribalism is not just making our political environment toxic, it’s giving us fewer and fewer good candidate choices and lowering the quality of discourse (where people are now desperately talking about stumbles, squints, and inevitable Biden verbal gaffes….as if it substantively matters). We are not going to really look at policy positions….like the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline and its impacts on Ukraine…but instead assess who “won” a photo op, Biden’s “brain surgeries” and supposed inability to manage the nuclear codes, and the somehow cataclysmic failures of Biden’s protocol team (after 4 years of being told that people were obsessing over niceties…now it’s all about fixating on the equivalent of which fork Joe is using).

I get that politics is a release for people…people who have been cooped up way too much over the past 15 months and maybe a little too fixated on social media and the internet….but cheering for Putin over an American President….shows that we’ve lost any sense of unity of purpose as a nation. If we can’t agree that first and foremost Putin = Bad, what next are we willing to sacrifice to score the next internet jab?

AJ_Liberty (a4ff25) — 6/17/2021 @ 4:53 am

You go to a summit with the President you have, not the President you might want or wish to have at a later time.

nk (1d9030) — 6/17/2021 @ 5:38 am

So Frosty, the American left is “a” enemy because “some segments” allied themselves with Soviets at some unnamed time. I’d love your cites to history on that.

You mean like the ones named in the Venona transcripts? Did the Rosenberg or Hiss trials never happen?

It’s also a bit rich for a leftist to be complaining about anyone blaming them for wanting to see the country’s institutions overthrown, considering Bryan Burrough documented these activities by revolutionary leftists pretty thoroughly in “Days of Rage.” Just because most Americans don’t remember how violent the late 60s and early 70s actually were doesn’t mean it never happened. It’s just not taught, and I highly suspect it’s because academia and secondary education became dominated by New Left teachers later in the 70s and into the 80s who empathized with their motivations due to shared political beliefs, even if they didn’t necessarily support the actions they took.

Factory Working Orphan (1cdbfb) — 6/17/2021 @ 5:57 am

I highly suspect it’s because academia and secondary education became dominated by New Left teachers later in the 70s and into the 80s

It was already apparent by 1972 or so when I was in high school, and the reason was college deferments. Before Congress reformed the draft in 1971(?), a man could qualify for a student deferment if he could show he was a full-time student making satisfactory progress in virtually any field of study. He could continue to go to school and be deferred from service until he was too old to be drafted. In accordance with Newton’s Fourth Law that “Those who can. do; and those who can’t, teach; and those who can’t teach, teach teachers”, a large number of them ended up in the academic racket, from grade school to post-graduate.

nk (1d9030) — 6/17/2021 @ 6:27 am

Victor (9ebafe) — 6/16/2021 @ 10:36 pm

Can you quote me saying that? I don’t think so.

Your chaz comments are spread out over several posts but I think they start around here.

There’s a “Fox News is making them look bad” comment in there and a number of “it’s all just people exploring peaceful coexistence”. Over time as it got worse you can find yourself and others trying to distract from that by blaming outsiders or trying to change the topic to the proud boys. You can see some of that in this thread.

So, yes, you did your best to make that case that chaz was being misrepresented and your doing it again with Biden.

frosty (40e1bb) — 6/17/2021 @ 7:22 am

Breaking-
Supreme Court dismisses challenge (7-2) to ACA on standing grounds.

Rip Murdock (2975ef) — 6/17/2021 @ 7:26 am

Victor (9ebafe) — 6/16/2021 @ 10:38 pm

Oh and frosty, your evidence that Biden is incompetent to deal with the nuclear codes is…. what again?

He’s having trouble reading from a teleprompter and you can see him drift off while trying to answer pre-planned questions. There’s news coming out of the g7 summit that’s he’s falling asleep and can’t keep track of discussions even with the notecards they’re giving him.

The public information we have about the authentication codes are that multiple code groups are printed on a card each day and POTUS has some way to know which one is the valid one. To verify his identity and authorize a nuclear response he has to give the correct code. I don’t think he can do that.

