Weekend Open Thread
[guest post by Dana]
Hello! Let’s get started!
First news item
Members of pluralistic societies must be able to listen to others’ points of view and work with them, or against them, in ways that benefit the culture. Ideally, the clash of ideas produces a better solution.
…
“To be civil — to behave in a manner that takes into consideration the feelings and the comforts of others — means practicing the art of giving,” Forni writes. “It creates a bond between those involved. … Manners are the first step of the soul toward love.”
A lack of love is our real problem, for which the lack of civility is just a symptom. We know how to love; we simply withhold it from those we deem unlovable. Mysteriously, in 2021, those people all seem to belong to the other political party.
Stop aiming for the low bar of civility, which you can’t sink your teeth into like a chimichanga. Instead, aim for love, even of your political enemies. You might even realize they aren’t your enemies after all.
Second news item
Enes Kanter Freedom doesn’t care about the cost to him because freedom is worth it:
What got you interested in the issue of the Uyghurs and concentration camps in China?
It’s a crazy story, because, this summer I was doing a basketball camp. All the kids were lined up and I was taking pictures with them one by one. I took a picture with this kid, and his parents called me out in front of everybody and said, “How can you call yourself a human-rights activist when your Muslim brothers and sisters are getting tortured and raped every day in concentration camps in China?” I was shocked. I turned around and was, like, “I promise you, I’m going to get back to you.” I started to study more and more. I started with the Uyghurs and then I saw what Tibet was going through, and what Hong Kong and Taiwan and Mongolians are going through. It broke my heart. And I’m, like, “It doesn’t matter what it costs. I have to bring awareness of what’s going on.”
Third news item
“Standard gargle, mouthwash, has been proven to kill the coronavirus,” [Republican Sen. Ron] of Wisconsin said in an audio clip played by Burnett. “If you get it, you may reduce viral replication. Why not try all these things?”
Burnett turned to Sununu and said, “People run with these kinds of theories. They believe them. How damaging is it?”
“Look, it’s incredibly damaging,” replied the governor. “There’s no doubt about it. I’ve gotten kind of famous for saying when crazy comes knocking at the door, slam it shut. And that’s what you gotta do. You can’t just tolerate it and say it’s just a certain part of your population that is, you know, transmitting all this misinformation and it doesn’t matter. It does matter because it gets into the populace.”
Fourth news item
A trillion here, a trillion there, they do not, do not really care:
The House version of the Democratic climate and social spending bill would increase federal deficits by $3 trillion over the next decade if temporary provisions are made permanent, the Congressional Budget Office estimated Friday.
The numbers were requested by Republicans, who have criticized the Democratic plan as being riddled with budgetary gimmicks to make it appear to cost less. The legislation has several spending items that sunset early that, if made permanent as Democrats intend them to be, would balloon the cost of the bill.
The report from the budget office released Friday is a blow to President Joe Biden’s efforts to push the bill through Congress, as it will add to fears that the spending measure would push the government further into debt and stoke inflation hotter. Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, in particular, whose vote Biden is counting on, has expressed such worries.
The initial scoring from the CBO only accounted for the legislation as written, sunsets included. The CBO first said that the legislation would increase federal deficits by $367 billion over the next 10 years.
Fifth news item
The ongoing cultural genocide:
In illegally occupied Tibet, China is separating children from their families in boarding schools for the purposes of indoctrination in communism, to make them think of themselves as “Chinese” instead of Tibetan, and for the purpose of severing their attachment to Buddhist culture…
Tibet’s education system has become primarily residential; official data shows that approximately 800,000 Tibetan children aged six to 18 – 78% of Tibetan students – are living in colonial boarding schools;
Students attend a class inside a classroom during a government-organised media tour to Lhasa Naqu Second Senior High School in Lhasa, Tibet, June 1, 2021. (Martin Pollard/Reuters)
Tibetan parents are compelled to send their children to boarding schools due to a lack of alternatives and are unable to advocate for other options in Tibet’s repressive environment. Individual accounts show that intimidation and threats are used to coerce reluctant parents to send their children to such schools;
Students are at risk of losing their mother tongue and connection to their cultural identity because: 1) classes are primarily taught in Chinese;2) they live apart from their families and communities and are, therefore, unable to practice their religion or access the most authentic expressions of Tibetan culture and traditions; and 3) they are subjected to a highly politicized curriculum intended to make them identify as Chinese;
China’s boarding school policy is discriminatory in that it targets Tibetans and other “ethnic minorities,” while the rate of Chinese students in boarding schools is dramatically lower, even in rural areas;
Researchers have shown Tibetan boarding school students to be experiencing great emotional and psychological distress, including extreme feelings of loneliness and isolation, as a result of being separated from their families, communities, and culture.
Sixth news item
Trumpers still wondering why Liz won’t just sit down and shut-up:
We have received exceptionally interesting and important documents from a number of witnesses, including Mark Meadows. He has turned over many texts from his private cell phone from January 6th. (2/4)
— Rep. Liz Cheney (@RepLizCheney) December 9, 2021
Do not be misled: President Trump is trying to hide what happened on January 6th and to delay and obstruct. We will not let that happen.
The truth will come out. (4/4)
— Rep. Liz Cheney (@RepLizCheney) December 9, 2021
Seventh news item
I mean, what else would you expect??:
Days after announcing his candidacy for governor, Republican David Perdue further embraced debunked claims of electoral fraud in Georgia’s 2020 presidential race by joining a lawsuit seeking to prove he and former President Donald Trump were cheated out of election victories.
The suit claims that fraudulent or counterfeit ballots were counted in Fulton County, the state’s most populous jurisdiction, although investigators rebutted the same claims previously.
Perdue’s lawsuit amplifies claims that the former senator has made this week since announcing a challenge to incumbent Gov. Brian Kemp on Monday. Perdue told Axios and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that he wouldn’t have certified Georgia’s 2020 results if he had been governor then, unlike Kemp.
Eighth news item
There is something sad and desperate about Hillary Clinton reading what would have been her victory speech had she won the election in 2016:
In a soon-to-be-released Masterclass episode on “The Power of Resilience,” the 2016 Democratic presidential nominee and former secretary of state reads from the remarks she had prepared to give in New York on November 8, 2016, before it became clear that Donald Trump had won the election.
“My fellow Americans, today you sent a message to the whole world,” she says. “Our values endure. Our democracy stands strong. And our motto remains: e pluribus unum. Out of many, one.
“We will not be defined only by our differences. We will not be an us versus them country. The American dream is big enough for everyone. Through a long, hard campaign, we were challenged to choose between two very different visions for America. How we grow together, how we live together, and how we face a world full of peril and promise together.
“Fundamentally, this election challenged us to decide what it means to be an American in the 21st century. And for reaching for a unity, decency, and what President Lincoln called ‘the better angels of our nature.’ We met that challenge.”
I think she’s an irrelevant has-been who refuses to fade from the public arena, but there might be a good reason why:
Democrats are looking for a fallback option in 2024 in case Biden’s too old for another four years. You don’t suppose…
She’s younger than Biden and Trump. She seems to be in good health. And her incandescent ambition will never fade. She’s even got a victory speech pre-written!
2024…Lord have mercy!
MISCELLANEOUS
Still holding on:
Have a great weekend.
–Dana
Ms. French and Mr. Freedom are great Americans, both giving us something to aspire to.
Paul Montagu (1888f5) — 12/10/2021 @ 5:37 pmI refuse to read Hillary’s hoax victory speech.
Nice takedown of Adam Schiff by Eli Lake.
“Every witness had been asked whether or not he or she had seen evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. None of them—not James Clapper, not Sally Yates, not Susan Rice—said they did. Schiff never accounts for the gulf between what witnesses told his committee behind closed doors and what he claimed to know before the cameras.”
Remember, there were NeverTrumpers who considered Schiff some sort of hero.
The Resistance Liar
Obudman (3f0cd2) — 12/10/2021 @ 5:39 pmhttps://www.commentary.org/articles/eli-lake/adam-schiff-trump-russia-dishonest-memoir/
You’re killing it with the photos again, Dana!
norcal (d9c78c) — 12/10/2021 @ 5:47 pmR.I.P. Michael Nesmith, 78
Took the last train to Clarksville. 🙁
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 12/10/2021 @ 5:49 pmMy Lord, Dana– thought that pix was a painting!! Great eye; superb composition!
You should be entering pix in photo contests or selling them as stock pix. Curious– do you shoot half a dozen and choose one or is it more a matter of right place/right time and a single shot. Also– do you use and filters?
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 12/10/2021 @ 5:53 pmhttps://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/12/enes-kanter-freedom-letting-himself-be-used/620900/
Jemele Hill tackles both the first and the second news items.
BuDuh (4a7846) — 12/10/2021 @ 5:54 pmNewsmax made clear that they’re a pro-Putin propaganda outlet, so it’s no surprise they would bring on a pro-Putin propagandist to talk about Ukraine.
The Russian Federation officially recognized Ukraine as a sovereign nation, by memorandum and treaty in 1993 and 1997, until Putin welshed on the deal.
Along those lines, Rich Lowry is right: Vladimir Putin shouldn’t be a right-wing hero.
The irony is that if a Russian wants more freedoms and more respect for his civil liberties and political rights, he’d cross the border into Ukraine, unless or until Putin invades and takes over.
Paul Montagu (1888f5) — 12/10/2021 @ 6:00 pmAnd long those lines, Tucker Carlson is wrong:
let’s be civil, people
“behave in a manner that takes into consideration the feelings and the comforts of others“
but when “crazy” comes knocking at your door, slam it shut!
hmmm, ok
JF (e1156d) — 12/10/2021 @ 6:11 pmTwo important Kaiser Foundation polls:
First, one on media and vaccine misinformation;
Second, one on partisanship and vaccination status:
I think everyone could benefit form studying both of them.
(I assume the relationship between the two is obvious.)
Jim Miller (edcec1) — 12/10/2021 @ 6:16 pmBiden is already too old for another four years. Which could explain the campaign to undermine Kamala Harris by, among other things, criticizing her for not doing the things that no other Vice President has been required, or authorized by the Constitution, to do. Vice Presidents don’t do much. you know. They just don’t. Let’s see if they Spiro Agnew her and who their Gerald Ford will be.
(No, I don’t know who they are. Probably a lot of them, though.)
nk (1d9030) — 12/10/2021 @ 6:18 pmWas letting China join the World Trade Organization a good idea? Some who favored it in 2000 now think it was a mistake:
I am not an international trade export, but I had come to that opinion some years ago. (In contrast, I think the Reagan-Bush-Clinton North American Free Trade Agreement was good for the United States — and for our neighbors to the north and south.)
Jim Miller (edcec1) — 12/10/2021 @ 6:30 pmI want to see Lieawatha take the place of heels down. The republicans vote – useless.
mg (8cbc69) — 12/10/2021 @ 6:35 pm@8. Watched that Carlson package, Entertaining. And whether you like it or not, he did present a valid POV that was correct.
https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2018/01/09/broken-promise-nato-expansion-and-end-cold-war/
To be sure, there’s a lot og things off-putting about Putin, but his Russian POV, given their history, is essential when strategic planning. ‘The other guy’s shoes thing.’ Vlad has valid concerns regarding NATO expansion. America would be concerned if Mexico and Canada aligned w/Russia; recall the thermonuclear hysteria over Cuba in October, 1962. Russian troops never invaded the lower 48; U.S. troops did occupy Russia soil in 1918. https://www.warhistoryonline.com/world-war-i/the-day-that-the-usa-invaded-russia-and-fought-with-the-red-army-x.html Given their history, Putin has valid points regarding potential encroachment- -and further expansion of NATO — [BTW, which pays more of its way now thanks to Trump.]
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 12/10/2021 @ 6:40 pmMargot Cleveland is one of the Trumpiest of Trumpist hacks on the payroll at the WA Examiner.
Paul Montagu (1888f5) — 12/10/2021 @ 6:41 pmMeadows’ lawsuit is a delay tactic, and he kinda shot down his argument about the committee’s legitimacy when he turned over a trove of documents to that “illegitimate” committee.
“Wise words”
The way to get rid of hatred is to pray for that other person to get everything they want in life. It helps a great deal if you can also separate yourself from them, which I would very much like to do with Donald Trump. If I could, I would have no problem making peace with the man. I have come to terms with Bill Clinton in the same way, and I honestly wish the best for him. Wasn’t always that way, but he’s not camped out in my head at night, so there’s that.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 12/10/2021 @ 6:43 pmToday I learned who Unser Blvd in ABQ was named for. The family still has property at Unser Blvd and Route 66.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 12/10/2021 @ 6:47 pmThe numbers were requested by Republicans, who have criticized the Democratic plan as being riddled with budgetary gimmicks to make it appear to cost less. The legislation has several spending items that sunset early that, if made permanent as Democrats intend them to be, would balloon the cost of the bill.
And it will fall to heartless Republicans to throw little Suzie out of her preschool.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 12/10/2021 @ 6:54 pmHas Comrade Kasparov ever challenged the rationale of Russian/U.S.cooperation in space? Nope. Did he ever support the U.S. avoiding ‘The Gap’ instead of having Americans buy seats aboard the most reliable manned spacecraft ever built to reach the ISS: the Russian Soyuz? Nope.
Stick to boardgames, Garry.
“It’s ugly. But it gets you there.” VW Ad tagline, 1969
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 12/10/2021 @ 7:02 pmThe House and Senate make the rules of their proceedings. Not the courts. (In fact, the House and Senate make the rules for the courts’ proceedings too but that’s another subject.) Meadows’s kraken is fried calamari.
nk (1d9030) — 12/10/2021 @ 7:03 pm1/1024th is too old too, mg.
nk (1d9030) — 12/10/2021 @ 7:16 pmPutin has been bad for Russia, despite his occasional tactical cleverness. The long Communist rule damaged the Russian people, and they deserved at least a generation of peace and healing. Instead, Putin has given them conflicts with most of their neighbors, and with the United States.
You can see his failure in the Russian demographics.
COVID has hit Russia especially hard, partly because of Putin’s mistakes, and partly because trust in Putin has declined:
Jim Miller (edcec1) — 12/10/2021 @ 7:22 pmA real loss to journalism.
BuDuh (4a7846) — 12/10/2021 @ 7:23 pmTrump blasts Netanyahu for disloyalty: “F**k him”
……..
The final straw for Trump was when Netanyahu congratulated President-elect Biden for his election victory while Trump was still disputing the result.
……..
Trump also felt he’d helped ensure Netanyahu’s political survival, but didn’t get the same in return. He positively fumed about the video in which Netanyahu congratulated Biden.
“I liked Bibi. I still like Bibi. But I also like loyalty. The first person to congratulate Biden was Bibi. And not only did he congratulate him, he did it on tape,” Trump told me, referring to Netanyahu by his nickname.
Reality check: Netanyahu was far from the first world leader to congratulate Biden. In fact, he waited more than 12 hours after the U.S. networks called the election.
But Trump claimed he was shocked when his wife Melania shared Netanyahu’s video with him: “He was very early — like, earlier than most. I haven’t spoken to him since. F**k him.”
……….
“For Bibi Netanyahu, before the ink was even dry, to do a message, and not only a message, to do a tape to Joe Biden talking about their great, great friendship — they didn’t have a friendship, because if they did, [the Obama administration] wouldn’t have done the Iran deal,” Trump said. “And guess what, now they’re going to do it again.”
Those remarks came during a 90-minute, face-to-face interview at Mar-a-Lago in April, during which Trump repeatedly contended that he’d done more for Israel and for Netanyahu than any other president.
Rip Murdock (8dd5e1) — 12/10/2021 @ 7:25 pm………
Please release my comment 24 from moderation. Thanks.
Rip Murdock (8dd5e1) — 12/10/2021 @ 7:27 pmWhat a mess: Brian Kemp 34, David Perdue 34, Vernon Jones 10 in Georgia GOP primary poll
………
If you were looking for maximum chaos in the primary and maximum weakness against Stacey Abrams in the general election, this is precisely what you’d want to see in early polling. Brian Kemp, the Trump bete noire, under 50 percent; David Perdue, Trump’s handpicked challenger, clearly not exciting anyone; and Vernon Jones, the MAGA true believer, providing a vehicle for populists who find both of the other alternatives too establishmentarian.
