Sunday Open Thread
[guest post by Dana]
I’ve been out of town, so here’s a fresh albeit brief open thread. Just a few tidbits, but I’m sure you’ll find plenty to talk about!
First news item
It just never ends. Shootings/deaths this past week in Chatanooga, Philadelphia, Chicago .
Second news item
Go to the Rand Corporation’s state firearms law navigator, and you can track the extraordinary expansion of gun rights in the United States year-by-year. Combine state laws with Supreme Court precedent, and it’s hard to think of a time when Americans enjoyed a greater degree of personal liberty to own or carry firearms.
No, the threat to America’s gun culture comes from the gun rights movement itself. The threat is gun idolatry, a form of gun fetish that’s fundamentally aggressive, grotesquely irresponsible, and potentially destabilizing to American democracy…
What is a gun fetish? It’s a concept that’s tough to define, but easy to observe. When a leading candidate for Senate runs on a platform that’s “pro-God, pro-Gun, and pro-Trump,” then guns (and Trump) are elevated far above their proper place in American life. The same goes for popular t-shirts and signs that declare a person “pro-life, pro-God, and pro-gun.”
We see the gun fetish when a member of Congress appears on television with crossed AR-15s behind her head. Or when another member of Congress raffles off a .50 caliber sniper rifle…
The gun fetish rears its head when politicians pose with AR-15s in their campaign posters, or when a powerful senator makes “machine-gun bacon” to demonstrate just how much he loves the Second Amendment.
It’s certainly not the case every time a politician publicly shoots a gun that they’re exhibiting a gun fetish, but the sheer prevalence of the open display of firearms (and not just any firearm, but the AR-15 specifically) illustrates that something has changed.
Third news item
How about teachers just don’t discuss penises with five-year-olds in any context and let parents fulfill their responsibility to teach their children about such matters, and then teachers would have more time to fulfill their responsibility to teach kindergarteners about shapes, letters, spelling, numbers, counting, and basic social skills:
In his kindergarten classroom, one teacher in western Massachusetts using “Rights, Respect, Responsibility” introduces the idea of gender as part of an exploration of identity. He explains that people use all sorts of pronouns: he, she, they, ze. He introduces the terms transgender and gender queer but doesn’t fully define them because that is too much for kindergartners, said the teacher, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because his district did not authorize him to speak publicly.
He talks to students about anatomy but declines to classify various body parts as male or female. “We don’t say a penis belongs to a man,” he said. It belongs to a human, he explains.
And he makes clear that even if a doctor proclaims at birth, “It’s a boy!” that baby may not be a boy. “Someone who was born a boy may not feel they are a boy.”
Fourth news item
In an interview published Saturday, French President Emmanuel Macron said allowing Russia to save face could help bring a negotiated end to the war in Ukraine. “We must not humiliate Russia so that the day when the fighting stops we can build an exit ramp through diplomatic means,” he said.
Facing a barrage of criticism for the comment, Macron was slammed by Ukraine Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and President Zelensky as well:
“Calls to avoid humiliation of Russia can only humiliate France and every other country that would call for it. Because it is Russia that humiliates itself,” Kuleba tweeted Saturday.
“We all better focus on how to put Russia in its place. This will bring peace and save lives,” he added.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky also appeared to reference Macron’s comment in an address Saturday night, saying: “The Russian army can stop burning churches. The Russian army can stop destroying cities. The Russian army can stop killing children. If the same person in Moscow just gives such an order. And the fact that there is still no such order is an obvious humiliation for the whole world.”
Fifth news item
Uvalde mom who rescued her kids claims she was told to keep her mouth shut by authorities:
Angeli Gomez, the Uvalde mom who ran into Robb Elementary School during a shooting to rescue her two sons, told CBS she was handcuffed and threatened by police officers for talking to the media.
“Right away as I parked, US Marshals started coming toward my car saying that I wasn’t allowed to be parked there. And he said, ‘Well, we’re gonna have to arrest you because you’re being very uncooperative,'” Gomez, whose two sons were not in the classroom where the shooting occurred, told CBS.
“I said, ‘Well, you’re gonna have to arrest me because I’m going in there.’ And I’m telling you right now, I don’t see none of y’all in there. Y’all are standing with snipers and y’all are far away. If y’all don’t go in there, I’m going in there.”
Gomez was handcuffed and eventually released by officers while the shooting happened. She made her way into the school by jumping a fence and pulled both of her sons from the school, saying she saw no officers inside as she walked through the halls.
The mother of two was also threatened with a probation violation, she told CBS, by a police official who told her that if she spoke to media about her experience she may be obstructing justice.
A judge later told Gomez she was brave during the incident and her probation would be shortened, despite the threats.
“If anything, they were being more aggressive on us parents that were willing to go in there and, like I told one of the officers: I don’t need you to protect me, get away from me. I don’t need your protection. If anything, I need you to go in there with me to go protect my kids,” Gomez told CBS.
If that’s true, she should get a lawyer and sue the cops under Section 1983 for violation of clearly established First Amendment rights. That’s a winnable case. I’d take it. Wouldn’t be easy, because the law is so unconscionably biased in favor of the fuckin’ cops, but plausible remedies for cop misconduct are so rare you should take them when they arise. Damages aren’t great but I think a jury would give punitives.
Sixth news item
This:
South Carolina’s Tom Rice was one of 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach former President Donald Trump for inciting the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Now, as Rice fights an uphill battle for his political life in the heart of Trump country, he is standing by that choice — calling it “the conservative vote” in an interview with ABC News Chief Washington Correspondent Jonathan Karl that aired Sunday on “This Week.”
“I did it then. And I would do it again tomorrow,” Rice said.
–Dana
Hello.
Dana (1225fc) — 6/5/2022 @ 12:00 pmReposted from a previous thread:
Rip Murdock (0f5551) — 6/5/2022 @ 12:27 pmIt never has ended. Just reported more now.
Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 6/5/2022 @ 1:07 pm#3
McCarthy is the perfect Trumper. He has demonstrated, time after time, that he can bullied into towing the line. Why would Trump take a chance on a true believer? He might disagree with you someday and act on that disagreement. (See Brian Kemp and Governor DiSantis) People like that are threats. McCarthy just isn’t.
Appalled (1a17de) — 6/5/2022 @ 1:08 pm“If anything, they were being more aggressive on us parents that were willing to go in there…”
The parents weren’t armed. It will be very interesting to hear what orders the cops got and what their bosses thought they were doing.
Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 6/5/2022 @ 1:11 pm@2: So, when a presidential candidate rides around in a tank, he’s got a tank fetish? Or he thinks his voters would like him better if he did? [possibly true -ed.]
I don’t think it’s a gun fetish, what I see is a “government get off my lawn!” fetish. The rise in gun ownership, the rise in firearm capability, and the rise in numbers of people carrying firearms routinely is directly relatable to the attempted reach of the federal government.
These are people who refuse to live “The Life of Julia” and might kill you if you try to make them.
Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 6/5/2022 @ 1:17 pmMacron was slammed by Ukraine Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and President Zelensky as well…
Always a joy to watch Ukrainians biting at the hands that can feed them:
France retains one of the most capable military forces in Europe. Unlike Britain, France retains a completely independent nuclear deterrent and an independent industrial base. It has its own indigenous ballistic missile submarines that carry French designed missiles armed with French warheads. It also maintains its own air and land-based nuclear deterrent using French designed Mirage 2000N bombers and the ASMP missile.
France also retains a formidable conventional military force of 215,000 troops. The French army is well equipped with LeClerc main battle tanks and Tiger helicopters. Meanwhile, French special operations forces have acquitted themselves well in Afghanistan and Mali. The French Navy—which has its own nuclear-powered aircraft carrier—is larger and arguably more capable than its traditional British rival. The carrier operates a mix of Rafale fighters and Super Etendard strike aircraft. The French Navy also maintains six attack subs, three amphibious assault ships and 21 surface combatants. The French air force maintains a force of 220 combat aircraft including the Rafale and Mirage 2000 fighters. It also maintains a force of four AWACS aircraft and 14 tankers along with a tactical transport fleet.’ –
https://nationalinterest.org/feature/europes-4-deadliest-military-powers-12214
And then, there’s the business of business:
https://tradingeconomics.com/france/imports-from-ukraine
https://tradingeconomics.com/france/imports-from-ukraine
OTOH: ‘France imports 16.8% of its natural gas from Russia (Source via @Fizz which in turn relies upon Eurostat). These imports account for about 3.7% of Russia’s natural gas exports, which can be compared to the roughly 74% of all Russian natural gas exports that are imported by OECD European nations.’ And, of course, Macron has just been re-elected, too.
DCSCA (7ff1a6) — 6/5/2022 @ 1:18 pmWomen Are Nearly Half of New Gun Buyers, Study Finds
D’oh. Guess what group most needs an equalizer. People like LeBron James, not so much.
Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 6/5/2022 @ 1:21 pm“We see the gun fetish when a member of Congress appears on television with crossed AR-15s behind her head. Or when another member of Congress raffles off a .50 caliber sniper rifle…”
There are lots of fetishes. The bothersome issue here is that guns are becoming more forefront in political protests. Open carry at times seems less about actual self defense and more about making a statement….and a bit about intimidating one’s opposition. It’s becoming more mainstream to believe that the heart of the second amendment lies in having the ability to oppose a tyrannical federal government. And the bar for what constitutes “tyranny” seems to be weirdly lowering during these increasingly hyper-partisan times. The stockpiling of weapons and ammo suggests that many are itching for a confrontation…..that we’ve exhausted dialogue and finding common ground, and that all that remains is violence and provocation.
If a gun is truly a tool, who poses for pictures with their crescent wrench or channel lock pliers? Something is going on with respect to glamorizing guns that wasn’t the norm 50 years ago. The corresponding mixing in with Biblical quotations and religious orthodoxy is also eye popping. I think our disturbed and marginalized in our society sees this sensationalism…across the culture…and build it into their suicide/revenge fantasy. No one thinks that they will be the one that snaps….until they do. As usual, French is shrewd to call it out….
AJ_Liberty (ec7f74) — 6/5/2022 @ 1:23 pm“We must not humiliate Russia so that the day when the fighting stops we can build an exit ramp through diplomatic means,” he said.
Bless his heart.