He’s everything trump was supposed to be on the world stage just for different reasons.

frosty (40e1bb) — 6/17/2021 @ 7:48 am

I find it a bit hypocritical to complain about Biden’s mental diminishing when the incumbent was both unhinged and mentally diminished, and he’ll only be a crazier uncle with the passage of time.

Paul Montagu (5de684) — 6/17/2021 @ 8:06 am

Victor (9ebafe) — 6/16/2021 @ 10:45 pm

So Frosty, the American left is “a” enemy because “some segments” allied themselves with Soviets at some unnamed time. I’d love your cites to history on that.

You’re either willfully ignorant of history, blinded by your bias, or dishonest. At this point I’m thinking it’s a bit of all three.

But today “some segments” of the American right openly yearn for a strong psychopath like Putin or Trump instead of a reasonable old man like Biden.

This is an imagined reality. It’s colorful language rooted in a desire to paint people you disagree with in the worst light possible.

So I have my own ideas as to who the enemy of American democracy is today. Those people who deny that democracy is of value.

Like all games lefties play the first step is deciding what the words mean. When you say democracy do you mean the type where you vote in socialism and then just vote on how it’s implemented? Usually when lefties talk about democracy that’s what they mean, aka Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, German Democratic Republic, Democratic Kampuchea.

If you’re talking about that sort of American democracy then you can consider me someone who denies the value of that.

Have fun organizing the death squads.

frosty (40e1bb) — 6/17/2021 @ 8:11 am

Paul Montagu (5de684) — 6/17/2021 @ 8:06 am

In other words; whatabout Trump? It’s good to see that be a thing again.

frosty (40e1bb) — 6/17/2021 @ 8:15 am

Biden wasn’t elected in a vacuum, frosty.

Paul Montagu (5de684) — 6/17/2021 @ 8:18 am

Adler on the 7-2 decision on Obamacare. Two of Trump’s appointees went with the majority. The irony is that, by Trump removing the penalty for not participating, the case was lost on standing because the plaintiffs could not show injury.

Paul Montagu (5de684) — 6/17/2021 @ 8:23 am

The irony is that, by Trump removing the penalty..

The article suggests that congress removed the penalty.

BuDuh (7bca93) — 6/17/2021 @ 8:47 am

AJ @107-

Well said.

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 6/17/2021 @ 8:50 am

Paul Montagu (5de684) — 6/17/2021 @ 8:18 am

And? Other fun facts, water is wet. Is things not happening in a vacuum what rejuvenates whataboutism?

No, he wasn’t elected in a vacuum. The D’s had an entire primary process where they had the option to put up and vote on competent candidates. Biden was a bad choice then and he’s only gone downhill.

The “at least he’s not Trump” argument is just an admission that Trump decimated your critical thinking skills. We got Trump in the first place because the D’s put up BO and then HRC and the R’s had 2 cycles of throwing in the towel.

But I wasn’t joking about being glad to see whataboutism return. There’s some humor in watching people who previously used it to deflect charges of hypocrisy resurrect it to make charges of hypocrisy.

frosty (40e1bb) — 6/17/2021 @ 8:52 am

Joe was widely considered to be Delaware’s delegate to the Idiots Convetion for decades… by Democrats.

steveg (ebe7c1) — 6/17/2021 @ 9:00 am

What’s changed?

(I realize Trump lost to a guy that usually polled around 2-3% in Presidential races and so did his VP)

steveg (ebe7c1) — 6/17/2021 @ 9:01 am

You’re not saying anything new, frosty. The dysfunctional GOP nominated a mentally unhinged 74-year old in mental decline, and the dysfunctional Dems nominated a gaffe-prone 78-year old in mental decline. This was all baked in. Complaining about Biden’s decline is indeed a “water is wet” observation.

The article suggests that congress removed the penalty.

Trump signed it, and he was (and is) the unequivocal leader of the GOP.

Paul Montagu (5de684) — 6/17/2021 @ 9:01 am

The running dogs of the Left… keeping Bad Touch Biden half-conscious and giving aid and comfort to the nation’s enemies.

Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 6/17/2021 @ 9:08 am

frosty (40e1bb) — 6/17/2021 @ 7:48 am: The public information we have about the authentication codes are that multiple code groups are printed on a card each day and POTUS has some way to know which one is the valid one. To verify his identity and authorize a nuclear response he has to give the correct code. I don’t think he can do that.

Incorrect, there is only one card:

…….
Sounding the Alarm (Takes 3 minutes).

If the North American Aerospace Defense Command, or Norad, located in Colorado Springs, Colo., spots satellite or ground-radar evidence of a nuclear attack, it alerts the Pentagon.

Briefing the President (1 minute)

The Pentagon calls the president, the commander of the U.S. Strategic Command in Omaha, Neb., and various other advisers.

A military aide who accompanies the president at all times produces a menu of nuclear options from a locked, leather satchel known as the “football.” But to save time, it’s likely that the four-star general in charge of Strategic Command will inform the president on his nuclear options.

“It’s basically a 1 minute briefing,” (Bruce G. Blair, a former Minuteman missile-launch officer and research scholar at Princeton University’s Program on Science and Global Security) said, “but it could be as short as 30 seconds.”

Deciding on a Response (12 minutes)

The process allows the president about 12 minutes to launch a retaliatory strike.

The Pentagon carries out the order, but only after it verifies the person issuing it is truly the president.

“The head person in the war room would ask the president, ‘Are you ready to authenticate?’” Mr. Blair said. “It’s a standard challenge and reply system.”

The president uses an authentication card known as the “biscuit” with “numbers and letters arranged in lines, not unlike a Bingo card,” according to an account by Bill Gulley, a former director of the White House Military Office, who wrote about his experiences in the 1980 book “Breaking Cover.”

The Pentagon challenges the president over the telephone with a code such as Delta Zulu. “The President with the help of a military aide finds Delta Zulu on his card and responds with the appropriate code,” Mr. Blair said. “Let’s say Charlie Bravo.”

Transmitting the Orders to Launch (2 minutes)

The Pentagon formats and transmits the president’s launch order in a message that includes sealed authenticator system codes, the launch time, a war-plan code that corresponds with the president’s nuclear choice and codes to unlock the weapons.

Validating and Executing the Orders (1 minute)

Land-based missile operators working in underground launch centers validate and execute the order.

They match the sealed authenticator system codes with codes they have locked in a safe and then enter the war plan and unlock codes. At launch time, the missile operators, working in pairs for security, simultaneously turn their launch keys.

The war plan code determines which of the missiles will fire.

“A computer in the missile knows what the war plan code means to it,” Mr. Blair said.
……..

Source

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 6/17/2021 @ 9:09 am

Trump signed it, and he was (and is) the unequivocal leader of the GOP.

You are suggesting the elimination of the penalty was a bad thing?

BuDuh (49f752) — 6/17/2021 @ 9:22 am

114.I find it a bit hypocritical to complain about Biden’s mental diminishing when the incumbent was both unhinged and mentally diminished, and he’ll only be a crazier uncle with the passage of time.

Except he can walk upstairs and ride down escalators.

DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 6/17/2021 @ 9:47 am

@106. Victor: the ‘strange person’ is the POTUS who cannot walk up a flight of stairs, confuses countries, names and is a known plagiarist repeatedly caught stealing other people’s work product.

“You bough him. You own him.”

DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 6/17/2021 @ 9:55 am

108.You go to a summit with the President you have, not the President you might want or wish to have at a later time.

Except it wasn’t a summit. It was a lousy three hour movie at great expense to the American taxpayers. And, like a bad flick, taxpayrs can’t get their money back.

A phone call would have sufficed.

DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 6/17/2021 @ 9:59 am

@107./@120. Conservative whine; bitter dregs.

=yawn= When you’re losing the message, attack the messenger.