Gonna be a lot of butthurt after the primary ends. InsiderAdvantage has it Kemp 41, Perdue 22, Jones 11, but when respondents are told that Trump endorsed Perdue the numbers change:
………
……… Perdue is counting on the threat of Stacey Abrams becoming governor to bring Kemp voters into his camp if he’s the GOP nominee. But Kemp holding 34 percent of Republicans despite Trump throwing everything he’s got at him indicates a surprising amount of resistance to Trump’s whims on the right in Georgia. Kemp may be unelectable in a primary but he and Perdue may both be unelectable in a general election.
Anti-Trump Republicans are a small segment of the GOP but will mobilize nationally to support Kemp, not just to reward him for showing integrity under pressure last fall but because they know that beating Perdue in Georgia will weaken Trump’s case for the nomination in 2024.……..
Rip Murdock (8dd5e1) — 12/10/2021 @ 7:39 pm………
Some meaningful share of Perdue’s voters will absolutely sit out the general election if Kemp is the nominee to punish him for not overturning the election last fall. Trump might even encourage them to do so. Most Kemp voters, however, are loyal to the party first. Trump/Perdue voters might be willing to see a Democrat elected in order to spite their Republican enemies but Kemp voters won’t be. ……..
……….
The commenters in this post about Nevada seem keyed in to the ruse, with regard to primary election participation which may also apply to Georgia.
urbanleftbehind (76a0d2) — 12/10/2021 @ 7:50 pmTrump has done more to subvert democracy since the election than he ever did before the election.
norcal (d9c78c) — 12/10/2021 @ 7:52 pmSmall or weak countries are always sacrificed by great powers pursuing their own interests, unless they have a politically influential lobby. Tibet and Ukraine are in the first category; Israel and Taiwan are in the second.
Rip Murdock (8dd5e1) — 12/10/2021 @ 8:04 pmI’m not sure I get the complaint, Rip. This is a primary between members of a single party. Is there polling that shows how each candidate will fare against an opponent from another party?
BuDuh (9627f6) — 12/10/2021 @ 8:09 pmWhat is really silly about the HotAir scenario is that it starts with them upset about how a “Trump endorsement” changed the responses of people who were going to vote for Kemp.
If their theory of Kemp Hate was true, then the mouth breathing Trumpalumpas wouldn’t have chosen Kemp in the first place, prior to the endorsement qualifier question. They would have “sat” that possibility out and voted anyone-but-Kemp.
This is crying.
BuDuh (9627f6) — 12/10/2021 @ 8:25 pmhttps://www.foxbusiness.com/economy/us-inflation-surges-to-39-year-high-as-consumer-prices-soar
Congratulations to those who got what they voted for last November. You definitely got what you voted for.
NJRob (eb56c3) — 12/10/2021 @ 8:32 pmI’ve read that because Russia is doing so horribly with Covid they Putin is in desperate need of a distraction. See: Ukraine.
Dana (174549) — 12/10/2021 @ 8:33 pmJim Hoft and Gateway Pundit are being sued for smearing a couple of Fulton County election workers, and it got so bad they had to move for personal safety reasons.
Paul Montagu (1888f5) — 12/10/2021 @ 8:44 pmMore here. Trump mentioned Ruby Freeman 18 times in his infamous phone call with Raffensperger, even though she had nothing to do with any electoral malfeasance. Justice would be served with Hoft writing them a nice hefty check.
Matt Labash asks the Important Questions Of Our Time: Can the Trump Christmas ornament save America?
And it just gets better from there.
Paul Montagu (1888f5) — 12/10/2021 @ 9:07 pmThe 11th Hour was MSNBC’s best program, better than Morning Joe.
Paul Montagu (5de684) — 12/10/2021 @ 9:37 pmThere was a lot less coverage of the Wisconsin electoral audit by a conservative group, but the result was the same: No evidence of serious fraud. There really is no more proof needed to conclude that Trump’s Big Lie was indeed a big fat lie.
Paul Montagu (5de684) — 12/10/2021 @ 9:55 pm5th news item. China bad! We did the same to native american children they are digging up the children’s grave yards at christian schools in canada. We are to afraid what we might find to dig them up here. Pot calling the kettle black!
asset (8a3c91) — 12/10/2021 @ 11:03 pmThe difference being, asset, that in America we are free to talk about whatever happened to native Americans.
norcal (d9c78c) — 12/10/2021 @ 11:08 pm@NJrob@32 Well, we didn’t get someone willing to overturn our entire electoral process, which is the foundation of the country itself, in a fit of pique because he lost. You’re welcome.
Nic (896fdf) — 12/10/2021 @ 11:50 pm@asset@38 It was bad when we did it, and when Canada did it, and when Australia did it as well. That doesn’t mean we can’t recognize that it is bad in Tibet too.
Nic (896fdf) — 12/10/2021 @ 11:53 pm36 – They know their target audience. The drooling mindless voter.
mg (8cbc69) — 12/11/2021 @ 4:23 amPowerful tornadoes strike several states, leaving destruction, at least four deaths and fear of dozens more
………
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear (D) said that there were “likely” to be at least 50 deaths, “if not significantly north of that” in an early Saturday morning interview with local TV station WLKY. “The reports are really heartbreaking,” he said, adding that the biggest challenge was determining if the severe weather was “still continuing.”
The “quad-state tornado” was unusually long-lasting and strong for the time of year, weather experts said. The twister, which ripped through Monette, Ark., and Mayfield, Ky., on Friday evening is likely to have carved out a 240-mile path; if the tornado remained on the ground without interruption, it will rank as the longest tornado track in U.S. history and the first to cross through four states.
………. Authorities in Illinois, Missouri, Kentucky and Tennessee have reported other catastrophic — and occasionally deadly — damage, and weather radar detected debris from a twister for over three straight hours, sometimes lofted over 30,000 feet into the sky.
……….
In Edwardsville, Ill., a tornado caved in part of an Amazon distribution warehouse, leaving people inside stranded, Collinsville Emergency Management Agency said on Facebook. At least a dozen agencies have responded to the scene. Edwardsville police confirmed early Saturday that the facility had partially collapsed.
………
Mayfield (KY) felt the full force of the tornado, whose powerful winds engulfed the city of about 10,000. Police rushed to respond to the several reports of collapsed houses and buildings.
At a candle factory, scores of people were trapped inside the rubble when the building was destroyed, said Trooper Sarah Burgess, a public affairs officer for Kentucky State Police.
……….
The tornado that tore through Monette (Arkansas, where a nursing home was destroyed), formed southwest of Jonesboro, Ark., Friday evening, likely transiting through northeast Arkansas, southeast Missouri, northwest Tennessee and western Kentucky. Meteorologists projected it would rate at least an EF3 on the 0 to 5 scale for tornado intensity. If it is confirmed to be that strong, it would be the most intense ever observed in December in the region.
………. The storm moved over Monette at 7:24 p.m. and Mayfield at 9:27 p.m. The tornado was still on the ground, about 60 miles southwest of Louisville at 11:30 p.m.
The exceptionally long-lasting twister was one of many that formed in the Midwest and Tennessee Valley Friday evening as the Weather Service placed 18 million people in eight states under tornado watches.
Rip Murdock (8dd5e1) — 12/11/2021 @ 5:48 am………..
Life in Tibet was nasty, brutish, and short well before Communism. The lamas lived relatively well in their monasteries, but prayer and pederasty are no far horizons, and only for a select few to begin with.
No, I suppose that before Communism, they did not send the children to boarding schools to be indoctrinated in Beijing ways. Some they sent to monasteries to perpetuate the hierarchy; some (mostly girls) they abandoned on mountainsides to die because there was not enough food for everybody; and the bulk of the rest they raised in squalor and ignorance because camels and yaks can’t do everything. But who are we to judge another people’s thousands of years old way of life, eh? Racists!
nk (1d9030) — 12/11/2021 @ 5:59 amCongrats to NS-19 team and Bezos’ Blue Origin team on another safe launch/landing– and for making something so hard look so easy.
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 12/11/2021 @ 7:19 amDrunk drivers everywhere.
BuDuh (4a7846) — 12/11/2021 @ 7:37 am@23. ‘A real loss to journalism.’
The ‘real loss to journalism’ is called credibility; something Williams himself damaged when he began to embellish events– or simply create them– when increasingly straying into appearances on entertainment programming. Bad move for a ‘journalist’– which Williams, really just a news reader [who was at local NYC affiliate WCBS long before his NBC stint] blew up himself. At one point [when anchor of the NBC Nightly News] he wanted his contract to permit him to do more of that– [comedy shows like ’30 Rock’ etc.,]– and it finally swopped ends on him, cost him his anchoring gig and sent him back to the ‘minors’ to finish out his expensive NBC contract he’d just signed before he was demoted, which was not going to be re-negotiated for a cable gig at network rates. All a genuine ‘journalist’ has is credibility. When they stray into the entertainment realm of make-believe– theyblur that line and inevitably get burned.
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 12/11/2021 @ 7:39 amTrump has done more to subvert democracy since the election than he ever did before the election.
norcal (d9c78c) — 12/10/2021 @ 7:52 pm
Comical, still living rent free.
Hatari Somewhere on Ventura Highway (95805b) — 12/11/2021 @ 7:44 amhttps://victorygirlsblog.com/no-our-kids-are-not-as-resilient-as-the-experts-said-theyd-be/
Suicide up. Depression up.
NJRob (8aef2f) — 12/11/2021 @ 7:53 am@36. The 11th Hour was MSNBC’s best program, better than Morning Joe.
Williams never really shook off the self-inflicted credibility wound, which shadowed the content of his cable broadcast after his demotion. Every often overly-worded story he delivered on his MSNBC program had a pinch of a hint of suspect to it– his own doing. Just as Jon Meacham [a frequent guest on Williams’ broadcasts BTW] damaged his credibility as a ‘historian’ and lost his paid gig at MSNBC for failing to reveal he quilled speeches for the Biden campaign.
The Scarborough gig [which the late Ted Kennedy once referred to as ‘butter’ to plagiarist and frequent ‘Joe’ contributor Mike Barnicle] is a far cry from the caustic ‘Scarborough Country’ – Joe’s original screaming gig on that outlet. The ‘Joe & Mika Show’ [the drama behind that was hilarious] are merely self-promotion vehicles– ‘Today Show overflow’ — hardly news sources, akin to airline seat-pocket magazines. And lest you forget, Willy Geist [ son of CBS journalist Bill Geist] began his NBC gig as a contributor to Tucker Carlson’s doomed MSNBC show. It’s hard to take MSNBC programming seriously anymore. NBC News was once a strong and competitive rival to CBS News. No more.
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 12/11/2021 @ 8:17 amIt’s a good thing that Mao stepped in and gave Tibetans a new and different version of nasty, brutish and short, and he only killed a couple hundred thousand Tibetans to make it happen.
Paul Montagu (5de684) — 12/11/2021 @ 8:40 amhttps://www.outkick.com/outkick-exclusive-second-female-penn-swimmer-steps-forward/
Sex is just a construct said the emperor wearing no clothes.
Just remember, you were told this insanity would happen when we said marriage was between a man and a woman and you called us a bigot.
NJRob (96cf07) — 12/11/2021 @ 9:09 amOT: I finally understand the template for the Trump phenomenon. The Holy Scriptures.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 12/11/2021 @ 9:29 amIt’s a good thing that Mao stepped in and gave Tibetans a new and different version of nasty, brutish and short, and he only killed a couple hundred thousand Tibetans to make it happen.
It was for their own good, replacing a hierarchical backward theocratic despotism with an enlightened modern totalitarian despotism. The ones who died served the state as fertilizer, so everyone wins.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 12/11/2021 @ 9:32 amDrunk drivers everywhere.
By God, if Massie says it, it must be true.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 12/11/2021 @ 9:33 amNow, do hospitalized cases, or deaths.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 12/11/2021 @ 9:34 amThe House and Senate make the rules of their proceedings.
True, but they have to follow them, too. If, for example, the House sent a bill to the Senate that actually had not passed the House, or the vote was later shown to have been fabricated, the Courts could intervene.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 12/11/2021 @ 9:36 amThere is very little about college sports which is praiseworthy. The whole NCAA is an exploitative racket which treats the kids like crap. And the people who are most to blame are the fans. It would not be happening without the money, and the money would dry up if the stands were not filled and tens of millions parked in front of their TVs.
nk (1d9030) — 12/11/2021 @ 10:06 amReason #1 why Republicans should be pissed at Liz
The Democrats want to pursue this Trump Coup for the midterms
and it’ll be full of innuendo and stitched together and serial liar Adam Schiff will put on his best “principled prosecutor” wardrobe to create a stinking smoking dumpster fire to help them hold at mid term.
This is not about holding Trump and others to account. Liz is letting her hatred blind her. She’s unable to forgive and move on. (a trait she seems to have inherited from her dad)
I’m using “forgive” in a very narrow biblical sense. There are somethings and some people I’ll never change. They are people who have done some pretty rotten things to me and others that skirts the edge of criminal. I am not supposed to appoint myself as the avenging angel, I am to forgive them to God. It takes the hate and bitterness off and puts the avenging, judgemnt onto God. I’m not going up to Trump, Obama and say “I forgive you and you for polarizing the country” because really I don’t and really cannot. Its out of my lane, and its also remarkably ineffectual. Both Trump and Obama would go about their business doing divisive crap, at best, bemusedly, for a millisecond. They will have no epiphany. I’m religious, not like Mrs. French, but believe strongly that I can forgive that person, that group to God and I believe the promise given that God will handle it better than I can.
steveg (e81d76) — 12/11/2021 @ 10:21 amThis is one of the most testing actions a religious person can take and I’m usually disappointed.
I finish my prayer and look for the news that so and so turned into a pillar of salt at precisely the time of my prayer. I even wrote down the time in anticipation. Damn. There is no God.
About a year or so later after my anger and bitterness has ebbed somewhat, I reapproach this fickle arbitrary unreliable deity for an explanation and swear to God, God has the nerve to tell me to do it again. God asks “Did you experience peace last time?” Me: Are you f-g kidding me? No justice no peace.
God asks: “Over the last year, have you considered I know more about this than you do? Me: Umm only the pillar of salt part. Then a friend calls me out of nowhere and tells me to try reading Isaiah 40 every morning for a week and talk to God about it every morning afterward
The person who gave Meadows the Powerpoint on how to coup was retired Colonel Phillip Waldron, the same crank who “contributed” to Lindell’s bogus video series.
Paul Montagu (5de684) — 12/11/2021 @ 10:21 amPutin has been bad for Russia, despite his occasional tactical cleverness.
Looking just at this image, as of 2015 (25 years after the fall), there was an astonishing baby bust starting in the late 80’s and continuing unabated until 2000. Just looking at the female side of each age group, the 2000-born cohort was about 600,000 females as opposed to the 1987 cohort of 1.35 million females. Males show the same pattern, and the excess males of military age show a lack of major conflicts.
Since then each year’s cohort has grown, with there being 50% more infants in 2015 than there were 15 year olds in 2015. The inflection point in births happened in 2000, which is the year Putin took power. This indicates the point at which Russians began to think the future would get better.
Putin is an awful person in the eyes of Western democracies. A power-mad killer and despot. He clearly intends to reform the Russian Empire, if not the USSR and we should oppose him. But to a Russian, these are really good times as seen by the growing size of each year’s cohort.
Russian leaders need to be graded on a Russian curve, and Putin is easily the best Russian leader in living memory. Gorbachev and Yeltsin vie for a very distant second (and both served during times of declining (whole number) births).
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 12/11/2021 @ 10:27 amWhen a ‘transgender woman’ swimmer set all sorts of records for the University of Pennsylvania, the crowd were silent, not cheering. They then cheered when the first real woman finished in second place.
As the
communists‘progressives’ move further and further into idiocy, more and more people can see just to what their policies have led.The left have produced nothing but mask mandates, vaccine mandates and passports, interference in people’s personal lives, compromising people’s private medical records, and inflation the likes of which hasn’t been seen since Jimmy Carter was President, and given us nothing positive.
But hey, no more mean tweets!
The libertarian, but not Libertarian, Dana (625bc9) — 12/11/2021 @ 10:28 amThen again, Hitler did well for non-Jewish Germans 1933-1938 and was widely supported by Germans who had been devastated by WWI and Versailles.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 12/11/2021 @ 10:31 amthe crowd were silent, not cheering
But not booing lest they be expelled. Diversity IS conformity. Or else.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 12/11/2021 @ 10:32 am“Who is the first to start booing?” is a LOT like “Who is the first to stop clapping?” when the totalitarians are in charge.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 12/11/2021 @ 10:33 am#43: I watched the radar as the severe stuff was moving through central Kentucky, and they barely missed us, to the north. It’s very windy right now, but straight-line wind, no tornadoes.