It’s not Russia that is being humiliated, it’s Putin. Once Russia has withdrawn from all of Ukraine, and Putin has met his reward, then the diplomacy can start about how fast to rebuild Ukraine and how much it will cost Russia. And Macron’s guys can have some of the contracts.
Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 6/5/2022 @ 1:26 pmThere are lots of fetishes.
Indeed. One of the worst is the legalistic fetish, where law and regulation control more and more of our lives. If only we can have enough law and regulation, everyone’s life will go swimmingly. Or some such.
When people feel controlled (and the Covid thing just made this so much worse) they push back, often irrationally or inappropriately. The gun mania is a visceral reaction to too much government. It remains to be seen if government can read the signs and back off, or if it is going to push until something breaks.
Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 6/5/2022 @ 1:30 pmThe gun mania is a visceral reaction to too much government.
Or is it the visceral reaction to a lot of rhetoric and hyperbole that continually warns that the government is ready to come after you ANY SECOND NOW!?
Dana (1225fc) — 6/5/2022 @ 1:35 pmSure there are. But a shoe fetish typically doesn’t lead to mass murder.
Dana (1225fc) — 6/5/2022 @ 1:37 pm“The gun mania is a visceral reaction to too much government.”
Maybe this comes from the Covid restrictions…but otherwise, has there really been an explosion of regulations over this past decade? Obamacare was probably the next biggest intrusion but as someone who has always gotten his insurance from his employer, it didn’t exactly tilt me over the edge…especially with the tax enforcement repealed through our democratic process. The Covid rules were annoying at times, but enough to stockpile guns and ammo….as if law of the jungle will work better than a Republic? Hardly.
We continue to have much less government than the rest of the world (a good thing), yet we have far more anxiety and senseless homicides. Maybe it’s because we have far more time to spin each other up over matters that used to not get federal traction. I’m no fan of CRT, but should I be ready to storm the local school board (who are not pushing CRT) because I’m angry about what they might do at some future point. People need to relax and get perspective. Government is how we solve collective action problems. Government is ugly right now because we hate each other. How about let’s stop doing that?
AJ_Liberty (ec7f74) — 6/5/2022 @ 1:45 pm“But a shoe fetish typically doesn’t lead to mass murder.”
Agreed…but I’m not sure if fetish is the best word. For one thing, when one hears fetish they do as Dana did, connote it to something sexual or perverse (at minimum, unhealthy), which is probably not the best way to encourage dialogue, especially for lifelong gun collectors who are exceedingly law abiding. How many guns make a fetish….and does it change if you actually use all of the guns (i.e. hunting different prey or doing different target shooting)? Maybe “fascination” would make for a better word…adding whatever adjective that might be appropriate out front. I mean I don’t want to think about what a fetishist might do with his gun….
AJ_Liberty (ec7f74) — 6/5/2022 @ 1:54 pmReligious fetishists?
https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/dozens-dead-church-attack-nigeria-1.6478338
The Nigerian government needs jump start their gun and explosives buyback program
steveg (5c8a33) — 6/5/2022 @ 1:56 pmAJ_Liberty,
I find the statement that gun mania is a visceral reaction to too much government a bit eye-rolling. Nice way to blame others. Blaming the government has become a too-frequent excuse for bad behavior on the right, IMO.
Dana (1225fc) — 6/5/2022 @ 2:11 pmDana – Glad to see you’re OK. I was beginning to worry about you, a little.
On a lighter note, here’s a story for you about that scamp, Abe Lincoln:
When Lincoln was a teenager, and his father and step-mother were away, he came up with this prank: He took two little boys to a nearby stream, got their feet all muddy, and then took them back to the cabin. He then held them upside down so they could “walk” on the ceiling, leaving muddy footprints.
When his step-mother got back, she saw the footprints, laughed, and told Abe he deserved a whipping. (He didn’t get one but he did clean up the ceiling, without being asked to.)
I can’t say I behaved perfectly at that age, but I can say I never thought of any prank that clever.
(From Sandburg’s biography.)
Jim Miller (406a93) — 6/5/2022 @ 2:17 pmHow much worse do things need to get under Biden Administration actions and inactions before people start to miss Trump. I know that the die hard never Trump people here will not budge but seeing more and more comments from people getting hit with higher fuel/food costs, wondering.
Mendocino
https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/California-gas-nears-10-dollars-17218407.php
Southern CA
steveg (5c8a33) — 6/5/2022 @ 2:21 pmhttps://www.autoweek.com/news/industry-news/a40176313/gas-prices-us-summer-2022-russia-oil-ban/
Dana On your third item: I think I preferred the days when you could, from time to time, see stories like this one: An elementary school class had a pet rabbit. One day the teacher asked the class how they could tell whether the rabbit was a boy or a girl. One student piped up: “By voting on it.”
Jim Miller (406a93) — 6/5/2022 @ 2:23 pmIf, like me, you have an unhealthy interest in the details of the fighting in Ukraine, you might want to look at the Institute for the Study of War site from time to time.
Here’s a disclaimer they put on all of their posts:
Jim Miller (406a93) — 6/5/2022 @ 2:30 pm“I find the statement that gun mania is a visceral reaction to too much government a bit eye-rolling. ”
Kevin said it, not me. I commented against this notion @16
AJ_Liberty (ec7f74) — 6/5/2022 @ 2:31 pmAnd the bar for what constitutes “tyranny” seems to be weirdly lowering during these increasingly hyper-partisan times.
AJ_Liberty (ec7f74) — 6/5/2022 @ 1:23 pm
Yes, now that Biden is President.
When Trump was President, the bar was rising. Trump’s “perfect call”, and stoking of the January 6th mob, were both forms of tyranny, but not to the cult members. Love is indeed blind.
norcal (3f02c4) — 6/5/2022 @ 2:36 pmOr is it the visceral reaction to a lot of rhetoric and hyperbole that continually warns that the government is ready to come after you ANY SECOND NOW!?
Dana (1225fc) — 6/5/2022 @ 1:35 pm
You nailed it, Dana. This is Carlson’s whole shtick–“They are coming for you.”
It’s a poisonous quasi-religion.
norcal (3f02c4) — 6/5/2022 @ 2:39 pmAJ @ 24,
Yes, I knew it was Kevin’s comment but wanted to respond to yours (which I agreed with).
Dana (1225fc) — 6/5/2022 @ 2:55 pmJim Miller,
What a rascal Lincoln was (as a kid)!
Dana (1225fc) — 6/5/2022 @ 2:56 pmThe referenced “mass shooting” in Philadelphia was actually a gun battle between at least two gangs, that occurred in a busy party neighborhood around South and Third Streets.
That area isn’t the (normal) combat zone or slum neighborhood, but party central not that far from hoity-toity Rittenhouse Square. It’s a fixed up area full of posh shops and bars. Two thugs accosted a third, a fist fight broke out, which then degenerated into one of the two guys pulling a gun and shooting their opponent. That part has been caught on tape. In the end, at least six shooters were blasting away.
Three were killed, including one bad guy and one bystander. Ten out of 11 wounded but not killed were bystanders, while the bad guy wounded is in critical condition.
The libertarian, but not Libertarian, Dana (412927) — 6/5/2022 @ 2:57 pmHow high are gas prices, nationally? About as high, adjusting for inflation, as they were in 2008.
The blame for the high price now should be placed on Putin, and, to a much lesser extent, the Saudis. (The Biden administration has decided to appease the Saudis, and has already gotten them to promise to increase production. I agree with that Biden decision, despite the Saudi’s dismal human rights record.)
Jim Miller (406a93) — 6/5/2022 @ 3:01 pmAlso, regarding the gun mania being a visceral reaction to too much government: Republicans like alot of government as much as the next guy. P.S. Annual federal spending grew by $940 billion under Trump’s signature, even before the coronavirus.
Dana (1225fc) — 6/5/2022 @ 3:02 pmExcept the left has made it clear they are coming for you and your right to self-defense.
If you don’t want a gun, don’t own one.
I’ve heard similar remarks before.
NJRob (5ac4ba) — 6/5/2022 @ 3:03 pmJim,
Stop carrying water for the Biden administration. It must be exhausting. The blame for high gas prices belongs squarely on Biden and the left. They want high prices to force people to enact their disasterous policies. They want people to suffer if they use fossil fuels. Period. End stop.
NJRob (5ac4ba) — 6/5/2022 @ 3:05 pmFoul, fetid, fuming, foggy, filthy Philadelphia has seen a 600% increase in gun permits and sales, as murders soared from 356 in 2019, to 499 in 2000, to 562 last year. Homicides this year are trending slightly lower than last year, but the math works out to 540 to 550 murders this year. You can see why the law-abiding citizens might think that they need more protection.
Math geek that I can be, I downloaded the Philadelphia Shooting Victims database, and then ran the numbers.
The database is awkward, any you need to manipulate it to be able to read it easily. While race, sex and age of the victims are in three columns together, the column indicating whether the victim is Latino is far to the right, and then, even further, is the column indicating whether the victims was killed. I saved it to a Microsoft Excel file, then moved the columns around, and hand-tallied the results.
Black males were 148 (65.49%) of the 226 shooting victims, and 37 (77.08%) of the 48 fatal shooting victims. Black females were 27 (11.95%) of the shooting victims, and 2 (4.17%) of the fatal shooting victims. The population of the city are only 38.3% non-Hispanic black.
The gang-bangers are rather poor shots, killing their victims ‘only’ 21.24% of the time.
The libertarian, but not Libertarian, Dana (412927) — 6/5/2022 @ 3:10 pm@20. Agree. The trends and pattern suggests ease of access by civilians- chiefly young males – mostly white, between ages 18-25– to technologically advanced weapons developed and confined to the military use- like the AR-15.
When the military’s super secret, neat-o ultra-classified phaser-firing video-drones hit the civilian market in 2030, watch cats and kids get vaporized by the next crop of gamers. 😉
DCSCA (c4ce5f) — 6/5/2022 @ 3:17 pmHow high are gas prices, nationally? About as high, adjusting for inflation, as they were in 2008.
Pfft. Gas now at station closest to home today: Regular: $6.76/gal.; Midgrade $6.96 gal.; Premium: $7.06 gal.; Diesel: $7.16/gal.
DCSCA (c4ce5f) — 6/5/2022 @ 3:26 pmBiden gets a lot of the blame but not all of it. It was Trump who cut a deal with the Saudis in spring 2020 to cut oil production, in order to raise oil prices for the benefit of domestic producers.
