7/8/2022

434 Responses to “Weekend Open Thread”

1. Hello!

   Dana (1225fc) — 7/8/2022 @ 9:07 am

   
   

2. Kerri Lake, who will win, is either insane, or a contemptible demagogue. Possibly both.

   Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 7/8/2022 @ 9:22 am

   
   

3. https://redstate.com/jimthompson/2022/07/08/friday-cartoon-bidens-white-house-yard-sale-everything-must-go-to-the-ccp-n591126

   mg (8cbc69) — 7/8/2022 @ 9:22 am

   
   

4. The agency said it was “ludicrous and untrue to suggest” that it targeted Comey and McCabe for those audits

   Two days after she refused a settlement with Bill Clinton, Paula Jones was notified of a tax audit. She and her husband made $37,000 the year in question. To the best of my knowledge nothing was found (if it had been, it would have leaked).

   The Clinton administration denied any involvement. “We’re not that stupid”, they said. Many attributed it to a partisan IRS employee, if it was not just chance.

   I think that this isn’t a coincidence, but too many people would have to be involved in a conspiracy that emanated from the WH. More likely is, again, a partisan IRS employee, this time getting revenge for The Steal.

   Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 7/8/2022 @ 9:28 am

   
   

5. BTW, if Kerri Lake gets the nomination, running on The Steal™ in a state that went for Biden and elected two Democrats to the Senate, she will lose the general election. Many of the GOP that cannot stand Lake will vote for Katie Hobbs.

   Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 7/8/2022 @ 9:38 am

   
   

6. More on Kari Lake, from a column by Henry Olsen:

   There are also questions about whether she believes her own messaging. Former representative Matt Salmon, one of her Republican opponents who recently dropped out of the race, has detailed a number of flip-flops and inconsistencies she made. Her major foe, businesswoman Karrin Taylor Robson, calls her “Fake Lake.” She’s being hammered for donating money to the campaigns of Democratic presidential nominees John Kerry and Barack Obama and for allegedly attending drag queen shows while criticizing them on the campaign trail.

   (Empahsis added. Three more links skipped, so as to avoid going into moderation.)

   Jim Miller (406a93) — 7/8/2022 @ 9:59 am

   
   

7. More from AZ:

   The Strident Writings of a Young Blake Masters Dog His Senate Run

   In the most recent examples, unearthed and provided to The New York Times by opponents of (Blake Masters, a Republican candidate for the Senate in Arizona who won the endorsement of former President Donald J. Trump), he took to the chat room of CrossFit, his workout of choice, as a Stanford undergraduate in 2007 to espouse views that might not sit well with the Republican electorate of 2022.

   As he had in other forums, Mr. Masters wrote on the CrossFit chat room that he opposed American involvement in both world wars — although World War II, he conceded, “is harder to argue because of the hot button issue of the Holocaust (nevermind that our friend Stalin murdered over twice as many as Hitler … why do we gloss over that in schools?).”

   He did not address Pearl Harbor or say whether he thought the United States should have ignored it.

   Also on the CrossFit chat room, Mr. Masters, then 20, argued that Iraq and Al Qaeda did not “constitute substantial threats to Americans.”

   “In my view, a true libertarian is anti all wars that are not strictly defensive, and with U.S. Military (many of our best men and women!) sadly stationed in 100+ countries and bombing several dozen since war was last declared, defense is not the name of the game,” he told his fellow CrossFit enthusiasts. “We ought to be more like the Swiss in this regard — decentralized and defensive.”
   ……..
   As a candidate, Mr. Masters, now 35, takes a position diametrically opposed to that of his younger self and in line with Mr. Trump’s views: He favors militarizing the border and ending what he calls an “invasion” by immigrants entering the country illegally.

   Mr. Masters declined to comment for this article. ……
   ………
   In a 2006 post on the libertarian site LewRockwell.com, he rehashed an elaborate conspiracy theory about the United States’ entry into World War I, implying a connection between the banking “Houses of Morgan and Rothschild” and the failure to alert American steamship passengers to German threats that preceded the sinking of the Lusitania. His main source was C. Edward Griffin, an ardent libertarian who once said that “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion” — a notorious antisemitic forgery — “accurately describe much of what is happening in our world today.”

   The post ended with what Mr. Masters called a “poignant quotation” from Hermann Goering — Hitler’s right-hand man and one of the most powerful Nazis of the Third Reich.
   ……..
   Mr. Masters released a response in which he said he knew “the left-wing media” would “try to smear me” and “call me a racist and a sexist and a terrorist.” He added: “Well, it turns out loser Republicans would do that, too.”

   Mr. Masters has defended his 2006 writings as the youthful scribblings of a teenager recoiling from the war in Iraq. ……

   Still, as a student at Stanford, one of the nation’s most elite universities, he should have known better, said Abe Foxman, a longtime head of the Anti-Defamation League, now its national director emeritus.
   ……..
   “To he or she who comes back at me with the claim that Iraq and even al-qaeda constitute substantial threats to Americans, I have little more to say than I have arrived at the opposite conclusion,” he wrote.

   He called the United States “an empire-driven (soft and hard) nation-state with security craving sheep” and dismissed the Federal Reserve Board as a “semi-private banking cartel.”
   ………

   Related:

   Blake Masters takes lead in Arizona’s GOP US Senate race, Mark Brnovich falls to 3rd
   ……..
   An OH Predictive Insights survey released Friday showed Masters, a venture capitalist endorsed by former President Donald Trump, and businessman Jim Lamon both pulled ahead of the previous front-runner, state Attorney General Mark Brnovich.

   Masters had 25%, Lamon 18% and Brnovich 14% in a poll of likely GOP voters conducted June 30-July 2. The poll has a margin of error of 4.3%.
   ……..
   With early voting for the Aug. 2 primary underway, 35% of the survey takers were undecided.
   ……..
   In an April poll, Brnovich led the race with 21%, while Masters was third at 9%. Undecideds were at 45%.

   Phoenix political consultant Chuck Coughlin said Trump’s June 2 endorsement is having an impact on the race.
   ……….

   Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 7/8/2022 @ 10:45 am

   
   

8. More Blake Masters:

   Neo-Nazi publisher Andrew Anglin gives ‘forceful endorsement’ of Blake Masters’ Senate bid
   …….
   “I cannot give a more forceful endorsement, and I demand that anyone in Arizona (who is not some kind of known neo-Nazi or whatever) get in contact with his campaign and see what kind of help he needs,” Anglin (publisher of The Daily Stormer) wrote in a previously unreported entry, published June 9.

   ……..
   Related:

   Trump-backed Senate candidate Blake Masters rejects endorsement of neo-Nazi site founder

   Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 7/8/2022 @ 10:53 am

   
   

9. R.I.P. Larry Storch, 99.

   Weep AJ:

   ‘Who says I’m dumb?!

   God bless Corporal Randolph Agarn.

   DCSCA (7523c3) — 7/8/2022 @ 11:08 am

   
   

10. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKMNt4iHMB0&t=17s

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_kWqmsx1-4&t=7s

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwYxNhyIzMU&t=12s

    DCSCA (7523c3) — 7/8/2022 @ 11:16 am

    
    

11. You oughta pull up an episode with the Bedbugs, DCSCA… played by future members of the band little Feat.

    Colonel Haiku (5aee30) — 7/8/2022 @ 11:20 am

    
    

12. @11. Howzabout the Tomahawk Trio playing at the Playbrave Club, too…

    Yes, would rather laugh than cry; there’s so many hilarious bits. Worked w/ Averback’s kid and he traded stories from visiting the set on the WB lot. He told me if they’d run one more season the syndication rights would have been sweet and they’d have been $ set for life. But was not to be.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4dRO5B0bE4

    And the Puffed Rice spot…

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KadQn651sT4&t=35s

    Better to laugh than cry–

    DCSCA (7523c3) — 7/8/2022 @ 11:35 am

    
    

13. Here we go… https://youtu.be/yXP7JSmGr_4

    Colonel Haiku (5aee30) — 7/8/2022 @ 11:39 am

    
    

14. President Burgundy?

    https://twitter.com/jason_howerton/status/1545443401402826753?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1545443401402826753%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ace.mu.nu%2F

    Colonel Haiku (5aee30) — 7/8/2022 @ 11:43 am

    
    

15. @13. Classic, Haiku. And..”In Color.” LOL This humor is just priceless, stands the test of time and we sorely need it today.

    DCSCA (7523c3) — 7/8/2022 @ 11:47 am

    
    

16. Michael Flynn cited for unauthorized foreign payments
    ……..
    Investigators determined that Flynn received nearly $450,000 from Turkish and Russian interests in 2015, including for an appearance in Moscow alongside President Vladimir Putin, but found no records that he had sought government approval beforehand. Their findings are detailed in a January 2021 memo to the Army released through the Freedom of Information Act on Thursday.

    The Army notified Flynn in a May 2 letter, obtained by The Washington Post, that it would seek to recoup $38,557.06 from him, zeroing in on money and in-kind compensation he received for a gala dinner celebrating the 10th anniversary of RT, the Kremlin-run news agency. Putin sat beside Flynn at the event and later told NBC News that he “didn’t even really talk to” him.

    Flynn did not respond to a phone call and emails seeking comment.

    Craig R. Schmauder, an Army lawyer, wrote in the letter that Flynn’s failure “to obtain the approvals of the Secretary of the Army and the Secretary of State resulted in a violation of the Emoluments Clause,” a provision of the U.S. Constitution that prohibits retired military personnel from receiving money from foreign governments without prior authorization.

    “When there is a finding that a military retiree has violated the Emoluments Clause, the United States Government may pursue a debt collection,” Schmauder wrote to Flynn.
    ……..
    ……It was not clear why the Army sanctioned Flynn for the Moscow visit but not his other work.
    …….
    “A debt in favor of the government is created which is to be collected by withholding from retired pay,” (Sean O’Donnell, the acting Defense Department inspector general) wrote.

    In addition to the RT dinner in December 2015, O’Donnell’s memo highlights Flynn’s paid appearance at an October 2015 conference sponsored by Kaspersky Government Security Solutions, “an entity that appears to be controlled by the Russian government,” and Flynn’s work for Inovo BV, a corporation organized in the Netherlands that assisted the Turkish government.
    …….
    Flynn acknowledged the financial penalty in a television interview broadcast in May, saying the Defense Department was “going to reach into my retirement and … take some money out.”

    “Yeah, it means something, but at the end of the day, this country means a heck of a lot more than what they will do to me,” Flynn said then, suggesting the punitive action was politically motivated.
    ………

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 7/8/2022 @ 11:47 am

    
    

17. @14. Now THAT makes you cry.

    Stay classy, Scranton. Or is it Wilmington this week.

    DCSCA (7523c3) — 7/8/2022 @ 11:48 am

    
    

18. Purely educational… https://youtu.be/2XVBubVE2Ls

    Colonel Haiku (5aee30) — 7/8/2022 @ 11:48 am

    
    

19. Steve Bannon Swatted.

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 7/8/2022 @ 11:54 am

    
    

20. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSCEW9QOCis

    You can’t stop laughing…

    DCSCA (7523c3) — 7/8/2022 @ 11:57 am

    
    

21. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HpNX2PMVGqc

    DCSCA (7523c3) — 7/8/2022 @ 12:15 pm

    
    

22. What happened when Sri Lanka went “organic”?

    A catastrophe:

    Faced with a deepening economic and humanitarian crisis, Sri Lanka called off an ill-conceived national experiment in organic agriculture this winter. Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa promised in his 2019 election campaign to transition the country’s farmers to organic agriculture over a period of 10 years. Last April, Rajapaksa’s government made good on that promise, imposing a nationwide ban on the importation and use of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides and ordering the country’s 2 million farmers to go organic.

    The result was brutal and swift. Against claims that organic methods can produce comparable yields to conventional farming, domestic rice production fell 20 percent in just the first six months. Sri Lanka, long self-sufficient in rice production, has been forced to import $450 million worth of rice even as domestic prices for this staple of the national diet surged by around 50 percent. The ban also devastated the nation’s tea crop, its primary export and source of foreign exchange.

    Green superstition doesn’t do much harm in the rich West, but it can be dangerous, even deadly, in poorer nations.

    (I put “organic” in quotation marks, because nearly everything we eat comes from living things, and so is “organic”. The only exception I can think of offhand is salt.

    Similarly, nearly everything we eat has been “genetically modified”, often by thousands of years of selective breeding. (The main exception is wild-caught seafood.) Those who think these modifications, some of them thousands of years old, inherently dangerous are invited to, for example, substitute teosintes for corn.)

    Jim Miller (406a93) — 7/8/2022 @ 12:34 pm

    
    

23. More from AZ:

    New Arizona law criminalizes filming police from less than 8 feet away
    …….
    Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey (R) signed the bill into law on Wednesday, which will make it a misdemeanor offense to record police activity at close range after officers have issued a verbal warning.

    Republican state Rep. John Kavanagh, who sponsored the bill, wrote in an op-ed in the Arizona Republic that the purpose is to protect against distractions and potential harm, particularly when police are involved in violent encounters. He wrote that police told him groups “hostile” to officers follow them around, filming 1 to 2 feet behind them, which Kavanagh called “a dangerous practice that can end in tragedy.”
    …….
    “A blanket restriction is a violation of the First Amendment,” Stephen D. Solomon, director of the Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute at New York University who teaches First Amendment law, told The Washington Post.
    ……..
    Solomon, editor of (NYU’s First Amendment Watch), said it is not an absolute right. There are some limitations, such as reasonable time, place and manner restrictions, that courts can impose to keep people from interfering with police. But there is no set distance recognized by the federal courts because it depends on the situation, he said.
    …….
    The law will allow for some exceptions to the 8-foot rule, with caveats. For instance, the bill states that when a police encounter is occurring in an enclosed area on private property, a person who is authorized to be there may record closer than 8 feet — “unless a law enforcement officer determines that the person is interfering in the law enforcement activity” or it is unsafe. In the bill, “law enforcement activity” is defined as an officer questioning a suspicious person, an officer conducting an arrest or an officer handling a situation involving “an emotionally disturbed or disorderly person.”
    …….
    The law will go into effect in September.
    #########

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 7/8/2022 @ 1:46 pm

    
    

24. Video shows Russian solider giving middle finger to Ukrainian drone before being blown up
    ……..
    In a 90-second clip posted Sunday, a drone zooms in on a group of Russian troops standing around a vehicle. About 17 seconds into the footage, one of the six Russian soldiers turns his head up to the sky, and directs a one-finger salute to the drone.

    As the camera pans out, the drone releases a grenade onto the BTR-82A, a 8×8 wheeled armored personnel carrier, causing it to burst into flames.

    It’s unclear when and where exactly the footage was taken, though the Ukraine Weapons Tracker Twitter account said it took place in eastern Ukraine, which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Saturday is “indescribably difficult” to protect.
    ………

    The next sound you hear will be your last…… Sad!

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 7/8/2022 @ 1:49 pm

    
    

25. 1&8 The abortion issue is having a profound effect on democrats and democrat leaning independents as the recent polling shows. The democratic base is demanding a lot more from the DNC and Biden then send us your money and vote democrat. Biden’s attempted deal with cocain mitch mcconnell to install anti-abortion federal judge in ky. has infuriated democrats. Their was outrage over at DU when it tried to say not to report on “deal” because only positive things about biden were allowed on site. In the primaries that are left democrat voters are demanding action not self serving BS from candidates. Democrats are nolonger apathetic when they see 10 year old pregnant girl rape victims being force to give birth by their states.

    asset (ebee53) — 7/8/2022 @ 1:53 pm

    
    

26. john kavenaugh is a nazi who is always passing fascist bills like making it a felony to protest trump rallies.

    asset (ebee53) — 7/8/2022 @ 1:56 pm

    
    

27. Ukraine targets Russia’s ammunition depots, undermining its artillery advantage
    ……..
    Now that Ukraine has acquired advanced Western artillery and rocket systems, it has gradually begun a campaign to take out Russia’s key military infrastructure. Over the last four weeks, nearly 20 Russian ammunition depots in Russian-occupied Donbas and Ukraine’s south, including some of the largest, have been hit or completely destroyed.
    …….
    Devastating strikes upon Russian command posts have become increasingly frequent since mid-June when Ukraine began using the first of four M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, or HIMARS, provided by the U.S., nearly a week before their arrival in Ukraine was publicly announced.

    On June 15, a massive explosion occurred near the city of Khrustalniy (formerly Krasniy Luch) in occupied Luhansk Oblast.

    Explosions continued for days. According to satellite images, the blasts created a destruction zone spanning some 500 meters around the epicenter. The site was one of Russia’s largest ammunition depots, built after Russian forces occupied the area in 2014. In the Azotniy neighborhood in the northeastern part of Donetsk where Russia established ammunition depots through the city, successful attacks have continued on an almost daily basis.
    ……..
    As a result, by July 7, Russia had lost most of its key ammunition depots, and many of its smaller depots in occupied Donbas. Notably, many key targets as much as 50-80 kilometers into Russian-controlled territory have been successfully destroyed.
    ……..
    According to Russian military bloggers, such as the notorious Russian ultranationalist Igor Girkin, these “unpunished” Ukrainian strikes have already forced the Russian military to be more conservative with its artillery rounds, in preparation for a possible Ukrainian counter-strike in Donbas. In early July, another Russian military blogger Andrey Morozov (widely known as “Murz”) indicated growing “munitions hunger” due to Ukrainian attacks, not only in terms of 122-millimeter rounds but also 152-millimeter systems, which are also waning. Russia’s overwhelming artillery dominance, in terms of the number of pieces and its seemingly infinite supply of ammunition, is a key factor behind its painful advances in Donbas.
    ……..
    The deployment of HIMARS has also let the Ukrainian military resume the wide use of Tochka-U ballistic missiles, which Ukraine had been reserving for the most critical operations. Many Russian ammunition depots have been destroyed with these missiles. The very presence of HIMARS, with their precise M30/M31 GMLRS rockets with an effective range of nearly 80 kilometers, is also having an indirect impact on Russian munitions logistics in the rear.

    Due to the long effective range of HIMARS, Russia, severely dependent on railroad transportation, has to unload ammunition from trains much farther from the frontline, at a distance of nearly 100 kilometers in many cases.

    Related:

    Russia chaos erupts as Moscow loses third ammunition depot in 24 hours – VIDEO

    US to send more HIMARS precision rockets to Ukraine
    ……..
    The four additional M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, or HIMARS, will bring the total number sent to Ukraine to a dozen, a senior defense official told reporters in a briefing Friday. The official said the first eight HIMARS were particularly useful for Ukraine, as the fight in the Donbas has largely evolved into an artillery duel. The official refuted Russian reports that two of the delivered HIMARS were destroyed, and said all eight are accounted for and still in use by Ukraine.

    The military equipment being drawn down from U.S. stockpiles and sent to Ukraine also includes three tactical vehicles, demolition munitions, counter-battery systems and spare parts, among other equipment, so Ukraine can repair and maintain other systems that allies have sent in recent months.

    The shipment will also include 1,000 rounds of 155mm artillery ammunition, which the defense official described as a precision-guided type that would allow the Ukrainian military to better hit specific targets, which would save ammunition. The official would not confirm whether these shells will be the guided Excalibur artillery rounds, but said they have not been part of previous security assistance packages to Ukraine.
    ……….

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 7/8/2022 @ 2:02 pm

    
    

28. john kavenaugh is a nazi who is always passing fascist bills……

    Kavanaugh couldn’t do it alone. It passed the AZ House 31-27 and Senate 16-12.

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 7/8/2022 @ 2:06 pm

    
    

29. R.I.P. Larry Storch, from tv’s F-Troop, at the ripe young age of 99

    Icy (56b9ff) — 7/8/2022 @ 2:20 pm

    
    

30. “Ukrainians are not ready to give away their land, to accept that these territories belong to Russia.

    Will he accept a ceasefire combined with maintaining and maybe even increasing all the sanctons?

    Russia may want a teemporary ceasefire.

    The military balance is turning in favor of Ukraine.

    I actually don’t think Russia will be able to restore its abilities anytime soon.

    If there is no ceasefire this war could grind on for four years.

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a) — 7/8/2022 @ 2:37 pm

    
    

31. As a result, by July 7, Russia had lost most of its key ammunition depots

    Yes, partly due to US and UK advice and training, Ukraine is sing its limited resources more effectively.

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a) — 7/8/2022 @ 2:38 pm

    
    

32. Breaking News- Musk craters Twitter deal.

    Elon Musk calls off $44 billion Twitter (TWTR) deal

    https://www.shacknews.com/article/131278/elon-musk-twitter-twtr-deal-canceled

    DCSCA (db3d2d) — 7/8/2022 @ 2:43 pm

    
    

33. Sound and fury that eventually…

    https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-07-08/elon-musk-terminates-twitter-merger-agreement-twtr

    urbanleftbehind (186909) — 7/8/2022 @ 2:43 pm

    
    

34. Bastard! J/k deezy

    urbanleftbehind (186909) — 7/8/2022 @ 2:44 pm

    
    

35. Elon Musk says he’ll back out of Twitter deal, but experts say he could face a legal fight and a $1 billion breakup fee
    ………
    That’s because he’s already signed on the dotted line to buy the company, which he did after waiving the option to evaluate Twitter’s business in advance. Before the late Friday announcement filed with regulators that said Musk would walk away from the deal, experts told Insider that they didn’t see many ways Musk could get out of the deal without consequences.

    Earlier Friday, before the announcement from Musk, Twitter told Insider that it intended to enforce the contract. ……
    ………
    Though Musk has raised concerns that the true number of Twitter bots could jeopardize the deal, Delaware courts have imposed a very high bar for what constitutes a “material adverse effect” that would allow a buyer to exit a deal, said Brian Quinn, associate professor at the Boston College Law School. (Many companies are registered in Delaware because of the state’s business-friendly legal system.)

    “Generally with these kinds of deals, once you’ve signed the contract, absent government intervention or an over-bidder, or some material adverse event between signing and closing, these deals will close,” Quinn said before the news of Musk trying to cancel the deal, calling a material adverse event a “very hard legal claim to win.”
    ……..
    Twitter may have reasons to be open renegotiating, according to Chester Spatt, a professor of finance at Carnegie Mellon University’s Tepper School of Business and a former chief economist at the Securities and Exchange Commission. He commented before the SEC filing from Musk.
    ……..
    Still, some observers are skeptical that a renegotiation is possible. Carl Tobias, Williams Chair in Law at the University of Richmond, told Insider he thinks Twitter will oppose lowering the price given the high value of Musk’s initial offer.

    …….[T]this move could come with harsh penalties attached, Karen Woody, an associate professor at the Washington and Lee University School of Law who studies securities law, told Insider earlier this year.

    “The short answer is, he’ll be sued,” Woody said. “There’s a contract here, and it’s binding.”

    If Musk ends up backing out, Twitter could sue him for the $1 billion termination fee set in the terms of the deal, though as Carnegie Mellon’s Spatt pointed out, $1 billion is less than 2.5% of the entire value of the deal, and a fraction of a percentage of Musk’s fortune.

    But Twitter could also sue him to force the deal through anyway. In that scenario, Twitter would ask a court to enforce what’s known as a “specific performance” clause in deal contracts that requires parties to do what they said they’d do to close the deal. Either way it would result in Musk fighting it out in court.
    ########

    You just knew this was going to happen. Bring out the popcorn!

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 7/8/2022 @ 3:04 pm

    
    

36. Marjorie Taylor Greene Goes Full Kook With Mass Shooting Conspiracy Theory

    Conspiracy theorist Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) claimed this week’s mass shooting at a parade in Illinois could have been a secret operation carried out by gun control advocates.

    “Two shootings on July 4th, one in a rich, white neighborhood and the other at a fireworks display,” she said in a clip posted on Twitter by Patriot Takes, which monitors right-wing media.

    Greene was referring to the parade shooting in Highland Park, which left seven people dead, and likely an incident in Philadelphia that left two police officers wounded.

    “It almost sounds like it’s designed to persuade Republicans to go along with more gun control,” she said. “I mean, after all, remember, we didn’t see that happen at all the Pride parades in the month of June.”

    Then she attempted to appropriate not just the Fourth of July ― celebrated by all Americans ― but the entire month in the name of Donald Trump.

    “As soon as we hit MAGA month, as soon as we hit the month that we’re all celebrating, loving our country, we have shootings on July 4th,” said Greene. “I mean, that’s, you know, that would sound like a conspiracy theory, right? Of course. But what’s the definition of right-wing conspiracy theory? Well, by the way, it’s the news that’s just six months early.”
    ………
    In other clips posted online, Greene ― who has repeatedly espoused antisemitic talking points and earlier this year spoke at a white nationalist event ― pointed out that “white Christian nationalists” didn’t carry out mass murders at Pride parades…..
    ……….