The libertarian, but not Libertarian, Dana (625bc9) — 12/11/2021 @ 10:34 amLori Lightfoot’s favorite constituent wrote:
Today is the best game of the season, the Army-Navy Game, at 3:00 PM EST on CBS.
Go Army! Beat Navy!
The libertarian, but not Libertarian, Dana (625bc9) — 12/11/2021 @ 10:37 amSo much for Dana’s first news item.
BuDuh (431674) — 12/11/2021 @ 10:41 amI’d advocate national strike of female athletes, from the WNBA to 2nd period field hockey. “The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one” is a perfectly socialist rebuttal to these virtue-seeking overlords, few of whom are participants in these sports themselves.
Imposing one’s morality on other people is one of the hallmarks of fascism.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 12/11/2021 @ 10:42 amThere is very little about college sports which is praiseworthy. The whole NCAA is an exploitative racket which treats the kids like crap. And the people who are most to blame are the fans. It would not be happening without the money, and the money would dry up if the stands were not filled and tens of millions parked in front of their TVs.
Shorter: “Bah, humbug!”
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 12/11/2021 @ 10:43 amWhen Liz is running for President in 2028 after Trump is gone, there are people here who will be voting for AOC instead, and calling themselves “principled conservatives.”
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 12/11/2021 @ 10:45 amSo much for Dana’s first news item.
You are really going to have to connect those dots. Saying that I don’t trust things a politician says, as they are almost always lying, does not come from hate or incivility. It comes from extensive time-on-planet.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 12/11/2021 @ 10:47 amMr M wrote:
Well, this was in Akron, Ohio, and though, Alas! Joe Biden carried Summit County, it wasn’t by Philadelphia-like margins. Statewide, President Trump carried the Buckeye State by a wide margin.
Of course, swim meets aren’t exactly like football games; there ain’t a lot of booing in these events.
The libertarian, but not Libertarian, Dana (625bc9) — 12/11/2021 @ 10:47 amOr we could just say that Lia Thomas and the U-Penn swim team go back to a precedent set in 1951 by the Chicago White Sox, Bill Veeck, and Eddie Gaedel in a double-header against the St. Louis Browns. And keep on saying it. “Ridicule is man’s most potent weapon.” — Saul Alinsky, Rules for Radicals
nk (1d9030) — 12/11/2021 @ 10:48 amAsk a Trumpist, Part 1:
Question: What do you think about Trump’s instigation of the insurrection?
Answer: There was no collusion between Trump and Putin in 2016! We can prove it!
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 12/11/2021 @ 10:49 amOf course, swim meets aren’t exactly like football games; there ain’t a lot of booing in these events.
There’s not a lot of booing on college campuses when it exposes one’s badthink. Students today do not have the power to say “2+2=4”.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 12/11/2021 @ 10:51 amMr M wrote:
Like the television networks would care.
Am I the only one who has noticed? ESPN carries four women’s sports with some regularity: volleyball, beach volleyball, gymnastics and ice skating. NCAA basketball and the WNBA tend to get less coverage, because of one noticeable difference: the sports they cover are primarily the province of white women, while basketball is dominated by black women. ESPN and the other networks understand that the viewership, which are primarily men, like to see cute white girls in relatively skimpy clothes.
ESPN will carry reruns of NBA games from ten years past, even with no account teams like the Memphis Grizzlies, over live WNBA games.
The libertarian, but not Libertarian, Dana (625bc9) — 12/11/2021 @ 10:58 amQuestion: Does double jeopardy apply to impeachment?
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 12/11/2021 @ 10:58 amKevin, here’s a more up-to-date image. You’ll notice that the Russian birth date has been declining in recent years.
And if you look at the details in the article I linked to, you’ll find this recent, basic data:
Birth rate 9.8 births/1,000 population (2020)[2]
Death rate 14.6 deaths/1,000 population (2020)[2]
In recent years, Putin has tried to make up for the lack of births by welcoming immigrants, especially if they are of Russian origin.
And, if you look at the fertility rates by ethnic group, you find these numbers:
In short, the Russian federation is shrinking in population and becoming less Russian (and more Muslim).
Jim Miller (edcec1) — 12/11/2021 @ 10:59 amAm I the only one who has noticed? ESPN carries four women’s sports with some regularity: volleyball, beach volleyball, gymnastics and ice skating.
I might pay to see some 6 foot, 240 pound guy trying to do a women’s gymnastics floor exercise. Or try to duplicate Simone Biles in the vault. For much the same reason people go to demolition derbies.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 12/11/2021 @ 11:01 amOn the KFF polls that I guess show that its the Trumpy ones who are not getting vaxxed, I think there has always been a substantial group of people who are rebels.
They fought on both sides of the Civil War and gladly shot (accurately) at their cousins, brothers.
But as Charlie Daniels noted in Long Haired Country Boy, they are stubborn about liking to be left alone, on their own terms. They tend to vote for people who seem to respect that.
I stopped using KFF COVID death per 100,000 figures because they seemed high even though they were sourced well. Then I saw the part of their disclaimer that says: Figures are derived using all ICD-10 codes. Ah. ALL ICD-10 codes. Explains their high numbers.
steveg (e81d76) — 12/11/2021 @ 11:05 amAbout that time I stopped using their polls as well.
Kevin, here’s a more up-to-date image. You’ll notice that the Russian birth rate has been declining in recent years.
So, they are getting tired of Putin, or wanting something better finally. That does not change my point about his stature in the Russian-leader pantheon.
As for immigrants, we do that too. The GenX baby-bust hole in the Social Security feedstock has been filled in by GenX immigrants who came here as adults. Note that, since immigrants are usually adults, that does not impact annual births directly, but does impact cohorts of working ages. TO the degree it impacts births, it’s because — to them — this is really good times.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 12/11/2021 @ 11:06 amMr M wrote:
No need to pay for it; such an event would be a hit on YouTube
The libertarian, but not Libertarian, Dana (625bc9) — 12/11/2021 @ 11:06 amOn the KFF polls that I guess show that its the Trumpy ones who are not getting vaxxed, I think there has always been a substantial group of people who are rebels.
I think you’d find the same thing among the left (e.g. Antifa) if it was President Trump issuing mandates. Bernie, for one, would be SURE it was all a greedy corporate plot.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 12/11/2021 @ 11:07 amIf you want to see the demolition part you should subscribe to the surgery channel.
steveg (e81d76) — 12/11/2021 @ 11:08 amCompletely off topic:
The NM legislature is in emergency session. Topics are “How to spend all the federal money”, gerrymandering, and a kerfluffle over medical malpractice insurance.
The latter is most interesting, and if you know NM and ABQ, you’d know why. Better Call Saul is not set in ABQ by accident. The freeways are lined with personal injury lawyer ads. (e.g. “Don’t wait! Call 888-888-8888”)
So, the legislature passed an insurance reform earlier in the year, raising maximum recovery rates from hospitals and other deep pockets, but did so in a way that made it unclear what would happen with providers under contract to hospitals (extremely common here). A number of providers and provider groups got huge increase in insurance rates as the insurance companies found the law ambiguous as opted to treat them as in the high-award category. Some have decided they will close on Jan 1 when the new law takes effect, exacerbating the dearth of physicians in the state (see above about lawyers for a clue why).
So, the legislature is scrambling and is up against a gleeful and powerful personal injury bar.
Upshot: If you are a RNP or PA, consider moving to ABQ.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 12/11/2021 @ 11:18 amMen who drink a beer or a glass of wine a day might produce more sperm and the sperm might have more motility. So says a couple studies.
However, a liter or two of vodka a day really messes with fertility.
Something tells me Putin is not a fan of the Western European model that imports men from Muslim countries. He was happy to see Chechens self export to fight Americans from Syria to Afghanistan. Now that is over, its doubtful Putin wants them back
steveg (e81d76) — 12/11/2021 @ 11:18 amWhat percentage of your legislature is bought and paid for by the Personal Injury Bar?
steveg (e81d76) — 12/11/2021 @ 11:24 amPersonal injury fact finding seminars for the legislature in Hawaii, Mexico, and Las Vegas (the other one)
It should be easy to post Massie’s top 10 lies.
BuDuh (9b7314) — 12/11/2021 @ 11:28 amWhat percentage of your legislature is bought and paid for by the Personal Injury Bar?
Well, it’s mostly Democrats.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 12/11/2021 @ 11:38 amThe vaccines are a greedy corporate plot to take away the pandemic benefits of honest, decent, w… working Americans and force them to go back to work at slave wages, so that leftist socialists can direct all the social spending to anti-American minorities and illegal aliens.
nk (1d9030) — 12/11/2021 @ 11:50 amhttps://news.yahoo.com/cia-files-staff-committed-sex-212501646.html
Burn it down. Salt the earth. Start over elsewhere.
NJRob (70d4e9) — 12/11/2021 @ 12:18 pmhttps://thefederalist.com/2021/12/10/5-biggest-takeaways-from-the-latest-review-of-wisconsins-rigged-2020-election/
Problems that must be fixes before next year’s elections.
NJRob (632b17) — 12/11/2021 @ 12:39 pmFixed*
NJRob (632b17) — 12/11/2021 @ 12:39 pmBiden DOJ asks the Supreme Court to reject Harvard Asian discrimination case
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/biden-doj-asks-supreme-court-to-reject-harvard-asian-discrimination-case
There are conservatives who voted for this.
Obudman (3f0cd2) — 12/11/2021 @ 12:43 pmAgree NJRob. 🧂
mg (8cbc69) — 12/11/2021 @ 12:50 pmNone of the trolling Mittenites care about CIA bad. Or that we have not had a budget since, whenever.
I thought John Hoft was the Gateway Pundit. He’s been sued by everyone it seems. The two election day workers filmed – I thought were captured on CCTV, doing things beyond the scope of their authorization. The actions that day was nuts, so I don’t know how far they are going to get. It’s like all those voting company lawsuits seemed to be a great idea until the counter suits arrived.
If Biden is decertified – which I thought was a Trumpian fantasy of the highest order on Jan 6th – now I’m seeing some headway – Michigan and Pa courts are making noises that the election was fraudulent, Arizona is saying it was, Wisconsin and shockingly Colorado are auditing quietly the election on their own.
We’ll see if this is just some more crazy internet noise or something that has substance to it. To me the level of proof needed hasn’t been met and even if it did Biden would never step down even if impeached.
EPWJ (0fbe92) — 12/11/2021 @ 1:12 pm> Now, do hospitalized cases, or deaths.
currently averaging between 1000-1500 deaths per day. Aside from a week at the start of December — from which numbers have since risen — we haven’t been below 1000/day since August.
aphrael (4c4719) — 12/11/2021 @ 1:30 pmSome San Franciscans are waking up, but many lefties there are just as deluded as Trumpers.
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Oh, it’s a wonder all right, but not in a good way.
https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-sports-business-health-lifestyle-538efc664e9da0d2f0831f3f3ed9a4d7
norcal (d9c78c) — 12/11/2021 @ 1:34 pm81 million of them.
BuDuh (4a7846) — 12/11/2021 @ 1:59 pmIf you asked me a few years back if it was possible to get fired from LAUSD after the probationary period, I would have referred to the heavy handed, but ultimately frustrating policies involving “teacher jail”, where the accused sit, for months or years waiting for the bureaucracy to get around to them. Some are clearly guilty and some are clearly not, but they sit and collect pay nonetheless.
https://laschoolreport.com/teacher-jail-numbers-drop-25-but-lausd-expects-the-cost-will-remain-the-same/
But apparently it can happen swiftly, not for (I kid you not) “feeding semen-laced cookies to blindfolded students”, but for not getting vaccinated.
https://dianeravitch.net/2015/08/10/los-angeles-times-comes-out-against-teacher-jail/
Not that I have a problem with that, I just wish that child molestation was a quicker route to the door.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 12/11/2021 @ 2:02 pmWe’re number 1!
About once a month, I buy a copy of the Economist, for many reasons, one of them being to study the “league table” at the back, showing basic economic statistics for more than 40 nations.
In the latest issue that I have (November 20th), I see that the United States leads all of the other nations in “Budget Balance” at -12.4 percent of GDP. Looking at an issue from last year (September 5th), I see that we have improved from -15.9 percent, a substantial gain. But we still have nothing to be proud about.
For that leading position, we can credit — or perhaps I should say “debit” — three main factors, COVID, Trump’s tax cuts and spending, and Biden’s spending.
Essentially, Trump and Biden decided to borrow from our grandchildren in order to keep the economy going and protect their popularity, such as it is. Politically, it is a standard ploy, used by many leaders, of varying respectability.
Jim Miller (edcec1) — 12/11/2021 @ 2:02 pm81 million of them.
Near as I can tell, the 5 million or so whackjob wingnuts at the far reaches of their parties choose the candidates by being effective on the margins. Then the other 150 million or so voters get to pick between their leavings.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 12/11/2021 @ 2:03 pm#92 And after that, you can move on to the Boy Scouts, the Catholic Church, and many other organizations.
But, if you want to start smaller, you could join the investigation into Matt Gaetz.
(That there will be sinners in any large organization should not be a surprise to any adult, by now.)
Jim Miller (edcec1) — 12/11/2021 @ 2:12 pmThere are conservatives who voted for this.
There are conservatives who voted to make this a White Christian Nation with extermination camps for everyone else. Not many of them, but there were a few.
The point being “so what?”
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 12/11/2021 @ 2:13 pmcurrently averaging between 1000-1500 deaths per day. Aside from a week at the start of December — from which numbers have since risen — we haven’t been below 1000/day since August.
But the vaxxed numbers are nowhere near the 79% he was spouting.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 12/11/2021 @ 2:14 pmEssentially, Trump and Biden decided to borrow from our grandchildren in order to keep the economy going and protect their popularity, such as it is. Politically, it is a standard ploy, used by many leaders, of varying respectability.
Pretty sure Congress had a hand in it.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 12/11/2021 @ 2:15 pmAnd after that, you can move on to the Boy Scouts, the Catholic Church, and many other organizations.
Like the Lincoln Project.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 12/11/2021 @ 2:16 pmTom Rogan asks a good question:
As I understand it, the leading possibility for the “Havana Syndrome” — assuming it is real — is now thought to be microwaves.
And I am sorry to say that “Czar” Putin seems capable of this kind of action, assuming it happened.
(The G8 is the G7, plus, as a courtesy, Russia.)
Jim Miller (edcec1) — 12/11/2021 @ 2:25 pmUtterly and completely off-topic: Things that don’t suck, among a sea of things that do:
Cheap under-counter lights
Paper towel holder
I’ve bought other types of these and tossed every one of them. These I bought several of and still use them.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 12/11/2021 @ 2:35 pmPutin must have been out of ricin.
“Pass the salt, please Vladimir”
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 12/11/2021 @ 2:38 pmBiden blames climate change for tornado devastation. He gave Covid had the weekend off.
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 12/11/2021 @ 2:39 pmRIP Melvin Parker (77). Drummer for James Brown.
Rip Murdock (8dd5e1) — 12/11/2021 @ 2:40 pmBiden blames climate change for tornado devastation
There is really no scientific basis for that correlation. Hurricanes, too. Storm surge might be a different matter due to sea level changes.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 12/11/2021 @ 2:46 pmRIP Robbie Shakespeare (68). Bassist with drummer Sly Dunbar, and played with or produced innumerable rock artists.
Rip Murdock (8dd5e1) — 12/11/2021 @ 2:49 pmThe Federalist author neglected to mention a major conclusion from their 10-month long audit.
They also no issues with the Dominion machines.
Paul Montagu (5de684) — 12/11/2021 @ 2:50 pmThe big current scandal in Britain? Prime Minister Boris Johnson apparently went to Christmas parties last year, when the nation was supposed to be locked down. That scandal may force him from office.
I don’t suppose there is any chance we could trade our miscreant for theirs. (Having been born in New York, Johnson was an American citizen. He gave that up, after being bitten by the IRS for a property deal in London.)
Jim Miller (edcec1) — 12/11/2021 @ 2:51 pm#116 – Gee, Paul, why do you think they left that out? (Probably, they were just in a hurry, and will amend their post, soo.)
Jim Miller (edcec1) — 12/11/2021 @ 2:53 pmHugh Hewitt pleads with Trump to not endorse Greitens in Missouri
………
On “The Hugh Hewitt Show” Wednesday, Hewitt begged Trump not to endorse (former Governor Eric) Greitens, saying Republicans would lose the Senate seat if he did so.