Paul Montagu (5de684) — 6/5/2022 @ 3:26 pm#33 – NJRob – By your frequent use of “carry water” are you referring to the famous Zen saying?
It seems to me that we should all chop wood and carry water — or do the modern equivalents, if we care about those around us, and our nation.
If you have some other meaning, please be clearer.
As for me, I don’t think in a democracy we should hate — or worship — our politicians*. If, after a confused start, Biden is doing things of which I approve, like releasing oil from the strategic reserve and striking bargains with the Saudis, I’ll say so.
And if you have an argument for your claim that Biden wants us all to suffer with high gas prices, make it with numbers, and links. Or find some economists who don’t blame Putin for the price increase.
(*Of course, it is entirely appropriate to hate politicians who try to destroy our democracy.)
Jim Miller (406a93) — 6/5/2022 @ 3:32 pm(The Biden administration has decided to appease the Saudis, and has already gotten them to promise to increase production. I agree with that Biden decision, despite the Saudi’s dismal human rights record.)
Agreeing w/a dolt who has been wrong on every major U.S. foreign policy decision in his career is nothing to boast about. Maybe they’ll ‘promise’ not to murder any more reporters, too.
And BTW, lest you forget: ‘Of the 19 Al Qaeda terrorists who hijacked four U.S. commercial airliners on the morning of September 11, 2001, 15 were citizens of Saudi Arabia… The Saudi government had broad immunity from September 11 tragedy lawsuits in the United States, until a United States District Court for the Southern District of New York judge allowed a suit against the Saudi government in March 2018.’ -source, wiki.twofaced.evildoers
DCSCA (c4ce5f) — 6/5/2022 @ 3:41 pmHere’s a graph that illustrates both Kevin’s point and mine:
You can follow the argument better if you set the time to five years. There was an incredible break in oil prices, right when Trump bullied the Saudis into cutting output, spring of 2020. Then by December 2021, prices rose to about where they had been in October 2019. They rose, as Putin’s war came closer and spiked at the beginning of March, this year, when Putin attacked Ukraine.
Jim Miller (406a93) — 6/5/2022 @ 3:52 pm#40 Sorry. Paul’s point, not Kevin’s.
Jim Miller (406a93) — 6/5/2022 @ 4:01 pmThis David Ignatius column explains the administration decision.
Ignatius approves the decision, for reasons of “realpolitik”. He isn’t happy about it, and neither am I, but we often need help from allies who do not have clean hands. We have even worked, in some limited ways, with Putin.
Jim Miller (406a93) — 6/5/2022 @ 4:08 pmAppeals court clears way for bid to disqualify Cawthorn as ‘insurrectionist’
…….
The three-judge panel’s ruling reverses a lower court’s determination that an 1872 federal law that granted amnesty to nearly all former members of the Confederacy had immunized Cawthorn from the lawsuit brought under the 14th Amendment.
“We hold only that the 1872 Amnesty Act does not categorically exempt all future rebels and insurrectionists from the political disabilities that otherwise would be created by Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment,” Judge Toby Heytens, a Biden appointee, wrote for the panel of judges of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit.
Although Cawthorn unofficially lost his primary bid last week, the court said the lawsuit was not moot since a primary winner has not yet been certified.
Rip Murdock (512e74) — 6/5/2022 @ 4:09 pm………
The two other judges on the panel — James Wynn, an Obama appointee, and Julius Richardson, a Trump appointee — joined in the judgment, but each wrote separate concurring opinions.
How high are gas prices, nationally? About as high, adjusting for inflation, as they were in 2008.
so inflation is as high as it was in 2008, adjusting for inflation
brilliant
and I’ll bet biden’s competence is as high as any other president’s, adjusting for dementia
JF (e1e9c0) — 6/5/2022 @ 4:26 pmDavid Ignatius column explains the administration decision… Ignatius approves the decision, for reasons of “realpolitik”.
Like that adds gravitas?? Who gives a damn—he’s a frigging opinion columnist carrying water for the Imbecile In Chief, not an elected official with any weight of responsibility involved.
For God’s sake- one Ignatius’ very own Washington Post colleagues, Jamal Khashoggi, was literally hacked to death by the very same Saudis he’s advocating doing deals with. He’s an insulated Beltway ass. This is why populism is rooting deeper and deeper in the U.S. It wasn’t Putin’s minions who attacked the U.S. on September 11.
DCSCA (a6210e) — 6/5/2022 @ 4:27 pmWill there be a new British Prime Minister soon? Quite possibly.
Briefly, Boris Johnson is in trouble because he has lied about so many things, but especially about what the Brits are calling “partygate”. While the nation was supposed to be locked down, Boris had parties in his official residence, Number 10 Downing Street — and then didn’t tell the truth about them.
There’s a good chance that the Conservatives MPs will hold a vote of “no confidence” soon. If he loses that, he will almost certainly resign, to be replaced by another Conservative MP. (And they are betting on which, right now.)
(If you aren’t familiar with Johnson, here are three details that may amuse you. Since he was born in New York City, he had dual citizenship, but gave it up, when the IRS was able to stick him with a big bill for capital gains, in London. That hair is messed up deliberately, as sort of a trademark. But the hair is orderly compared to his personal life.)
Jim Miller (406a93) — 6/5/2022 @ 4:40 pmJim Miller,
Do you at all buy into the prices for gas are being raised out of sheer greed and that the supply levels are good?
Dana (1225fc) — 6/5/2022 @ 4:43 pm@45 like some here, Ignatius has long been a tool for the democrats
he was a conduit for the leak of classified info that kicked off the russia collusion nonsense
JF (e1e9c0) — 6/5/2022 @ 4:44 pmRussian media roundup:
Related:
Rip Murdock (512e74) — 6/5/2022 @ 4:47 pm34/man Dana:
Give the current occupant a good back slap and maybe this one will address what should be broken out as “closing time thug shootings”.
urbanleftbehind (50f204) — 6/5/2022 @ 5:00 pmremember triumphant headlines like this?
Biden’s Stock Market Is Crushing Trump’s
and every time it dipped under trump there was so much self congratulation in the msm and media saturation
nowadays, you won’t find biden’s name associated with the market, or inflation, or gas prices, or baby formula
my search engine must be broken
how about yours?
JF (e1e9c0) — 6/5/2022 @ 5:05 pmhttps://legalinsurrection.com/2022/06/bidenflation-egg-prices-soar-161-as-shortages-loom/
A chicken in every pot? Not under Biden. You’ll eat bugs and like it.
Just imagine how much a turkey will cost this Thanksgiving… if you can find one.
Thanks Biden voters!
NJRob (eb56c3) — 6/5/2022 @ 5:17 pmDana – I am not an oil economist, but I don’t doubt that sometimes happens, humans being imperfect. What seems to have happened recently is that the increased demand, as the economic damage from COVID lessened, made supplies tight, and then the disruption of the Russian oil supply made them even tighter. The resulting price increases will draw more supplies — but not instantly. And, I think more slowly than usual, because of the transition away from fossil fuels. A prudent investor might decide not to finance oil exploration, in hopes of a net profit ten years from now.
Two examples to show some of the complexities: The Saudis have been accused of stepping up production — in order to eliminate, or at least reduce, competition from fracking. Venezuela has the largest proved reserves in the world, but has trouble producing much, because of the corruption and incompetence of its government. (And their oil is “heavy” so it usually has to be mixed with lighter oil before it is refined.)
Because of the volatility in the oil market, many economists prefer to study “core inflation”, when looking for long-term trends.
Jim Miller (406a93) — 6/5/2022 @ 5:30 pmMurphy rules out assault weapons ban, new background checks in Senate plan
Sen. Chris Murphy, who is helping lead Senate talks on gun control, said lawmakers don’t plan to bring any bill to the floor that would ban assault weapons or include comprehensive background checks but are actively working on legislation that would include a range of other measures.
“We’re not going to put a piece of legislation on the table that’s going to ban assault weapons, or we’re not going to pass comprehensive background checks,” Murphy, a Connecticut Democrat, said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “But right now, people in this country want us to make progress. They just don’t want the status quo to continue for another 30 years.”
Among the items currently on the table are investments in mental health care and school safety, red flag laws and changes to strengthen the background check system, said Murphy.
Rip Murdock (512e74) — 6/5/2022 @ 5:44 pm………
It’s funny, I had a similar reaction to the gun fetish block in the post. It’s a fairly transparent ad hominem.
frosty (79658c) — 6/5/2022 @ 5:59 pmWhen you go from being a net exporter of oil to being a net importer of oil and you have a president who has continually said before the election that he wants us to go down to zero fossil fuel usage, the price of oil is going to go up. Oil is sold as a future and not really based on what the current value. It’s what they think it’s going to be sometime in the future.
Here’s a chart showing the price of gas started going up when Biden was elected president in November 2020.
Blaming Putin for the rise in gas prices is bologna.
Tanny O'Haley (8a06bc) — 6/5/2022 @ 6:01 pm@51. He’s such a hypocritically brain-damaged wind-bag. The only bigger ass in America is stitched to the butt end of the King Kong exhibit at Universal Orlando.
DCSCA (e57ae6) — 6/5/2022 @ 6:25 pm“nowadays, you won’t find biden’s name associated with the market, or inflation, or gas prices, or baby formula
my search engine must be broken”
That diagnosis appears to be correct. A quick search on Biden plus each of the terms yielded, in order, about 1.115 billion, 108 million, 49 million, and 29 million hits.
Please pass that problem on to Google, since they will want to know how you were able to break their search engine.
Jim Miller (406a93) — 6/5/2022 @ 7:07 pmOr is it the visceral reaction to a lot of rhetoric and hyperbole that continually warns that the government is ready to come after you ANY SECOND NOW!?
No, it’s the feeling that they have been for some time now. Covid didn’t help, but the government is in everyone’s face at all levels FAR more than it was in my childhood. It may be withing YOUR comfort zone (or you may be the beneficiary of the controlling), but that doesn’t mean that it’s OK for everyone.
I ask you, when was the last time government’s answer to an issue was to back off? In almost every case it has been to press harder. Speed cameras. Cell phone tracking. Mind-numbing rules about water and toilets and lightbulbs and gardens. Add something to your house and there’s a new raft of must and must not.