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 7/8/2022 @ 3:33 pm

    
    

37. Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 7/8/2022 @ 3:33 pm

    What’s in the water inside MTG’s district? She wouldn’t be saying these things if her constituents didn’t like it.

    norcal (da5491) — 7/8/2022 @ 4:02 pm

    
    

38. Twitter delenda est.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 7/8/2022 @ 4:07 pm

    
    

39. Musk can pay lawyers longer than Twitter can stay in business.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 7/8/2022 @ 4:09 pm

    
    

40. What’s in the water inside MTG’s district? She wouldn’t be saying these things if her constituents didn’t like it.

    Norcal, that whole corner of GA is nuts. They’ve sent us Bob Barr and Larry MacDonald (head of the Birch Society when he died on on KAL 007 (!)). The Dem district next door sent us Cynthia McKinney and Hank “Guam” Johnson.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 7/8/2022 @ 4:14 pm

    
    

41. RIP, Gregory Itzin, 74

    Onetime “24” POTUS Gregory Itzin died on Friday, at the age of 74. Itzin, who had suffered a major heart attack back in 2015, died from complications that arose during an emergency surgery, EW reports.

    Itzin is well-remembered for his run as 24‘s Charles Logan, a Machiavellian-if-sniveling politician. Logan debuted during Season/Day 4 as VP to President John Keeler (played by Geoff Pierson); by Hour 17 of that season, after Keeler had been incapacitated, Logan invoked the 25th Amendment to take over as POTUS.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 7/8/2022 @ 4:20 pm

    
    

42. I wonder if Musk sold his Twitter stock beforehand. Is it insider trading when you are the one making the news?

    Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 7/8/2022 @ 4:22 pm

    
    

43. On item 5: No, they shouldn’t be using their prop A funds for lawsuits. Facility improvements only (though 514,000 probably isn’t that high a percentage of the funds for SF. A single HS might easily get over a million when it’s their year for improvement). Also, WTH are they in debt? School districts got 5% COLA increase in the last 2 yrs. They should not be in dept.

    Nic (896fdf) — 7/8/2022 @ 4:25 pm

    
    

44. New Arizona law criminalizes filming police from less than 8 feet away

    So? 8 feet is pretty close.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 7/8/2022 @ 4:25 pm

    
    

45. Jim Miller (406a93) — 7/8/2022 @ 12:34 pm

    Sri Lanka defaults on debt for first time in its history

    (20-May) Sri Lanka has defaulted on its debt for the first time in its history as the country struggles with its worst financial crisis in more than 70 years….

    Professor Mick Moore from the University of Sussex and former consultant on Sri Lanka for the Asian Development Bank said even though it looked like Sri Lanka was struggling from the effects of global economic problems, it was “emphatically not that”.

    “This is the most man-made and voluntary economic crisis of which I know,” he told the BBC’s Today programme.

    Prof Moore said the previous administration had borrowed money for infrastructure projects and then “insisted in this very macho fashion” on repaying mounting the debts, rather than restructuring them with creditors.

    He said the then government “went along in this way until about six months ago and basically they had given away virtually all the foreign exchange they could command”.

    “This is egregious incompetence,” he added.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 7/8/2022 @ 4:41 pm

    
    

46. Geoff Pierson also a former president in the other Kiefer Sutherland show Designated Survivor.

    urbanleftbehind (d8db64) — 7/8/2022 @ 4:52 pm

    
    

47. R.I.P. Tony Sirico aka Paulie Walnuts.

    urbanleftbehind (d8db64) — 7/8/2022 @ 4:53 pm

    
    

48. What’s in the water inside MTG’s district? She wouldn’t be saying these things if her constituents didn’t like it.

    It’s about maintaining her national profile.

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 7/8/2022 @ 5:02 pm

    
    

49. I wonder if any of Twitter’s advertisers are beginning to realize they were conned.

    mg (8cbc69) — 7/8/2022 @ 5:22 pm

    
    

50. R.I.P. Tony Sirico aka Paulie Walnuts.

    urbanleftbehind (d8db64) — 7/8/2022 @ 4:53 pm

    I loved his character. Remember the scene where Paulie and Silvio(?) were tossing Adriana’s apartment?

    norcal (da5491) — 7/8/2022 @ 6:03 pm

    
    

51. “I wonder if Musk sold his Twitter stock beforehand. Is it insider trading when you are the one making the news?”

    Musk doesn’t believe that laws and regulations apply to him. So far he’s been mostly correct.

    “I wonder if any of Twitter’s advertisers are beginning to realize they were conned.”

    Everyone involved knows the state of bots on twitter, including Elon when he agreed to buy twitter. It was one of the things he claimed he was going to fix.

    Davethulhu (0b1e86) — 7/8/2022 @ 6:09 pm

    
    

52. Musk doesn’t believe that laws and regulations apply to him. So far he’s been mostly correct.

    Bureaucrats dislike going after people who can fight back.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 7/8/2022 @ 6:12 pm

    
    

53. “…to seek to terminate the presidency and maybe save her life.”

    —- POTUS

    Maybe save all our lives?

    Colonel Haiku (6caa2f) — 7/8/2022 @ 6:14 pm

    
    

54. “Bureaucrats dislike going after people who can fight back.”

    If your worldview is “Rich people should be able to do whatever they want”, congrats, I guess?

    Davethulhu (0b1e86) — 7/8/2022 @ 6:18 pm

    
    

55. Justice Brett Kavanaugh harassed by protesters while dining in Washington

    https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/justice-brett-kavanaugh-harassed-protesters-restaurant-dc

    You know what to do, Brett:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__ZI4XhNXUs

    DCSCA (77d457) — 7/8/2022 @ 6:30 pm

    
    

56. @25 I haven’t seen any evidence supporting the claim about the 10 year old girl and there are a lot of reasons to question it. Until I see some I’m putting that in the liar liar pants on fire folder.

    frosty (3cac0b) — 7/8/2022 @ 6:36 pm

    
    

57. You know what to do, Brett:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__ZI4XhNXUs

    DCSCA (77d457) — 7/8/2022 @ 6:30 pm

    Annul the recension?

    norcal (da5491) — 7/8/2022 @ 6:37 pm

    
    

58. @57. … ‘in heaven there is no beer,’ norcal:

    [ ] steak

    [ ] bar nuts

    [ ] Heineken on tap

    Choose, Brett.

    DCSCA (77d457) — 7/8/2022 @ 6:50 pm

    
    

59. Democrats are nolonger apathetic when they see 10 year old pregnant girl rape victims being force to give birth by their states.

    asset, I haven’t posted about this situation because there has not been any real corroboration. This is from Snopes:

    Dozens of Snopes readers searched our site or contacted us wondering whether that had actually happened. To find out, we reached out to Dr. Caitlin Bernard, an obstetrician-gynecologist based in Indianapolis and who spoke to The Columbus Dispatch, about the headline-generating story. As of this writing, Bernard had not returned our request for an interview, and we had not been able to independently corroborate the abortion claim. If we receive additional information, will update this post…

    As we have previously reported at Snopes, although medical privacy laws prevent health care workers from sharing the personal details of patients publicly, social media posts have circulated widely alleging various harrowing effects of recent abortion bans on pregnant people.

    So, until it’s been verified, I’m not at all comfortable agreeing that it’s true. It’s far too serious of an issue to mess around with -at least for me (although post SC decision and various state’s new laws, the 10-year-old’s alleged situation could clearly now be a very real problem, if only in a remarkably few instances). But clearly the pro-aborts are running with it as is. Truth and accuracy are malleable when you need them to be, I guess.

    Allahpundit tried to search out the truth of the claim today without much luck.

    Dana (1225fc) — 7/8/2022 @ 6:56 pm

    
    

60. The panty sniff scene (Paulie Walnuts with Patsy Parisi),IIRC norcal?

    urbanleftbehind (d5b707) — 7/8/2022 @ 6:59 pm

    
    

61. https://redstate.com/bonchie/2022/07/08/hunter-biden-has-some-very-interesting-thoughts-about-jill-biden-n591489
    thought I’d lighten it up a bit

    mg (8cbc69) — 7/8/2022 @ 7:06 pm

    
    

62. what a sack of sh_t administration

    Four mounted Border Patrol agents are CLEARED of whipping migrants with their reins – but are still disciplined: Officials say they were unprofessional and used unnecessary force

    Customs and Border Protection has referred four horseback agents accused of whipping Haitian migrants in September 2021 for disciplinary action.

    A 500-page report released by the agency on Friday said the agents acted unprofessionally, unsafely and used unnecessary force – but concluded they did not strike the migrants with their reins.

    ‘Today we learned what we knew all along – the accused Border Patrol Agents in Del Rio did nothing wrong,’ Roy said in a statement to the press.

    ‘But this administration can’t miss a chance to destroy the morale of our overrun, hardworking Border Patrol for political gain, and it issued disciplinary action anyway to finish off one of the most despicable displays of leadership seen from any cabinet Secretary.’

    JF (3cc915) — 7/8/2022 @ 7:40 pm

    
    

63. If your worldview is “Rich people should be able to do whatever they want”, congrats, I guess?

    No, my worldview is that bureaucrats don’t like challenges that might make them look bad.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 7/8/2022 @ 7:42 pm

    
    

64. Truth and accuracy are malleable when you need them to be, I guess.

    Considering that the majority of newspaper-reported hate crimes are manufactured by the supposed victim, I have to agree. When the horror story has no factual support, it is most likely fiction. But those who dearly want it to be true will have no problem asserting it’s true. And like Trump’s lies, soon enough people start to believe.

    I’m waiting until Biden vetoes a 15-week federal bill, then blames Congress for forcing all these women to be handmaidens or whatever.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 7/8/2022 @ 7:48 pm

    
    

65. ‘But this administration can’t miss a chance to destroy the morale of our overrun, hardworking Border Patrol for political gain, and it issued disciplinary action anyway to finish off one of the most despicable displays of leadership seen from any cabinet Secretary.’

    I really, really want to see “honest services fraud” applied to apparatchiks.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 7/8/2022 @ 7:49 pm

    
    

66. Shorter: This is how you get more Trump.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 7/8/2022 @ 7:50 pm

    
    

67. what a sack of sh_t administration

    Rest easy. He condemned the untimely death of Mothra this morning. Or was it Godzilla… or Hitachi… or Toyota… or Yamaha… give him time… President Ron Burgundy will get it right, eventually.

    DCSCA (4fcd3c) — 7/8/2022 @ 8:17 pm

    
    

68. Looks like the guys who wanted their music off spotify put it back on. That didn’t last long.

    frosty (a7a93b) — 7/8/2022 @ 8:19 pm

    
    

69. https://law.justia.com/cases/wisconsin/supreme-court/2022/2022ap000091.html

    We hold the documents are invalid because ballot drop boxes are illegal under Wisconsin statutes. Anabsentee ballot must be returned by mail or the voter must personally deliver it to the municipal clerk at the clerk’s office or a designated alternate site. We do not address whether the documents constitute unpromulgated administrative rules because the documents are invalid regardless.

    So unattended ballot drop boxes are illegal according to the laws of Wisconsin. Wonder how many other states violated the law to “secure the election.”

    NJRob (eb56c3) — 7/8/2022 @ 9:16 pm

    
    

70. Republican litmus test of lies!……….https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2022/07/election-integrity-in-wisconsin.php someone is reporting, and someone likes the Democrat narrative too much.

    Richard Wetmore (6283c1) — 7/8/2022 @ 9:44 pm

    
    

71. https://twitter.com/jason_howerton/status/1545443401402826753

    Joe Biden is dumber than Ron Burgundy. Ouch.

    NJRob (eb56c3) — 7/8/2022 @ 9:55 pm

    
    

72. Before or after this declaration, Frosty (@68)?

    urbanleftbehind (3ef1d6) — 7/8/2022 @ 10:10 pm

    
    

73. https://freebeacon.com/media/how-facebook-crushes-conservative-news/

    It took just hours after a Washington Free Beacon report on a Biden administration plan to distribute crack pipes to drug addicts at taxpayer expense for the Facebook fact-checkers to mobilize.
    In a “fact check” titled “Biden Administration Is NOT Funding ‘Crack Pipes, Heroin’ For Drug Use,” Lead Stories–a prominent member of Facebook’s third-party fact-checking program–concluded the Free Beacon report was “not true.” Lead Stories based its determination on Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra’s declaration, made days after the report elicited considerable blowback, that as Lead Stories phrased it, “none of the federal funds for harm reduction programs for drug addicts can be used to provide crack pipes.”

    “While a description of the HHS grants stated that the grantees would be required to buy materials like safe smoking kits and supplies to ‘enhance harm reduction efforts,’ such kits and supplies are just a few of the many materials that grantees can utilize,” Lead Stories added. The fact-checking system at Facebook, which I saw first hand during my time as a software engineer on Facebook’s “Misinformation” fact-checking team between 2019 and 2021, hands monumental power to supposedly nonpartisan fact-checking organizations to quash legitimate news.

    According to the original Free Beacon report, President Joe Biden’s Department of Health and Human Services planned to implement a $30 million grant program that included the distribution of “safe smoking kits” to drug addicts. A spokesman for the administration told the Free Beacon that these “safe smoking kits” would–like many other similar existing kits across the nation–include pipes for the use of “any illicit substance.” Another Facebook fact-checker, AFP Fact Check, also concluded the “U.S. grant program is not funding crack pipes for addicts.”

    As a result of this wave of fact-checking activity, Facebook posts linking to the Free Beacon report were tagged as “Partly False,” thereby “significantly” reducing the “content’s distribution so that fewer people see it,” according to Facebook’s own fact-checking policy.

    The Free Beacon tried to fight the decision, but complaints fell on deaf ears. Lead Stories editor in chief Alan Duke insisted he had no responsibility to contact the Free Beacon before making a determination, which relied exclusively on the word of Biden administration officials. That’s right: Lead Stories diminished the story’s distribution on Facebook based on the word of Biden administration officials whose policies were suddenly under scrutiny.

    “Your fact check on Lead Stories led to our highly trafficked piece being removed from Facebook. Is there a reason you didn’t bother reaching out to our reporter or anybody at the Free Beacon?” the Free Beacon’s executive editor, Brent Scher, asked Duke.

    “Your article may be ‘highly trafficked’ but it is also highly false,” Duke, a former CNN reporter, responded. “Please let us know when you have updated it with the correct information, as shared in our article.”

    Duke, whose Twitter profile describes him as a “Facebook fact-checker,” added that his duties required him only to contact government spokesmen–not the Free Beacon.

    NJRob (eb56c3) — 7/8/2022 @ 10:15 pm

    
    

74. If your worldview is “Rich people should be able to do whatever they want”, congrats, I guess?

    If your worldview is “Government should be given all the latitude necessary to hassle anyone who can’t afford a team of lawyers to fight back,” congrats, I guess?

    I mean, if you want to make stupid generalizations then obviously you would accept it coming right back at you, right?

    JVW (020d31) — 7/8/2022 @ 10:29 pm

    
    

75. https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/matt-margolis/2022/07/08/white-house-defends-harassment-of-justice-kavanaugh-in-dc-restaurant-this-is-what-a-democracy-is-n1611446

    Whitw House spokeswoman makes it clear that if Supreme Court Justices vote in ways they don’t support, they’re fair game for harassment and misery.

    NJRob (fceb93) — 7/8/2022 @ 10:29 pm

    
    

76. “If your worldview is “Government should be given all the latitude necessary to hassle anyone who can’t afford a team of lawyers to fight back,” congrats, I guess?”

    Well done, this is exactly the argument I’m making. The corollary to “Rich people do what they want” is “Regular people do not get the same consideration.”

    “I mean, if you want to make stupid generalizations then obviously you would accept it coming right back at you, right?”

    It’s pretty stupid to think that this is a position I support.

    Davethulhu (0b1e86) — 7/8/2022 @ 11:04 pm

    
    

77. @60 That’s it, urbanleftbehind! Clearly, you are more versed in The Sopranos that I.

    norcal (da5491) — 7/8/2022 @ 11:18 pm

    
    

78. I don’t know what Mr Wetmore was trying to say in #70, and I certainly don’t know what the actual facts were regarding absentee ballots in WI and MI. But the kinds of things that Hindraker is saying — this is now two states where courts have said that the 2020 election was conducted other-than-legally regarding absentee and/or mail-in ballots. A third state obviously was when a Dem SoS signs a consent decree with his own party to waive law that he has no power to waive.

    The laws and rules regarding absentee and mailed ballots — once a mere decimal point on the results, but now the majority — need to be clarified, then rigorously followed. I’m sorry if Joe Six-Pack didn’t sign his ballot like it says he should; being drunk is no excuse; his vote doesn’t count An election where the laws and rules are cavalierly tossed aside in ways that seem to benefit one party is not one that inspires confidence.

    Powerline blog

    Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 7/8/2022 @ 11:19 pm

    
    

79. Facebook fact-checking in 1973 would have labeled Woodward and Bernstein “fake news.” And some of it was.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 7/8/2022 @ 11:22 pm

    
    

80. It’s pretty stupid to think that this is a position I support.

    And yet you did the same to me @54.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 7/8/2022 @ 11:24 pm

    
    

81. As a result of this wave of fact-checking activity, Facebook posts linking to the Free Beacon report were tagged as “Partly False,”

    They must have a terrible time with anything Biden says, then.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 7/8/2022 @ 11:25 pm

    
    

82. “And yet you did the same to me @54.”

    It is likely a position you support, but in a roundabout way. A standard Republican objective is the weakening of regulatory agencies, and this is the inevitable result.

    If I misunderstood your response, and instead you do support strengthening regulations so that billionaires can’t act with impunity, then I apologize.

    Davethulhu (0b1e86) — 7/8/2022 @ 11:54 pm

    
    

83. A large-scale effort to recall Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón submitted roughly 717,000 petition signatures

    It won’t be enough. Gascon’s people have likely been out in force signing with bogus names and signatures, each one costing the petitioners a few dollars and, done right, the phony names and addresses are impossible for the petitioners to detect. This has become a standard practice in CA for recalls and initiatives with focused opposition.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 7/9/2022 @ 12:25 am

    
    

84. It is likely a position you support, but in a roundabout way.

    Effing mindreaders.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 7/9/2022 @ 12:26 am

    
    

85. “Effing mindreaders.”

    I explained my reasoning. Am I wrong?

    Davethulhu (0b1e86) — 7/9/2022 @ 12:34 am

    
    

86. If I misunderstood your response, and instead you do support strengthening regulations so that billionaires can’t act with impunity, then I apologize.

    No, I support having fewer officials harassing the populace and eating out our sustenance.

    But since you asked about regulations, I’ll be clear:

    I support restoring to Congress the Legislative Veto that was part of the enabling legislation of most of the 70’s regulatory agencies. That the Supreme Court killed that power (INS v Chadha), WITHOUT killing the delegated legislative powers, has proven just as much a problem that Justice White’s dissent said it would.

    White, summarized by Wikipedia:

    Justice White, dissenting, argued that

    (1) the legislative veto power is absolutely necessary to modern government, as exemplified by the legislative veto powers granted in the War Powers Act of 1973.
    (2) The absence of constitutional provisions for alternate methods of action does not imply their prohibition by the Constitution, and the Court has consistently read the Constitution to respond to contemporary needs with flexibility.
    (3) The legislative veto power does not involve the ability of Congress to enact new legislation without bicameral consensus or presentation to the president, but instead involves the ability of Congress to veto suggestions by the executive, a power that both houses of Congress already possess.
    (4) The Court has allowed Congress to delegate authority to executive agencies; lawmaking does not always require bicameralism or presentation.
    (5) The bicameralism and presentation provisions of the Constitution serve to ensure that no departure from the status quo takes place without consensus from both houses of Congress and the President or by a super-majority vote of both houses of Congress.

    Rehnquist seaparately argued against severability, since the legislative veto was a condition that Congress insisted upon, and without it would have been unlikely to pass the enabling legislation.

    I believe that many of the large regulatory agencies created during the Nixon and Ford administrations are unconstitutional delegations of legislative power. The Legislative Veto was intended by Congress to retain the leash, but now that it’s been removed, they are wholly unconstitutional. INS v Chadha should be revisited, to either restore the Veto, or to revoke the regulatory powers.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 7/9/2022 @ 12:41 am

    
    

87. Nearly all of the conflicts between Congress and the Executive in the last 20 or 30 years can be traced back to the terrible mistake the Berger Court made in INS v Chadha. The transfer of power to the Executive was extreme, and all these presidential decrees that substitute for formal law is just one result.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 7/9/2022 @ 12:48 am

    
    

88. https://townhall.com/tipsheet/saraharnold/2022/07/08/biden-admin-sold-1-million-barrels-of-oil-to-chineseowned-company-tied-to-hunter-biden-n2609937
    The never trumpers are so blind and full of it.

    mg (8cbc69) — 7/9/2022 @ 2:12 am

    
    

89. https://theaspenbeat.com
    never trumpers are pathetic

    mg (8cbc69) — 7/9/2022 @ 2:18 am

    
    

90. Democrat party after roe ruling. By any means necessary! Malcolm X. Declare Nation health emercgency like the pandemic. Joe Biden Huh? I will do something when I am not running interference for hunter and don’t you dare try and primary me with AOC!

    asset (571557) — 7/9/2022 @ 2:38 am

    
    

91. NeverTrump Republicans Just Can’t Let Go of Trump

    Horatio (1864be) — 7/9/2022 @ 3:48 am

    
    

92. https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2022/07/nevertrump-republicans-just-cant-let-go-trump-bruce-thornton/

    Horatio (1864be) — 7/9/2022 @ 3:49 am

    
    

93. Everyone involved knows the state of bots on twitter, including Elon when he agreed to buy twitter. It was one of the things he claimed he was going to fix.

    Davethulhu (0b1e86) — 7/8/2022 @ 6:09 pm

    Then why aren’t they handing it over to Musk? What does everyone know? I don’t know how many accounts are bots or what effect they have on the platform or what Twitter is doing about them. Did I miss a memo?

    frosty (3cac0b) — 7/9/2022 @ 4:58 am

    
    

94. @72 That wasn’t why they protested in the first place. But google works as well for you as it does me so if you really want to know the dates you can find out. I’m guessing that since you didn’t go that route the one thing has nothing to do with the other. You just want to imply that it does.

    Why are you running interference for a bunch of clueless celebrities? Young didn’t even own the music we was demanding be pulled. It was a free virtue signal for him.

    frosty (3cac0b) — 7/9/2022 @ 5:16 am

    
    

95. @90 I’d love to see AOC at the front of the D ticket. It would put the whole game into undeniable focus.

    But I’m fascinated by your fixation on her. She still has ptsd from when someone tried to check on her during Jan/6. After Roe fell one of her acts of defiance or something was to get a manicure. Che was a homicidal psychopath who boasted of killing people, you’re searching for a Che figure to lead the next revolution, and you’ve likened her to Che. You don’t see any flaws in that logic?

    frosty (3cac0b) — 7/9/2022 @ 5:42 am

    
    

96. I explained my reasoning. Am I wrong?

    Davethulhu (0b1e86) — 7/9/2022 @ 12:34 am

    Yes. At least to the degree that you didn’t explain your reasoning. You piled on more questionable generalizations and added some snark.

    Now an extra question is whether you really believe that is reasoning or if you know it’s not but think no one else will notice.

    frosty (a7a93b) — 7/9/2022 @ 6:07 am

    
    

97. Che was a homicidal psychopath who boasted of killing people, you’re searching for a Che figure to lead the next revolution, and you’ve likened her to Che. You don’t see any flaws in that logic?

    frosty (3cac0b) — 7/9/2022 @ 5:42 am

    He’s likened her to both Robespierre and Che, who didn’t exactly go out in glory. Next thing you know, he’ll be comparing her to Diana Oughton.

    Factory Working Orphan (2775f0) — 7/9/2022 @ 7:33 am

    
    

98. This has become a standard practice in CA for recalls and initiatives with focused opposition.
    Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 7/9/2022 @ 12:25 am

    i wonder what bogus names Rip Murdock used and how many?

    JF (33414e) — 7/9/2022 @ 8:20 am

    
    

99. I explained my reasoning. I expect you to ignore it.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 7/9/2022 @ 8:22 am

    
    

100. This Glenn Kessler fact check from a month ago deserves our attention.

     He shows, carefully, how something Biden said can be both true, and misleading. Here’s the Biden statement:

     “Over the last two decades, more school-aged children have died from guns than on-duty police officers and active-duty military combined.”

     That’s true, but misleading, for several reasons, including these two:

     The military death figures show about 22 percent of the deaths are from suicide.

     Moreover, in the military, not all deaths are from firearms. Deaths by accident exceeded deaths by hostile action in all but five of the 20 years. In fact, over the last two decades, 8,740 service members, or 34 percent, were killed in accidents compared with 5,445 (21 percent) in hostile action. It’s unclear how many hostile-action deaths involved firearms.

     (Emphasis added, because I found those statistics on suicide and accidents striking.)

     It deserves our attention because he shows, throughout the column, how to reason with numbers. Something we all need to do more of.