“Please don’t. Please don’t endorse Eric Greitens. That’s a nightmare, Mr. President. We’ll lose that seat. But that’s Hugh Hewitt’s opinion, not yours,” Hewitt said.
………
Greitens resigned as Missouri’s governor in 2018 following accusations he had an affair with a hairdresser and threatened to leak nude photos of her if she revealed the relationship. He has acknowledged the affair but denied the blackmail allegations.
Trump told Hewitt he had an “interesting opinion” and that Greitens was “leading by a quite a bit.”
“I know, but he will lose the seat. We will lose the seat,” Hewitt responded
Trump did not say when he would announce an endorsement in the Missouri Senate primary, or for whom.
Rip Murdock (8dd5e1) — 12/11/2021 @ 2:55 pm……….
As long as we are pushing the boundaries of the open thread…
So, I was looking around for TV series to binge and I came across something that I had passed on when it came out, since the premise seemed utter fantasy. But it turns out it is quite good, and compelling. And I LOVE the after-credits scene following the final 1st season episode, but wait for it.
“For All Mankind” (Apple+)
Less than 4 weeks before the scheduled launching of Apollo 11, the USSR lands two cosmonauts on the Moon. A second “Sputnik moment”, this changes everything. This then is the story of the great Space Race of the last decades of the 20th Century.
A lot of funny bits, like President Ted Kennedy’s sex scandal with a girl named Mary Jo, and a lot of great characters under great stress. Absolutely the best SF on TV in the last few year. Third season forthcoming.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 12/11/2021 @ 2:58 pmHugh Hewitt pleads with Trump to not endorse Greitens in Missouri
Is Todd Akin still available? OH. Sadly not.
10/3/21: RIP, Todd Akin, prostate cancer.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 12/11/2021 @ 3:01 pmTrump did not say when he would announce an endorsement in the Missouri Senate primary, or for whom.
……….
Rip Murdock (8dd5e1) — 12/11/2021 @ 2:55 pm
I guess nobody has taken the loyalty oath yet.
norcal (d9c78c) — 12/11/2021 @ 3:02 pmNOT from the Babylon Bee:
Amazon Outage Disrupts Lives, Surprising People About Their Cloud Dependency
Kyle Lerner and his girlfriend sensed something was amiss when they came home Tuesday and found their two Persian-Himalayan cats meowing nonstop.
Normally, an internet-connected feeding machine dispenses kibble for them at noon, but the felines’ bowls were empty and clean. The gadget hadn’t worked because of an outage at Amazon.com Inc.’s cloud-computing unit.
“We had to manually give them food like in ancient times,” said Mr. Lerner, a 29-year-old small-business owner who lives in Marina del Rey, Calif.
………
Steve Peters of Los Angeles couldn’t tell his Roomba robot vacuum to clean up the blueberry-muffin crumbs that landed on his kitchen floor during breakfast. He relies on an app on his phone to beckon the machine.
“I had to resort to getting a broom and dustpan,” said Mr. Peters, a 60-year-old game-experience designer. “It was crazy.”
In St. Louis, losing access to Amazon’s Alexa service made Mark Edelstein feel lonely and helpless.
……..
The outage forced Samantha Sherhag to open blinds in her home in the Tampa Bay area of Florida. She couldn’t instruct Alexa to turn on the lights. She would otherwise have to move furniture to reach the main light switch in her living room.
“Over the last two years, I’ve grown lazy,” said Ms. Sherhag, a stay-at-home mother of two young girls. “It’s easier to tell Alexa to turn the lights on and off. She listens better than the kids.”
Rip Murdock (8dd5e1) — 12/11/2021 @ 3:06 pm………
Shades of The Veldt.
I guess nobody has taken the loyalty oath yet.
norcal (d9c78c) — 12/11/2021 @ 3:02 pm
It’s a wide open race. Greitens has positioned himself as the Trumpiest candidate, but there is also Mark McCloskey as a alternative.
Rip Murdock (8dd5e1) — 12/11/2021 @ 3:14 pmDavid Frum tells the tale of how short-sighted Merkel was, trying to mothball nuclear power, thus opening the door to dependency on Putin for natural gas. Ridiculous.
Paul Montagu (5de684) — 12/11/2021 @ 3:20 pmRip Murdock (8dd5e1) — 12/11/2021 @ 3:14 pm
Here’s to hoping they’re just pretending to be Trumpy, and not true believers in the Big Lie.
norcal (d9c78c) — 12/11/2021 @ 3:21 pmLong COVID can be very bad:
It is difficult for her to do something as simple as take her baby to a park.
How common is such severity? The Post found experts who said between “750,000 to 1.3 million” may have COVID severe enough to prevent them from working.
How long may severe long COVID last? For obvious reasons, no one knows, but the experience of shingles and post-polio syndrome are not encouraging.
Jim Miller (edcec1) — 12/11/2021 @ 3:26 pmNavy sinks Army 17-13.
Rip Murdock (8dd5e1) — 12/11/2021 @ 3:27 pmPaul Montagu (5de684) — 12/11/2021 @ 3:20 pm
Good article, Paul. I’m an ardent supporter of nuclear power, and I’m okay with waste being stored at Yucca Mountain here in Nevada.
I don’t care how educated Merkel is. Her decisions on immigration and nuclear power were unwise.
norcal (d9c78c) — 12/11/2021 @ 3:30 pm#125 Paul – And there is this estimate, showing that lives were lost because of Merkel’s decision.
(Incidentally, it is now known that far more lives were lost after the Fukushima disaster because of the panicked evacuation, than from radiation.)
Jim Miller (edcec1) — 12/11/2021 @ 3:33 pmSuggestions for the Gascon recall: Citing the pandemic restrictions, sue the County to force them to mail out recall petitions to every registered LA County voter at their last known address.
It will probably fail, but it will get them exposure and put the county officials on the spot, explaining why “this is different.”.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 12/11/2021 @ 3:34 pmnorcal and Paul – I think both of you would find Michael Shellenberger’s book, “Apocalypse Never”, interesting for what it says about the opposition to nuclear power, here in the United States, especially in California.
Jim Miller (edcec1) — 12/11/2021 @ 3:36 pmThanks, Jim.
norcal (d9c78c) — 12/11/2021 @ 3:37 pm@120. Al Reinert would sue, but he’s dead:
‘Reinert’s interest in space exploration led to the ambitious project ‘For All Mankind’ (1989). Although he had no film experience, his goal was to bring images previously seen only on television to film. It would take Reinert eight years to finish the documentary. He spent hundreds of hours interviewing former astronauts and culled through thousands of hours of NASA footage. To scale up the space agency’s images, Reinert had to use an optical printer to scan each individual frame of the original 16mm film and enlarge it to 35mm. Brian Eno was commissioned to provide a soundtrack, which was combined with sound bites from the astronauts in a narration-free film. – source, wikibio
Met him; saw it on the big screen in in NYC. Superb doc; amazing film project for 1989.
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 12/11/2021 @ 3:37 pmthus opening the door to dependency on Putin for natural gas. Ridiculous
Despite Climate Concerns, Germany Bulldozes Land To Expand Coal Mines
Also a long article in the WaPo, with pictures.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 12/11/2021 @ 3:38 pmLong COVID can be very bad:
I’m completely recovered from my recent bout with Covid, and my sense of smell is 70% back.
I chalk it up to 1) Vaccine and 2) No underlying conditions.
norcal (d9c78c) — 12/11/2021 @ 3:40 pm‘Imposing one’s morality on other people is one of the hallmarks of fascism.’
Like GOP ‘Family Values.’ 😉
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 12/11/2021 @ 3:42 pmMet him; saw it on the big screen in in NYC. Superb doc; amazing film project for 1989.
Except for the title, it’s a completely different thing. SF vs documentary. And the title came from NASA, 1969, and the plaque.
He could sue, but he would lose. Lucas would have better luck suing Reagan over “Star Wars.”
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 12/11/2021 @ 3:49 pmLike GOP ‘Family Values.’
Enforcing them, yes. Expressing them, no. Telling voters that the candidate or party believes in them? Possibly not even true.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 12/11/2021 @ 3:50 pmIs it really true that the states will set abortion policy if Roe is overturned?
…….
……. So long as Democrats control the White House and/or either chamber of Congress, the states will have free rein on setting their own abortion policies. But what happens when Democrats don’t? It’s plausible that Republicans will enjoy total control of government as soon as 2025. And when they do, pro-lifers will pose a question to them: Why don’t you use the power of the federal government to impose restrictions on abortion on blue states?
After all, a party that claims to believe abortion is grievous shouldn’t be comfortable watching California and New York and Illinois continue to allow tens of thousands of terminations each year. Until now, the GOP has had a good excuse as to why it couldn’t do anything about that: Roe was preventing it. American women in all 50 states, blue and red, had a constitutional right to abortion.
………
……… If the Trump years stand for anything, it’s the idea that conservative civic values should bend as necessary in the pursuit of power. Besides, it’s child’s play to argue that federalism, while important, should yield in the name of pursuing certain higher values and that preventing the killing of defenseless children in the womb is one.
…….. [I]t wouldn’t be difficult to offer a constitutional justification for federal regulation of abortion …….. It’s the same logic as in the notorious Raich case, which found that the Commerce Clause is so broad in its powers that it entitles Congress to regulate marijuana even when it’s not being sold interstate. Merely having a “substantial effect” on interstate commerce is enough. Wouldn’t legal abortion in blue states have a similarly “substantial effect”?
……….
……… If Republicans control Congress and the White House, they’ll have no choice but to try to ban abortion in blue states. The political culture of the Trump-era GOP coalition won’t allow them to do otherwise. For committed pro-lifers, it’ll be intolerable for the federal government not to do everything possible to prevent the killing of infants in utero in blue states. For populists, it’ll be intolerable for the federal government not to do everything possible to own the libs, and nothing would own them quite like telling them that they can’t perform abortions even on their home turf.………
…….. It wouldn’t surprise me if, within five years of Roe being overturned, we have more abortion providers in the United States than we do now……..
…….
Two things will happen then. First, short-term, pro-lifers will begin pressuring Republicans in Congress to do something about it. And Republicans won’t be free to say no……
Long-term, the abortion litmus test for conservative justices will shift. Since Roe was decided, the test was whether a Republican nominee would be willing to overturn that decision and return abortion to majority rule. Post-Dobbs, the test will be whether a nominee is willing to uphold Congress’s power to prevent abortions in blue states or, more aggressively, whether that nominee is willing to find that a fetus in utero is a “life” for purposes of the Fourteenth Amendment…….
…………
Related:
If Roe Gets Overruled, Abortion Policy may not be “Left to the States”
California preparing to become national abortion “sanctuary” if Roe falls, maybe even paying for abortions
Rip Murdock (8dd5e1) — 12/11/2021 @ 3:51 pmHe could sue, but he would lose.
He’s dead.
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 12/11/2021 @ 3:58 pmStates will write the right to an abortion into their Constitutions, although I’d be fascinated to see the discussions since there are things that many pro-choicers can’t agree with.
Does a woman have the right to “abort” the “fetus” as it is crowning and she decides she doesn’t want it?
How about a 13-year-old deciding she wants to have the baby when her parents are dead-set against? Or the other way around (does it make a difference)?
With short deadlines in some states, are women forced to bring a seriously deformed fetus (e.g. anencephalic) to term, when that deformity cannot be established earlier?
Assuming that a number of states put this into their constitution, can a mere act of Congress overturn those provisions? Now, we suddlenly DO have a 9th Amendment issue.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 12/11/2021 @ 4:01 pmHe’s dead.
Default judgement then.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 12/11/2021 @ 4:02 pmRip Murdock (8dd5e1) — 12/11/2021 @ 3:51 pm
If that scenario should come to pass, Canada will become the mecca of abortion.
norcal (d9c78c) — 12/11/2021 @ 4:02 pmI think a state trying to prevent the travel of women to another state, or prosecuting them for a act that was legal where it was engaged in, would find the federal courts taking a very dim view.
(And this is one of the reasons why the TX mob-justice law must fail)
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 12/11/2021 @ 4:04 pmBTW, I expect an abortion amendment on the 2022 CA general election ballot, if not sooner.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 12/11/2021 @ 4:05 pmBTW, what is the position of the air carriers currently, when a pregnant woman boards a plane in TX for travel to NY or CA? What if she tells the gate agent she’s on her way to get an abortion? I guess maybe the carrier doesn’t care enough about a prosepective $10K fine to get involved, but there are sums where they would.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 12/11/2021 @ 4:08 pmStates will write the right to an abortion into their Constitutions, although I’d be fascinated to see the discussions since there are things that many pro-choicers can’t agree with.
Federal law overrules state constitutional provisions. See the Supremacy Clause, (Article VI, Cause 2).
Rip Murdock (8dd5e1) — 12/11/2021 @ 4:10 pmOh, sure. And I wouldn’t be surprised to see an outright assault on Obergefell and Griswold, too.
Furthermore, since apparently the important part of the Texas law has now been upheld, how long before a state makes it a crime to purport to be in a same sex marriage, and authorizes a private right of injury allowing zealots to sue allegedly same-sex-married couples into financial oblivion?
aphrael (4c4719) — 12/11/2021 @ 4:14 pmKevin M – the TX mob justice law has succeeded. If you read the opinion handed down on Friday, the court rejected both the private-actors-as-state-agent theory and the injunction-against-clerks theory. The only part of the suit still open is the lawsuit against state officials who are mandated to revoke licensing for violating the law.
The private right of action sue people into oblivion technology has won the day.
The use of federal courts to protect federally protected rights from state infringement is over — any state which wishes to avoid it now knows how and has a green light to proceed.
aphrael (4c4719) — 12/11/2021 @ 4:16 pmThe big current scandal in Britain? Prime Minister Boris Johnson apparently went to Christmas parties last year, when the nation was supposed to be locked down. That scandal may force him from office.
Jim Miller (edcec1) — 12/11/2021 @ 2:51 pm
The emerging Nigel Farage v. Prithi Patel rivalry might be a peek into a Trump v. Haley row.
urbanleftbehind (76a0d2) — 12/11/2021 @ 4:18 pmDelaware Biden says it’s up in the air if he goes to KY to view tornado devastation as presidential visits cause congestion. [Like Covid, Joe?] Do a fly over, Bush-style, fella. Better still- add it to the Harris portfolio. She’s been to Europe now. Howzabout Kentucky?
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 12/11/2021 @ 4:21 pmLiz vs. AOC?
steveg (e81d76) — 12/11/2021 @ 4:23 pmLiz.
No hesitation after the primary race has been settled.
You heard it here first; designated hitter:
Hillary’s gonna run.
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 12/11/2021 @ 4:32 pm@154. Postscript: “Here I come to save the day! Yes it’s ‘Mighty Spouse’ who’s on the way!”
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 12/11/2021 @ 4:34 pmThe use of federal courts to protect federally protected rights from state infringement is over — any state which wishes to avoid it now knows how and has a green light to proceed.
They’ve been doing it to gun rights for years with red flag laws and for decades with domestic violence orders.
nk (1d9030) — 12/11/2021 @ 4:44 pmWhat “it is” is a 5-4 hostile to Roe v. Wade, which chose to exercise ripeness (“bring us a final judgment”) for the money suits, but could not override its legal instincts regarding the imminent threat to licensure.
nk (1d9030) — 12/11/2021 @ 4:51 pmDCSCA wrote:
NO!
Not just no, but Hell no! We do not want Mrs Emhoff in our state, or anywhere near our state!
The libertarian, but not Libertarian, Dana (625bc9) — 12/11/2021 @ 4:58 pmnorcal – You’re welcome. Shellenberger shows, to my satisfaction, that some well-known anti-nuclear groups received financial help from people with financial interests in . . . . fossil fuels. He names names, big names.
Glad to hear you are mostly recovered, and I hope your recovery will soon be complete, with no long COVID, at all.
Jim Miller (edcec1) — 12/11/2021 @ 5:05 pmaphrael wrote:
The vast majority of conservatives occasionally employ artificial contraception, and there’s no real support for overturning Griswold v Connecticut.
However, as much as I don’t wish to say it to my good friend aphrael, Obergefell v Hodges was a terrible, terrible ruling, and should be overturned. It has created the kinds of mischief that led to the too-narrow ruling in Masterpiece Cakeshop, and would seem likely to lead eventually to overturning bigamy laws. If a state cannot limit legal marriage to opposite sex couples, then how can it limit marriage to just two persons?