The issue is not that some people snap, it’s that so few do.
Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 6/5/2022 @ 7:43 pmhttps://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/34043550/kevin-cash-says-pride-night-logo-opt-some-tampa-bay-rays-players-divide-team
This is how the left pushes their propaganda.
If you don’t celebrate perversity, they want you to feel abnormal. Why is behavior worthy of celebration?
NJRob (eb56c3) — 6/5/2022 @ 7:44 pmObamacare was probably the next biggest intrusion but as someone who has always gotten his insurance from his employer, it didn’t exactly tilt me over the edge…
You didn’t see your worst-case premium + OOP go from $5K to $25K, as a high-priced sh1tty plan replaced the one you had. Most people, like you, were insulated from Obamacare. SO you thought all those whiners were just whining.
As now.
Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 6/5/2022 @ 7:46 pmIt was Trump who cut a deal with the Saudis in spring 2020 to cut oil production, in order to raise oil prices for the benefit of domestic producers.
Oil production moves on expectations. If you think oil cheaper than it will be next month, you produce less this month. If you think that drilling for oil doesn’t make sense when the states start passing phase-out laws, you stop drilling.
Everything the Democrats have done has convinced oil producers their services are no longer welcome, so they are just going to go with their current output, or less, as long as possible. If that means America pays more for oil, well, maybe people should act like they want it produced.
Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 6/5/2022 @ 7:52 pm@60: The four steps:
Tolerate
Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 6/5/2022 @ 7:54 pmAccept
Normalize
Celebrate
https://www.ajc.com/neighborhoods/dekalb/dekalb-commission-candidate-asks-elections-board-not-to-certify-results/XR4DQX5R5RD2RCEQO4MKF3LS6I/
Ho hum… nothing to see here.
NJRob (eb56c3) — 6/5/2022 @ 7:54 pm#40 Sorry. Paul’s point, not Kevin’s.
I was wondering.
Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 6/5/2022 @ 7:57 pmnowadays, you won’t find biden’s name associated with the market, or inflation, or gas prices, or baby formula
Well, you will, but the links go to things like “Biden and governors are trying to help Americans cope … – CNN”
Biden is like the “friend” who steals your sh1t then helps you look for it.
Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 6/5/2022 @ 8:02 pmIt is still amazing to me that the folks who hate Trump so much they voted for Biden still don’t understand why so many people voted for Trump. It’s not because they’re stupid, and if that’s what lets you sleep at night, well, sleep tight.
Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 6/5/2022 @ 8:05 pmWhen voters in four Democratic-leaning states got the opportunity to enact expanded gun background checks into law, the overwhelming support suggested by national surveys was nowhere to be found. Instead, the initiative and referendum results in Maine, California, Washington and Nevada were nearly identical to those of the 2016 presidential election, all the way down to the result of individual counties.
That’s because the surveys are crafted to give credence to the left-wing ideological consensus, not to what the populace actually supports. A poll asks, “Do you support background checks,” then Democrat-voting “journalists” present an inference that the public support is there for universal background checks.
The whole point is to shift the Overton window and manufacture a consensus behind left-wing political positions, not obtain an accurate gauge on what the public actually supports. Hence, the continued lamentations from the press whenever their side doesn’t get its way, including promoting the evergreen-stupid talking point that people are “voting against their own interests.”
Factory Working Orphan (2775f0) — 6/5/2022 @ 8:19 pmContagious, though from the Kempian wing if the GA GOP:
https://www.yahoo.com/news/missed-ballots-found-cobb-must-092000417.html
urbanleftbehind (2b999d) — 6/5/2022 @ 8:21 pmAnyone who thinks the War on Guns won’t end up playing out the same way that the War on Drugs did is relentlessly naive.
Something is going on with respect to glamorizing guns that wasn’t the norm 50 years ago. The corresponding mixing in with Biblical quotations and religious orthodoxy is also eye popping. I think our disturbed and marginalized in our society sees this sensationalism…across the culture…and build it into their suicide/revenge fantasy. No one thinks that they will be the one that snaps….until they do. As usual, French is shrewd to call it out….
No, it’s just a variation of the “video games are causing an increase in gun violence!” argument, only from the left-wing perspective. As usual, David “Mr. By-Ends” French laments a symptom and not the illness, this time by echoing the same talking point used for decades by people who, for some bizarre reason, seem to always think of a penis whenever they see a firearm or a pickup truck.
I know the people commenting here are old enough to remember the 80s and 90s. Go look up gun violence and firearm homicide statistics from those decades, especially in the FBI reports, and how the rates evolved from then to now. Take a look at the weapon used in those incidents. What’s rather ironic is that Biden’s own crime bill was likely responsible for that drop in the mid-90s taking place and staying rather stable for a generation.
Factory Working Orphan (2775f0) — 6/5/2022 @ 8:37 pmFor those in the City of Los Angeles:
Rip Murdock (512e74) — 6/5/2022 @ 8:45 pmOf course, some government IS backing away, such as the DA who gave this driver 5-months probation for hitting a mother and stroller in a stolen car while loaded, then trying to flee. He also failed to show after his no-bail release. But still Father Duffy sent him to Boy’s Town, as there are no bad kids.
Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 6/5/2022 @ 8:48 pmLink: https://video.foxnews.com/v/6307255731112
Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 6/5/2022 @ 8:49 pmThe difference is that there is a constitutional amendment protecting the individual possession of firearms, with a Supreme Court willing to enforce it. Not so for illegal narcotics.
Rip Murdock (512e74) — 6/5/2022 @ 8:49 pm@63. They preach ignorance- purposely so; the breadth, depth and reach of petroleum, petrochemicals and associated byproducts throughout the modern industrial world is staggering. Those dimwits want the suckers to believe it’s only about refining fossil fuels for gasoline. Biden’s people need a kick in the ass– or maybe a simnple “seminar” for few hours with some petroleum execs, derrick riggers, tanker drivers, pipeline engineers, geologists and some wildcatters … “behind the gymnasium.” Irish Catholic Joe will hold all staffers coats.
DCSCA (e5b19c) — 6/5/2022 @ 8:50 pmRip, I guarantee you that, while they won’t say so due to woke reactions, most people in LA are pretty done with the “homeless.” Advantage Caruso.
Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 6/5/2022 @ 8:50 pmThe whole point is to shift the Overton window and manufacture a consensus behind left-wing political positions
So, I was in a captive video setting where ABC was discussing the Democrat talking points from all angles, if you get what I mean.
Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 6/5/2022 @ 8:52 pmWe’ll see in November.
Rip Murdock (512e74) — 6/5/2022 @ 8:53 pmKevin M @76-
Rip Murdock (512e74) — 6/5/2022 @ 8:57 pmIf Caruso can spend $40M and only reach 32%, that’s pretty pathetic.
Industry of Delaware
‘The only mining in Delaware is of gravel and sand. The major economic enterprise is manufacturing, especially chemicals. Wilmington boasts of being the chemical capital of the world because it is the administrative and research centre of several chemical companies: DuPont, Hercules, and AstraZeneca. Chief chemical products are pigments, nylon, petrochemicals, and pharmaceuticals. Delaware also has a petroleum refinery, a synthetic rubber plant, packaging plants, and textile mills. Dover is home to food-processing and other industries.’ -https://www.britannica.com/place/Delaware
DCSCA (e5b19c) — 6/5/2022 @ 8:59 pmKevin M @76-
Both are Democrats. A pox on both of them.
Rip Murdock (512e74) — 6/5/2022 @ 9:03 pmThat’s why I said Biden gets a lot of the blame, Kevin, just not all the blame. Oil prices were already too high before Putin invaded. They were going up before he was elected, but he did damn little on supply in office.
Paul Montagu (5de684) — 6/5/2022 @ 11:15 pmThe ongoing problem with the guy is he still hasn’t articulated a plan.
If Caruso can spend $40M and only reach 32%, that’s pretty pathetic.
30% undecided between Caruso and Bass means that at least half of them are lying.
Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 6/5/2022 @ 11:35 pmBoth are Democrats. A pox on both of them.
Bass is a Democrat. Caruso is a Democrat this week.
Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 6/5/2022 @ 11:36 pmOil prices were already too high before Putin invaded.
Putin and the invasion has almost nothing to do with this.
Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 6/5/2022 @ 11:37 pmThe ongoing problem with the guy is he still hasn’t articulated a plan.
No, it’s that he has. He’s quite clear. The magic transformation of the world economy from fossil fuels to, well, something that isn’t fossil fuels, real soon now. Just as soon as the boffins get back to us on that.
Why we aren’t all on board with that is a mystery.
Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 6/5/2022 @ 11:41 pmI don’t know if Patterico can comment on the light sentence of this hit-and-run driver, but something is serious wrong. The video of the mom getting struck was not easy to watch.
Paul Montagu (5de684) — 6/5/2022 @ 11:43 pmKevin, prices only blew up further after Putin invaded. Miller’s chart shows it clear as day.
Paul Montagu (5de684) — 6/5/2022 @ 11:46 pmItem 6 First rule in politics no good deed ever goes unpunished in politics. Thats why fear works so well in politics. Also this is why good government democrat party liberalism fails so often. When they go low we go high! High in the air like the woman hit by the white supremest’s car in charlottesville. Clinton/biden corporate establishment liberalism has been continuously discredited. AOC and the left have the answer hit back harder then they hit us. What has playing nice with the gun lobby gotten us? Lets try tit for tat.
asset (a63ab0) — 6/5/2022 @ 11:52 pmThis made up chuckle. FTR, I’ll probably vote for DeSantis in the primaries if it’ll help defeat Trump, and I may well vote for him in the general if nominated.
Paul Montagu (5de684) — 6/6/2022 @ 12:03 amKevin, prices only blew up further after Putin invaded.
They were going to blow up anyway. Oil is fungible and Putin is selling all he can pump. Not to us, maybe, but to someone who isn’t buying from someone else. Etc.
Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 6/6/2022 @ 12:28 amCaptured Russian Weapons Are Packed With U.S. Microchips
You expected what? Tubes?
Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 6/6/2022 @ 12:29 am@88: If you look at the chart the price got noisy after Putin invaded, as things got unsettled and new deals had to be made, but the price slope really didn’t change much from late 2021. It would still be 105-110 in June.