     Jim Miller (406a93) — 7/9/2022 @ 8:25 am

     
     

101. @88 “The Biden administration sold 950,000 barrels of oil from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve to Unipec, a Chinese-owned gas company linked to Hunter Biden.”

     i don’t even care whether the company is linked to hunter

     this is sack of sh_t move regardless

     impeach

     JF (33414e) — 7/9/2022 @ 8:28 am

     
     

102. There’s something familiar about the bombing of the Georgia Guidestones. The bomber was caught on video but no one’s been named or apprehended.

     Paul Montagu (5de684) — 7/9/2022 @ 8:38 am

     
     

103. Jim Miller (406a93) — 7/9/2022 @ 8:25 am

     glenn kessler won’t fact check biden unless the numbers can be massaged using convolution and laplace transform to make demented joe look less insanely stupid

     he fact checked trump on freaking crowd sizes, but won’t fact check biden on the border control whips lie or the still unsubstantiated 10-year old abortion tall tale

     JF (33414e) — 7/9/2022 @ 8:52 am

     
     

104. “Over the last two decades, more school-aged children have died from guns than on-duty police officers and active-duty military combined.”

     This is more misleading for other reasons. It implies that kids are being killed at school by lunatics with guns at a rate higher than soldiers in the field. This is not true.

     3,390 children (0-19) were killed by firearms in 2019 (the last non-COVID year, to remove any asterisks). Of these, 60% (2,032) were killed by homicide (suicide accounted for 34%, all other causes 6%).

     Two-thirds (1,312) of children murdered by handguns were Black males, most of these were murdered by other Black males. Girls constituted 486, or less than 1/4th of children killed, but even here Black girls are over-represented at 186. The odds of dying in this way is more than twice as high for black females than for all females.

     Ween you get into the data, not only is Biden lying, but he is also failing to acknowledge that gangs and violent surroundings at home are far more likely to kill children than the school shootings he implies.

     Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 7/9/2022 @ 8:52 am

     
     

105. What is happening to gas prices in the United States? According to AAA, they are continuing to decline:

     Since Monday, the national average for a gallon of regular gasoline has decreased by a nickel to $4.75. According to new data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA), gas demand increased from 8.92 million b/d to 9.41 million b/d ahead of the 4th of July holiday, while total domestic gas stocks decreased by 2.5 million bbl. Typically, these supply/demand trends would put upward pressure on pump prices; however, falling oil prices have contributed to lower pump prices.

     Note please, that the prices are continuing to decline, in spite of increasing demand.

     No doubt all of you will celebrate this good news, and hope that it will continue.

     I have left the amount gas prices have fallen from their recent peak as an exercise for readers. Who, I wonder, can do it first with links, preferably to a graph?

     (By the way, if you had bet on lower gasoline prices a few weeks ago, you would have made some money in the commodities markets.)

     Jim Miller (406a93) — 7/9/2022 @ 8:57 am

     
     

106. Jim Miller (406a93) — 7/9/2022 @ 8:57 am

     sorry to burst your biden bubble, Jim Miller

     “Crude oil prices have taken a tumble this week, spurred by fears of a looming recession that could tamper demand.”

     No doubt all of you will celebrate this good news, and hope that it will continue.

     will we all get an invite to your recession celebration party?

     this reminds me of how bush’s Great Recession fixed illegal immigration

     JF (33414e) — 7/9/2022 @ 9:04 am

     
     

107. #103 Yesterday, the Washington Post published this Glenn Kessler fact check, “Biden’s inaccurate claim about writing law review articles on privacy”. In it, Kessler notes:

     As we have documented before, the president has a tendency to sometimes embellish the factual record about his past. Earlier this year, he said he was arrested during civil rights protests when there was no evidence that ever happened. He also has claimed he was arrested for trying to see Nelson Mandela, but that was false.

     (Two links to previous Biden fact checks omitted.)

     Today, he has a fact check recounting his efforts, so far unsuccesful, to establish the truth of the 10 year old abortion claim.

     (I’ll let other readers determine how many “Pinocchios” JF deserves.)

     Jim Miller (406a93) — 7/9/2022 @ 9:08 am

     
     

108. Why America’s Far Right and Far Left Have Aligned Against Helping Ukraine.

     A number of tropes that recur in this right-wing critique is the claim that NATO expansion forced Putin’s hand and led to the invasion as well as that money spent on military aid to Ukraine would be better spent on domestic issues, even if those issues include the continued militarization of the U.S.-Mexico border, as suggested by Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley.

     Meanwhile, many on the progressive left—including members of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) and the politicians they support, left-wing academics and essayists, and swaths of self-proclaimed online “anti-imperialists”—have tended to side with the aggressor, Russia (or at least not side with the victim, Ukraine) in one of the clearest examples of colonial aggression in recent memory. Their primary arguments mirror those of the right—NATO expansion and Russia’s legitimate security concerns as a trigger for the war as well as the misuse of funds that could be used to solve domestic problems—but they also express opposition to war full stop and, sometimes, espouse outright support for Russia, all wrapped in language of opposition to U.S. intervention abroad, often construed as “U.S. imperialism.”
     […]
     For all their disparate political goals and motivations, what unites the far left and far right is their relationship to U.S. politics. What unites them is an opposition to what they perceive as the faults of the status quo, a distrust of the establishment, and crude anti-Americanism.

     On the political right, the actions of legislators like Greene, Cawthorn, Rep. Paul Gosar, or Rep. Matt Gaetz—all of whom oppose U.S. support for Ukraine against Russia—seem to be driven by a profound dislike of the United States as an ethnically and racially diverse democracy, a country where Obergefell v. Hodges, the 2015 Supreme Court decision legalizing same-sex marriage, is the law of the land (at least, for now).

     Many on the far right despise that reality and recognize the ideological proximity of their political goals to what they see as Putin’s accomplishments, including making life extremely difficult for Russia’s LGBTQ community. His general anti-wokeness has been lauded by former Trump advisor and current MAGA influencer Steve Bannon. The Russian propaganda machine has been remarkably well versed in the language of U.S. culture wars, and there is a widespread perception that Putin and Russia are allies to the MAGA wing of the GOP on that culture war front.

     The other aspect is the simple fact that in the polarized landscape of U.S. politics, partisanship trumps national interest and lending any support to Biden is simply unacceptable. If Biden and the Democrats take a position (any position), it must simply be wrong and be viciously opposed. That dynamic has been captured by a viral photo from a Trump rally in 2018 that shows two men proudly wearing “I’d rather be a Russian than a Democrat” T-shirts. Unfortunately, as we have highlighted, many MAGA politicians are not just talking the talk; they’re walking the walk on that front.

     On the progressive left, the motivation is less any perceived alignment with Putin’s policies and more just plain distrust of U.S. foreign policy. Many Americans in these political circles are very invested in the narrative that the United States is a bad international actor that has caused a lot of pain abroad through various wars (most notably, but not exclusively: Afghanistan, Iraq, and Vietnam). As a result, they reflexively default to the viewpoint that whatever the U.S. policy is toward a foreign conflict, it must be self-interested or even imperialist. This is why many leftists end up repeating the pro-Kremlin framing of NATO expansion as unilateral American imperialism and, even more bizarrely, citing figures like Mearsheimer—and even Kissinger, a traditional enemy of the American left—to support their point.

     A common thread is the “prevalence of a certain populism on both the left and right”. It is strange when characters like Chomsky and the tiny-fisted Josh Hawley and the Pope are on the same page, all for their own bullsh-t reasons. Mea culpa for the bigger-than-usual cut-and-paste.

     Paul Montagu (5de684) — 7/9/2022 @ 9:11 am

     
     

109. “this is sack of sh_t move regardless”

     Isn’t the market for oil global, with prices set by global traders? Also, aren’t there different types of crude oil….and the type of crude finds its way to where it’s needed through market forces? Since the sour crude that is being released is high in sulfur, it makes sense that it is replacing similar oil lost to the market from Russia. Another case where it might be more beneficial to listen to industry experts instead of Tucker Carlson.

     AJ_Liberty (c82e21) — 7/9/2022 @ 9:16 am

     
     

110. I can’t I haven’t seen this movie before.

     Paul Montagu (5de684) — 7/9/2022 @ 9:19 am

     
     

111. embellish the factual record

     Earlier this year, he said he was arrested during civil rights protests when there was no evidence that ever happened. He also has claimed he was arrested for trying to see Nelson Mandela, but that was false.

     If this was Cruz or Trump, it would be called the lie that it is. But with Biden, it’s “embellishment.”

     Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 7/9/2022 @ 9:19 am

     
     

112. @AJ you’re correct. But facts and accuracy < sound bites fool’s can get worked up about.

     Time123 (bbd3ea) — 7/9/2022 @ 9:21 am

     
     

113. We’ve seen prices decline several times this year, only to be followed by another quick run-up to even higher levels.

     https://www.gasbuddy.com/charts

     Regular gas at several stations near me is $4.19/g

     Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 7/9/2022 @ 9:29 am

     
     

114. Time and AJ – What fascinates me is the kind of thinking that can see both a rise in gasoline prices as bad — and blame Biden, and then see a decline in gasoline prices as bad — and blame that on Biden.

     Me, I just see markets operating as they usually do during war times, which almost always produce inflation.
     And I don’t blame or credit Biden much for either move.

     (In WW II, gasoline was rationed, not because of a shortage, but to conserve rubber.)

     Jim Miller (406a93) — 7/9/2022 @ 9:35 am

     
     

115. While the price of oil and gas is driven by supply/demand, the supply is driven mostly by expectations in several respects.

     1. If current oil producers think they will get a higher price tomorrow, they well sell less today. This drives supply down and prices up, on the margin.

     2. If current oil producers think they will get a lower price tomorrow, they well sell more today. This drives supply up and prices down, on the margin.

     Both the above are positive feedback with drives oscillation in the market.

     3. If current oil producers think the oil industry isn’t a good investment going forward, they will stop developing new wells. This has no immediate effect on prices, except through action of #1.

     4. If government says it wants to end the burning of oil, #3 becomes more likely.

     5. If, as happened under W and Trump, government says it wants to expand oil production, it greatly encourages investment, prospecting and development of new oil production. This invokes #2 rather forcefully and drives prices down, at least until the lower return on investment takes hold.

     Biden is doing this all wrong, unless he WANTS gas prices high.

     Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 7/9/2022 @ 9:39 am

     
     

116. Nearly $7 for diesel and mid-$6 for premium here in NorCal…

     Oil will lower in price concurrent with Biden’s hand-built recession.

     Colonel Haiku (3054e7) — 7/9/2022 @ 9:41 am

     
     

117. AJ_Liberty (c82e21) — 7/9/2022 @ 9:16 am

     it’s called a Strategic Petroleum Reserve cuz words have meaning

     oil is a weapon, at least as vital as military hardware and we don’t put weapons out on the market to go to the highest bidder

     even assuming that characterizes accurately what happened in this case with the oil, which I think is laughable

     JF (33414e) — 7/9/2022 @ 9:44 am

     
     

118. and then see a decline in gasoline prices as bad — and blame that on Biden.

     I don’t. I just see it as ephemeral. The last two declines have been followed by moves to still-higher prices. I’m glad you’re optimistic, but the trends suggest otherwise.

     Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 7/9/2022 @ 9:45 am

     
     

119. Releasing oil from the reserve has only a mild, and temporary, effect on prices. Sometimes very little effect, if refineries are at max output. Sure, they will pay a little less for the crude, but it’s not the effect that people think it will be. Personally, I think the Supremes reigning in the EPA had a greater effect.

     Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 7/9/2022 @ 9:48 am

     
     

120. Cheer up, NeverTrump! How could you possibly have known!?!?

     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1_hYe3hhjE

     Colonel Haiku (3054e7) — 7/9/2022 @ 9:50 am

     
     

121. A little bit about my general beliefs on what a president can do, and can’t do. Some years ago, I got a call from Gallup where they asked me, among other things, how well I thought the president was managing the economy.

     That made me think about the question literally, which I hadn’t done before, though I had seen it, and similar poll questions, hundreds of times.

     And I concluded what should have been obvious, that no one, including a president, can manage an economy as large and complex as ours, and that, in a free country, no one should. What elected leaders can do is follow policies that make good outcomes more likely, in the long run. So, for example, they can improve infrastructure, and support research, of all kinds.

     Jim Miller (406a93) — 7/9/2022 @ 9:51 am

     
     

122. Paul: “like Chomsky and the tiny-fisted Josh Hawley and the Pope are on the same page”

     Yeah the Pope’s initial take was just astounding. The response by the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, was appropriate

     “Anyone who thinks that some external cause has provoked Russia into military aggression is either themselves in the grip of Russian propaganda or is simply and deliberately deceiving the world.”

     The archbishop then correctly placed the cause on Russian retaliation for the collapse of the Soviet Union. So extreme Russian nationalism with a healthy dose of genocidal madness. I think the pope has tried to dial it back some, but he certainly fell for the notion that NATO was barking at the Russian gate.

     The correct perception of NATO growth would be to see countries released from Soviet captivity trying to protect themselves from future captivity. The pope should recognize that these countries are not Putin’s playthings. It is kind of black and white….

     AJ_Liberty (c82e21) — 7/9/2022 @ 9:52 am

     
     

123. “Then why aren’t they handing it over to Musk?”

     Twitter says that they have.

     “What does everyone know? I don’t know how many accounts are bots or what effect they have on the platform or what Twitter is doing about them. Did I miss a memo?”

     Everyone involved. You are not Elon, or Twitter, or an ad company. I don’t know either, but you can sure that people who’s livelihood depend on it know.

     Davethulhu (0b1e86) — 7/9/2022 @ 9:55 am

     
     

124. Ford F-150 Lightning…

     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nz2xKGByC0E

     Colonel Haiku (3054e7) — 7/9/2022 @ 10:00 am

     
     

125. “I explained my reasoning. I expect you to ignore it.”

     It shows that I was correct in my assumptions. I’m willing to say that it’s an unintended result on your part, but not for the “drown it in a bathtub” deregulators that are actually running things.

     Davethulhu (0b1e86) — 7/9/2022 @ 10:01 am

     
     

126. It shows that I was correct in my assumptions. I’m willing to say that it’s an unintended result on your part, but not for the “drown it in a bathtub” deregulators that are actually running things.

     Davethulhu (0b1e86) — 7/9/2022 @ 10:01 am

     LOL, your side completely dominates the government managerial class. Don’t come acting like Republicans control the government, it just reveals how dishonest you and your side actually are.

     Factory Working Orphan (2775f0) — 7/9/2022 @ 10:04 am

     
     

127. Why crude released from U.S. oil reserves may have ended up being exported overseas
     ….. (T)he U.S. exported more than 5 million barrels of oil to Europe and Asia last month — oil that was part of the historic release from the SPR, Reuters reported this week, citing data and sources.
     ……..
     Exports are profitable and they allow some refiners to send products that don’t meet U.S. specifications overseas where the formulae are less stringent,” Tom Kloza, global head of energy analysis at the Oil Price Information Service, told MarketWatch. OPIS is a unit of Dow Jones & Co., publisher of MarketWatch.

     “The refiners also export ‘other oils’…that have no home in the U.S.,” he said. “Their argument is that this allows them to run at 95% of capacity or more. If the exports were restricted, they would have to run lower.”

     U.S. refineries operated at 94.5% of their operable capacity for the week ended July 1, compared with just 92.2% a year ago, according to the Energy Information Administration report released Thursday.

     The nation’s refineries “simply don’t have the ability to absorb those new barrels [of oil] suddenly hitting the market and therefore, physical refined product markets remain tight and prices are still elevated,” said Tyler Richey, co-editor at Sevens Report Research.
     ……….
     …….. Brian Milne, product manager, editor and analyst at DTN, told MarketWatch that his team “knew immediately upon hearing the government’s announcement for big draws from emergency reserves that they would largely go to exports” because U.S. refiners, except for the West Coast, are producing near capacity.”
     ………

     Related from Reuters:

     …….
     The fourth-largest U.S. oil refiner, Phillips 66 (PSX.N), shipped about 470,000 barrels of sour crude from the Big Hill SPR storage site in Texas to Trieste, Italy, according to U.S. Customs data. Trieste is home to a pipeline that sends oil to refineries in central Europe.

     Atlantic Trading & Marketing (ATMI), an arm of French oil major TotalEnergies (TTEF.PA), exported 2 cargoes of 560,000 barrels each, the data showed.

     Cargoes of SPR crude were also headed to the Netherlands and to a Reliance (RELI.NS) refinery in India, an industry source said. A third cargo headed to China, another source said.

     At least one cargo of crude from the West Hackberry SPR site in Louisiana was set to be exported in July, a shipping source added.

     “Crude and fuel prices would likely be higher if (the SPR releases) hadn’t happened, but at the same time, it isn’t really having the effect that was assumed,” said Matt Smith, lead oil analyst at Kpler.

     Rip Murdock (9a3b4c) — 7/9/2022 @ 10:14 am

     
     

128. One of the Conservative candidates for British Prime Minister is MP Kemi Badenoch. Badenoch was Minister of State for Local Government, Faith and Communities. And has had an interesting life.

     (Prime Minister Boris Johnson is stepping down, because he lied too often, and wouldn’t stop. He became prime minister in spite of being fired twice for lying at previous jobs, because he caught a big issue and was lucky enough to run against Jeremy Corbyn, a man who makes our Bernie Sanders look moderate.)

     Jim Miller (406a93) — 7/9/2022 @ 10:19 am

     
     

129. Miller: “how well I thought the president was managing the economy.”

     Yeah I’ve always chuckled at this. The problem is that nature abhors a vaccum and when the Congress becomes operationally impotent, something fills the void….and that’s Presidential Executive Orders….and sometimes the Supreme Court siding with the Executive over-reach (thankfully we saw a recent small correction).

     Whether we drill on federal lands and whether we permit Keystone should be decided by the legislature and the President…and should not be something imposed by the President…but especially not by someone with no electoral mandate.

     That said, it is amusing how we desperately attach the performance of the economy to the Chief Executive. Much of what is going on is due to an economy lurching back from a Covid shutdown and then hit by a war that disrupted the oil market. Did Biden’s Covid spending irritate the problem? Sure, but looking around the world, we see a lot of inflation with very little correlation with government spending (we also conveniently forget the $3.7T of spending by Trump).

     Kevin will try to argue that releasing the strategic oil reserve only has a small impact on inflation but the $1.9T had a substantial impact. What’s the evidence? Like everything economic we insert our own biases. Probably both have a real small effect in the big picture. The Federal Reserve’s speed of action and the size of their response will probably drive the narrative….but we don’t elect them….and can’t get all excited about them. We can play all the politics that we want and the markets are going to do what they are going to do….

     AJ_Liberty (c82e21) — 7/9/2022 @ 10:22 am

     
     

130. it’s stupid’s economy, stupid

     the war, involving a non-NATO member as strategically significant to us as the Punjab or Tibet or Yemen, could have been avoided

     assurances of the status quo regarding Ukraine’s membership would’ve raised the hackles of the smartest people in the room, with ridiculous comparisons to Czechoslovakia

     we’re supposed to fear an army that will take Warsaw any day now, but can’t even take the crimea after five months

     now we have devastation, tens of thousands dead, global economic disruption, and the smartest people in the room are still really smart

     the status quo is obliterated, and Ukraine still isn’t in NATO

     JF (33414e) — 7/9/2022 @ 10:35 am

     
     

131. @90. It’s not a party thing; either major party can overreach. It’s the current cabal of zealots hell-bent on imposing their view of morality on to the greater society– and morality is a transient anyway. Happens from time to time through history when the planets align and zealots- religious or political- overplay their hands. History is awash with periods of ‘red tides;’ from the blood-soaked crusades to the inquisitions [even the unexpected one]- to imprisoning Galileo to burning witches to ‘Blue Laws’ to temperance leaguers to dealing w/Nazis to condemning modern media content to diddling kiddies. The arc of American history has been to expand rights to the citizenry; the current set of be-robed bureaucrats rescinded a constitutional right- first time in the history of the Republic– and that is tragic. The next one will tumble just a little easier now; then the next and the next– until one directly touching you is rationalized away in the name of some cause. It’s truly a sad moment for the United States and a bayonet through the balloon of so called ‘American Exceptionalism’ as it makes America really no different from past empires in decline. All it takes is time.

     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISj4Ek7_8Nc&t=4s

     ““Chewing gum on line, eh? I hope you brought enough for everybody.” ― Hedley Lamarr [Harvey Korman] ‘Blazing Saddles’ 1974

     DCSCA (34805c) — 7/9/2022 @ 10:37 am

     
     

132. “I explained my reasoning. I expect you to ignore it.”

     A ‘George Costanza’ line if ever there was one…

     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vn_PSJsl0LQ&t=4s

     DCSCA (34805c) — 7/9/2022 @ 10:42 am

     
     

133. Georgia Guidestones, known as ‘America’s Stonehenge’, damaged by explosives

     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gM37rFAiDdk&t=1s

     What Did The Georgia Guidestones Say? Mysterious Words On Blown Up Monument

     “The Georgia Guidestones, a 19-foot mysterious granite monument in the Peach State, was demolished on Thursday for safety reasons, after being damaged in a blast. An explosion at around 4 a.m. on Thursday reduced one of the stones in Elbert County to rubble. CCTV showed a silver sedan leaving the scene after the explosion, and the police are investigating. No motive has been identified and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation has said “unknown individuals” caused the vandalism. The guide stones had a set of 10 principles engraved on them in eight different languages, including Arabic, English, Hebrew, Hindi, Russian, Spanish, Swahili and Traditional Chinese.

     The principles are:

     1. Maintain humanity under 500,000,000 in perpetual balance with nature.
     2. Guide reproduction wisely — improving fitness and diversity.
     3. Unite humanity with a living new language.
     4. Rule passion — faith — tradition — and all things with tempered reason.
     5. Protect people and nations with fair laws and just courts.
     6. Let all nations rule internally resolving external disputes in a world court.
     7. Avoid petty laws and useless officials.
     8. Balance personal rights with social duties.
     9. Prize truth — beauty — love — seeking harmony with the infinite.
     10. Be not a cancer on the Earth — Leave room for nature — Leave room for nature.

     The guide stones were erected on March 22, 1980, but who put them up remains a mystery, making the area one of ongoing interest for conspiracy theorists.

     Despite being much newer, the Guidestones resemble the famous British monument Stonehenge and many have compared the two. Stonehenge, in southwest England, was built in the neolithic period some 5,000 years ago.

     The Georgia monument was first revealed to a crowd of around 100 people. A local pastor who was in the crowd said he believed that the stones were built for cult and devil worship due to their similar appearance to Stonehenge. The Elbert County Chamber of Commerce says on its website that the structure was funded by an anonymous “small group of loyal Americans who believe in God,” who lived outside of Georgia.

     ‘Dark Clouds over Elberton,‘ a 2015 documentary, claimed the Guidestones were designed and paid for by Herbert Hinzie Kersten, a doctor from Fort Dodge, Iowa, who was accused of being a white supremacist and a supporter of David Duke, a former Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan.

     The Georgia monument drew in crowds of curious visitors, with more than 20,000 attending annually, WYFF of Greenville, South Carolina, reported, citing Christopher Kubas, executive vice president of the Elberton Granite Association.” – source, newsweek.com

     ‘Generally’ speaking, no monument is safe in the Old Confederacy. 😉

     DCSCA (34805c) — 7/9/2022 @ 10:57 am

     
     

134. #129 Back in the 19th century, Walter Bagehot said that the most natural form of government is a monarchy, because it is the easiest to understand. He is right, and so too many of us think our presidents are monarchs, and so in control of far more than they are — or should be.

     Jim Miller (406a93) — 7/9/2022 @ 11:04 am

     
     

135. Most gun owners support certain gun control reforms

     A new NPR/Ipsos poll among American gun owners finds a majority favor enforcing universal background checks, raising the minimum age to purchase guns, and enacting red flag laws. …….. (W)hen forced to choose, more favor protecting gun rights to controlling gun violence. ……
     ……..
     More than eight in 10 (84%) gun owners — regardless of partisanship — support universal background checks for all gun sales, including those at private sales and at gun shows.

     Gun owners and the American public writ large support raising the minimum age to buy an AR-15-style semi-automatic rifle from 18 to 21 (72% and 75%, respectively) and red flag laws (65% and 70%, respectively).

     Finally, there is majority support among gun owners to raise the minimum age to buy any kind of gun from 18 to 21 (67%) and to design schools so that there is only one entrance that is guarded by armed police officers (66%).
     However, an outright ban on AR-15-style semi-automatic rifles fails to garner majority support (42%) among gun owners.
     ……..
     Few gun owners trust their state government (38%), Republicans (35%) and Democrats (20%) in Congress, and the federal government (23%) to look out for their best interests.

     When forced to choose, 56% of gun owners say it is more important to protect gun rights than control gun violence.

     A narrow majority (53%) of gun owners agree that passing new gun control laws is a slippery slope toward taking away all guns.