Eventually some court, or state, will prohibit even the Catholic Church from refusing to hire a same-sex married couple, or discharging an employee if he enters a same-sex marriage after employment. This will be a direct attack on the freedom of religion. There have already been successful lawsuits against marriage venues, on private property, which refused to serve same sex couples due to the owners’ moral objections.
The libertarian, but not Libertarian, Dana (625bc9) — 12/11/2021 @ 5:10 pmWhy shouldn’t that be true?
Of course it’s true.
https://www.news-medical.net/news/20210317/Two-mouthwashes-disrupt-COVID-19-virus-under-laboratory-conditions.aspx
https://www.healthline.com/health/infection/does-mouthwash-kill-covid
Of course, we’re talking about mouthwashes that specifically are supposed </i? to kill bacteria and viruses. Not Cepacol.
ANd oene argument against this is that this does nothing about Covid in the nose. A counterargument is that that is not where it spread and that it reproduces in saliva A counter counter argument is that the droplets do not all come from places reached by the mouthwash.
They say that because they don;t want the Food and Drug Administration coming after them. It’s like cigarette companies not making the claim that cigarettes are good for some people’s mental health or adding vitamins to cigarette packages.
Now there haven’t been any company sponsored studies. Doesn’t mean it isn’t true. How much does it help? Unknown. But that’s true also for most masks.
Sammy Finkelman (c49738) — 12/11/2021 @ 5:23 pmWhat I find striking about both the Texas abortion law and the Mississippi law that was just argued is that neither has an exception for incest. Have their birth rates been declining a lot lately, does anybody know?
nk (1d9030) — 12/11/2021 @ 5:23 pmIt;s not misinformation. That Listerine is totally ineffective in interfering with the transmission of Covid is what’s misinformation. Misinformation is coming from all sides.
Sammy Finkelman (c49738) — 12/11/2021 @ 5:27 pmAn exception for incest would be a wrong father motive.
Sammy Finkelman (c49738) — 12/11/2021 @ 5:28 pmAnd Xi thinks they’ll become loyal to China as a result of that?
Sammy Finkelman (c49738) — 12/11/2021 @ 5:32 pmWrong father motive. That was probably the most common reason (maybe it still is) for abortion in earlier times. Husband is coming back from the wars, wife is pregnant, and the baby is going to look a lot like the stable groom.
nk (1d9030) — 12/11/2021 @ 5:35 pmHe may be right, and it will give courts an out to avoid settling more permanent issues.
So what would have been so bad about having a hostile minority on the committee?
Or pass another House resolution authorizing the committee, if they can.
Sammy Finkelman (c49738) — 12/11/2021 @ 5:36 pmWell, if the courts follow the 5-4’s Texas reasoning, they’ll tell Meadows he can bring it up after he’s been convicted of contempt of Congress.
nk (1d9030) — 12/11/2021 @ 5:39 pm@notlibDana@160 I’ve never been sure why the state would have a right to limit any variations of legal marriage among people of age and mental acuity to enter a private contract. Legal marriage has always seemed basically like contract law to me and we give pretty wide freedom to people entering private contracts. IANAL however, so if someone could explain why contract law wouldn’t be applicable, I’d be interested in hearing it.
Nic (896fdf) — 12/11/2021 @ 5:53 pmIf marriage were merely a private contract between consenting individuals, there would be no Obergefell v. Hodges. Lawrence v. Texas had already dealt with “private contracts” between persons of the same sex that did not require the State’s approval.
But marriage also wants the State’s blessing and the wedding gifts, such as alimony, community property, marital estate, homestead, inheritance, parental obligations for children born during the marriage, etc.. It’s not a two-party contract, it’s a three-party contract, with the State at the third consenting party. Obergefell held that was enough government involvement to trigger Fourteenth Amendment Equal Protection and father_of_the_bride.gov had not shown sufficient justification for treating its children differently.
nk (1d9030) — 12/11/2021 @ 6:19 pmRepublicans don’t have the gonads to run an election on Nuke power.
mg (8cbc69) — 12/11/2021 @ 6:24 pmThat power makes sense.
Great recovery and hope you stay healthy, norcal.
mg (8cbc69) — 12/11/2021 @ 6:30 pmMy guess is that you put zero thought into what the 79% represents.
Hint: Omicron
BuDuh (5972d3) — 12/11/2021 @ 6:31 pm81 million people…
BuDuh (5972d3) — 12/11/2021 @ 6:39 pm@NK@170 Is the basic idea that the state writes the contract, then? Does a prenup interfere with that process (theoretically)?
Nic (896fdf) — 12/11/2021 @ 6:41 pmNot just no, but Hell no! We do not want Mrs Emhoff in our state, or anywhere near our state!
The libertarian, but not Libertarian, Dana (625bc9) — 12/11/2021 @ 4:58 pm
Hide your darker coated stallions but at least she’ll be too distracted to wreak further harm.
urbanleftbehind (76a0d2) — 12/11/2021 @ 6:41 pmDoes a prenup interfere with that process (theoretically)?
Basically, it cannot be unconscionable such as leaving one party destitute while the other is well off, and it cannot be against public policy such as making one party waive child support. And, of course, it must be knowing and voluntary. No fraud or duress. But, otherwise, it can pretty much override all the statutory marital obligations, the same as a divorce settlement.
nk (1d9030) — 12/11/2021 @ 6:57 pm@nk@177 Thank you, that’s interesting.
Nic (896fdf) — 12/11/2021 @ 7:16 pmYou’re welcome, Nic.
I wonder. It has been rumored that the reason Melania stayed behind in New York after Trump’s inauguration was to force Trump into amending the prenup to provide more for Baron. Would that be duress, that the other Trump kids could use to challenge Baron’s share when it comes time to divvy up the old man’s estate? It seems to be a family tradition according to Trump’s niece.
nk (1d9030) — 12/11/2021 @ 7:25 pmThere was, actually, a Utah bigamy prosecution of a man with four wives that made it into a published court opinion. The judge said “Oh, that poor man!”, and then ruled that since he had only gotten a marriage license for the first one, and the other three were just living with him under whatever terms they had worked out between themselves, there was no crime of bigamy, even if they were held out as wives.
nk (1d9030) — 12/11/2021 @ 7:42 pmIn case anyone wants to make their own decision to panic or not panic about NY’s plans for their COVID money. Link
Nic (896fdf) — 12/11/2021 @ 7:45 pm@nk@181 Seems reasonable, though I would think you could run into some kind of fraud issue if you weren’t careful.
Nic (896fdf) — 12/11/2021 @ 7:48 pm@59. I loved the last part of your post. I do prayer, meditation, and 12 step work. And try to get out of the house and into some woods every now and then.
” 1. Comfort, comfort my people,
says your God.
2 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
and proclaim to her
that her hard service has been completed,
that her sin has been paid for,
that she has received from the Lord’s hand
double for all her sins.
3 A voice of one calling:
“In the wilderness prepare
the way for the Lord[a];
make straight in the desert
a highway for our God.[b]
4 Every valley shall be raised up,
every mountain and hill made low;
the rough ground shall become level,
the rugged places a plain.
5 And the glory of the Lord will be revealed,
and all people will see it together.
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
6 A voice says, “Cry out.”
And I said, “What shall I cry?”
“All people are like grass,
and all their faithfulness is like the flowers of the field.
7 The grass withers and the flowers fall,
because the breath of the Lord blows on them.
Surely the people are grass.
8 The grass withers and the flowers fall,
but the word of our God endures forever.”
You who bring good news to Zion,
go up on a high mountain.
You who bring good news to Jerusalem,[c]
lift up your voice with a shout,
lift it up, do not be afraid;
say to the towns of Judah,
“Here is your God!”
10 See, the Sovereign Lord comes with power,
and he rules with a mighty arm.
See, his reward is with him,
and his recompense accompanies him.
11 He tends his flock like a shepherd:
He gathers the lambs in his arms
and carries them close to his heart;
he gently leads those that have young.
12 Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand,
or with the breadth of his hand marked off the heavens?
Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket,
or weighed the mountains on the scales
and the hills in a balance?
13 Who can fathom the Spirit[d] of the Lord,
or instruct the Lord as his counselor?
14 Whom did the Lord consult to enlighten him,
and who taught him the right way?
Who was it that taught him knowledge,
or showed him the path of understanding?
15 Surely the nations are like a drop in a bucket;
they are regarded as dust on the scales;
he weighs the islands as though they were fine dust.
16 Lebanon is not sufficient for altar fires,
nor its animals enough for burnt offerings.
17 Before him all the nations are as nothing;
they are regarded by him as worthless
and less than nothing.
18 With whom, then, will you compare God?
To what image will you liken him?
19 As for an idol, a metalworker casts it,
and a goldsmith overlays it with gold
and fashions silver chains for it.
20 A person too poor to present such an offering
selects wood that will not rot;
they look for a skilled worker
to set up an idol that will not topple.
21 Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
Has it not been told you from the beginning?
Have you not understood since the earth was founded?
22 He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth,
and its people are like grasshoppers.
He stretches out the heavens like a canopy,
and spreads them out like a tent to live in.
23 He brings princes to naught
and reduces the rulers of this world to nothing.
24 No sooner are they planted,
no sooner are they sown,
no sooner do they take root in the ground,
than he blows on them and they wither,
and a whirlwind sweeps them away like chaff.
25 “To whom will you compare me?
Or who is my equal?” says the Holy One.
26 Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens:
Who created all these?
He who brings out the starry host one by one
and calls forth each of them by name.
Because of his great power and mighty strength,
not one of them is missing.
27 Why do you complain, Jacob?
JRH (52aed3) — 12/11/2021 @ 8:26 pmWhy do you say, Israel,
“My way is hidden from the Lord;
my cause is disregarded by my God”?
28 Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
and his understanding no one can fathom.
29 He gives strength to the weary
and increases the power of the weak.
30 Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall;
31 but those who hope in the Lord
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.
The judge said “Oh, that poor man!”, and then ruled that since he had only gotten a marriage license for the first one, and the other three were just living with him under whatever terms they had worked out between themselves, there was no crime of bigamy, even if they were held out as wives.
nk (1d9030) — 12/11/2021 @ 7:42 pm
My neighbors in Utah were polygamists. In their view, God’s law of plural marriage trumps man’s law of monogamy. Therefore, they consider themselves married in God’s eyes.
The first wife had like 14 children. The second wife was much younger, and was just starting out, so she only had a few children. I heard the two wives didn’t get along very well. Quelle surprise.
This guy had quite an operation going on. He was a brick mason, and put his sons to work for him. He had a dairy cow to provide milk for the family, and an acre of alfalfa for the dairy cow. I once milked the cow (by hand) for them when he took his brood on a far-flung vacation to Lehman Caves in Nevada. Good times.
norcal (d9c78c) — 12/11/2021 @ 8:35 pmnk
On the subject of prenuptial agreements, are my assets better protected with a prenup or just shacking up without entering into the tri-partite contract? Is it possible to combine the two, and have a pre-shack?
I ask because I’ve recently re-entered the dating world (armed with Gawain’s Ghosts pointers–thanks, GG!), and want to be prepared for all contingencies. I didn’t bust my ass all those years just to lose half my stuff.
norcal (d9c78c) — 12/11/2021 @ 8:39 pmnorcal @186. Your assets are definitely better protected with a prenup.
And there is something called a domestic partnership agreement for non-married couples living together. It not only protects the couple relative to each other but it might also entitle them to married couple benefits, like being on the other’s workplace-provided health insurance for instance.
Another reason for a “preshack” ^_~ is the risk of an involuntary common law marriage. Despite its name, it’s as often defined by statute as by court decision, and in some places it happens automatically, like a statute of limitations, when a couple have lived together as husband and wife for a certain period of time, regardless of whether they both intend it or not.
Talk to a lawyer specializing in family law when you’re ready to take the plunge.
nk (1d9030) — 12/11/2021 @ 9:05 pmIn response to Texas abortion ban, Newsom calls for similar restrictions on assault weapons
Rip Murdock (8dd5e1) — 12/11/2021 @ 9:13 pm……..
“I am outraged by yesterday’s U.S. Supreme Court decision allowing Texas’ ban on most abortion services to remain in place, and largely endorsing Texas’ scheme to insulate its law from the fundamental protections of Roe v. Wade,” Newsom said in a statement Saturday night. “But if states can now shield their laws from review by the federal courts that compare assault weapons to Swiss Army knives, then California will use that authority to protect people’s lives, where Texas used it to put women in harm’s way.”
………
Newsom said he was directing his staff to work with the state Legislature and Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta on a new law that would allow private citizens to sue manufacturers or distributors of assault weapons.
……….
@norcal@186 Brave man. I’ve lived by myself for 25 years now. It would take a hell of a lot to make me want to live with someone else at this point. (though it might just be my family is weird. My g’mother and her “fiance” have spent the last 65+ years living 2 blocks from eachother.) 😛
Nic (896fdf) — 12/11/2021 @ 9:18 pmThanks, nk.
The whole notion of “common-law marriage” is nauseating to me. If they want to be married, they’d get married! If one wants to marry and the other doesn’t, then leave!
It’s just peachy when the government weighs in on people’s love lives. I agree with Sarah Silverman, who tweeted, “Why would I want the govt involved in my love life? Ew. It’s barbaric.”
norcal (d9c78c) — 12/11/2021 @ 9:24 pmNic, I’m almost the same. I divorced 27 years ago. I’m very accustomed to living alone, and settling down with someone will be a big adjustment–I see it as my last great challenge. I did the two-year Mormon mission, college, and career. This shouldn’t be all that difficult.
norcal (d9c78c) — 12/11/2021 @ 9:31 pmMy g’mother and her “fiance” have spent the last 65+ years living 2 blocks from eachother.) 😛
Nic (896fdf) — 12/11/2021 @ 9:18 pm
Movie rights!
norcal (d9c78c) — 12/11/2021 @ 9:32 pmMovie rights!
*snicker* I wish it was that interesting, I’d sell the story myself.
Nic (896fdf) — 12/11/2021 @ 9:40 pmHow are things on the pedagogical front, Nic? Is that problem student still lurking?
norcal (d9c78c) — 12/11/2021 @ 9:50 pmIn response to Texas abortion ban, Newsom calls for similar restrictions on assault weapons
Everybody in Chicago hates the traffic light cameras. Can we get Newsome to install some in Los Angeles? That will show Lori Lightfoot!
They were right to try to recall him. He is an idiot!
nk (1d9030) — 12/11/2021 @ 10:15 pm@norcal@194 He got 5150’d late this week due to threats to self-harm, and they kept him, so we will either get him back on Monday (72 hr hold) or not until after Christmas break. Other than that, the students have gotten used to being back at school, so we’ve entered our usual Drama cycle the last few weeks after the start of the year being relatively calm on that front. Keep your kids off snap-chat folks, and remind them not to take nudes and send them to their current significant other.
@nk@195 The people who wanted to recall him are mostly the same people who’d most hate his new idea and he already beat them. IDK if he actually means it or if this is more along the lines of “see what I could do tit for tat” but he does tend to take brash steps so I wouldn’t be especially surprised if he means it. However, I do not approve of private citizen suits as a strategy at all and do not think there should be any such laws in CA or in TX.
Nic (896fdf) — 12/11/2021 @ 10:53 pmnk, at 195 — this idea is quite popular among his base and i’ve had to argue half a dozen people *in my real life social circles* out of it.
that said, the recall would have been successful if the republicans had coalesced around someone the rest of the state could stomach. people don’t like newsom particularly, but elder was a bridge or three too far.
aphrael (4c4719) — 12/11/2021 @ 11:02 pmRIP film director Lina Wertmüller (93) and author Anne Rice (80).
Rip Murdock (8dd5e1) — 12/12/2021 @ 4:56 amDespite Tucker Carlson’s recent boot licking, “Czar” Putin almost certainly hasn’t bribed Carlson, which bring to mind this famous little poem by Humbert Wolfe:
We need a Tucker Carlson version of that poem. Or something similar. (Changing “twist” to “con” and “British journalist” to “Tucker Carlson” would work, but I am sure some of you can do better than that.)