You know how to get oil prices down? Make it clear that Biden’s Green Dream is toast. That may happen in November.
Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 6/6/2022 @ 12:34 am@87: Link to video @73.
Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 6/6/2022 @ 12:36 amI wonder if the DA can be charged with depriving the citizenry of their civil rights. Willfully returning violent felons to the community seems like, hmm, what’s the word?
Terrorism?
Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 6/6/2022 @ 12:38 amKevin, prices only blew up further after Putin invaded. Miller’s chart shows it clear as day.
Paul Montagu (5de684) — 6/5/2022 @ 11:46 pm
That graph showed the rise of prices regardless of Putin – actually world oil demand fell and is falling, and production is increasing. Its the future green machine regulations is what’s driving oil.
Oil prices will reach even higher, as long as Biden and EU progressives think they’re genius’s. Oil reacts badly to heavy handed unnecessary regulatory and political environments.
Biden and Obama caused this with signing the Paris collectivization agreement. 20 .years ago in the house Pelosi dragged the big oil into public hearings and in a rare show of solidarity they all insisted in being group questioned.
Big oils opening statement made this point clear: at some point they will stop producing oil, and stop all refining if congress doesn’t stop in the USA. That the biggest cause of movement in the price of oil was being manipulated – not by competition nor consumption but by needless regulation.
so for 20 years, the dems had shut up, regulations stayed even, until now. But you guys keep on linking Dail Kos articles as sources – its entertaining to watch a handful of progressives try to act libertarian or conservative.
EPWJ (ded958) — 6/6/2022 @ 12:43 amSee, what people are missing is not that the GOP is subservient to Trump (they are) but that what really has them by the nuts is that their base doesn’t want what they thought they wanted in 2015. That base is quite willing to follow someone who can make happen what Trump could only talk about — someone who knows how to govern, not just talk.
So DeSantis. There will be others.
Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 6/6/2022 @ 12:48 amClinton lost the election in rust belt in 2016 because democrats talked about the economy was improving. For the elites and professional class not the working class. It was reagan’s old trickle down ecomomics. If the rich kept getting richer maybe a few crumbs would fall off of the table. The bottom 50% saw their real wages drop in the last 30 years with the top 5% owning 90% of the wealth in this country. How dare fly over country vote for a racist nazi or that commie bernie who we managed to prevent getting the nomination. Full employment under trump with plenty of jobs and increasing pay for the working class. Thanks wuhan bio lab for slowing trump’s economy down. Now we have inflation so time for fed to Volker the economy shaft the working class and all that lower class job growth down so only the elites and professional class enjoy the benefits of this great country. This is what you get when the establishment of the democrat party joins the corporate elites and turns in back on the working class. 2022 will be another 2016 with the DNC and democrat establishment spending the next two years preventing AOC from getting the nomination.
asset (a63ab0) — 6/6/2022 @ 12:53 amCaptured Russian Weapons Are Packed With U.S. Microchips
…and the Military Industrial Compledx smiled.
DCSCA (b6ed25) — 6/6/2022 @ 12:59 amBreaking News- British PM Beau-Joe to face ‘vote of no confidence’ later today.
DCSCA (b6ed25) — 6/6/2022 @ 1:01 amThere are 15% undecided for the primary on Tuesday, the 30% figure is for the general election in November.
Rip Murdock (512e74) — 6/6/2022 @ 1:59 amRussian or Chinese microchips. The point, of course, is that microchips from American companies are ubiquitous, and that even the Russians recognize that they are dependent upon them, per the media discussion above in post 49:
Rip Murdock (512e74) — 6/6/2022 @ 2:08 amMr Murdock wrote:
Well, there is a Supreme Court that appears willing to enforce it now, but that may well be only because Donald Trump defeated the odious Hillary Clinton in 2016.
What if Mitch McConnell’s bet hadn’t paid off, and Antonin Scalia was replaced not by Neil Gorsuch, but by Merrick Garland, or someone appointed by [shudder!] President Hillary Clinton? What if Ruth Ginsburg had been replaced by someone appointed by the wife of Bill Clinton?
We already saw how the Supreme Court, before Justice Ginsberg went to her eternal reward, was willing to gut the free exercise of religion and freedom of assembly for the COVID restrictions, and it was only Mrs Ginsberg’s replacement by Amy Barrett that that was reversed. It only took a change of one member of the Court to change from gutting the First Amendment to supporting it.
Even with Mrs Barrett on the Court, the Court let a contested case against Governor Andy Beshear slide until it had become moot rather than take a decision.
If you believe in our Constitution and our rights, you had better pray every day that Justice Thomas survives until the next Republican President takes office!
The libertarian, but not Libertarian, Dana (8aab86) — 6/6/2022 @ 4:42 amI wonder if the DA can be charged with depriving the citizenry of their civil rights. Willfully returning violent felons to the community seems like, hmm, what’s the word?
Terrorism?
Gascon was elected with the monetary support of that commie lich, George Soros, and similar situations are playing out across the country where his DAs are in place (just look to the north in that state with Chesa Boudin).
Who’s going to charge Gascon? The Biden-run DoJ that’s in bed with the guy who put him in office to begin with?
If this is terrorism, going after the DAs won’t make a dime’s worth of difference, because they’re part of a much larger, extremely well-financed network headed by a globalist megalomaniac with a God complex.
Factory Working Orphan (2775f0) — 6/6/2022 @ 4:57 amDemocratic congressman David Cicilline told House Republicans they should “spare me the bullshit about Constitutional rights,” during a debate on gun control Thursday.
Just a quick reminder that the current Dem candidate for governor of Texas displayed more enthusiasm when he declared “yes, we’re coming for your AR-15” during the 2020 Dem debates than he had for any other policy issue.
Cicilline and Robert Francis O’Rourke aren’t outliers; they’re just expressing what Democrats actually want and some of their media allies have admitted in the last 10 years or so, but most of them are too weaselly to say out it loud.
Factory Working Orphan (2775f0) — 6/6/2022 @ 5:29 amHere’s a reminder about this day for all of us from Peanuts classic.
And I think the comment below, by marilynnbyerly is rather sweet.
(On the same subject, I’d like to mention the best book I’ve read on the Normandy invasion, John Keegan’s “Six Armies In Normandy”.)
Jim Miller (406a93) — 6/6/2022 @ 7:28 amDana – Here’s a first look at the effects on the oil market of Putin’s invasion, from people who are economic experts, since they work for the Dallas Fed:
And, I would imagine, pay more attention to oil markets than most economists.
Jim Miller (406a93) — 6/6/2022 @ 7:36 amNo. The only remedy is a recall or election.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 6/6/2022 @ 9:08 amDr. Shapiro penned an eloquent “f–k you” to Georgetown Law and their left-wing anti-free speech culture.
Paul Montagu (5de684) — 6/6/2022 @ 9:11 amPerhaps Thomas should have retired while Trump was in office. Hopefully he won’t become the right’s Ginsburg.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 6/6/2022 @ 9:12 amThomas and Alito should get out now, they owe the republicans in office nothing but a eff you. And I don’t want to hear about the voters. They elected the hack republicans.
mg (8cbc69) — 6/6/2022 @ 9:23 amI think J-CT’s pretty spry yet…for all the rancor Ginni causes in me, I must admit she’s not that decrepit, if that’s a useful barometer for Clarence.
I think given the crazy we’ve seen in South Texas these past few weeks, it might be apt to open a Scalia death investigation.
urbanleftbehind (6d3a6b) — 6/6/2022 @ 9:23 amThe McCloskey’s Supreme Court petition.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 6/6/2022 @ 9:30 amSen. Rick Scott’s 11-point plan for when the GOP takes back the Senate
https://www.politico.com/f/?id=0000017f-1cf5-d281-a7ff-3ffd5f4a0000
It’s an interesting mix of items that is a good window into where we are at. Can any of it get bipartisan support, pass cloture, and not get killed by a veto? Or will it be political theater to set up 2024?
AJ_Liberty (ec7f74) — 6/6/2022 @ 9:48 amMitch McConnell is not amused.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 6/6/2022 @ 10:08 am@108: FIRE posts Ilya Shapiro’s full resignation letter, along with some comments about Georgetown Law.
Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 6/6/2022 @ 10:13 amSo in the communist utopia of Commiefornia, bees are now fish. Such is their transgender paradise.
NJRob (eb56c3) — 6/6/2022 @ 10:25 am…This is what you get when the establishment of the democrat party joins the corporate elites and turns in back on the working class. 2022 will be another 2016 with the DNC and democrat establishment spending the next two years preventing AOC from getting the nomination.
Most of asset’s comment is correct. I have some quibbles, but the Party System that was put in place by Reagan’s election and Mondale’s defeat (and cemented by Clinton’s New Democrat platform) had run out of gas. Perhaps Romney might have reinvigorated it if he had won in 2012, but he didn’t and in 2016 the Democrats put up the poster girl for Same Old Same Old, while the fractures in the GOP were sundered by Trump, who brought the message from the back benches to their deaf bosses.
By the time Obama had been nominated, both parties had one goal: keeping the upper-middle-class happy, which meant keeping their investments happy. Screw that up (2000, 2001, 2008) and the other side might win. Globalization was the name of the game and those hicks in the hinterland whining about their jobs just had better suck it up.
It wasn’t that Trump was a great speaker, or that he engendered trust. It was that he was the only one speaking truth to power for a lot of very distressed people. If there had been a believable attempt by other candidates to triangulate him, maybe they might have found traction, but instead they tried to argue for the status quo. Advantage Trump.
On the Democrat side the insurgency was defeated, largely because it was led by a cantankerous old Marxist scold. They would have done better with less of an orthodox apparatchik from the nomenclatura, but Hillary was what they had. Now Biden, who is maybe more flexible, but he combines the worst of both party wings: a ward heeling radical.
2024 will be interesting. I very much doubt that the Democrats will opt for AOC, as that will lead to a Goldwater-level rejection, but who knows (and Goldwater eventually won). What will be really fascinating is whether the GOP has Trump, or someone who can do more than just talk.
Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 6/6/2022 @ 10:34 amI will point out to asset, as I do to some nephews and nieces, that the socialist nightmare they think will save them won’t. They will live in its crushing embrace for their entire working lives. Meanwhile I, who am living off Social Security and savings (not enough income to tax and not enough savings to steal), will do just fine. Probably better than now, with all these new ways to leech off the system. But they will pay for it, I won’t.