     Just over six in 10 (61%) gun owners believe that new gun control laws won’t do anything to stop mass shootings and roughly half (51%) say that the only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.

     As is the case with the broader public, one’s partisanship plays a large role in gun owners’ support for action around gun control.

     Far more Republican gun owners (79%) believe it is more important to protect gun rights than control gun violence versus Democratic gun owners (13%).
     ………
     Democratic and Republican gun owners alike say the primary reason they own firearms is to protect their family. However, on average, Republican gun owners report owning more guns than Democratic ones (8 guns vs. 3 guns).
     ………

     Poll toplines.

     I disagree with raising the age for firearm ownership. If someone between the ages of 18-21 can drive, sign contracts, vote, and get married, then they can own a firearm. Those who argue that this is a vulnerable age group should think about banning firearms for men, as they overwhelmingly commit mass killings. Red flag laws-whatever. As we saw in Highland Park or Uvalde, no one flagged the killer. Finally, given the millions of AR-15 style semiautomatic rifles in circulation, banning them is a joke.

     Rip Murdock (9a3b4c) — 7/9/2022 @ 11:07 am

     
     

136. A Roadside Attraction In Georgia Was Bombed After A Far-Right Candidate Promoted Conspiracy Theories About It
     ………
     Kandiss Taylor, who sought the GOP nomination for governor on the platform of “Jesus, guns, and babies,” had promised to sign an executive order dismantling the monument if elected and produced a campaign video vowing to “demolish the Satanic Georgia Guidestones.” (She ultimately received only 3.4% of the vote in the state’s Republican primary in May.)
     ………
     In her campaign, Taylor connected the monument to her distrust of the COVID-19 vaccine, abortion as “demonic worship,” and the New World Order, the longstanding (and baseless) conspiracy that an authoritarian globalist government is coming.

     “If we don’t call things out, and we don’t acknowledge them and we don’t take authority and take dominion over what God’s given us, then we are no better than the evil ones that put it up,” Taylor said in the video.

     …….. Taylor did not respond to BuzzFeed News’s request for comment. On Wednesday, after news broke about the explosion, Taylor tweeted, “God is God all by Himself. He can do anything He wants.”
     ………

     Rip Murdock (9a3b4c) — 7/9/2022 @ 11:14 am

     
     

137. This makes me wonder if Bannon hired a third-rate lawyer on purpose.

     Paul Montagu (5de684) — 7/9/2022 @ 11:15 am

     
     

138. Jim Miller (406a93) — 7/9/2022 @ 11:04 am

     when did you stop blaming trump for covid, Jim Miller?

     JF (33414e) — 7/9/2022 @ 11:15 am

     
     

139. Odds Botkins, dagnabbit and Redcoats be damned! ‘Bout time some zealots rescinded that dusty old 18th century Third Amendment, too- what with so many 21st century military bases across ye olde colonies for soldiers to ‘park their muskets’ these days! Put down that tankard of warm ale, powder up your wig and ‘hops’ to it, Brett!

     “No Soldier shall in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.”

     DCSCA (34805c) — 7/9/2022 @ 11:17 am

     
     

140. If someone between the ages of 18-21 can drive, sign contracts, vote, and get married, then they can own a firearm.

     four things they probably shouldn’t be doing either

     they’re barred from alcohol, so it looks like we’ve got that one covered

     JF (33414e) — 7/9/2022 @ 11:32 am

     
     

141. It is strange when characters like Chomsky and the tiny-fisted Josh Hawley and the Pope are on the same page,

     Far-right natcons were under the illusion that Putin was committed to defending Christian values and national sovereignty, and that he was therefore an ally of Christians and nationalists elsewhere. (As if Putin’s support for Brexit arose from a commitment to defending British tradition; as if his favor for Trump arose from a wish to Make America Great Again.) Some have seemed determined to maintain that illusion even after Putin launched his savage war to erase the sovereignty and national identity of a smaller neighbor — claiming that he was responding to threats to Russian civilization, and that efforts to defend Ukraine’s independence amount to a U.S.-directed “proxy war on Russia.”

     That morally grotesque and absurd claim rests on the premise that Ukraine’s orientation toward the West was engineered by the U.S. in a campaign to build a “globalist liberal imperium,” whereas Ukraine naturally belongs to the sphere of an illiberal Russian “civilization-state,” now that the regime isn’t officially atheist but instead cultivates a strategic alliance with the Russian Orthodox Church (which has always been more of a political institution than Western churches are).

     One weird thing is that natcons who have blamed America for Putin’s war on Ukraine, and for contaminating the world with liberalism, have tended to present themselves as patriots who love America more deeply than their opponents do. But what they seem to love is a rose-tinted vision of a bygone America, not America as it actually exists, and not a large proportion of the American people today.

     More chilling is natcon soft-pedaling of the means that Putin has employed to tighten his grip on Russia — including the assassination of rivals and critics, and clamping down ever harder on dissent — because it’s allegedly for the sake of Christianity (without the charity and kindness, or honesty) and to save Russia from “liberalism.”

     Radegunda (785ac1) — 7/9/2022 @ 11:34 am

     
     

142. The correct perception of NATO growth would be to see countries released from Soviet captivity trying to protect themselves from future captivity. The pope should recognize that these countries are not Putin’s playthings. It is kind of black and white….

     John Paul II would not have made this mistake.

     Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 7/9/2022 @ 11:35 am

     
     

143. It shows that I was correct in my assumptions. I’m willing to say that it’s an unintended result on your part, but not for the “drown it in a bathtub” deregulators that are actually running things.

     OK, then I have to assume that unelected apparatchiks making up laws with no input from the governed, and nearly entirely drawn from one political party, is your idea of good government.

     When the Executive is a Republican, they work against him, when the Executive is a Democrat they work very much for him and perhaps anticipate skulduggery that he cannot directly ask for.

     And that also works for you.

     Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 7/9/2022 @ 11:40 am

     
     

144. If someone between the ages of 18-21 can drive, sign contracts, vote, and get married, then they can own a firearm.

     four things they probably shouldn’t be doing either

     they’re barred from alcohol, so it looks like we’ve got that one covered

     JF (33414e) — 7/9/2022 @ 11:32 am

     Repeal the 26th Amendment!

     Rip Murdock (9a3b4c) — 7/9/2022 @ 11:49 am

     
     

145. Moderator-

     Please release my post 144. Thanks.

     Rip Murdock (9a3b4c) — 7/9/2022 @ 11:50 am

     
     

146. Kevin will try to argue that releasing the strategic oil reserve only has a small impact on inflation but the $1.9T had a substantial impact.

     NO release of oil from the strategic reserve has had a big, or lasting, effect on prices.

     However, unrestrained deficit spending, either in large sudden outlays or in continuous outlays over a critical percentage of GDP has (and should be expected to have) significant impact on inflation. Over time it can get built in to the economy and then expectations make it worse as no one saves, driving spending up further. There’s a reason that the classic description of inflation is “too much money chasing too few goods.” I don’t see why this needs to be proven de novo every time massive spending is followed by a price spiral.

     The classic case of inflation was the California Gold Rush, where there was so much money in a place there were so few goods that ridiculous prices arose.

     The most recent compeleted example was LBJ and Nixon funding the Vietnam war by deficit spending (partially by raiding the Social Security Trust Fund) while also raising domestic spending dramatically. They did this for almost a decade, trying several stopgaps (wage and price controls, leaving the gold standard and floating the dollar) to hide their mess. Then inflation hit. I still have a WIN button around here somewhere.

     Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 7/9/2022 @ 11:50 am

     
     

147. However, unrestrained deficit spending, either in large sudden outlays or in continuous outlays over a critical percentage of GDP has (and should be expected to have) significant impact on inflation.

     Like $51 billion borrowed and literrally ‘given’ to Bugs Moran in his losing turf war with Al Capone.

     =mike-drop=

     DCSCA (34805c) — 7/9/2022 @ 11:52 am

     
     

148. If someone between the ages of 18-21 can drive, sign contracts, vote, and get married, then they can own a firearm.

     Marriage is a contract. But really, after 50 years of this, I think that they had it right when they put majority at 21. Young and stupid are words that go together.

     Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 7/9/2022 @ 11:54 am

     
     

149. Like $51 billion borrowed and literrally ‘given’ to Bugs Moran in his losing turf war with Al Capone.

     You say that like it was a lot of money.

     And what do you have against “Mike”?

     Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 7/9/2022 @ 11:56 am

     
     

150. I disagree with raising the age for firearm ownership. If someone between the ages of 18-21 can drive, sign contracts, vote, and get married, then they can own a firearm.

     Just enforce the mandatory, ‘well-regulated militia service’ as a requirement for firearms purchase. Originalists should be orgasmic over that: no militia service, no gun. There’s your ‘Red flag laws-whatever’ filter. Trained and disciplined ‘well-regulated’ types would filter out the deviants and nutbags PDQ…. don’t see skateboarding white rapper Crimo playing armyman in the mud every month. As learned historians will tell you, musket ownership t’was a requirement by law for all able-bodied white males of the ye olde colonial period to maintain a militia pool at the ready, when the Articles of Confederation were quilled and the afterthought added to the second try Constitution when the AoC faltered. Context of the times is everything and the focus of the powdered-wig crowd back in the day was setting up a system of government that worked- as the bulk and content of the second-try Constitution shows- not arming the citizenry.

     DCSCA (34805c) — 7/9/2022 @ 12:09 pm

     
     

151. @149. Guess what- $51 billion borrowed from your chief adversary and given away to one of the most corrupt countries in Eastern Europe nearly as corrupt as Russia itself is a lot of money.

     But then, we know your excuse: Reaganomics. 😉

     DCSCA (34805c) — 7/9/2022 @ 12:13 pm

     
     

152. Young and stupid are words that go together.

     … said Dean Wormer, more or less:

     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkoPq5AOCOA

     DCSCA (34805c) — 7/9/2022 @ 12:16 pm

     
     

153. I still have a WIN button around here somewhere.

     Still have mine: Is framed up a bumper sticker and one of the last metal campaign buttons w/my signed pix taken by me of Jerry Ford on a visit to Ohio.

     DCSCA (34805c) — 7/9/2022 @ 12:22 pm

     
     

154. We must disengage Russia from the International Space Station partnership – https://thehill.com/opinion/

     ‘An opinion by Cmdr. Terry Virts; a former NASA astronaut and U.S. Air Force test pilot, having spent over seven months in space as pilot of the space shuttle Endeavour and commander of the ISS. He is only one of four astronauts ever to pilot a shuttle, fly on a Russian Soyuz rocket, conduct spacewalks and be commander of the International Space Station. He is currently an entrepreneur, and he is the author of “How to Astronaut” and “View from Above.”’

     Some astronauts make good managers; most do not. They’re flyers who follow orders; ‘chauffeurs’ if you will, merely ferrying smarter people up and down in recent times. Some are forever hammers; few become architects. All have opinions- especially after they’re out of any crew rotation and won’t be flying again.

     A wise administrator doesn’t crater an out-of-this-world-partnership operating a $100 billion international space station, specifically designed from inception to operate w/t partner Virts is attacking; a partnership that took decades to nurture and develop– over a short-term, regional earthly squabble that’s literally ‘none of your business’ anyway– especially when the HSF component of your own nation’s space agency is begging and borrowing to survive with any relevance or necessity, competing w/highly successful and much less costly robotic competitors as wqell as private-enterprise-efforts. A space agency trying to exist in a deficit/debt riddled economy, no less. Virtis is retired. His job experience was to carry out policy– which he did; not make it– which he doesn’t.

     DCSCA (6b2756) — 7/9/2022 @ 2:25 pm

     
     

155. Faith in American System Drops-Monmouth
     ……..
     Just 36% of the public describes the American system of government as basically sound. This number has declined from 55% in February 2020 and from 44% in 2021, a few weeks after the Jan. 6 attack. Just over four decades ago, 62% said the American system was sound. At the same time, the number of Americans who say our system of government is not at all sound has jumped from 10% in 1980 to 22% in 2021 and 36% in the current poll.

     The recent decline of faith in the American system has come at varying rates among different partisan groups. Among Republicans, the sense that our system of government is sound plummeted from 71% in early 2020 to 41% shortly after President Joe Biden’s inauguration in 2021, and has held fairly steady since then. The decline among independents has been more gradual – from 58% sound in 2020, to 46% in 2021, and 34% in the current poll. Democrats actually saw a brief increase in faith that the American system is sound from 2020 (34%) to 2021 (45%), but that has now dropped back to 36%.
     …….
     Nearly two-thirds (65%) of the public say it is appropriate to describe the incident at the U.S. Capitol as a riot, and half (50%) say it is appropriate to describe it as an insurrection. Both of these numbers, though, are down from a year ago (by 7 points for riot and by 6 points for insurrection). These negative views of Jan. 6 have held relatively steady among Democrats and independents, but have slipped significantly among Republicans. Last year, a clear majority (62%) of Republicans called the incident a riot. Now, less than half (45%) do. Similarly, a third (33%) of Republicans in June 2021 said it was appropriate to describe the incident as an insurrection, but only 13% say the same today.

     ……..(T)he number of Republicans who see this incident as a legitimate protest has actually risen by 14 points to 61%, at the same time this view has declined among independents (down 6 points to 33%) and remained stable among Democrats (14%).
     …….
     When it comes to conducting a fair investigation, 34% of the public trusts the House committee a lot, 22% trust it a little, and 41% do not trust it at all. ……

     …….. Among Republicans who have been following the hearings, just 1 in 10 – representing 5% of all Republicans – say they have changed their opinion about the incident. In a follow-up question, some of these Republicans say that they learned about the pressure Trump was exerting or that election fraud claims were spurious. However, others claim they have “learned” that “police officers were not killed in that protest,” or that “the Democrats were highly involved as well as the F.B.I.”

     Currently, 29% of Americans believe Biden won the presidential election only because of voter fraud. In prior polls since November 2020, that number held steady at 32%……..
     ………
     Prior to the June 28 hearing, over 4 in 10 (42%) Americans saw Trump as being directly responsible for the U.S. Capitol incident, 25% said he encouraged those involved but was not directly responsible for their actions, and 30% said he did nothing wrong regarding Jan. 6. While 83% of Democrats thought Trump was directly responsible, 59% of Republicans said he did nothing wrong. ……..

     Some paragraph breaks added. Poll toplines and cross tabs.

     Rip Murdock (16650d) — 7/9/2022 @ 2:28 pm

     
     

156. Nothing in constitution says their is a right for kavenaugh to eat in peace without protests. 1st amendment. Several doctors plan to do abortions off texas and gulf coast on boats.

     asset (a1b1bc) — 7/9/2022 @ 2:35 pm

     
     

157. How the US can break Vlad’s grip on Black Sea
     ………
     The Black Sea matters not just to Ukraine and its neighbors. The blockade of Odessa, Ukraine’s premier port, and the mining of the surrounding waters has stopped Ukrainian grain exports from reaching their destinations — many of them in the developing world. Ukraine is the world’s fourth largest exporter of wheat, with some 30 million tons sitting in storage — or getting stolen by Russian occupiers.
     ……..
     …….. In an eerie parallel to the Holodomor organized by Joseph Stalin in the 1930s to crush the Ukrainian nation, Putin is hoping to orchestrate a famine in the developing world. He aims to create a refugee crisis that will destabilize Europe and eventually break Western resolve in its support for Ukraine. With high energy prices and uncontrolled migration of desperate people across the Mediterranean, the stage would set for disruptive political forces on the far left and the far right to make electoral gains and to press mainstream leaders into appeasing the Kremlin.

     ……… Fortunately, there are solutions. First and foremost, as the sinking of the Russia’s Black Sea Fleet flagship, Moskva, illustrates, Ukrainians are perfectly capable of pushing back themselves if provided with the right equipment. Moskva was hit by a Ukrainian-made Neptune missile. With US intelligence and with higher-precision and longer-distance missiles, such as Danish Harpoons, Ukraine would be in a position to significantly cripple if not destroy the entire Black Sea Fleet.

     The hesitancy to provide Ukrainians with such tools is completely misplaced. If anything, an even bolder step might be needed to end the blockage. A US-led naval coalition should assist with the demining of Odessa and escorting Ukrainian grain shipments out of Ukrainian ports. The United States undertook a similar task in the war between Iran and Iraq in the 1980s, when the US Navy accompanied Kuwaiti tankers out of the Persian Gulf, effectively deterring Iran from attacking.
     ………
     A naval-escort mission, in contrast (to a no-fly zone) would require Russia to attack first — something that the Kremlin would think about twice, particularly if the coalition force were large enough.

     …….. Contrary to popular imagination, experience shows time and again that Putin on the defensive is no more dangerous than Putin who is being emboldened by our weakness and indecision…….

     Rip Murdock (16650d) — 7/9/2022 @ 2:45 pm

     
     

158. https://redstate.com/nick-arama/2022/07/09/an-intriguing-exchange-between-jill-and-joe-biden-n591906
     The hypocrites that hate Trump will never cover the biden pos family the same as the Trump family. Nauseating.

     mg (8cbc69) — 7/9/2022 @ 3:02 pm

     
     

159. @156. So they “steak out” Kavanaugh at Morton’s???

     A member of the Bar can always eat at the bar– which he certainly knows how to do. 😉

     DCSCA (39c705) — 7/9/2022 @ 3:20 pm

     
     

160. Nothing in constitution says their is a right for kavenaugh to eat in peace without protests. 1st amendment.

     There are laws regarding disturbing the peace, and one has en expectation of quiet enjoyment in a restaurant. Even if you think Kavanaugh is literally Hitler, the other diners deserve your consideration. I suspect that most of them were upset at the protesters, too. Me, I would have poured gravy on them.

     Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 7/9/2022 @ 3:43 pm

     
     

161. Rip Murdock (16650d) — 7/9/2022 @ 2:45 pm

     Two or three attack submarines might turn the trick. Pretty sure even one of them could sink Russia’s Black Sea fleet.

     Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 7/9/2022 @ 3:45 pm

     
     

162. just another day in Portlandistan

     Oregon mom challenges statewide rule for tampons in boys’ bathrooms

     Oregon Rep. Ricki Ruiz, D-Gresham, served as chief sponsor and consulted with students across Oregon and other states before expanding the bill, he said.

     “As we know, there’s a lot of our youth who don’t identify as female or male or are transitioning genders,” Ruiz said. “We wanted to respect that and make sure we provide these resources in all restrooms for folks who may be struggling to transition to a different restroom.”

     In Oregon, the bill includes boys’ bathrooms for children as young as kindergarten.

     JF (496da7) — 7/9/2022 @ 3:52 pm

     
     

163. The Russian have put out a recruitment poster.
     Go to University, wind up fat, drunk, and badgered by your wife.
     Join the Russian Army and learn discipline, bravery, enter society with the golden key, grow nifty mustache, you and beautiful wife with wonderful children

     https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FXEY33mUsAIWehu?format=jpg&name=900×900

     It seemed like brazen propaganda until I remembered what American universities put out and realized the Russians might have stumbled onto something here

     steveg (75f866) — 7/9/2022 @ 4:05 pm

     
     

164. and one has en expectation of quiet enjoyment in a restaurant.

     Apparently you’ve never eaten at a Mickey Dees w/a group of screaming kids after a soccer practicde on one side of you and a crying baby on the other.

     But of course, if you eat at the bar in Morton’s no kids– and no problemo for ol’Tappa Kegga Kavanaugh. 😉

     DCSCA (dfe1a4) — 7/9/2022 @ 4:09 pm

     
     

165. In Oregon, the bill includes boys’ bathrooms for children as young as kindergarten.

     This is kind of why the whole “what culture war?!” thing is so madding.

     Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 7/9/2022 @ 4:15 pm

     
     

166. Mickey Dees

     I said restaurant, not food trough. Do that at Mortons and you’ll be shown the door.

     Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 7/9/2022 @ 4:16 pm

     
     

167. The IRS screens for changes. Comey and McCabe changed employment status drastically, wrote books, charged for speeches, TV opinion appearences etc etc. They might have also changed tax practioners and/or stopped doing their taxes themselves. I would be more outraged to find that these two guys showed up after the commputer screens were run and were not audited because of their stature inside the Beltway.

     Does anyone really think that the leaky mess that is the IRS would not have already had about 87 “whistleblowers” trying to get their own book/TV deal by ratting out Trump?
     I’m guessing it didn’t happen.

     kudos to their publicists for milking this

     steveg (75f866) — 7/9/2022 @ 4:18 pm

     
     

168. FFS JF, do you not understand that elementary schools are very often k-6 and sometimes k-8, an age range that includes puberty, and that the student bathrooms are used by any grade of students? Also, seeing a tampon won’t somehow make a boy gay or effeminate or whatever the hell you are afraid is going to happen to them if there are tampons in the boy’s restroom.

     Nic (896fdf) — 7/9/2022 @ 4:22 pm

     
     

169. GDI Kevin, I expect better of you. see my post @168.

     Nic (896fdf) — 7/9/2022 @ 4:25 pm

     
     

170. @166. 22 Most Luxurious McDonald’s Restaurants Around The World

     Among the thousands of McDonald’s restaurants, there are a few that stand out.

     McDonald’s operates more than 36,000 restaurants worldwide, and there’s nothing particularly unique about most of them. In fact, part of the draw of those golden arches is that you know exactly what you’re going to get. For the most part, a Big Mac tastes like a Big Mac no matter what state or country you visit. You can expect fast service, free ketchup packets, and boring red-and-yellow decor.

     But among the thousands of McDonald’s restaurants, there are a few that stand out. You’ll find some that are nestled in unusual (and beautiful) locations, some that have extraordinary facades or interiors, and even some that offer entertainment. These luxurious McDonald’s restaurants may not exactly provide a fine dining experience, but they are definitely worth a visit if you find yourself nearby. You may even be surprised to find some unique menu items that aren’t available elsewhere.

     https://www.thetravel.com/20-most-luxurious-mcdonalds-restaurants-around-the-world/

     Eat your words, K… but hey, you’ll want fries with that. 😉

     DCSCA (dfe1a4) — 7/9/2022 @ 4:27 pm

     
     

171. Should the boy’s bathroom dispenser tell the boy where on his anatomy a tampon gets inserted, Nic? Or does that get taught in the classroom?

     BuDuh (340919) — 7/9/2022 @ 4:29 pm

     
     

172. @168. Also, seeing a tampon won’t somehow make a boy gay or effeminate or whatever the hell you are afraid is going to happen to them if there are tampons in the boy’s restroom.

     Good bet they’ve seen them in their own bathrooms at home– you know:

     Mommy uses them.

     DCSCA (dfe1a4) — 7/9/2022 @ 4:30 pm

     
     

173. @Buduh@171 They will probably be labeled as “period products, only use if you have a period”. If a boy doesn’t have a period… Also it looks like the law says that they would be required in 2 bathrooms in the school, so probably the nurse’s office restroom. If there are questions, there is a nurse. (yes, they will get stuffed down toilets. Children will stuff anything down toilets, include the vape they are trying to get rid of so that they won’t get into trouble, which then clogs the entire plumbing system. At least tampons are meant to be flushed).

     Nic (896fdf) — 7/9/2022 @ 4:40 pm

     
     

174. @DCSCA@172 or big sister.

     Nic (896fdf) — 7/9/2022 @ 4:43 pm

     
     

175. If a boy doesn’t have a period

     It is being taught that a boy having a period is a matter of “if?”

     BuDuh (340919) — 7/9/2022 @ 4:50 pm

     
     

176. If you are interested in our nation’s failures on COVID, you may want to watch Dr. Deborah Birx’s June 23rd testimony, or part of it, before a House select committee. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/watch-live-former-trump-covid-19-coordinator-dr-deborah-birx-appears-before-house-committee

     (Her opening statement begins about 15 minutes in. And, following that, under questioning she sticks to her estimate that 130,000 lives could have been saved during the Trump administration, with better policies, and better execution.)

     Or, you can buy her book, as I plan to do: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/silent-invasion-deborah-birx/1141004865

     Full disclosure: I watched just the first 22 or 23 minutes, and don’t plan to watch the whole thing, since I can read faster than I can watch. I hope that medical pofessionals will take a look at the book, and report back to us.

     Cross posted at Political Betting.

     Jim Miller (406a93) — 7/9/2022 @ 5:01 pm

     
     

177. @Buduh@175 Is it be a d!ck to confused kids day? Ask their school board if their puberty curriculum is a “sometimes some people who look like girls sometimes feel like boys and some people who look like boys sometimes feel like girls” curriculum or a “the student and/or parent will let us know” curriculum or a “pretend nobody has any issues and hope for the best” curriculum or a “shame those little sickos so they never tell us their emotional concerns again” curriculum.

     Nic (896fdf) — 7/9/2022 @ 5:04 pm

     
     

178. Having accommodations for teens whose gender identity does not match their chromosomal sex is not the same as brainwashing those who don’t have such a mismatch. Rather, it’s compassionate.