______

It’s more a respect. How can you not “respect” a guy who keeps winning big pots with a pair of deuces against others holding a hand of jokers? The harsh reality is Russia is ‘bearly’ a superpower these days compared to the days of Thatcher’s ‘we can work with this guy’ advice to Ronnie when Gorby helmed the ol’CCCP. Yet Putin keeps projecting power with, “fear, surprise, and ruthless efficiency!” a la Monty Python’s Spanish Inquisition. It’s a ‘Crimean’ shame. Ol’ Adolf was a winner, too- until he went a bridge too far. So face it; the guy’s winning for his team. And he has restored Russian pride. If he ‘liberates’ Ukraine back under Mother Russia’s roof, who is gonna stop him- energy dependent NATO? You want America go to war over Ukraine when your adversary has hackers who can stop your engines cold with some malware on a $5 thumb drive– and you’ve just given him a list of key Homeland targets? Putin is winning because he’s the better poker player.

“For God’s Sake, Jamie, give your brain a chance.” – Colin Harvey [Christopher Plummer] ‘The Battle of Britain’ 1969

DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 6/17/2021 @ 10:08 am

Putin has showered praise on Biden. I am assuming this means Democrats and the media will now accuse Biden of being Putin’s puppet, as they did when Putin showered praise on Trump.

Hoi Polloi (ade50d) — 6/17/2021 @ 12:21 pm

Putin has showered praise on Biden. I am assuming this means Democrats and the media will now accuse Biden of being Putin’s puppet, as they did when Putin showered praise on Trump.

The criticism came about when Trump showered praise on Putin.

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 6/17/2021 @ 12:43 pm

132. Putin has showered praise on Biden.

Golden moments.

DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 6/17/2021 @ 1:29 pm

Trump said Putin was a “highly repected leader”, which was widely interpreted as springing from the collective poisoned minds of an authoritarian dictator mutual admiration society. But the compliment is open to interpretation because it could just as easily be a highly respected leader of vodka pickled blodgerers and the Belarus.

steveg (ebe7c1) — 6/17/2021 @ 2:47 pm

It just wasn’t one comment that displayed Trump’s admiration for Putin.

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 6/17/2021 @ 3:20 pm

More Trump comments explaining away Putin.

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 6/17/2021 @ 3:22 pm

Nice compilation video of Trump sucking up to Putin.

Rip Murdock (2975ef) — 6/17/2021 @ 3:29 pm

It’s like Putin knows who was sworn in as President of the United on January 20 or something.

nk (1d9030) — 6/17/2021 @ 3:36 pm

I am assuming this means Democrats and the media will now accuse Biden of being Putin’s puppet, as they did when Putin showered praise on Trump.

Trump hasn’t said a contrary word to or about Putin since the Golden Escalator. Last March, Biden said that Putin was a “killer”, and there are more examples.

Paul Montagu (5de684) — 6/17/2021 @ 3:47 pm

Except he can walk upstairs and ride down escalators.

Those darn ramps.

Paul Montagu (5de684) — 6/17/2021 @ 3:49 pm

You are suggesting the elimination of the penalty was a bad thing?

I’m saying that your contradiction of my initial comment was misplaced.

Paul Montagu (5de684) — 6/17/2021 @ 3:51 pm

Killer Putin better watch his step or BadTouch Biden will whup his vaunted Apology Chain upside his skull, like he nearly had to use on CornPop.

Colonel Haiku (71a740) — 6/17/2021 @ 3:54 pm

I’m saying that your contradiction of my initial comment was misplaced.

?

BuDuh (7bca93) — 6/17/2021 @ 4:51 pm

@132. ‘PutiPraise!’ = poker bluff. His tell.

DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 6/17/2021 @ 5:30 pm

#’s 136 -138

And?

Every leader develops their own way of talking to and about competitors so as not to cause any more tension than usual. Bunch of Alpha dogs looking for something to piss on, but you don’t want to get too overconfident of your position lest the Goddess of Rhamnous gets involved.
Trump was all over Little Rocket Man, and then switched his tune once they met and had respectful discussions

steveg (ebe7c1) — 6/17/2021 @ 6:15 pm

https://www.thehealthsite.com/diseases-conditions/squint-eye-symptoms-causes-and-treatment-options-f0617-502160/
Why Squinty McStumblebum is quinty and a stumblebum?!?:

Squint eyes mostly occur from abnormalities of the neuromuscular control of eye movement, and from the disorder of the external ocular muscles. It can also happen if there is a disorder in the brain, resulting in non-coordination of the eyes. Squint eyes also make binocular vision impossible leading to difficulty in comprehending depth perception.