They always seem to think I’m kidding.
Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 6/6/2022 @ 10:42 amHi Kevin:
You wrote:
My students just adored the fellow. When I would ask why, things degenerated into platitudes, as most politics does. They didn’t know anything about his background or policy positions, really, other than a few bumper sticker memes. In this, they remind me of the New Right: all hat, no cattle.
Anyway, it is an odd kind of Marxist who owns several mansions.
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2016/08/bernie-sanders-summer-house
Notice the “Modest lakefront house,” which makes me think of “jumbo shrimp” and George Carlin
On the other hand, knowing the history of the Soviet Union as I do, maybe not.
Perhaps they should just have called the lakefront home a dacha and been done with it.
Simon Jester (b64578) — 6/6/2022 @ 10:53 am(On the same subject, I’d like to mention the best book I’ve read on the Normandy invasion, John Keegan’s “Six Armies In Normandy”.)
So, last night I watched “Saving Private Ryan” again. It had been a while. That opening scene shows what real heroism is all about. The “boys of Pointe du Hoc” indeed. I think I’ll try “The Longest Day” tonight. What’s surprising is how few movies are made about this event (“Patton” isn’t really). Any suggestions?
(I’m recovering from Covid, so I have a lot of alone-time).
Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 6/6/2022 @ 10:57 am@120: paywall finally hit.
Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 6/6/2022 @ 10:59 amHere are the statistics on the growing global demand for oil, along with projected increases.
Why some commenters here think the demand has decreased since 2020 baffles me. Road traffic and air traffic are up sharply in the US since the worst of the COVID epidemic, something that should be obvious in most of the US. And there are similar trends in most of the developed world, for similar reasons.
Jim Miller (406a93) — 6/6/2022 @ 11:01 amKevin M (eeb9e9) — 6/6/2022 @ 10:57 am-
Movies about D-Day-Google Search
D-Day: American Experience Available on Amazon Prime
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 6/6/2022 @ 11:07 am…….
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 6/6/2022 @ 11:09 amIt’s an interesting mix of items that is a good window into where we are at. Can any of it get bipartisan support, pass cloture, and not get killed by a veto? Or will it be political theater to set up 2024?
God only knows. In the political world this is still a rebuilding year. The last GOP president could have been Dick Gephardt in a Trump-mask. In a lot of ways the two parties are in agreement on things that are only stopped by partisan rancor. When both parties have an attitude that “if they suggest it, we oppose it” it rally doesn’t matter what the policies are.
Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 6/6/2022 @ 11:12 ammay challenge the American Civil Liberties Union’s primacy as a defender of free speech.
That hasn’t been the case since William O Douglas died.
Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 6/6/2022 @ 11:14 amYeah, thanks Rip. Never would have thought of a Google search.
The problem is that very few of the returned items are more than History Channel rehashes. “Overlord” is about secret Nazi super-soldiers for Gawdssake. It’s like June 6th doesn’t provide enough of interest and you have to add monsters.
Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 6/6/2022 @ 11:19 amAge restrictions on firearm possession are probably unconstitutional. Last year’s Fourth Circuit case was ruled moot because the plaintiff turned 21 during the appeal. And California’s ban on selling semi-automatic rifles to persons under 21 was recently declared unconstitutional.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 6/6/2022 @ 11:23 amKevin M (eeb9e9) — 6/6/2022 @ 11:19 am-
It’s hard to top The Longest Day and Saving Private Ryan.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 6/6/2022 @ 11:26 amSo, last night I watched “Saving Private Ryan” again. It had been a while.
A depressing, fictional film expected to win top Oscars that year. Except it didn’t. Too long for the industry, too; couldn’t do more than 2 screenings/night in theatres. Beat out for top honors by a shorter, film capable of three screening/night- the light fictional comedy: Weinstein’s ‘Shakespeare In Love.’
DCSCA (d4d23c) — 6/6/2022 @ 11:30 amEnacting the 26th Amendment is demonstrating the law of unintended consequences.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 6/6/2022 @ 11:35 amSee also Adulthood in Law and Culture.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 6/6/2022 @ 11:36 am@131. My two personal favorites: Twelve O’Clock High and Battle Of Britain. BoB holds a special place in memories- they were filming parts of it over London for a few days when we were living there and the tabloids ran stories reminding the old pensioners not to be concerned seeing the pair of German Heinkels low over the city being chased by Spitfires and Hurricanes as they were filmed from a B-25 camera plane. It was an extraordinary sight, albeit brief, as they passed over key city sites. But by far the strongest memory remains the distinctive sounds of the aircraft. One could imagine the skies full of the sights and sounds during the 1940 Blitz.
DCSCA (d4d23c) — 6/6/2022 @ 11:41 amJust for DCSCA:
The Boys of Pointe du Hoc (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTLVIp1AjAg) (text)
Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 6/6/2022 @ 11:54 amI miss the preview.
Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 6/6/2022 @ 11:55 amOr:
Either way, decorum has been restored to the White House.
BuDuh (340919) — 6/6/2022 @ 11:55 am–Ronald Reagan, June 6, 1984
Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 6/6/2022 @ 12:09 pm#121 Kevin – I hope you recover soon — and completely.
Jim Miller (406a93) — 6/6/2022 @ 12:09 pmMore on the even-handed justice at the DoJ:
I this then noted that this quite violent act is treated rather differently than those whose mere presence on Jan 6th is being treated.
https://jonathanturley.org/2022/06/05/new-york-attorneys-accused-of-firebombing-police-car-given-generous-plea-deal/
Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 6/6/2022 @ 12:17 pmI this then*It is then…
Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 6/6/2022 @ 12:17 pmA depressing, fictional film expected to win top Oscars that year. Except it didn’t. Too long for the industry, too; couldn’t do more than 2 screenings/night in theatres.
Yet Schindler’s List, a far more depressing film that was 26 minutes longer, won Best Picture and countless other awards. Same director, producer and production company.
Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 6/6/2022 @ 12:23 pm#121 Kevin – I hope you recover soon — and completely.
If I seem a bit more pissy than usual, it’s probably this.
Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 6/6/2022 @ 12:24 pmA Taser firing drone? It would have been much cooler to use lasers.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 6/6/2022 @ 1:17 pmJust for Kevin:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFCABnWlN8E
Say it ain’t so, Joe; Biden is a lot like Reagan after all:
Ronald Reagan’s wartime lies: The president had quite a Brian Williams problem
Reagan spent WW II in Hollywood. He told the Israeli prime minister he was at the liberation of Nazi death camps
‘During Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir’s November 1983 visit to the U.S., Reagan told Shamir that during his service in the U.S. Army film corps, he and fellow members of his unit personally shot footage of the Nazis’ concentration camps as they were liberated. Reagan would tell this story again to others, including Holocaust survivor Simon Wiesenthal. But Reagan was never present at the camps’ liberation. Instead, he spent the war in Culver City, California, where he processed footage from the liberation of the camps.’ – source, https://www.salon.com/2015/02/07/ronald_reagans_wartime_lies_the_president_had_quite_a_brian_williams_problem/
DCSCA (29414b) — 6/6/2022 @ 1:24 pm@143. But unlike SVP, SL was based on a true story, K- survivors in the closing.
DCSCA (29414b) — 6/6/2022 @ 1:30 pm^ SVP=SPR
DCSCA (29414b) — 6/6/2022 @ 1:33 pmUK PM Beau-Joe survives vote of confidence in ‘Parliament.’ ‘Smoke’em if you got’em.
DCSCA (29414b) — 6/6/2022 @ 1:35 pmShocked that Musk would try to weasel out of the deal.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 6/6/2022 @ 1:47 pm@119 Scandanavia is hardly a socialist nightmare. What bernie calls democratic socialism is actually non exploitive capitalism. As for Venezuela that was brought on by the failure capitalism and failed right wing coups to protect their greed. By the way we are seeing shortages like Venezuela as capitalism for the poor fails here too. Real socialism, government taking over the means of production, is not being advocated by democratic socialists only regulating the excesses of crony capitalism and a more generous social welfare system. See real socialists complaining about democratic socialists not being real socialists. 5% of the population controlling 90% of the wealth and using that wealth buying political power has brought on populism in both parties. The corporate establishment of both parties are failing to control their parties. Is a deep state coup next?
asset (4671f7) — 6/6/2022 @ 1:51 pm“Shocked that Musk would try to weasel out of the deal.”
Musk has never faced any consequences, but in this case he’s messing with other rich people’s money.
Davethulhu (054e7d) — 6/6/2022 @ 2:10 pm“Shocked that Musk would try to weasel out of the deal.”
What weaseling? They told him something fundamental (how many real users), based on a supposed dataset. He wants to check the dataset. They won’t let him. You’d have to be really stupid not to think your pocket was being picked.
In the end they’ll relent, although that may not save the deal if the data shows that Twitter is filled with bots and spam instead of users.
If the deal collapses, so does Twitter.
Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 6/6/2022 @ 2:44 pmA Taser firing drone? It would have been much cooler to use lasers.
Paintballs might be fun. One SF story I read had drones firing sticky stuff that attached and immobilized, something like Spider-man’s webshooter.
Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 6/6/2022 @ 2:47 pmBut unlike SVP, SL was based on a true story, K- survivors in the closing
I think that D-Day and the general invasion that followed were real enough to call it “based on true events.”
But that’s not why SL won. It won because there is a deep reservoir of good will toward films about the Holocaust.
Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 6/6/2022 @ 2:51 pmScandanavia is hardly a socialist nightmare.
1. We are not Scandinavia.
2. Scandinavia is not Scandinavia anymore.
3. AOL has no interest in a constitutional democracy.
Her agenda is too important for that. Just as the Woke have no interest for other people’s speech, the Woke Party will have no use for other people, period, except for those that do as they’re told. I even see here someone who has no problem putting recalcitrant citizens up against the wall.
I’d think that the Iranian guided democracy model is more the AOC style.
As for Scandinavia, the Left has lost control, losing power in Sweden then regaining it only through wide centrist coalitions, such as the current fragile one with the Centre Party, giving them 175 out of 349 seats. The Russia thing will push them out at the next election. Again.
In Norway the Left holds power in coalition with a protectionist populist nationalist Centre Party.
Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 6/6/2022 @ 3:11 pmI think that D-Day and the general invasion that followed were real enough to call it “based on true events.”
