Patterico's Pontifications

6/17/2022

Weekend Open Thread

Filed under: General — Dana @ 2:48 pm



[guest post by Dana]

Here we go!

First news item

The real question: How is the massacre of 19 children and two adults in a public school not a legitimate concern to every American, but especially to those whose loved ones were mowed down and now find themselves struggling in a living hell of emotional and mental distress as a result?:

Despite having in-house counsel, the city of Uvalde and its police department are working with a private firm to seal records of the horrific shooting at Robb Elementary School, records obtained by VICE show. Cynthia Trevino, a private attorney for Denton Navarro Rocha Bernal & Zech, wrote to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, inquiring about what records the city is required to release. The records the city are trying to seal include body camera footage, photos, 911 calls, emails, text messages, criminal records, and more. The letter says the city doesn’t want to release records due to ongoing litigation, investigations into misconduct by the FBI and others, and the fact that some records could be seen as “highly embarrassing,” “not of legitimate concern to the public,” and potentially could cause “emotional/mental distress.”

Second news item

Trump still considers himself above the law:

President Donald J. Trump continued pressuring Vice President Mike Pence to go along with a plan to unilaterally overturn his election defeat even after he was told it was illegal, according to testimony laid out in extensive detail on Thursday by the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack.

The committee showed how Mr. Trump’s pressure campaign — aided by a little-known conservative lawyer, John Eastman — led his supporters to storm the Capitol, sending Mr. Pence fleeing for his life as rioters demanded his execution.

In the third public hearing this month to lay out its findings, the panel recounted how Mr. Trump’s actions brought the nation to the brink of a constitutional crisis, and raised fresh questions about whether they were also criminal. It played videotaped testimony in which Mr. Pence’s top White House lawyer, Greg Jacob, said Mr. Eastman had admitted in front of Mr. Trump two days before the riot that his plan to have Mr. Pence obstruct the electoral certification violated the law.

Third news item

Stand with Ukraine, stand against a madman:

U.S. officials are increasingly concerned that the trajectory of the war in Ukraine is untenable and are quietly discussing whether President Volodymyr Zelenskyy should temper his hard-line public position that no territory will ever be ceded to Russia as part of an agreement to end the war, according to seven current U.S. officials, former U.S. officials and European officials.

Some officials want Zelenskyy to “dial it back a little bit,” as one of them put it, when it comes to telegraphing his red lines on ending the war. But the issue is fraught given that Biden is adamant about the U.S. not pressuring the Ukrainians to take steps one way or another. His administration’s position has been that any decision about how and on what terms to end the war is for Ukraine to decide.

“We are not pressuring them to make concessions, as some Europeans are. We would never ask them to cede territory,” one U.S. official said. “We are planning for a long war. We intend to prepare the American people for that, and we are prepared to ask Congress for more money.”

Fourth news item

No suprprise here:

Fifth news item

Alexander Navalny’s lawyer confirms that Navalny has indeed been moved to the high-security colony #3 “Melekhovo”.

Navalny posted this letter on Instagram:

Space travel continues – I moved from ship to ship.

Well, that is, hello to everyone from the strict regime zone.

Yesterday I was transferred to IK-6 “Melekhovo”.

I’m in quarantine so I don’t have much to say. Well, here are just two recent impressions. About cultural life and lawlessness.

About cultural life: I almost moved while I was dragging books into / out of the paddy wagon that I have in my warehouse. And the jailers almost moved while they were copying them. And this despite the fact that, fearing such a situation, a month ago I hardly persuaded the administration to accept 50 books from me in the prison library. Honestly, yesterday for the first time in my life I dragged these bags and thought that a fire made of books is not necessarily something bad.

About lawlessness: an announcement hangs in quarantine with a list of professions that can be obtained here, and the duration of training. So, you can become, like me, a seamstress – this elite of the working class, instantly distinguishing a linen seam from a sewing seam, in 3 months. And imagine, those who have chosen the profession of “bird carcass deboner” also study for 3 months! That is, in this sense, they are equated with us, seamstresses. Well, what, what do you need to study there for 3 months ?! Do they roll these carcasses in rhinestones, or something?

Very outraged.

Well, everything else is ok.

Hello everyone, I hug everyone, eat the bird without breading 😉

The Washington Editorial Board rightfully observes that Putin wants to break and silence Navalny, and that we shouldn’t let them:

During Joseph Stalin’s “Great Terror” of the 1930s, an unexpected knock on the door invoked dread. The arbitrariness of arrests and executions in the middle of the night was frightening. This is why the latest news from Russia about opposition leader Alexei Navalny is so disturbing. He was moved from his prison cell, and no one else was told.

The point of such shadowy maneuvers is to induce fear — of the unknown and of losing touch. As another political prisoner, Post contributing columnist Vladimir Kara-Murza, noted recently, the greatest anxiety in prison is to be forgotten. This was certainly what Russian authorities intended when they transferred Mr. Navalny from a penal colony in Pokrov, 74 miles east of Moscow, to a notorious maximum-security facility in Melekhovo, more than twice as far from the capital.

When a lawyer went to see Mr. Navalny at Pokrov on Tuesday, he was told “there is no such convict there.” Mr. Navalny’s lawyers said they did not know his whereabouts. Later, a prison monitoring official said he had been taken to Melekhovo. The Post’s Mary Ilyushina reports media investigations have found systematic abuse of prisoners by guards and other convicts at the facility. Mr. Navalny’s spokeswoman, Kira Yarmysh, has called it “a monstrous place.”

The treatment of Mr. Navalny shows yet again that Mr. Putin has shifted from soft authoritarianism to totalitarianism. Russia has not been a state governed by the rule of law for a long while, but Mr. Putin is taking it back to dictatorial times.

As for Mr. Navalny, it is clear Mr. Putin would like the world to never hear from him again. The Russian president wants to break his most troublesome critic. That makes it even more vital that everyone else speak up for Mr. Navalny, so his voice continues to be heard until the day he walks free.

The Post reminds readers that Brittney Griner, Mr. Kara-Murza, and Paul Whelan all still remain imprisoned in Russia.

Also, one last thought: if you have not yet watched the documentary, Navalny, you absolutely must. It’s gutting as it presents an unvarnished look at the endless dangers the man and his family face in their vocal opposition to Putin. This especially as the diabolical plan by Putin to poison and kill Nalvany with a lethal nerve gas is exposed in incredible detail.

Sixth news item

President Biden still slippin’ and slidin’:

Only 39% of Americans approve of the job Biden is doing as president. A stunning 47% “strongly” disapprove; just 16% “strongly” approve. Academic studies have shown that presidential approval is one of the most reliable predictors of what happens in midterm elections, and a rating this low would traditionally signal significant losses for the president’s party.

More than seven in 10, 71%, say the United States is “on the wrong track;” 16% say it’s headed in the right direction. Even most Democrats say the country is on the wrong track, 46%-34%. Three of four independents and nearly every Republican agree.

Seventh news item

In a nutshell:

Eighth news item

What’s that? Why it matters is a mystery??:

It’s understandable that Democrats would want to constantly revisit January 6 — to invoke it, investigate it, and sacralize it even.

It’s a mystery, at least from a certain level of abstraction, why Republicans would want to have anything to do with that day, or want to fixate on the 2020 election.

The party is on the cusp of a midterm triumph, has enormous openings on the economy and education thanks to Biden administration stumbles and left-wing overreach, is making inroads among Hispanic voters, and has a well-stocked political bench that Democrats worried about 2024 should envy.

Yet the GOP is stuck litigating the past almost entirely because its putative leader in Mar-a-Lago is incapable of admitting error or defeat, and will never stop trying to excuse and explain away his infamous conduct after November 2020.

For the hundedth time, here’s why it still matters:

Donald Trump is still the uncontested leader of the Republican party. His base still clings to the idea the 2020 election was stolen and is nominating election-denying candidates to powerful positions in key swing states. Members of extremist groups that led the charge to the Capitol now have footholds in state and local GOP organizations all over the country. And all the affiliated members of Trump’s elite political, advocacy, and media class remain willing to assist Trump in carrying out his desires.

So don’t settle into the hearings thinking about them as a history lesson. They’re an active threat assessment.

Ninth news item

Finally:

The Senate voted Thursday to pass legislation to deliver comprehensive health care and increased benefits to veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan exposed to toxic burn pits.

The PACT Act, also known as the Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics Act, will largely expand eligibility for free medical care through the Department of Veterans Affairs, for thousands of veterans who have been exposed to toxic chemicals.

Over the last two decades, it is reported that around 3.5 million post-9/11 combat veterans may have been exposed to dangerous chemicals while in the line of duty, according to the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee.

More details:

The military routinely used open burn pits set ablaze with jet fuel to dispose of tires, batteries, medical waste and other materials during operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. The bill would expand military veterans’ eligibility for medical care through the Department of Veterans Affairs by extending coverage for 10 years after discharge instead of the current five years.

The legislation would also presume that certain respiratory illnesses and cancers were related to burn pit exposure, allowing the veterans to obtain disability payments to compensate for their injury without having to prove the illness was a result of their service. Currently, more than 70% of disability claims related to burn pit exposure are denied by the VA due to lack of evidence, scientific data and information from the Defense Department.

The legislation would also benefit many Vietnam War-era veterans by including high blood pressure in the list of conditions presumed to have been caused by exposure to Agent Orange. And, it would extend Agent Orange presumptions to veterans who served in Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Guam and American Samoa.

MISCELLANEOUS

Have a great weekend.

–Dana

484 Responses to “Weekend Open Thread”

  1. Hello.

    Dana (1225fc)

  2. Biden’s position on Ukraine is heartening.

    The cheese macaroon-eating surrender monkey’s what I have been expecting from the beginning. Likewise the CYA all the way up the line from the Texas gazpacho.

    nk (6b2c1c)

  3. Menudo?

    nk (6b2c1c)

  4. 8th item: it does not matter. Americans are dealing with all the crises the Biden-Harris Junta created and then had no answers for. No resolution.

    Colonel Haiku (8044cb)

  5. Macron’s “lines of communication” and “negotiated outcome” bullsh-t is why Putin thinks Ukraine’s allies are weak and won’t sustain their support. Anything less than total military and economic support for Ukraine now encourages Putin to continue the slaughter. – Garry Kasparov

    Memo to safe at home comfy-chaired, ex-commie, borscht-sh-tting Garry Kasparov:

    Bold talk from an ex-Red Soviet; join the fight, camo up… or STFU:

    My USMC neighbor just informed me he has been ordered to deployed AGAIN– on Sunday, w/just 72 hours notice– this time, not to Palau to war game against Red China– which he was stuck doing from July and extended to December, 2021- but to the Ukraine region at a Marine base in POLAND to support USMC squadrons from Pendleton rotating in replacing East Coast squadrons which are having typical Yankee-Doodle-maintenance issues w/t aircraft– America’s multi-billion dollar DoD at work.

    He was visibly concerned and is not a happy camper. His ex-Marine wife and infant son are not amused, either, as Joey sends him to Warsaw bordering a war zone that is NOT an American fight. The precautions we discussed he’ll need to take would make Kasparov crap. This is real world stuff, ‘Garry’ not an abstract parlor game, bub.

    DCSCA (ec6921)

  6. Dana- Like your “b/w eye” better over the color images; this one appears sepia-toned, too. Really, really nice art. If you have a horizontal ‘landscape’ rather than a vertical ‘portrait’ framed image of the same scene, post it.

    DCSCA (ec6921)

  7. President Biden still slippin’ and slidin’…

    Here’s a July 4 party favor:

    ‘Joe Biden Pinata; Biden wearing Mask and Aviator Glasses- Hold 4lbs.’ Ahhhh. But 4 lbs. of what? What would Amber Heard load into a Biden Pinata??? 😉

    https://www.etsy.com/listing/923946170/joe-biden-face-pinata-biggest-mask-ive?ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=joe+biden+pi%26ntilde%3Bata&ref=sr_gallery-1-1&frs=1

    DCSCA (ec6921)

  8. They’re an active threat assessment.

    I have to wonder if the person who wrote that is a native English speaker. It’s more likely that I’m a jelly donut.

    frosty (fa2694)

  9. Other than “being Donald Trump”, there are two potential policy paths that would force me to oppose a GOP candidate in 2024:

    1. Wanting to pardon Donald Trump
    2. Wanting to drop support for Ukraine (and/or NATO).

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  10. For the hundedth time, here’s why it still matters:

    for the hundredth time, here’s why that’s total BS

    if trump keeled over today, the same folks would still be yammering about it without end

    it matters cuz it helps the democrats — full stop

    JF (a7a82a)

  11. So, high blood pressure in Boomer vets is now presumed to come from Agent Orange? As opposed to 30 years of BBQ? This isn’t exactly “follow the science.”

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  12. Since you’re standing with Ukraine, Dana, I’m await for the resident xenophobic Buchananite here to step in and say you’re an “ideological RINO who doesn’t care about Americans or America”.

    If I were to guess on the picture, it looks a lot like Glass Beach near Mendocino.

    Paul Montagu (5de684)

  13. if trump keeled over today, the same folks would still be yammering about it without end

    Your side seems to do a fair amount of yammering itself.

    Me, I’d be at the party.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  14. @12. And the RINO blows his horn…

    Glorious.

    DCSCA (663b96)

  15. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on the Uvalde massacre: “God has a plan”
    ……..
    In an interview with right-wing radio host Trey Graham, Paxton acknowledged that it is “difficult to give comfort” to families who lost their kids. “If I lost one of my children I’d be pretty devastated, especially in a way that is so senseless and seemingly has no purpose,” he continued. “I think … I would just have to say, if I had the opportunity to talk to the people I’d have to say, look, there’s always a plan. I believe God always has a plan. Life is short no matter what it is. And certainly, we’re not going to make sense of, you know, a young child being shot and killed way before their life expectancy.”
    ……..
    Paxton’s immediate response to the shooting was to call for arming teachers, which some schools in Texas already do despite strong pushback from teachers.

    “We can’t stop bad people from doing bad things. We can potentially arm and prepare and train teachers and other administrators to respond quickly. That, in my opinion, is the best answer,” Paxton said following the shooting.

    Other Texas Republicans have also tried to blame anything but widespread easy access to guns. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, called for “door control” in schools and Gov. Greg Abbott pushed an emphasis on mental health — despite slashing funds for mental health treatment.

    Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, after Wednesday’s hearing suggested that the answer is more “prayer.”

    “Look, maybe if we heard more prayers from leaders of this country instead of taking God’s name in vain, we wouldn’t have the mass killings like we didn’t have before prayer was eliminated from school,” he said.
    ………

    Rip Murdock (5f14f9)

  16. @15. Yeah, Rip: ‘God has a plan’:

    Beto O’Rourke Closes In on Greg Abbott’s Lead With Guns as Key Issue: Poll

    Gun violence has captured voters’ concerns in Texas as the incumbent gubernatorial candidate’s lead over his main rival has decreased by double digits, according to a new poll released Wednesday.

    The Quinnipiac University poll showed incumbent Republican Governor Greg Abbott leading Democratic challenger Beto O’Rourke by 5 percentage points, a decrease of 10 points since a similar poll was conducted in December. Forty-eight percent of overall voters supported Abbott and 43 percent supported O’Rourke in the latest poll.’… Abbott has received local and national criticism for information divulged at news conferences and in the Uvalde shooting’s aftermath, most recently an analysis of his handwritten notes that have reportedly displayed a bumbled response by law enforcement and other officials on that day. – newsweek.com

    DCSCA (663b96)

  17. for the hundredth time, here’s why that’s total BS

    if trump keeled over today, the same folks would still be yammering about it without end

    it matters cuz it helps the democrats — full stop

    Heh. Keep telling yourself that if it makes you feel better.

    Dana (1225fc)

  18. Ironically Paxton is barred from owning a firearm as he was indicted in 2015 for state securities fraud.

    Rip Murdock (5f14f9)

  19. DCSCA (663b96) — 6/17/2022 @ 4:39 pm-

    That’s Paxton’s view, not mine (or probably any else here).

    Rip Murdock (5f14f9)

  20. Might be more of a Mario Cuomo / Scott Walker stale fish phenomenon…also Abbott has intraparty detractors and the Musk “non” endorsement for 24′ doesn’t help.

    urbanleftbehind (2b999d)

  21. @19. So he wasn’t speaking for God about his plan, eh Rip. 😉

    DCSCA (663b96)

  22. Fifty years ago today, a “third rate burglary.”

    Rip Murdock (5f14f9)

  23. Regarding #7, of course Little Lord Elon can fire his minions.

    Everyone not dependent on His Highness for a paycheck will continue to not that he’s a pathetic manbaby douchebag whose 15 minutes are ticking away.

    Don’t worry, once he walks away from Twitter he’ll buy himself some other company to retroactively become the founder of, I’m sure.

    john (cd2753)

  24. @19. So he wasn’t speaking for God about his plan, eh Rip. 😉

    DCSCA (663b96) — 6/17/2022 @ 4:45 pm

    He seems to think so. Your complaint Is with Paxton.

    Rip Murdock (5f14f9)

  25. @24. Nah. Blame Putin. It’s all the rage these days. 😉

    DCSCA (663b96)

  26. RIP Julee Cruise (65), singer best known for her work with David Lynch, especially Twin Peaks.

    Rip Murdock (5f14f9)

  27. @22. And a treasured memento from those Watergate-is it-live-or-is-it-Memorex-days: a pet food bowl emblazoned with: IMPOOCH WITH HONOR.

    DCSCA (663b96)

  28. RIP Jean-Louis Trintignant (91), French actor who became an international star in such films as Z, The Conformist, and opposite Klaus Kinski in the snowbound Italian western The Great Silence.

    Rip Murdock (5f14f9)

  29. For a joyfully funny Watergate Anniversary appetizer:

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

    “Uh, Pat– lock the door!”

    DCSCA (663b96)

  30. Cornyn booed at Texas GOP convention as he seeks bipartisan gun deal in Senate

    ‘Sen. John Cornyn, the top Republican involved in negotiations for bipartisan gun legislation in the Senate, was heckled Friday as he delivered remarks at the Texas GOP convention.

    During Cornyn’s speech, some audience members could be heard booing and chanting “no red flag,” an apparent reference to state laws that allow guns to be confiscated from people considered a danger to themselves or their community. Amid the backlash, Cornyn insisted there were certain lines he would not cross in the bipartisan talks.’ = NBCNews.com

    https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/cornyn-booed-texas-gop-convention-seeks-bipartisan-gun-deal-senate-rcna34209

    DCSCA (663b96)

  31. @31 What Cornyn should have said at the convention. We are dealing with moderates who want to compromise and will take anything we give them. What do you think AOC will do when she becomes president and their is a school shooting. Can’t happen. They said that about trump too!

    asset (ad0364)

  32. The much nicer Dana wrote:

    The Post reminds readers that Brittney Griner, Mr. Kara-Murza, and Paul Whelan all still remain imprisoned in Russia.

    As neoconservative Max Boot urged Americans to send more and more military aid to Ukraine, and even brought up Claire Chenault and the American ‘volunteer’ Flying Tigers in China as a great example, the Soviets Russians have now captured Americans Robert Drueke, 39, and Andy Huynh, 27, on the battlefield, fighting for Ukraine.

    Naturally Vladimir Vladimirovich will use the Americans detained in Russia as bargaining chips, and you have to wonder to what end. President Reagan was never, ever going to negotiate with terrorists, right up until we traded arms to Iran for Americans held hostage in Lebanon.

    The libertarian, but not Libertarian, Dana (805d0c)

  33. 2. Wanting to drop support for Ukraine (and/or NATO).

    Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 6/17/2022 @ 3:52 pm

    It’s unlikely Ukraine will be an ongoing issue in 24.

    frosty (86cd57)

  34. DCSCA wrote:

    My USMC neighbor just informed me he has been ordered to deployed AGAIN– on Sunday, w/just 72 hours notice– this time, not to Palau to war game against Red China– which he was stuck doing from July and extended to December, 2021- but to the Ukraine region at a Marine base in POLAND to support USMC squadrons from Pendleton rotating in replacing East Coast squadrons which are having typical Yankee-Doodle-maintenance issues w/t aircraft– America’s multi-billion dollar DoD at work.

    And my older daughter was just deployed to Kuwait.

    The last time she was deployed to Kuwait, March through December 2017, she got shipped to Afghanistan part way through, so we know that it’s always possible she could get shipped to Germany or Poland if the needs of the United States Army determine that she’s needed there.

    No one wants Vladimir Vladimirovich to win, but I care far more about American lives than I do Ukraine.

    The libertarian, but not Libertarian, Dana (805d0c)

  35. Mr Snowman wrote:

    It’s unlikely Ukraine will be an ongoing issue in 24.

    Really? If the Biden Administration keeps sending Ukraine weapons to continue the fight, and the Ukrainians are successful enough to stop or at least stymie the Russians into 2024, it might just become a very big issue.

    The libertarian, but not Libertarian, Dana (805d0c)

  36. @36-
    Ukraine may be an issue if the opposite happens: if Ukraine faces defeat and the US/NATO decide to send in their air forces or ground troops. I doubt it will be an issue if Ukraine succeeds in defending itself.

    Rip Murdock (5f14f9)

  37. wow, that chess player sure is a tough guy. I guess he’s going to take on Putin, no matter what! I just hope he survives his parachute mission into Moscow.

    Oh wait, he’s living in the west, in a big mansion, and will be alive and eating shrimp and drinking white wine in six months no matter what happens in the Ukraine.

    But we MUST keep FIGTHING in the UKRAINE, NO MATTER WHAT THE COST (in other peoples lives – not me).

    Mr. Chess player. Willing to fight to the last Ukraine. Very brave. Very noble. Very Liberal.

    Rcocean (615514)

  38. Mr Murdock wrote:

    Ukraine may be an issue if the opposite happens: if Ukraine faces defeat and the US/NATO decide to send in their air forces or ground troops. I doubt it will be an issue if Ukraine succeeds in defending itself.

    Wars, especially wars in which the United States gets involved, seem to have a way of lasting for years and years and years.

    The libertarian, but not Libertarian, Dana (805d0c)

  39. Max Alexandrovich Boot was born in Moscow.

    DCSCA (663b96)

  40. Uvalde Officer Passed Up Shot at Gunman for Fear of Hitting Children
    A city police officer armed with an AR-15-style rifle hesitated when he had a brief chance to shoot the gunman approaching a school in Uvalde, Texas, because he did not want to hit children, according to a senior sheriff’s deputy who spoke to the officer.
    ……..
    At least two law enforcement cars arrived in close succession at the school, according to investigatory documents reviewed by The New York Times. One was driven by an officer from the small police force that patrols Uvalde’s schools. Another arrived less than a minute later, at 11:32 a.m., with officers from the Uvalde Police Department.

    At that point, the gunman was still shooting outside of the school.
    ………
    “My understanding, after talking to several officers that were there, was that the gunman engaged two City of Uvalde officers when they got there, outside the building,” (Chief Deputy Sheriff Ricardo Rios of Zavala County, who also responded to the shooting) said.

    He said the two officers, including one with the long gun, took cover behind a patrol car. They wanted to return fire, he said, but held off.
    …….
    “I asked him, ‘Why didn’t you shoot? Why didn’t you engage?’ And that’s when he told me about the background,” he said. “According to the officers, they didn’t engage back because in the background there was kids playing and they were scared of hitting the kids.”
    ………
    The chief deputy sheriff said that any attempt to shoot the moving gunman would have been difficult, and that the officer would undoubtedly have faced harsh criticism and possibly even a criminal investigation had he missed and hit a bystander in the distance, especially a child.
    ……….
    “I’m not bashing him or anything. I get it,” he said. “The Ranger who took my statement even said: ‘It’s come to the point where we’re second-guessing ourselves shooting somebody because we’re scared. Every bullet has our names.’”
    ……….

    Related:

    <blockquoteExperts Question Why Uvalde Chief Not Placed on Leave Amid Multiple Probes

    Rip Murdock (5f14f9)

  41. Not a good look for a possible 2024 VP prospect.

    urbanleftbehind (4be15a)

  42. @35. Agree. The details he shared on what to expect and was planning for, were worrisome to him, too– it was evident in his demeanor and language; never saw him quite like this before– and w/only 72 hours notice, too. His wife is visibly upset- especially after the three months extended to six in Palau just half a year ago and the infant she has to manage. I do what I can to help but being that close to the war zone has a fresh number of dangers and risks– some of which he discussed- like travelling in pairs; no uniforms– fear of being grabbed or just mistakenly targeted.. just to name a few. Both are afraid once he’s there in Poland they’ll extend his deployment again as he’ll be on site. Six months ago he said the planning was East Coast based Marines would be the teams dealing w/Europe and his CA squadron out of Pendleton was planning for a China deploy if needed. That he’s shipping out to the Ukraine/Poland region on Sunday instead was clearly a shift in planning and a surprise– and the concern was evident.

    DCSCA (663b96)

  43. President Reagan was never, ever going to negotiate with terrorists, right up until we traded arms to Iran for Americans held hostage in Lebanon.

    As I’m sure you’ll agree, lesser Dana, the answer then should have been the answer now: “If you go there, you’re on your own.”

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  44. and the Ukrainians are successful enough to stop or at least stymie the Russians into 2024, it might just become a very big issue.

    Some time before now and then the Ukrainians will begin counter-battery fire into Russia, and Putin will go all apoplectic. I’m surprised it hasn’t happened already and our insistence that Ukraine allows Russia a safe haven to attack from is wrong, unseemly and very likely cowardly.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  45. No one wants Vladimir Vladimirovich to win, but I care far more about American lives than I do Ukraine.

    As do I, but the US military is volunteer and the idea that shots could be fired is part of the deal. It’s what it means to serve.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  46. As do I, but the US military is volunteer and the idea that shots could be fired is part of the deal. It’s what it means to serve.

    Except Ukraine IS NOT AN AMERICAN CONFLICT.

    =mike-drop=

    DCSCA (663b96)

  47. Wars, especially wars in which the United States gets involved, seem to have a way of lasting for years and years and years.

    Of late, anyway. Mostly because what we call “wars” are really something else. The “war” part of the Iraq war ended in a few short months. Similarly for Afghanistan. But then we got into nation-building and “winning hearts & minds” and there is no end to that.

    Then again, I could make the case that WW One did not end until December 25th, 1991.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  48. Except Ukraine IS NOT AN AMERICAN CONFLICT.

    How many times have you made that assertion, while convincing no one? Maybe more CAPS will do it.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  49. @49. Pfft.

    “Facts are stubborn things.” – Ronald Reagan

    DCSCA (663b96)

  50. j6
    putin
    trump

    looks like all the important topics are covered

    JF (b8fdcd)

  51. Mr M wrote:

    President Reagan was never, ever going to negotiate with terrorists, right up until we traded arms to Iran for Americans held hostage in Lebanon.

    As I’m sure you’ll agree, lesser Dana, the answer then should have been the answer now: “If you go there, you’re on your own.”

    Except, of course, we don’t do that, do we?

    The libertarian, but not Libertarian, Dana (805d0c)

  52. Mr M wrote:

    Some time before now and then the Ukrainians will begin counter-battery fire into Russia, and Putin will go all apoplectic. I’m surprised it hasn’t happened already and our insistence that Ukraine allows Russia a safe haven to attack from is wrong, unseemly and very likely cowardly.

    There is a qualitative difference between providing American weapons to Ukraine for the Ukrainians to use against Russian forces in Ukraine, and using American weapons to attack Russian forces in Russia.

    If it is legitimate for the Ukes to use American weapons to attack Russian forces inside Russia, then it is just as legitimate for Russia to strike deployment centers for those weapons in Poland, and Americans will be there.

    The libertarian, but not Libertarian, Dana (805d0c)

  53. Tankies gonna tank.

    Time123 (a5286f)

  54. Mr M wrote:

    No one wants Vladimir Vladimirovich to win, but I care far more about American lives than I do Ukraine.

    As do I, but the US military is volunteer and the idea that shots could be fired is part of the deal. It’s what it means to serve.

    True, but your statement assumes that the only Americans who could be exposed to fire would be soldiers. As we are engaged in a proxy war with a country with a strategic nuclear arsenal, I am not quite so certain that this war won’t expand far, far, far beyond Ukraine itself.

    Russia has a substantial arsenal of what are classified ‘battlefield’ nuclear weapons, and short-range nuclear weapons. If Ukraine, with the aid of weapons provided by the United States and NATO, starts to really win, why wouldn’t President Putin order the use of just one battlefield nuke to destroy Ukrainian artillery positions? That would immediately change the character of the war.

    Remember: Mr Putin has not been demonstrating much of Western logic.

    The libertarian, but not Libertarian, Dana (805d0c)

  55. f it is legitimate for the Ukes to use American weapons to attack Russian forces inside Russia, then it is just as legitimate for Russia to strike deployment centers for those weapons in Poland, and Americans will be there.

    Why stop at Poland? Why not Waltham, Massachusetts, Raytheon’s headquarters?

    As long as Russia is engaged in this illegal invasion of Ukraine, the only legitimate targets are Russians and their Separatist cohorts. Inside or outside Russian territory.

    nk (4a9d7b)

  56. Putin’s logic is the logic of the KGB knocking on a Muscovite’s door in the middle of the night. Just on a bigger scale and at a different address.

    nk (4a9d7b)

  57. j6
    putin
    trump

    looks like all the important topics are covered

    Thanks. I try.

    However, you will note there are 4 topics not related to the above-mentioned. Also, an Open Thread is just that: you can bring up whatever subject you are interested in and deem important for discussion. Whether commenters will agree is anybody’s guess. But please feel free to introduce new topics.

    Dana (1225fc)

  58. Dana,

    not a single word about multiple firebombs and attacks on pro-life centers? Seriously?

    And you complained about what again…

    NJRob (eb56c3)

  59. Don’t worry Dana, JF keeps typing patterico.com and expecting to land at RedState. It’s bedeviling and the FBI needs to investigate clear tampering with JF’s keyboard….especially his caps lock key

    AJ_Liberty (411e90)

  60. There is a qualitative difference between providing American weapons to Ukraine for the Ukrainians to use against Russian forces in Ukraine, and using American weapons to attack Russian forces in Russia.

    You gloss over a point there. They are not “attacking Russian forces in Russia”, they are firing back at Russian forces attacking THEM from Russia.

    It is not OK for me to shoot into my neighbor’s house. But if my neighbor is shooting AT ME from his house, the situation changes quite a bit.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  61. Russia has a substantial arsenal of what are classified ‘battlefield’ nuclear weapons, and short-range nuclear weapons.

    Part of the deal. Your line of thinking and we should retreat behind our oceans. And they can still threaten us with ICBMs.

    This is what I call “waling on eggshells.” It’s what every child with an alcoholic parent learns to do. Don’t make him angry or he’ll hit us again. Or mom. Or the dog. There is no good outcome once this behavior starts.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  62. Vladimir knows that even one nuclear weapon fired by his forces will result in the utter devastation of his country in an afternoon. If that does not give him pause it is IMPERATIVE that he be assassinated yesterday.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  63. not a single word about multiple firebombs and attacks on pro-life centers? Seriously?

    And you complained about what again…

    NJRob (eb56c3) — 6/17/2022 @ 8:05 pm

    To those who don’t approve of what I’ve posted/or not posted about, feel free to tell the boss. His email is at the sidebar. And let me reiterate what an open thread is, for those who missed it:

    …an Open Thread is just that: you can bring up whatever subject you are interested in and deem important for discussion. Whether commenters will agree is anybody’s guess. But please feel free to introduce new topics.