Brain disorder…. “leading to difficulty in comprehending depth perception…”

Which is why you fall down walking up steps at airports.

DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 6/17/2021 @ 6:21 pm

When Biden worked for Obama, his position was that our biggest geopolitical competitor was Global Warming because we have aircraft carriers and the 80’s were calling wanting their foreign policy back.
Then a mere 4 years later the Rooski’s supposedly stole the 2016 election from Hillary… she still pushes that BS to this day even though she showed up with a misspelled “reset” button.

They say judge what a President does, not what they say.
Biden squashed our pipeline and fossil fuels and gave Putin a financial bonanza but Biden talks like a tough guy.
Trump buttered Putin up but cut off his cash flow from Europe (which Biden restored within his first 4 months)

steveg (ebe7c1) — 6/17/2021 @ 6:25 pm

Good and hard, Biden voters. Just put that shocked face away in the closet. You wouldn’t want to wear it out during Year One of this comedy act.

Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 6/17/2021 @ 6:33 pm

#147
Biden has never been accused of having depth of any kind, by decades of Democrats. To be fair he has worked hard at feathering his family nest while in various offices, but Hunter, Jim and Frank are not the coldest beers in the fridge and for some reason they’ve barely broken even on graft opportunities, but not by lack of trying… nope. The same genetics that convince you to scour the hotel floor for crack and wind up smoking parmesean cheese seem to inhibit accomplishment

steveg (ebe7c1) — 6/17/2021 @ 6:34 pm

@150. LOL – ahhhhh… but do the meds slur his words?

DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 6/17/2021 @ 6:51 pm

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 6/17/2021 @ 9:09 am

Feeling confident checking me with a source from 1980? You’re thinking they haven’t changed the protocol since then?

This seems to be more up to date than the 1980 book and it tells a different story. But if you’re feeling good about your 1980 source we can go with that. I still don’t think Biden could effectively participate in the procedure.

frosty (0e508d) — 6/17/2021 @ 9:18 pm

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 6/17/2021 @ 9:09 am

You might want to send a note to the WH since they’re still calling them the daily codes.

frosty (0e508d) — 6/17/2021 @ 9:24 pm

Psst; nobody tell Rip that last link is a gag. We’ll see if he notices.

frosty (0e508d) — 6/17/2021 @ 9:37 pm

BuDuh (7bca93) — 6/17/2021 @ 4:51 pm

Roll the tape:
PM: “The irony is that, by Trump removing the penalty for not participating, the case was lost on standing because the plaintiffs could not show injury.”
BuDuh: “The article suggests that congress removed the penalty.”
PM: “Trump signed it, and he was (and is) the unequivocal leader of the GOP.”
BuDuh: “You are suggesting the elimination of the penalty was a bad thing?” [non-sequitur]
PM: “I’m saying that your contradiction of my initial comment was misplaced.”
BuDuh: “?”

Trump signed an executive order in October 2017 to remove the mandate, then he signed into law the tax cut that removed the mandate. Trump owns this, and it wouldn’t have happened without his signatorial blessing. He was the leader of the GOP, and anyone who crossed him got primaried.
This reminds me of the argument I had with liberals a decade ago, that we conservatives couldn’t call Obamacare Obamacare because it was Congress that passed the law, even though Obama campaigned on a healthcare bill was highly similar.

Paul Montagu (5de684) — 6/18/2021 @ 6:10 am

OT: A political blog that shut down in 2016 because of legal threats|:

http://r8ny.com/2016/12/09/the-end-of-room-eight

Sammy Finkelman (b434ee) — 6/18/2021 @ 6:17 am

….On December 31, Room Eight will most likely shut down, unless someone else is able to take it over. The site will disappear, not simply stop publishing.