Jim Miller (edcec1) — 12/12/2021 @ 5:22 amLast wek, or the week before, I quoted an article that said there were three variants before omicron, and I speculated they were alpha, gamma and delta. Actually, another article the same day said they were alpha, iota and delta. Ippta is associated with New York (it;s not the California variant, which is epsilon.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SARS-CoV-2_Iota_variant
etc etc
Omicron is now very dominant in South Africa, is expected to be the main variantt in the UK by the end of the month, and is very minimal so far in the USA, o deaths in the USA have been attributed to it (something between 5% and 29% of known infections are sequenced.
Sammy Finkelman (c49738) — 12/12/2021 @ 5:58 amJim Miller @ 199; There;s one word left out from that poem and the word order is a little wrong. It should be:
The New York Times ran it in 1975 in a column by Anthony Lewis I think (to make a wrong point)
That inspired me to write:
I sent a slightly less good version (“how awful and awry) to the New York Times.
Now later on I figured out, that Communist China had quietly taken control of the Khmer Rouge away from North Vietnam, but allowed Hanoi to think they still controlled it, until after the fall of both Phnom Penh and Saigon. So there were no more dominoes.
AS for why Pol POt evacuated the cities: that was simple: they knew how to rule in the country but they didn’t know how to rule in the city.
They had not taken all the courses in Communist dictatorship school.
Sammy Finkelman (c49738) — 12/12/2021 @ 6:34 amI am chagrined that it took Newsom’s braying to make me fully appreciate the degree of obscenity which is the Texas law. Forget abortion. Forget guns. Those assholes are declaring lawfare against the citizens of their own States. And only the citizens of their own States. Against Texans under the Texas law. Against Californians under Newsom’s proposal. I guess I had to be hit on the head twice. Thanks, Governor!
Give them back to Mexico!
nk (1d9030) — 12/12/2021 @ 6:59 amSammy – Thanks for that bit of history. (I found three versions on line without the “really”, but with different formatting.)
Here’s a somewhat better Tucker Carlson version:
Jim Miller (edcec1) — 12/12/2021 @ 7:19 amnic wrote:
The state does not seem to have the right to limit any variations of cohabitation among people of age, but the state legally prefers two-person heterosexual marriage, something which has been around for as long as we have historical knowledge. The state also has an interest in securing the legal — not necessarily factual — paternity of children, and will for as long as we have a welfare system.
I can see a point coming in which we might have to remove from authority to certify a legal marriage from non-state officials; the priest marries you in the eyes of God, but the couple still has to go down to the courthouse to contract the marriage legally.
The libertarian, but not Libertarian, Dana (625bc9) — 12/12/2021 @ 7:38 amMr leftbehind wrote:
Given Mrs Emhoff’s bedroom choices, ’tisn’t just the darker-coated stallions we’d need to protect. However, Kentucky stallions are of such upstanding moral character that even the teasers wouldn’t be interested.
Mrs Emhoff and her running mate got just 36.15% of the vote in the Bluegrass State; the Vice President is about as welcome here as equine influenza virus . . . or a mask mandate.
The libertarian, but not Libertarian, Dana (625bc9) — 12/12/2021 @ 7:49 amMr norcal wrote:
As long as the man was legally married to just one of the wives, and shacked up with the other, the state has no interest, other than establishing legal paternity for any children of the non-married wife.
An obvious question: in the polygamous group’s beliefs, were the two wives married to each other? 🙂
The libertarian, but not Libertarian, Dana (625bc9) — 12/12/2021 @ 7:58 amChris Wallace sacked by News Corp
urbanleftbehind (2bbc5d) — 12/12/2021 @ 8:05 amLeft voluntary, pardon.
urbanleftbehind (2bbc5d) — 12/12/2021 @ 8:06 amSeeing that the Supreme Court has allowed the Texas anti-abortion law CA has done what everyone with a brain predicted they would and announced a plan to use the same scheme to limit rights they dislike.
This is terrible policy and needs to be stopped. The longer it goes on the worse it will be.
Right wing populists cheered the Texas law because the liked the intended outcome and have been cheering steps to weaken our system of government. The left has little interest in the principles of federalism or limited government and will eagerly use any tools developed but the right to push their agenda. Works for the populist right the cultural aspects of the left, which they seem to hate the most, have been enacted mostly by persuasion with limited governmental intervention.
Time123 (9f42ee) — 12/12/2021 @ 8:10 amThe two main problems with polygamy are
Time123 (9f42ee) — 12/12/2021 @ 8:23 am1) It’s history of exploiting young women.
2) Much of our infrastructure is set up for 2 partners. Person:Person worked regardless of gender. Adding additional people into mix raises a lot of new questions that would need to be answered
I honestly don’t see the difference between “populist” and “Democrat-since-Andrew-Jackson”. But, still being honest, I haven’t cared enough to learn if there is any difference.
nk (1d9030) — 12/12/2021 @ 8:24 amThe main problem with polygamy is “How many women can you live with?”. Solomon is said to have had 700 wives and 300 concubines, but he also controlled all the Jinn and that ought to tell us something.
nk (1d9030) — 12/12/2021 @ 8:30 amGood summary of the conservative investigation of the WI election. Despite lies by some right wing sites such as Federalist they concluded that Biden legitimately won the election.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisondurkee/2021/12/07/wisconsin-conservative-group-finds-no-evidence-of-widespread-fraud-in-2020-election/
This won’t stop liars and grifters from claiming otherwise or making vague insinuations about about the need for ‘reform” or “election security”’. But nothing will do that.
So far every investigation of the 2020 election has found the same thing; no evidence to support claims of fraud. This has been true even in cases such as Az where the investigators were highly motivated to prove their prior claims of fraud.
Since this fiction was central to Trumps attempt to steal the election I don’t have any patience for people (such as Purdue) that help. Sell the lie.
Time123 (9f42ee) — 12/12/2021 @ 8:33 amMrs Emhoff and her running mate got just 36.15% of the vote in the Bluegrass State;……
Then I guess KY should get only 36.15% of any Federal disaster funds……
Rip Murdock (8dd5e1) — 12/12/2021 @ 8:41 amOr no disaster relief at all for KY given Senator Rand Paul’s opposition to disaster relief for other states.
But we’re not that kind of people.
Rip Murdock (8dd5e1) — 12/12/2021 @ 8:50 amIt’s weird that so many right-wingers won’t acknowledge that Trump set up the “stolen election” narrative well before the election happened, and that his ongoing obsession with it is yet more evidence of a pathologically self-centered mind.
I’ve seen some of the less conspiratorial right-wingers claim that Trump was very popular and was riding high and cruising to reelection but for a black swan event, and then Covid hit, which was just one more terribly unfair thing thrown at him. But his approval rating was never above 45% until February-March 2020, when it spiked up to 49%, probably because of Covid. People tend to rally around the president in a national crisis, and for a little while the daily briefings in March gave some Americans the sense that he was taking it seriously. The deepest dive in his approval rating came after the election.
Radegunda (d859a7) — 12/12/2021 @ 8:58 amThanks, Jim. I’ll look Schellenberger up. I don’t know where get all this time to read all these books.
Paul Montagu (5de684) — 12/12/2021 @ 8:58 amWhich doesn’t mean it was high before the election. It had settled back at around 45% in Sept.-Oct., clearly not high enough to assure reelection. A narrow EC victory would be conceivable, but not so likely that only fraud would prevent it. It also doesn’t look like Covid is what prevented a second term.
Radegunda (d859a7) — 12/12/2021 @ 9:03 amChris Wallace is leaving FoxNews and will join CNN’s new streaming service. I hope that’s where Brian Williams lands.
Paul Montagu (5de684) — 12/12/2021 @ 9:12 amRe: “cultural genocide”: Some of the nationalist conservative crowd like to glorify the leaders of Russia and even China for standing up to the global scourge of Enlightenment liberalism and defending their own civilizational values.
Radegunda (d859a7) — 12/12/2021 @ 9:22 amThey seem to imagine that Russia and China represent the organic cultural development of “the Russian people” and “the Chinese people,” whereas Western liberalism is an artificial ideological construct that’s been imposed over traditional culture. Never mind all the local cultures that have been suppressed in the course of building Russia and China.
Time: “The longer it goes on the worse it will be.”
Yeah I was surprised that the Court went with the short game. I can’t imagine that the five conservatives want to encourage more of this style of litigation. I get that this is part of the price of the Court previously injecting itself in deeply divisive issues with a thumb on the scale. Also, I get that a lot of environmental law does allow for private citizens to sue purported violators. I am also skeptical that there are close enough parallels to make this work for gun regulation (though, one could imagine making it illegal to sell “assault rifle” styled weapons or high-capacity magazines would not extinguish the right to self defense but would certainly narrow it), but obviously it will be tested…probably unnecessarily creating more bad law (and bad will).
The Court seems to be saying, let this matter work its way through the available process…meaning, let people get sued and bring the matter to court….and let’s ignore the reality that the underlying question is driven by timeliness…and the threat of substantial penalty is real. To me, it’s yet one more sign that we are heading to a great unraveling. One may argue that didn’t Roe start this process. Sure to a degree….it created uniformity when the matter could have been eventually finding equilibrium in the states. Still, I remain cynically that this will be in the long-term interest of the GOP. Many who are personally uncomfortable with abortion, still do not want to force women to carry to term….or see them having to travel interstate for an abortion as the only option. Does this push more purple states to blue? Does this pull more national GOP candidates toward the center? I don’t see a lot of wrestling with this…..
AJ_Liberty (ec7f74) — 12/12/2021 @ 10:06 am215, make Rand hug loaded diaper for it, just like Stay Puft in 2012.
urbanleftbehind (2bbc5d) — 12/12/2021 @ 10:30 amErik Wemple:
In other words, this is just more fallout from Tucker’s dishonest, anti-American “documentary”.
Paul Montagu (5de684) — 12/12/2021 @ 10:42 amMore on Merkel’s Germany:
Paul Montagu (5de684) — 12/12/2021 @ 11:01 amSay what you want about Merkel, she had to run a country where the men squat to pee.
nk (1d9030) — 12/12/2021 @ 12:10 pmDana in Kentucky,
I never heard the polygamist women claim to be married to each other. All I’ve heard is “sister wives”. Some get along. Some don’t. I believe they see it as a spiritual challenge to conquer their selfish feelings for the common good.
My uncle, who loved to poke fun at Mormons, both fundamentalist and mainstream, said polygamy operates on the theory that some percentage of a good man is better than 100% of a bad one.
norcal (d9c78c) — 12/12/2021 @ 12:20 pmnk,
I know a Chinese woman who makes her boyfriend and her son kneel down to pee.
norcal (d9c78c) — 12/12/2021 @ 12:23 pmTucker Carlson is to TV viewers what Trump is to voters. Unfortunately, there’s a significant overlap.
norcal (d9c78c) — 12/12/2021 @ 12:24 pmHarvard Institute of Politics Youth Poll-Fall 2021
A national poll of America’s 18- to 29-year-olds released today by the Institute of Politics at Harvard Kennedy School indicates that a majority of young Americans believe that our democracy is “in trouble” or “failing.” While most young Biden voters are satisfied with their vote, President Biden’s job approval (46%) has dropped 13 percentage points among young Americans since the IOP’s Spring 2021 Poll, including a 10-point drop among young Democrats and 14-point drop among Independents.
…….. The Fall 2021 survey of 2,109 young Americans between 18- and 29-years-old, conducted between October 26 and November 8, includes young Americans’ concerns on their mental health, COVID-19, climate change, and foreign policy.
………
Top findings of this survey, the 42nd in the biannual series, include the following:
1. A majority (52%) of young Americans believe that our democracy is either “in trouble,” or “failing”.
Only 7% of young Americans view the United States as a “healthy democracy”; 27% described the nation as a “somewhat functioning democracy,” 39% a “democracy in trouble,” and 13% went so far as to declare the nation a “failed democracy.”
……..
Overall, 57% of all 18- to 29- year-olds say that it is “very important” that America is a democracy while another 21% say it’s “somewhat important.” Seven percent (7%) say either “not very” or “not at all important,” while 13% don’t know. Seventy-one percent (71%) of college graduates agree that it is “very important” that America is a democracy, but only 51% of those not currently in college, or without a college degree say the same.
2. Young Americans place the chances that they will see a second civil war in their lifetime at 35%; chances that at least one state secedes at 25%.
Nearly half (46%) of young Republicans place the chances of a second civil war at 50% or higher, compared to 32% of Democrats, and 38% of independent and unaffiliated voters. Level of education (27% among college students and those with degrees compared to 47% for others) and whether young people live in urban (33%), suburban (33%), rural (48%) or small town (51%) environments are all significant predictors.
……..
3. Half of young Americans say they’re a different person because of Covid-19.
……..
4. Biden approval drops to 46% among young Americans; a majority of youth disapprove of the way President Biden, Democrats, and Republicans in Congress are handling their jobs.
………
President Biden receives the highest approval rating for his handling of the Coronavirus (51% approve), his lowest rating comes from his handling of gun violence (34%).
………
Forty-six percent (46%) also view President Biden favorably and 44% unfavorably; the favorability ratings of others included in the survey are: Bernie Sanders at 46% favorable / 34% unfavorable; Kamala Harris 38% favorable / 41% unfavorable; Nancy Pelosi 26% favorable / 48% unfavorable; Donald Trump, 30% favorable / 63% unfavorable.
5. More than half (51%) of young Americans report having felt down, depressed, and hopeless — and 25% have had thoughts of self-harm — at least several times in the last two weeks.
………
6. A majority (56%) of young Americans expect climate change to impact their future decisions — and nearly half (45%) already see its local effects.
………
7. More than half of young Americans believe that the federal government is not doing enough to address climate change.
………
8. Strengthening the economy, uniting the country, and improving health care are viewed as keys to a successful presidency in the eyes of young Americans.
……..
9. By a margin of more than 2-to-1, young Americans value compromise over confrontation.
………
Democrats agreed with the sentiment of meeting “in the middle,” 49% to 26% and Republicans agreed 45% to 23%. Self-described liberals agreed, 43% to 31%, conservatives 44% to 21%.
10. American Exceptionalism is a highly divisive issue among young Americans, less than one-third believe that “America is the greatest country in the world”.
……..
The views of Democrats and Republicans are inverted with 21% of Democrats saying America is the greatest country and 64% saying other nations are as great or greater; 62% of Republicans believe that America is the greatest with 24% saying other nations are as great or greater.
When young Americans are asked what they think the primary motivation of U.S. foreign policy should be, we found that “promoting international peace and human rights” to be the top choice (27%), followed by ensuring U.S. national security (18%), addressing climate change (12%), and promoting U.S. economic interests (11%).
The priorities of young Americans are at odds with what they believe current foreign policy priorities are: 19% cited economic interests as the top driver of U.S. policy abroad, followed by 12% who said ensuring our national security, and 10% who said promoting international peace and human rights.
Rip Murdock (8dd5e1) — 12/12/2021 @ 12:29 pm………..
Harvard IOP Poll top lines and cross tabs.
Rip Murdock (8dd5e1) — 12/12/2021 @ 1:00 pmIn our early days, Mrs. Montagu suggested that I sit on the toilet to pee, and I said “not if you want to stay married”. Germans have no excuse.
Paul Montagu (5de684) — 12/12/2021 @ 1:07 pmAs long as everyone is cleaning up after themselves after ward, I don’t see how it’s anyone’s business. OTOH, if someone misses and doesn’t clean up, it is everyone’s business because they have left a mess that other people have to deal with and nobody wants to step in (especially) someone else’ urine.
Nic (896fdf) — 12/12/2021 @ 1:14 pmNew Political Maps Will Kill Swing Districts From Coast to Coast
………
Nearly half the states that elect more than one House member have finished adjusting their districts, which is generally done after each 10-year census. While states that hold just over half of the remaining House seats are still at work, one trend is clear: State lawmakers, who in most cases draw the maps, have created more districts where voters skew heavily toward one party, eliminating many districts where voters are more evenly divided in their political preferences.
A Wall Street Journal analysis finds 12 politically competitive districts in the 22 states that have completed their House maps so far, down from 25 such districts currently.
Rip Murdock (8dd5e1) — 12/12/2021 @ 1:20 pm……..
The Journal defined competitive districts as those in which the margin between President Biden and former President Donald Trump in the 2020 election was within 5 percentage points. Districts were considered safe territory for a party if its presidential candidate won by 15 points or more. …….
………
The decline in competitiveness stems from the fact that many states where one party controls the legislature and governor’s office are trying to increase the winning margins for their more vulnerable incumbents by concentrating more of their supporters in those districts. State lawmakers in fewer states are taking the opposite approach—spreading their supporters across multiple districts in an attempt to win additional seats, but at the risk of doing so on narrow voting margins.