    Dana (1225fc)

  64. @63. Take your meds, Kev.

    DCSCA (e3ff29)

  65. Gallop reports that 81% of U.S. adults say they believe in God, down from 92% in 2011. However, the real concerning part is that half of that 81% believes God resides in Mar-a-Lago.

    AJ_Liberty (411e90)

  66. Crew for Stephen Colbert’s “Late Show” detained in congressional building

    ‘Several members of a production crew with for “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” were detained Thursday night in a congressional office building near the U.S. Capitol, CBS said Friday. The group was filming a comedy segment when they were taken into custody, the company said.

    U.S. Capitol Police told CBS News that officers responded to a “call for a disturbance” at 8:30 p.m. at the Longworth House Office Building, where they detained seven people who were “unescorted and without Congressional ID” in a sixth-floor hallway.’ -CBSNews.com

    The Capitol Police are learning: at least they weren’t shot.

    DCSCA (e3ff29)

  67. alexandriabrown @alexthechick
    Sorta Twitter Law School – let’s talk Red Flag Laws and ex parte orders and due process and how anyone who tells you don’t worry, the process won’t be abused and there are robust due process protections is, at best, wildly na�ve and, more likely, is lying to your face.

    Your legal vocabulary term for the day is ex parte – this means without party in Lawyer Latin. An ex parte order is one issued without both parties being present. There are valid reasons for this. In matters where time is of the essence, courts need the ability to issue orders.

    This is to protect the person, property, or rights of another. To move it out of interpersonal matters, in civil litigation an temporary restraining order may be issued for documents or items to be preserved because the other side might dispose of them before suit can be filed.

    Ex parte orders are needed due to human nature. Sometimes things need to be done quickly and courts are not designed for speed. Make no mistake, though. The due process protections for the party against whom the order is issued come into effect after the issuance of the order.

    To show the potential issues with Red Flag laws, I shall discuss what happened to a client with the issuance of a protection order against him. He had an ex-wife who was bipolar and who refused to take her meds. She continued to harass him years after their divorce.

    She showed up to court with a black eye and said he punched her in the face. She sought a protective order against him, which the judge issued. She also filed a criminal complaint for assault against a woman. The protective order statute requires gun confiscation until hearing.

    Client leaned about this when the police showed up to serve him with the order and summons for court appearance. He was stunned by this not only because he didn’t hit her but because he was out of the state on the date this supposedly happened. The told the police this.

    The police shrugged and said we’re just here to serve you and get your guns. That is true. The cops do not adjudicate, they only do what the court says. So he turned over his guns and then got in touch with us later that day. Boss [I assume this means alexthechick’s boss at the law firm] and he were long time friends.

    Boss told him to get together every bit of documentation about him being out of town, hotel receipts, meal receipts, any video of him at the gathering he was attending, all of it. Boss also got in touch with the DA and said he was out of state, he couldn’t have done this.

    DA said I’m not dropping this but move to dismiss and we’ll hear both motions at the 10 day hearing on the protective order. So we filed the motion to dismiss and motion to consolidate and then Boss went to the hearing. The crazy ex didn’t show up to the hearing at all.

    Boss presented everything to the judge. Judge told the DA withdraw the charges or I’m dismissing. The DA said fine, I’ll withdraw. Now, it’s better for the stats on the DAs side to withdraw then to have the case dismissed. Judge also refused to extend the protective order.

    Client asked where do I pick up my guns. Judge said you have to go through the paperwork to do that. We’d anticipated that so we had the forms ready and the judge signed the forms. Client said where do I pick them up and judge said this has to be processed, it’ll take three weeks

    Client also asked the DA when the hearing would be for the ex’s perjury charges. The DA said what perjury charges? Client got very upset because it was obviously perjury, he wasn’t even in the state, she provably lied, that’s perjury. DA said no we don’t charge in these cases.

    Three weeks go by and client starts calling the sheriff’s office to get his guns back. He keeps getting the run around. Boss had to threaten to go back to court to get an order compelling compliance. When client picked up the guns, his Mossberg shotgun was gone.

    The sheriff’s office initially denied that he even had one, luckily he’d kept a copy of the inventory. It took seven months for him to get reimbursement for the Mossberg. The sheriff’s office never did say what happened to it other than there must have been a mix up.

    While all of that is going on, client was looking for work. He had two interviews that went well and he was told that he would be offered the job once the background check was done. Both jobs retracted offers after the background check came back.

    So we had to get copies of the background checks from the background check services. Sure enough, due to how the database on the state side was maintained, the data scrape pulled the protection order and the charge but the dismissal wasn’t showing up yet.

    Client now had to decide if he wanted to disclose to a potential employer that, hey, I have a crazy ex who claims false things about me, here’s a copy of the dismissal paperwork or if he wanted to wait the five weeks it would take for the dismissals to propagate through the dbase

    Also the dismissal paperwork on the criminal charges was marked dismissed due to failure of complaining witness to appear. That said nothing about she lied about this entire thing. Boss had to explain the situation to an employer who, thankfully, listened.

    Because they were friends, Boss handled this at a very low rate. It still cost the guy $2,500. If it had been at Boss’s standard rate? Well over $10,000. All for something that was an actual lie. But but but alex! Due process! It worked! Sure. In theory, it did.

    The protection order was not renewed. The criminal charges were dropped. He got all but one of his guns back. He got a job, eventually. It all worked. Sure it did. All it cost him was $2,500, months of his life, humiliation during interviews, and immense stress. For a lie.

    She was never charged with perjury. There was no point in suing her since she didn’t have any money. If you think that this won’t happen with Red Flag laws, you are suffering from disordered thinking and, hey, isn’t that a red flag? /fin

    Anyone supporting red flag laws is supporting the takeover of America by totalitarians.

    NJRob (eb56c3)

  68. @66 I read somewhere that 88% of NeverTrump believe in satan and the 4 horsepersons of the apocalypse, 66% of those believe they’re all hanging out in mar-a-lago enjoying 2 scoops of ice cream.

    frosty (bfa7cd)

  69. Dana,

    my critique is the way you went after Fox News for what they chose to put on their network and also for your beliefs about the right to life? If attacks on centers trying to save children’s lives aren’t important, but focusing on how much you hate Trump is… I suggest your priorities aren’t in order.

    NJRob (eb56c3)

  70. @63. Take your meds, Kev.

    I’ll consider the source.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  71. I’m still waiting for the biscotti and espresso.

    And a bedtime story, please, mommy?

    nk (4a9d7b)

  72. Not a good look for a possible 2024 VP prospect.

    urbanleftbehind (4be15a) — 6/17/2022 @ 6:37 pm

    Any potential GOP presidential candidate who had been considering Gianforte as a VP candidate needs to have their head examined, anyway. He isn’t even that popular in Montana because he’s the type of California tech goon transplant that’s making places like Bozeman unaffordable for working class people to live, and has benefitted mostly from a favorable electoral climate as Montana went from a reddish-purple to a red state in the last 20 years.

    The fact that the Montana GOP turned to this guy as a state party leader showed how far someone with deep pockets can ingratiate themselves in to its leadership structure.

    Factory Working Orphan (0636b5)

  73. Production team with ‘Late Show with Stephen Colbert’ arrested in House building

    Members of a production team for “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” were arrested by US Capitol Police in a congressional office building Thursday night and charged with unlawful entry.

    “On June 16, 2022, at approximately 8:30 p.m., U.S. Capitol Police (USCP) received a call for a disturbance in the Longworth House Office Building. Responding officers observed seven individuals, unescorted and without Congressional ID, in a sixth-floor hallway,” Capitol Police said in a statement Friday night.

    “The building was closed to visitors, and these individuals were determined to be a part of a group that had been directed by the USCP to leave the building earlier in the day,” the statement continued.

    nk (4a9d7b)

  74. NJRob,

    There are a hundred less dickish ways to say “here’s another story that might interest you.”

    Patterico (40f892)

  75. Client also asked the DA when the hearing would be for the ex’s perjury charges. The DA said what perjury charges? Client got very upset because it was obviously perjury, he wasn’t even in the state, she provably lied, that’s perjury. DA said no we don’t charge in these cases.

    Is there any doubt how Gascon would want this handled?

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  76. In this, the best of all possible worlds, which of these two complaints do you hear more often? Is it that victims and witnesses talk to the authorities too much; or is it that victims and witnesses do not talk to the authorities enough?

    Even the civil torts of malicious prosecution and false arrest/imprisonment are hard to litigate by design. Again the Rule of Two: We want citizens to feel free to cooperate with the authorities to keep the peace and enforce the laws; and we want them to “take it to court” when they have a problem with another person, and not take a trip to the gun store.

    nk (4a9d7b)

  77. We certainly get what we deserve

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLDvM–1TLc

    AJ_Liberty (411e90)

  78. In honor of McCartney’s 80th, a quiz…
    Q: What year did he write Silly Love Songs?
    A: 1963-2020
    You Can’t See Me, from Rubber Soul, is still one of my faves, and She Came in Through the Bathroom Window, and the live version of Maybe I’m Amazed.

    Paul Montagu (5de684)

  79. No word if DC is there, but the annual economic conference in St. Petersburg is where Putin cheerleaders go to lie.

    “The events that are happening now, the way the state, business and people are reacting to economic events, shows we’ve got through it, we’re a strong country,” Maxim Oreshkin, Putin’s economic adviser, told a panel discussion on Thursday.

    Others were even more upbeat. “This is the best economic year for Russia since the collapse of the Soviet Union,” Kremlin-linked businessman Konstantin Malofeyev insisted.

    Despite the bold front, the conference, which runs until Saturday, was noticeably more muted than previous affairs. Then, oligarchs and state-run companies signed major business deals and held lavish parties for a host of global industry and political leaders.

    This year, western delegates and their allies have largely stayed away as international tensions escalate amid the Ukraine war.

    Even Talibaners showed up.

    Paul Montagu (5de684)

  80. @81 No word if DC is there, but the annual economic conference in St. Petersburg is where Putin cheerleaders go to lie.

    DC is on Jimmy Kimmel where Biden cheerleaders goes to lie

    Fact check: Biden falsely claims US has ‘fastest-growing economy in the world’

    JF (919142)

  81. Come on man, let DCSCA have his beat.

    urbanleftbehind (afaeac)

  82. not looking good for a 2024 democrat presidential hopeful

    Michael Avenatti pleads guilty to stealing millions of dollars from clients

    JF (919142)

  83. True end game of the J6 rehash?

    What is his reasoning? That Thomas should beat this crap out of her? That her political behavior must be curtailed because of her husband’s job? I really wish they’d make their case for that, but they don’t seem to want to.

    People believe stupid things, and Ginnit Thomas make have an extra helping of stupid. But there was a respected senator who asserted he was an alien abductee and half the Congress believes that Marxism hasn’t gotten a fair test yet, so I think the stone throwing should be less enthusiastic.

    Also @78.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  84. @84. ‘I’m good,’ the president told the press who saw him take the tumble…

    So you believe you’re ‘good,’ Joey??? Let’s ask Bob Gates:

    Robert Gates Thinks Joe Biden Hasn’t Stopped Being Wrong for 40 Years

    https://news.yahoo.com/robert-gates-thinks-joe-biden-hasn-39-t-212615128.html

    =mike-drop=

    DCSCA (8357a8)

  85. House Democrat calls for Clarence Thomas to resign following report of wife’s email with Eastman

    AOC was screeching it a couple of months ago. They’re not altogether wrong, just old-fashioned:

    “That is no excuse,” replied Mr. Brownlow. “You were present on the occasion of the destruction of these trinkets, and indeed are the more guilty of the two; for the law supposes that your wife acts under your direction.”

    “If the law supposes that,” said Mr. Bumble, squeezing his hat emphatically in both hands, “the law is a ass — a idiot. If that’s the eye of the law, the law is a bachelor; and the worst I wish the law is, that his eyes may be opened by experience — by experience.” — Charles Dickens, Oliver Twist

    It could be found in American jurisprudence past the Civil War.

    nk (1c0189)

  86. Another small success is restoring the whooping crane population:

    The “thriving” baby whooping crane arrived May 26 at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute in Front Royal, zoo officials said in a statement Friday. The bird team at the facility had taken its egg “under their wing” the week before, officials said, after the International Crane Foundation and Necedah National Wildlife Refuge staff in Wisconsin found it “abandoned in a wild nest.”

    Without biological parents to care for the egg, surrogates — Tehya, a 16-year-old female whooping crane, and Goliath, a 25-year-old male — were chosen, zoo officials said.

    And Tehya and Goliath are being, so far, good adoptive parents.

    Fun fact: Whooping crane chicks are called “colts”, because of their long legs.

    Important fact:

    In 1941, just over 20 whooping cranes were left in the wild, the zoo said. Thanks to conservation efforts, there are now an estimated 700 in the wild and 140 in human care, officials said.

    Jim Miller (406a93)

  87. Sir Paul is older than Joe, can walk, talk, sing, play piano, guitar, ukulele and silly love songs– and ride a bicycle.

    Joey– not so much.

    Jimmy Carter redux across the board:

    Biden falls off bike while riding near his beach house in Delaware, says ‘I’m good’

    -businessinsider.com “My foot got caught.” says Joey. Yeah. In your mouth. Couldn’t fiund the keys for your 18-wheeler Joey?

    Jimmy Carter’s Collapse in a Maryland Road Race Sparks a Moment of Fear in the Situation Room -1979
    https://people.com/archive/jimmy-carters-collapse-in-a-maryland-road-race-sparks-a-moment-of-fear-in-the-situation-room-vol-12-no-14/

    Former President Jimmy Carter requires 14 stitches after fall at home, ‘feels fine’– 2019
    https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/president-jimmy-carter-requires-stitches-fall-home-feels/story?id=66100086

    DCSCA (8357a8)

  88. John Eastman’s line, “I’ve decided I should be on the pardon list if that’s still in the works,” is a full-blown meme.

    Paul Montagu (5de684)

  89. Bill Maher Defends Jack Del Rio’s Right To Share His Opinions, Says He’s ‘Not Down’ With The Fine

    Bill Maher wasn’t impressed with Washington Commanders head coach Ron Rivera fining Jack Del Rio.

    The defensive coordinator of the Commanders was fined after he referred to the January 6 riot at the Capitol as a “dust up,” and asked why people weren’t as outraged about the riots that swept across America in 2020.

    For reasons that don’t seem clear to any rational person, Del Rio was hit with a $100,000 fine from head coach Ron Rivera for his comments because his opinion was apparently simply not acceptable.

    related:

    Deshaun Watson signs $230M guaranteed contract

    JF (919142)

  90. If you, like most of us, are a little bit Neanderthal, you have one more reason to worry about COVID:

    If you become infected with the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, you might wish there was a fast way to check your Neanderthal ancestry. A small but significant number of people have an ancient gene variant from the extinct hominin that may double, or even quadruple, their risk of serious complications from COVID-19.
    . . .
    Most Europeans, Asians, and Native Americans harbor a handful of genes from Neanderthals, up 1.8% to 2.6% of their DNA, thanks to ancient dalliances between some of our ancestors and this close relative.

    As the article notes, this risk — if it is real — is not as important as other, well-known risks.

    (Not that long ago, many scientists believed that there had been no inter-mixing between Neanderthals and homo sapiens.)

    Jim Miller (406a93)

  91. @85:

    Eat At Joe’s

    Today’s Menu:

    [ ] Putin’s fault.

    [ ] Covid’s fault.

    [ ] Republican’s fault.

    [ ] Zelinsky’s fault.

    [ ] Trump’s fault.

    [ ] Mexico’s fault.

    [ ] Kamala’s fault.

    [ ] SCOTUS leaker’s fault.

    [ ] China’s fault.

    [ ] NorKo’s fault.

    [ ] Big Meat’s fault.

    [ ] Big Egg’s fault.

    [ ] Big Media’s fault.

    [ ] Baked Beans fault.

    [ ] Big Tampon’s fault.

    [ ] Baby formula maker’s fault.

    [ ] Supply Chain’s fault.

    [ ] Border Patrol’s fault.

    [ ] Exxon’s fault.

    [ ] CornPop’s fault.

    [ ] Cher’s fault.

    [ ] San Andreas Fault.

    Father’s Day Weekend Special:

    [ ] Gravity’s Fault.

    Choose.

    Was it a ‘bicycle’ chain he used on Corn Pop? Asking for several gymnasium owners and the legal department of a major playing card manufacturer.

    DCSCA (8357a8)

  92. Currently, I am reading Philipp Dettmer’s Immune, and would recommend it, with one reservation, to all of you. (Yes, even to Putin supporters and Trumpistas.)

    It is a vivid description of the complex system that keeps us alive, most of the time, and how it can fail, or even go rogue.

    (The reservation? Some will find it too vivid. Here, for example, is a description of a small part of wha happens after you step on a nail, while hiking:

    The chaos puts the Macrophages in a rage they have never experienced before. Within seconds they engage the bacteria in battle and throw their own bodies violently at them–imagine a wild rhino trying to stamp panicked bunnies to death.

    As Dettmer has explained earlier, white blood cells, as we learned to call them in high school biology long ago, are about as much larger than bacteria, as rhinos are than bunnies, evil bunnies in this case.

    But I will admit that, after I got used to his wild metaphors, I did realize they made it easier to remember the points he was making.)

    Jim Miller (406a93)

  93. Removed from Biden’s next major speech…”managing the U.S. economy is like riding a bike…”

    AJ_Liberty (411e90)

  94. I’d like to hear what the ladies think about this Washington Post opinion piece, “Is America ready for a really hulky She-Hulk?”

    For certain comics fans, it was exciting to hear about Marvel’s forthcoming TV series about Jennifer Walters, a.k.a. She-Hulk, the cousin of Bruce Banner who gains superhuman strength and size after a blood transfusion. Finally! We would see a woman get to represent something other than the svelte superheroines we were used to.

    But when the trailer was released, She-Hulk’s physique left a lot of mass to be desired.

    Do you agree with Karen Attiah?

    Jim Miller (406a93)

  95. If attacks on centers trying to save children’s lives aren’t important, but focusing on how much you hate Trump is… I suggest your priorities aren’t in order.

    Dana’s first item is about a massacre of 19 children and 2 adults. One of nine items is directly about Trump, another indirectly, but primarily about an ongoing GOP scheme to subvert future elections. Those two items relate to specific events of this past week that bear on the future of the whole country.
    So who is “focusing on” how much someone hates Trump? Why, it’s once again the person complaining that someone else “hates” Trump — the person who evidently gets very triggered when anyone reports actual words and actions of Trump that expose his pathological narcissism and fundamental amorality.
    I suspect that NJRob is less offended by the absence of what he thinks should have been included than by the presence of timely news items adding to the mountain of evidence that the soul of today’s GOP is not the selfless patriot of MAGA imagination but rather a wannabe despot who would blow up our constitutional system to feed his voracious ego — and that much of today’s GOP is ready to help him do it.

    Radegunda (c970ff)

  96. Njrob.

    Pat,Dana,Drj,Simon and many others have an unbending, uncompromising industrial sized high bar for personal integrity. They also live it and breath it. They expect the same of their leaders. Trump, no matter what he does, is never going to get their approval. No matter what horrific damage is being done to their fellow Americans by the stolen election. The long term injury to their fellow christians, these people are unmoved, uncaring, their anger at a man who personally lost billions, now his personal freedom is being threated and that of his family means nothing to them because hes crass, ugly, and combatitve.

    Lincolns secretary of war and his war cabinet were the same type. Super high integrity people. Lincoln was forced to watch Pope, then McClelland, then fighting joe hooker, then meade all lose or not carry the fight. Lincoln finally got the ugly unwashed wrong side of the tracks generals sherman and grant. The rebel scum fell in a matter of weeks. Kinda like how we got a world saving vaccine….

    But the slaughter of black children increased, the rapes of young girls on an open border, the 109k fentanyl deaths of priceless children of God. Are these purist hands clean of these stains?

    Younkin won because of Trump. He adopted every trump policy every sentence and maga phrase. So did every conservative winner.

    Pride is a horrible sin

    EPWJ (ebff44)

  97. I’m not complaining at all, Jim, She Hulk is not supposed to be Princess Shrek!

    The 80s Marvel comic book renderings of She-Hulk often had her wearing a satin jacket with “California” stitched on the back. The amount of grief and derision she’d face for that in 2022…she’d be in a state of constant metamorphosis.

    urbanleftbehind (2b999d)

  98. Not a She-Hulk fan, so I won’t be upset at a poor rendition. Or much surprised, actually.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  99. Cornyn booed at Texas GOP convention as he seeks bipartisan gun deal in Senate

    Given the fact what is in the compromise (expanded background checks for 18-20 year olds, more mental health funding) is toothless and will do nothing to reduce gun violence, Texas gun owners have nothing to fear.

    Rip Murdock (afc356)

  100. If people stopped talking about Trump, he’d shoot somebody on Fifth Avenue so they would talk about him again. His fans, though, want people to say only nice things about him and only bad things about his critics.

    nk (702988)

  101. No one wants Vladimir Vladimirovich to win

    No one except some people on the left and right fringes.

    On the far right are people who have lauded Putin as a rock-ribbed defender of Christian civilization and national sovereignty against U.S.-led liberal imperialism and internationalism — and who don’t want to admit how absurd that position now looks, if it ever made any sense. And besides, it’s the Biden administration that’s helping Ukraine. If it were a Trump admin., the Putin-admiring natcons would have pivoted to praise Trump’s heroic greatness in standing up to bad guys. (Similarly, they pivoted from saying Trump was great for starting the process of getting us out of Afghanistan — to saying it was a shameful surrender when Biden completed the process.)

    On the far left are the people who think the U.S. has always been the bully around the world, and they — like some on the far right — believe that helping Ukraine survive is just another cynical act of U.S. imperialism.

    Even when those far-left and far-right voices don’t seem to be explicitly rooting for Putin, their persistent efforts to refute the “narrative” of the “legacy media” and portray the U.S. as a bad-faith actor — and as a bully that’s manipulating European countries into joining our so-called “proxy war on Russia” — amount to taking Putin’s side. At the very least, they have claimed that Putin had a morally defensible reason for attacking Ukraine.

    Radegunda (c970ff)

  102. Pride is a horrible sin

    It’s hilarious to see die-hard Trump defenders pretend to be offended by “pride.” Maybe they believe Trump’s claim that he has never committed a sin that would require him to seek forgiveness.

    Radegunda (c970ff)

  103. #100 “Lincoln finally got the ugly unwashed wrong side of the tracks generals sherman and grant . . ”

    William Tecumseh Sherman:

    Sherman was born in 1820 in Lancaster, Ohio, near the banks of the Hocking River. His father, Charles Robert Sherman, a lawyer who sat on the Ohio Supreme Court, died unexpectedly of typhoid fever in 1829.[11] He left his widow, Mary Hoyt Sherman, with eleven children and no inheritance. After his father’s death, the nine-year-old Sherman was raised by a Lancaster neighbor and family friend, attorney Thomas Ewing. Ewing was a prominent member of the Whig Party who became U.S. senator for Ohio and the first Secretary of the Interior. Sherman was distantly related to US founding father Roger Sherman.[12]

    Sherman’s older brother Charles Taylor Sherman became a federal judge. One of his younger brothers, John Sherman, was one of the founders of the Republican Party and served as a U.S. congressman, senator, and cabinet secretary. Another younger brother, Hoyt Sherman, was a successful banker. Two of his foster brothers served as major generals in the Union Army during the Civil War: Hugh Boyle Ewing, later an ambassador and author, and Thomas Ewing Jr., who was a defense attorney in the military trials of the Lincoln conspirators.

    So Sherman was upper class. A little bit of research will show you that Grant grew up in a family that was at least middle class, by our standards, since his father owned a prosperous business, and had enough money to send Grant to private schools, before Grant got the appointment to West Point.

    (I’ll leave their physical attractiveness to others to judge.)

    Jim Miller (406a93)

  104. No matter what horrific damage is being done to their fellow Americans by the stolen election.

    What “stolen election”?

    Paul Montagu (5de684)

  105. Neither general let their patrician upbringing affect the dirty business of war. Neither Sherman nor Grant were encumbered by squeamishness or a need for finesse.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  106. he’d shoot somebody on Fifth Avenue so they would talk about him again. His fans, though, want people to say only nice things about him

    And that would be true even after he shot someone in cold blood. After all, they were not morally offended by that remark.

    Nor are they morally offended by Trump’s mob-boss threats against his own VP — which he has recently repeated — nor by the testimony under oath that Trump approved of the “Hang Mike Pence” chants of his loyalists, nor by Trump’s refusal for three hours to call off his mob or call in LE reinforcements while his loyalists fought through a police line in hand-to-hand combat and vowed to “take out” Pelosi & Schumer et al., nor by Trump’s “We love you, you’re very special” statement to the violent mob that aimed to keep him in power unlawfully …

    In short, there’s nothing Trump could do that would make Trumpers stop worshiping him. Just as Trump understands right and wrong only through the lens of ego and self-interest, Trumpers take the view that Trump can never be in the wrong, or at least that any criticism or any effort to hold him to account is always more wrong than anything he has done.

    It’s still a cult, and the cultists still can’t see they’re in a cult.

    Radegunda (c970ff)

  107. Will Trump run for president again? 12 (WaPo) columnists have the answer
    ……..
    Molly Roberts: YES.

    ……..[C]ould he really bear the spotlight shining on anyone except him? ……

    Eugene Robinson: NO.

    ……..
    ……. Emperor in exile is a role that suits Trump, and he still gets to run the Republican Party and make supplicants abase themselves for his amusement.

    Gary Abernathy: YES.

    …….[I]t’s nearly impossible to envision a scenario in which Trump chooses not to run again, barring legal or health reasons. …….

    Karen Tumulty: YES.

    ……. I think he will run so long as:

    He’s physically able
    He is convinced he can win.

    ……..He will continue to dangle the prospect of running because he knows the minute he doesn’t, he becomes irrelevant — a black hole into which he would never voluntarily toss himself.

    James Hohmann: NO.

    Trump cannot lose again if he doesn’t run. My guess is he waits until the last possible moment — maybe the day of the filing deadline for the Iowa caucuses — to announce he’s not going to do it. He won’t announce he’s bowing out early because he knows that makes him a lame duck……..

    Megan McArdle: YES.

    As of now, I think Trump will run unless force majeure intervenes to stop him — an illness, an indictment. …….[I]t’s hard for me to imagine his ego will let him step aside.

    Jonathan Capehart: NO.

    Trump won’t run again…….[he] is driven by spite and vengeance, and snatching the job back from President Biden would be enticing. But Trump would be required to work hard to win a job he actually hated. …….

    Christine Emba: YES.

    Will he run? How could he resist? Trump learned the first time around that a presidential run was a perfect moneymaking opportunity. ……

    Jennifer Rubin: YES.

    Trump will announce his run if for no other reasons than that he craves the limelight and thinks it will be harder for authorities to prosecute an active candidate……..

    E.J. Dionne Jr.: NO.

    ……I think he will be looking at a very tough path in 2024 and won’t want the hassle. He won’t tell us this anytime soon, because he wants to hang around so he can keep raising money. …….If he announces he’s running just to make a federal indictment of him look more “political.”……

    Greg Sargent: NO.

    …….. Risking a second loss to Biden is unthinkable: It would confirm his decisive rejection by the public. And Trump would be even less likely to defeat a fresh face should Biden decline to run. He knows that, too.
    ………

    Rip Murdock (e891cb)

  108. biden could shoot someone on fifth ave and it’d be putin’s fault

    JF (919142)

  109. Is story they tell in FSB. I tell now:

    Putin and his bodyguards are visiting a grade school in Moscow. Putin asks the children what they want to be when they grow up. One child says a teacher, and all the teachers preen. Another child says an FSB police officer, and all of Putin’s bodyguards preen. A third child says President of Russia, and Putin leans over and whispers to the head of his security detail to put the kid under surveillance.

    nk (702988)

  110. RIP political commentator Mark Shields (85).

    Rip Murdock (e891cb)

  111. Most military historians would say Grant’s most impressive victory was the result of “finesse”:

    Despite his ultimate success in winning the war, historians have often considered Vicksburg his finest campaign—imaginative, audacious, relentless, and a masterpiece of maneuver warfare. James M. McPherson called Vicksburg “the most brilliant and innovative campaign of the Civil War”; T. Harry Williams described it as “one of the classic campaigns of the Civil War and, indeed, of military history”; and the U.S. Army Field Manual 100–5 (May 1986) called it “the most brilliant campaign ever fought on American soil”.

    And, in the follow-up to Vicksburg, Sherman used maneuver to defeat Joseph Johnston, one of the best Confederate generals.

    Jim Miller (406a93)

  112. #113 nk – Excellent, and one I hadn’t heard.

    Jim Miller (406a93)

  113. Bad vibes: Dr. Oz is underperforming Doug Mastriano in a new Pennsylvania poll
    …..
    …..[T]he fact that insurrectionist Doug Mastriano is closer to becoming governor than milquetoast centrist Mehmet Oz is to becoming senator should not fill you with warm and fuzzy feelings about the state of the GOP.

    The charitable explanation for Oz trailing John Fetterman by nine points while Mastriano trails Josh Shapiro by just four is that Fetterman is an unusually strong candidate and Oz an unusually weak one. The 46/37 margin between them doesn’t mean Republican voters prefer election truthers like Mastriano to normie candidates, it simply means that Oz is a good match-up for Fetterman on the merits. Fetterman exudes blue-collar Pennsylvania authenticity whereas Oz is a celebrity carpet-bagger who seems to have arrived in the state five minutes ago. Oz also just survived a brutal three-way primary with Dave McCormick and Kathy Barnette. Righties who voted for the latter two might not be in a mood to forgive and forget yet.
    …….
    …….Oz is the least-liked political figure of any polled by Suffolk. Between the right’s suspicions of him as an opportunistic RINO, the left’s disdain for him as a Trump ass-kisser, and undecideds’ knowledge of him as that quack from TV, he’s in a deep hole on favorability. Especially relative to Fetterman.

    Only six percent of Pennsylvania voters say they’ve never heard of Oz. Nearly twice as many say they’ve never heard of Mastriano. Maybe, as more Pennsylvanians on both sides find out about Mastriano’s “stop the steal” pedigree, his favorables will sink to Oz levels too. In other words, the fact that Mastriano trails Josh Shapiro by a mere 44/40 may have less to do with Republicans being pro-insurrectionist than simple ignorance of who Mastriano — and Shapiro — are across the electorate. That’ll change over time as the campaign heats up.

    The less charitable explanation for Oz underperforming Mastriano is that Republican voters are pro-insurrectionist……
    ……….

    Rip Murdock (e891cb)

  114. The new frontrunner for the 2024 nomination according to PredictIt is…
    …….
    Prediction markets aren’t scientific, to put it mildly, but they’re a fun barometer of what we might call “vibes” about an upcoming election. The vibe at PredictIt today is that Trump is now an underdog in his own party, never mind that he leads every national primary poll by anywhere from 20 to 40 points:
    ……..
    As the favorite for the Republican nomination, DeSantis is now also the favorite to become president in 2025:
    ……..
    ……..The numbers for Haley and especially Pence are also too high in a field where Trump and DeSantis are both running — although I suppose they could be justified on grounds that it’s possible both Trump *and* DeSantis might have to bow out of the 2024 cycle for unforeseen reasons.