     People who get the vapors over this issue strike me as alarmist, and maybe even paranoid.

     norcal (da5491) — 7/9/2022 @ 5:11 pm

     
     

179. @Buduh@175 Is it be a d!ck to confused kids day?

     I don’t know, Nic, is it “convince kids who are uncomfortable with going through puberty that they’re actually trans” day? Or “convince kids to deny biological reality to fit it with mentally ill woke teachers” day? Or “alienate kids to hate white people” day?

     Factory Working Orphan (2775f0) — 7/9/2022 @ 5:13 pm

     
     

180. Having accommodations for teens whose gender identity does not match their chromosomal sex is not the same as brainwashing those who don’t have such a mismatch. Rather, it’s compassionate.

     People who get the vapors over this issue strike me as alarmist, and maybe even paranoid.

     norcal (da5491) — 7/9/2022 @ 5:11 pm

     Enabling the denial of biological reality because it meets the goals of marxist pedagogies is hardly compassionate. It’s more akin to cult thinking.

     Factory Working Orphan (2775f0) — 7/9/2022 @ 5:15 pm

     
     

181. Enabling the denial of biological reality because it meets the goals of marxist pedagogies is hardly compassionate. It’s more akin to cult thinking.

     Factory Working Orphan (2775f0) — 7/9/2022 @ 5:15 pm

     I could be wrong, but I think gender dysphoria and gay people predated Marx.

     norcal (da5491) — 7/9/2022 @ 5:21 pm

     
     

182. Your term is “confused kids.” Wow, Nic. That is cold.

     BuDuh (340919) — 7/9/2022 @ 5:23 pm

     
     

183. There is a neat demonstration of the difference better COVID policies can make in this graph. (I don’t know how long it will be available, since whoever copied it may have violated a copyright.)

     Jim Miller (406a93) — 7/9/2022 @ 5:23 pm

     
     

184. @FWO@179 Puberty is weird and difficult and very individual. If a student thinks they are trans, there is usually a lot of emotional stuff going on. That stuff will not be solved by going, “no you aren’t”. Sometimes, that stuff takes a while to get through. Some kids are trans (biology is weird and complex). Some kids are confused. Some kids have Very Serious Things happening to them. Sometimes it helps to accommodate them while they work through their stuff. It does zero harm to anyone to put tampons in any restroom and might help some kids who are going through emotional issues. IDK why you thing anyone wants kids to be trans. It’s a difficult path for even the most otherwise well adjust person and as far as I can tell, even trans people don’t want kids to be trans. Some kids just are.

     (I don’t know why you went all “BUT RACISM!!1!” up there, but it was weird, and I’m going to pretend it didn’t happen.)

     Nic (896fdf) — 7/9/2022 @ 5:25 pm

     
     

185. A working farmer is cautiously optimistic that he, and others, can mitigate the food shortages caused by “Czar Putin’s brutal invasion of Ukraine.

     Yet as dire as all this sounds, there are reasons to be at least cautiously hopeful. Encouraging news arrived last week. With a good mix of sun and rain in Australia, Europe and the United States, excellent end-of-summer harvests might be on the way. The price of wheat — the object of much concern this spring — has dropped more than 25 percent since its peak after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
     . . . .
     I don’t want to be unrealistic: Millions of people around the world, especially in Africa, will struggle for months, maybe years, from this food crisis. But many prosperous nations, in particular the United States, have the ability to dramatically ramp up food production and food aid. Cooperative weather in much of the world over the past few months has also been a blessing.

     His “expected yields will be about seven or eight times” what his grandfather got back in 1931, on the same farm.

     Jim Miller (406a93) — 7/9/2022 @ 5:30 pm

     
     

186. Nic (896fdf) — 7/9/2022 @ 4:22 pm

     i’m not concerned that putting feminine products in masculine bathrooms will turn boys gay, and I think you already knew that but it seems important to you to attribute the most ridiculous take possible

     can I play, too?

     how about something like putting these products only in women’s bathrooms would acknowledge there are differences between males and females, and that’s a line we dare not cross

     here’s an example of how that works

     why do you hate science?

     JF (496da7) — 7/9/2022 @ 5:49 pm

     
     

187. norcal (da5491) — 7/9/2022 @ 5:11 pm

     like Nic, it’s important for you to believe people are getting the vapors over this

     is it compassionate to let a trans athlete swim laps around female competition?

     or, is your compassion limited to just bathrooms? that sounds like really weak compassion

     JF (496da7) — 7/9/2022 @ 5:55 pm

     
     

188. Moving along from the trans debate (for the time being), the AP helpfully came along to fact-check the memes which claimed that the late Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe had Tweeted out that he had information which would implicate Hillary Clinton shortly before he was assassinated. You will be pleased that they have found this not to be true.

     The meme is, quite naturally, a “too soon” moment to make light of this tragedy, which is all the more reason why the AP probably should have just left it alone to begin with.

     JVW (020d31) — 7/9/2022 @ 6:00 pm

     
     

189. Alaska poll: Murkowski wins, Palin loses?

     Some fascinating data for you to chew on as Trump gets set to rally for Palin and Murkowski opponent Kelly Tshibaka in Anchorage tonight.

     In a traditional primary system, I’d expect Palin to win her House primary and Murkowski to lose her Senate primary — badly. ……
     ……..
     But Alaska no longer has the sort of traditional primary that confounded Murkowski in 2010. It has a ranked-choice four-way ballot.…..

     The candidate who gets the most first-choice votes doesn’t necessarily win. But the candidate who gets the fewest first-choice votes definitely loses. Which is bad news for Palin and good news for Murkowski.

     Here’s the new poll of the House race from Alaska Survey Research. One candidate dropped out after the primary, which is why only three names are listed:
     …….
     If that result stands up, Palin goes out in the first round — barely, falling two points short of fellow Republican Nick Begich. Begich then goes on to cream the Democrat in the final round, as one would expect in a state as reliably red as Alaska.

     But look what happens if Palin edges past Begich for second place in the first round of voting. In that case, the seat goes blue as Palin falls just short against the Democrat in the final round. Why?

     Because she’s unpopular. ASR finds her unfavorability rating at 60 percent. Clearly, a huge chunk of Republicans who prefer Palin are willing to vote Begich as their second choice over the Democrat but those who prefer Begich aren’t as willing to choose Palin as their back-up.

     The same dynamic that sinks Palin in the House race saves Murkowski in the Senate race. She’s the first choice of around only a third of the electorate but the second or third choice of many, many Democrats and independents, which is good enough to get her reelected:
     ……..
     If in fact Murkowski ends up winning narrowly while Palin ends up losing, it could have long-term consequences for how states in the lower 48 hold their primaries in the future. Ranked-choice voting has been touted as a moderating influence on elections for the obvious reason that voters in each party will prefer the moderate option in the other party as their second choice instead of fringier types. Murkowski getting reelected and Palin getting sent home would be proof of concept. Centrists in both parties will begin agitating for ranked-choice systems in their own states to try to keep the crazies on both sides out of office.
     ………
     Tshibaka’s campaign is shrewdly urging its own supporters to leave their ballots blank apart from selecting her as their first choice, recognizing that conservative Republicans are otherwise apt to name Murkowski as their second choice over the Democratic alternatives. And those second-choice votes, if cast, could be the difference between Murkowski beating Tshibaka or falling just short.
     ……….

     Rip Murdock (01539c) — 7/9/2022 @ 6:05 pm

     
     

190. Rip – Interesting analysis. And, though I will have to think about it some more, you could argue that this system will, on the average, produce elected officials taht more accurately represent the entire electorate.

     Jim Miller (406a93) — 7/9/2022 @ 6:33 pm

     
     

191. @FWO@179 Puberty is weird and difficult and very individual.

     No, it really isn’t. People have been going through it for millennia. It’s a perfectly normal process that’s a natural part of human development.

     That stuff will not be solved by going, “no you aren’t”.

     Most of it will be solved by telling them, “What you’re going through is the same thing I and ever other adult went through at your age. There’s nothing weird or complex about it, you just have a lot of hormones going through your body and causing it to make some dramatic changes to prepare you for being an adult.”

     Telling them, “Well, if you’re uncomfortable in your body then you’re probably trans” is guaranteed to do nothing but further alienate them towards the very normal biological development they’re going through.

     Sometimes, that stuff takes a while to get through. Some kids are trans (biology is weird and complex).

     No, biology is not “weird and complex.”

     Sometimes it helps to accommodate them while they work through their stuff.

     No, that’s just enabling their confusion by encouraging them to deny biological reality.

     (I don’t know why you went all “BUT RACISM!!1!” up there, but it was weird, and I’m going to pretend it didn’t happen.)

     Just pointing out how trans enablement and curriculums that blame white people for everything bad that ever happened in history are part of the same Freirean marxist pedagogy that’s been standard in the education field for over two decades now.

     Factory Working Orphan (2775f0) — 7/9/2022 @ 6:36 pm

     
     

192. If you have a prostate you are a male.
     End of fricking story.

     mg (8cbc69) — 7/9/2022 @ 6:37 pm

     
     

193. Over the last few decades, multiple projects advanced to secure water reserves for California have been shot down by environmental concerns, usually over habitat that would be flooded for new reservoirs in the low desert.

     Well, there are consequences to not having enough water. Doing nothing itself does harm. But you never have to get approval to do nothing. So, Yosemite burns.

     Now is this a direct consequence? No. But water has been drained away from that whole area for years, to feed the thirsty cities, notably San Francisco’s Hetch Hetchy reservoir, in the next valley down.

     Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 7/9/2022 @ 7:16 pm

     
     

194. If you have a prostate you are a male.

     These are the Crazy Years.

     Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 7/9/2022 @ 7:16 pm

     
     

195. About 71 percent of the Earth’s surface is water-covered, and the oceans hold about 96.5 percent of all Earth’s water.

     $51-borrowed-billions would build a nice lot of desalinization plants along America’s coast lines. But ol’Green Joe would rather flush away that borrowed green over to Bugs Moran’s corrupt sewer.

     DCSCA (98a3c9) — 7/9/2022 @ 7:24 pm

     
     

196. @JF@186 Biological sex can be more complicated than just XX/XY (there are a variety of hormonal issues that can affect things one way or another sometimes) and social gender expression is a different kettle of fish.

     If it isn’t a concern to you, I don’t know why you’d search down articles on it. I don’t personally spend much time looking for articles about how school districts accommodate or don’t accommodate trans kids and I work in a school.

     @FWO@191 Yes, it really is. It is both a normal part of human development and a weird and difficult time that kids experience individually relative to their own life experiences and biology.

     Some general angst can be helped by telling a kid they ways in which it is normal, but the adult doesn’t listen and just says that, the kid will quit talking to that adult and a kid who is having real trouble won’t get any help because they won’t trust that adult to listen to them. People aren’t out there telling kids that being uncomfortable about their body during puberty makes them trans (though they do sometimes get that from other kids on the internet and that’s a whole discussion with them in and of itself). “Enabling their confusion” On what basis do you make that judgement?

     And “Freirean marxist pedagogy”? As someone with a master’s degree in education and two different education credentials, I never have had to read any “Freirean Marxist pedagogy”. If you want to tell me what you personally mean by that particular conglomeration of terminologies, I might be able to address whether or not it’s a thing in education.

     @mg@192 there are a bunch of older people out there who will be surprised they are no longer men.

     Nic (896fdf) — 7/9/2022 @ 7:25 pm

     
     

197. Ranked-choice voting has been touted as a moderating influence on elections for the obvious reason that voters in each party will prefer the moderate option in the other party as their second choice instead of fringier types.

     This only works if an incumbent from the dominant party is primaried.

     Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 7/9/2022 @ 7:26 pm

     
     

198. Nic,

     Yes, it is a weird and difficult time, but telling the 99% of kids that aren’t trans that they might be is NOT HELPING, whatever else it may be.

     Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 7/9/2022 @ 7:28 pm

     
     

199. @Kevin@193 Too much drought.

     Nic (896fdf) — 7/9/2022 @ 7:30 pm

     
     

200. @Kevin@198 AFAICT, it’s primarily an internet issue. I Do Not Recommend giving 13 year olds unrestricted and unmonitored internet access, it only leads to trouble.

     Nic (896fdf) — 7/9/2022 @ 7:32 pm

     
     

201. Rip – Interesting analysis. And, though I will have to think about it some more, you could argue that this system will, on the average, produce elected officials taht more accurately represent the entire electorate.

     Jim Miller (406a93) — 7/9/2022 @ 6:33 pm

     I think for the average voter ranked choice voting is too confusing and will create even more distrust of election results. It may be good for city councils, but not federal or statewide elections.

     Rip Murdock (01539c) — 7/9/2022 @ 7:34 pm

     
     

202. There is a neat demonstration of the difference better COVID policies can make in this graph. (I don’t know how long it will be available, since whoever copied it may have violated a copyright.)

     There are other factors this chart does not show. Such as: Everyone goes to Hong Kong, nobody goes to New Zealand. Or the vaccines are available in New Zealand, not so much in Hong Kong. And which vaccines? China had its own.

     Sure, getting vaccinated is good policy but it was not necessarily policy that drove vaccinations. From people I know in Asia, vaccines were largely unavailable until the end of 2021, and the vaccines that were available were not the ones you would choose. A guy I know in Thailand managed to get some Chinese vaccine summer of 2021 by bribing his way onto a government list.

     Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 7/9/2022 @ 7:40 pm

     
     

203. @Kevin@193 Too much drought.

     Not enough planning. There is ALWAYS a drought, sooner or later. Terrible, terrible leadership for the last 20 years in CA, as the population exploded and no one was taking care of business, and far more concerned about trivialities and factionalism.

     Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 7/9/2022 @ 7:43 pm

     
     

204. I Do Not Recommend giving 13 year olds unrestricted and unmonitored internet access, it only leads to trouble.

     I’m currently considering licensing internet access. Maybe after a background check.

     Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 7/9/2022 @ 7:45 pm

     
     

205. Nic (896fdf) — 7/9/2022 @ 7:25 pm

     ok, right it’s complicated

     If it isn’t a concern to you, I don’t know why you’d search down articles on it.

     doubling down isn’t really a good look for you, jus sayin’

     you won’t believe this, but I didn’t search down this article

     i often link to oregon news sites cuz until two years ago I lived there and I read those sites daily

     and anyone who reads oregon news sites knows that to find insanely woke news stories requires absolutely zero search effort

     but, keep trying

     there must be a complicated reason why someone disagrees with you

     JF (c6465f) — 7/9/2022 @ 7:47 pm

     
     

206. Trump Lawyer Says He Will Be Reinstated as President if GOP Win Midterms
     ……….
     (Christina Bobb, an attorney who has supported Donald Trump’s legal challenge to overturn the 2020 election) told the conservative news outlet the Right Side Broadcasting Network (RSBN) what she thought could happen in states in which there was “evidence that Joe Biden cheated” in the election Trump and his allies have continuously claimed was fraudulent.

     “They could withdraw their electors, or they could actually decide to award Trump electors, although I would anticipate they will probably just withdraw the electors,” she said.

     “If that happens from three different states, three different resolutions go into Congress,” she said it would then be up to Congress to decide “whether they want to accept the resolutions, whether they want to act on them or not.”

     “It is a complex issue that needs to be handled complexly by different state legislators and U.S. Congress, I actually think that it’s designed well, because you don’t want this to be something that you can quickly easily overturn elections,” she said.

     “It needs to be something that you need many, many elected officials to take action on,” and the “majority of three different legislators.”

     “I don’t know if this Congress would take action on it, however after 22…there might be, who knows?” she added……..
     ………..

     Rip Murdock (16650d) — 7/9/2022 @ 7:47 pm

     
     

207. Rip Murdock (01539c) — 7/9/2022 @ 6:05 pm

     I don’t know that it’s that Palin is hated, just that the single Congressperson for Alaska needs to mind the effing store and not alienate other Congressfolk, whose consideration Alaska needs. Begich will stay in his lane.

     Odd that Begich’s a Republican. He’s a member of a very old political family in Alaska, all Democrats. His grandfather was a Congressman and his uncle was a Senator and another uncle is currently the state senate minority leader.

     Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 7/9/2022 @ 7:54 pm

     
     

208. I Do Not Recommend giving 13 year olds unrestricted and unmonitored internet access, it only leads to trouble.

     OTOH, in what a certain be-robed bureaucrat named Brett might consider a paradise, French kids drink wine. Might explain why they’re prone to dropping rifles when they grow up. 😉

     DCSCA (251f05) — 7/9/2022 @ 7:56 pm

     
     

209. Pregnant woman given HOV ticket argues fetus is passenger, post-Roe
     ……..
     Brandy Bottone was recently driving down Central Expressway in Dallas when she was stopped by a sheriff’s deputy at an HOV checkpoint to see whether there were at least two occupants per vehicle as mandated. When the sheriff looked around her car last month, she recounted to The Washington Post that he asked, “Is it just you or is someone else riding with you?”

     “I said, ‘Oh, there’s two of us,’” Bottone said. “And he said, ‘Where?’”

     Bottone, who was 34 weeks pregnant at the time, pointed to her stomach. Even though she said her “baby girl is right here,” Bottone said one of the deputies she encountered on June 29 told her it had to be “two bodies outside of the body.” While the state’s penal code recognizes a fetus as a person, the Texas Transportation Code does not.

     “One officer kind of brushed me off when I mentioned this is a living child, according to everything that’s going on with the overturning of Roe v. Wade. ‘So I don’t know why you’re not seeing that,’ I said,” she explained to the Dallas Morning News, the first to report the story.
     ………
     “I will be fighting it,” Bottone, 32, of Plano, Tex., said to The Post.

     While the Texas Department of Transportation has not indicated whether it is weighing changing the transportation code, Bottone’s case is one that could move the state into “unchartered territory” following the June 24 ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, Chad Ruback, a Dallas-based appellate attorney, told The Post.

     “I find her argument creative, but I don’t believe based on the current itineration of Texas Transportation Code that her argument would likely succeed in front of an appellate court,” he said. “That being said, it’s entirely possible she could find a trial court judge who would award her for her creativity.”
     ……….

     Rip Murdock (16650d) — 7/9/2022 @ 8:00 pm

     
     

210. @kevin@204 Nanny net. 😛 Kids shouldn’t be on their computers all day anyway, it’s bad for their health (physical and mental).

     Nic (896fdf) — 7/9/2022 @ 8:00 pm

     
     

211. Rip Murdock (16650d) — 7/9/2022 @ 7:47 pm

     Christina Bobb was never a “Trump Lawyer”

     quit lying

     JF (c6465f) — 7/9/2022 @ 8:01 pm

     
     

212. Trump Lawyer Says He Will Be Reinstated as President if GOP Win Midterms

     Yes, I predicted this. Won’t happen, but I predicted the dead-enders would want to try. Matter of fact, it CAN’T happen, as it doesn’t work that way. The Electoral Vote was over on Jan 6th. No do-overs, which is why Trump sent his hordes up to the Capitol. The lawyer should be disbarred for inanity (I meant to type “insanity” but inanity works).

     A better, less silly (in the sense that it _could_ work) plan is this:

     1) Impeach and convict Harris for __________
     2) Elect Donald Trump Speaker.
     3) Impeach and convict Biden for ___________
     4) TRUMP PRESIDENT!!!!

     Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 7/9/2022 @ 8:02 pm

     
     

213. Kids shouldn’t be on their computers all day anyway, it’s bad for their health (physical and mental).
     Nic (896fdf) — 7/9/2022 @ 8:00 pm

     yes, i thought remote learning was bad for them, too

     glad we agree

     JF (c6465f) — 7/9/2022 @ 8:02 pm

     
     

214. Pregnant woman given HOV ticket argues fetus is passenger, post-Roe

     Since the idea of HOV lanes is to take cars off the road, both passengers should have to be licensed drivers.

     Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 7/9/2022 @ 8:04 pm

     
     

215. Christina Bobb was never a “Trump Lawyer”

     quit lying

     JF (c6465f) — 7/9/2022 @ 8:01 pm

     Your beef is with Newsweek, not me. I merely quoted their article.

     Rip Murdock (16650d) — 7/9/2022 @ 8:09 pm

     
     

216. @JF@213 You think “learning was bad?” Tsk.

     Nic (896fdf) — 7/9/2022 @ 8:11 pm

     
     

217. I don’t know that it’s that Palin is hated…….

     How would you characterize a politician with 60% unfavorables?

     Rip Murdock (16650d) — 7/9/2022 @ 8:14 pm

     
     

218. More on Palin:

     If she is to become Alaska’s next U.S. House member, Palin will probably need support from those who ranked one of her competitors first, some observers said. Under the new voting system, if a candidate gets a majority of first-choice votes, they win. If not, the last-place finisher is eliminated and each of their ballots is recast toward the voter’s next choice. That process is repeated until one candidate has a majority.

     (Long time Alaska pollster Ivan Moore’s) firm, Alaska Survey Research, conducted a poll in May that showed Palin to be the top choice in the pick-one primary but losing to Begich in the general election due to whom voters ranked second and third. After the results of the primary, Moore says the two Republicans could be neck-in-neck in a ranked-choice election. He also said (Democrat Mary Peltola) could be a contender with a newfound ability to consolidate first-place votes and financial support from the left.

     To win in August, Moore said Palin’s base or hard-line Republicans will have to turn out with such force that they overpower the roughly 40 percent of Alaskans who vowed in the poll to rank her last.

     Rip Murdock (16650d) — 7/9/2022 @ 8:33 pm

     
     

219. Nic (896fdf) — 7/9/2022 @ 8:11 pm

     i don’t know where your contempt for parents emanates from, but maybe try to get a grip on it

     JF (c6465f) — 7/9/2022 @ 8:41 pm

     
     

220. @JF I’m really sorry your grass turned orange. Better fertilizer maybe? Definitely less cheezwiz though.

     Nic (896fdf) — 7/9/2022 @ 8:44 pm

     
     

221. Nic (896fdf) — 7/9/2022 @ 8:44 pm

     get professional help

     JF (c6465f) — 7/9/2022 @ 8:46 pm

     
     

222. Alleged Oath Keeper accused of bringing explosives to D.C. on Jan. 6
     ……..
     In a 28-page filing, prosecutors said a law enforcement search on Jan. 19, 2021, of the home of charged co-defendant Thomas Caldwell, a retired Navy intelligence officer from Berryville, Va., recovered a document that included the words “DEATH LIST” handwritten across the top with the name of a Georgia election official and a purported family member of the official. Both were targets of baseless accusations that they were involved in voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election, prosecutors said.

     “That Caldwell made and kept a ‘death list’ that includes officials involved in the presidential election process — contemporaneous with his preparation to travel to Washington, D.C. — illustrates his actions during the alleged conspiracy and intent to oppose by force the transfer of power,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Troy A. Edwards Jr. of Washington wrote, referring to the seditious conspiracy charge against Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes and eight others including Caldwell.
     ……..
     Separately, Edwards said the government has evidence that members of the group from Florida and Arizona allegedly staged semiautomatic rifles and other weapons in a suburban Washington hotel while a third team from North Carolina kept their firearms “ready to go” in a vehicle in the parking lot.

     The prosecutor claimed that another Rhodes co-defendant, purported Florida “state lead” Kelly Meggs, had told a cooperating defendant who has pleaded guilty in a cooperation deal with the government that another Florida member of the group, Jeremy Brown, came to Washington with explosives in his recreational vehicle, which he left parked in College Park, Md. Brown, who has pleaded not guilty to the misdemeanor Jan. 6 counts, is not charged in the seditious conspiracy indictment but was described by prosecutors as an “unindicted co-conspirator.”
     ………
     The latest U.S. allegations were contained in a court filing required because prosecutors seek to introduce derogatory evidence at the Oath Keepers’ scheduled Sept. 26 trial that is not directly related to their charged offenses. Federal criminal rules usually bar such extraneous material but make an exception for relevant information that allegedly shows motive, the intent of a wider charged conspiracy or is otherwise “intrinsic” to a case. …….
     ………

     Rip Murdock (16650d) — 7/9/2022 @ 8:50 pm

     
     

223. @JF Aw, we weren’t doing random non-sequiturs? Nevermind then, have a nice night! 😀

     Nic (896fdf) — 7/9/2022 @ 8:54 pm

     
     

224. Oath Keepers leader offers Jan. 6 testimony — but only if it’s live
     Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes says he will waive his Fifth Amendment rights and testify to the Jan. 6 select committee if they permit him to testify in person.

     Rhodes, who is currently incarcerated while awaiting trial on seditious conspiracy charges for his role in the breach of the Capitol, says he wants the committee to arrange with the U.S. Marshals Service to permit him to appear in person at the Capitol complex rather than testify from the jail, and to be permitted to have his legal counsel accompany him.
     …….
     ……. The panel has so far not agreed to other witnesses’ demands for live testimony without first appearing for a taped deposition.