……..
Lawmakers in both Republican-led and Democratic-led states are eliminating competitive districts or bypassing opportunities to create new ones. Democratic-led Illinois currently has three competitive districts and nine considered safe for Democrats. Its newly approved map will have no competitive districts, as defined by the 2020 presidential election results, and 10 categorized as safely Democratic.
……….
The biggest change is in Texas, the largest state to complete redistricting. It will have a single competitive district under its new maps, down from 11 competitive districts currently, after the Republican-led legislature shored up incumbents. Some 21 GOP-held seats are now considered safe for the party, up from 11 under the old maps. Consolidating Republican voters also meant creating 12 safe Democratic districts, four more than before.
……….
………. In New York, for example, Democrats are expected to use their legislative majority to make re-election difficult for several GOP House members, or to eliminate their districts. In Florida, Republicans who control the process could put the squeeze on Democratic incumbents.
……….
The main difference is that in some states the Dems have a lot of D+25 districts and the GOP R+8, and in other states it’s the opposite. Bunching up the opponents into as few districts aw possible is an old game. Governor Gerry (gerrymanderer-MA) was a delegate to the Constitutional Convention (but left early as he did not get his way).
It is entirely possible, with the help of computers (and has been since the 1980s) to create districts where only a massive super-majority party flip among voters will change the legislature.
In 1984, voters elected Ronald Reagan with a 18% margin, yet the Democrats held a gerrymandered House 252-181. Less profound was 1988, but again the GOP won WH but only gained a few House seats. After the 1990 remap, Clinton won the WH and lost seats in the House in 1992, reflecting changes such as the judge-drawn California remap that was breathtaking in its fairness.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 12/12/2021 @ 1:44 pmIn our early days, Mrs. Montagu suggested that I sit on the toilet to pee, and I said “not if you want to stay married”. Germans have no excuse.
In that conversation at our house, I suggested to Mrs M that perhaps my leaving the seat up wasn’t so bad after all. I would think a trip to any public men’s room stall would make that point fairly clearly.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 12/12/2021 @ 1:48 pmIOP Poll:
Generally headed in the right direction………………………………18%
Off on the wrong track………………………………………………………45%
Not sure what direction the country is headed in…………………37%
Not a big endorsement of our leadership.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 12/12/2021 @ 1:53 pmThat poll shows that, while yutes are hostile to Donald Trump, they are not so keen on the Democrats either. They seem to realize that there is no one at the tiller and business is not being taken care of.
Again, I assert that a new mainstream party will never have a better chance.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 12/12/2021 @ 1:58 pm@Kevin@237 In my experience of the yutes, they are generally very liberal in a Bernie-pay-for-college kind of way, and often, while not particularly careful of their own behavior, very very willing to police the lack of “wokeness” of everyone else. Also, they don’t know what racism, sexism, gaslighting, or bullying actually are. (I have a couple of students whose go-to objection to anything they don’t like is “that’s racist!”‘ and/or “you’re racist!”.) Their disagreement with the current Dems is that they aren’t liberal enough.
Nic (896fdf) — 12/12/2021 @ 2:07 pmNic–
Yes, but the poll was 56% “not in school” and 65% were employed in some way. It is my personal experience that working and attempting to manage one’s life independently informs one fairly quickly in ways that schools do not.
Bernie and “free college” may sound great to a freshman. To someone 3 years out of school and having to acutally pay rent and taxes, not so much.
“In theory there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice, there is.”
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 12/12/2021 @ 2:13 pmEven back in the Golden Age of Public Schools (aka the suburban ones I went to half a century ago), schools did an awful job on getting kids aware of what it meant to earn a living.
Trying to live on a paycheck, on your own, is a sobering experience. I remember having to eat rice for a week once because anything else cost too much. A never-again moment.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 12/12/2021 @ 2:34 pm@kevin@239 and 240 Maybe so, though in more expensive places I think it could also lead to people being gun-ho about rent control and higher minimum wages and each gen seems less and less and less interested in the culture war “Christian Values” stuff. I’m a mid/late X and we basically weren’t upset by the gays at all and my students 2ish gens later think trans and non-binary are cool.
I’m not sure it’s possible to teach, in school, what it’s like to earn a living. Some things do have to be experienced. 😛
Nic (896fdf) — 12/12/2021 @ 2:56 pmIs Criticizing Joe Biden a Danger to Democracy?
As concerns mount over the future of free and fair elections, a debate has broken out about whether the media must protect Biden to save the republic.
https://newrepublic.com/article/164680/media-criticize-biden-washington-post-milbank
There are people who consider themselves conservatives who will support this, have been supporting this, and think that an American media going Pravda is the solution.
Obudman (3f0cd2) — 12/12/2021 @ 4:57 pm@219. Wallace embarrassed– if not dinged himself and his credibility- w/his sloppy role as moderator at the presidential debate last year, on top of slipping ratings [and it is always about ratings.] Competition from Newsmax w/Fox has been strong, too. He won’t be missed at Fox any more than Shep Smith. But the quick move and hire to CNN turf suggests new direction from the ownership change coming to the network that Turner built. They can plug Wallace into a lot of slots- depending on the contract parameters.
A shift away from opinion newsreaders and entertainment filler [those series of idiodic ‘history of everything’ crap] and back to a hard news core is likely coming there, and long overdue— and it will be welcomed. Still, Wallace’s judgement remains questionable; in his statement today, he said, ” I am honored and delighted to join Jeff Zucker and his great team.” Zucker is an entertainment exec, right out of NBC Universal, and chiefly responsible for the decade long CNN trainwreck. When Zucker finally leaves, CNN has a chance to revive its reputation as a viable news source.
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 12/12/2021 @ 5:08 pmRadegunda (d859a7) — 12/12/2021 @ 9:03 am
THat was Donald Trump’s opinion (assuming that here he was real_ He did not want to say delaying the vaccine cost him the election.
Sammy Finkelman (c49738) — 12/12/2021 @ 5:16 pm@208. Left voluntary, pardon.
Shep Smith left “voluntarily” too. 😉
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 12/12/2021 @ 5:17 pmless and less interested in the culture war “Christian Values” stuff
I’ve never thought it very interesting, and was a marriage equality proponent by the mid-oughts. And I’m a boomer and call myself “conservative” because I don’t think spending borrowed money on fluff is a good idea. Borrowing money to win WW2 makes sense. Borrowing money to provide universal pre-K not so much.
But sure, when people see they can vote themselves the treasury they may do so. I’ll try to talk people out of it, but I’ll be safely dead when the piper calls for his gelt. Being retired, they can only tax me so much.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 12/12/2021 @ 5:33 pmIt also doesn’t look like Covid is what prevented a second term.
That is really hard to say. The election was so close — in states Trump won last time — that nearly ANYTHING could have put him over the top. It’s the closeness of the election (EV-wise) that has Trump believing he was robbed.
Here are a few things that might have won him the election:
1. Being less of an assh0le in the first debate. They guy who showed up there was poison to anyone still deciding. Any remote thought of voting for him — the reason I tuned in — ended in the first 5 minutes. Biden said “Who is this idiot” and I agreed and clicked off.
2. Having had a vaccine announced 2 weeks earlier. Trump had complained they were foot-dragging, and it’s not like he had backing from the bureaucracy so maybe he was right.
3. Trump could have told his people to vote early or absentee. He crushed on Day-of, but Biden had a whole month to get out the vote, while Trump made it a loyalty test to wait until the end.
Any one of these things could have re-elected Trump. Two of them were in his control (for Trumpian values of “control”). “The fault, dear Brutus, is not in the stars….”
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 12/12/2021 @ 5:41 pmback to a hard news core is likely coming there
From your lips to God’s ears. CNN of 1992 was the real deal. Enough of Crossfire 24/7.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 12/12/2021 @ 5:43 pmmy students 2ish gens later think trans and non-binary are cool.
Well, this is not strictly their idea, but something that they have heard is the “right thing to do or think.”
To some degree public (and many private) schools push an ethos that borders on religious dogma, only replacing God with
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 12/12/2021 @ 5:47 pmManPeople.@248. back to a hard news core is likely coming there
Since Zucker took the helm at CNN, viewers have become better informed about Don Lemon’s sex life, his personal views, family heritage, preferential vices– ear piercings and drunken partying at annual New Year’s Eve broadcasts – as well as Coops’ annual Times Square goofiness and his momma’s wealthy heritage – than they have been on the facts surrounding hard news events of the day. As w/t creepy Cuomo mess, this is all on Jeff Zucker. The ‘Bernard Shaw’ days of CNN had the blessings of the Cronkite Seal of Approval.
And unlike the likes of Lemon, Coop, Acosta and the assorted group of CNN colleagues, for decades as Managing Editor and anchor of the CBS Evening News, nobody knew what Cronkite’s personal politics, sex life or habits were. CBS insiders were aware he could tell a good joke, liked a drink or two, famously enjoyed sailing and occasionally did a fully clothed faux striptease act on occasion at company gatherings.
But aside from his labeled and researched broadcast editorial on Vietnam in 1968- and his giddy, interest-driven-coverage of the moon program [which he steadfastly believed would be the most significant story for history of our times] industry colleagues and viewers knew next to nothing about his personal preferences; nobody’s perfect, but he did strive fo objectivity– and ‘that’s the way it was’ because he wanted it that way.
He was criticized once by journalist colleagues at the time when, while still the anchor of the CBS Evening News, he crossed the line from journalism into entertainment and harmlessly appeared as himself one time for a few minutes in a truly funny episode of the ‘Mary Tyler Moore Show’ and never crossed the line again while an anchor. Hardly no one at CNN or any of the network news divisions would adhere to such ethical guidelines today.
The CNN roster of newsreaders [hardly any are genuine field reporters or journalists] remains pathetic– and that is all on Jeff Zucker– who is chasing ratings– and a buck. A thorough house cleaning of “entertaining opinionators” who pass themselves off as news gatherers there is long overdue– starting with fresh CNN ownership jettisoning the entertainment-minded Zucker ASAP.
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 12/12/2021 @ 6:43 pmI just piss outside. I grew up in a rural, semi rural environment, worked in orchards and still live in semi rural area. Every once in a while my wife will say something, but I usually stay 50 feet away from her car, so I pay no attention
steveg (e81d76) — 12/12/2021 @ 6:53 pmEine junge Amerikanerin läuft durch einen Park in Deutschland, als sie einen Mann an einem Baum urinieren sieht. Sie rümpft die Nase und sagt: “Gross!” Und er sagt: “Danke schön!”
nk (1d9030) — 12/12/2021 @ 7:41 pmWhat’s that line from the movie you like, DCSCA? “Don’t piss on my back and tell me it’s raining!”
nk (1d9030) — 12/12/2021 @ 7:54 pmnk, I actually did that, from the edge of a roof on a rainy night (ok, a mix of rain and post processed beer) as pledges for my frat we’re being led into the doorway of a house.
urbanleftbehind (c073c9) — 12/12/2021 @ 8:04 pmPart of the difficulty with CNN is that they treat their secondary reporters terribly, even when they are the network expert on a particular significantly news-worthy subject, and then laugh at them at contact time.
Another part of the difficulty is that opinion-news is cheap, they have to pay very few people and get a lot of audience bang.
However, I would love it if they did some long-form journalism.
I would love a set of weekly hour long segments. Maybe:
1. “Your taxes at work” where they take a look at what’s happening with subsidies or federal grants or the military budget or unfunded mandates that your states are paying for or how much a congressional office + staff costs to maintain (or refurbish). Something that follows from budget to money spent (or not spent) (on what).
2. And industry spotlight. The good, the bad, and the really ugly.
3. Some kind of US regionally focused thing, different region each week.
4. An investigative journalism segment on a crime.
5. Some kind of cultural story
6. A regional history dive, different region each week.
7. This week around the country.
8. Today in the world. (at a reasonable hour, not at bloody 6 AM)
9. A deep dive into something going on in various world regions, different one each week.
10. Some kind of “behind the scenes” thing like “48 hrs” used to do.
IDK, there are probably a lot of other possibilities, but these are just off the top of my head.
Nic (896fdf) — 12/12/2021 @ 8:11 pmUsually 2-3 times a day outside for me (I live in a semi-rural area on a couple acres). Mrs. Montagu doesn’t get it, calls it weird, and I just tell her it’s a guy thing.
Paul Montagu (5de684) — 12/12/2021 @ 9:15 pm> Forget abortion. Forget guns. Those assholes are declaring lawfare against the citizens of their own States.
Yes. the problem with the law really has nothing to do with abortion and is all about the fact that it sets up a situation in which people can be sued into oblivion for exercising their federally protected rights *and no federal court can stop it*.
It’s the worst development in American law since Korematsu.
aphrael (4c4719) — 12/12/2021 @ 9:50 pmUnfortunately, indebting yourself is easier and more alluring. And fashionable. As the dollar loses value, it will probably start to feel like a sucker’s move to save money instead of borrowing. One fewer incentive to contribute and work, as our nation becomes a lot less productive, fundamentally weaker. People aren’t starving. They are glued to the playstation and tik tok, eating junk, maybe hoping Biden cancels their student loans they didn’t have to pay for a couple of years.
Dustin (0ee127) — 12/12/2021 @ 10:00 pmAs the dollar loses value, it will probably start to feel like a sucker’s move to save money instead of borrowing.
Indeed. In the 1978-81 period, that is what people did. The markets sucked, savings rates trailed inflation, so they just spent it. I think collectables (e.g. comic books) experienced a boom period then too.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 12/12/2021 @ 11:39 pmEverybody in Chicago hates the traffic light cameras. Can we get Newsome to install some in Los Angeles?
The are putting them in Albuquerque. It turns out that the city has completely screwed up east-west traffic in a main part of town by taking lanes (and parking) away on the main drag that all the shops and restaurants are on for what was to be an electric bus system, but that didn’t work so now it’s just diesel buses that few ride, with “stations” in the median.
Meanwhile a parallel set of one-way streets that goes through a urban residential area would be a great alternative but the residents demanded and got a 25MPH speed limit. Now they are going to enforce the 25MPH speed limit, not only with speed cameras but a system that turns the lights red if anyone approaching it is speeding.
What could go wrong.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 12/12/2021 @ 11:46 pmHey Amerikkkka – The commies are here. And Putin smiled.
mg (8cbc69) — 12/13/2021 @ 4:19 amhttps://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/as-the-pandemic-raged-at-least-75-lawmakers-bought-and-sold-stock-in-companies-that-make-covid-19-vaccines-treatments-and-tests/ar-AARL2jt?ocid=msedgntp
mg (8cbc69) — 12/13/2021 @ 4:24 amHang these prostitutes from a sturdy oak branch
https://redstate.com/jerrywilson/2021/12/13/the-real-jesus-one-david-french-zero-n490579
mg (8cbc69) — 12/13/2021 @ 5:41 amPathetic are his followers.
@221, AJ, I can’t claim to understand the courts strategy. But I know that regulatory uncertainty leads to a lot of bad outcomes and will chill the exercise of impacted rights. If you want fewer guns/abortions/whatever you’re likely to view any chilling as a ‘win’ regardless of the long term impact. I think is is compounded by the increasingly performative nature of politics.
Time123 (9f42ee) — 12/13/2021 @ 6:02 am“Typhoid” Rand is still trying to help the COVID virus spread, though perhaps not intentionally.
He is claiming that masks don’t work, citing a single Danish study — which he didn’t take the time to understand. (The study found evidence that masks help reduce transmission of the virus — but not statistically significant evidence.)
Many other studies have found that evidence. For example:
(I assume you remember that, after “Typhoid” Rand had reason to believe he was infected, he went and exercised in the Senate gym, without wearing a mask, and without warning others there.)
Jim Miller (edcec1) — 12/13/2021 @ 6:25 ammg – It’s rather mean of you to expose Jerry Wilson that way. It’s like laughing at a cripple who is having trouble crossing a street.
(Full disclosure: Years ago, I was asked to contribute to RedState. Boy am I glad now that I turned them down!)
Jim Miller (edcec1) — 12/13/2021 @ 6:32 amMr Montagu wrote:
Mrs Pico trained me to put the seat back down, by slapping it down when she went to the bathroom. As I heard the crash! of the seat hitting the bowl, I realized that, when it finally broke, I’d be the one who had to fix it, so I started putting the seat down.
But I also started putting the lid down as well, which means the womynfolk have to exert some effort anyway. No one can combitch about a man closing the toilet all the way.