    ……..[D]oes anyone believe two candidates whom the MAGA base distrusts and/or despises like Haley and Pence would become the frontrunners? …..

    ……It’s the first hard evidence I’m aware of outside of an occasional straw poll at conservative conferences that shows people turning bullish on DeSantis’s chances against Trump. And for DeSantis, getting people to believe that he could beat Trump in a Republican primary is half the battle in convincing them to support him…….

    ……..The more DeSantis begins to threaten him, the more positive media coverage he’ll get, the more conservative media will buzz excitedly about Trump having a fight on his hands, and the more those Republican voters will take a close look at the new guy. Some will like what they see. And will switch.

    Trump won’t admit it but I think that’s part of the reason he’s looking to get in the race early, before the midterms. ……
    ……..
    Another reason Trump might want to get in sooner rather than later is because he knows Democrats will promote his candidacy for him in the hope that Trump’s unpopularity with swing voters will steer a few undecideds back into the Democratic column in November. That’s bad for the GOP but good for Trump……. never mind what that other guy in Florida has been doing for the past year.

    I’ll say this for DeSantis in closing: He must be squeaky-clean ethically and morally. Because if there’s any dirt on him out there, rest assured that Trump and his pals at the National Enquirer are looking for it. Hard.
    ########

    Rip Murdock (e891cb)

  115. EPWJ @100: “Trump, no matter what he does, is never going to get their approval.”

    I would turn that around. Is there anything that Trump could do or say that would sway your near unconditional support and admiration?

    AJ_Liberty (411e90)

  116. Indiana Man Pleads Guilty to Carrying a Gun and Assaulting Law Enforcement Officers in Jan. 6 Capitol Breach
    …….
    Mark Andrew Mazza, 57, of Shelbyville, Indiana, pleaded guilty in the District of Columbia to assaulting, resisting, or impeding officers with a dangerous weapon and carrying a pistol without a license.

    According to court documents, Mazza brought a Taurus revolver, loaded with three shotgun shells and two hollow point bullets, into Washington, D.C., to the Ellipse, and then to the Capitol. Sometime on U.S. Capitol grounds before 2:45 p.m., Mazza lost possession of the revolver. Mazza illegally made his way to the Lower West Terrace and a tunnel area with doors leading into the Capitol Building. He joined in a collective effort of rioters to push through at least 20 officers who were defending the tunnel entrance. At approximately 3:13 p.m., Mazza moved to the front of the tunnel line, next to the first set of doors. He held open one of the doors, and, as he did so, he allowed other rioters to attack officers with flag poles, batons, sticks and stolen law enforcement shields, and try force their way through the line of officers. Thereafter, he took control of a baton from an officer’s hand and swung it overhead and downward to strike at officers in the tunnel entrance, hitting one officer in the arm. After striking at the officers with the baton, he continued his efforts to get past law enforcement officers and yelled, “This is our f—- house! We own this house!”
    ………
    Mazza was arrested on Nov. 17, 2021, at his home in Shelbyville. He is to be sentenced on Sept. 30, 2022. He faces a statutory maximum of 20 years in prison on the charge of assaulting, resisting, or impeding officers with a dangerous weapon and up to five years in prison in prison on the firearms charge. Both charges also carry potential financial penalties.
    ……..
    In the 17 months since Jan. 6, 2021, more than 840 individuals have been arrested in nearly all 50 states for crimes related to the breach of the U.S. Capitol, including over 250 individuals charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement. The investigation remains ongoing.
    ………

    Rip Murdock (e891cb)

  117. @71. Rest easy; they’re manufactured in China.

    DCSCA (cb28b6)

  118. Trump, no matter what he does, is never going to get their approval. No matter what horrific damage is being done to their fellow Americans by the stolen election. The long term injury to their fellow christians, these people are unmoved, uncaring, their anger at a man who personally lost billions, now his personal freedom is being threated and that of his family means nothing to them because hes crass, ugly, and combatitve.

    EPJW,

    Do not befoul this thread with stolen election lies. There was no stolen election. Go somewhere else if you want to push that crap. You can talk about the 2020 election all you want, but you cross the line when you push the Big Lie. Thank you.

    Dana (1225fc)

  119. nk @ 113,

    Lol.

    Dana (1225fc)

  120. You can talk about the 2020 election all you want, but you cross the line when you push the Big Lie. Thank you.
    Dana (1225fc) — 6/18/2022 @ 12:19 pm

    New CNN Chief Wants Anchors to Say Goodbye to “the Big Lie”

    CNN’s newly installed CEO, Chris Licht, reportedly wants to phase out the use of “the big lie” when referring to Donald Trump’s “stolen election” claims, a change that comes amid reports the boss hopes to rein in partisanship (or perceptions thereof). Licht, who made the comments during a Tuesday meeting with producers, warned that using “the Big Lie” is too close to the Democratic Party’s “branding,” according to Mediaite. He also suggested that CNN’s producers refer to Trump’s debunked voter fraud claims as the “Trump election lie” or “election lies” in banners and graphics

    when you’ve lost cnn….

    JF (c8dab8)

  121. @EPWJ@100 “Pat,Dana,Drj,Simon and many others have an unbending, uncompromising industrial sized high bar for personal integrity. They also live it and breath it. They expect the same of their leaders.

    I’m reasonably certain that “didn’t attempt to overturn the election process via a violent mob” isn’t too high a standard to hold our leaders to.

    @Jim@107 Sherman looked a little rough around the edges as he got older, but Grant appears to have been a reasonably attractive young man. I wouldn’t say that either of them were ugly.

    Nic (896fdf)

  122. Fake wrasslin is good for something after all:

    https://www.insider.com/churchgoer-in-70s-struck-alabama-shooter-with-chair-stop-attack-2022-6

    urbanleftbehind (58903c)

  123. @124. They’re retooling. Revisit any tapes/clips you might have or can access of CNN pre-Zucker days– or even back to Turner times. The bald Zuck was an entertainment suit at NBC, not a news exec, and fancied himself another Roone Arledge, who applied sports entertainment hype, graphics and zing to ABC News and pulled it out of third place w/bells and whistles in the 80s– but poisoned television news w/etertainment glitz. Zucker wrecked CNN just as he befouled NBC. It’ll be clean up on aisle Zucker for several months. Expect familiar faces to change their look– or leave.

    DCSCA (20ac10)

  124. I suspect that NJRob is less offended by the absence of what he thinks should have been included than by the presence of timely news items adding to the mountain of evidence that the soul of today’s GOP is not the selfless patriot of MAGA imagination but rather a wannabe despot who would blow up our constitutional system to feed his voracious ego — and that much of today’s GOP is ready to help him do it.

    Radegunda (c970ff) — 6/18/2022 @ 10:05 am
    Lest there be any doubt that, given another chance, he will indeed cheerfully blow up our constitutional system in service of his personal aggrandizement, he makes zero attempt to hide his absence of remorse for the last attempt:

    “I never called Mike Pence a wimp. Mike Pence had a chance to be great. He had a chance to be, frankly, historic. But just like Bill Barr and the rest of these weak people, Mike did not have the courage to act.”

    lurker (cd7cd4)

  125. That first paragraph was supposed to be blockquoted. I’ll try again, hopefully getting it right this time.

    lurker (cd7cd4)

  126. I suspect that NJRob is less offended by the absence of what he thinks should have been included than by the presence of timely news items adding to the mountain of evidence that the soul of today’s GOP is not the selfless patriot of MAGA imagination but rather a wannabe despot who would blow up our constitutional system to feed his voracious ego — and that much of today’s GOP is ready to help him do it.

    Radegunda (c970ff) — 6/18/2022 @ 10:05 am

    Lest there be any doubt that, given another chance, he will indeed cheerfully blow up our constitutional system in service of his personal aggrandizement, he makes zero attempt to hide his absence of remorse for the last attempt:

    “I never called Mike Pence a wimp. Mike Pence had a chance to be great. He had a chance to be, frankly, historic. But just like Bill Barr and the rest of these weak people, Mike did not have the courage to act.”

    lurker (cd7cd4)

  127. lurker @130, it really is a chilling Trump comment….because it suggests next time Trump will only have strong people around him…..one’s not ethically bound to the Constitution or the laws.

    It’s amazing to me that some here “have to think about it” if Trump were on the primary ballot in 2024. As if it’s unclear how he will act given another chance. Who will be the first prominent Republican with…the courage to act….to say this is not who we are…..enough.

    AJ_Liberty (411e90)

  128. If people stopped talking about Trump, he’d shoot somebody on Fifth Avenue so they would talk about him again. His fans, though, want people to say only nice things about him and only bad things about his critics.

    Yep.

    Dana (1225fc)

  129. It’s amazing to me that some here “have to think about it” if Trump were on the primary ballot in 2024.

    It’s amazing some people here still don’t think: all politics is local- and of late, at your local grocery store, gas pump and bank. People vote their pocketbooks- and daily American life was better before swampy, Squinty McStumblebum proved his hapless, 40-plus years experience is not only worthless– it stinks of swamp gas. Ask Camilla and the Pope.

    Joey is Trump’s best campaigner; ‘Making America Great Again, again’ will make Trump POTUS again, again- if he runs; thanks to Scranton Joe. Or is it Wilmington this week– or the beach house this weekend. Perception is reality: fall off that bike and pound sand, Joey. 😉

    Carterrific!

    DCSCA (20ac10)

  130. Jim Miller @ 98,

    I read the Karen Attaiah op-ed with a bit of exasperation. Maybe it’s because I am not a fan of comic books and the movies they spawn, or maybe it’s simply that on the scale of importance in everyday life, it doesn’t even register. If women want to bulk up, do it. If they don’t want to bulk up in order to retain what they consider a more feminine appearance, then do that. Too many people keep trying peg others into their pigeonhole classifications.

    The whole thing is a reminder that despite strides in the “body positivity” movement and the push for representation of various body shapes, a society dominated by the male gaze still tends to react to muscular women with ambivalence at best and hostility at worst.

    I do think that it’s good move to widen the net of body representation of women. Setting up a ridiculous standard of a Barbie doll look as the feminine ideal only results in men disappointed by reality and women feeling disappointment in themselves. I don’t know what the answer is, but I think two things will always be true, and they are neither right or wrong-they just are: men will always gaze at women and women will always be competing with other women for that gaze.

    Dana (1225fc)

  131. EPJW should probably go here, as they are all “true believers.”

    Rip Murdock (5f14f9)

  132. #134 Dana – On that general topic, I think those who exercise — male or female — are generally more attractive, as well as being healthier (which is the important thing). (For most people, though tastes differ, and change over the years. For a striking example of such changes, search for images of “flappers” from the 1920s.)

    Years ago, I mentioned that I found women runners generally more attractive on average to a serious woman runner — and she thanked me for that observation.

    But I thought I was just saying something obvious, and that what I said would apply to male and female tennis players, point guards, and so on.

    And we often misunderstand each other. I recall seeing, years ago, a study of what men found attractive, and what women thought men found attractive. (Done, I wouldn’t be surprised to learn, on students in intro college psych courses.) Turns out the women thought the men would be more attracted to the thinnest women — but they were wrong about that.)

    Jim Miller (406a93)

  133. According to the American Automobile Association, gas prices may have begun to ease, with a gallon a penny cheaper now than it was last week. (Crude prices have fallen, too.)

    Jim Miller (406a93)

  134. Dan Crenshaw & Staff Assaulted by Right Wingers Shouting ‘Eyepatch McCain’ and Saying He Should be ‘Hung for Treason’

    Rep. Dan Crenshaw and his staff were violently confronted at the Republican Party of Texas convention a short time ago, when far-right social media activist Alex Stein and others whom witnesses described as Proud Boys began shouting “eyepatch McCain” at him – an attempted insult coined by Fox News Channel’s Tucker Carlson.
    ………
    “They got physical with multiple people, including hitting them with cameras,” a witness at the scene said. “His campaign manager was assaulted by being pushed aggressively into a pillar.”

    You can see that part in the video above, which was shared by Stein and his blog. ……..
    ………
    Another Twitter user posted video of himself verbally accosting Rep. Crenshaw. There is no apparent shoving in the clip, but after shouting at the congressman, the user Alex Rosen shouts at various people in the hotel calling the congressman a “fraud” and a “World Economic Forum sell-out.” Another person applauds and shouts back that Crenshaw supports Red Flag laws.

    In the video, Rosen also yells at an elderly woman that she is the “reason we’re in this situation” after she objects to his behavior.

    At the end, another person with him shouts “Dan Crenshaw is a traitor! He needs to be hung for treason!” …….
    ………

    Keeping it classy!

    Rip Murdock (5f14f9)

  135. lurker @130, it really is a chilling Trump comment….because it suggests next time Trump will only have strong people around him…..one’s not ethically bound to the Constitution or the laws.

    It’s amazing to me that some here “have to think about it” if Trump were on the primary ballot in 2024. As if it’s unclear how he will act given another chance. Who will be the first prominent Republican with…the courage to act….to say this is not who we are…..enough.

    AJ_Liberty (411e90) — 6/18/2022 @ 1:19 pm

    Yup. Remember the “adults in the room” who Trump supporters assured us would constrain his lawlessness and lust for power? Well, many tried and some succeeded, but they’re all gone now. Because as Trump informs us, every one of them was a RINO #NeverTrump loser to begin with. Such disappointments. So dust off your MAGA caps. The cultists still with him are fully bought into the virtue of burning down the Constitution to save the Constitution.

    lurker (cd7cd4)

  136. #134 Your comment about competing reminded me of this cartoon.

    (I suppose I spend more time on such subjects than most commenters because I think America would be a better place if women and men got along better — and that men should do most of the changing to make that happen. Beginning by trying harder to understand the individual women they meet every day.)

    Jim Miller (406a93)

  137. @Rip Murdock @138 The reason they object to red flag laws seems self-evident.

    Nic (896fdf)

  138. Boebert: Jesus didn’t have enough AR-15s to ‘keep his government from killing him’
    Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo. Insurrectionist) last week at a Christian conference joked that Jesus didn’t have enough AR-15 rifles to “keep his government from killing him.”

    “On Twitter, a lot of the little Twitter trolls, they like to say, ‘Oh, Jesus didn’t need an AR-15, how many AR-15s do you think Jesus would’ve had?” Boebert said.

    She continued: “Well, he didn’t have enough to keep his government from killing him.”

    The Christian New Testament teaches that Jesus willingly died on a cross to take the penalty for the sins of those who follow him and that he dissuaded his followers from using violence to try to save him, including one instance in which Jesus rebuked a disciple for cutting off the ear of a soldier who arrested him.
    ………
    Responses to the speech, which was streamed live, varied, with some applauding Boebert’s courage and some criticizing her use of biblical passages to support her political views.

    “Amen!!! We need more Spirit filled people in the governments and more of us Spirit filled Believers standing up for Righteousness!!!” said one viewer.

    1:03:07 is a point of absolute blasphemy,” said another, referencing Boebert’s comment about Jesus being killed. “Our Lord is our Saviour because He CHOSE to give His life as a ransom for us all, not because he didn’t have any AR-15s. SMH.”
    ……….

    Keeping it classy!

    Rip Murdock (5f14f9)

  139. @Rip Murdock @138 The reason they object to red flag laws seems self-evident.

    Nic (896fdf) — 6/18/2022 @ 2:39 pm

    Precisely.

    Rip Murdock (5f14f9)

  140. @142-

    MAGAWorld not impressed with Boebert’s comments:

    There’s that GED education.……In America, everyone is a religious expert………That was not really helpful or necessary. Unforced (error). ……There are many good arguments in support of the 2A. But Boebert‘s comment there isn’t one of them. It’s clumsy, and disrespectful.……Low IQ conservatives exist.……. That quip wholly trivializes and misrepresents the work of the Savior. I like the woman, but she needs to seek forgiveness.

    Rip Murdock (5f14f9)

  141. @138, I like former Navy SEAL Dan Crenshaw’s response: “This is what happens when angry little boys like@alexstein99 don’t grow up and can’t get girlfriends…”

    Nailed it.

    AJ_Liberty (411e90)

  142. @137.

    Inflation continues to rise—and gas prices are up nearly 50% since last year– CNBC.com

    Oil prices rise even as report says President Biden will visit Saudi Arabia and meet with other top crude producers

    https://www.yahoo.com/news/oil-prices-rise-even-report-130014749.html

    … and Donald smiled.

    =mike-drop=

    DCSCA (d25974)

  143. Belief in God in U.S. Dips to 81%, a New Low
    The vast majority of U.S. adults believe in God, but the 81% who do so is down six percentage points from 2017 and is the lowest in Gallup’s trend. Between 1944 and 2011, more than 90% of Americans believed in God.

    Gallup’s May 2-22 Values and Beliefs poll finds 17% of Americans saying they do not believe in God.

    Gallup first asked this question in 1944, repeating it again in 1947 and twice each in the 1950s and 1960s. In those latter four surveys, a consistent 98% said they believed in God. …….
    ………
    The groups with the largest declines are also the groups that are currently least likely to believe in God, including liberals (62%), young adults (68%) and Democrats (72%). Belief in God is highest among political conservatives (94%) and Republicans (92%), reflecting that religiosity is a major determinant of political divisions in the U.S.
    ………
    About half of those who believe in God — equal to 42% of all Americans — say God hears prayers and can intervene on a person’s behalf. Meanwhile, 28% of all Americans say God hears prayers but cannot intervene, while 11% think God does neither.
    ………
    ……… [W]hile belief in God has declined in recent years, Gallup has documented steeper drops in church attendance, church membership and confidence in organized religion, suggesting that the practice of religious faith may be changing more than basic faith in God.
    ########

    View complete question responses and trends at the end of the article. (PDF download).

    Rip Murdock (5f14f9)

  144. @139. You don’t recognize festering populism when you see it. The Constitution has little to do w/any of this. This pot was bubbling and churning and ready to boil over– again. Anything will set’em off. It has been simmering for decades over several cycles as the seduced and abandoned kept getting screwed by the parties that be; and if you think these same two-faced party apparatchiks can wave a piece of parchment at it to quash the flames of discontent you’re just as likely to see them vainly wave it at Mt. Vesuvius to stop it erupting. These Americans are tired, angry, and sheep sheared too closely, repeatedly and too often by these scummy party bums. They’re had it and have low to no tolerance for two-faced bureaucratic screw ups like Liz or Nancy or Chuckie or Mitch or old-school blowhards like incompetent, incontinent Joe. That’s why you got Trump. And likely will again- or similar standard bearer who catches the wave. and it’s going to go on for several cycles to come.

    DCSCA (d25974)

  145. AJ_Liberty (411e90) — 6/18/2022 @ 2:57 pm

    Excellent.

    Rip Murdock (5f14f9)

  146. Pfft. Crenshaw’s the classic tool what thinks it’s the architect.

    DCSCA (d25974)

  147. Boebert: Jesus didn’t have enough AR-15s to ‘keep his government from killing him’

    Apparently his pappy, God Almighty, wasn’t much help, either.

    Nailed it.

    Oops… too soon?

    DCSCA (d25974)

  148. 140,

    The cartoon nails it.

    Dana (1225fc)

  149. @Rip@142 whoever taught her Sunday school as a child should be ashamed of themselves.

    Nic (896fdf)

  150. Anyone supporting red flag laws is supporting the takeover of America by totalitarians.

    That’s the kind of comment that gives a-holes like this guy permission to let their heckling a-hole flag fly.

    Paul Montagu (5de684)

  151. As Cathy Young mentioned, “Obviously Little Red Riding Hood’s skirt was too short.” This pope should spend more time on his faith, not foreign policy.

    In an interview with the Jesuit magazine La Civiltà Cattolica, conducted last month and published on Tuesday, the pontiff condemned the “ferocity and cruelty of the Russian troops” while warning against what he said was a fairytale perception of the conflict as good versus evil.

    “We need to move away from the usual Little Red Riding Hood pattern, in that Little Red Riding Hood was good and the wolf was the bad one,” he said.

    Yes, let’s continue to cast sand at an imperfect democracy while excusing the evil Putin has unleashed.

    Paul Montagu (5de684)

  152. The Herschel Walker clan keeps growing MAGAWorld not amused:

    This is actually a badge of honor in the black community conservative white community probably not so much!! ……Geez Louise. How does someone get up and publicly excoriate people for having kids out-of-wedlock, when he knows full well he’s got some and has kept it secret?! It’s the hypocritical politicians that MAGA is trying to get rid of! …….I cant believe this wasnt disclosed earlier. For me it wouldnt be a deal breaker. But it does make you wonder what else is he hiding. I think that is what the dems will be pushing………He’s clearly not ready for the big show. That’s been evident for a while. I don’t know who drafted him or encouraged him to run without giving him a good background check and prepping him for what would come up, but that person or persons made a huge mistake.……….Walker has made his criticism of absentee Black fathers a part of his campaign. Having one child is one thing. It’s a learning experience that he can point to as triggering his position. But three? He just becomes what he is criticizing, and comes off as hypocritical……..No need for a perfect person. But shouldn’t he have at some minimal level of responsibility? How do you impregnate a woman, have her bring the kid to term and then abandon your parental responsibility? That’s not a small error. It’s not even a fairly large one like DUI or tax evasion. The kid is still a minor, so Walker’s actions are not some “youthful indiscretion.” It’s indicative of fundamentally flawed character and should have been spotted early on by the “professionals” and Walker would have been disqualified…….This is no different than Bristol Palin preaching chastity while giving birth out of wedlock.

    “I don’t know who drafted him or encouraged him to run without giving him a good background check…….”

    Really?

    We know who drafted him.

    Related:
    The Jolt: Herschel Walker claimed to be in law enforcement when he wasn’t.

    Rip Murdock (5f14f9)

  153. Oops, link.

    Paul Montagu (5de684)

  154. Sorry for lack of blockquotes after Related:

    Rip Murdock (5f14f9)

  155. The Christian New Testament teaches that Jesus willingly died on a cross to take the penalty for the sins of those who follow him and that he dissuaded his followers from using violence to try to save him, including one instance in which Jesus rebuked a disciple for cutting off the ear of a soldier who arrested him.

    Considering the Christian New Testament also says that the ultimate fate of Christ’s enemies is to get thrown in a lake of fire for their sins, and both the entities that crucified him ended up getting torn asunder themselves, the folks at the Hill probably shouldn’t be doing this “you should totally support gun control because Jesus says to be compassionate in the Bible somewhere” line.

    People who think Christ is some kind of cuddly Santa Claus hasn’t actually read the New Testament. A lot of the stuff that’s in scripture would be considered pretty rude by the Wokel Yokels.

    Factory Working Orphan (0636b5)

  156. What do running backs do?

    Spin and run; spin and run.

    DCSCA (3fb0e4)

  157. This dude only broke even…third party karma for doing Jack Del Rio dirty:
    https://www.nfl.com/news/commanders-coach-ron-rivera-fined-100k-team-loses-two-2023-ota-practices-for-vio

    urbanleftbehind (ec8b07)

  158. Here’s a good report from a journalist embedded with Right Sector combatants in Donbas.

    Paul Montagu (5de684)

  159. Well, you know my opinion of people who enjoy watching muscular young men in tight spandex manhandle each other. But, home team is home team, and the obligation works both ways. The team has to be in tune with its hometown ethos and these are the Washington *DC* Commanders.

    nk (be7f5f)

  160. Taking Aim at DeSantis, Spooked Trump Considers Launching 2024 Bid in Florida

    Donald Trump in recent months has been telling confidants that he may launch his 2024 presidential campaign early — and that he’s considering launching it in Florida to stick it to Gov. Ron DeSantis.
    ……..
    People who’ve spoken to Trump say that one reason he’s eying the Sunshine State is to assert his dominance over an ascendant DeSantis, who — if they both run in 2024 — would likely be the former president’s most formidable competitor in a primary fight for the GOP nomination. One of the sources said Trump’s motivation is to show the governor “who the boss is” in the modern-day GOP.
    …….
    “One time that he did bring up the Florida [launch] scenario was quickly followed by him commenting on how terrible DeSantis was at public speaking and commanding an audience … [and that he’s] lacking in so much charisma and he’s so boring that Florida Republicans would leave Ron immediately for Trump [in a 2024 match-up],” says a person who has spoken to Trump about DeSantis on multiple occasions. ……..

    According to this person and another source with direct knowledge of the topic, Trump has also taken to telling those around him that DeSantis is “overrated” — or, even, “very overrated!” — and assuring advisers he’d easily crush the Florida governor.
    ……..,
    Various Republicans in Trump’s orbit have pleaded with him to hold off on formally announcing a 2024 campaign, at least until after the 2022 midterm elections have wrapped. They have also repeatedly reminded Trump that, due to campaign-finance law, actually announcing a run would immediately evaporate the current fundraising and financial advantages that he and his political operation currently enjoys while he’s — technically — a non-candidate. But the former president’s recurring desire to declare earlier than that is largely motivated by an urge to throw a Trump-sized wrench into the presidential shadow-campaigns of his fellow Republican bigwigs.
    ……….
    “DeSantis is a newer, fresher face. The age difference between DeSantis and Biden would show a contrast between young and old that would cut across party lines,” insists Dan Eberhart, chief executive at Canary and a major donor to Republicans and, in the past, to Trump. “Trump’s profile is large but we did [lose] both the House and Senate under his watch.”
    ………

    Rip Murdock (5f14f9)

  161. What happens to weapons sent to Ukraine? The US doesn’t really know

    https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/19/politics/us-weapons-ukraine-intelligence/index.html

    DCSCA (3fb0e4)

  162. Donald Trump in recent months has been telling confidants that he may launch his 2024 presidential campaign early — and that he’s considering launching it in Florida to stick it to Gov. Ron DeSantis.

    It’s baiting. But should be an easy prick job; listen to DeSantis for more than 10 minutes and you’l;l discover he’s not the sharpest knife in the drawer.

    DCSCA (3fb0e4)

  163. Paul Montagu @ 163,

    Thanks for the report. Just incredible.

    Dana (1225fc)

  164. Surveillance footage shows that police never tried to open a door to two classrooms at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde in the 77 minutes between the time a gunman entered the rooms and massacred 21 people and officers finally stormed in and killed him, according to a law enforcement source close to the investigation.

    Investigators believe the 18-year-old gunman who killed 19 children and two teachers at the school on May 24 could not have locked the door to the connected classrooms from the inside, according to the source.

    All classroom doors at Robb Elementary are designed to lock automatically when they are closed so that the only way to enter from the outside is with a key, the source said. Police might have assumed the door was locked, but the latest evidence suggests it may have been open the whole time, possibly due to a malfunction, the source said.

    The surveillance footage indicates gunman Salvador Ramos, 18, was able to open the door to classroom 111 and enter with an assault-style rifle, the source said.

    Regardless, officers had access the entire time to a “halligan” — a crowbar-like tool that could have opened the door to the classrooms even if it was locked, the source said.

    https://www.expressnews.com/news/local/article/Uvalde-classroom-doors-17251116.php

    In a shocking development the police continue to lie about the events related to the Uvalde shooting.

    Davethulhu (054e7d)

  165. Two former US servicemen captured in Ukraine after ‘absolutely crazy’ mission: report

    ‘Two former US servicemen were captured last week in the fighting outside of Kharkiv, according to a report. Alexander Drueke, 39, and Andy Huynh, 27 — both from Alabama — were taken prisoner during a fierce fight with Russian armor during the ongoing Ukrainian counterattacks in the nation’s northeast, the British newspaper the Telegraph reported.

    The Americans were captured after their 10-man squad ran into a much larger Russian force in a village outside Kharkiv, the newspaper said, citing an unnamed source who fought with the pair in a regular Ukrainian military unit. “We were out on a mission and the whole thing went absolutely crazy, with bad intel,” the source said. “We were told the town was clear when it turned out the Russians were already assaulting it. “They came down the road with two T72 tanks and multiple BMP3s (armored personnel carriers) and about 100 infantry,” the source added. Drueke and Huynh apparently got at least one shot off at a Russian vehicle, destroying it with a rocket-propelled grenade before their capture.

    Drueke, a veteran of the US Army, served in Iraq. His mother told the Telegraph that he had suffered from PTSD and was struggling to hold down a job before going to Ukraine.

    “The US Embassy have assured me that they are doing everything they can to find him and that they are searching for him alive, not dead,” Lois Drueke said. “I am doing my best not to fall apart, I am going to stay strong. I am very hopeful that they will keep him to exchange for Russian POWs.” Huynh, a former Marine, left to fight in Ukraine in April, according to Alabama ABC affiliate WAAY.

    The outlet reported that Huynh put up $6,000 of his own money to finance the trip. “I know there’s a potential of me dying,” he said at the time. “I’m willing to get my life or what I believe is right. For what I’ve been taught is right, through really my eyes, Marine Corps, through God, and really just what is right.” Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, has been the locus of a successful Ukrainian counterattack in the past several weeks. Ukrainian forces have on at least one occasion pushed Russian forces back to the border outside Kharkiv, putting pressure on Russian supply lines into the Donbas.’

    -source, https://nypost.com/2022/06/15/two-former-us-servicemen-reportedly-captured-in-ukraine/

    Idiots.

    DCSCA (3fb0e4)

  166. It’s baiting. But should be an easy prick job; listen to DeSantis for more than 10 minutes and you’l;l discover he’s not the sharpest knife in the drawer.

    DCSCA (3fb0e4) — 6/18/2022 @ 5:18 pm

    Not only that, with some of his speech inflections, DeSantis vs. Gillum might have been…”historic”.

    urbanleftbehind (ec8b07)

  167. Davethulhu (054e7d) — 6/18/2022 @ 5:19 pm

    The “janitor’s key” story was an obvious lie from the beginning, and we are going to be fed a lot more. Lots of lies, lots of fog, lots of distractions, from both cops and politicians looking out for each other.

    nk (be7f5f)

  168. Hillary Clinton dismisses 2024 presidential run speculation

    Hillary Clinton wants the country to know she is not running for president again in 2024.

    The 2016 Democratic presidential nominee told the Financial Times in an interview published Friday that another presidential bid was not in the works. – washingtonexaminer.com

    Of course not; not POTUS. VPOTUS, right dear?!

    No primaries, no fund-raising- just ride in on Joey’s coattails when Kamala is dumped, he chooses you– then let him resign for health reasons or he cashes in his chips in office. And you’re in. Sweet deal. And if he loses, it’s all on the top of the ticket.

    DCSCA (3fb0e4)

  169. lurker (cd7cd4) — 6/18/2022 @ 12:45 pm

    I think you like to insult people and mischaracterize what they say then whine and play the victim when called on it.

    NJRob (eb56c3)

  170. Just wished my USMC neighbor luck and good travels. He departs for Poland/Ukraine region at dawn. He’s clearly a little apprehensive given the situation there. Will travel in pairs; no uniforms; civilian vehicles w/Polish plates. No sidearms issued either. Can tell he’s not keen on this one– and he’s a professional. Even w/support and Uncle Sam watching his back; he has to go; anybody who goes voluntarily– is an idiot.

    DCSCA (3fb0e4)

  171. Biden adviser Jake Sullivan tests positive for COVID-19

    REHOBOTH BEACH, Del. (AP) — White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan tested positive on Saturday for COVID-19, according to the White House.