     (Rhodes’ attorney James Bright) said Rhodes is unwilling to sit for a taped deposition, saying he doesn’t trust the panel to air Rhodes’ remarks in full.
     …….
     Rhodes previously interviewed with the committee but largely invoked his Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination. …….
     ………

     Rhodes would be crazy to testify without an immunity agreement, and I doubt the committee would grant any.

     Rip Murdock (16650d) — 7/9/2022 @ 9:21 pm

     
     

225. Trump considers waiving claim of executive privilege for Steve Bannon

     Former President Donald Trump is considering sending a letter to Stephen K. Bannon saying that he is waiving his claim of executive privilege, potentially clearing the way for his former chief strategist to testify before the House select committee investigating the pro-Trump riot at the Capitol.

     The letter would reiterate that Trump invoked executive privilege in September 2021, when Bannon was first subpoenaed by the House committee. But it would say that the former president is now willing to give up that claim — the validity of which has been disputed — if Bannon can reach an agreement on the terms of an appearance before the panel. The letter was described by three people familiar with it, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the matter’s sensitivity.

     Some advisers were seeking to talk Trump out of signing the letter.
     ……..
     The committee has argued that claims of executive privilege are not valid for Bannon, who was a private citizen at the time of Jan. 6, 2021. The committee has also said that Bannon, an outspoken advocate of false claims that the 2020 election was stolen, was required to respond to the subpoena in some way — citing claims of privilege on a question-by-question basis instead of by refusing to respond.
     ……..

     Trump can’t waive what never existed. Now that Bannon is facing his trial on July 18th, Trump is throwing a inflatable live preserver with a hole in it. Bannon got suckered.

     Rip Murdock (16650d) — 7/9/2022 @ 9:33 pm

     
     

226. The “good news” department here at steveg wants you to know that CA is giving out free monkeypox vaccinations. First on the list? Transgenders presenting with gonorrhea of the rectum, but remember DO NOT DISCRIMINATE

     steveg (75f866) — 7/9/2022 @ 9:46 pm

     
     

227. http://publichealth.lacounty.gov/media/monkeypox

     NEW – Gay and bisexual men and transgender women who are patients of an STD/HIV or community clinic with a diagnosis of rectal gonorrhea or early syphilis within the past 3 months

     steveg (75f866) — 7/9/2022 @ 9:52 pm

     
     

228. Monkeypox and Gonorrhea? Celebrate my lifestyle or face the wrath of twitter bioches!!
     Hitting “rock bottom” sounds uncomfortable, but what do I know

     steveg (75f866) — 7/9/2022 @ 9:57 pm

     
     

229. @FWO@179 Puberty is weird and difficult and very individual. If a student thinks they are trans, there is usually a lot of emotional stuff going on. That stuff will not be solved by going, “no you aren’t”. Sometimes, that stuff takes a while to get through. Some kids are trans (biology is weird and complex). Some kids are confused. Some kids have Very Serious Things happening to them. Sometimes it helps to accommodate them while they work through their stuff. It does zero harm to anyone to put tampons in any restroom and might help some kids who are going through emotional issues. IDK why you thing anyone wants kids to be trans. It’s a difficult path for even the most otherwise well adjust person and as far as I can tell, even trans people don’t want kids to be trans. Some kids just are.

     (I don’t know why you went all “BUT RACISM!!1!” up there, but it was weird, and I’m going to pretend it didn’t happen.)

     Nic (896fdf) — 7/9/2022 @ 5:25 pm

     No one is trans anymore than someone who doesn’t admit that they have a limb and desire it to be cut off really doesn’t have that limb. Encouraging mental illness does not help anyone. Stop with the indoctrination. If you truly believe that, get out of your bubble and seek help.

     NJRob (eb56c3) — 7/9/2022 @ 10:00 pm

     
     

230. JF (496da7) — 7/9/2022 @ 5:55 pm

     is it compassionate to let a trans athlete swim laps around female competition?

     No it isn’t. I am against trans athletes competing against biological females. They should either compete against their own biological sex or have their own trans division.

     or, is your compassion limited to just bathrooms? that sounds like really weak compassion

     Bathrooms and other cases where an accommodation isn’t harming anybody else.

     norcal (da5491) — 7/10/2022 @ 12:03 am

     
     

231. Crazy?
     Do you have nuts?

     mg (8cbc69) — 7/10/2022 @ 2:23 am

     
     

232. Nic- Are you a ball less never trumper?

     mg (8cbc69) — 7/10/2022 @ 2:25 am

     
     

233. “People aren’t out there telling kids that being uncomfortable about their body during puberty makes them trans”

     I found the following article. It’s long but covers a lot of ground. Here’s a snip

     “With the best of intentions, the modern psychiatric and medical establishments have contributed to a situation in which minor children have been supported in believing that they are the opposite sex, and must alter their bodies drastically to ameliorate this situation. The mainstream media has quickly validated this line of thinking, and those who have doubts are reticent to express them for fear of being viewed as bigoted or being on the receiving end of career-altering attacks. How did we get here?”

     There are a number of anecdotes of parents having discussions with therapists on the phone and getting diagnoses of their child without ever even talking to the child (!)…let alone trying to explore root causes and alternative therapies. The testimonies of regret of some older teens that transition is heart breaking. The damage is concrete.

     To me, I’ve always wondered how the “T” got attached to the “LGB”. I guess because “T” is somewhat sex related with a societal stigma attached to it. But attraction can be measured….gender identity not so much. It generally strikes me as a superficial longing….as if putting on makeup and a dress makes one a woman in some meaningful way. I don’t get Bruce Jenner…. or celebrating his confusion.

     I empathize with nic because she’s caught in the middle of it all. There are kids struggling with normal kid stuff that now have “trans” as the magic cure for it all….with a growing cultural attitude that it is for the kid to decide. We’ve had cuttings, increase in suicides, and now rapid onset gender dysphoria…with even cliques of kids making it the new cool….or protected minority.

     I agree with nic that compassion is always warranted, but the public policy response is an open question. Government may still want to mandate that health professionals go really slow on this. It’s an arena that government is not especially good or nuanced about….

     AJ_Liberty (c82e21) — 7/10/2022 @ 6:28 am

     
     

234. https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/megan-fox/2022/07/09/washington-post-late-to-the-party-on-fact-checking-poorly-sourced-10-year-old-rape-victim-abortion-tale-but-proves-us-right-n1611679

     Washington Post fact checker Glenn Kessler admits the evidence doesn’t exist, but calls it a fact because the media reported it as such.

     Anyone promoting his lies should be mocked.

     NJRob (eb56c3) — 7/10/2022 @ 7:01 am

     
     

235. the only way the media and kessler would’ve doubted the 10 year-old abortion story is if it was found on hunter’s laptop

     JF (ee6615) — 7/10/2022 @ 7:41 am

     
     

236. 🍻JF

     mg (8cbc69) — 7/10/2022 @ 8:14 am

     
     

237. https://www.politico.com/newsletters/playbook/2022/07/09/mortons-gets-grilled-00044855

     MORTON’S MISTAKE — When a corporation is getting grilled on social media, there’s a lot at stake. The best course is often to say nothing, lest you butcher the response. Issuing a statement can often just inflame things because, let’s be honest, press releases are a medium rarely well done. Morton’s The Steakhouse learned that the hard way this week when it steered right into the middle of the culture wars.

     After abortion-rights protesters showed up in front of the Morton’s in downtown D.C. on Wednesday night to demonstrate while Justice BRETT KAVANAUGH dined inside, the company issued a statement to POLITICO’s Daniel Lippman aggressively defending the justice’s “right … to eat dinner,” as we wrote about in Friday’s Playbook.

     The response set all sides alight. The left mocked the idea that Kavanaugh should be shielded from protesters while out in public. “Poor guy,” tweeted Rep. ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ (D-N.Y.). “He left before his soufflé because he decided half the country should risk death if they have an ectopic pregnancy within the wrong state lines. It’s all very unfair to him. The least they could do is let him eat cake.”

     “Brett Kavanaugh’s Right to Dine Shall Not Be Infringed,” Esquire’s Jack Holmes teased. The New Republic’s Matt Ford examined medieval “sumptuary laws” that regulated private luxuries and concluded, “There Is No Constitutional Right to Eat Dinner.”

     Others flooded OpenTable with fake reservations. At one location, the fake diners included “Arnold Benedict,” “Abortion Rights” and “First Amendment,” according to an Instagram story one employee posted. At another Morton’s, reservations that were removed Friday night included “Dick Hertz,” “Amy Coney,” “Neil Gor,” “Kava Naugh,” “Roe Wade,” “Jane Doe” and “Pro Choice,” according to a reservation list Lippman obtained.

     Politico going right to the leftist playbook and blaming the victim for defending herself.

     NJRob (eb56c3) — 7/10/2022 @ 8:19 am

     
     

238. #234 and #235 Here are the last two paragraphs in the Kessler column:

     This is a very difficult story to check. Bernard is on the record, but obtaining documents or other confirmation is all but impossible without details that would identify the locality where the rape occurred.

     With news reports around the globe and now a presidential imprimatur, however, the story has acquired the status of a “fact” no matter its provenance. If a rapist is ever charged, the fact finally would have more solid grounding.

     Kessler tried hard to check the story, but came to no conclusion, because Caitlan Bernard (who does abortions) has refused to tell him anything.

     Anyone who has read the column and doesn’t understand that conclusion needs to work on their reading comprehension.

     (Note for those who have trouble with reading comprehension: Kessler is strongly suggesting that a criminal investigation be opened, to determine the truth of the story.)

     Jim Miller (406a93) — 7/10/2022 @ 9:01 am

     
     

239. Jim Miller (406a93) — 7/10/2022 @ 9:01 am

     kessler was quick to dismiss the covid lab leak theory and mock those who adhered to it

     glad he’s taking an unusually measured approach with the 10 year old abortion story, and his restraint has nothing to do with his track record of running interference for democrats

     to confirm that track record requires very minimal reading comprehension and internet skills

     a phrase we heard incessantly during the Trump years was “Trump asserted without evidence…”

     Biden and the media did that here, which makes it a four Pinocchios lie regardless if it ends up being substantiated in the end, but like Kessler there are those here who will run interference for the lie

     JF (123502) — 7/10/2022 @ 9:44 am

     
     

240. BS Jim. Read the second paragraph you quoted.

     The story has acquired the status of a “fact” no matter its provenance.

     He won’t call out the left on their lies because it suits their agenda. All the lies fly around the world at the WaPo before the truth ever gets his shoes on.

     NJRob (167f3d) — 7/10/2022 @ 9:57 am

     
     

241. The military aid, specifically MLRS, is working.
     So are the sanctions.
     More military aid, more sanctions.

     Paul Montagu (5de684) — 7/10/2022 @ 10:06 am

     
     

242. Rhodes would be crazy to testify without an immunity agreement, and I doubt the committee would grant any.

     That depends. If he knows that they have him dead to rights, what does he have to lose?

     Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 7/10/2022 @ 10:24 am

     
     

243. Paul Montagu (5de684) — 7/10/2022 @ 10:06 am

     Paul, when do you think putin will throw in the towel?

     do you have a prediction?

     JF (c88f2c) — 7/10/2022 @ 10:27 am

     
     

244. Rhodes would be crazy to testify without an immunity agreement, and I doubt the committee would grant any.

     That depends. If he knows that they have him dead to rights, what does he have to lose?

     Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 7/10/2022 @ 10:24 am

     Then why plead “not guilty”?

     Rip Murdock (16650d) — 7/10/2022 @ 10:31 am

     
     

245. Kessler tried hard to check the story, but came to no conclusion, because Caitlan Bernard (who does abortions) has refused to tell him anything.

     No, I get it, but you don’t. Kessler wants to beleive, but finds he cannot. Still, he won’t call it BS when he would in nearly any other circumstance.

     Let’s recap: An Indiana abortionist, whose practice will be drastically affected if Indiana restricts abortion, claims that someone told her about a 10yo rape victim in Ohio that was a few days over Ohio’s 3-month limit. She will not name her source or offer any information useful to confirm the rape of a 10yo — something that would be a public record, even if the victim’s name is redacted.

     This is less believable than “Those aren’t my cigarettes, Mom, a friend gave them to me to hide!” And then being unable to name the friend.

     1. The rape of a 10yo must be reported. A doctor who refuses to do so may lose their license.
     2. The rape of a 10yo is news.
     3. The name of the 10yo would be redacted in all circumstances, except maybe at trial. Maybe not.
     4. No such information is forthcoming.
     5. The abortionist refuses to name the colleague who told her this.
     6. Even if there was such a colleague, the colleague could have made it up.

     If this was something that a random GOP congressman said, perhaps about 10yo Mexican girls bringing drugs across the border, it would get 4 Pinocchios as sure as the sun comes up in the morning.

     This was an outright lie for personal gain, and the reporter (and/or his editor) does not want to call it out because it has become a political rallying point for HIS side.

     Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 7/10/2022 @ 10:39 am

     
     

246. Or are we going to talk about journalistic integrity at the Post?

     I will point out that a reporter at Pajamas Media reported all this a day earlier, and is upset that the Post’s reporter did not even cite the PJM report.

     So much for journalistic integrity.

     Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 7/10/2022 @ 10:44 am

     
     

247. Then why plead “not guilty”?

     Why not? The jury might not see the same facts as “sedition.”

     Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 7/10/2022 @ 10:46 am

     
     

248. How would you characterize a politician with 60% unfavorables?

     POTUS.

     =mike-drop=

     DCSCA (e24590) — 7/10/2022 @ 10:48 am

     
     

249. So much for journalistic integrity.
     Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 7/10/2022 @ 10:44 am

     hey, I called this out a week ago right here

     and kessler didn’t cite me either

     JF (f29a4e) — 7/10/2022 @ 10:57 am

     
     

250. Yes, but what research did you do, other than saying “BS!”

     Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 7/10/2022 @ 10:58 am

     
     

251. @243. Safe in the zoo, sheltered, fed and housed, the RINO blows its horn…

     Ask a Syrian, JF.

     Russia Votes to Shut Down Last U.N. Aid Route Into Syria

     Millions of Syrians whose lives have already been shattered by more than a decade of war may be left without food, medicine and other supplies.

     https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/08/us/politics/russia-syria-refugees-un.html

     Brrrr. Al and Bugs know what’s ahead for Rubbleland; parkas and snow shovels ‘gifted’ to the Moran gang by Joey.

     “Winter is coming.” – Game of Thrones

     DCSCA (e24590) — 7/10/2022 @ 11:12 am

     
     

252. Steve Bannon says he’s willing to testify before January 6 committee after Trump waives claims of executive privilege public hearing, according to a letter obtained by CNN.
     ……
     Bannon’s reversal comes after he received a letter from former President Donald Trump waiving executive privilege, although both the House select committee and federal prosecutors contend that privilege claim never gave Bannon carte blanche to ignore a congressional subpoena in the first place.

     “When you first received the Subpoena to testify and provide documents, I invoked Executive Privilege. However, I watched how unfairly you and others have been treated, having to spend vast amounts of money on legal fees, and all of the trauma you must be going through for the love of your Country, and out of respect for the Office of the President,” Trump wrote in a Saturday letter to Bannon, which was also obtained by CNN.

     “Therefore, if you reach an agreement on a time and place for your testimony, I will waive Executive Privilege for you, which allows you to go in and testify truthfully and fairly” Trump added, as he went on to decry the committee of “Thugs and Hacks.”
     …….
     …….(F)ederal prosecutors and other legal experts have argued that privilege does not apply to Bannon — who left his White House gig as chief strategist years before the Capitol riot — and did not give him the authority to refuse to provide any documents or testimony to the committee.

     Bannon’s team provided Trump’s new letter to the January 6 committee overnight, along with a letter from Bannon lawyer Bob Costello.

     “While Mr. Bannon has been steadfast in his convictions, circumstances have now changed,” Costello wrote. “Mr. Bannon is willing to, and indeed prefers, to testify at your public hearing.”
     ………
     (Rep. Zoe Lofgren), however, said that public testimony from Bannon was unlikely, noting that the committee typically does depositions. “This goes on for hour after hour after hour. We want to get all our questions answered, and you can’t do that in a live format,” she said.
     ………
     ……… Providing testimony would not necessarily absolve him of the criminal contempt charges he faces, so it’s unclear how his upcoming trial would be affected if Bannon strikes a deal with the committee to testify. He is set to appear in court for a hearing in his case Monday.
     ………

     Rip Murdock (16650d) — 7/10/2022 @ 11:19 am

     
     

253. @237. Morton’s needs some savvy ad and PR guys to turn a negative into a plus:

     ‘Got a beef? Morton’s delicious steaks do it justice.’

     DCSCA (e24590) — 7/10/2022 @ 11:32 am

     
     

254. @245 Kevin, I agree that the ball is in Dr. Bernard’s court to supply some sort of verification….or else her position as an outspoken abortion advocate makes her claim too convenient. Now perhaps her colleague, the child abuse doctor in Ohio, requested that she not release any of the details for fear of what follows. The Indy Star editor appears to stand by the reporting but does not necessarily indicate that they have any additional substantiating facts.

     Still, it’s reasonable to assume with a 6-week cutoff in Ohio, there are women seeking abortions in nearby Indiana. It is also true that the Ohio law does not have an exceptions for rape or incest, which puts it outside the mainstream….and politically vulnerable. An anecdote certainly raises the volume on the rhetoric and allows Joe to emote, but big picture whether it’s a rape or an ectopic pregnancy gone wrong after 6 weeks, women are being asked to travel for resolution. It will be a tricky stance to defend that position in an upcoming election. I do believe Dr. Bernard owes an explanation….but Dewine and the Ohio legislature does to….

     AJ_Liberty (c82e21) — 7/10/2022 @ 11:38 am

     
     

255. AJ, believe it or not, I can actually see this Supreme Court ruling that abortion restrictions that ignore threats to the physical health of the mother are unconstitutional. A direct due process argument regarding “life.” Not to mention state courts.

     And, in fact, even the most restrictive of (several conflicting) Ohio laws has an exception for “serious risk of the substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function of the pregnant woman.” So, your concern about ectopic pregnancy is misplaced here.

     Handy resource: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abortion_law_in_the_United_States_by_state#Ohio

     Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 7/10/2022 @ 12:20 pm

     
     

256. My belief that the Ohio law said 3 months was wrong in 245, of course. 6 weeks it is, although there are several conflicting rules currently in effect in Ohio.

     Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 7/10/2022 @ 12:23 pm

     
     

257. @mg@232 Nah, I’m a Real American ™ who understands that when a blowhard failure of a President loses an election, he has to leave, not foment an insurrection and then whine when people start testifying under oath that he’s a blowhard failure of a President who attempted to foment an insurrection. Trump is a weak coward whose never done anything that wasn’t predicated on and cushioned by daddy’s money and he’s still managed to fail over and over and over again. He’s Tucker Carlson, but more clueless, louder, and more thin-skinned. Also, I’m not a dude, so you can insult may genitalia all you like and I’ll just laugh at you.

     Nic (896fdf) — 7/10/2022 @ 12:34 pm

     
     

258. Lola?

     mg (8cbc69) — 7/10/2022 @ 12:49 pm

     
     

259. White House alters transcripts to cover up Biden’s latest embarrassing verbal blunder

     ‘President Joe Biden has done it again with yet another of the mental misfires that have marked his dismal tenure, mixing in the instructions on his teleprompter with remarks delivered on Friday about his executive order to circumvent the Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade, sending the White House into damage control mode.

     During his White House address where he was flanked by two former California attorney generals, VP Kamala Harris and Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, the 79-year-old Biden stumbled through his prepared remarks and then tripped short of the finish line, serving up one more example for those who suggest that he isn’t up to the job.

     “It is noteworthy that the percentage of women who register to vote and cast a ballot is consistently higher than the percentage of the men who do so, end of quote, repeat the line,” Biden said. “Women are not without electoral and or political, or to put it precisely not and or, or political power.”

     Twitter erupted with mockery after Biden’s latest embarrassing verbal blunder. Billionaire Tesla/SpaceX CEO Elon Musk tweeted out a image from the movie “Anchorman” writing, “Whoever controls the teleprompter is the real President!”’ – https://www.bizpacreview.com/2022/07/09/white-house-alters-transcripts-to-cover-up-bidens-latest-embarrassing-verbal-blunder-1259522/

     You stay classy there, Scranton. Or is it Wilmington this week.

     DCSCA (1dbdb8) — 7/10/2022 @ 12:50 pm

     
     

260. @237 And once again AOC tells several outright lies. I wonder if that’s one of the reasons people like asset like her so much. The ability to do that consistently and without a shred of hesitation or regret is a true skill.

     frosty (369282) — 7/10/2022 @ 12:51 pm

     
     

261. https://townhall.com/tipsheet/saraharnold/2022/07/10/americans-regret-their-2020-vote-n2609994
     lol

     mg (8cbc69) — 7/10/2022 @ 12:53 pm

     
     

262. Presidential timber?

     https://nypost.com/2021/04/03/aoc-was-one-of-least-effective-members-of-congress-study/

     AJ_Liberty (c82e21) — 7/10/2022 @ 12:56 pm

     
     

263. @255 The concerns over ectopic pregnancy are word games played by people who are dishonest or ignorant. An ectopic pregnancy isn’t one you can abort. Like a stillborn baby it’s a sad tragedy but it’s also no longer a viable pregnancy.

     frosty (8229da) — 7/10/2022 @ 1:15 pm

     
     

264. Somebody (maybe her new lawyer?) tampered with Cassidy Hutchison’s testimony and I think most of her most vivid scenes never happened.

     See my last post in the Cheney…women who have testified thread

     I think Cassidy Hutchison’s memory wasn’t that good, and she let herself be browbeaten into telling stories that entertained the committee.

     Sammy Finkelnan (b7dc9b) — 7/10/2022 @ 1:22 pm

     
     

265. i’m wondering which will happen first

     – putin throws in the towel in ukraine
     – trump gets indicted
     – the rapist of the ten year-old is identified
     – the Reds win the world series

     predictions?

     JF (f29a4e) — 7/10/2022 @ 1:25 pm

     
     

266. RIP actor L. Q. Jones (94). Regularly appeared in Sam Peckinpah’s films in a 50-year career.

     Rip Murdock (16650d) — 7/10/2022 @ 1:29 pm

     
     

267. I read that, several years ago, lobbying stopped the Oho legislature from passing a bill that would have required that ectopic pregnancies be transferred to the uterus, which the author said was impossible.

     https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/05/opinion/ob-gyn-roe-v-wade-pregnancy.html?

     For instance, in 2019 we successfully fought HB 413, which would have made “abortion murder” a crime and could have required doctors to “reimplant an ectopic pregnancy into the woman’s uterus,” which is impossible. And in February we testified against HB 598, which would ban virtually all abortions in the state and could even affect fertility services.

     On closer examination, the bill probably didn’t actually sayd that – its opponents claimed it said that.

     Sammy Finkelnan (b7dc9b) — 7/10/2022 @ 1:29 pm

     
     

268. @265-
     Pure unsupported speculation.

     Rip Murdock (16650d) — 7/10/2022 @ 1:30 pm

     
     

269. Paul, when do you think putin will throw in the towel?
     do you have a prediction?

     I don’t know, and I try not to make predictions. The important thing is that Putin pays for his immoral, illegal and unprovoked invasions.

     Paul Montagu (5de684) — 7/10/2022 @ 1:30 pm

     
     

270. ‘Mad Dog’ POTUS is heading to Saudi Arabia.

     In July.

     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkEd3WgR8qw&t=3s

     DCSCA (2fb763) — 7/10/2022 @ 1:35 pm

     
     

271. JF,

     Trump will be indicted for something, no matter how spurious, because the goal is to prevent him from running in 2024.

     Some on here used to be against using the power of government against political enemies, but times change.

     The Reds winning again probably comes next. Maybe when MLB reinstates Pete Rose. At least the Yanks are dominant once again.

     NJRob (a68e1b) — 7/10/2022 @ 1:41 pm

     
     

272. Russians Fear Commanders Are Selling Their Own Troops’ Locations for Cash
     ………
     An audio recording of what the Ukrainian Defense Ministry’s Main Intelligence Directorate says is an intercepted phone call appears to suggest the colonel was not the first who was accused of selling out his own troops. The call, released Monday, includes a conversation between a man identified as a Russian soldier and a female acquaintance. No details were provided on where the soldier was based in Ukraine, but he can be heard in the recording complaining of constant shelling.

     The conversation then takes an interesting turn when the unnamed woman notes that a squadron of the “31st Brigade” was given up by their own Russian colonel, apparently referring to the 31st Guards Air Assault Brigade.

     “The airborne troops taken captive?” the man asks.

     “Yes, yes, 76 people were taken,” she says, adding that “they were sold out by their own” and naming a “Colonel Matkovsky” for the betrayal.

     “There have already been many such instances,” the man responds, noting that “they leak information” about the troops.

     “It’s true, it’s true. I later spoke with a FSBishnik [an agent of Russia’s Federal Security Service] … and he said yes, it’s all true. They found 17 million in his account,” she said.