The reason for this is that Room Eight is a serious legal liability. It has recently been the recipient of very real legal threats relating to the material published here. Such threats implicate me, my employer, and my family. Room Eight has never made any revenue and has no other resources with which we could respond to legal action against us. The fact is, Room Eight is not journalism; it’s an unmoderated forum. While the “about” page makes it clear that opinions published here do not represent those of Alley Media Ventures LLC, that doesn’t stop someone from suing us anyway and requiring us to respond legally.

Furthermore, the virtue of offering this type of forum is not what it was in 2007. Room Eight is a small site with an obviously identifiable owner (me). Sites like this used to be one way to establish respectability on the Internet as an independent writer. This is no longer even close to true, as platforms like WordPress.com, Medium, and Blogger let people with interesting or controversial ideas put them out to the world, for free, and provide better community support and discoverability than a single, self-hosted WordPress site ever could. Most importantly, these platforms are owned by huge companies with a legal department that can effectively refute the claim that an author’s content is not the platform’s responsibility. Although I obviously feel the same is true of Room Eight, I cannot realistically defend it from such claims…

Sammy Finkelman (b434ee) — 6/18/2021 @ 6:18 am

Current blog by one of the writers:

https://larrylittlefield.wordpress.com

Sammy Finkelman (b434ee) — 6/18/2021 @ 6:21 am

Congressman campaigned on removing the individual mandate. They were acting on the will of their constituents. That means the constituents, Congress, and Trump own it.

I know it lacks the clever “Stupid Trump” nuance, but that is how it worked out.

BuDuh (7bca93) — 6/18/2021 @ 6:43 am

Do you think the individual mandate was good law, Paul?

BuDuh (7bca93) — 6/18/2021 @ 6:45 am

A court, any court, holding that a duly enacted law is unconstitutional is a remedy of last resort. According to case law and tradition, and in practice.

This thing that was done, by whoever done it, was the right thing to have been done. Leaving a Constitutional poison pill in the law in order to give the Supreme Court a reason to hold it unconstitutional would have been the wrong thing.

nk (1d9030) — 6/18/2021 @ 6:59 am

“Do you think the individual mandate was good law”

It was certainly a close call. You didn’t ask, but my opinion pre-NFIB was that the mandate was an unconstitutional regulation of inactivity….with penalties masked as taxes. Why I say it was close was that the government could have achieved pretty much the same end effect using a constitutionally approved regulation of activity or a conventional excise tax. So Roberts smoothed over that hump by creating a new-fangled not-too-big tax….which he conveniently declared was not a nasty direct tax that would require apportionament….and on we went, modestly assuaged that forcing people to buy stuff is not a power that a democratic government will use much….or for long!

The later Obamacare cases were like trying to get the old band together….but where everyone looks tired, old, and the lead singer keeps forgetting lyrics. Yes, people were trying to hoist Roberts by his own cynical tax petard, but as the Geico commercial meme famously quipped, that’s not how any of this works. Roberts left the question to the people to change…..and they promptly re-elected Obama…..but eventually stripped out the dreaded mandate…leaving sort of a Franken-mess. Republicans never really came up with a replacement option….and never really tried to add the changes they were banging the table to add back in the day (I seem to remember medical malpractice or tort reform was a thing that quickly got whisked aside for the more pithy repeal and replace slogan…and the proof that the GOP rabble was unable to count to 60).

We’ve lost the ability to understand that our democratic system is predicated on us coming together to fix contentious things….and not always getting everything we want. Somehow we need to get back there….

AJ_Liberty (a4ff25) — 6/18/2021 @ 7:43 am

Thanks, AJ. I think you are correct.

What bothered me about Paul’s comment, and I believe your closing paragraph covers quite well, is that repealing the mandate was a coming together of sorts amongst the people who fully understood the ramifications of the tax/no tax ruling that really made a mess out of things.

I really don’t see what Congress and The Executive settled on as being a bad thing. Maybe not the best thing, but to simply use it as a knock at Trump seems gratuitous.