    Sullivan typically has frequent contact with President Joe Biden but last was in contact with the president early in the week, according to a senior administration official who spoke on condition of anonymity. Sullivan had been keeping his distance from Biden after “a couple” of people he had been in close contact with had tested positive for the virus, the official said.

    He looks pretty sickly all the time as it is.

    DCSCA (3fb0e4)

  172. Mr M wrote:

    Vladimir knows that even one nuclear weapon fired by his forces will result in the utter devastation of his country in an afternoon. If that does not give him pause it is IMPERATIVE that he be assassinated yesterday.

    He does? How do you know that Mr Putin knows or believes that?

    If the Russians used one battlefield nuke, inside Ukraine, the most probable result would not be a strategic nuclear retaliation to destroy Russia — as Ambassador Alexi de Sadesky put it in Dr Strangelove, “No sir; that is not something a sane man would do” — but a collective befouling of trousers among the NATO heads of state, and a hurried conference on how to respond.

    You’re President of the United States: if Russia used a battlefield nuke do destroy a Ukrainian artillery site and mass of troops, how many of our 3,508 strategic nuclear warheads would you launch against Russian cities and military installations?

    The libertarian, but not Libertarian, Dana (7c9a4d)

  173. I think you like to insult people and mischaracterize what they say then whine and play the victim when called on it.

    NJRob (eb56c3) — 6/18/2022 @ 6:26 pm

    Where did I insult you? Where did I mischaracterize anything you said?

    I’ll save you the trouble. I did neither. My comment was about one person and one person only: Donald Trump. If you feel insulted or mischaracterized by things people say about Donald Trump, I’m afraid that’s on you.

    So who did the mischaracterizing, then whined and played the victim? Yes Rob, this time I am talking about you.

    lurker (cd7cd4)

  174. Russia could use a tactical nuke as (in order of likelihood) a demonstration that it is willing to use them, to strike critical opposition in Ukraine, to level a Ukraine city to destroy morale or civilian leadership, or even to strike a NATO country to oppose the flow of supplies into Ukraine. Assuming not the latter, I would think step 1 would be to let it sink into the rest of the world which would complete the isolation of Russia economically and diplomatically (minus N. Korea and the Taliban).

    This gives the Oligarchs and upper echelon apparatchiks a chance to do a coup, as since there is no imminent threat to Russian soil or leadership, a pre-emptive use of nukes….even as a demonstration….would be seen as reckless….and the average Russian has no interest in being vilified, going hungry, or dying for Putin.

    I would think if the coup doesn’t happen, then NATO has to deliver a conventional attack on Russian Ukraine forces that is strategically equivalent to Russia’s move. Of course this is a risk, but a Russian tactical strike would impose fallout concerns for NATO allies (and importantly Russia itself) which would demand some sort of response.

    A nuclear attack on Russia itself would only be considered if it immediately would topple Putin in some organized transfer….meaning a guarantee of no response from Russian silos or subs. I can’t imagine this scenario. You can’t trade Paris, London, or New York for Moscow…and then risk more.

    Everyone has to believe that a limited nuclear war is not possible and once multiple warheads are used, there will be no winner.

    AJ_Liberty (411e90)

  175. https://www.kitv.com/news/crime/oahu-teacher-arrested-for-distributing-child-porn/article_14091862-ee9a-11ec-a773-8f8a78d0c11a.html

    Yet another teacher caught molesting children. Time for a full investigation top to bottom of the hiring process and why so many become teachers.

    NJRob (eb56c3)

  176. Lurker,

    stop gaslighting and apologize. It’s pathetic.

    NJRob (eb56c3)

  177. Ahh,

    Lurker I apologize. You messed up the formatting on the first post and I took Radegunda’s insults as yours. My remarks are clearly meant for her. My mistake.

    NJRob (eb56c3)

  178. I do wonder why you quoted her attacking me to insult Donald Trump.

    NJRob (eb56c3)

  179. https://legalinsurrection.com/2022/06/habitual-violent-criminal-released-from-jail-arrested-in-multiple-crimes-suspect-in-brutal-philadelphia-street-assault/

    Malcolm White, 36, has been arrested for an assault and carjacking in Pennsylvania, and police say he is their suspect in a string of assaults on women in Philadelphia.

    Repeatedly released by the leftist government to assault and terrorize citizens in our nation. That’s what you get from our “compassionate left.”

    NJRob (eb56c3)

  180. Russia could use a tactical nuke as (in order of likelihood) a demonstration that it is willing to use them,

    … said the hammer to the architect.

    Russia’s nuclear weapon use policy

    In June 2020, Putin signed a decree—the Basic Principles of the Russian Federation’s State Policy in the Domain of Nuclear Deterrence—that specifies two conditions under which Russia would use nuclear weapons. The first is unsurprising: “The Russian Federation retains the right to use nuclear weapons in response to the use of nuclear weapons and other types of weapons of mass destruction against it and/or its allies…” But that sentence ends with an unusual statement: “… and also in the case of aggression against the Russian Federation with the use of conventional weapons, when the very existence of the state is put under threat”

    In his February 24 speech, Putin echoed that unusual language to describe his Ukraine invasion. The United States, he claimed, was creating a hostile “anti-Russia” next to Russia and in Russia’s historic land. “For the United States and its allies, it is a policy of containing Russia, with obvious geopolitical dividends,” he said. “For our country, it is a matter of life and death, a matter of our historical future as a nation. This is not an exaggeration; this is a fact. It is not only a very real threat to our interests but to the very existence of our state and to its sovereignty” [emphasis added]. Putin has defined the current situation as one in which, in line with the principles of its deterrence policy, Russia retains the right to use nuclear weapons.

    This does not mean that Russia will use such weapons, and deterrence at the strategic level appears to be robust. At the tactical level, however, the situation is different. The 2018 US Nuclear Posture Review ascribed to Russia the view that “the threat of nuclear escalation or even first use of nuclear weapons would serve to de-escalate a conflict on terms favorable to Russia.” Russian military theorists have certainly discussed this idea of “escalating to de-escalate,” though whether it is a part of Russian doctrine is disputed among students of Russian strategy. “Escalating to de-escalate” in a war with NATO would run the serious risk of escalation rather than de-escalation. In a local war with a non-nuclear adversary, however, the small-scale tactical use of nuclear weapons might be a serious temptation, especially if the war were not going according to plan. In short, the impulse to escalate in a tight corner could be strong.

    There are two reasons for drawing attention to Putin’s recent words. First, in echoing the Basic Principles of Russian Federation’s State Policy in the Domain of Deterrence, Putin provides a frame of reference for his thinking about nuclear weapon use. This, in turn, provides context for assessing the risk that he will escalate to the use of nuclear weapons.

    Second, in a period of high tension, a miscalculation could have catastrophic consequences, as Russia’s recent decisions arguably show. World leaders should do as much as possible to dissuade Putin from using of nuclear weapons, not so much by the threat of retaliation in kind, since that could lead to dangerous escalation. Rather they should prepare the ground for a massive political response to a potential decision Putin might make to cross the nuclear threshold. – https://thebulletin.org/2022/03/read-the-fine-print-russias-nuclear-weapon-use-policy/

    DCSCA (eeadeb)

  181. You’re President of the United States: if Russia used a battlefield nuke do destroy a Ukrainian artillery site and mass of troops, how many of our 3,508 strategic nuclear warheads would you launch against Russian cities and military installations?

    If I had wanted to make these decisions, I would have run for President. And gotten Arnold Schwarzenegger to be my body double to pose shirtless on horseback as me and then we’d see how much worship Putin got.

    As it is, I support Ukraine against the Tartar a/k/a Tatar hordes, and the people in our government who are making these decisions. And I think that we all should. It is Western civilization facing down barbarians who want to destroy it.

    nk (eba6ca)

  182. Well, you know my opinion of people who enjoy watching muscular young men in tight spandex manhandle each other. But, home team is home team, and the obligation works both ways. The team has to be in tune with its hometown ethos and these are the Washington *DC* Commanders.

    Yeah. Watching bare-chested, sweat-glistening, six-packed fighter jocks volleyball each other in the sun-baked beach of San Diego is much more satisfying– and you can freeze frame it! Really lights your afterburners, don’t it. 😉

    DCSCA (eeadeb)

  183. @Rob@180 Rob, the hiring process includes fingerprint clearance. What else would you like them to do?

    Nic (896fdf)

  184. Lurker I apologize.

    Thanks. No problem.

    I do wonder why you quoted her attacking me to insult Donald Trump.

    She addressed multiple subjects in one sentence. It would have been confusing to quote less than the complete sentence, though I was obviously responding only to the part about Trump.

    lurker (cd7cd4)

  185. If the Russians used one battlefield nuke

    You moved the goalposts to talk about how AMERICANS were in harm’s way from Russian mukes. Now you put the goalposts back?

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  186. Gun nuts oppose red flag laws for the obvious reason!

    asset (bb45f5)

  187. Gun grabbers support them for obvious reason!

    Exes everywhere think they’re a great idea.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  188. @192 The obvious reason gun grabbers support them is they don’t like to see children with their heads blown off. The media should be allowed to show the pictures of the decapitated children at uvalde and newtown.

    asset (bb45f5)

  189. Alleged “showers with my dad:” President Joe Biden’s daughter reportedly writes of alleged abuse in diary

    Shocking sexual allegations are emerging from the diary of Ashley Biden, President Joe Biden’s daughter. According to the DailyMail.com, Ashley Biden, a drug addict, left her personal diary under a mattress in a Palm Beach, Florida halfway house where she stayed during one of her rehab stints. The diary reportedly details her drug abuse, sex addiction and her being “hypersexualized.”

    Ashley Biden also recounts times she showered with her father when she was young, something she allegedly wrote was “probably not appropriate.”… Ashley Biden is President Joe Biden’s youngest daughter, and his only child with First Lady Jill Biden. His son Hunter Biden is infamous for his alleged sex and drug addictions as chronicled in a laptop he left behind at a computer repair shop. According to multiple reports, the laptop allegedly shows Hunter Biden engaged in sex acts, drug abuse and contains documents about his family’s business deals. -DailyMail.com

    Look on the bright side, Joey; she didn’t sleep with Hunter. Or did she?

    DCSCA (227c76)

  190. The obvious reason gun grabbers support them is they don’t like to see children with their heads blown off.

    And statists like you don’t like to see citizens able to resist.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  191. The obvious reason gun grabbers support them is they don’t like to see children with their heads blown off. The media should be allowed to show the pictures of the decapitated children at uvalde and newtown.

    asset (bb45f5) — 6/18/2022 @ 11:11 pm

    Should this also apply to Chicago and our nation’s deep blue urban cesspools?

    I mean, if we’re going for an unvarnished look at “how things really are,” let’s not exempt those high-population behavioral sinks from this, either.

    Factory Working Orphan (0636b5)

  192. , the hiring process includes fingerprint clearance. What else would you like them to do?

    Nic (896fdf) — 6/18/2022 @ 9:36 pm

    Should be at least as thorough as you want to do to gun owners. References from friends and family. Psychologial profile. Social media check.

    NJRob (eb56c3)

  193. What happens to weapons sent to Ukraine? The US doesn’t really know

    The DC Formula: Blame the victim, absolve the warmongering imperialist bully who’s raining evil down on his neighbor. Rinse and repeat.

    Paul Montagu (5de684)

  194. Here’s a thread from a first generation Ukrainian, the first generation who lived her whole life in an independent Ukraine and not under the Soviet communist yolk. It hasn’t been easy for this generation. Some excerpts.

    The 2010s: Childhood is over for most of my circle. Now is the time for enjoying youth and figuring out your place in this world. But many of our generation in Ukraine did not have this luxury.

    In 2010, the Orange revolution saw its long-term failure, as the person it prevented from coming to power, Viktor Yanukovych, ended up becoming president. Yanukovych started transforming Ukraine into an authoritarian police state, slowly but steadily.

    The police were growing in power and impunity. From 2010 to 2013, we had a rising movement against police brutality, particularly after the killing of Ihor Indylo, who became a George Floyd figure, and the raping of two women in Vradiivka by policemen.

    November 2013 – February 2014: The Revolution of Dignity. This event defined my generation and the history of our country since. It started as a student protest that escalated into mass demonstrations and riots, and resulted in regime change.

    The revolution participants from across the political spectrum united around three, at first glance, disparate goals: anti-authoritarianism with roots in the movement against police brutality, geopolitical alignment with the EU, and sovereignty from Russia.

    These goals are different, but I believe that Russian neo-colonialism is the common thread, as an autocratic rule is both within the values it brings, and an indispensable tool of control across its colonies.

    This Revolution united us like nothing ever did before. All my friends and family participated in this Revolution; some were injured by the police. We lost 100 people during this Revolution, now known as the Heavenly Hundred.

    2014: Russia annexed Crimea and started the war in Donbas. All of us lost the feeling of safety; some lost their homes and were forced to move to another city, others volunteered or were mobilized to fight Russian neo-colonialism.

    Although the regime changed and we were no longer moving towards autocracy, police brutality and corruption stayed. On 31 July 2018, Kateryna Handziuk, a Ukrainian activist who exposed police corruption, was attacked with sulphuric acid.

    She died from her injuries after five months in the hospital. The case of Kateryna Handziuk reinvigorated the protest movement against police violence and corruption. As before, my circle joined the battle on this field as well.

    Instead of creating families, pursuing careers, or enjoying their lives, our generation had to fight against authoritarianism, police impunity, and for the nation’s sovereignty.

    But sure, let’s blame for the victim for Putin’s imperialism and attempts at hegemony over a sovereign independent state.

    Paul Montagu (5de684)

  195. Oh, I don’t know, Paul. DCSCA knows everything the U.S. knows and if he doesn’t know what the U.S. knows the U.S. does not know it. You know?

    Blocking script. Trust me!

    nk (eba6ca)

  196. More than one million Americans have died, so far, from COVID. (If the current rate of deaths continues, that total might reach two million by this time next year, even though we have effective vaccines, and, more recently, drugs.)

    So what is Florida Governor DeSantis doing? Making it harder for the youngest in his state to get those life-saving vaccines:

    In an astoundingly callous move, Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’s Department of Health has refused to put in an order with the federal government for a supply of the pediatric vaccines for children under 5, leaving pediatricians and parents to scramble on their own. The deadline for placing a preorder was Tuesday, and the 49 other states met the cutoff.
    . . . .
    At a Miami news conference, Mr. DeSantis left no doubt this recklessness came from the top. “I would say we are affirmatively against the covid vaccine for young kids,” he said. “These are the people who have zero risk of getting anything.”

    Not exactly. While child deaths and hospitalizations are an extremely small fraction of the total, the American Academy of Pediatrics reports that 1,055 children nationwide have died of covid. In total, some 13.5 million children of all ages have been infected over the course of the pandemic. Florida has had 386,196 cases from ages 5 to 11 during the pandemic, and 187,307 in children under 5, according to the state. This is not “zero risk.”

    And, as the Post reminds us, the youngest face the longest risks from “long COVID”.

    (For those who want more facts on DeSantis’s failures against COVID, here’s a good analysis. Since COVID is usually transmitted indoors, Florida can expect another summer surge, as people retreat to air-conditioned malls, and the like.)

    Jim Miller (406a93)

  197. I know!
    Call me crazy, but I don’t block. Anywhere. Except one time with a truly psycho commenter.

    Paul Montagu (5de684)

  198. DeSantis got nearly $11 million from investors in Regeneron, which is used to treat Covid once people are hospitalized with it. I imagine Pfizer, Moderna and J&J did not pony up as much. Like Disney, who only gave him a measly $100,000, a drop in the bucket of his $100-plus million “campaign fund”. He’s a gangster.

    nk (eba6ca)

  199. The incident is more proof that nobody needs an \AR-15, not even the police.

    For there was not only one, but two chances to stop Salvador Ramos Jr. before he started. One was by the school police officer who drove past the place where Ramos was hiding and the other was by a Uvalde city police officer who responded early.

    In that second case, Ramos was outside the school building, occasionally trying to fire and firing through the windows. He was also firing at police or they were afraid he might. The policeman was armed with an AR-15 type rifle.

    But he didn’t fire because he saw children playing in the background and was afraid he might hit one of them, or so he says.

    https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/17/us/uvalde-shooting-gunman-police.html

    A city police officer armed with an AR-15-style rifle hesitated when he had a brief chance to shoot the gunman approaching a school in Uvalde, Texas, because he did not want to hit children, according to a senior sheriff’s deputy who spoke to the officer….

    ….At least two law enforcement cars arrived in close succession at the school, according to investigatory documents reviewed by The New York Times. One was driven by an officer from the small police force that patrols Uvalde’s schools. Another arrived less than a minute later, at 11:32 a.m., with officers from the Uvalde Police Department.

    At that point, the gunman was still shooting outside of the school.

    Officials have said he was firing at the building and toward a nearby funeral home, but arriving officers believed in the moment that the gunfire was directed at them, said Chief Deputy Sheriff Ricardo Rios of Zavala County, who also responded to the shooting in the neighboring county.

    “My understanding, after talking to several officers that were there, was that the gunman engaged two City of Uvalde officers when they got there, outside the building,” Chief Deputy Rios said.

    He said the two officers, including one with the long gun, took cover behind a patrol car. They wanted to return fire, he said, but held off.

    Chief Deputy Rios, recounting his conversation with one of the officers, said that he was surprised and replied with a blunt question.

    “I asked him, ‘Why didn’t you shoot? Why didn’t you engage?’ And that’s when he told me about the background,” he said. “According to the officers, they didn’t engage back because in the background there was kids playing and they were scared of hitting the kids.”

    Possible corroboration:

    In one of the initial 911 calls, at 11:29 a.m., a caller told dispatchers about the gunfire outside and also that there were children running, according to the documents. It was not clear where those children were or if there were others in the line of fire in those first minutes.

    The chief deputy sheriff said that any attempt to shoot the moving gunman would have been difficult, and that the officer would undoubtedly have faced harsh criticism and possibly even a criminal investigation had he missed and hit a bystander in the distance, especially a child.

    So the AR-15 was no help.

    A policeman needs to be able to aim. He doesn’t need more firepower,

    Another policeman, was half dressed with a rifle he had borrowed. It is kind of a good thing other police did not fire upon him.

    “I saw a guy in street clothes carrying a shotgun,” Sheriff Salinas said. “I immediately pointed my gun at him, but a female officer popped up right beside him, so I said, ‘Wait a minute, this might be an off-duty officer.’” (He later learned that the man was an off-duty Border Patrol officer who had been at a nearby barbershop and borrowed the weapon from the barber.)

    Sammy Finkelman (b434ee)

  200. @202 leaving pediatricians and parents to scramble on their own.

    there are zero parents scrambling to get a covid vaccine for their kids under five

    zero

    zilch

    nada

    just stop with the covid agitprop

    JF (c8dab8)

  201. The half dressed officer was someone else.

    On the day of the shooting, Chief Deputy Rios raced to the school in Uvalde along with his boss, the sheriff of Zavala County, Eusevio E. Salinas. As they were going, they learned that one of their off-duty deputies, Jose Luis Vasquez, was already en route.

    Deputy Vasquez eventually ended up on the team of officers who later stormed the classrooms and killed the 18-year-old gunman, Salvador Ramos.

    At the time when the shooting began, Deputy Vasquez had been heading to the gym in his department truck, dressed in a T-shirt and shorts. He rushed to the school anyway, Sheriff Salinas said. His daughter was a student at Robb Elementary, the chief deputy sheriff said.

    Sammy Finkelman (b434ee)

  202. A nuclear weapon used only as a demonstration is one of those fanciful scenarios that the Pentagon war gamers dream up.

    Sammy Finkelman (b434ee)

  203. 206. Please! The obvious is: There are parents on all sides of Covid vaccine for their children question.

    Sammy Finkelman (b434ee)

  204. NJRob (eb56c3) — 6/19/2022 @ 5:12 am.

    References from friends and family

    That’s my proposal. (Only I don;t want mere references. I want them to put their money where their mouth or signature is. They lose money if they are wrong, AND THEY’VE GOT TO SET ASIDE THE MONEY WITH A FROZEN BANK ACCOUNT, CREDIT LINE, OR RETIREMENT FUND.

    And I want to drop most of the other things, like psychological profile. And the people who write the insurance will do their own social media check — AND NOT ACCORDING TO PRE-SET RULES.

    But this references/insurance idea is not on the table — only stupid ideas that won’t work.

    Sammy Finkelman (b434ee)

  205. And ten people have to sign on, at least 3 from each sex, and at least two 10 years older or more or over 55. And if anyone drops out they must be replaced within 30 days if the number of insurers would drop below 10/

    But I haven’t figured out the other details: What to insure, for how long, etc.

    Sammy Finkelman (b434ee)

  206. nk (eba6ca) — 6/19/2022 @ 7:36 am

    hedge funds involve a lot of math

    and math is hard

    JF (e96b59)

  207. @Rip Murdock @156, But who suggested Herschel Walker to Trump? And why?

    Sammy Finkelman (b434ee)

  208. I think one reason that Trump’s appointees were so reasonable was that most of them needed Senate conformation — and that affected even Trump’s appointees to major positions who didn’t.

    Sammy Finkelman (b434ee)

  209. @213 walker played for trump’s usfl new jersey generals team forty years ago, so they go way back

    nobody had to suggest walker to him

    walker has funny stories about all the things he says he did but actually didn’t do

    this is really dangerous for a senate candidate but not for a current president

    JF (e96b59)

  210. 202 and 206 – From my second link:

    “I don’t see the benefit of this outside of a bit of political theater for the governor,” said Holly Bullard, a Sarasota mother eager to vaccinate her 2-year-old. “Me and a lot of other parents I know have just been counting the days until we could get our kiddos the vaccine.

    Vaccinating kids is important, not just to protect them, but to protect others they might infect. It will make our schools safer for everyone who works in them, or just visits them.

    (DeSantis has managed to catch up with former New York governor Cuomo:

    Over the last 11 months, Florida’s death rate is about twice that of New York, which has one of the highest vaccination rates in the country. Between July 2021 and this April, Florida’s age-adjusted death rate was 110 per 100,000 residents, compared with 58 per 100,000 for New York, a Post analysis showed.

    The death rates in the two states are now about equal. And both are higher than the national average.)

    Jim Miller (406a93)

  211. Being willing to tell big lies was virtually a prerequisite for getting Trump’s strong endorsement. so why should anyone be surprised that Herschel Walker told big lies about things besides the 2020 election?

    Sammy Finkelman (b434ee)

  212. Mr M wrote:

    If the Russians used one battlefield nuke

    You moved the goalposts to talk about how AMERICANS were in harm’s way from Russian mukes. Now you put the goalposts back?

    Except, of course, I directly quoted that to which I responded, from you, in which you said:

    Vladimir knows that even one nuclear weapon fired by his forces will result in the utter devastation of his country in an afternoon. If that does not give him pause it is IMPERATIVE that he be assassinated yesterday.

    That was it; there was nothing qualifying it as saying that Americans had to be in harm’s way, though the recent capture of two Americans on the battlefield, with Ukrainian units, tells us that Americans might well be in harm’s way.

    But, I’ll play along anyway: if the Russians used a low-yield nuke on a distribution site, in Poland, from which US or NATO weapons were being sent to the Ukrainians, and American soldiers and/or contractors were working at that site and were killed, is Joe Biden, as President, or even you, were you somehow given that authority, going to launch a strategic nuclear attack which will “result in the utter devastation of his country in an afternoon”?

    The libertarian, but not Libertarian, Dana (2b0cc4)

  213. Sammy,

    Start writing your constitutional amendment then and lobbying thw state legislatures to pass it.

    NJRob (878b70)

  214. Jim Miller (406a93) — 6/19/2022 @ 8:22 am

    oh really, Jim Miller?

    you mean this Holly Bullard?

    democrat aide to a democrat congressman?

    JF (e96b59)

  215. @Rip Murdock @156, But who suggested Herschel Walker to Trump? And why?

    Either Tommy Tuberville or Ron Johnson, who no longer wanted to be tied for dumbest Senator in the Senate.

    nk (eba6ca)

  216. DCSCA wrote:

    There are two reasons for drawing attention to Putin’s recent words. First, in echoing the Basic Principles of Russian Federation’s State Policy in the Domain of Deterrence, Putin provides a frame of reference for his thinking about nuclear weapon use. This, in turn, provides context for assessing the risk that he will escalate to the use of nuclear weapons.

    Second, in a period of high tension, a miscalculation could have catastrophic consequences, as Russia’s recent decisions arguably show. World leaders should do as much as possible to dissuade Putin from using of nuclear weapons, not so much by the threat of retaliation in kind, since that could lead to dangerous escalation. Rather they should prepare the ground for a massive political response to a potential decision Putin might make to cross the nuclear threshold

    Are not these two things mutually contradictory? Talking about the Basic Principles of Russian Federation’s State Policy in the Domain of Deterrence in one paragraph and noting that what Vladimir Vladimirovich says and what he does are two different things don’t really go together.

    Russian leaders, including Tsar Nikolai II following the 1905 revolution, have never been constrained by the law; they have only been limited by power.

    The libertarian, but not Libertarian, Dana (2b0cc4)

  217. Mr. Galeev

    The problem is not in Putin. The problem is in the quasi monarchic political structure of Russia. Therefore, this problem can not be solved by changing Putin to “someone better”. It can be solved only by dismantling the system of imperial power entirely

    Why is quasimonarchic culture so prevalent in Russia? Well, it all comes to leverage and incentives. Tsar’s Court has leverage to obliterate anyone who raises a voce against them and they will use it. So others are incentivised to never object. That’s why Russia is so obedient.

    Paul Montagu (5de684)

  218. nk wrote:

    @Rip Murdock @156, But who suggested Herschel Walker to Trump? And why?

    Either Tommy Tuberville or Ron Johnson, who no longer wanted to be tied for dumbest Senator in the Senate.

    LOL! The dumbest Senator is Mazie Hirono, with Raphael Warnock a close second. The list then extends up for at least another dozen Democrats before you get to the first Republican.

    The libertarian, but not Libertarian, Dana (2b0cc4)

  219. Poor Mr. Galeev should have used one more word:

    Why is [systemic] quasimonarchic culture so prevalent in Russia?

    Of course, he would need a different lens…

    felipe (484255)

  220. FINA stops transgender swimmers from competing in women’s elite events

    FINA, swimming’s world governing body, has voted to stop transgender athletes from competing in women’s elite races if they have gone through any part of the process of male puberty.

    The new policy requires transgender competitors to have completed their transition by the age of 12 in order to be able to compete in women’s competitions.

    FINA will also aim to establish an ‘open’ category at competitions for swimmers whose gender identity is different than their birth sex.

    The policy was passed with 71% of the vote from 152 Fina members.

    The decision was made during an extraordinary general congress at the ongoing World Championships in Budapest.
    …….
    FINA’s decision follows a move on Thursday by the UCI, cycling’s governing body, to double the period of time before a rider transitioning from male to female can compete in women’s races.
    ………

    Rip Murdock (5f14f9)

  221. @Rip Murdock @156, But who suggested Herschel Walker to Trump? And why?

    Either Tommy Tuberville or Ron Johnson, who no longer wanted to be tied for dumbest Senator in the Senate.

    nk (eba6ca) — 6/19/2022 @ 8:38 am

    That too, but Trump knows Walker from their USFL days.

    Rip Murdock (5f14f9)

  222. About 30 percent of children ages 5-11 have had two COVID vaccine shots; about 60 percent of those 12-17 have had their two shots. Judging by the argument in #220, there must be an astonishing number of democratic aides to democratic congressmen. And most of them must have children between 5 and 17.

    Jim Miller (406a93)

  223. French wrestles with how we should look at Pence and what he did J6….villain or hero or somewhere in between?

    https://frenchpress.thedispatch.com/p/the-profound-christian-conflict-on

    I’m a little more critical than French. Has Pence voluntarily testified? Has he been out-front denouncing the plot? Was he in favor of impeachment? Did he work hard to lessen the influence of the nutjobs around Trump? Yes, Pence averted a Constitutional snarl amidst a huge pressure campaign, but his voice now might close the book. It’s not the time to be awol.

    AJ_Liberty (411e90)

  224. Trump’s better strategy in a head to head versus Ron DeSantis might be to thread the needle using both crazy AND weird. Would be interesting if groups like this provided the margin of victory in the primaries (even DJTJ approves): https://www.businessinsider.com/log-cabin-republicans-invite-excluded-texas-gop-convention-narrow-minded-2022-6

    urbanleftbehind (2b999d)

  225. @222. Your argument is w/Holloway at the AFAS; his words; though Nikolai didn’t have nukes in his quiver. His point is a national policy for nuclear weapons use does exist, which blunts ‘what if’ chants from hammers at architects.

    DCSCA (b17573)

  226. 213, they needed a black to go ahead to head against another black, to ostensibly scoop out a large % of that still nearly monolithic (in GA anyway) voting block. Also less likelihood of getting called Ray Ciss. Not to mention probably the most famous Georgia Bulldog of all time. And most importantly, the logical pool of US Senate candidates became a bloc of persona non grata because of the 2020 vote count.

    Just wait until MTG makes mincemeat of Ossoff (although he may benefit from a Dem rebound vs. Pres. DeSantis in 2026).

    urbanleftbehind (2b999d)

  227. @199. … and the comfy chair RINO blows his horn.

    My Marine neighbor left his comfy chair, wife and kid and now deploying to Poland/Ukraine; you and likes of Boot and Kasparov and Lindsey Graham ain’t. But feel free to camo up and fight Z’s fight from a trench, not a La-Z-Boy.

    What happens to weapons sent to Ukraine? The US doesn’t really know

    https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/19/politics/us-weapons-ukraine-intelligence/index.html

    Europe Offers Ukraine a Hope of Joining the E.U., but Not a Vast Arsenal

    In their first wartime visit to Kyiv, the leaders of France and Germany countered doubts about their commitment to Ukraine defeating Russia, but did not promise the weapons Ukrainians have called for…

    KYIV, Ukraine — European leaders on Thursday pledged support for putting Ukraine on a path to membership in the European Union but did not promise the country additional heavy weapons on the scale it says it needs to repel a bloody Russian advance in the east. -6/16/22

    https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/16/world/europe/ukraine-eu-macron-scholz-zelensky.html

    Smart folks recognize a Bugs Moran when they see one.

    “Extortion is my business.” – Ernst Stavros Blofeld [Donald Pleasence] ‘You Only Live Twice’ 1967

    ______

    @201. ‘Trust me!’… said Bugs Moran to Uncle Sam.

    =mike-drop=

    DCSCA (b17573)

  228. oh really, Jim Miller?

    you mean this Holly Bullard?

    democrat aide to a democrat congressman?

    JF (e96b59) — 6/19/2022 @ 8:35 am

    It really is amazing how often the leftist press goes for a comment from a “regular person” to spew leftist propaganda and that person just happens to be a leftist activist… uncredited by the media of course

    Thanks for catching what Jim Miller somehow missed.

    NJRob (878b70)

  229. @215. ROFLMAO yep. Running backs can spin and run.

    POTUS can barely walk, let alone ascend a flight of stairs. But then, that’s to be expected of a tackling dummy.