The libertarian, but not Libertarian, Dana (625bc9) — 12/13/2021 @ 6:44 amNow read what French said
https://frenchpress.thedispatch.com/p/deconstructing-white-evangelical
I don’t agree with it all (not everything policy wise is as clear as French suggests)…we all have our pet issues….but the notion that extreme partisanship and “othering” your neighbor resembles anything “Christian” is a point well made. Redstate and many other blogs run on the fuel of hate, anger, self-righteousness, and hyperbole. They say: this is what your camp believes and who your camp supports and if you’re not with us, you’re against us….and likely a heathen to boot.
The level of nastiness we see these days is epic….and doesn’t seem consistent with “love thy neighbor”, “turn the other cheek”, or the great sheep and goats admonitions found in Matthew 25:36….you know the things Jesus said we were explicitly supposed to be doing to get into heaven. And I think this is French’s bigger point. It’s not just about following a personally flawed man like Donald Trump, it’s about the serial meanness generally and the complete blurring of political ideology with religious principle. Would Jesus really want us to keep all of the Mexicans out? How about the Muslims? Would he really be as intolerant of gays in this day….with what we now know? Again, I understand the push back about socialism…about a changing culture….about losing political power. The question is what does your religion command versus what does your politics command…..and to which do we owe higher allegiance?
I disagree with most liberal solutions….but in many cases I still acknowledge that their heart is in the right place…they frequently do want to help disadvantaged people. Their solution may be wrong or go to far or introduce unintended consequences….and many on the Left are also infected by anger, hatred, hyperbole, and a dreadful obnoxiousness…..but Jesus…as far as we know….didn’t fixate on this stuff. The stories tell us that he hung out with the people who needed the most help….the lowest of the low….people he could reach through his parables….not with fire and brimstone sermons — that I fail to find in Matthew-Mark-Luke-John. Religion has the awful benefit of being able to selectively mine quotes and pick and choose what is important and what is secondary. It’s part of my frustration with it. We tend to find what we want to find….and it usually fits nicely with our world view.
The Redstate author tells us that Trump is like King David and conjures Jesus clearing the Temple with a whip. The implied argument is that existential threats require flawed individuals…and maybe even a bit of violence. Wow. Or maybe there’s something about “sheep’s clothings” that the author is tragically missing….
AJ_Liberty (3cb02f) — 12/13/2021 @ 6:57 amMr Murdock wrote about Gerrymandering, but consider the City of Brotherly Love. In 2008, John McCain got zero votes in 57 different precincts in Philadelphia, while in 2012, Mitt Romney topped that with zero votes in 59 precincts. With that many Democratic voters having chosen to live in such close proximity, they have self-gerrymandered.
In 2004, John Kerry had twenty separate congressional districts in which he had a higher percentage of the vote than in President Bush’s best district.
In 2020, Joe Biden carried Pennsylvania by 80,555 votes, but his margin in Philadelphia was 471,050 votes. The entire rest of the Keystone State went pretty overwhelmingly for President Trump. With 46,055 mi² in Pennsylvania, and only 141.7 mi² in Philly (0.308%), I can’t see how the Keystone State could even not be gerrymandered in favor of Republicans.
The libertarian, but not Libertarian, Dana (625bc9) — 12/13/2021 @ 6:59 am@269, What you describe isn’t gerrymandering. Here are some good examples if you need them
https://thefulcrum.us/worst-gerrymandering-districts-example/10-metro-detroit
Time123 (9f42ee) — 12/13/2021 @ 7:12 amFrom mg’s link at 263:
Heh.
Dana (174549) — 12/13/2021 @ 7:18 amWell, the secret of Trump’s success is that his followers don’t need to be told anything that makes sense. Only what they want to agree with.
nk (1d9030) — 12/13/2021 @ 7:27 amHere’s how I felt before the national elections in both 2016 and 2020.
Jim Miller (edcec1) — 12/13/2021 @ 7:43 amI started putting the lid down as well, but because we didn’t want Nellie (that’s our dog, not a human family member) drinking out of the toilet.
My general rule is that I’ll read no site that bam-sticked me, so no RedState or Powerline or LGF or dKos on the reading menu. Instead of reading some hyperpartisan snark at French, I’ll prefer to read his words directly and, as a white evangelical Baptist, they make sense.
Paul Montagu (5de684) — 12/13/2021 @ 8:06 ammg’s link is pretty amazing in its tone. If you are going to do a WWJD type of article, I wouldn’t adopt the tone of well-known atheist, HL Mencken. I like Mencken as a writer a lot — and this columnist does a good job with his sarcastic invective. But…really. Turn the other cheek is not an invitation to moon the guy a second time…
Appalled (1a17de) — 12/13/2021 @ 8:34 amMissouri misery:
Dana (174549) — 12/13/2021 @ 8:36 amThe stories tell us that he hung out with the people who needed the most help….the lowest of the low….people he could reach through his parables….not with fire and brimstone sermons — that I fail to find in Matthew-Mark-Luke-John.
Except Jesus didn’t “hang out” with these people because he was tolerant of their lifestyle or thought their “heart was in the right place.” He called them spiritually sick and sought to lead them to repentance. But if they chose not to, he exhorted his disciples to “wipe the dust from your feet” and move on, because attempting to bring people to Christ who wish to continue wallowing in sin is a fruitless endeavor. He told the woman who was about to be stoned, “Go and sin no more,” not “well, the people accusing you were sinners, too, so it’s not a big deal if you continue in this lifestyle.”
The implied argument is that existential threats require flawed individuals…and maybe even a bit of violence. Wow. Or maybe there’s something about “sheep’s clothings” that the author is tragically missing…
The wolves in sheep’s clothing are the people who spread sin behind the cloak of their good intentions.
Factory Working Orphan (2775f0) — 12/13/2021 @ 8:58 amFrench Kissers
mg (8cbc69) — 12/13/2021 @ 9:02 amMeanwhile a parallel set of one-way streets that goes through a urban residential area would be a great alternative but the residents demanded and got a 25MPH speed limit. Now they are going to enforce the 25MPH speed limit, not only with speed cameras but a system that turns the lights red if anyone approaching it is speeding.
What could go wrong.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 12/12/2021 @ 11:46 pm
Denver’s had a similar system downtown for decades (just not with the red light cameras). Basically, the idea was that if people went the speed limit, they’d be more likely to hit green lights on their way through traffic. A perpetual issue with just about any urban downtown is that they were never really meant to handle mass automobile traffic; at best, they were designed to accommodate streetcars that typically didn’t go more than 35 miles an hour. So you see a lot of post-hoc solutions like this which are really band-aids more than anything else.
Factory Working Orphan (2775f0) — 12/13/2021 @ 9:12 amActually, there is an intelligent version of the Texas unlaw that California could adopt:
— Any individual or legal entity,
— Anywhere in the world,
— Can bring suit in any California court,
— Against any individual or legal entity with International Shoe “minimum contacts” with the State of California,
— Who assists any resident of Texas,
— In any manner,
— To acquire or possess firearms or ammunition or the materials or means for manufacturing or maintaining them.
Sue them back to the Folsom Age!
nk (1d9030) — 12/13/2021 @ 9:19 am“He told the woman who was about to be stoned, “Go and sin no more,””
Everyone loves this story….as it makes all of the great Hollywood films….but there’s only one problem: it was not in any of the Gospel of John manuscripts discovered prior to the 5th century….which means it was likely added later by scribes. Now as Wallace discusses below, it does not mean that the story is untrue or simply invented out of whole cloth, just that humans are irresistibly drawn to edit things to make their arguments and stories more compelling. Did Jesus argue against sin to prepare for the impending judgment? Unquestionably. He wanted people to repent and be ready because even he didn’t know the exact hour of the judgment…but he did say: ‘Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened’ (Matthew 24:34). So, was Jesus wrong?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesus_and_the_woman_taken_in_adultery#Authorship
AJ_Liberty (ec7f74) — 12/13/2021 @ 9:30 amhttps://danielbwallace.com/2013/06/26/where-is-the-story-of-the-woman-caught-in-adultery-really-from/
but he did say: ‘Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened’ (Matthew 24:34). So, was Jesus wrong?
He also said, “If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.”
Factory Working Orphan (2775f0) — 12/13/2021 @ 9:40 amIt’s hard to imagine that the person who wrote that pc for red state was motivated by the teachings of Jesus. If so his church must look very diffident from mine.
Time123 (9f42ee) — 12/13/2021 @ 9:45 amhttps://hotair.com/allahpundit/2021/12/13/they-choked-wh-cut-feed-at-democracy-summit-after-taiwanese-official-presented-map-showing-china-as-distinct-n435061
Biden’s administration shilling for communist China to pretend Taiwan doesn’t exist.
Wonder how Biden shills will go to bat for him again. Let me guess. But Trump…
NJRob (eb56c3) — 12/13/2021 @ 9:50 amThe Biden WH should do more to push back against China. I see little evidence that moderation here is part of some broader strategy and that makes this seem at best poorly handled. I’d expect the WH to have vetted this type of detail ahead of time and made sure it aligned with what they wanted to show. Failure to do that is unprofessional at best.
Time123 (9f42ee) — 12/13/2021 @ 10:04 amFailure to do that is unprofessional at best.
Time123 (9f42ee) — 12/13/2021 @ 10:04 am
With each passing day, this administration shows itself to be the embodiment of the Peter Principle. You’d think a bunch of people who have spent their entire professional careers in the Megacity One political-media complex would be a lot more competent than this, but perhaps this shows the degree to which the swamp is increasingly detached from reality, as opposed to the fantasyland manufactured by the think tanks and the universities.
Factory Working Orphan (2775f0) — 12/13/2021 @ 10:24 am“at best poorly handled”
Even in his day when Biden was more mentally agile (to be polite), he’s been on the wrong side of foreign policy and history….a lot. Now it’s just painful to watch someone that just doesn’t seem to have the energy and acuity to do the most important job in the world. Figurehead is one thing as long as your support staff can execute…and make coherent policy. That’s not what we have. The problem is that him leaving just moves up someone who does not appear to be very qualified for the position and whose organizational skills might be even more questionable. At least Biden’s team has experience from ’08-’16, Harris is even more of a muddle. I expect neither to be on the ticket in ’24.
AJ_Liberty (ec7f74) — 12/13/2021 @ 11:05 am219. Paul Montagu (5de684) — 12/12/2021 @ 9:12 am
That’s where Chris Cuomo was supposed to go. They are going to get Karen Hunt from NBC. CNN is trying to get big stars – well, somewhat downgraded big stars – to draw attention to and help launch its new subscription streaming service, which they think may be the future of TV news coverage, the way it is becoming important for scripted TV shows. There re more and more people getting rid of cable service, where they often have to buy things in bundles.
Chris Wallace probably wants to ease his schedule – he’s 74 years old! – and spend more time doing long term things. He’ll still do some political news, especially during the national conventions. And he’s switched networks throughout his career. He started off at a newspaper – the Boston Globe – went to work for NBC, where he eventually became chief White House correspondent, then moved to ABC fir 14 years, until 2003, and since then, till now he’s been at Fox News.
The New York Times reported today:
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/12/business/media/chris-wallace-fox-news.html
and it seems like the writer wold likew to link Chris Wallace’s departure to that, but can’t. Most likely, actually, his contract ran out or was close to running out. Fix News ratings have gone up, with more commentators that criticize Biden and defend Trump. (of course, it’s that it features the opposition)
You notice the NYT mentions only vaccine skepticism or claims about the Jan. 6 riot, not the election. I think maybe Dominion threatening to sue stopped that.
Sammy Finkelman (c49738) — 12/13/2021 @ 11:16 amAJ, Biden’s doing a terrible job all around. Foreign policy very much included. Hopefully we get the opportunity to vote for someone better in 2024
Time123 (9f42ee) — 12/13/2021 @ 11:29 amWe don’t get cable, but i new chrissy was leaving fux news for cnn before he did.
mg (8cbc69) — 12/13/2021 @ 2:18 pmNYT: Covid death toll in the United States:
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/13/us/covid-deaths-elderly-americans.html
Sammy Finkelman (02a146) — 12/13/2021 @ 2:43 pmThere’s a chart in the article showing The pace of Covid-19 deaths in the United States. It varies with time.
Sammy Finkelman (02a146) — 12/13/2021 @ 2:44 pmHow’d you know before?
Sammy Finkelman (02a146) — 12/13/2021 @ 2:44 pmHe used to be on Howie Carr, Sammy. He could not take the heat from listeners. Came across as an elitist Richard Cranium. Callers were mentioning CNN or MSNBC for the hack a decade ago.
mg (8cbc69) — 12/13/2021 @ 3:06 pmOn COVID.
steveg (e81d76) — 12/13/2021 @ 3:12 pmSaw two women making out on a corner down in Montecito’s shopping district, wearing masks, outdoors by themselves.
This is sad.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2021/12/13/pennsylvania-man-treated-covid-ivermectin-dies/6498445001/
Time123 (59cf00) — 12/13/2021 @ 3:29 pmSupreme Court won’t stop vaccine mandate for New York health care workers
…….
As it has done in past mandate cases, the court rejected a request from doctors, nurses and other medical workers who said they were being forced to choose between their livelihoods and their faith. They said they should receive a religious exemption because the state’s rule allows one for those who decline the vaccine for medical reasons.
Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel A. Alito Jr. and Neil M. Gorsuch said they would have granted the request.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 12/13/2021 @ 4:31 pm………
The court was considering two challenges to the vaccine requirement. In the one filed by the 17 objecting workers, all but one are Catholic, and said they objected to the vaccine’s origin from “abortion-derived fetal cell lines in testing, development, or production.”
……..
“HEK-293 cells — which are currently grown in a laboratory and are thousands of generations removed from cells collected from a fetus in 1973 — were used in testing during the research and development phase of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines,” the state’s brief said. “But the use of fetal cell lines for testing is common, including for the rubella vaccination, which New York’s health care workers are already required to take.”
…….
The court has three times decided not to stop states from requiring vaccines. Besides the Maine health care workers, Justice Amy Coney Barrett rejected a request from Indiana University students and Justice Sonia Sotomayor declined to halt a New York City mandate for public school teachers. Neither justice provided a reasoning.
###########
https://citizenfreepress.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/transgender-athlete.jpg
mg (8cbc69) — 12/13/2021 @ 6:12 pmLaura Ingraham is a dirty dishonest sk@nk.
On the afternoon of Insurrection Day, she was texting Meadows, saying…
On the evening of Insurrection Day, she was pretending that Trump’s MAGAs weren’t involved, that the rioters were crisis actors or false flaggers or something.
Kilmeade and Hannity also sent texts to Meadows in private but had divergent statements in public about the rioters (link). They knew who was rioting.
Paul Montagu (5de684) — 12/13/2021 @ 7:09 pm@255. Don’t hold your breath.
Viewers will still get Zucked in 2022; CNN is hyping entertainment crap like ‘Marilyn Monroe Reframed’ [she died in 1962 for God’s sake] — and their ‘Andy and Anderson New Year’s’ gaiety.
It’s either Entertainment Tonight, the Food Network or The Fashion Channel with CNN these days. News takes a back seat.
I can’t watch CNN anymore.
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 12/13/2021 @ 7:15 pmRe: More on Merkel’s Germany:
In Germany, You Must Be Fully Vaxxed before Your Death by Assisted Suicide
https://bit.ly/3yhNYaQ
Paul Montagu (5de684) — 12/12/2021 @ 11:01 am
I feel I have to set this straight a bit. The way it is described is quite misleading. There is an NGO that accompanies and supports people who decide they need to go this path. This NGO now requires their patients to be vaccinated – to protect their staff. I think this sound much more reasonable than the headline suggests. (The topic “assisted suicide” is a very sensitive one here in Germany).
Acoutics-Mike (441354) — 12/13/2021 @ 11:40 pmAcoutics-Mike (441354) — 12/13/2021 @ 11:40 pm
I figured as much.
Sammy Finkelman (c49738) — 12/14/2021 @ 8:57 amAndrew Cuomo Ordered to Turn Over $5.1 Million Book Profit to New York State
Sammy Finkelman (c49738) — 12/14/2021 @ 10:57 amThe difference between the Titanic and Cnn is the Titanic went down with all its anchors.
mg (8cbc69) — 12/15/2021 @ 2:39 pmhttps://twitter.com/mattwridley
Samuel Finkelman (02a146) — 12/16/2021 @ 3:58 pm