BuDuh (7bca93) — 6/18/2021 @ 7:59 am

There is no contradiction between arguing that the mandate is the linchpin in the law and that it is a throwaway sentence, because Congress changed the law in the interim so the law is in the state Congress anticipated.

The penalty = tax decision was not really a problem, so long as the Supreme Court is consistent in interpreting laws so as not to be unconstitutional. Treating the Secretary of HHS as a state was.

The argument made to the Supreme Court in the second case was that interpreting the law as written left the law in an absurd state. But they really did do so. (And Congress has done that many times, what with debt ceilings and the like)

The secret to the absurd condition the PPACA law was left in, is that Obama and Congress wanted the CBO to estimate that it would cost no more than $1 trillion, and for that reason, assumed away most administrative costs by laying them off on the states, but, at the same time, they did NOT actually do anything to attempt to force the states to spend the money. And it wasn’t because they lost the Ted Kennedy seat in the Senate – they did pass a technical corrections bill, which eliminitated the Nebraska provision.

The Democrats probably intended to fix the problem in the next Congress, but they lost control of the House of Representatives in the 2010 election.

So President Obama had to (illegally) create healthcare.gov to make the law work.

Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c) — 6/18/2021 @ 8:06 am

In the first Obamacare case, Chief Justice Roberts wrote something like that the Supreme Court did not exist to save the people from the consequences of their political decisions.

Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c) — 6/18/2021 @ 8:09 am

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 6/17/2021 @ 9:09 am

Feeling confident checking me with a source from 1980? You’re thinking they haven’t changed the protocol since then?…..l
frosty (0e508d) — 6/17/2021 @ 9:18 pm

Since there is nothing in the Wikipedia article you linked too that is materially different that is described in my link (published in the WSJ in 2017), yeah, I am feeling pretty confident.

Rip Murdock (2975ef) — 6/18/2021 @ 8:45 am

I find it a bit hypocritical to complain about Biden’s mental diminishing when the incumbent was both unhinged and mentally diminished, and he’ll only be a crazier uncle with the passage of time.

One of the reasons I am unconcerned with Trump’s lasting effect on the GOP is that I expect his advancing Alzheimer’s will become undeniable over the next few years.

Kevin M (ab1c11) — 6/18/2021 @ 8:55 am

As someone who actually had to deal with Obamacare, if’s greatest failings were these:

1. 95% of families were exempt from the law, either through Medicare or workplace policies, muting the opposition from the few who were not. “I’m all right, Jack!”

2. Combining the pools — adding the never-insured working poor and too-sick-to-get-insurance persons to the existing self-insured pool drove up the premium cost for the new combined pool rather dramatically.

3. Limiting subsidies purely by income, while premiums went up by age, presented a huge “welfare trap” to older people. In their early 60s, a couple might have to forego a $10,000 subsidy if they made an additional pre-deduction dollar of income over about $60,000.

The Democrats refused to consider any changes to fix these issues until this year, when they changed the subsidy cap as part of the “stimulus.”

The mandate was never really the issue, just a means to challenge the law. The Democrats always argued about how this law helped some (and it did) but they were never really challenged on how much it hurt others because of 1) above.

Kevin M (ab1c11) — 6/18/2021 @ 9:10 am

In the first Obamacare case, Chief Justice Roberts wrote something like that the Supreme Court did not exist to save the people from the consequences of their political decisions.

Well, actually it does. Just like the Constitution and its guarantees.

Kevin M (ab1c11) — 6/18/2021 @ 9:13 am

This

Gold Codes are generated daily and provided by the National Security Agency (NSA) to the White House, The Pentagon, United States Strategic Command, and TACAMO. For an extra level of security, the list of codes on the card includes codes that have no meaning, and therefore the president must memorize where on the list the correct code is located.

isn’t materially different from

Incorrect, there is only one card:

If it’s not materially different how is my statement incorrect? When you say “one” what do you think “one” means?

published in the WSJ in 2017

You’re thinking it being published in 2017 improves

who wrote about his experiences in the 1980 book

Technically, you’re citing it now so it’s even better.