    DCSCA (b17573)

  230. Jim Miller (406a93) — 6/19/2022 @ 9:01 am

    you were commenting on kids under five, and now you’re not

    why is that?

    for that age group, parents are certainly “scrambling”, Jim Miller, but to get baby formula not covid vaccine

    and the health impact of insufficient nutrition dwarfs any covid impact on those children, but you don’t seem to be concerned

    likewise, i imagine ms. bullard ”a Sarasota mother eager to vaccinate her 2-year-old” a democrat hack has a line beyond which she won’t pimp out her kids politically, and that line is any adverse impact on democrats

    google your sources next time

    JF (e96b59)

  231. Hmm! I can believe Trump and Mazie on the phone late at night, Mazie asking Trump “the question she asks everybody” and Trump regaling her with his exploits, real and imagined, and Herschel Walker coming up somewhere.

    nk (eba6ca)

  232. Just wait until MTG makes mincemeat of Ossoff

    Huh? Ossoff’s Senate term doesn’t end until 2027. That’s a pretty bold prediction.

    Rip Murdock (5f14f9)

  233. I think you like to insult people and mischaracterize what they say then whine and play the victim when called on it.

    NJRob must have been looking in mirror when he wrote this.

    Rip Murdock (5f14f9)

  234. My Marine neighbor left his comfy chair, wife and kid and now deploying to Poland/Ukraine; you and likes of Boot and Kasparov and Lindsey Graham ain’t.

    So what. He signed up for the gig.
    Marines are deployed all over the place, don’t mean they’re going to cross into Ukraine for combat. Putin won’t strike Poland because he fears Article 5.

    Paul Montagu (5de684)

  235. I’m a little more critical than French. Has Pence voluntarily testified? Has he been out-front denouncing the plot? Was he in favor of impeachment? Did he work hard to lessen the influence of the nutjobs around Trump? Yes, Pence averted a Constitutional snarl amidst a huge pressure campaign, but his voice now might close the book. It’s not the time to be awol.

    I’m so glad you said this because I’ve thought the same thing. Also, why didn’t he notify Justice or FBI as soon as he knew of the plot to overturn the election or the Jan.6 event? I feel that he could’ve been more proactive from the get-go and even now. That he didn’t back then, makes me believe that he was weighing out his political future and to what extent Trump would control it, or at least influence it. IOW, rather than the insurrection and Trump’s unlawful behavior compelling him to immediately act, he made a political calculation instead. As to why he’s been fairly quiet since troubles me. It’s one thing to condemn the insurrection a month later, as did to the Federalist Society, but why so publicly silent now? Perhaps, he’s waiting until the Jan. 6 Committee does its work, or perhaps he is still making political calculations. I don’t know.

    However, that being said, he clearly has far, far more integrity than his boss, and good for him thwarting the plan by remaining loyal to the Constitution, instead of remaining loyal to the deranged Trump. With the internal pressure he was facing from the president and his sycophants, it had to be incredibly difficult to stand strong. But thankfully, he did.

    Dana (1225fc)

  236. Sigh. “You people” speak DeSantis vs. Trump politics but you don’t understand it.

    Trump already owns the pro-vax market. He brought out the vaccine and he has been speaking in favor of vaccination. What’s left for DeSantis is the anti-vax market.

    Remember 2016? When Trump coopted illegal immigration, and left Cruz and Rubio holding their thumbs? Maybe not exactly like that, but like that.

    And not just for DeSantis. For anybody who might face Trump.

    nk (eba6ca)

  237. Did the Uvalde cops not even try to open the classroom door? Seriously??

    Surveillance footage shows that police never tried to open a door to two classrooms at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde in the 77 minutes between the time a gunman entered the rooms and massacred 21 people and officers finally stormed in and killed him, according to a law enforcement source close to the investigation.

    Investigators believe the 18-year-old gunman who killed 19 children and two teachers at the school on May 24 could not have locked the door to the connected classrooms from the inside, according to the source…

    Regardless, officers had access the entire time to a “halligan” — a crowbar-like tool that could have opened the door to the classrooms even if it was locked, the source said.

    This would explain why so many officials are fighting to prevent video and records from being made public.

    God help these poor families left behind.

    Dana (1225fc)

  238. US Harpoon missiles destroyed a heavily-armed Russian vessel in the Black Sea, say Ukraine’s military

    ‘Ukrainian officials have said they struck a Russian tugboat in the Black Sea using two Harpoon missiles on Friday. It is the first time Ukraine has announced it has destroyed a Russian vessel with Western-supplied weapons. A statement from the Ukrainian military says the Harpoons used were given to Ukraine by the US. Ukrainian military officials have said they struck the Russian Navy’s Vasiliy Bekh tugboat in the Black Sea using two Harpoon missiles supplied by the US. The action marks the first time Ukraine has announced it has destroyed a Russian vessel with Western-supplied armaments.’ – businessinsider.com

    A tugboat. Attaboy, Z! Very cost-effective– not. Bite the hand that feeds ‘ya; ‘harpoon’ Uncle Sam w/priceless publicity to keep Vlad– and Ernst Stavros Blofeld– smiling by fueling Russian rationale to send missiles aimed at America’s underbelly to Nicaragua– by using American missiles costing U.S. taxpayers $2 million-plus each. Extortion is definitely your business!

    “We sunk a truck!”- Matt Sherman [Cary Grant] ‘Operation Petticoat’ 1959

    _____________

    Nicaragua gives permission for Russian troops to enter country

    https://www.cbsnews.com/news/nicaragua-gives-permission-for-russian-troops-to-enter-country/

    DCSCA (ab7522)

  239. So what. He signed up for the gig.

    I thought the Marines were big on “you picked them, they didn’t pick you?”.

    (Alt-Universe Maverick Mitchell’s Father Warning)

    urbanleftbehind (2b999d)

  240. For 1,460 days, Pence was a loyal Trump supplicant, yet he’s a “traitor” because on just one day he chose the rule of law over his bully of a boss. This well encapsulates how f–ked up my party is.
    Sure, praise Pence for his one thing, but it was just one thing.

    Paul Montagu (5de684)

  241. A quarter of Republicans view the Jan. 6 attack as justified
    …….
    ……. This week, polling conducted by YouGov for Yahoo News offers a new assessment, one of the first since the House select committee began its series of public hearings focused on the day’s violence.

    What’s particularly useful about this new polling is that it breaks out the responses of a group salient to the issue: people who hadn’t watched the committee hearings. About half of respondents said they hadn’t watched the hearings live or even later coverage of it. Among those who identified Fox News as their preferred cable news outlet, nearly half said they’d seen no coverage of the hearings. Given that this poll follows the Jan. 6 committee’s initial presentations, that group is broken out in many of the results below.

    …….. Was the riot justified? …….(H)alf of Republicans said either that it was or that they were not sure if it was. Interestingly, those who said they didn’t watch coverage of the hearings were more likely than Republicans to say the attack was not justified.
    ………
    YouGov also asked whether the attack was part of a conspiracy to overturn the election and, if so, whether Trump was at the center of it. Those who didn’t watch coverage of the committee hearing were less likely to view the day’s events as part of a conspiracy — but were more likely to say so than Republicans. Most Republicans said the attack was not part of a conspiracy.
    ……..
    Who do Republicans think deserve blame? Nearly three-quarters said that “left-wing protesters trying to make Trump look bad” deserved at least some blame for the attack — more than blamed Trump or even the Trump supporters obviously involved in the day’s violence. Among those who said they didn’t watch coverage of the House committee hearings, half blamed these theoretical leftists. (There is no evidence that anti-Trump protesters played any significant role in what occurred that day.)
    ………
    ……… More than half the country is very concerned about the stability of our form of government; three-quarters have at least some concern.
    ……..
    ……..(L)ess than half of Republicans think (the January 6th insurrection) could happen again. Unsurprisingly, so do less than half of those who didn’t watch any coverage of the hearings.

    YouGov asked respondents if they thought the committee was “reporting the truth” about the attack. Only a third of Americans said they thought it was, with another 29 percent saying they weren’t sure. Sixty percent of Republicans said the committee was not reporting the truth.
    #########

    Rip Murdock (5f14f9)

  242. @243. God help these poor families left behind.

    He is, Dana. A close friend w/a VR group is headed to Uvalde mid-week w/financial aide. It’s God’s work.

    DCSCA (ab7522)

  243. The Russian tugboat had an “TOR anti-aircraft missile system on board” and “was also transporting ammunition, weapons and personnel for the Black Sea Fleet to Snake Island.” Funny how DC left those parts out.

    Also, not bad that Putin’s naval vessels are getting damaged and sunk by a country that doesn’t even have a navy.

    Paul Montagu (5de684)

  244. Trump already owns the pro-vax market.

    Yet his supporters boo him for it.

    Rip Murdock (5f14f9)

  245. @240. So what. He signed up for the gig.

    …and the comfy chair RINO blows his horn.

    Marines are deployed all over the place, don’t mean they’re going to cross into Ukraine for combat. Putin won’t strike Poland because he fears Article 5.

    That’s not the fear/worry/concern. Ignorance is bliss: stay happy, safe in that comfy chair, Paulie.

    DCSCA (ab7522)

  246. US Harpoon missiles destroyed a heavily-armed Russian vessel in the Black Sea, say Ukraine’s military

    Victory to Ukraine!

    Rip Murdock (5f14f9)

  247. For 1,460 days, Pence was a loyal Trump supplicant, yet he’s a “traitor” because on just one day he chose the rule of law over his bully of a boss. This well encapsulates how f–ked up my party is.
    Sure, praise Pence for his one thing, but it was just one thing.

    Right. As many of Trump’s former staff know too well, they may have worked hard, had the country’s best interest at heart, and demonstrated loyalty to the former president and his “mission” (using the term loosely), but the second any crossed him because it was the lawful/ethical/principled thing to do, they became persona non grata. There would be no second chance.

    Dana (1225fc)

  248. @249. Pfffft. Armed tuggie story posted; but funny how Z’s people publicizing USE OF U.S. WEAPONS wasn’t left out. Keep Putin smiling, eh, Ernst??!!

    “Extortion is my business.” – Ernst Stavros Blofeld [Donald Pleasence] ‘You Only Live Twice’ 1967

    DCSCA (ab7522)

  249. @252. Victory to Ukraine!

    … …and the comfy chair RINO who won’t volunteer, won’t camo up and go hizself but sppends other peopl’esd live and money, blows his horn.

    DCSCA (ab7522)

  250. DeSantis draws huge cash haul from Trump donors
    ……..
    A DeSantis-aligned political committee, Friends of Ron DeSantis, has received $3.4 million this election cycle from 10 donors who collectively spent $24 million on Trump’s reelection bid. Most of the high-dollar donors had never given contributions in state-level Florida elections, while those who have previously provided funds have significantly increased their spending for DeSantis during the 2022 midterms.
    ………
    ……… DeSantis’ fundraising signals that he is both a viable 2024 candidate who may not need the former president’s backing and one who is sapping some financial support from Trump.

    “I think Ron’s fundraising really speaks for itself,” said Francis Rooney, a former construction company owner, longtime Republican donor and former Florida congressman who was open to impeaching Trump in 2019. “It is possible Trump’s percentage of the Republicans keeps going down and I think it’s possible people will start looking elsewhere.”

    DeSantis has already raised more than $100 million — a record setting pace for a single election cycle in Florida — and is an overwhelming favorite to win reelection this year, a victory that could leave him with a huge war chest as the 2024 election cycle begins.
    ………
    The Florida governor is also drawing huge political support from mega GOP donors who said they would not support Trump in the future, most notably Ken Griffin, the billionaire founder of Chicago-based Citadel LLC. He has been one of DeSantis’ biggest benefactors, giving $5 million in both the 2018 and 2022 election cycles. He did not contribute to Trump in 2020, and has publicly said he will not support him moving forward.
    ………

    Rip Murdock (5f14f9)

  251. …and the comfy chair RINO who won’t volunteer

    Funny how the fascist wing of the GOP makes such arbitrary and brainless demands on others for supporting a country defending itself from a fascist regime.

    Paul Montagu (5de684)

  252. @252. Victory to Ukraine!

    … …and the comfy chair RINO who won’t volunteer, won’t camo up and go hizself but sppends other peopl’esd live and money, blows his horn.

    DCSCA (ab7522) — 6/19/2022 @ 10:39 am

    One more toot-I’ve done the next best thing by sending money.

    Rip Murdock (5f14f9)

  253. @257.

    …and the comfy chair RINO who won’t volunteer, won’t camo upl won’t risk hizself but spends other folks lives and treasure, blows his horn.

    DCSCA (ab7522)

  254. Hopefully Ken Griffin’s “midas touch” doesn’t waylay Ronnie II the same way it’s affecting IL GOP gov candidate Richard Irvin of late.

    urbanleftbehind (2b999d)

  255. @258. One more toot-I’ve done the next best thing by sending money.

    … and the comfy chair, safe at home, RINO keeps blowin’ his horn:

    LOU COSTELLO: ‘Hey Abbott, what makes a balloon go up?’
    BUD ABBOTT: ‘Hot air.’
    LOU COSTELLO: ‘What’s holding you down?’

    =mike=drop=

    DCSCA (ab7522)

  256. The Putin propaganda attack on the White Helmets in Syria is pretty similar to his efforts on the Azov Battalion and Right Sector. It’s an effective deflection, a fascist regime accusing the enemy of fascism.

    Paul Montagu (5de684)

  257. Navarro Seriously Cites His Jan. 6 Book Tour in Bid for Trial Delay
    Former Trump White House official Peter Navarro, who faces criminal charges for not testifying before Congress about his role in the Jan. 6 insurrection, tried on Friday to delay his upcoming trial because he’ll be too busy on a book tour discussing—no joke—his role in that very insurrection.
    ………
    “The government has serious concerns about delaying the trial for a book tour,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney Amanda Vaughn. “The public has an interest in the resolution of this case.”

    U.S. District Judge Amit P. Mehta would have none of it, tentatively scheduling the trial for Nov. 17.
    ………
    At his arraignment on those charges in a District of Columbia federal court on Friday morning, Navarro’s lawyers tried to convince the judge that the former Trump official needs extra time to prepare his defense. John Irving told the judge there were “complicated issues” and major “constitutional” questions in Navarro’s case, pointing to the kinds of issues that Bannon’s legal team is raising in his own criminal case for the same charges of refusing to testify before the Jan. 6 committee.

    However, Judge Mehta—who oversees many criminal cases involving the violent rioters who stormed the Capitol building during that insurrection—shot those arguments down and said, “It’s not that complicated a case.”
    ………
    Navarro, who started the case by representing himself, continues to appear on TV making wildly incriminating statements by asserting that he did indeed try to delay the certification of the 2020 election and has repeatedly admitted that he had no intention of ever testifying before the congressional panel. ……
    #########

    Rip Murdock (5f14f9)

  258. The problem is not in Biden. The problem is in the quasi monarchic political party structure of America. Therefore, this problem can not be solved by changing Biden to “someone better”. It can be solved only by dismantling the party system of imperial power entirely.

    Why is quasimonarchic culture so prevalent in America? Well, it all comes to leverage and incentives. Parties have leverage to obliterate anyone who raises a voice against them and they will use it. So others are incentivized to never object. That’s why Americans is so obedient. Until January 6.

    FIFY

    DCSCA (ab7522)

  259. Going by DC’s “logic”, three-fifths of Americans must pick up a gun and fly to Kyiv in order to support Ukraine against Putin’s illegal/immoral invasion.

    Interestingly, no one ever made that demand to me for defending Israel’s right to defend itself from Islamist terrorist attacks, no arbitrary brainless requirement to convert to Judaism and join the IDF.

    Paul Montagu (5de684)

  260. @265. …and the comfy chair RINO who won’t volunteer, won’t camo up; won’t risk hizself but spends other folks lives and treasure, blows his horn.

    ‘… and dat’s the name of dat tune.’ – Tony Baretta [Robert Blake] ‘Baretta’ ABC TV, 1975-78.

    DCSCA (ab7522)

  261. How to react when “Russian political guru Aleksandr Dugin”, a fairly influential guy, writes complete batsh-t?
    BTW, her piece about whether the “tide really turned” is evenhanded.

    Paul Montagu (5de684)

  262. DCSCA-

    You’ve done plenty of tooting about your Daddy in Libya, Russia, etc. Apparently you still have issues.

    Happy Father’s Day!

    Rip Murdock (631582)

  263. There are 300,000 who would like nothing more than to go to Ukraine.

    Paul Montagu (5de684)

  264. The tide is turning:

    Nicaragua gives permission for Russian troops to enter country

    https://www.cbsnews.com/news/nicaragua-gives-permission-for-russian-troops-to-enter-country/

    The growing season for Russian missiles aimed at America is October– close to election time.

    DCSCA (ab7522)

  265. @268. Rip: my ‘Daddy’ has been dead since 1999– but will pass along your greetings to his ashes on the shelf 15 feet in front of me. Why don’t you go spend time w/your while you can.

    Happy Father’s Day.

    DCSCA (ab7522)

  266. @NJRob@197- You will be glad to know that the hiring process for teachers also already involves references and usually social media checks. Psych testing wouldn’t be useful, the basics of psych testing and analysis are almost always part of an education degree, so it’s too easy to fake. We also do yearly trainings on how to recognize predatory behavior in colleagues and schools have policies about never being alone with students.

    @JF@206 Yeah, that isn’t true. I personally know several parents who were very anxious to get their young children vaccinated. Two of them who took their kid on their birthday to get the vaccination. A lot of people have grandparents heavily involved in their children’s lives in various ways, so even if they aren’t worried about their kids, a lot of times they are worried about the possibility of passing the virus to the grandparents.

    Nic (896fdf)

  267. Omg, these people are insane:

    Rep. Adam Kinzinger, one of two Republicans serving on the Jan. 6 committee, said he recently got an alarming message threatening to execute him, his wife and their 5-month-old baby

    Dana (1225fc)

  268. @269. Pfft. And many, many more who can’t leave it:

    Ukraine announced late Thursday that men between the ages of 18 and 60 were forbidden from leaving the nation, which has been under martial law since the start of the Russian invasion. Some of the men were separated from their wives and children as they tried to board trains to flee, while others were stopped at the border.

    https://nypost.com/2022/02/25/ukraine-men-ordered-to-stay-and-fight-russia-as-others-flee/

    =mike-drop=

    DCSCA (ab7522)

  269. @271-

    My father has been gone 46 years, scattered to the winds.

    I won’t be joining him for a long time.

    Happy Father’s Day!

    Rip Murdock (5f14f9)

  270. @275. So go be a ‘Windtalker.’ Mine wanted a Pabst Ble Ribbon can but that variety of urn wasn’t available –so he got a close cousined, aluminum box instead. HFD back at you.

    DCSCA (ab7522)

  271. @273. The histrionics are a bit much, though, from these politicos. It’s a bit of grandstanding. Folks in the public eye- officials, celebs, reporters, etc., often get threats– but don’t use it as a publicity gimmick unless there’s an advantage to it.

    DCSCA (ab7522)

  272. The more I read about the leadup to Jan 6th, with pieces like “New details emerge of Oval Office confrontation three days before Jan. 6”. the more I’m thinking that Robert Ludlum could have made a great conspiracy thriller out of this.

    “The Trump Imperative” or some such.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  273. DCCCP: “…and the comfy chair RINO who won’t volunteer”

    Federal Law sets Max age for enlistment: Marines (28), Navy (39), Army (35), Air Force (39), Coast Guard (31). Why don’t you get off your comfy Russian-fluffing chair and change the law.

    DCCCP: “My Marine neighbor left his comfy chair, wife and kid and now deploying to Poland/Ukraine”

    Wake up, take a bath, your analysis stinks of old man, that’s the job that your neighbor voluntarily signed up for (and we all appreciate it!)….and no, he’s being deployed to POLAND, not Poland/Ukraine….and, last I remember, you said NATO countries were all SAFE…because of Article V and all. Go back to Moscow and enjoy all of the freedoms that Putin allows you to have…..

    AJ_Liberty (ec7f74)

  274. Those military-age males are doing what any country under rashist attack would demand of their men: To stay in-country and prevent Putin from committing even more atrocities, like what he did in Chechnya.

    The plan unfolds in a few set phases. The first is pacification. This comes quickly where it can, and slowly, via obliteration, where it cannot.
    […]
    Once the Russian conquest is complete, a suitable satrap must be found and empowered to rule the natives.
    […]
    Finally, the establishment of the new order. Of necessity for a time, the locals will be held down by occupation forces, but they must come to obey their own, to be self-sufficient in their repression. A new apparatus of domination will be constructed, one that sees the vanquished take responsibility for crushing the remaining indigenous resistance. Token incentives will be provided: some Potemkin redevelopment in the style of Grozny’s garish neon skyscrapers or its enormous mosque (for a time the largest in Europe).

    The traumatized citizens will be taught a new version of their own history, one in which their absorption into Russian vassaldom was entirely voluntary and, in fact, a salvation from “radicals” and “terrorists” who had sought to destroy them. Eventually, the new generation will be brought up with the idea of service to the Russian motherland as a sacrosanct obligation, under the guidance of a leader who renames the capital’s main avenue after the Russian president and regularly declares himself Putin’s “foot soldier.” Military service in the next round of Russia’s imperial conquests will be not only expected but enforced, with conscription drives hauling off young men from these new territories for whatever the next war is.

    The final step is cultural genocide, the kind of fascism DC has been rooting for.

    Paul Montagu (5de684)

  275. @279. Pfft. =yawn= his words; but knowing the locale/where he’s headed- the squadron in support; and risks at hand and you don’t is par for the comfy-chair class. Big sales on La-Z-Boys for Father’s Day, AJ. Go pick one up.

    DCSCA (ab7522)

  276. @280. Pfft. And the comfy ciar RINO blows his horn: Fascism: fight for za Fatherland by order of the state; you cannot leave, or else: Ukraine announced late Thursday that men between the ages of 18 and 60 were forbidden from leaving the nation, which has been under martial law since the start of the Russian invasion. Some of the men were separated from their wives and children as they tried to board trains to flee, while others were stopped at the border.– NYPost.com

    Once in the Moran gang, always in the Moran gang. Extortion is his business.

    DCSCA (ab7522)

  277. A close friend/colleague of my late father in the oil biz- an engineer working out of the London office- was an ex-German aviator who flew in battle for fascist Nazis. He’d been a ME-109 pilot battling American planes over Germany. Asked him once at a dinner why fight for Hitler– and he confessed his government at the time didn’t give him much choice. Welcome to Ukraine.

    DCSCA (ab7522)

  278. But, I’ll play along anyway: if the Russians used a low-yield nuke on a distribution site, in Poland, from which US or NATO weapons were being sent to the Ukrainians, and American soldiers and/or contractors were working at that site and were killed, is Joe Biden, as President, or even you, were you somehow given that authority, going to launch a strategic nuclear attack which will “result in the utter devastation of his country in an afternoon”?

    “Low yield nuke”: yet another fiction. Hiroshima was a lower-yield nuke than either country has in its arsenal today. This is the kind of utter BS that military hotheads tell each other in “I wanna be a general” chatrooms. There is no such thing.

    If the Russians used a nuke inside Ukraine, I would respond conventionally, but in force. Such as sink every last ship they have in the Black Sea with massive air strikes on their Crimean bases. And ask for a Declaration of War.

    If they use a nuke inside a NATO country, the gloves would have to come off. That is the WHOLE EFFING POINT of NATA and MAD. NOT responding would be the worst possible response. Otherwise he’d use 3 the next day and 27 the next.
    I would not only respond in kind, but to a greater degree. Perhaps hit 3 large Ukraine-adjacent Russian military bases with nukes
    .
    The choices after that first one would be: 1) quit the field, close NATO and admit that MAD was a lie all along, Or 2) Attempt to instill sanity into the Russian government. No matter how certain Putin’s political control is (and I don’t think its all that strong right now), he has opponents who can be motivated.

    Now, as far as assassination is concerned, if I was firmly convinced that Putin has lost his mind and was prepared to use nukes to start with, nearly anything to stopped the progression from reaching that point would be a good thing. Because one nukes ARE used, all you have are very bad choices (as I’m sure you’d agree from the above). So, yes, K.I.L.L. the sob.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  279. *NATO

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  280. The histrionics are a bit much, though, from these politicos. It’s a bit of grandstanding. Folks in the public eye- officials, celebs, reporters, etc., often get threats– but don’t use it as a publicity gimmick unless there’s an advantage to it.

    What histrionics? In a sane world, healthy people don’t believe that reacting to death threats against you, your spouse and five-month-old baby is simply histrionics. While there is certainly some truth in some cases that pols use these moments to their advantage, the point here is that the two Republicans on the committee continue to face death threats, excoriation, shunning, and you name it from their own party, all because they are fulfilling their oath to the Constitution. Clearly, that puts them at direct odds with Trump and his loyal followers. It’s disgraceful. And it’s disgraceful that anyone facing death threats to their families is judged as being hysterical. That says way more about you than it does the politician who is the target.

    Dana (1225fc)

  281. Nic (896fdf) — 6/19/2022 @ 11:38 am

    children less than five?

    no, sorry, you haven’t

    unless you just met these parents in the past two days

    i’m sure there are a lot though

    that’s why the media can’t seem to find any unless they’re democrat hacks

    JF (e96b59)

  282. @286. He’s a politician in search of attention– one who is leaving any way and it’s just comes across as a bit over the top by him given the source. Of course it;s disgraceful– but he’s certainly not the only pol/celeb/public eye or private citizen to be threatened on the job. You can interpret it your way but to me it’s just another attention grab. as SCOTUS justice was threatened just last week and who knows how many times Chuck, Nancy, Mitch and Joey– even Putin get threatened each week. Lest you forget the Morton Downey Jr., threat – when he gouged a swastika in his forehead for publicity. Just find it uncomfortably odd for a congresscritter to trumpet it– other than for attention.

    DCSCA (ab7522)

  283. @286. Dana- know something about this sort of thing first hand. A very close friend had her life threaten- for real– complete with notes, faked bullet hole and dead fish left on her windshield, drive by threats; phone/computer wire taps. Have seen the consequences of this, the quiet, correct and proper response by local and Federal officials– and the PTSD experienced by the victim for years. So yes, it says more about me than you possibly know.

    DCSCA (ab7522)

  284. BTW, it’s highly unlikely that Putin would use tactical nukes in Ukraine, because using them would not give him a notable tactical advantage.
    If he used strategic nukes, then he’d face serious blowback from his mass-murder of civilians, so take his bullying threats with a grain of salt.

    Paul Montagu (5de684)

  285. The French are counting the votes from the second round of their parliamentary election. Right now it looks as if President Macron’s group will not have majority, by themselves. You can find a “scorecard” for the many parties in the election at the Wikipedia article.

    Le Monde has more up-to-date results. (Click on “La Carte” to see a colorful map.) France24 has an English version, for those who prefer that.

    Jim Miller (406a93)

  286. “Low yield nuke”: yet another fiction. Hiroshima was a lower-yield nuke than either country has in its arsenal today. This is the kind of utter BS that military hotheads tell each other in “I wanna be a general” chatrooms. There is no such thing.

    Apparently there are “such things”:

    ‘According to Bell and Cirincione, about1,000 bombs in this stockpile are low-yield nuclear weapons. Around 150 are currently in Europe, Cirinicione said, while the rest have been pulled pack to the U.S.
    Nearly half of this low-yield stockpile is in the form of “gravity bombs” or “airdrop” bombs called B-61s. Cirincione said these are not traditional low-yield weapons because they can be calibrated to a specific explosive yield ranging from .3 kilotons to 50 kilotons. The U.S. also has a version of the B-61 on an air-launched cruise missile that is carried by B-52 bombers.

    While low-yield nuclear bombs can range from .1 kilotons to 10, 20, or 50 kilotons, according to Cirincione, the explosive yield from a low-yield nuclear weapon is equivalent to 1,000 MOABs. That is equivalent to the sizes of bombs dropped by the U.S. over Nagasaki and Hiroshima at the end of World War II. “When people talk low-yield, what they generally mean is something that is down like Hiroshima size,” Cirincione said. “That is… ‘only’ 10 thousand tons of explosive force or…1,000 MOABs.”

    The main controversy is over whether access to more low-yield nuclear weapons would increase or decrease the likelihood that they would be used because they are considered to be a less powerful nuclear option.
    Both Bell and Cirincione agree that more low-yield nuclear weapons enhance the chance they would be used. However, not all experts agree. Matthew Costlow, a national defense analyst and nuclear deterrent expert at the National Institute for Public Policy, said that low-yield nuclear weapons have been part of nuclear arsenals for decades and yet one has never been used.

    “Just because you have the capabilities to use a nuclear weapon does not mean it is any easier or harder to use,” Costlow said. “It is simply untrue and unsupported by historical evidence that lower-yield nuclear weapons increase the risk of use.”’

    https://dc.medill.northwestern.edu/blog/2018/02/09/exactly-low-yield-nuclear-weapon/#sthash.ZRWEzTAL.dpbs

    DCSCA (ab7522)

  287. @284. “Low yield nuke”: yet another fiction. Hiroshima was a lower-yield nuke than either country has in its arsenal today. This is the kind of utter BS that military hotheads tell each other in “I wanna be a general” chatrooms. There is no such thing.

    Apparently, there are such things as ‘low-yield nukes’:

    WHAT EXACTLY IS A LOW-YIELD NUCLEAR WEAPON?

    While low-yield nuclear bombs can range from .1 kilotons to 10, 20, or 50 kilotons, according to Cirincione, the explosive yield from a low-yield nuclear weapon is equivalent to 1,000 MOABs. That is equivalent to the sizes of bombs dropped by the U.S. over Nagasaki and Hiroshima at the end of World War II. “When people talk low-yield, what they generally mean is something that is down like Hiroshima size,” Cirincione said. “That is… ‘only’ 10 thousand tons of explosive force or…1,000 MOABs.” The atomic bomb dropped over Hiroshima was 15 kilotons and the one dropped over Nagasaki was around 20 kilotons.

    https://dc.medill.northwestern.edu/blog/2018/02/09/exactly-low-yield-nuclear-weapon/#sthash.ZRWEzTAL.dpbs

    And lest we forget- there is the U.S. MOAB and the Russian FOAB which aren’t nuclear, but do pack a punch.

    DCSCA (ab7522)

  288. #272 Nic – I understand your point, but will restate it, because it deserves repetition: You personally know parents who had their children vaccinated against COVID on the earliest day that was allowed, their children’s birthdays. So, it is reasonable to infer that most of these parents would have scheduled the vaccinations, even earlier, had they been able to.

    My point, earlier, supports your observations. If parents, by the millions, were having their older children vaccinated, it is reasonable to infer that, if these parents had younger children, they would have them vaccinated, too. And it is likely that many parents that have only younger children would follow what they saw their friends and relatives with older children doing.

    Jim Miller (406a93)

  289. Oops- bit of a double post; sorry. Russia’s FOAB, akin to America’s MOAB, is certainly not to be ruled out for use by Putin.

    But Ruler Over Rubble will take a lot of Russian Rubles to rebuild.

    “Arrr!” – Long John Silver [Robert Newton] ‘Walt Disney’s Treasure Island’ 1950

    DCSCA (ab7522)

  290. @284 I don’t know about the Russians but the US Navy has the W76-2 that is reportedly 8kt. Fat man was 21kt and Little Boy was 15kt.

    frosty (9f58fe)

  291. @JF@287 In fact I have, and try “have known the parents for more than a decade” (this mean, I have known the parents since before the kids were born). They had to wait until the kids’ birthdays to get the shot because it wasn’t approved for the younger group yet. If it had been approved, they would’ve gotten when the kids were younger.