     The woman went on to say she hadn’t asked for clarification on what currency the money was found in, before appearing to suggest the Russian colonel had been paid by American intelligence agencies.

     “It’s understandable, the stinking U.S. is suffering. They have hunger, cold,” she said.
     ……….
     ……..(T)he 31st Guards Air Assault Brigade, one of Russia’s most elite airborne units, suffered heavy losses in a Russian offensive outside Kyiv in late February and early March, and several Russian troops were said to have been captured at that time.
     ……….

     That’s just too bad. Sad!

     Rip Murdock (16650d) — 7/10/2022 @ 2:02 pm

     
     

273. Trump Calls On Wis. GOP To Nullify Elector Votes, Make Him Victor After Ballot Box Ruling

     Donald Trump is now calling on the Republican speaker of the Assembly in the Wisconsin Legislature to snatch back the state’s 2020 electoral votes to declare him the winner of the presidential race he lost in the wake of a court ruling on ballot drop boxes.

     He pushed the astonishing plan a day after he baselessly declared himself the winner in the state when the Wisconsin Supreme Court on Friday restricted the number of absentee ballot boxes in future elections. He again insisted in his message on his Truth Social platform Saturday that he is the “actual winner (by a lot!)” in the battleground state.

     Trump claimed “Brave American Patriots already have a Resolution on the [Wisconsin Assembly] Floor” to throw out Joe Biden’s victory.
     ……….
     Trump and his Republican allies have claimed that drop boxes facilitated cheating in the 2020 election, but have offered no evidence. Even if votes from all the absentee drop boxes were eliminated in the last election — which has nothing to do with the court ruling — there’s no indication Trump would have been the winner.
     ……….

     Rip Murdock (16650d) — 7/10/2022 @ 2:14 pm

     
     

274. @265. You missed one:

     -SCOTUS leaker Alito outted

     DCSCA (2fb763) — 7/10/2022 @ 2:23 pm

     
     

275. 5 shot on New York City’s famed Coney Island boardwalk

     At least five people were injured, one critically, when gunfire erupted early Sunday at a large pop-up party on New York City’s famed Coney Island boardwalk, authorities said. – abcnews.com

     DCSCA (2fb763) — 7/10/2022 @ 2:26 pm

     
     

276. ‘Unprecedented’: Six Shocking Moments in the Donald Trump Jan. 6 Documentary on Discovery+
     ………
     Filmmaker Alex Holder was given such unfettered access to Donald Trump and his family that his footage was subpoenaed by the Jan. 6 committee, making “Unprecedented” appointment viewing for people hoping get a better sense of how the president’s inner circle responded to the attack on the U.S. Capitol. In that regard, they may be disappointed. The series shifts its focus to the Trump-fueled insurrection in Episode 3, but there’s no footage of Trump lunging at his security detail in the Beast, for instance. But there are many shocking, enraging and genuinely WTF moments in the three-part series, which makes pretty clear that Trump doesn’t really think that the people who stormed Congress did anything wrong.

     1. Donald Trump calls the Jan. 6 rioters “smart”
     ………
     “People went to Washington primarily because they were angry with an election that they think was rigged,” Trump offers up in a post-riot interview. “A very small portion, as you know, went down to the Capitol, and then a very small portion of them went in. But I will tell you they were angry from the standpoint of what happened in the election because they’re smart — and they see, and they saw, what happened. And I believe that that was a big part of what happened on January 6th.”

     Others in the Trump orbit, such as the usually voluble Donald Trump Jr. and Ivanka Trump, wouldn’t answer questions about the storming of the Capitol. “Let’s skip the 6th,” Eric Trump tells Holder when asked.
     ……..

     2. Georgia on his mind
     ……..
     “You can’t have elections that are meaningless,” Trump says, going on to complain that with Kemp “we have a governor, the poor guy doesn’t know what the hell is happening,” while likening Raffensperger to a “hard-headed rock.”

     Trump seems quite miffed that they won’t just accept his baseless claims of fraud. “They don’t want to do it and they’re Republicans,” he vents. “What’s their problem? They’re stupid. They’re stupid people.”

     3. It’s a family affair
     ………
     4. On Twitter bans … and thugs
     ………
     “It’s a shame what Twitter did, and what Facebook did,” Trump says. “That’s what they do. These people are thugs. They allow other people to be on who are horrific people. I’m not a horrific person. I have a big voice. I have a voice that had hundreds of millions of people listening.”

     5. Mike Pence would like a print out

     One of the weirdest moments of the entire series is when Mike Pence interrupts his interview with Holder to receive an email with a congressional draft resolution demanding he invoke the 25th amendment to remove Trump from power.

     “Tell Zach to print me out a hard copy for the trip home,” Pence asks an aide while giving a pained smirk.
     ………

     6. What to expect in 2024
     ……….
     “We have a tremendous base,” Trump offers up. “Every poll says I gotta run, I gotta run. But I’ll be making a decision in the not-too-distant future, and stay tuned.”

     And Eric Trump makes it clear that we haven’t seen the last of the Trump brand of politics.

     “Do I think politics is over for this family?” he muses. “No, I can assure you politics is not over for this family in some way shape or form. I think my father will continue to be probably the most pivotal force in Republican party history.”
     ##########

     Rip Murdock (16650d) — 7/10/2022 @ 2:26 pm

     
     

277. Biden’s approval rating craters to 30% after brutal week: poll

     President Biden’s approval rating has crashed to just 30%, its lowest mark yet, in a new national poll.

     https://nypost.com/2022/07/09/joe-biden-approval-drops-to-30-after-a-brutal-week-civiqs-poll/

     From “I am not a crook” to “I am not a schnook.” History rhymes, plagiarist Joey:

     Nixon plummeted to 24% approval before he resigned from office in August 1974. – newsweek.com

     DCSCA (2fb763) — 7/10/2022 @ 2:39 pm

     
     

278. When Carter left office his approval rating was 38%, Joey.

     DCSCA (2fb763) — 7/10/2022 @ 2:41 pm

     
     

279. “Let’s skip the 6th,” Eric Trump tells Holder when asked.

     A lot of people are pleading the 5th on the 6th.

     norcal (da5491) — 7/10/2022 @ 2:44 pm

     
     

280. And Eric Trump makes it clear that we haven’t seen the last of the Trump brand of politics.

     “Do I think politics is over for this family?” he muses. “No, I can assure you politics is not over for this family in some way shape or form. I think my father will continue to be probably the most pivotal force in Republican party history.”

     Pivotal force, but not in a good way.

     norcal (da5491) — 7/10/2022 @ 2:47 pm

     
     

281. On closer examination, the bill probably didn’t actually sayd that – its opponents claimed it said that.

     Sammy Finkelnan (b7dc9b) — 7/10/2022 @ 1:29 pm

     I’m shocked anyone on the pro-abortion side would lie. Shocked!

     frosty (3c2604) — 7/10/2022 @ 2:56 pm

     
     

282. Here are my two favorite cartoons from last week’s Politico collection, one from Ramirez, and one with an obvious US parallel.

     Jim Miller (406a93) — 7/10/2022 @ 3:07 pm

     
     

283. Joe Biden: Why I’m going to Saudi Arabia

     https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/07/09/joe-biden-saudi-arabia-israel-visit/

     We know why you’re going, Joey:; to check out the accommodations…

     Saudi Arabia in July is Hell.

     DCSCA (e5a1ef) — 7/10/2022 @ 3:08 pm

     
     

284. Check out the resemblance; Cassidy Hutchison was a Hope Hicks wannabe, denied.

     DCSCA (e5a1ef) — 7/10/2022 @ 3:14 pm

     
     

285. What troubles me most about this story:

     Onur Aksoy established multiple stores to sell counterfeit Cisco Hardware, according to the DOJ.

     Aksoy generated millions of dollars, reselling faulty hardware to hospitals, schools, and more.

     The counterfeit hardware malfunctioned, causing damage to users’ networks and operations.

     . . . is how long the investigation took. The timing is unclear in the article, but Customs began seizing these fake devices at least as early as 2014.

     Jim Miller (406a93) — 7/10/2022 @ 3:19 pm

     
     

286. @276. Seems Founding Father, DoI author and slave owner Thomas Jefferson saw rebellious behavior as healthy:

     ‘God forbid we should ever be 20 years without such a rebellion. the people cannot be all, & always, well informed. the past which is wrong will be discontented in proportion to the importance of the facts they misconceive; if they remain quiet under such misconceptions it is a lethargy, the forerunner of death to the public liberty. We have had 13 states independent 11 years. there has been one rebellion. that comes to one rebellion in a century & a half for each state. What country before ever existed a century & half without a rebellion? & what country can preserve it’s liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to facts, pardon & pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots & tyrants. It is it’s natural manure.” – Thomas Jefferson, November, 1787.

     https://www.monticello.org/site/research-and-collections/tree-liberty-quotation

     But then, what did he know; he drank warm ale from lead-pewter tankards, doffed pantaloons, a powdered wig, owned people as property- and coddled at least one as a ‘sex slave.’ Stay classy, Monticello! 😉

     DCSCA (e5a1ef) — 7/10/2022 @ 3:33 pm

     
     

287. Do we have enough hostages? I have been worrried for some time that we do not. In dealing with hostile nations, we have to recognize that, from time to time, they will seize Americans as hostages, and then offer trades. For example:

     In November 2011, the notorious Russian weapons trafficker Viktor Bout was sentenced by a New York court to 25 years in prison for his crimes. In February 2022, Brittney Griner, the legendary WNBA basketball player, was arrested in Moscow for allegedly having illegal vape cartridges. Now Russia is reportedly asking for an exchange — the Merchant of Death for the All-Star.

     To be ready for these inevitable situations, we should be accumulating hostages from North Korea (if possible), Iran, China, and, of course, Russia. (If we can get some from terrorist organizations, that would be good, too.)

     Of course, this is not a policy that can be admitted, openly, but it would be nice to see more arrests, targeting, for example, the relatives of these countries’ leaders.)

     Jim Miller (406a93) — 7/10/2022 @ 3:50 pm

     
     

288. These Chinese businesses surprised me, though they shouldn’t have.

     There is an entire Chinese industry profiting off of racist videos about Africans. Yes, you read that correctly. Sadly, in the year that is 2022, racism is still a global epidemic and a recent report from Rest of World is proof of it.

     For example, the Chinese video app, Kuaishou, drew in tens of thousands of viewers, who watched as a young Chinese man hosted a beauty pageant where he scrutinized Zambian women. And ladies and gentlemen, this is one of the main sources of primetime entertainment in China.

     Jim Miller (406a93) — 7/10/2022 @ 4:30 pm

     
     

289. One of the weirdest moments of the entire series is when Mike Pence interrupts his interview with Holder to receive an email with a congressional draft resolution demanding he invoke the 25th amendment to remove Trump from pow

     Yes. He didn’t listen to Trump, and he didn’t listen to Pelosi when told to go beyond his constitutional powers. To declare Donald Trump disabled would have been a lie. (and there was no need)

     Sammy Finkelnan (b7dc9b) — 7/10/2022 @ 4:34 pm

     
     

290. 281. Claimed it could be interpreted that way, evidently. Of course, their lawyers would fight such an interpretation had the bill passed and an investigation been initiated. Another one is that every miscarriage could be investigated. But it is convenient for them to throw out some possible horribles.

     Sammy Finkelnan (b7dc9b) — 7/10/2022 @ 4:40 pm

     
     

291. Chuck Todd asked Stephanie Murphy a second time, more specifically, whether Pat Cippolone had confirmed that quote Cassidy Hutchison said he said about being charged with every crime imaginable (if he went to the Capitol?)

     Again she evaded the question

     https://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/meet-press-july-10-2022-n1296939

     CHUCK TODD:

     Can you confirm if he said, “We’re going to get charged with every crime imaginable?” I mean, that was a big important moment in Cassidy Hutchinson’s testimony. Were you able to have him confirm that that is a concern he had?

     REP. STEPHANIE MURPHY:

     We were able to get him to confirm the concerns that he did [slight stress on did] have. His reservations about some of the things that were happening, his desire not to be affiliated with, you know, some of the things, his desire to be on the record, have the legal —

     CHUCK TODD:

     Not affiliated with what? When you say “some of the things,” the speech at the Ellipse?

     REP. STEPHANIE MURPHY:

     Well, like, the speech at the Ellipse. He didn’t attend the speech at the Ellipse. There were —

     CHUCK TODD:

     Did he try to get language struck out of it?

     REP. STEPHANIE MURPHY:

     He, you know, not to get too much into details, I think for legal counsel, they participated and they perform the role that they have when speeches do come to them.

     Sammy Finkelnan (b7dc9b) — 7/10/2022 @ 4:49 pm

     
     

292. The European Union does something rational:

     European lawmakers voted Wednesday to move ahead with a plan to label some nuclear and natural gas power as “green” energy, a closely watched decision that could shape climate policy for years to come.
     . . .
     Five months later, as Russia wields natural gas as a weapon and the global energy crisis intensifies, legislators at the European Parliament rejected an objection to the proposal in a 328-to-278 vote.

     The vote was closer than I would like, but the rational side won.

     Jim Miller (406a93) — 7/10/2022 @ 4:52 pm

     
     

293. Biden to unveil first photo from James Webb Space Telescope

     NASA will brief the president and vice president on Monday, agency officials said, and the first image will be revealed at an event at 5 p.m. EDT at the White House. – nbcnews.com

     Are they this desperate??? Such a deal: Biden & Harris; two analpores on one ‘body politic.’

     Shades of The Big Dick butting in by phoning Neil & Buzz on the moon, affixing his signature on all the Apollo plaques left on Luna, and ordering the USS Hornet to recover the crew, not the USS John F. Kennedy, as originally planned. Except the vindictive scumbag had nothing to do with Apollo, just as Biden had nothing to do with Webb.

     DCSCA (4b8186) — 7/10/2022 @ 5:05 pm

     
     

294. “That’s not an insurrection. This is an insurrection.”

     Horatio (e4f2d8) — 7/10/2022 @ 5:19 pm

     
     

295. So, Buttigieg says:

     “People are upset. They’re going to exercise their First Amendment rights. As long as that’s peaceful, that’s protected,” Buttigieg said on “Fox News Sunday,” according to a transcript. He said public officials should expect some amount of criticism and protests.

     I bet that anyone who tried that with him would get arrested by his protective detail.

     Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 7/10/2022 @ 5:48 pm

     
     

296. Except the vindictive scumbag had nothing to do with Apollo, just as Biden had nothing to do with Webb.

     No one wanted to see Johnson in 1969.

     Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 7/10/2022 @ 5:49 pm

     
     

297. Do we have enough hostages?

     For Russia? Certainly. Billions and billions.

     Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 7/10/2022 @ 5:53 pm

     
     

298. https://redstate.com/jimthompson/2022/07/10/sunday-cartoon-bidens-ruinous-priorities-are-destroying-our-military-n592301
     Lola Sir!

     mg (8cbc69) — 7/10/2022 @ 5:55 pm

     
     

299. The ability to do that consistently and without a shred of hesitation or regret is a true skill.

     And not a fact-checker in sight. Never is. No one gets advancement in the modern newsroom by upsetting the left’s memes.

     Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 7/10/2022 @ 6:01 pm

     
     

300. When Carter left office his approval rating was 38%, Joey.

     Truman left at 32%
     Carter left at 34%, not 38%.
     W also left at 34%
     Trump left at 34%

     OTOH,

     FDR left at 65%
     Ike left at 59%
     Kennedy “left” at 58%
     Ford left at 53%
     Reagan left at 63%
     GHWB left at 56%
     Clinton left at 66%
     Obama left at 59%

     https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_approval_rating

     Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 7/10/2022 @ 6:19 pm

     
     

301. Trump is the only president since WW2 to never reach 50% approval.

     Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 7/10/2022 @ 6:23 pm

     
     

302. To declare Donald Trump disabled would have been a lie.

     The word is “incapacitated” and it means more than “disabled.” For example “barking mad” is included. George III was not disabled, yet a regent was appointed.

     Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 7/10/2022 @ 6:31 pm

     
     

303. @302 By any measure JB is more incapacitated than DT ever was. There’s a reason the media memory holed that whole cognitive test idea. JB has reached the point where he can’t reliably read from the teleprompter.

     frosty (96fe5c) — 7/10/2022 @ 7:08 pm

     
     

304. @300. Except the 45-year-experienced Squinty McStumblebum has only been on the job as POTUS less than 18 MONTHS. This guy’s going down faster than a hooker on Hunter. 😉

     __________

     Wait ’til the Saudis rub his 30% nose in it by doling a deal w/oil from Vlad, marking it up and selling it on to Joe as the middle men and Joey claiming it a win.

     Saudis, U.A.E. Rebuff Calls to Sever Russian Oil Alliance

     https://www.wsj.com/articles/saudis-u-a-e-rebuff-calls-to-sever-russian-oil-alliance-11648557534

     DCSCA (1c10fd) — 7/10/2022 @ 7:45 pm

     
     

305. Hunter should call his Dad and get moved to the top of the Monkeypox vaccination list. But then again. for all I know, Hunter is the Typhoid Mary, the ground dick zero of the Monkeypox. He probably hasn’t gone a day without an angry pustule in decades

     steveg (2777c8) — 7/10/2022 @ 10:15 pm

     
     

306. Gavin newsome is getting the jump on AOC for 2024 running ads in floriduh. Joe can run ;but he cant hide. Dementia joe I can’t call a national medical emergency like we did for the pandemic. Dementia joe gavin newsome is entering the race for 2024. Well maybe I can declare a national health emergency after all.

     asset (046c7e) — 7/10/2022 @ 10:43 pm

     
     

307. I think we all agree that Biden will lose badly if he runs enters the race contest in 2024.

     Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 7/10/2022 @ 11:13 pm

     
     

308. I wont cry if he doesn’t run in 2024.

     asset (046c7e) — 7/10/2022 @ 11:39 pm

     
     

309. Trumpsters fire nebraska party chairman at convention then other never trump party leaders resign. Populists cleaning out free trade conservatives and neo-con artists from party leadership.

     asset (046c7e) — 7/11/2022 @ 12:32 am

     
     

310. https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2022/07/revealed-dirtbag-liz-cheney-funded-obama-hillary-donors-wyoming-primary/
     dirtbag is too kind for this pos.

     mg (8cbc69) — 7/11/2022 @ 2:08 am

     
     

311. https://townhall.com/political-cartoons/2022/07/11/191518?hpnl=true

     mg (8cbc69) — 7/11/2022 @ 2:21 am

     
     

312. https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2022/07/the_davos_death_cults_bad_moon_rising.html
     Sad is – I saw this moon rising long ago, but you highly educated boobs blame Trump. Pathetic education you payed for. Any of you graduates ever use common sense?

     mg (8cbc69) — 7/11/2022 @ 2:33 am

     
     

313. “That’s how you storm your government”

     Those who assert that January 6th was an “insurrection” are either willingly naïve, or intentionally distorting what happened for political purposes to denigrate Trump and his supporters.

     Horatio (e4f2d8) — 7/11/2022 @ 6:07 am

     
     

314. More bad news on COVID:

     America has decided the pandemic is over. The coronavirus has other ideas.

     The latest omicron offshoot, BA.5, has quickly become dominant in the United States, and thanks to its elusiveness when encountering the human immune system, is driving a wave of cases across the country.

     The size of that wave is unclear because most people are testing at home or not testing at all.

     So we know the news is bad, but we don’t know how bad.

     And we will make a serious mistake if we continue to act as if the pandemic is over:

     But the death rate from covid-19 is still much higher than the mortality from influenza or other contagious diseases. Officials have warned of a possible fall or winter wave — perhaps as many as 100 million infections in the United States — that could flood hospitals with covid patients. Beyond the direct suffering of such a massive outbreak, there could be economic disruptions as tens of millions of people become too sick to work.

     (This Washington Post article is, as usual with their pieces on COVID, free.)

     Prediction: This new wave will hit hardest those states where people are in denial, where they resist vaccinations, and the simple precautions that would help protect their neighbors.

     Jim Miller (406a93) — 7/11/2022 @ 9:10 am

     
     

315. @314 It’d be a shame if we had another covid wave just in time for the midterms.

     Wasn’t JB supposed to get rid of covid?

     frosty (96fe5c) — 7/11/2022 @ 9:25 am

     
     

316. @314 A quick check of google says that the total case of covid is less than 100M. This paper you’re linking says we’ll get “perhaps as many as” 100M in the fall or winter. It doesn’t strike you as implausible that you’d have more in two seasons with a population that has both natural and vaccinated immunity than we had over a two year period including a period when the virus was novel?

     You’re also pushing the narrative of the overwhelmed hospitals even though we’ve got a number of effective treatments for covid.

     frosty (96fe5c) — 7/11/2022 @ 9:34 am

     
     

317. The vaccination is not too good, because it’s to an early version of the virus. It actually makes the infection last longer in children compared to those who were never vaccinated. That is what the studies tell them, but they don’t want to believe it – thinking that, at most, it is ineffective for children under 5.

     They are very slow in authorizing a vaccine geared to current versions off the virus,, as they are with approvinbng use of a smallpox vaccine for monkeypox. Or is it European monkeypox vaccine?

     Sammy Finkelman (b7dc9b) — 7/11/2022 @ 9:36 am

     
     

318. The 7-day moving average for Covid deaths is 218, the lowest since March 2020. The uptick in cases is not enough to restart mask mandates and such, IMO, but it’s always a good idea to get vaxxed and boosted.

     BTW, three days after the end of school, Mrs. Montagu tested positive and had mild symptoms, mostly feeling sluggo for a couple days. Great timing. The funny thing is we both got boosted two days after the end of school, which may have softened the symptoms. I tested negative throughout. I’m still a Covid virgin.

     Paul Montagu (5de684) — 7/11/2022 @ 9:40 am

     
     

319. Highly Sensitive DOJ Jan 6. Documents Leaked to The Gateway Pundit – FBI Confidential Human Source INFILTRATED Proud Boys, Ran FBI Operation on J-6, Reported They Were INNOCENT! — See Texts and Documents IN FULL!!

     Horatio (e4f2d8) — 7/11/2022 @ 9:53 am

     
     

320. No one wanted to see Johnson in 1969.

     Guess that’s why he was at the launch of Apollo 11, seen by hundreds of millions– and interviewed by Walter before millions more on CBS afterwards, and the miffed Big Dick, denied his desire for a pre-launch nosh w/the crew due to germs- didn’t attend and sent Spiro the Zero instead. But what the heck, Lyndon was only the point person who kept the ball moving after JFK’s murder anyway. ‘Course The Big Dick made sure he was aboard the Hornet in the middle of the Pacific to get face time welcome the crew back to Earth. That alone was enough to send the guys into quarantine for 3 weeks. 😉

     DCSCA (373f6b) — 7/11/2022 @ 9:56 am

     
     

321. dirtbag is too kind for this pos.

     Pretty much my take on Gateway Pundit and the rest of the MBLA.

     Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 7/11/2022 @ 10:06 am

     
     

322. If not Trump v. Biden in 2024, then who? Here are the politicians showing signs they could be in the mix
     (Skipping over the Republicans)
     ……..
     Kamala Harris and Pete Buttigieg

     As the only two of Biden’s rivals from the 2020 primary to end up with jobs in the administration, Buttigieg and Harris are the clear heirs apparent should Biden bow out.
     ……..
     J.B. Pritzker

     Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker of Illinois has been testing the waters in New Hampshire and slowly building his national brand through both conventional and unconventional channels, particularly in the form of memes.
     ……..

     Gretchen Whitmer

     The Democratic Michigan governor’s profile rose substantially in 2020 as she took on a Republican-controlled legislature over COVID-19 restrictions, and she became a key surrogate for the Biden campaign in the crucial swing state.
     …….
     While she hasn’t been gallivanting around Iowa or New Hampshire, Whitmer did notably refrain from saying whether Biden should run for reelection in a June interview with NBC News.

     Gavin Newsom

     The California progressive, who previously served as San Francisco’s mayor, survived an election to recall him as governor in September and has since emerged as a leading combative voice against DeSantis and conservatism.

     He invited Floridians to California, “where we still believe in freedom,” in a $105,000 ad buy over the July 4 weekend, fueling national speculation about whether he’s considering his own 2024 bid. The taunt drew a response from a DeSantis campaign spokesman, who said Newsom “might as well light a pile of cash on fire.”
     ………

     Bernie Sanders
     …….
     Sanders, a democratic socialist known for rattling the party’s establishment, “has not ruled out another run for president” in the event of an open 2024 Democratic presidential primary, according to a top Sanders advisor’s memo that was shared with The Washington Post in April. He was in Iowa in June to rally support for United Auto Workers, who were on strike.
     …….

     A contrary view:

     ……..
     “Absolutely not,” ( Rep. Ro Khanna D-CA) told CNN. “I plan to support (Biden) because of the danger that Donald Trump poses. I would certainly not do anything to weaken him, and I hope no one else will do anything to weaken him. He’s still the safe brand in the midwestern states to make sure Trump is kept far away from the Oval Office.”