Realism portrayed in a make-believe film production doesn’t make it a true story, K. But here’s a true story: President Biden has failed to acknowledge June 6. Again. But then, it’s only dusk in Washington and Delaware for the brain-damaged, imbecile. But it’s dark in Normandy now.
“Day ain’t over yet.” – Curly [Jack Palance] ‘City Slickers’ 1991
DCSCA (7ba1b2) — 6/6/2022 @ 3:12 pm“What weaseling? They told him something fundamental (how many real users), based on a supposed dataset. He wants to check the dataset. They won’t let him. ”
He waived due diligence. Twitter also claims they’re cooperating.
“You’d have to be really stupid not to think your pocket was being picked.”
Waiving due diligence was really stupid.
“If the deal collapses, so does Twitter.”
Elon wants the deal to collapse.
Davethulhu (054e7d) — 6/6/2022 @ 3:17 pmHe waived due diligence, but not validating claims.
M: “How many bot users do you have?”
Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 6/6/2022 @ 3:29 pmT: “5%, tops!”
M: “How do you know?”
T: “We have the data.”
M: “Can I see the data?”
T: “No.”
M: “WTF?!”
Asa for the joys of socialism, it has been in about 100 countries now and they only point to Scandinavia (which is dismantling some of it) as an example of how benign it is.
Never, say, Pol Pot’s Kampuchea.
Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 6/6/2022 @ 3:32 pmI’ll take that bet.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 6/6/2022 @ 3:32 pmIf the deal collapses as a result of Musk pulling out, Twitter will be $1,000,000,000 richer.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 6/6/2022 @ 3:38 pm“He waived due diligence, but not validating claims.”
There’s nothing in the contract about “validating claims”.
Here’s the contract, musk is claiming a breach of section 6.4: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1418091/000119312522120474/d310843ddefa14a.htm
Twitter says “Twitter has and will continue to cooperatively share information with Mr. Musk to consummate the transaction in accordance with the terms of the merger agreement. We believe this agreement is in the best interest of all shareholders.”
Now my personal opinions:
1. Twitter’s actual bot percentage is a red herring. One of the reasons Musk claimed he wanted to buy Twitter was to deal with the bot issue. So he already believes that there are a lot of bots. His claim that his offer is based on Twitter’s bot estimate is a lie.
Davethulhu (054e7d) — 6/6/2022 @ 4:37 pm2. Twitter isn’t worth remotely close to $54.20 per share, but buyer’s remorse isn’t an excuse to get out of the contract. Twitter owners know that this is their best chance to cash in, so they are not going to quietly let this go. They also can’t accept a lower price because they’ll be sued by the smaller shareholders.
Joe Biden is a bumbling, stupid, foolish, sophomoric, criminal, father of criminal, father of son who slept with dead brother’s wife, idiot who messed his pants at the Vatican & making the pope wait until staff brought a new pair of pants, passed gas loudly & bigly while conversing with Camilla and her friend, daily breaks promises, lies constantly, insults friendly nations while sucking up to enemy nations, made his own nation dependent on foreign nations again for oil, criminally sends military arms to Ukraine in an illegal proxy war with Russia, extended the disclosure of the JFK assassination so the public can not know the truth, became a multi-millionaire while on a senator salary, took illegal money from under the table deals with China with his criminal, drug addicted son, calls taxpaying citizens terrorists, insults taxpaying citizens daily, uses the DOJ against his enemies, disses our military by pushing trannies to the dismay of honored veterans and soldiers, violates his Oath of Office by not adhering to legal immigration laws, gives baby formula to illegal aliens while citizens cannot find any in stores because his fed purchased it for illegals, threatens to use F 15s against citizens who disagree with him, creeps normal people out by sniffing young girls hair and whispering in their ears, causes the highest prices for gasline in over 40 years, causes the highest inflation in over 40 years, sold oil from US reserves to China instead of allowing it to be used here, steals yachts and investments from wealthy Russians purportedly because they know Putin. Nations of Central and South America undoubtedly know that if the opposition party wins in November, this fool will certainly be impeached. His own former boss said: “do not underestimate Joe Biden’s ability to f things up.” His own colleague under Obama, Bob Gates said: “Joe Biden has been on the wrong side of just about every major issue the last 4 decades. Biden is much more than a mere Fraud. He is a creepy, corrupt criminal.
mg (8cbc69) — 6/6/2022 @ 4:46 pmAsa for the joys of socialism, it has been in about 100 countries now and they only point to Scandinavia (which is dismantling some of it) as an example of how benign it is.
Never, say, Pol Pot’s Kampuchea.
Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 6/6/2022 @ 3:32 pm
Scandanavian socialism runs fairly well and functionally because it’s run by Scandanavian socialists, and even then the pretense is based on the existence of a high-trust, culturally hegemonic society. That’s why Denmark is making immigrants and refugees go through cultural assimilation before allowing them to become citizens, and putting the ones who won’t cooperate on an island or kicking them out entirely, so their recalcitrance won’t poison those who do want to fit in.
Scandanavian socialism would fall apart in short order here, because there’s a whole industry of intersectional left-wing grifters dedicated to exploiting those programs for maximum gain, so they can bellyache and alienate when the ideal “equity” outcome doesn’t result from the government shoveling money down the poverty pit. In fact, that was the whole point of the Cloward-Piven strategy for bringing about the glorious communist utopia.
Factory Working Orphan (2775f0) — 6/6/2022 @ 5:00 pmJoe Biden is a bumbling, stupid, foolish, sophomoric, criminal, father of criminal, father of son who slept with dead brother’s wife, idiot who messed his pants at the Vatican & making the pope wait until staff brought a new pair of pants, passed gas loudly & bigly while conversing with Camilla and her friend, daily breaks promises, lies constantly, insults friendly nations while sucking up to enemy nations, made his own nation dependent on foreign nations again for oil, criminally sends military arms to Ukraine in an illegal proxy war with Russia, extended the disclosure of the JFK assassination so the public can not know the truth, became a multi-millionaire while on a senator salary, took illegal money from under the table deals with China with his criminal, drug addicted son, calls taxpaying citizens terrorists, insults taxpaying citizens daily, uses the DOJ against his enemies, disses our military by pushing trannies to the dismay of honored veterans and soldiers, violates his Oath of Office by not adhering to legal immigration laws, gives baby formula to illegal aliens while citizens cannot find any in stores because his fed purchased it for illegals, threatens to use F 15s against citizens who disagree with him, creeps normal people out by sniffing young girls hair and whispering in their ears, causes the highest prices for gasline in over 40 years, causes the highest inflation in over 40 years, sold oil from US reserves to China instead of allowing it to be used here, steals yachts and investments from wealthy Russians purportedly because they know Putin. Nations of Central and South America undoubtedly know that if the opposition party wins in November, this fool will certainly be impeached. His own former boss said: “do not underestimate Joe Biden’s ability to f things up.” His own colleague under Obama, Bob Gates said: “Joe Biden has been on the wrong side of just about every major issue the last 4 decades. Biden is much more than a mere Fraud. He is a creepy, corrupt criminal.
ROFLMAOPIP!
“Don’t sugarcoat it like that, Kid. Tell her straight.” – Butch Cassidy [Paul Newman] ‘Butcj Cassidy and THe Siundance Kid’ 1969
DCSCA (53e485) — 6/6/2022 @ 5:10 pmScandanavian socialism runs fairly well and functionally because it’s run by Scandanavian socialists, and even then the pretense is based on the existence of a high-trust, culturally hegemonic society.
Blonds have more fun. 😉
DCSCA (53e485) — 6/6/2022 @ 5:11 pm#40
steveg (adba86) — 6/6/2022 @ 5:15 pmNice graph.
Show that crude prices went into a holding pattern right around election day 2020 and rocketed immediately after Bidens victory
I’ll take that bet.
Just like the stockholders of Yahoo! did when they kicked Bill Gates’ money to the curb.
Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 6/6/2022 @ 5:17 pmTwitter isn’t worth remotely close to $54.20 per share
That may be, but it is primarily because they have a business model that has very limited upside, and has no real controls over spam, bots and jerks other than whackamole.
A service that was paid, with users traceable through said payment, might be worth a lot more assuming they can get people to pay. Pretty sure most avid Twitter users would pay a few tens of dollars a year, especially if it cleaned up the bots and riffraff. Spam can be handled because its a closed system and again, if you pay and sign the contract, you can be held accountable for any spam you send. You can’t just sideload it like you can with email.
Buyer’s remorse? Maybe. They are refusing to share data they said they’d share, and Must has got to wonder why. But even if it’s overpriced, it isn’t THAT overpriced and Musk has turned worse into gold before.
Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 6/6/2022 @ 5:24 pm[ ] Debbie Does Dallas
[ X ] Joey Does Jimmy
[ ] Cher
Choose and lose, Joey. Why would brain-dead Biden do sexist ex-‘Man Show’ host and current late night ABC TV caboose ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live’?
Ask the $15/lb., pork loin who keeps going to ABC as a media outlet and really pulling the POTUS train: President Susan Rice. Her hubby: Ian O. Cameron: a producer w/ ABC World News Tonight.
DCSCA (53e485) — 6/6/2022 @ 5:27 pm“Buyer’s remorse? Maybe. They are refusing to share data they said they’d share, and Must has got to wonder why.”
You keep saying this, but you only have noted liar Elon Musk’s word that it’s the case. What if he’s asking for personally identifiable information?
Davethulhu (054e7d) — 6/6/2022 @ 5:37 pmGet the real story on Sweden and their brand of “socialism”
https://www.aei.org/carpe-diem/the-problem-using-sweden-as-an-example-of-a-socialist-model-that-works-sweden-aint-socialist/
AJ_Liberty (411e90) — 6/6/2022 @ 5:38 pmTwitter isn’t worth remotely close to $54.20 per share
Hmmm.