    @Jim@294 Yes, exactly.

    Nic (896fdf)

  292. “When people talk low-yield, what they generally mean is something that is down like Hiroshima size,” Cirincione said. “That is… ‘only’ 10 thousand tons of explosive force or…1,000 MOABs.”

    My point. Do you read what you post?

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  293. Political pandering. Unless it would have cost Florida more that DeSantis’s anti-vax credentials. Would it have? Would Florida have to pay for the vaccine? If not, why not let it be there for the parents to choose whether or not their kids would get it? He makes me sick!

    nk (edbcb5)

  294. W76-2

    Only 8 thousand TONS of TNT. Just a little blast. Right.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  295. #299 – As the other 49 states did.

    Jim Miller (406a93)

  296. 25 747s weigh about 8 thousand tons. Build them completely out of TNT, compress them to a point and set it off. This is what they mean when they say “low yield.”

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  297. nk, I have to say that DeSantis is better than Trump, but not by a lot. The battle between the two is not a hill to die on.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  298. For those who want detailed information on the Russian invasion of Ukraine, here’s the latest assessment from the Institute for the Study of War.

    Jim Miller (406a93)

  299. Do you read what you post?

    Do you???: “Low yield nuke”… There is no such thing.”

    Except there is.

    =mike-drop=

    DCSCA (4b85ff)

  300. Back to assertion after you refuted yourself with your own post, eh, DC?

    DCSCA-drop

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  301. If parents, by the millions, were having their older children vaccinated, it is reasonable to infer that, if these parents had younger children, they would have them vaccinated, too.
    Jim Miller (406a93) — 6/19/2022 @ 1:15 pm

    umm, no — ask a parent

    my pre-teen kids are vaccinated, and were vaccinated within days of it being approved for those under twelve

    cuz they go to school daily and are exposed to a lot of people

    it is not reasonable to infer that we would do the same if they were under five, and i can confirm that we would not, cuz they weren’t in school and did not have remotely near the same exposure at that age and i’d rather other parents volunteer their young and vulnerable to be the guinea pigs

    the narrative that parents are “scrambling” to get their under-five kids vaccinated is simply fact free agitprop

    those parents are scrambling to find formula, no thanks to this administration’s defenders

    JF (c8dab8)

  302. A bomb that will destroy an average city is NOT “low-yield” except in the minds of fools.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  303. @306. “Low yield nuke”… There is no such thing.”

    Your assertion. Own it.

    =mikme-drop=

    DCSCA (4b85ff)

  304. nk (edbcb5) — 6/19/2022 @ 1:55 pm

    most everyone who doesn’t like trump also doesn’t like desantis, and also doesn’t like haley, and also…. etc

    so much for the nonsense that “it’s trump’s party and it’s only cuz of him that we don’t support republicans”

    why not quit with the bullschiff?

    JF (e71132)

  305. i’d rather other parents volunteer their young and vulnerable to be the guinea pigs

    Would you be upset if your child’s day-care required a vaccine? Would you change day-dare providers or allow the shot?

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  306. most everyone who doesn’t like trump also doesn’t like desantis, and also doesn’t like haley

    I despise Trump, largely due to his dishonesty and stupidity.
    I dislike DeSantis, due to his bloody-minded attitudes.
    I very much like Nikki Haley, and would send her money if she ran.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  307. A bomb that will destroy an average city is NOT “low-yield” except in the minds of fools.

    Welllllll, thank you KevinM; Official Nuclear Weapons Explosive Yield Calibrator for the United Federation of Planets and Gift Shoppe Cashier at Los Alamos, New Mexico!

    DCSCA (4b85ff)

  308. Your assertion. Own it.

    Own it? I PROVED it.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  309. @311 Would you be upset if your child’s day-care required a vaccine?

    why would i?

    would you be upset that i’m not upset? sounds like it

    Would you change day-dare providers or allow the shot?

    day care providers don’t typically require optional vaccines, such as the flu shot

    (omg, he compared flu to covid!!!!!!!!!!!! calm down, it’s an example)

    if this fictional provider required a covid vaccine but not a flu vaccine I’d conclude they’re either too dumb or too political to teach my kids

    JF (082192)

  310. I thought everyone knew that, before a vaccine is officially approved, it is tested on volunteers. For example:

    Published July 11, 2021 10:17 a.m. PDT

    As troubling new variants emerge, doctors say America’s chances of winding down the COVID-19 pandemic in the U.S. will largely depend on how many young adults and children get vaccinated.

    Now, toddlers and babies as young as 6 months old are testing COVID-19 vaccines to help make sure they’re safe for other young children. If the pediatric trials go well, children under 12 might be eligible to get vaccinated this fall or winter.

    For many parents, the decision to volunteer their kids was easy.

    (Links omitted.)

    Note the publication date.

    Jim Miller (406a93)

  311. most everyone who doesn’t like trump also doesn’t like desantis, and also doesn’t like haley, and also…. etc

    It’s a cinch Pence is out as his VP pick. DeSantis has issues once he gets a deeper vetting; he’s a shallow water fish– but he is light entertainment– like a summer replacement comedy show. Haley has better experience at state and national levels- even provite sector experience [bailed out of Boeing’s boardroom at the right time]; international experience w/t UN- and in this era, she’s the right age, gender, ethnicity– has a great personal story, has shown a capacity to agree and disagree w/Trump on policy– left his administration on her own, wasn’t fired– and given Biden’s famed 7/11 racist India slur, a real in your face pick for VP. A Trump/Haley ticket can beat a Biden/Harris ticket easily. The midterms will prep the battlefield. A Biden/Clinton ticket may be a tougher fight.

    My guess; Harris is toast, will get dumped [or rather, promoted “up” to the ‘front office’-perhaps AG] at the most optimum time- some excuse will be created– maybe an ‘Eagleton’-styled exit of some sort– and Joey will take HRC on as his gal VP. It’s her last and best way in and you can bet Bubba discussed this w/Joey a few months ago. If Joe wins, he eventually retires for “health reasons” given his age or croaks on the job– and Hillary walks into the Oval as POTUS, w/o ever having to raise campaign funds, rehash everything or battle through primaries- which will have the old feminists salivating at her last grab at the brass ring. She got more votes than Trump- so that pool of folks is ready to boil. And if Joe loses, it’s all him- as it always is- the top of the ticket.

    DCSCA (4b85ff)

  312. @314. So insists the Official Nuclear Weapons Explosive Yield Calibrator for the United Federation of Planets and Gift Shoppe Cashier at Los Alamos, New Mexico!

    … and Oppie smiled.

    DCSCA (4b85ff)

  313. Jim Miller (406a93) — 6/19/2022 @ 2:52 pm

    i’m not going to dredge up long tired threads about vaccine safety concerns

    the bottom line is that every parent gets to decide their comfort level for their kids, and they don’t owe you or anyone an explanation

    i know that disappoints you, Jim Miller, but fortunately you’ve got an uphill battle taking that decision away from parents

    there are things we can do now, legally, such as preventing the import of non-citizens who aren’t vaccinated but your man demented joe wants to rescind title 42

    you seem to be as upset about that as you are about a chronic shortage of baby formula

    why is that?

    JF (082192)

  314. By the way, Ron DeSantis is not a shoe-in for governor this November. The polls are wildly inconsistent, but a few of them do show Charlie Crist and Nikki Fried beating DeSantis.

    (Both Crist and Fried have won state-wide elections in Florida.)

    Jim Miller (406a93)

  315. @319. Dr. Anthony Fauci tests positive for Covid, is having mild symptoms

    Fauci, who is fully vaccinated against Covid, is experiencing mild symptoms, according to a statement.

    https://www.cnbc.com/2022/06/15/dr-fauci-tests-positive-for-covid-is-having-mild-symptoms.html

    This bureaucrat has been wrong almost as many times as he’s been jabbed w/a vaccination needle.

    DCSCA (4b85ff)

  316. @300 – I didn’t say it was little. I was just pointing out that the US currently has lower yield devices than were employed against Japan.

    frosty (9f58fe)

  317. nk (edbcb5) — 6/19/2022 @ 1:55 pm

    Would Florida have to pay for the vaccine? If not, why not let it be there for the parents to choose whether or not their kids would get it? He makes me sick!

    Desantis is having a war with the Biden Administration and the FDA. He wanted doctors to be able to pre-order vaccines on their own without the state if Florid having to endorse vaccinating children that age with that vaccine.

    Sammy Finkelman (84d1f0)

  318. When I made the way out there claim of Greg Gianforte as VP, it was with Haley at the top of ticket. DeSantis would work with an Iowa chick or Noem, but Youngkin would need JD Vance or Chip Roy

    urbanleftbehind (4c4e5a)

  319. Tweets from Hawaii teacher Alden Bunag:
    You’re [expletive] acting like we want to show kids porn or something, but something I’ve learned through the years is that whenever right-wingers accuse others of something, it’s DEFINITELY because they’re projecting.

    So you want kids to be completely ignorant about sex? Which is true because pedos like you can feel them up and they won’t understand what’s going on and can’t verbalize it to their parents or others. Also talking about being LGBT does NOT require discussing sex whatsoever.

    Oooops:

    A Hawaii teacher has been arrested for sharing child pornography. Federal prosecutors said Alden Bunag sent illicit pictures and video to another teacher on the mainland and admitted to sex with a 13-year-old student.

    Bunag made his first court appearance on Thursday at the federal courthouse and remains in custody until his next hearing. Court records said he admitted to investigators that he recorded his sexual encounters with a 13-year-old boy who was a former student and sent the videos to others through a messenger app.

    steveg (4f3730)

  320. OK, let’s take these one at a time:

    1. i’m not going to dredge up long tired threads about vaccine safety concerns (apophasis)

    2. the bottom line is that every parent gets to decide their comfort level for their kids, and they don’t owe you or anyone an explanation (On vaccinations, that depends on whether they want their children to go to public schools, since vaccination requirements have been routine in schools for decades.)

    3. i know that disappoints you, Jim Miller, but fortunately you’ve got an uphill battle taking that decision away from parents (I haven’t been taking it away from parents; Ron De Santis has been making it ahrder for them to get vaccines, if they want to.)

    4. there are things we can do now, legally, such as preventing the import of non-citizens who aren’t vaccinated but your man demented joe wants to rescind title 42 (Biden is not my man; I have never voted for him, and don’t plan to should he run again. It is certainly true that we should have controls that prevent infectious people from entering the United States, illegally or legally. One of Trump’s biggest blunders at the beginning, was not quarantining people when he brought them back from Wuhan.)

    5. you seem to be as upset about that as you are about a chronic shortage of baby formula (I have no idea why you think this is related. As for baby formula, I regret the oligopoly and think Thiessen is right when he ascribes it to regulating formula like medicine, rather than food.)

    And that’s the end of the help I will give you, for today.

    Jim Miller (406a93)

  321. I am assuming the video sent includes his face. If not, does he go for the “my client has a micro penis” defense?

    This guy is about to find out exactly how heavy some Hawaiians can punch, or maybe they’ll just have the guys who weigh 450 to sit on his face and lungs until he stops breathing

    steveg (4f3730)

  322. Mr Montagu wrote:

    My Marine neighbor left his comfy chair, wife and kid and now deploying to Poland/Ukraine; you and likes of Boot and Kasparov and Lindsey Graham ain’t.

    So what. He signed up for the gig.

    Well, that’s true, just as both of my daughters, one of whom is still serving, did. But that doesn’t mean I think they should just be cannon fodder for neocons who never saw a war in which they didn’t want other people’s kids to fight.

    Half a league, half a league,
    Half a league onward,
    All in the valley of Death
    Rode the six hundred.
    “Forward, the Light Brigade!
    Charge for the guns!” he said.
    Into the valley of Death
    Rode the six hundred.

    There is no glory in war.

    The libertarian, but not Libertarian, Dana (dd3196)

  323. Here’s a thread on Ukrainian efforts to take back Kherson.

    Paul Montagu (5de684)

  324. If Trump selected Darling Nikki as VP, MAGAWorld would have a meltdown, as they despise her. Not that that’s a bad thing, but Trump has no other base.

    And being a corporate board member is not “private sector experience,” it’s collecting a paycheck (and stock options) and attending a few meetings. It’s not like she has run a company.

    Rip Murdock (5f14f9)

  325. For Father’s Day, the Washington Post published this reminder. Ours isn’t the only culture where you can find odd, anti-scientific ideas.

    This sheer variety of human mating practices helps explain some of the more baroque notions of biological paternity found around the world — notions that are hard to reconcile with the reality that babies are produced by sex between one man and one woman. This fact, the “doctrine of single paternity,” is understood by almost all cultures, and has been for millennia, long before the biology was worked out by modern science.

    But there are a few cultures that reject that belief, hence the “almost all”.

    Two examples: The Tapirapé people of Brazil and the Na people near Tibet.

    Jim Miller (406a93)

  326. Supreme Court could soon make it easier to carry guns in six states
    ……..(T)he Supreme Court soon will issue a ruling that could make it easier for people in at least a half-dozen states to legally carry loaded firearms in public.
    ………
    Elected leaders (in California, New Jersey, Maryland, Hawaii, Massachusetts) and gun-control advocates throughout the country are bracing for a decision that extends the constitutional right to gun ownership beyond a person’s home to gathering spots such as restaurants and shopping malls. And they fear that, depending on how broadly the court may rule, related restrictions, including state bans on high-powered semiautomatic firearms, also could be at risk.
    ……..
    New York’s law requires a gun owner to obtain a license to carry a handgun. To get the license, they must demonstrate to local authorities a specific need for carrying the gun. Gun rights advocates say citizens should not have to justify the need to exercise their constitutional right to bear arms. If New York’s “proper cause” requirement is invalidated, the Second Amendment groups will be closely monitoring states with similar laws to ensure that officials take steps to loosen permit rules.
    ………
    To carry a handgun in New Jersey, applicants must show a “justifiable need” related to a specific threat. Permits for people other than former or current law enforcement officials are rarely issued. The restriction is one reason New Jersey has fewer per capita gun deaths per year than most other states, Platkin said, citing data maintained by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

    It is unknown how the justices will rule, but two things are clear: A decision is expected no later than early July, and when the case was argued in November, a majority of members on the conservative-leaning court indicated that they believe Americans generally have a right to carry a handgun outside their home and that New York’s law is too restrictive.
    ………
    Twenty-five states do not require a permit to carry a firearm in public, while several others require permits but do not ask applicants to justify their need for a weapon. The five states with laws very similar to New York’s would be most directly affected by a ruling. Permit requirements in two other states — Rhode Island and Delaware — are somewhat less stringent because they give state officials less discretion to reject applications, and experts said those states will not necessarily be affected by the decision in the New York case.
    ……….

    A right conditioned by a permit requirement becomes a privilege that government can arbitrarily withdraw.

    Rip Murdock (5f14f9)

  327. happy non-birthing parent’s day!!

    JF (fd46e1)

  328. Why would Nikki take VP? She’s only 50 and has a decent chance at the top spot, if she doesn’t poison herself with whatever nonsense Trump would get her into if he won a second term. And if he didn’t win and she was in the VP slot, that’s a hard one to come back from to. Why not shoot for the stars right off?

    Nic (896fdf)

  329. Jim Miller (406a93) — 6/19/2022 @ 3:37 pm
    On vaccinations, that depends on whether they want their children to go to public schools, since vaccination requirements have been routine in schools for decades.

    you were commenting about the covid vaccine, and now you aren’t

    why is that? you do this a lot

    I haven’t been taking it away from parents

    not from lack of intent

    Ron De Santis has been making it ahrder for them to get vaccines, if they want to

    any parent who wants it for their pre-five kids can get it, all four of them

    It is certainly true that we should have controls that prevent infectious people from entering the United States, illegally or legally.

    that has nothing to do with title 42

    i’ve jotted you down as “don’t care”

    I have no idea why you think this is related.

    i don’t know either

    i thought you got worked up about the covid vaccine cuz it helps young kids

    clearly, that’s BS

    like the fake sources you use

    JF (fd46e1)

  330. would you be upset that i’m not upset? sounds like it

    Someone has a thin skin.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  331. Are you okay, JF?

    Dana (1225fc)

  332. Why would Nikki take VP? She’s only 50 and has a decent chance at the top spot, if she doesn’t poison herself with whatever nonsense Trump would get her into if he won a second term. And if he didn’t win and she was in the VP slot, that’s a hard one to come back from to. Why not shoot for the stars right off?

    Especially since the way the GOP works, the runner-up last time has first seen next time.

    Reagan, Bush I, Dole, McCain, Romney all got the nomination their next chance. Yes, Bush was VP, but to a very successful two-term president.

    The VP position is great for the next nomination, but usually the kiss of death in the general elecction, as people want a change. After Reagan, not so much. Before GHW Bush, the last sitting VP to be elected President was Martin Van Buren in 1836.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  333. *first seed

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  334. As far as vaccines are concerned, I really have a more moderate position now, as several claims (from both sides) have been found a bit wanting.

    * The J&J shot (the only non mRNA shot in the US) has been found to be dangerous to young women.

    * The effectiveness of all vaccines against a rapidly mutating disease is less than was hoped. Of course, so is natural immunity as people get sick more than once for similar reasons.

    * Masks kind of help. This cuts both ways. People who routinely wear masks in public tend to do better than those who don’t. Alwo avoidance of non-mask wearers helps. Some.

    * The treatments for the disease are MUCH MUCH better now than they were in April 2020. Back then they just said “go home” or “Here’s your respirator.” Now there’s more choices.

    So, four jabs and considerable care (wearing masks before they made me and for a while after they stopped) and no Covid. Then I went to a convention in late May, didn’t wear a mask, and guess what! It had to happen sometime.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  335. Are you okay, JF?
    Dana (1225fc) — 6/19/2022 @ 5:36 pm

    oh my, the “are you okay?” treatment

    but i’ll assume the concern is genuine

    just enjoying non-birthing person’s day with my family

    the kids have selected a movie I can’t pretend to be interested in, though

    my turn next

    thanks for asking

    JF (fd46e1)

  336. Mr M wrote:

    “Low yield nuke”: yet another fiction. Hiroshima was a lower-yield nuke than either country has in its arsenal today. This is the kind of utter BS that military hotheads tell each other in “I wanna be a general” chatrooms. There is no such thing.

    From Scientific American, March 10, 2022:

    For example, the U.S.’s newest version of its B61 nuclear bomb can release 0.3, 1.5, 10 or 50 kilotons of explosive energy. In comparison, the Hiroshima bomb was about 15 kilotons.

    Russia has low-yield nukes, but the yield figures are not something I could find.

    If the Russians used a nuke inside Ukraine, I would respond conventionally, but in force. Such as sink every last ship they have in the Black Sea with massive air strikes on their Crimean bases. And ask for a Declaration of War.

    So, if Russia uses a nuclear weapon in Ukraine, even just one, you want the United States to declare war on Russia! I can’t say that that seems like a good idea to me.

    The libertarian, but not Libertarian, Dana (b5dccc)

  337. @330. If Trump selected Darling Nikki as VP, MAGAWorld would have a meltdown

    They’d fall in line; for The Donald had made his choice.

    @334. Why would Nikki take VP?

    The experience– and the opportunity. Better to be inside the tent as a winner than outside it in the cold.

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  338. Paul.
    Regarding Kherson, the other prize should be Nova Khakova which is where the diversion dam is that feeds the canal that provides 2/3 of the water to the Crimean Peninsula.

    Some very brave people have been geolocating Russian ammunition storage throughout the seperatist regions. Additionally this has been a great time for Ukraine to attrition the “little green men” forces in the LNR and DNR

    steveg (5f07c4)

  339. @328. Especially as it is not an American conflict, either– on top of how much wealthy modern Europe is slow to if not reneging on promised support. It’s reprehensible. And it’s their backyard- -and their responsibility to manage.

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  340. Mr M wrote:

    So, four jabs and considerable care (wearing masks before they made me and for a while after they stopped) and no Covid. Then I went to a convention in late May, didn’t wear a mask, and guess what! It had to happen sometime.

    Which puts you in the company of Dr Fauxi, four jabs, and now positive for the virus!

    In January, acting Food and Drug Administration head Commissioner Janet Woodcock told the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee that she expected that, eventually, almost everyone would contract the virus. Celebrity doctor Anthony Fauci said that COVID-19 would infect “just about everybody.” Remember: this was during the first Xi Omicron variant, before there was any real spread of the BA.2 Xi Omicron variant, which is, supposedly, even more infectious.

    But note: even with the BA.2 Xi Omicron variant spreading, hospitalizations and deaths are still low, even if they have ticked up slightly, yet the CDC reported that, as of April 12, only 62% of our total population are ‘fully vaccinated.’ While vaccinations are supposed to greatly reduce WuFlu symptoms for those who contract it, one has to ask: why aren’t the 38% who are not vaccinated dropping like flies?

    My guess — and it is a guess — is that many of the unvaccinated were previously exposed, and developed their own immunity. In a situation where Dr Fauxi told us that everyone was going to contract the virus, that’s the only reasonable explanation.

    We have been told that Xi Omicron variant, while more easily transmitted, didn’t make people as sick. That raises the obvious question: did the virus itself mutate into something less virulent, or does it seem less virulent because most people already have some resistance to it?

    I picked up something last December, and my darling bride — of 43 years and one month — a registered nurse who cares for COVID patients said that my symptoms were familiar, that I had the virus. A test at the clinic said that I was negative, and then, a second test, four days later, as my symptoms were almost gone, was again negative. So, either I had some other bug, or the tests were wrong.

    We might as well face it: almost everyone is going to, or already has, contracted the virus. Masking just doesn’t stop it.

    The libertarian, but not Libertarian, Dana (b5dccc)

  341. “you want the United States to declare war on Russia!”

    Kind of depends where they put it: in the Black Sea, in Kyiv, at the Polish border, in the Donbas Region? Does the fallout have a reasonable chance of impacting a NATO country? How much wanton destruction of non-combatants is there? I doubt the U.S. would ever consider responding unilaterally. This would be NATO as a collective….and it would be measured based on Russia’s attack. A lob ball into the Black Sea…to make a point….is going to get a different response than taking out Kyiv.

    There has to be a clear and measured response to the first aggressive use of nuclear force in 77 years. The Russian people will need to understand that this will take them from Rogue to Pariah. The bright light will be on China who will not want to become the bad guy amd wreck its economy to support Putin’s dream of empire. Personally, I don’t see Putin going down that path when he still has a chance to pull out a small win in the Donbas and avoid a coup.

    AJ_Liberty (411e90)

  342. DCSCA wrote:

    Especially as it is not an American conflict, either– on top of how much wealthy modern Europe is slow to if not reneging on promised support. It’s reprehensible. And it’s their backyard- -and their responsibility to manage.

    The whole purpose of the North Atlantic Treaty was to make any European war an American war as well. The Europeans remembered how we didn’t enter World War I until 1917, and World War II until December of 1941.

    But the North Atlantic Treaty was signed in April of 1949, when the Red Army was huge but the USSR had no nuclear weapons, and wasn’t projected to have its first atomic bomb for another five or more years. The Soviets tested their first atomic bomb four months later.

    The NATO alliance was aimed at getting the nation with the only large atomic arsenal involved to deter a huge conventional military, and it made sense . . . back then. With the Warsaw Pact ‘buffer’ nations, it’s arguable that it still made sense for a long time. But with the break-up of the Soviet Union, and the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact, followed by many of the Warsaw Pact nations joining NATO, I believe that the NATO alliance no longer makes sense. We’re no longer talking about Soviet tanks spilling through the Fulda Gap into West Germany, but defending small nations like Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, right on the border with Russia. We are committed to go to war with Russia if the Russians invade Latvia, and all three of the Baltic States put together are slightly smaller than Missouri.

    Russia taking over Riga is not, to me, worth going to war with a nation which has a strategic nuclear arsenal.

    The libertarian, but not Libertarian, Dana (b5dccc)

  343. ” and Hillary walks into the Oval as POTUS”

    This is insane. Clinton is soon to be 75. She was a horrible campaigner in 2016….horrible. She isn’t getting younger and more likeable. Her time…if she had one….was in 2008, when she had the energy.

    That and I just don’t see Biden coming back. He’s shaking hands with invisible people….that’s not a good sign. It may work if you’re Jimmy Stewart. Biden is no Stewart.

    Mark Warner and Tim Kaine both have been governor, are Senators, and are in their 60’s. The DEMs will likely pick one and round out the ticket with someone from the midwest not named Hillary. Probably not AOC…maybe Buttigieg..probably not Gabbard…maybe a Castro…Klobuchar might get induced….Oprah wouldn’t take the 2nd slot.

    AJ_Liberty (411e90)

  344. Mr Liberty wrote:

    (So, if Russia uses a nuclear weapon in Ukraine, even just one,) “you want the United States to declare war on Russia!”

    Kind of depends where they put it: in the Black Sea, in Kyiv, at the Polish border, in the Donbas Region? Does the fallout have a reasonable chance of impacting a NATO country? How much wanton destruction of non-combatants is there? I doubt the U.S. would ever consider responding unilaterally. This would be NATO as a collective….and it would be measured based on Russia’s attack. A lob ball into the Black Sea…to make a point….is going to get a different response than taking out Kyiv.

    Sorry, but I just don’t see Ukraine, or Poland, or the Baltic States, as worth an increased chance of getting New York City nuked. Quite frankly, I don’t see Germany as worth getting Philadelphia destroyed.

    Once the nuclear use starts, regardless of how ‘minor’ it is, a line has been crossed, one which takes us into not very controllable territory. In a tit-for-tat ‘small’ nuclear exchange, someone has to either give up quickly, or it gets worse and worse and worse. How many “worse” steps does it take before we kill everybody?

    The libertarian, but not Libertarian, Dana (b5dccc)

  345. There has to be a clear and measured response to the first aggressive use of nuclear force in 77 years. The Russian people will need to understand that this will take them from Rogue to Pariah.

    Seems you missed the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, AJ. Read and LEARN SOMETHING…

    Second Captain Vasili Alexandrovich Arkhipov of the Soviet Navy likely SAVED the frigging world:

    https://www.atomicheritage.org/history/nuclear-close-calls-cuban-missile-crisis

    The B-59 Submarine

    Perhaps the most dangerous moment of the Cuban Missile Crisis came on October 27, when U.S. Navy warships enforcing the blockade attempted to surface the Soviet B-59 submarine. It was one of four submarines sent from the Soviet Union to Cuba, all of which were detected and three of which were eventually forced to surface. The diesel-powered B-59 had lost contact with Moscow for several days, and thus was not informed of the escalating crisis. With its air conditioning broken and battery failing, temperatures inside the submarine were above 100ºF. Crew members fainted from heat exhaustion and rising carbon dioxide levels.

    American warships tracking the submarine dropped depth charges on either side of the B-59 as a warning. The crew, unaware of the blockade, thought that perhaps war had been declared. Vadim Orlov, an intelligence officer aboard the submarine, recalled how the American ships “surrounded us and started to tighten the circle, practicing attacks and dropping depth charges. They exploded right next to the hull. It felt like you were sitting in a metal barrel, which somebody is constantly blasting with a sledgehammer.”

    Unbeknownst to the Americans, the B-59 was equipped with a T-5 nuclear-tipped torpedo. It was capable of a blast equivalent to 10 kilotons of TNT, roughly two-thirds the strength of the bomb dropped on Hiroshima. Firing without a direct order from Moscow, however, required the consent of all three senior officers on board. Orlov remembered Captain Valentin Savitsky shouting, “We’re going to blast them now! We will die, but we will sink them all—we will not disgrace our Navy!” Political officer Ivan Semonovich Maslennikov agreed that they should launch the torpedo.

    The last remaining officer, Second Captain Vasili Alexandrovich Arkhipov, dissented. They did not know for sure that the ship was under attack, he argued. Why not surface and then await orders from Moscow? In the end, Arkhipov’s view prevailed. The B-59 surfaced near the American warships and the submarine set off north to return to the Soviet Union without incident. … After the end of the Cold War, Russian officials revealed that 162 nuclear weapons were stationed in Cuba when the crisis broke out.’

    =mike-drop=

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  346. Mr Liberty wrote:

    Mark Warner and Tim Kaine both have been governor, are Senators, and are in their 60’s. The DEMs will likely pick one and round out the ticket with someone from the midwest not named Hillary. Probably not AOC…maybe Buttigieg..probably not Gabbard…maybe a Castro…Klobuchar might get induced….Oprah wouldn’t take the 2nd slot.

    No sitting vice president has been denied his party’s presidential nomination, if he wanted it, since Alben Barkley in 1952. And it would be raaaaacist to pick an old white guy over Kamala Emhoff!

    The libertarian, but not Libertarian, Dana (b5dccc)

  347. I had the strangest dream about Putin, Biden, and Trump, in a diner.

    yeah, I know. You’re not wrong.

    felipe (484255)

  348. I’m not arguing a nuclear response (see my upthread comment)….but NATO has to do something if Putin takes out Kyiv (which I see as an extreme longshot — nuking the place is a last resort…not a first choice). NATO has to do something if fallout drifts into Poland. Again, ratchet up sanctions and step on China to isolate Russia. Any conventional attack would follow the full court diplomatic press and hopeful back channel Moscow coup.

    Saying “please sir, may I have another” is a sure loser response.

    AJ_Liberty (411e90)

  349. “And it would be raaaaacist to pick an old white guy over Kamala”

    Kamala gets AG. Her numbers are awful. No one likes her. Yes, she can grow in 2 years, but she’s not sharp enough. DEMs will have a hard enough time holding serve. She might run but she won’t get traction. The electorate will smell a loser….just like Dan Quayle wasn’t going anywhere

    AJ_Liberty (411e90)

  350. @348. Well, NATO deterrence has worked. It’s a defensive alliance, not an offensive alliance. And any moves to make it appear offensive stirs Russian angst. Spy games aside, no NATO nation territory has been officially violated. OTOH, cdealing w/t third land European war in 110 years- this one outside of a NATO territory– is an issue for wealthy modern Europe to confront w/their own military and diplomatic resources– if not through UN channels, not the direct financial and military resources at the expense of the debt riddled United States and U.S. taxpayer base– especially after hot land wars WW1, WW2– and the Cold War– particularly when the quality of life is better in Dusseldorf than in Detroit.

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  351. So, if Russia uses a nuclear weapon in Ukraine, even just one, you want the United States to declare war on Russia! I can’t say that that seems like a good idea to me.

    It’s a non-starter anyway: the lesson is right in front of Russia: Chernobyl.

    Putin’s no dummy; pretty useless irradiating a region w/atomic waste you want to control and occupy.

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  352. I suspect the WH is busy working up their response to Putin sabotaging JB’s bike. They’ll figure out a response to a nuke after that.

    frosty (aea3ae)

  353. @355 KH didn’t make it to the primaries in 2020. She won’t be able to do anything that involves setting up a real campaign.

    frosty (aea3ae)

  354. The democrats are making the case in the media that trump and his followers are a clear and present danger to are democratic republic. If they are a threat to our democratic republic you would want to stop the danger wouldn’t you? You would at the very least arrest trump and as many of his followers as necessary wouldn’t you? The top military doesn’t like trump so they wont stand in the way. Same with big tech, wall street and main stream media.

    asset (4fe7ff)

  355. @355 It wouldn’t be racist to pick a young latinx.

    asset (4fe7ff)

  356. Which puts you in the company of Dr Fauxi, four jabs, and now positive for the virus!

    Four jabs, doing something stupid, then (predictably) the virus. Can’t speak for Fauci.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  357. We might as well face it: almost everyone is going to, or already has, contracted the virus. Masking just doesn’t stop it.