A book from 1980 means this guy is giving Carter era information at best. You could have referenced the G.I. Joe: Retaliation movie and been just as credible as citing a book from 1980. How hard did you have to look for that? The Wikipedia article is the first google response for nuclear codes and it’s says what I originally said.

Honestly though, I’m not as worried about this as I am about some things I read concerning an arms deal with some colonel, and Central American country, and Iran. I also saw a show about two cops in Miami. They get to drive cool cars but I’m concerned about the drug trade through FL.

frosty (3d340e) — 6/18/2021 @ 9:30 am

169. Not when the badness of a law was not affected by the constitution.

Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c) — 6/18/2021 @ 9:41 am

frosty (3d340e) — 6/18/2021 @ 9:30 am

From your Wikipedia article:
…….

Gold Codes are arranged in a column and printed on a plastic card, nicknamed “the biscuit”.

The card is similar to a credit card, and the president is supposed to carry it on their person. Before it can be read, an opaque plastic covering must be snapped in two and removed.
……..

Should the president decide to order the launch of nuclear weapons, the president would be taken aside by the “carrier” of the nuclear football and the briefcase opened. Once opened, the president would decide which “attack options” (specific orders for attacks on specific targets) to use. The attack options are preset war plans developed under OPLAN 8010, and include major attack options (MAOs), selected attack options (SAOs), and limited attack options (LAOs). The chosen attack option and the Gold Codes would then be transmitted to the NMCC via a special, secure channel.

Stephen Schwartz, an independent nuclear policy consultant, explained in 2018: “Once [the president’s] identity is verified, he gives the order and it is transmitted down the chain of command. The chain of command goes from the president through the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and then, if we’re using long-range weapons, down through the Strategic Command, then the order is relayed to our forces in the field. It always happens extremely quickly.”
………

This description is not materially different from the WSJ article.

Rip Murdock (2975ef) — 6/18/2021 @ 10:23 am

Is someone maybe should tell Vladimir Vladimirovich why need spend precious Russian rubles on GRU and FSB when American nuclear launch protocols are right there on internet (invented by Russians, BTW) for everybody to see?

nk (1d9030) — 6/18/2021 @ 10:33 am

I thought the United Staes told Russia (in the era of Yeltsin) how to improve their codes and locks.

Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c) — 6/18/2021 @ 11:01 am

#114
Trump took the MoCA test in response to people challenging his mental fitness.
Joe said he’d take the test and probably does weekly in order to tighten up his meds, but by “take the test” people thought he’d release results.

So to be charitable, I won’t say Joe lied. He has taken the test or multiple tests… he just doesn’t want to release results

steveg (ebe7c1) — 6/18/2021 @ 12:11 pm

#175

Forgot to say that the knee jerk reponse to Trumps MoCA results was “he’s lying”, and so goes damned if you do damned if you don’t

steveg (ebe7c1) — 6/18/2021 @ 12:17 pm

Today Biden gave Putin a great gift by demonstrating we are ambivalent about allowing the Ukraine to defend itself. The US froze a $100M lethal aid package because Putin pulled toops back from the border. It faster for Putin to move troops across the border than it is for the US to ship anti-armor, anti aircraft missiles
LTC Vindman must be happy he did not get that gig as Minister of Defense for Ukraine.

steveg (ebe7c1) — 6/18/2021 @ 12:27 pm

Do you think the individual mandate was good law, Paul?

I’m more agin it than for it.

Paul Montagu (5de684) — 6/18/2021 @ 6:37 pm

Rip Murdock (2975ef) — 6/18/2021 @ 10:23 am

You seem to be stuck repeating yourself. Are you ok? The dissonance is interesting but I worry about you sometimes?

Any chance you can answer my questions in 170 or resolve the contradiction between 126 and 172?

frosty (226bff) — 6/18/2021 @ 8:07 pm

6/16/2021

Biden and Putin Meet as “Conservatives” Cheer and Shill for the Enemy

179 Responses to “Biden and Putin Meet as “Conservatives” Cheer and Shill for the Enemy”

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