Ask Jeeves. 😉
DCSCA (53e485) — 6/6/2022 @ 5:46 pmFrom a new article I just found:
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2022-06-06/elon-has-a-new-bot-excuse
Davethulhu (054e7d) — 6/6/2022 @ 5:49 pm“I think that D-Day and the general invasion that followed were real enough”
And the story thematically based on the tragic loss of the Sullivan brothers
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sullivan_brothers
The opening scene remains one of the most honest depictions of war, courage, and futility
AJ_Liberty (411e90) — 6/6/2022 @ 5:58 pmBetween Heard vs. Depp and Musk vs. Twitter, I find Heard vs. Depp more relevant to my life. I have enjoyed, to differing degrees but still enough to be worth my time, all of Depp’s movies. Neither Musk nor Twitter have anything I want or need, but I understand that others may feel the same way about Cry-Baby, so live and let live.
To the extent that I waste any thought on Musk and Twitter, I’m still where I was when he started churning the stock: “I’ll believe it when I see it.”
nk (f80dc9) — 6/6/2022 @ 6:00 pmMr Murdock wrote:
As a Kentuckian, I already had the right to vote at 18, and was able to vote in one primary election, May of 1971, before the 26th Amendment was ratified.
What else could I do at 18? I could enlist in the Army, and was required by federal law to register for the Selective Service within 30 days of my 18th birthday. I could be tried in adult court if I have been accused of a crime. I could marry without requiring the permission of my parents or a court. In some states, I could buy alcohol, though not in the Bluegrass State at the time.
When my wife and I married, she was just 19. Given that we’ve been married for 43 years and 18 days, I’d say it wasn’t too bad a decision.
The libertarian, but not Libertarian, Dana (0295f5) — 6/6/2022 @ 6:00 pmThe opening scene remains one of the most honest depictions of war, courage, and futility
And profligate waste.
But those guys were real heroes.
Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 6/6/2022 @ 6:27 pmBiden is much more than a mere Fraud. He is a creepy, corrupt criminal.
Which is shy leaders around the world love him. He’s “One of Us”
Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 6/6/2022 @ 6:30 pm*why
Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 6/6/2022 @ 6:30 pmAJ: The SPR story is fiction. And it’s misleading to peddle it as based on actual events. [WB released a film on the Sullivans in the war years; loosely based on their family experience BTW.] Being historically accurate in detail doesn’t make a story true.
Steven Spielberg’s 1998 film Saving Private Ryan is loosely based on the Niland brothers story, not “The Sullivans.” It’s all here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saving_Private_Ryan
The Niland brothers were four American brothers of Irish descent from Tonawanda, New York, who served in the military during World War II. They were sons of Mr and Mrs Michael C. Niland. Two survived the war, but for a time, only one, Frederick “Fritz” Niland, was believed to have survived. After the reported deaths of his three brothers, Fritz was sent back to the United States to complete his service, and only later learned that his brother Edward, missing and presumed dead, was actually captive in a Japanese POW camp in Burma.’
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niland_brothers
Events in the 1963 film, ‘The Great Escape’ were based on a Brickhill’s POW book but the film characters were composites of several people: fictional. ‘Marooned’ was credited by some NASA managers as the genesis for the ASTP flight, but that doesn’t make Caidin’s space tale true. Whereas Apollo 13’s screenplay was based on Lovell’s experience; real people and actual events- even actual words spoken- but ut certainly wasn’t wholly accurate.
‘Twelve O’Clock High’ was a fictional screenplay adapted from a novel about the fictional 918th bomb group but: ‘the character Brigadier General Frank Savage was a composite of several group commanders, but the primary inspiration was Colonel Frank A. Armstrong, who commanded the 306th Bomb Group on which the 918th was modeled. The name “Savage” was supposedly inspired by Armstrong’s Cherokee heritage. While his work with the 306th, which lasted only six weeks, consisted primarily of rebuilding the chain of command within the group, Armstrong had earlier performed a similar task with the 97th Bomb Group. Many of the training and disciplinary scenes in Twelve O’Clock High derive from that experience.
Towards the end of the film, the near-catatonic battle fatigue that General Savage suffered and the harrowing missions that led up to it were inspired by the experiences of Brigadier General Newton Longfellow. The symptoms of the breakdown were not based on any real-life event, but instead were intended to portray the effects of intense stress experienced by many airmen.
Major General Pritchard was modeled on the VIII Bomber Command’s first commander, Major General Ira C. Eaker.
Colonel Keith Davenport was based on the first commander of the 306th Bomb Group, Colonel Charles B. Overacker, nicknamed “Chip”. Of all the personalities portrayed in Twelve O’Clock High, that of Colonel Davenport most closely parallels his true-life counterpart.’ -source, wikiwingsflick.featherprop.org
Even the late Dick Winters noted HBO’s hugely successful ‘Band of Brothers’ wasn’t wholly “authentic”: ‘ The series dramatized the history of “Easy” Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, of the 101st Airborne Division, from jump training in the United States through its participation in major actions in Europe, up until Japan’s capitulation and the end of World War II. The events are based on Stephen Ambrose’s book, his research and recorded interviews with Easy Company veterans. The series took some literary license, adapting history for dramatic effect and series structure. The characters portrayed are based on members of Easy Company.
Shortly after the premiere of the series, Tom Hanks asked Major Winters what he thought of Band of Brothers. The major responded, “I wish that it would have been more authentic. I was hoping for an 80 percent solution.” Hanks responded, “Look, Major, this is Hollywood. At the end of the day we will be hailed as geniuses if we get this 12 percent right. We are going to shoot for 17 percent.” – source, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Band_of_Brothers_(miniseries)
DCSCA (53e485) — 6/6/2022 @ 6:38 pmNext thing we’ll hear that the movie Battleship wasn’t loosely based on the sinking of the Bismarck
AJ_Liberty (411e90) — 6/6/2022 @ 7:24 pmSo, here’s an LA Times columnist surprised by the level of Black support for Rick Caruso over Karen Bass.
She briefly plays with the idea that this might have something to do with a rejection of “police reform” issues and progressive law enforcement and finally lands on “the Ice Cube effect” — an ornery reaction to being taken for granted and just reaching out for the other guys, blindly.
Uh, no. In a city where carrying a handgun is illegal and the police are treated like lepers by the press, politicians and DA, running someone who has stood firmly for “Police Reform” isn’t going to go over well with the lower-middle class who live in high(er) crime areas. And Blacks are a major component of this group.
In about 43 states they are buying handguns and getting permits. Here they have to rely on the police and only Caruso favors them. To quote from the column:
It’s not hard to see where her blinders are.
Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 6/6/2022 @ 7:25 pmNext thing we’ll hear that the movie Battleship wasn’t loosely based on the sinking of the Bismarck
Only if the Battleship was at A6.
Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 6/6/2022 @ 7:26 pmNext thing we’ll hear that the movie Battleship wasn’t loosely based on the sinking of the Bismarck
Bidenaurics.
DCSCA (2f3067) — 6/6/2022 @ 7:57 pmThe indomitable Cathy Young has one on the status of Putin’s War Against Ukraine and another on Glenn Greenwald and his long love affair with the Putin. The latter is a thorough and well-sourced takedown.
Paul Montagu (5de684) — 6/6/2022 @ 11:45 pmhttps://theaspenbeat.com
mg (8cbc69) — 6/7/2022 @ 3:03 amMany Thanks, Boys.
Here’s another photo of “tankman” in Tianenmen Square. He literally stopped a whole battalion in its tracks, until they murdered him of course.
Paul Montagu (5de684) — 6/7/2022 @ 8:11 amHere is an interesting list of school killings that goes back to the 1700’s. A good deal of the early shootings were teachers killed for being overenthusiastic with the corporal punishment.
https://www.k12academics.com/school-shootings/history-school-shootings-united-states
The largest of the mass killings where a gun was involved was this one:
“May 18, 1927 Bath, Michigan School treasurer Andrew Kehoe, after killing his wife and destroying his house and farm, blew up the Bath Consolidated School by detonating dynamite in the basement of the school, killing 38 people, mostly children. He then pulled up to the school in his Ford car, then blew the car up, killing himself and four others. Only one shot was fired in order to detonate dynamite in the car. This was deadliest act of mass murder at a school in the United States.”
I was more interested in school shootings that occurred in the AR15-AR47 era. The AR 15 was first sold in the USA in 1959 (Some say sooner)
steveg (83ef31) — 6/7/2022 @ 2:47 pmThe first so called assault rifle use was in this one:
“January 17, 1989 Cleveland School massacre of Stockton, California where 5 school children were killed and 29 wounded by a single gunman firing over 100 rounds into a schoolyard from an AK-47”
Side note. One of the shootings in 1977 was at CS Fullerton. I met a guy who had later been assigned one of the offices involved in the shooting. He said they had just sorta patched and painted (wrong shade). He quickly got himself another a job at a different school in the CA system
steveg (83ef31) — 6/7/2022 @ 3:20 pmI believe there is a Potemkin village in Delaware where a Potemkin President spends about half his time.
mg (8cbc69) — 6/7/2022 @ 3:20 pmI[vd picked up alot of facts.
Did you know the Uvalde Indepedent School district police is all of 4 years old – school security used to part of the job of the Uvalde police department.
In Feb 2020 the current chief became chief after jobs in the Webb county sheriff’s office and Laredo schools and Uvalde police dept. He had three men under him when he took officer – raised it to 5. Empire builder. All hat and no cattle.
Sammy Finkelman (1d215a) — 6/7/2022 @ 4:42 pmI think the one thing they could improve is quicker lockdowns. Lock the door like a car door – not go fishing for a key.
Sammy Finkelman (1d215a) — 6/7/2022 @ 4:42 pmLast Thursday or Friday, the lawyer for the woman who opened the door (she has a lawyer?) said that she opened the door of the school to get food from some other person — then she saw the person we now know to be Salvador Ramos Jr. running carrying a rifle, so she quickly went back in, slammed the door, called 911 and hid in an empty classroom.
Incidentally, the original gunshot in the lower portion of te face of the grandmother also got a 911 call – two 911 calls – not so fast – at about 11:33 and 11:35 when he was already inside the school shooting )
Sammy Finkelman (1d215a) — 6/8/2022 @ 2:13 pmThe New York Times reportedly removed a reference to the fact that Salvador Ramos Jr had used marijuana from an article without making a correction which would mean it was probably true but they deemed irrelevant. Someone wrote somewhere not so – potent marijuana can cause hallucinations and damage an area associated with moral judgement, among other places.
Sammy Finkelman (1d215a) — 6/8/2022 @ 2:18 pmHow’d everyone like that Biden appearance on Kimmel?
frosty (dcd693) — 6/9/2022 @ 9:03 am