    Maybe yes, maybe no.

    I didn’t mask at this convention. Others who I hung out with did, and they did not get it. It’s called “correlation” and isn’t proof, but it does all tend to go one way.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  358. For example, the U.S.’s newest version of its B61 nuclear bomb can release 0.3, 1.5, 10 or 50 kilotons of explosive energy. In comparison, the Hiroshima bomb was about 15 kilotons.

    Fifteen kilotons of TNT is a huge fukking explosion. YOu can say that it’s “low yield” compared to Tsara Bomba or the Chicxulub impactor, but it will utterly destroy any given 10 square miles.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  359. So, if Russia uses a nuclear weapon in Ukraine, even just one, you want the United States to declare war on Russia! I can’t say that that seems like a good idea to me.

    Did NOT say it was a good idea. I said there WERE no good ideas at that point. But it is a better bad idea than saying “Oh, I guess we were bluffing all along! Let’s pack it up and go home and let the monster eat Europe.”

    If Putin uses a nuke, ti would make him crazier than Stalin. If we actually thought he was crazier than Stalin, we should kill him ASAP.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  360. Putin’s no dummy; pretty useless irradiating a region w/atomic waste you want to control and occupy.

    You make a rash assumption there. Who says he cares about that? Maybe he just wants them all dead and a radioactive dead zone between Russia and the West.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  361. but NATO has to do something if Putin takes out Kyiv

    This is nonsense.

    1. Kyiv is in Ukraine which is NOT a member of NATO.

    2. The EU and/or UN are the forums to address any such actions as it is a regional conflict outside the bounds of NATO member territories and not a violation of Article 5, which would draw the U.S. directly into the conflict.

    DCSCA (47b934)

  362. @349 Blacks don’t like gays thats why buttigeig campaign died after Iowa. AOC has the left, millenials and latinx. Black find her acceptable especially with stacy abrams as her veep.

    asset (4fe7ff)

  363. DCCCP: “This is nonsense.”

    Thanks for prepping us for what followed it.

    AJ_Liberty (411e90)

  364. “AOC has the left, millenials and latinx.”

    She should try and beat Schumer first and demonstrate an ability to win an actual state, instead of just an insulated liberal district enclave. She has no executive experience and she has soooo many whacky progressive ideas — people won’t vote for the Green New Deal. She doesn’t have Obama’s gift of gab. She has no foreign policy chops. She’ll scare the hell out of most moderates…who won’t vote for her just because she’s perky. She’s barely eligible and will be cast as a lightweight.

    AJ_Liberty (411e90)

  365. This is nonsense.

    It’s nice that DCSCA is now announcing his comments’ value.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  366. So, Columbia is now joining the Nicarauga-Venezuela path to ruin. Pity the younger generation of Colombians, they will pay for this mistake for decades.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  367. Blacks don’t like gays thats why buttigeig campaign died after Iowa

    White gay men have used black men through economic oppression since forever. Before AIDS, Haiti was a popular gay vacation spot (wanna guess why?). Then, somehow, AIDS struck Haiti and the band played on.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  368. AOC has the left, millenials and latinx. Black find her acceptable especially with stacy abrams as her veep.

    Again, the poor dumb young people who will have their futures destroyed before they realize their mistake.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  369. Texas Republicans Approve Far-Right Platform Declaring Biden’s Election Illegitimate
    The Republican Party in Texas made a series of far-right declarations as part of its official party platform over the weekend, claiming that President Biden was not legitimately elected, issuing a “rebuke” to Senator John Cornyn for his work on bipartisan gun legislation and referring to homosexuality as “an abnormal lifestyle choice.”

    The resolutions about Mr. Biden and Mr. Cornyn were approved by a voice vote of the delegates, according to James Wesolek, the communications director for the Republican Party of Texas. ……..

    The resolutions adopting the false claims that former President Donald J. Trump was the victim of a stolen election in 2020 as well as the other declarations were the latest examples of Texas Republicans moving further to the right in recent months. …….
    ……..
    …….. On Friday, Mr. Cornyn — a key negotiator in the gun talks with Democrats — was booed by convention goers during a speech in which he tried to assure Republicans that the new legislation would not infringe on the rights of gun owners.

    The state party’s resolution embracing the baseless 2020 stolen-election claims stated that “substantial election fraud in key metropolitan areas significantly affected the results in five key states in favor of” Mr. Biden. The state party, the resolution continued, rejected “the certified results of the 2020 Presidential election, and we hold that acting President Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. was not legitimately elected by the people of the United States.”
    ………
    Jamie Haynes, 47, a Republican delegate who lives in the Texas Panhandle with her husband and who says that, together, they own “a lot of guns,” said the boos directed at Mr. Cornyn showed there was a “resounding strong opinion that Republicans do not want their gun rights shaved — not just taken away — but even just shaved in any form.”

    The resolution rebuking Mr. Cornyn that passed at the convention opposed red flag laws, which allow guns to be seized from people deemed to be dangerous. Those laws, according to the resolution, “violate one’s right to due process and are a pre-crime punishment of people not adjudicated guilty.”
    ……….

    Rip Murdock (5f14f9)

  370. @370 They said worse about trump even reagan and they got elected.

    asset (4fe7ff)

  371. @371. Now, now, Kev, don’t project, oh Grand Guesstimator of Nuclear Weapons Explosive Yield Calibration for the United Federation of Planets and Gift Shoppe Cashier at Los Alamos, New Mexico.

    DCSCA (211823)

  372. @369. Thanks for prepping us for what followed it.

    If only you’d follow suit, AJ. Stores still open late; get that La-Z-Boy!

    DCSCA (211823)

  373. You make a rash assumption there. Who says he cares about that?

    Projecting again, Kev; who says he doesn’t: apparently only you.

    So he’ll build those summer dachas in Chernobyl, sip atomic cocktails by the radioactive water containment pool and throw caution to the winds- along w/clouds of radioactive fallout– to fertilize most of the breadbasket of Eastern Europe, flavor the drinking water of NATO environs with radioactive dust– and watch the continent and adjoining lakes and seas glow in the dark for a thousand years.

    DCSCA (211823)

  374. @372 Young people have been dying in columbia by the thousands probably hundreds of thousands with the extermination of indiginous people under capitalism with the help of cia drug dealers. Where do you think ollie north and eden pastore got their dope to finance their war on nicuragua. Ever here of iran-contra and bill casey’s secret plan to finance the contra by selling crack to black school children. Bringing it in thru mena arkansas while bubba was governor. Read gary webb’s dark alliance who committed suicide by shooting himself in the head four times! If drug capitalism was so great the people wouldn;t have voted it out in their first fair election. Same with venezuela. Nicuragua voted out the sandanistas with the help of the cia then voted them back in when capitalism failed them again. The illegal aliens come from el salvador (which just bankrupted itself with crypto under good capitalist speculation of the wealthy) honduras and guatamala. All cia installed capitalist drug government. Funny you only talk about the millions who have died under communism calling socialism ;but not the millions more who have died under capitalism saying only the capitalism you like counts not the capitalism you don’t like.

    asset (4fe7ff)

  375. @349. Except it’s not. You’re projecting again, AJ. Lest you forget, HRC rec’d more of the popular vote than the Orange Man you despise; she wouldn’t have to campaign much at all nor raise any significant campaign funds- depending on the timing she gets tagged it and the Eagleton dump is given to Kamala; has a solid resume loaded w/accolades; SoS, Senator, First Lady, Grammy winner… [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_awards_and_honors_received_by_Hillary_Clinton] 😉 to make Harris more tongue-tied than ever. She’d jump at the VP brass ring- a mere heartbeat away, w/a POTUS having one foot out the door and the other in a pine box. She’d waltz into the Oval w/minimal hassle to the vindication of the popular voters denied in 2016 and the cheers of aging feminists everywhere. And if you don’t believe Bubba talked about this w/Joey a few months back, there’s a bridge to Brooklyn priced just for you.

    DCSCA (211823)

  376. @375: Imagine what would happen to a Democrat Senator who was open to curtailing abortion rights. The 2nd A is the same third rail to the GOP base.

    The Lost Election crap though …. if there is a single way for the GOP to demonstrate they cannot govern, it is this way.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  377. They said worse about trump even reagan and they got elected.

    Reagan was governor of California for 8 years. And a successful one, too. Also the most successful president of my lifetime. Perhaps a low bar.

    I’ll spot you Trump. The man is a clown.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  378. One of the saddest things in the world is that each new generation has to learn all over again that Socialism cannot work, and particularly not in a developing country.

    It was never capitalism that was the problem in Latin America, it was the horrible, no good, rotten and corrupt legacy of feudal Spanish rule: A few rich families and the rest just toys for the rich families.

    True capitalism (free enterprise) has been the engine of progress in the world for 250 years. Everywhere that has tried it (including post-Mao China) has seen its incredible power in creating wealth. But a corrupt system on top of it (aka crony capitalism), which prevents FREE enterprise and just keeps everything in the hands of a few, destroys most of the incentives.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  379. @384 As I said You say socialism/venzeula not denmark. I say capitalism=el salvador/haiti you say crony/drug capitalism is not capitalism. If it was doing so great here global warming wouldn’t be such a problem and we wouldn’t have mass incarceration and homeless people every where. We are becoming the capitalist version of venezuela with sky rocketing inflation and empty shelves.

    asset (4fe7ff)

  380. “They said worse about trump even reagan and they got elected.”

    As Kevin said, Reagan was a two-term governor (executive experience) who was a great communicator, who built his popularity over time.

    Trump ran against a tragically flawed Hillary Clinton and still lost the popular vote. He also didn’t say, I’m going to double your taxes…..which is what will need to happen if we want to become a nordic economy and provide free health care, schooling, and leave while tightly regulating the energy sector. And as Sweden shows, this high rate of taxation also applies to the lower income earners.

    The tradeoff is security versus freedom and maybe in Denmark, a country of less than 6M in a land area half the size of South Carolina, this sells. But even there there has been pull back from the 1970’s welfare model to more free market reforms and limits on government handouts.
    https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/10/27/nordic-countries-not-socialist-denmark-norway-sweden-centrist/

    Trump’s populism got repudiated in 2020. He lost to a dinosaur with the charisma of tapioca. Yes it was close, but in a binary system there was a lot of nose holding. The country isn’t going to rush to make someone President who looks like she could (and should) still be tending bar. Trump presented the allusion of being a titan of industry, understanding business, and running a business empire. AOC has no such gravitas. She’s a bartender who wants to take a shot at indirectly running the world’s biggest economy. I don’t think we’re at a point where we’re ready to turn the car keys over to the equivalent of a 10yr old.

    AJ_Liberty (411e90)

  381. It was never capitalism that was the problem in Latin America, it was the horrible, no good, rotten and corrupt legacy of feudal Spanish rule: A few rich families and the rest just toys for the rich families.

    New York State may have also been similarly predisposed to less-capitalism from the 1600s get-go vis a vis the patroon system.

    urbanleftbehind (2b999d)

  382. I do agree Biden is too old to run again, and in general is pretty out to lunch. Dems have no viable candidates for ’24 that I can see. But re: Biden “shaking hands with someone who wasn’t there,” he wasn’t. Most of the vids purporting to show him doing so are zoomed-in-on and edited. If you watch a few minutes of an unedited video, he’s making eye contact with someone off camera, trying to figure out where he should go after having finished a speech. He gestures with his hand a couple of times in the course of it.

    JRH (75abca)

  383. As I said You say socialism/venzeula not denmark. I say capitalism=el salvador/haiti you say crony/drug capitalism is not capitalism. If it was doing so great here global warming wouldn’t be such a problem and we wouldn’t have mass incarceration and homeless people every where. We are becoming the capitalist version of venezuela with sky rocketing inflation and empty shelves.

    asset (4fe7ff) — 6/20/2022 @ 2:39 am

    Global warming isn’t a problem. It’s a method of control. Leftists think you can rob Peter to give to Paul and Peter will always accept it. We are becoming Venezuela thanks to allowing communists to control our production processes and leftists preventing us from having energy independence.

    P.S. there’s no such thing as Latinx. It doesn’t exist in the Spanish language.

    NJRob (d9d262)

  384. P.S. there’s no such thing as [ ]. It doesn’t exist in the Spanish language.
    NJRob (d9d262) — 6/20/2022 @ 6:31 am

    TY, NJRob. I detest the very idea.

    felipe (484255)

  385. i like asset

    an honest lefty

    unlike so many commenters here

    JF (12ca12)

  386. “trying to figure out where he should go after having finished a speech”

    @388, OK I’ll concede, Biden wasn’t acknowledging his speech advisor Harvey. But Joe consistently looks lost and doddering….and makes speech gaffes that a sharper mind should catch. No, I’m not drifting into DCSCA hystrionics, but the imagery does not inspire confidence and vitality….and it’s a hard one to sell to the country.

    AJ_Liberty (411e90)

  387. The next hearng of the Jan 6 committee will be tomorrow, Tuesday, at 1pm and will focus on efforts by Trump (and some others) to get states to change the winner of their Electoral votes, both before they were certified and after even they voted.

    Sammy Finkelman (b434ee)

  388. HRC knows she has no hope of winning, and many other Democrats think she would be a terrible choice.

    If Joe Biden does not run in the 2024 election, Kamala Harris will be out, too unless he drops out very late in the game. She will no more be interested in a Cabinet position than Rochard Nixon was in 1955/6. And now under campaign laws, Cabinet members cannot campaign or raise money – they would have to resign at least about two years before the presidential election. It would be hard for Joe Biden to replace her involuntarily, with another vice president – he generally doesn’t have the political courage to do something like that.

    Although the 2020 election may not measure as a significant factor in polls now (because people expect normalcy) Donald Trump will be in a great deal of trouble if he runs and also any other Republican who does not acknowledge that the 2020 election was not stolen from Trump. People don’t want the slightest hint of a repeat or a desire to subvert the election process.

    Sammy Finkelman (b434ee)

  389. The Jan 6 committee is divided on whether or not to make a formal criminal referral (the legal theory is that Trump’s acts, eevn without being responsible for the riot, amount to obstructing a governmental proceeding and some of actions could be considered fraud, even though the Supreme Court has been active in limiting the definition of fraud, rather than stretching the term. The fake electoral votes were not a species of fraud. Nobody was being fooled about any facts, or even about the law..

    They also don;t want to make interview transcripts available to DOJ until about Septemeber — they don;t want to limit what they do. (as might be considered proper y some while a DOJ investigation is going on)

    There have been misleading leaks about Ginni Thiomas. \Shewas notthe source of any leak about how the justices o the Supreme Court might deal with election/

    Sammy Finkelman (b434ee)

  390. Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 6/19/2022 @ 8:59 pm

    Then, somehow, AIDS struck Haiti and the band played on.

    People from French speaking Africa went there too, and there were a lot of people in Haiti who sold blood – Unlike the United States since about 1961 (because of hepatitus) they reused needles when donating blood.

    Sammy Finkelman (b434ee)

  391. And as Sweden shows, this high rate of taxation also applies to the lower income earners.

    It is hilarious the way that low-income “socialists” (people who want “their share” of other people’s money) think that the tax man won’t come to their door, too.

    Even if you took every last dime from the top 10% in this country, you couldn’t pay for what Bernie and AOC want. You’d also ensure a Greater Depression, which would be called “Bad Luck.”

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  392. Was busy this weekend at my dad and uncles 90th. Did they catch the leaker?

    mg (8a7e68)

  393. Michael Weiss again channels his “Estonian analyst” source, updating Putin’s War Against Ukraine.
    Bottom line, Seiveirodonetsk is less strategically important than Kherson, and Ukraine is making advances in the latter. That, and the Ukrainians can use more military aid to kill more Russian fascist invaders and destroy their stuff.

    Paul Montagu (5de684)

  394. News from lalaland.

    Affordable housing in California now routinely tops $1 million per apartment to build

    More than half a dozen affordable housing projects in California are costing more than $1 million per apartment to build, a record-breaking sum that makes it harder to house the growing numbers of low-income Californians who need help paying rent, a Times review of state data found.

    The seven subsidized housing developments, all in Northern California, received state funding within the last two years and are under construction or close to breaking ground. When completed, they will provide homes for more than 600 families.

    But their exorbitant price tags mean that taxpayers are subsidizing fewer apartments than they otherwise could while waiting lists of renters needing affordable housing continue to grow.

    Among the added costs are legal, bureaucratic and financial consultants, “prevailing wage” union scales, Green certification, high parking area ratios and a need to get funding from as many as five separate state agencies.

    All these projects are in the Bay Area, but projects in SoCal are climbing quickly towards the million-dollar figure, too.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  395. Did Trump admit he lost the 2020 election? (As he should have, of course.) That’s the claim now being made in many places, for example, here:

    Alyssa Farah Griffin, a former White House aide, told CNN that she heard Trump privately admit that he lost the election — though he wasn’t happy about it.

    “Can you believe I lost to this guy?” Trump blurted out as he watched Biden on TV, while Griffin overheard, she said.

    Unfortunately, unless there was more, that “blurt” is ambivalent. It could easily be followed by, for example, “I can’t”, as well as an honest admission of defeat. Which would be best for America, and might even keep Trump out of prison.

    (Does Trump know he was defeated, or is he in fantasy land? I wish I knew the answer to that, though I am inclined to say yes.

    But, I have to admit that Trump often reminds me of Calvin in the comic strip Calvin and Hobbes, where Calvin lives much of the time in a fantasy, as little kids often do. There are lines in that strip that could come directly from Trump, like Calvin’s claim to be a genius.)

    Jim Miller (406a93)

  396. NJRob: “Global warming isn’t a problem”

    Dorian Abbot is the climate scientist at Univ of Chicago who got in trouble with statements about diversity/Inclusion and higher education recruitment. Though he’s politically a centrist, he’s written a pretty compelling piece (linked) about the nature of climate science and potential conservative solutions. It’s worth a read

    https://thechicagothinker.com/conservation-is-conservative/

    Also, if you’re interested in learning more about his tussle with MIT and free speech, check this out

    https://thedispatch.com/p/mits-free-speech-crisis-a-retrospective

    AJ_Liberty (ec7f74)

  397. @392. Projecting again, AJ. Sad.

    Perception is reality.

    DCSCA (fcf437)

  398. Jay Matthews, who writes on education for the Washington Post, recommends a new book on a voc-tech success:

    The new book on this issue is “Hands-On Achievement: Massachusetts’s National Model Vocational-Technical Schools,” edited by Chris Sinacola and David J. Ferreira and published by the free-market think tank Pioneer Institute. It has many surprises.

    Public high schools advertising themselves as models of vocational and academic instruction have often been weak in both areas. But Massachusetts has made great strides since its 1993 Education Reform Act required that vocational students be taught with the same academic standards and tests used by regular public schools.
    . . . .
    By 2008, 96 percent of students at voc-tech schools were passing both the English and math portions of the state tests, better than the 94 percent statewide passing rate.

    (Book link omitted.)

    Who was governor of Masschusetts when this reform was passed? Bill Weld, who is no ordinary politician. (Libertarians and libertarians like him; social conservatives don’t.)

    (Matthews doesn’t discuss this — there are word limits on columns — but I wonder how much the concentration of colleges and universities in Massachusetts contributes to the education successes there.)

    Jim Miller (406a93)

  399. Perhaps you’d be interested in learning more about The Dispatch, instead; a nest of Weekly Standard flameouts from Kristol’s defunct, never profitable, conservative rag: The Weekly Standard; Just a bunch of Never-Trumper outcasts on the bottom of the deck. It’s 2022: they’re… irrelevant.

    DCSCA (fcf437)

  400. Mr. Theiner has a good and long historical thread about why Europe (apparently except for France and Germany) has an abiding dislike and distrust of Putin’s Russia, along with his imperialism that is scarcely different from Soviet Russia.

    Paul Montagu (5de684)

  401. 394. HRC knows she has no hope of winning, and many other Democrats think she would be a terrible choice.

    She won the popular vote in 2016, Sammy.

    Besides, she’s already said she’s not running for POTUS in 2024. She did not say was she would reject the VPOTUS spot. No primaries, minimal raising, an Eagleton dump of Harris and she’s hoisted aboard as a solid, experienced back-up to frail old Joey, w/a killer resume and experience compared to lightweight Kamala. If the party calls, HRC will answer. And if Biden loses, it’s all on him- as usual- the top of the ticket.

    DCSCA (fcf437)

  402. GOP Senate candidate releases ‘RINO hunting’ ad aimed at fellow Republicans
    …….
    “We’re going RINO hunting,” a shotgun-toting Greitens, with a handgun holstered at his side, says before bursting into a house with the men in tactical gear, one of whom throws what appears to be a flash-bang grenade.

    “Get a RINO hunting permit. There’s no bagging limit, no tagging limit and it doesn’t expire until we save our country,” he says at the end of the video, which encourages donors to pay $25 for a “RINO hunting” sticker.

    Earlier in the video, Greitens, who resigned as Missouri governor in 2018 amid a sexual misconduct scandal and a campaign finance felony charge that was later dropped, says “the RINO feeds on corruption and is marked by the stripes of cowardice.”

    David Lapan, a retired Marine colonel and former Dept. of Defense and Homeland Security spokesman, tweeted that Greitens, a former Navy SEAL, “has dishonored himself, his oath, and the Navy. This clear call for violence against his political opponents, using military images, is depraved & dangerous.”
    ……..
    In March, Greitens’ ex-wife alleged in court documents that the candidate had abused her and their young son while they were married, including knocking her down and confiscating her cellphone.

    Greitens called the allegations “fabricated” and “baseless.”
    ………

    Keeping it classy! The RCP average has Greitens at +3.5.

    Rip Murdock (5f14f9)

  403. #400 Kevin, do you have any info on where the additional costs come from? Even rough guesses would be helpful.

    (In the Seattle area, a substantial part of the increased costs comes from our “Growth Management Act”. Briefly, it makes it difficult to build much new housing outside Seattle and the older Seattle suburbs.)

    Jim Miller (406a93)

  404. https://www.instituteforenergyresearch.org/fossil-fuels/gas-and-oil/will-any-new-refineries-be-built-in-the-united-states/

    Chevron CEO Mike Wirth does not expect another oil refinery to be built in the United States ever again, due to federal government policies. The last significant refinery built in the United States was in 1976. (A small refinery came online in 2020 in North Dakota). Over the last two years, due to reduced demand from the pandemic and Presidnt Biden’s stated policy to reduce the demand for petroleum products, U.S. refineries have been shut down or repurposed to become biofuel refineries. In a business where investments have a payout period of a decade or more, it is unlikely for investment to be spent on policies where the demand is to be reduced. Wirth stated rhetorically, “How do you go to your board, how do you go to your shareholders and say ‘we’re going to spend billions of dollars on new capacity in a market that is, you know, the policy is taking you in the other direction.”

    The average price for a gallon of gasoline in the United States hit a new record high of $4.865 on June 6, 2022, according to the latest data from AAA, and oil prices are close to $120 per barrel. The United States is grappling with soaring gasoline prices that were already climbing in 2021 amid increased demand and reduced supply from Biden’s anti-oil and gas policies that were exacerbated by Western sanctions imposed on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine. Refining margins are at historically high levels amid lower supplies from Russia and surging demand for gasoline and diesel around the world with less U.S. refineries to produce them. The high margins are incentivizing refineries to produce as much as they can, despite rapidly escalating natural gas prices contributing to its costs. And while existing refiners are doing it, it is not enough.

    NJRob (eb56c3)

  405. When stupid, idiotic, brain-dead conservatives drop a grenade down their shorts:

    House conservatives unveil budget proposal to counter Biden’s spending plans

    The plan would cut current projections for Medicaid spending by $2.5 trillion while reducing other health program spending, including Medicaid, by $3.3 trillion — a move RSC members argue will help keep the programs solvent.

    Discretionary spending would also see a substantial cut, with the plan calling for a $3.5 trillion reduction. [And raise SS qualification to age 69 BTW.] Chairman Jim Banks (R-Ind.) touted its ability to balance the budget in less than a decade and provisions to curb government funding from being spent on abortions. “The American people are begging for fiscal conservative leadership and the Republican Study Committee is giving them just that, our budget balances and five years it’s the most pro-life budget RSC has ever put forward,” he told The Post.

    https://nypost.com/2021/05/19/house-gop-unveil-counter-proposal-to-bidens-spending-plans/

    Brain-dead. These are the same stupid idiots who just gave $51 billion to non-taxpaying, non-U.S. citizens in UKRAINE and now want to hurt Americans.

    Storm the castle.

    DCSCA (b2496d)

  406. Biden says he’s considering a gasoline tax holiday

    REHOBOTH BEACH, Del. (AP) — President Joe Biden said Monday that he’s considering a federal holiday on the gasoline tax, possibly saving U.S. consumers as much as 18.4 cents a gallon.

    “Yes, I’m considering it,” Biden told reporters after taking a walk along the beach. “I hope to have a decision based on the data — I’m looking for by the end of the week.”

    The administration is increasingly looking for ways to spare the public from higher prices at the pump, which began to climb last year and surged after Russia invaded Ukraine in February. Gas prices nationwide are averaging just under $5 a gallon, according to AAA.

    It’s a Monday. A business day. The rest of America is at work. Get your bruised, boney ass off the beach bike and on the way back to Washington and park it at your desk and do your job. IDIOT.

    Storm the castle.

    DCSCA (b2496d)

  407. 411, true dat, DC. Seems less like those anti-47%ers prefer another Floridian lizard GOPer, Rick Scott.

    urbanleftbehind (2b999d)

  408. @408

    Keeping it classy! The RCP average has Greitens at +3.5.

    Rip Murdock (5f14f9) — 6/20/2022 @ 9:45 am

    Not voting for that clown. (read his ex-wife’s current deposition, the man is unhinged).

    Eric Schmitt all the way!

    August 2nd can’t come fast enough.

    whembly (7e0293)

  409. Trump trashes Rep. Kevin McCarthy for ‘very, very foolish decision’ to shun Jan. 6 committee
    ……
    “Unfortunately, a bad decision was made. This Committee – it was a bad decision not to have representation on this Committee,” Trump told far-right-wing podcast host Wayne Allyn Root. “That was a very, very foolish decision.”

    Trump appeared to concede that it was a huge blunder to cede total control of the committee to his political enemies, effectively giving him no way to influence the proceedings.

    “When you get into the inner workings of it, you say: ‘What is this?’” Trump added. “It’s a one-sided witch hunt.”
    ……..
    When Pelosi rejected pro-Trump supporters, McCarthy gambled on withdrawing all picks from the panel, allowing Democrats to replace Trump supporters with staunch #NeverTrump Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) and Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.)

    McCarthy’s gambit completely backfired as the committee, with no Trump supporters to hinder its probe, has proven to be extremely effective.
    ………
    McCarthy originally blamed Trump for inciting the riot. But he soon sought to bury the hatchet with the most powerful man in the GOP, who holds the key to McCarthy’s dream of becoming House Speaker if Republicans regain control of the House in the midterm elections.
    ……….

    Related:

    Trump says he hasn’t endorsed McCarthy for Speaker

    Rip Murdock (14415d)

  410. Facebook: Greitens’ ‘RINO hunting’ video violates standards
    Facebook on Monday removed a campaign video by a U.S. Senate candidate in Missouri for violating “policies prohibiting violence and incitement,” because the ad showed the Republican brandishing a shotgun and declaring that he was hunting RINOs, or Republicans in Name Only.
    ……
    Facebook wasn’t the only social media company that took action. Twitter said Greitens’ post violated its rules about abusive behavior but said it was leaving it up because it was in the “public’s interest” for the tweet to be viewable. The company’s move prevented the post from being shared any further.

    Greitens’ campaign did not address the action taken by the two social media companies.

    “If anyone doesn’t get the metaphor, they are either lying or dumb,” campaign manager Dylan Johnson said in a brief emailed statement.
    ………..

    Rip Murdock (14415d)

  411. another day in Portlandistan, democrat utopia

    at least they’ve stopped burning down federal courthouses

    score one for demented joe

    JF (e5a9f4)

  412. #415

    If McCarthy had appointed GOP representatives for the Committee, Trump would be bashing him and the flying monkeys would be flinging poo at him. But this is funny to watch — pass me popcorn, please.

    My honest thought is that the one-sided one-six committee is less effective because of its one-sidedness. Every hearing sounds like a prosecutor’s opening statement rather than an actual hearing. Jim Jordan would have annoyed me, but his arguments would have been put out there for some prime time refutation.

    Appalled (1a17de)

  413. Amid Jan. 6 testimony, Trump stalwarts jump aboard new conspiracy theories
    …….
    …….(I)nstead of convincing Trump’s most stalwart supporters, testimony from former Atty. Gen. Bill Barr and Trump’s daughter Ivanka about the election and the attack on the U.S. Capitol is prompting many of them to simply reassert their views that the former president was correct in his false claim of victory.
    …….
    Following (Barr’s) testimony, many Trump supporters using sites like Reddit, GETTR and Telegram blasted Barr as a turncoat and noted that he’s disputed Trump’s election claims before.
    ………
    One post that spread widely in the last week suggested Barr was paid by Dominion Voting Systems, a company targeted by Trump and his supporters with baseless claims of vote rigging. “From 2009 to 2018,” the post read, “DOMINION PAID BARR $1.2 million in cash and granted him another $1.1 million in stock awards, according to SEC filings. (No wonder Barr can’t find any voter fraud!)”

    Wrong Dominion. Barr was paid by Dominion Energy, a publicly traded company headquartered in Richmond, Va., that provides power and heat to customers in several Mid-Atlantic states.

    ……. Ivanka Trump has remained intensely popular with many Trump supporters and is seen by many as her father’s potential successor.……..

    Jordan Sather, a leading proponent of the QAnon theory, claims both Barr and Ivanka Trump lied during their testimony on Trump’s orders, part of an elaborate scheme to defeat Trump’s enemies by confusing Congress and the American public.

    “I can just imagine Donald Trump telling Ivanka: ’Hey, go to this hearing, say these things. Screw with their heads,’” Sather said last week on his online show.

    …….. Many posters say they don’t even believe the hearings are happening, but are a Hollywood production starring stand-ins for the former president’s daughter and others.

    “She looks different in a big way,” one poster wrote on Telegram. “CGI?”
    ########

    Rip Murdock (14415d)

  414. Backlash ensues as President Biden suggests inflation a ‘chance’ to make ‘fundamental turn’ to clean energy

    President Biden faced backlash after appearing to suggest that high gas prices will be a “good” opportunity to make a fundamental turn” to clean energy on Monday.

    Some conservatives called the president out on Twitter for the comments, as gas prices average $4.98 a gallon nationwide, according to AAA and inflation rose to a 40-year-high last month, sparking fears of an impending recession. -FoxNews.com

    IDIOT.

    DCSCA (be28ea)

  415. @420 That was the original story on gas prices. They tried saying rising gas prices were a good thing because everyone should be switching to electric vehicles.

    frosty (e9ab04)

  416. President Biden faced backlash after appearing to suggest that high gas prices will be a “good” opportunity to make a fundamental turn” to clean energy on Monday.

    This raises a notable issue, especially considering how Biden’s wealthy allies are crowing about their electric vehicles while working-class people are paying through the nose to keep their tanks filled–considering the Democrats are fully captured at this point by a class of people who literally believe that the country needs to be “fundamentally transformed” in to whatever dumb neo-marxist utopia they envision, what possible incentive does Biden or anyone on his side actually have to ease the situation?

    They’ve openly admitted they want the oil industry dead and buried by the end of this decade. This economic misery is the whole point–to get people to throw up their hands and knuckle under to something akin to the Green New Deal. It’s a deliberately malicious domestic agenda in the service of their quasi-religious Marcusian belief in “sustainability” to bring about that radical “fundamental transformation.”

    Factory Working Orphan (5f4d2c)

  417. Memo to Joe:

    Beau to Hell.

    DCSCA (be28ea)

  418. FWO,

    These are also the people that Biden wants to use blue collar dollars to pay off their student loans. So they get their electric vehicle subsidized and their loans paid off by the guy getting taken advantage of by the government.

    NJRob (903b24)

  419. DCSCA wrote:

    It’s a Monday. A business day. The rest of America is at work. Get your bruised, boney ass off the beach bike and on the way back to Washington and park it at your desk and do your job. IDIOT.

    No, no, no, no, no! The republic is much better off when Mr Biden does nothing, nothing at all!

    The libertarian, but not Libertarian, Dana (73b109)

  420. @425. Except get older. But not at the beach. 😉

    DCSCA (be28ea)

  421. Uvalde authorities say releasing surveillance video of door/hallway showing police did not try to open door for over an hour until keys from janitor were put in door would lead to embarrassment and disrespect for authority. Uvalde officials refuse to say if lock was defective and door was not locked. abc news texas.

    asset (9a0b32)

  422. These are also the people that Biden wants to use blue collar dollars to pay off their student loans. So they get their electric vehicle subsidized and their loans paid off by the guy getting taken advantage of by the government.

    NJRob (903b24) — 6/20/2022 @ 5:03 pm

    No, those loans won’t be paid off by anything. The government will simply wipe them off the ledger, as if they never existed.

    Honestly, that’s why Biden’s only looking at writing down $10,000-50,000 or so from current debt holders–because even though the Feds control a huge chunk of that student loan debt, they don’t control all $1.7 trillion, and they don’t want to take on additional debt to pay any of that off. If the government is the lien holder, they can just write it off, which is what that shrieking harpy Elizabeth Warren and the buck-toothed bartender have been arguing all along.

    This is about buying off more Millennial and Zoomer voters, the way the Great Society and the Civil Rights Act of 1964 made black voters a >90% permanent Democratic constituency. They figure, rightly, if they lock in those voters now, they’ll likely have them for most, if not all of their lives, which is also why they’re pushing this “Latinx” nonsense in universities and the entertainment industry as well–for the express purpose of turning young Hispanic voters against their elders.

    Factory Working Orphan (5f4d2c)

  423. The White insurrectionists of Colbert have given me ptsd and i cry and cant sleep, when will they be jailed for more than a night. Help I cant look at the building they entered without crying. Help me, please.

    mg (8cbc69)

  424. Did they find the leaker? My dad will be 100 before they find that leaker.

    mg (8cbc69)

  425. Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger will be a witness today. On Thursday, there will be state legislators from Georgia and Arizona, so that probably means that the Jan. 6 committee will focus today on efforts by Trump to tilt the vote counting and on Thursday on efforts to get state legislators to choose or change electors (on the grounds that the election failed most plausibly)

    Sammy Finkelman (84d1f0)

  426. 415. Trump will, in retrospect, switch sides, or what you would have assumed was approved course of action. And, in so doing, quite readily be inaccurate about what would have happened also.

    Sammy Finkelman (84d1f0)

  427. @428 The can’t just “write it off”. Either someone takes a haircut or it gets rolled into new debt or it gets buried in inflation. Accounting tricks can only make it look like it disappeared.

    frosty (9f58fe)

  428. @428 The can’t just “write it off”. Either someone takes a haircut or it gets rolled into new debt or it gets buried in inflation. Accounting tricks can only make it look like it disappeared.

    frosty (9f58fe) — 6/21/2022 @ 4:33 am

    If the government is the lien holder, they absolutely can.

    The money’s already been spent. It’s gone. The only question is whether the debtors were going to pay back what they owed or not.

    Factory Working Orphan (5f4d2c)

  429. FWO,

    that’s the definition of funny money and a great way to have a run on banks.

    NJRob (eb56c3)

  430. Biden to move to effectively outlaw cigarettes:

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2022/06/21/nicotine-cigarettes-biden-administration-cut/

    The Biden administration is expected as soon as Tuesday to announce it intends to issue a rule requiring tobacco companies to reduce nicotine levels in cigarettes sold in the United States to minimally or nonaddictive levels, according to an individual familiar with the situation.

    The effort, if successful, could have an unprecedented effect in slashing smoking-related deaths and threaten a politically powerful industry.

    The initiative is expected to be unveiled as part of the administration’s “unified agenda,” a compilation of planned federal regulatory actions released twice a year, according to the individual with knowledge, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they did not have authorization to discuss the issue.

    The policy would fit with a major goal of the White House — to cut cancer deaths. As part of the White House’s retooled cancer moonshot announced this year, President Biden promised to reduce cancer death rates by 50 percent over 25 years. About 480,000 Americans die of smoking-related causes each year, and tobacco use remains the No. 1 cause of preventable death in the United States.

    The decision to pursue a policy to lower nicotine levels marks the first step in a lengthy process, and success is not assured. It could take at least a year for the Food and Drug Administration, which regulates cigarettes, to issue a proposed rule, experts say. After that, the FDA would have to sift through comments from the public before issuing a final rule.

    Limiting cigarettes to de-nicotinized weed-sticks effectively outlaws them, as much as allowing only alcohol-free booze would outlaw booze. I predict some pushback, and great opportunity for those whose jobs were displaced by legal marijuana.

    I also want to claim success in my prediction that there would come a day when pot would be legal when tobacco was not.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  431. BTW, this is a fine way to lose an election. While there would be some who might change their vote to favor banning nicotine, 20% of the population would view this as a direct attack on them.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  432. I’m not saying I support it. I’m saying that the money printer isn’t activated for something like that because the money has been spent already. The moral hazard is the same as TARP, however.

    This is a precursor for the DSA wing of the party and their media mouthpieces demanding free college.

    Factory Working Orphan (31316a)

  433. #436

    I have never understood why pot should be legal if tobacco is not.

    Appalled (31c3d9)

  434. The classroom door at Robb Elementary was unlocked.
    Good grief.

    Paul Montagu (5de684)

  435. @440, it’s apparent that the officers on scene and the leadership were not well trained. I’ve not heard how the first couple of officers got slightly injured when they initially arrived. Was the gunman firing through the door? It just seems with two doors into the room and windows…and a few dozen officers, there should have been many opportunities to overwhelm the shooter and provide cover without risking collateral damage. I’ve also not heard if the officers were aware of the 911 calls coming from the room. Quite the cluster.

    AJ_Liberty (ec7f74)

  436. Trump praises ‘powerful’ Texas GOP after rejection of Biden win
    …….
    “Look at the Great State of Texas and their powerful Republican Party Platform on the 2020 Presidential Election Fraud,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, the social media platform he founded as an alternative to Twitter. “After much research and study, they disavow the national result for President.”
    ………
    Texas GOP communications director James Wesolek told The Hill on Monday that the resolution the party passed is not officially part of the platform and passed by a voice vote of delegates. Each delegate needed to vote in favor or against 275 proposals for the platform, and the results are expected to be counted this week.

    A February survey from the University of Texas at Austin found that just 22 percent of Republican respondents said Biden was legitimately elected, while 67 percent said he was not.
    …….

    Related:

    The Texas GOP is pushing for a referendum to decide if the state will secede from the US
    …….
    The (Texas GOP party platform) document, which contains a section on state sovereignty, calls for the state to hold a vote and outlines the Texas Republican Party’s opinion that the federal government has “impaired” its right to locally self-govern.

    Per the document, the Texas GOP proposed that any “federally mandated legislation that infringes upon the 10th Amendment rights of Texas should be ignored, opposed, refused, and nullified.”

    “Texas retains the right to secede from the United States, and the Texas Legislature should be called upon to pass a referendum consistent thereto,” the document reads.

    In the document, the Texas GOP also urged state lawmakers to bring a vote to the people of Texas “to determine whether or not the State of Texas should reassert its status as an independent nation.” Per the state GOP’s proposal, this vote would be on the ballot in 2023.
    …….
    However, according to the Constitution, Texas is not able to unilaterally leave the Union.
    ##########


    It is a misconception that the resolution admitting Texas into the Union allows it to secede. The resolution doesn’t say that, but does allow Texas to divide itself into as many as five states (with approval from Congress).

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  437. Trump’s Team Setting Up Eastman to Take Blame for Jan. 6
    ……..
    (John) Eastman worked for Trump as the attorney devised legal strategies to overturn the election to keep the outgoing president in power. But, in recent weeks, Trump has confided to those close to him that he sees no reason to publicly defend Eastman, two people familiar with the matter tell Rolling Stone. The ex-president is also deeply annoyed with Eastman and all the negative “attention” and media coverage that the lawyer’s work has brought Trump and his inner sanctum, including during the ongoing Jan. 6 hearings on Capitol Hill.

    Furthermore, to those who’ve spoken Trump about Eastman in recent months, the ex-president has repeated an excuse he often uses when backed into a corner, as investigators confront him with an associates’ misdeeds: He has privately insisted he “hardly” or “barely” knows Eastman, despite the fact that he counseled Trump on taking a string of extra-legal measures in a bid to stay in power and wrote the so-called “coup memo,” which laid out the facsimile of a legal argument for reversing Trump’s election defeat.

    Behind closed doors, Trump will occasionally ask questions about Eastman’s fortunes, including bluntly inquiring: “Is [John] going to jail?” according to a source who has heard the former president say this. But publicly, Trump has stayed silent. …….
    ……..
    “It has been repeatedly communicated to the [former] president that he should not even bring up Johnny Eastman’s name because he is maybe the most radioactive person [involved in this] when it comes to…any so-called criminal exposure,” a source with direct knowledge of the matter says. “Johnny does not have many friends in [the upper crust of] Trumpworld left, and most people loyal to the [former] president are fine with him being left out on his own, to deal with whatever consequences he may or may not face.”
    …….
    …….Eastman emailed fellow Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani to say: “I’ve decided that I should be on the pardon list, if that is still in the works.”

    “Any time you give legal advice and then feel compelled to ask for a pardon, it probably wasn’t good legal advice,” says Steven Groves, formerly a lawyer and then a spokesman in Trump’s White House.
    ………

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  438. However, according to the Constitution, Texas is not able to unilaterally leave the Union.

    Never found that part actually.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  439. Listening to the 1-6 hearings. Schiff could make ice cream and free money unappealing.

    Appalled (1a17de)

  440. Biden Admin Quietly Nukes Trump-Era ‘Transparency’ Initiative Tracking Settlements And Payouts To Left-Wing Activists

    The U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) under President Joe Biden has revoked a Trump-era order that gives the public more information through a database on settlements and consent decrees between the government and outside interest groups.

    Republicans have often criticized so-called “sue and settle” cases, in which a group legally challenges a federal department it knows to agree on a specific issue, followed by the department voluntarily ending a dispute and enacting policy that perhaps would not pass through legislative or other means.

    “You have the ethical problem with [government officials] on the inside now making deals with their former colleagues and not telling anybody about it,” William Perry Pendley, the Trump-era director of the Bureau of Land Management, told The Daily Caller News Foundation. “There is money going to groups that are turning around and using that money to fund litigation to again sue their former colleagues who are now in office.”

    JF (a26021)

  441. The part of the hearings relating to the poor Fulton County election workers is upsetting. There is nothing worse than being a public spirited (and elderly) volunteers who has the awful MAGA people sicced on them. I see these people every election day. They are the kind but tough folks you find in Tyler Perry movies. These are the people a real populist would fight for, rather than consign to the mob.

    What this has to do with the 1-6 riots is–tangential.

    The people in charge of these hearings waited too long and succumbed to mission creep. So we we have Impeachment 3 — Direct to Video. Trump, once again, seems fortunate in his enemies.

    Appalled (1a17de)

  442. If the government is the lien holder, they absolutely can.

    The money’s already been spent. It’s gone. The only question is whether the debtors were going to pay back what they owed or not.

    Factory Working Orphan (5f4d2c) — 6/21/2022 @ 6:31 am

    You’re talking about two different things. The government can discharge the loan but doesn’t mean they “won’t be paid off by anything”. MMT isn’t a real thing.

    I’m saying that the money printer isn’t activated for something like that because the money has been spent already.

    Your timing isn’t correct in this instance. One way to look at it is that the money printer was already activated for it and paying the loan back would have made that an investment that was net zero in theory. Not paying it back makes it a negative. Again, just because the government debt is so large as to be almost incomprehensible doesn’t mean adding more to it doesn’t make it larger.

    frosty (a617ee)

  443. Appalled (1a17de) — 6/21/2022 @ 12:49 pm

    They’ve tried to keep to many items in the news cycle at the same time and for to long.

    The 2A issue has come and gone and JB didn’t get a boost. The Roe leak likewise. Add to that the war in Ukraine. The economy. The Jan/6 hearings will largely fade when the Roe decision goes official.

    frosty (a617ee)

  444. However, according to the Constitution, Texas is not able to unilaterally leave the Union.

    Never found that part actually.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 6/21/2022 @ 12:35 pm

    In Texas v. White 74 U.S. (7 Wall.) 700 (1869) the Supreme Court said:

    When, therefore, Texas became one of the United States, she entered into an indissoluble relation. All the obligations of perpetual union, and all the guaranties of republican government in the Union, attached at once to the State. The act which consummated her admission into the Union was something more than a compact; it was the incorporation of a new member into the political body. And it was final. The union between Texas and the other States was as complete, as perpetual, and as indissoluble as the union between the original States. There was no place for reconsideration or revocation, except through revolution or through consent of the States.

    …..(t)he ordinance of secession, adopted by the (state secession) convention and ratified by a majority of the citizens of Texas, and all the acts of her legislature intended to give effect to that ordinance, were absolutely null. They were utterly without operation in law. The obligations of the State, as a member of the Union, and of every citizen of the State, as a citizen of the United States, remained perfect and unimpaired. It certainly follows that the State did not cease to be a State, nor her citizens to be citizens of the Union. If this were otherwise, the State must have become foreign, and her citizens foreigners. The war must have ceased to be a war for the suppression of rebellion, and must have become a war for conquest and subjugation.

    Our conclusion therefore is, that Texas continued to be a State, and a State of the Union……

    Thus, the Constitution bars secession.

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  445. So Lincoln said. But the text doesn’t speak to that.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  446. #449 — I don’t think Biden’s folks really have control over the news cycle. (Uvalde, Ukraine, Roe leak were not things Biden’s people could have timed.)

    The real problem is — the hearings are a pre-packaged product. Any real news is leaked. Listening to the Georgia portion today, I learned nothing new except details on the hell the ladies who helped count votes in Fulton County were put through. Which is interesting (but made less interesting because Schiff feels like the guy on sports talk ad breaks who promises he’ll fight for compensation from the greedy insurance companies). January 6 was a riot in Washington DC, not Atlanta Georgia. The Big Lie belongs in a separate hearing. All of this should have been discussed a year ago. Today? Seems a day late and several hundred dollars short (inflation, y’know?)

    Appalled (1a17de)

  447. Mr. Bowers is a great American and great Republican.

    Paul Montagu (5de684)

  448. POLITICO Playbook: SCOOP: Jan. 6 panel subpoenas unseen Trump tapes

    The House select committee investigating Jan. 6 sent a subpoena last week to ALEX HOLDER, a documentary filmmaker who was granted extensive access to President DONALD TRUMP and his inner circle, and who shot interviews with the then-president both before and after Jan. 6. The existence of this footage is previously unreported.

    A source familiar with the project told Playbook on Monday night that Holder began filming on the campaign trail in September 2020 for a project on Trump’s reelection campaign. Over the course of several months, Holder had substantial access to Trump, Trump’s adult children and VP MIKE PENCE, both in the White House and on the campaign trail.

    According to the subpoena, which was obtained exclusively by Playbook, the committee wants three main things from Holder:

    (1) Raw footage from Jan. 6.

    (2) Raw footage of interviews from September 2020 to present with Trump, Pence, DONALD TRUMP JR., IVANKA TRUMP, ERIC TRUMP and JARED KUSHNER.

    (3) Raw footage “pertaining to discussions of election fraud or election integrity surrounding the November 2020 presidential election.”
    ………

    Related:

    POLITICO Playbook PM: Trump aides ‘blindsided’ by subpoenaed footage
    ………Holder confirmed the news in a statement, saying he’s fully cooperating with the probe.

    — Per CBS’ Robert Costa: Trump campaign folks “recall a film crew coming to HQ at least once. They also remember it being odd because campaign’s legal team seemed surprised, as if it was an unvetted project. … The campaign’s lawyers were like, ‘Huh, what is this? What’s going on today?’ Saw it as another side project from the family/Trump confidants.”

    — Per NYT’s Maggie Haberman: “A very small group of people had knowledge of this documentary project, and a lot of Trump advisers were surprised to see it existed this morning. … Senior campaign officials were unaware of the project, according to one former official.”

    — “‘What the F-ck Is This?’: Team Trump Blindsided by Jan. 6 Committee Getting Doc Footage,” by Rolling Stone’s Nikki McCann Ramirez and Asawin Suebsaeng: “Former administration and campaign officials tell Rolling Stone they had no idea a film crew had months of access to the former president and his family.”
    ……..

    Must see Tee Vee. Bring out the popcorn!

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  449. Biden hadn’t fell off his bike since he raced in the Tour de France.

    mg (8cbc69)

  450. Rather sad if not racist how justice Roberts set up the Black Woman to take the fall as the investigator in search of the leaker.

    mg (8cbc69)

  451. Texas ag ken paxton Its gods will that the uvalde door was not locked and police did not enter for over an hour.

    asset (ff4acc)

  452. 457, gods will? and not a:

    1. false flag operation to promote gun control measures
    2. dramatic “hit” on only 1 or a few intended targets assigned to a town psycho for maximum plausible deniability

    P.S. reopen the Scalia death investigation

    urbanleftbehind (2b999d)

  453. It never was clear that the door was locked, so if there was a possiblity it was unlocked, I would have assumed it was unlocked.

    (Neither was it any news the other day that police were inside the school for an hour before they burst into the room. That had been occasionally reported. (but most people did not put all scattered reports together)

    https://www.newser.com/story/322017/police-response-in-uvalde-was-abject-failure-state-boss-says.html

    ‘He Waited for a Key That Was Never Needed’

    Texas official denounces police response in Uvalde school shooting

    And even after they got the key they didn’t move right away. A few mixed law enforcement did, against an explicit order not to — but then nobody was in charge anyway.

    School district Police Chief and newly elected City Councilman Pete Arredondo was all hat and no cattle.

    ….McCraw said Tuesday the door wasn’t locked, the New York Times reports. In his appearance, McCraw addressed:

    The locked-out explanation: “There’s no way for the subject to lock the door from the inside,” McCraw said. In addition, a teacher had reported the locks broken before the May 24 shooting. The commander held up rushing the gunman, McCraw said, while “he waited for a key that was never needed.

    I think the door can be locked but it required a key. The teacher took so long to find the key that she failed to lock the door and/or he shot through something clear in the door.

    Who’s in charge: Arredondo has said he didn’t consider himself in charge at the school. McCraw said Arredondo was the incident commander by virtue of being the most senior first responder with immediate jurisdiction over school campuses, per the Texas Tribune. He could have handed over command to state troopers or others as they arrived, the director said, but he didn’t do that. “If you’re going to issue commands, if you’re going to direct action,” McCraw said, “you’re the on-scene commander.” A lawyer for Arredondo did not answer the Times’ request for comment.

    The timeline: Officials have released conflicting information on the timing of events. McCraw said the gunman entered Robb Elementary and opened fire at 11:33am. Arredondo went into the building three minutes later. A Texas Ranger was inside by 11:54. It was 12:50 before officers who’d been assembled in a hallway stormed the classrooms and killed the gunman. “One hour, 14 minutes and 8 seconds,” McCraw said. “That’s how long children waited, and the teachers waited, in Room 111 to be rescued.” The timeline has been more or clear for a while.

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  454. <i? The timeline has been more or clear for a while. are my words.

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  455. 452. Appalled (1a17de) — 6/21/2022 @ 1:40 pm

    The real problem is — the hearings are a pre-packaged product. Any real news is leaked.

    Distortions and questionable legal interpretations are leaked.

    The committee kept on saying today that it didn’t end with Pence. It did end with Pence. It didn’t start with Pence and January 6.

    The hearing today featured both election counting people and state legislatures. The hearing Thursday will deal with efforts by Trump to use the Department of Justice to back up his claims former White House counsel Pat Cipollone, but it seems from what Liz Cheney said today, they want to get him as a live witness.

    Apparently for dramatic and production purposes. The video of his
    earlier deposition testimony may be of poor quality – that must be the technical issues that caused them to cancel the hearing last Wednesday (June 15)

    Listening to the Georgia portion today, I learned nothing new except details on the hell the ladies who helped count votes in Fulton County were put through. Which is interesting (but made less interesting because Schiff feels like the guy on sports talk ad breaks who promises he’ll fight for compensation from the greedy insurance companies).

    I learned some more. I knew that “suitcases” were regular equipment but I got a good explanation of what happened that night.

    First, there was 48 hours of video. Second, anyone viewing more of the video would have seen that they put them into the “suitcases” right there in front of the poll watchers. They didn’t come from some other source than the other ballots. And the whole thing wasn’t pre-planned. They were going to stop work, but the people at Georgia election HQ decided they wanted to be more transparent (?) and get the results out earlier so they told them to resume counting. And you can see them put on and take off their coats and the boss there being reluctant to tell them to stay longer.

    They said the “suitcases” are specially designed to be tamper proof – that’s why they looked special.

    As for the other issue of scanning ballots twice — occasionally there would be misfeed and two or three ballots would be rescanned I think he said. The hand recount proves there was no massive double counting. There was a small amount off inaccuracy in all the counts.

    Trump was speaking nonsense (but you could tell that anyway because he said they did that by observation and since when were any of his deductions in his favor accurate) when he said there were 18,000 ballots in the “suitcases” but there were about half that number. And there was no way he could know they wee “all for Biden” or fradulant.

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  456. January 6 was a riot in Washington DC, not Atlanta Georgia. The Big Lie belongs in a separate hearing.

    It’s fair enough to deal with that, but they need to be clearer and more truthful.

    I think their problem is that the only thing they can connect Trump to is the Big Lie. It’s a good thing they have devoted much of their attention to that.

    All of this should have been discussed a year ago. Today? Seems a day late and several hundred dollars short (inflation, y’know?)

    ZWell, they say there could be more of this thing coming, But, if that’s what they want to say, they need to emphasize it more.

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  457. 418. Appalled (1a17de) — 6/20/2022 @ 12:39 pm

    My honest thought is that the one-sided one-six committee is less effective because of its one-sidedness. Every hearing sounds like a prosecutor’s opening statement rather than an actual hearing.

    It’s more of a closing statement except that a bit of live testimony is thrown in. And before they question any witnessess they show some testimont also (or reports from committee staff)

    The whole thing comes off exactly like an impeachment trial.

    447. Appalled (1a17de) — 6/21/2022 @ 12:49 pm

    . So we we have Impeachment 3 — Direct to Video.

    Yes it is, although they are avoiding that idea.

    But all this is an argument for impeachment (although some would like to turn it some way into a prosecutable criminal offense)

    It would be if Trump intentionally caused the riot but they have nothing showing that, and trying to make fraud fit is hard.

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  458. Jim Jordan would have annoyed me, but his arguments would have been put out there for some prime time refutation

    Jim Jordan would have mostly gone on about whatabout this and whatabout that. (he would have challenged some “facts” like police officers being killed in the riot – none were in any normal sense of the word but some were severely injured. I think he would challenged some “facts” rather than preventing more factoids from being said – as it is some of them seem to be being avoided anyway.)

    They could have had a bipartisan commission but Trump didn’t want any more publicity about anything he did that could be seen as wrong.

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  459. One new thing to note from that hearing:

    Giuliani came out looking very bad. An absolute idiot or an intentional liar. (I tended not to think of him as liar because he eventually decided he could not trust Sidney Powell because she wasn’t giving him the evidence she claimed she had.

    Giuliani claimed to Bowers and others that there were so many and many voters who were not citizens (and illegal residents at that — Republicans seem to confound illegal immigrants with non citizens) and so many and so many dead people who voted.

    Do you have their names he was asked (because that’s how you would know that) He said yes. Did he have them with him? No Would he give them to him later he said yes.

    I think maybe the best explanation for that is that Giuliani was relying on Sidney Powell and Lin Wood considering them part of the team

    Giuliani has also drawn bad conclusions from the Hunter Biden laptop files.

    Hunter Biden never meant to say to his daughter (in a Jan 3, 2019 text) that he was giving 50% of his salary to his father – he meant that at some point in the past his father had lent him money on that condition.

    And when he said he had been supporting “this family” (or some words rto that effect) for thirty years he meant his nuclear family, not his extended family including his father.

    I think it was Steve Bannon who was feeding Giuliani that absurd interpretation. And Giulian didn’t have the brains to resist that. Neither did anybody neutral manage to talk to Giuliani and explain what was true and what was not true.
    .

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  460. Sammy,

    Giuliani was the best mayor NYC has had in my lifetime. If you want to call him an idiot that’s on you, but doesn’t say much. He would’ve been a better option that McCain and that’s in spite of him being a social leftist.

    NJRob (eb56c3)

  461. And you’re reading way too much into corrupt Hunter’s files. He meant what he said. His father is corrupt. Period. And probably a pedophile based on Hunter’s sister’s diary.

    NJRob (eb56c3)

  462. And you’re reading way too much into corrupt Hunter’s files. He meant what he said. His father is corrupt. Period.

    1988 settled that.

    This guy was a back-slapping, empty suited BS-er from a state full of Petro-Chemical plants and PO drop boxes for banks and a place for companies to shelter and incorporate. It’s not like it was Texas or California or NY. The Big O tagged him for VEEP when Joey kissed conversational butt on the debate stage and this generation of journalists gave him a pass on any hard vetting.

    He’s a bum. End of story.

    DCSCA (d73ea7)

  463. I wonder how Soros played it.
    Short the ruble beforehand?

    mg (8cbc69)

  464. dement head losing power will be more beneficial than putin losing power

    mg (8cbc69)

  465. Giuliani was the best mayor NYC has had in my lifetime. If you want to call him an idiot that’s on you, but doesn’t say much

    This says it all:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTFv8Sr08V8

    He can be such a drag, can’t he–

    ‘You’ve come a long way, baby…’ from hailed as “America’s Mayor” on 9/11 to a punchline.

    DCSCA (d73ea7)

  466. The federal government immunized itself from even an attempt at secession when it based everyone’s retirement on Social Security. If Texas seceded, every retiree on Social Security would get a big F(ornicate) You! from the United States government.

    The libertarian, but not Libertarian, Dana (24e5e6)

  467. Mr Finkelman wrote:

    But all this is an argument for impeachment (although some would like to turn it some way into a prosecutable criminal offense)

    It would be so hilarious to see the Democrats try to impeach President Trump again! They already know the outcome: acquittal, again.

    The libertarian, but not Libertarian, Dana (24e5e6)

  468. If Texas seceded, every retiree on Social Security would get a big F(ornicate) You! from the United States government.

    Why? You do not have to reside in the United States to get Social Security. Nor do you have to be a US citizen. You simply have to be legally present and work the requisite number of quarters. Immigrants even get credit for prior work in other countries.

    Even if you were to become a Texan (at least if secession is uncontested) I can’t see how you’d lose those benefits.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  469. U next Richard Irvin next Tuesday …wonder if he’ll crawl back to Warnock/Abrams…
    https://www.yahoo.com/news/collins-beats-trump-backed-jones-235637203.html

    urbanleftbehind (2b999d)

  470. Should Texas be suspicious if they suddenly get 3x or 4x the number of troops they need for the border?

    urbanleftbehind (2b999d)

  471. You’re talking about two different things. The government can discharge the loan but doesn’t mean they “won’t be paid off by anything”. MMT isn’t a real thing.

    That’s irrelevant. I’ll repeat it again–the money has already long been spent. It’s gone.

    Your timing isn’t correct in this instance. One way to look at it is that the money printer was already activated for it and paying the loan back would have made that an investment that was net zero in theory. Not paying it back makes it a negative. Again, just because the government debt is so large as to be almost incomprehensible doesn’t mean adding more to it doesn’t make it larger.

    frosty (a617ee) — 6/21/2022 @ 1:05 pm

    No, student loans are one of the few things the government actually makes money on, because of the interest. Writing that debt off is actually disadvantageous to them, especially because getting that debt written off through bankruptcy is so difficult.

    Student loans are actually quite a small percentage of federal spending. We shovel far more down the Medicare/Medicaid hole than we do student loans. That doesn’t mean I think the loans should be forgiven, but I also wanted the banks to get nuked in 2008, too, irrespective of what they threatened to do to the world economy for not getting their outright fraud covered by the taxpayers.

    Factory Working Orphan (5f4d2c)

  472. The ruble is kicking azz. Should have bought it a while back. Should have followed Soros and got on board. Oh dopey me.

    mg (8cbc69)

  473. Yeah, send Bugs Moran Zelinsky another $51 billion:

    https://livingcost.org/cost/kiev/los-angeles

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  474. Furthermore, to those who’ve spoken Trump about Eastman in recent months, the ex-president has repeated an excuse he often uses when backed into a corner, as investigators confront him with an associates’ misdeeds: He has privately insisted he “hardly” or “barely” knows Eastman, despite the fact that he counseled Trump on taking a string of extra-legal measures in a bid to stay in power and wrote the so-called “coup memo,” which laid out the facsimile of a legal argument for reversing Trump’s election defeat.

    Is he going to try to pretend Eastman did all these things without talking to Trump? Yes he made calls and in person appearances.

    If he didn’t know Eastman very well, he has even less of an excuse for listening to his advice.

    Sammy Finkelman (c89e81)

  475. The federal government making, instead of merely guranteeing, many student loans was sold as saving money for the federal government.

    Sammy Finkelman (c89e81)

  476. Not that Harry Reid, but totally plausible:

    https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/maine-insurance-agency-receives-backlash-182500450.html

    urbanleftbehind (bd7e3d)

  477. That doesn’t mean I think the loans should be forgiven, but I also wanted the banks to get nuked in 2008, too, irrespective of what they threatened to do to the world economy for not getting their outright fraud covered by the taxpayers.

    Well, I didn’t, but that doesn’t mean I would have bailed them out that way. Instead, I would have paid down a percentage of the loans, offering a bit of relief to the borrowers and only indirectly to the banks. And incidentally strengthening those mortgage-back securities.

    We bailed the system out on the wrong side of the leverage.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)


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