     That also goes for California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who has been causing the most antsy whispers from the Biden orbit with his comments calling out a lack of Democratic action and energy……
     ………
     Biden “has said he’s running for reelection and I support that,” (Gov J.B. Pritzker D-IL) told CNN, adding that though he thinks some other opponent may yet emerge…….

     The speculation is at a high enough fever that when Pete Buttigieg’s PAC reactivated on Twitter at the end of June to endorse a few candidates for US House and state legislature, several plugged-in operatives began to wonder if this was the first step in the transportation secretary relaunching as a candidate. His attendance at Democratic National Committee events and meetings with a few potential future donors only sparked more talk.

     But there’s nothing to that, according to a Transportation Department spokesperson, who said, “Buttigieg has had no involvement in Win the Era PAC since his nomination as Secretary……..

     Some have talked about Jared Polis, the Colorado governor known for straying from what became Democratic orthodoxy on Covid-19 lockdowns and is facing voters this fall. ……. Polis campaign spokesperson Amber Miller said he’s “not considering anything like that and is focused on running the state of Colorado. If he is re-elected, he plans to serve his entire term as governor of Colorado.”
     ………
     (Sen. Bernie) Sanders, the Vermont senator who has twice sought the Democratic nod, told CNN last month he would not run against Biden. A spokesperson for Sen. Elizabeth Warren, meanwhile, told CNN that nothing has changed since the Massachusetts Democrat told NBC News that she’s not running for president in 2024 and would be supporting Biden. …….

     New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez ……. told late night host Stephen Colbert at the end of June that she was more focused on preserving American democracy than presidential speculation.

     But she’s also held off on saying she would support Biden for reelection, noting that the President hasn’t said he’s running himself.
     ……….

     My prediction is that Biden will not run due to a “health emergency” and Kamala Harris will not be the nominee due to high negatives. The eventual Democratic nominee may or may not be someone listed above.

     Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 7/11/2022 @ 10:09 am

     
     

323. A quick check of google says that the total case of covid is less than 100M

     Most of the current cases are unreported and being treated at home. There is a lot of vaccination and other immunity, but against BA.5 it only keeps the symptoms (relatively) mild. BA.4 and BA.5 are incredibly contagious and come at a time when people are effing tired of all the rules. See the pictures of the NY subway stations, where all are supposed to wear masks, but none do.

     Hospitalizations are also rising; they aren’t overwhelming due to the herd’s hard-won resistance. But it’s still rampant right now.

     Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 7/11/2022 @ 10:11 am

     
     

324. @313. Seems Thomas Jefferson may just have likely agreed:

     https://www.monticello.org/site/research-and-collections/tree-liberty-quotation

     DCSCA (373f6b) — 7/11/2022 @ 10:18 am

     
     

325. Gretchen Whitmer

     Her “kidnappers” were not convicted. Two acquitted of all charges, two others will be retried in August after no verdicts in the first trial.

     Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 7/11/2022 @ 10:19 am

     
     

326. My prediction is that Biden will not run due to a “health emergency” and Kamala Harris will not be the nominee due to high negatives. The eventual Democratic nominee may or may not be someone listed above.

     What happens if Harris is president by the time 2024 rolls around?

     Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 7/11/2022 @ 10:21 am

     
     

327. Most Democrats Don’t Want Biden in 2024, New Poll Shows

     President Biden is facing an alarming level of doubt from inside his own party, with 64 percent of Democratic voters saying they would prefer a new standard-bearer in the 2024 presidential campaign, according to a New York Times/Siena College poll, as voters nationwide have soured on his leadership, giving him a meager 33 percent job-approval rating.
     ……..
     Only 13 percent of American voters said the nation was on the right track — the lowest point in Times polling since the depths of the financial crisis more than a decade ago.
     ……..
     The backlash against Mr. Biden and desire to move in a new direction were particularly acute among younger voters. In the survey, 94 percent of Democrats under the age of 30 said they would prefer a different presidential nominee.
     ……..
     Jobs and the economy were the most important problem facing the country according to 20 percent of voters, with inflation and the cost of living (15 percent) close behind as prices are rising at the fastest rate in a generation. One in 10 voters named the state of American democracy and political division as the most pressing issue, about the same share who named gun policies, after several high-profile mass shootings.
     ……..
     One glimmer of good news for Mr. Biden is that the survey showed him with a narrow edge in a hypothetical rematch in 2024 with former President Donald J. Trump: 44 percent to 41 percent.

     The result is a reminder of one of Mr. Biden’s favorite aphorisms: “Don’t compare me to the Almighty, compare me to the alternative.” The poll showed that Democratic misgivings about Mr. Biden seemed to mostly melt away when presented with a choice between him and Mr. Trump: 92 percent of Democrats said they would stick with Mr. Biden.
     ………

     Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 7/11/2022 @ 10:26 am

     
     

328. My prediction is that Biden will not run due to a “health emergency” and Kamala Harris will not be the nominee due to high negatives. The eventual Democratic nominee may or may not be someone listed above.

     What happens if Harris is president by the time 2024 rolls around?

     Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 7/11/2022 @ 10:21 am

     She still loses. Given the state of the country, I also predict there will be a major political assassination attempt by November 2024.

     Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 7/11/2022 @ 10:27 am

     
     

329. ‘It’s a big lie’: Parkland dad interrupts Biden, escorted out of White House gun event

     ‘A father of one of the students killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School interrupted President Joe Biden on Monday during a White House ceremony touting a new law to curb gun violence, urging the president to take further action on firearm access before being escorted out of the event.

     The activist, Manuel Oliver, told The Miami Herald in an interview that he thought the ceremony, billed as a chance to celebrate the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act signed into law last month, was a bad idea.

     There’s nothing to celebrate,” Oliver said, speaking by telephone after the event. “It’s a big lie. We lie between ourselves thinking we have a solution to this when we actually don’t.

     “There was no need for this event,” he added. “At all.”

     Oliver, whose son, Joaquin, was one of 17 people killed at the school in 2018, has become a highly visible critic of the Biden administration’s approach on guns, publicly demanding through most of 2021 to meet with the president before climbing a crane in the Washington, D.C. in February of this year to call for additional federal action to reduce gun-related violence.

     On Monday at the White House, Biden was touting the new gun law — which strengthens background checks for firearms buyers under 21 and bolsters funding for school safety in what many advocates hailed as the most significant federal legislation on guns in three decades — when Oliver, in attendance, stood up and began talking to the president.

     Oliver said he was asking Biden to establish a White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention, a long-held policy goal of some advocates that administration officials have thus far resisted as unnecessary.

     Biden stopped his speech and asked that Oliver be heard, though the activist was quickly removed from the event.

     “It was my chance to say something to the president, and that’s a chance we don’t have every single day,” Oliver said. “That’s pretty much what this is about.”

     Biden and other speakers, including Vice President Kamala Harris, repeatedly said during the event that though they considered the new law an important step toward progress, Congress still needed to take additional action to strengthen gun laws.’ – source, miamiherald.com

     DCSCA (373f6b) — 7/11/2022 @ 10:32 am

     
     

330. @323 So, you’re thinking that we can see more cases in the fall, or maybe the winter, than we’ve had over the entire period of covid?

     And you’re also thinking that even though most of the cases are unreported and being treated at home we’ll be overrunning hospital capacity?

     All of this based on what data exactly? I notice we’ve switched from talking about R values to terms like rampant. Not only are the absolute values below any of the previous waves that didn’t overwhelm capacity and generate 100M cases the rates of increase on various indicators aren’t in the range to push us into previous waves.

     Can we expect to see a return of the covid pr0n? Is there an unnamed 10 yo girl someplace who barely survived only because she was rushed to a state where they haven’t outlawed modern medicine?

     frosty (16078c) — 7/11/2022 @ 10:34 am

     
     

331. “Given the state of the country, I also predict there will be a major political assassination attempt by November 2024.”

     Hopefully you are working with the nation’s top law enforcement org on this! People gifted with such powers can do a lot to help “police” their own.

     Who knows, perhaps even Lifetime movie material therein…

     Colonel Haiku (07f8b9) — 7/11/2022 @ 10:38 am

     
     

332. #318 – Paul, I hope Mrs. Montagu has recovered completely, and I am glad to hear that you (like me) haven’t gotten it. (I have started wearing masks again, especially in places like Fred Meyer’s. But then I am old enough so that I have to take this virus seriously.)

     Jim Miller (406a93) — 7/11/2022 @ 10:58 am

     
     

333. Thabks to the Biden’s for this return to normalcy. It’s what many on here voted for.

     How’s Hunter doing?

     NJRob (6641fd) — 7/11/2022 @ 10:59 am

     
     

334. The number of sinus infections going on in NJ is unheard of for the summer. I just got over a particular nasty one that I got thanks to also somehow getting strep throat. Weird how much seems to be floating around during normally healthy summer months.

     NJRob (6641fd) — 7/11/2022 @ 11:01 am

     
     

335. Hopefully you are working with the nation’s top law enforcement org on this! People gifted with such powers can do a lot to help “police” their own.

     Who knows, perhaps even Lifetime movie material therein…

     Colonel Haiku (07f8b9) — 7/11/2022 @ 10:38 am

     No different than any speculations from Sammy, for example. No special insight, just wouldn’t surprise me.

     Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 7/11/2022 @ 11:42 am

     
     

336. “Here’s fvckin’Barbra Streisand… ’I wanna thank all the little people’… fvck little people, fvck Barbra Streisand… I like big people… people from Wyoming.”

     —-Lou Reed, circa 1978

     Colonel Haiku (07f8b9) — 7/11/2022 @ 11:51 am

     
     

337. “No different than any speculations from Sammy, for example. No special insight, just wouldn’t surprise me.”

     Too late, tell it to teh Feebs… when they come-a-callin’…

     Colonel Haiku (07f8b9) — 7/11/2022 @ 11:53 am

     
     

338. Too late, tell it to teh Feebs… when they come-a-callin’…

     LOL!

     Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 7/11/2022 @ 11:54 am

     
     

339. Bannon, Facing Jail and Fines, Agrees to Testify to Jan. 6 Panel

     His decision is a remarkable about-face for Mr. Bannon, who until Saturday had been among the most obstinate and defiant of the committee’s potential witnesses. He had promised to turn the criminal case against him into the “misdemeanor from hell” for the Justice Department.

     But with the possibility of two years in jail and large fines looming on the horizon, Mr. Bannon has been authorized to testify by Mr. Trump, his lawyer told the committee late on Saturday in a letter, which was reported earlier by The Guardian.

     The Justice Department responded early Monday that Mr. Bannon’s sudden change of heart was “irrelevant” to whether he will be prosecuted for contempt.

     “The defendant’s last-minute efforts to testify, almost nine months after his default — he has still made no effort to produce records — are irrelevant to whether he willfully refused to comply in October 2021 with the Select Committee’s subpoena,” federal prosecutors wrote.

     Prosecutors also disclosed they had recently interviewed Justin Clark, a lawyer for Mr. Trump. They said Mr. Clark told them the former president “never invoked executive privilege over any particular information or materials” and that Mr. Bannon’s lawyer “misrepresented to the committee what the former president’s counsel had told the defendant’s attorney.”

     A person familiar with Mr. Clark’s interview with the Justice Department said it pertained solely to the Bannon case.
     ……….
     Sucker!

     Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 7/11/2022 @ 12:00 pm

     
     

340. RIP burlesque queen Betty Rowland (106), aka the “Red Headed Ball of Fire.”

     Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 7/11/2022 @ 12:05 pm

     
     

341. Thanks, Jim.
     Mrs. Montagu and I tested again on the following Thursday, both negative. Fortunately for the Mrs., her Covid was on par with a 3-day head cold.

     Paul Montagu (6f211e) — 7/11/2022 @ 12:16 pm

     
     

342. 334, are there also a lot of Costochondritis diagnoses? That was a fall back amongst providers when someone tested negative back in Fall of 2020.

     urbanleftbehind (948de9) — 7/11/2022 @ 12:23 pm

     
     

343. 326, they roll with it and take the beating. But in that however short term, maybe get some closet conservative Secret Service dude she can be man-ipulated with, to counteract whichever svengali is doing the real thinking.

     urbanleftbehind (948de9) — 7/11/2022 @ 12:28 pm

     
     

344. Hospitalizations are also rising; they aren’t overwhelming due to the herd’s hard-won resistance. But it’s still rampant right now.

     Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 7/11/2022 @ 10:11 am

     It also looks like “rampant” is the new catchphrase all of the twitter-bots are using. I haven’t checked but this is probably the traditional media catchphrase too.

     frosty (16078c) — 7/11/2022 @ 12:35 pm

     
     

345. Lt General Hertling has a good assessment on Putin’s War Against Ukraine. MLRS and HIMARS are making a difference.

     Paul Montagu (6f211e) — 7/11/2022 @ 12:47 pm

     
     

346. 334, are there also a lot of Costochondritis diagnoses

     Around here, RSV was a common imposter. Now, it’s all COVID. BA.5 is brutally contagious.

     Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 7/11/2022 @ 12:50 pm

     
     

347. It also looks like “rampant” is the new catchphrase all of the twitter-bots are using. I haven’t checked but this is probably the traditional media catchphrase too.

     Or maybe it’s just a good descriptive word when half the people you know have (or recently had) COVID.

     Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 7/11/2022 @ 12:53 pm

     
     

348. The good news is that COVID isn’t killing like it did. Part of this, at least, is due to immune response for vaccines and/or prior infection. Neither of these prevent infection with BA.4 or BA.5. People have contracted these versions of COVID twice in a couple of months.

     Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 7/11/2022 @ 12:56 pm

     
     

349. Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 7/11/2022 @ 12:56 pm

     People have contracted these versions of COVID twice in a couple of months.

     Or even days, like Dr. Fauci.

     It helps when the reason the infection subsides and you test negative is that you took the antiviral Paxlovid – this means it wasn’t the body’s immune system that beat the virus back. This is always given in a standard 5-day regimen – the same dose for everyone, not adjusted for the patient’s age , or how fast test results turn negative or anything.

     Now we know with tuberculosis that if you don’t want it to spread – if you want to guarantee that it will not spread and especially that you will not create a drug resistant version – you continue with the regimen some degree past the point where it clears for everyone. Z(although there they give everyone the same treatment, which seems to be common fallacy of the drug regulatory agencies)

     Logically Paxlovid should be continue until some point past the time when a person tested negative.

     https://health.ucsd.edu/news/releases/Pages/2022-06-21-covid-19-rebound-after-taking-paxlovid-likely-due-to-insufficient-drug-exposure.aspx

     Did they really need a research paper to figure that out?

     And shouldn’t they also figure out that because the body’s own immune system is not defeating the virus, the infection is not conveying much resistance? That’s also true when infection is defeating by neutralyzing antibodies – but that effect lasts longer.

     OK. more

     The authors said the rebound of COVID-19 symptoms following the end of Paxlovid treatment is likely due to insufficient drug exposure: not enough of the drug was getting to infected cells to stop all viral replication. They suggested this may be due to the drug being metabolized more quickly in some individuals or that the drug needs to be delivered over a longer treatment duration.

     in certain patients

     And t could be given, only over a longer period of time, later than 5 days after initial symptoms. It is also not authorized for more five days.

     The FDA doesn’t have to do things like this — even though it is acombination drugs, one of which is commonly used in HIV treatment to slow down elimination of the drug from the kidneys. Doctros are familiar with its effects, and the proper way to deal with that is either to discontinue some other drugs, like statins, or give alower dose.
     ?

     Sammy Finkelman (1d215a) — 7/11/2022 @ 1:22 pm

     
     

350. A head’s up – more or less literally-

     Monday, July 11 5 p.m. EDT: –White House briefing to preview imagery from the James Webb Space Telescope

     https://www.nasa.gov/nasalive

     See, for scale, how incredibly significant your individual daily existence is and at the same time how incredibly insignificant your daily little problems are in comparison.

     DCSCA (998c33) — 7/11/2022 @ 1:24 pm

     
     

351. Rip Mrdock @339.In this case it’s Bannon who’s lying — I think Bannon didn’t want Trump to realize what he was roped into doing.

     The committee will explore all of this (how the crowd was assembled) tomorrow, starting at 10 am EDT. (Thursday’s hearing ill explore what he diid and didnt do on January 6 – they are calling it dereliction of duty and say it violated his oath to defend the constitution. I would think hiss whole general approach to the election might fit into that category – not so much not inqwuiring what he should do)

     I think Trump didn’t understand why they wanted him to use “wild
     in his December 19 tweet.

     Sammy Finkelman (1d215a) — 7/11/2022 @ 1:27 pm

     
     

352. 321-https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2022/07/lied-proof-highly-sensitive-doj-jan-6-documents-leaked-gateway-pundit-fbi-confidential-human-source-infiltrated-proud-boys-ran-fbi-operation-j-6-reported/
     Just for irritation sake

     mg (8cbc69) — 7/11/2022 @ 1:29 pm

     
     

353. Kevin M. Have you ever tried NA Wellbeing Hell Raiser Dark Amber?

     mg (8cbc69) — 7/11/2022 @ 1:31 pm

     
     

354. I think Trump didn’t understand why they wanted him to use “wild’ in his December 19 tweet.

     Sammy Finkelman (1d215a) — 7/11/2022 @ 1:27 pm

     You believe Trump didn’t write that tweet of own volition, that somebody told him to do it? Evidence?

     Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 7/11/2022 @ 1:42 pm

     
     

355. Sammy,

     #351 — So you are saying Trump is an unwitting tool of Bannon and the Proud Boys to create the 1-6 invasion of the Capitol?

     Sorry, no. All Trump was doing after election day was manipulating things so he got to stay in power. This idea makes Trump to be an idiot unconscious of appearances, which he clearly is not.

     Appalled (1a17de) — 7/11/2022 @ 1:42 pm

     
     

356. Judge won’t delay Steve Bannon’s trial after his last-minute offer to cooperate with Jan. 6 panel
     ……..
     Judge Carl Nichols issued a series of rulings on motions preparing for the trial Monday that largely did not go Bannon’s way, including knocking out several potential defenses he had raised. After the judge concluded, Bannon lawyer David Schoen said in the courtroom, “What is the point of going to trial here if there are no defenses?”

     Nichols agreed, suggesting Bannon’s team consider that.

     Nichols, who previously ruled that Bannon could not argue that he was not guilty because he was relying upon the advice of his lawyer, ruled Monday that Bannon cannot present evidence that he relied upon old opinions from the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) regarding executive privilege either.

     While expressing frustration with the precedent he is bound by, Nichols emphasized how low the bar was in the Bannon case. The government had only to illustrate that Bannon’s decision was deliberate and intentional, and not by accident.

     Nichols also ruled out two affirmative defenses that he said Bannon could not use at trial.

     The fact that Bannon was not a government employee at the time of the subpoena “dooms” any “entrapment by estoppel” defense, Nichols said, meaning that Bannon cannot argue that he ignored the subpoena and he believed his actions were legal because of instruction from a government official.

     Because Donald Trump was a former government official, Nichols said, Bannon also could not rely upon a “public authority” defense, meaning that he thought he was acting upon the instructions of a government official and believed unlawful activity was authorized.

     Nichols also said Bannon could not present evidence that the Jan. 6 committee was not properly formed due to the political balance of its members and that he and the jury would have to defer to the House’s interpretation of its own rules. Nichols cited the fact that the entire House had validated the House select committee.
     ……..
     Nichols said he would not prevent Bannon from trying to illustrate the political biases of witnesses at trial.
     ……..
     And Nichols quashed Bannon’s subpoenas for members of Congress to provide testimony in the trial, citing the speech and debate clause of the U.S. Constitution. Much of the testimony and documents Bannon sought, Nichols said, would be barred.
     ………

     It’s gonna be short trial. Bannon got suckered by Trump and bad lawyering.

     And Nichols is a Trump appointee./em>

     Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 7/11/2022 @ 1:50 pm

     
     

357. RIP Monte Norman (94). Composed the original James Bond theme.

     ……
     Norman was hired by producer Albert “Cubby” Broccoli to compose a theme for the first James Bond film, “Dr. No,” released in 1962.

     He drew on a piece he had written for a proposed musical adaptation of V.S. Naipaul’s “A House for Mr. Biswas,” shifting the key riff from sitar to electric guitar. The result — twangy, propulsive, menacing — has been used in all 25 Bond thrillers.

     Producers hired composer John Barry to rearrange the theme, and Barry was widely assumed to have written it — to Norman’s chagrin. Barry, who died in 2011, went on to compose scores for almost a dozen Bond films, including “Goldfinger” and “You Only Live Twice.”

     Norman went to court to assert his authorship, suing the Sunday Times newspaper for libel over a 1997 article asserting the theme was composed by Barry. He won in 2001 and was awarded 30,000 pounds in damages.
     ########

     Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 7/11/2022 @ 1:56 pm

     
     

358. https://mobile.twitter.com/guypbenson/status/1546176817689776129

     Surpising absolutely nobody, most support banning abortion at 15 weeks at the latest.

     NJRob (fbe422) — 7/11/2022 @ 2:19 pm

     
     

359. @311. Meh. Apparently going after Kavanaugh was a ‘minor league’ play to Rip. 😉

     DCSCA (998c33) — 7/11/2022 @ 2:21 pm

     
     

360. mg @352. No, it was Russia.

     https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/03/us/capitol-riot-russia-propagandist.html

     ….Three days before Jan. 6, 2021, Mr. Bausman allowed Rod of Iron Ministries, a gun-themed religious sect led by a son of the Rev. Sun Myung Moon, to meet at his property, according to photos on social media. Members of the sect had been active in “Stop the Steal” rallies, some of which Mr. Bausman had also attended, and were at the Capitol on Jan. 6.

     On Facebook, Mr. Bausman posted an appeal for people to go to Washington “to support Trump.” At various points during the riot, Mr. Bausman can be seen inside the Capitol, often using his phone to record the chaos.

     Afterward, he returned to Lancaster and gave a lengthy interview for a video about the insurrection produced by Arkady Mamontov, a Russian television host known for splashy pro-Kremlin propaganda pieces. The video also included footage of Mr. Bausman outside his home that appears to have been filmed months earlier. Mr. Mamontov did not respond to a request for comment.

     In the video, Mr. Bausman suggested, without evidence, that federal agents had instigated the violence at the Capitol to “discredit Trump,” and he painted a dystopian, conspiratorial picture of American society. It is a theme that he has carried forward to more recent appearances on Mr. Malofeev’s television network, in which he has accused Western media of lying about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

     It is not clear when Mr. Bausman left the U.S., but he was in Moscow for a TV appearance on the day of President Biden’s inauguration, two weeks after the insurrection at the Capitol. In the white nationalist podcast interview he gave in April from Russia, he said he had not been back home since.

     More on what he did January 6:

     In security footage from Jan. 6, it is easy to overlook the thin man wearing a red Trump hat who filters into the U.S. Capitol Building to record the mayhem with his phone.

     He blends in with the mob, seemingly unexceptional by the chaotic standards of that day. But what he did afterward was far from routine.

     Within 24 hours, the man, Charles Bausman, gave his recordings and commentary to a Russian television producer for a propaganda video. He then decamped to Moscow, where, appearing on a far-right television network owned by a sanctioned oligarch, he recently accused American media of covering up for neo-Nazis in Ukraine.

     Sammy Finkelman (1d215a) — 7/11/2022 @ 2:35 pm

     
     

361. This is Bausman’s interview on January 7, 2021 (remember, he knew something would happen)

     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8TL1IZnWHg

     He starts about 5 minutes in.

     From the video:

     “Bausman believes that the storming of the Capital was a carefully planned false flag”

     He says this the day after, in Lancaster Pennsylvania, after trying to get more people involved himself, and getting ready to flee to Russia with his family. (he didn’t even take down his Christmas decorations. It was aired in Russia January 17 says Bbausman)

     Maybe he’s right – but who was responsible for the false flag? Carefully planned by whom? Who wss Mike Flynn working for?

     Sammy Finkelman (1d215a) — 7/11/2022 @ 2:36 pm

     
     

362. Tomorrow’s hearing, starting at 10 am EDT will deal with how the crowd at the Capitol was assembled and how a tweet made by Donald Trump on December 19 was used. They will attempt to link it to a White House meeting on December 18.

     Thursday’s hearing will be in prime time and will deal with what Trump did and did not do once the activity started. There will be an attempt to say he violated his oath of office. Excerpts from Cipolone’s testimony are more likely to appear then.

     Sammy Finkelman (1d215a) — 7/11/2022 @ 2:40 pm

     
     

363. Somebody altered a January 3, 2021 intelligence assessment: (so as to say nothing would happen)

     https://www.hsgac.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/HSGAC&RulesFullReport_ExaminingU.S.CapitolAttack.pdf

     I think you can view the PDF. Go to page 45 and surrounding pages.

     Sammy Finkelman (1d215a) — 7/11/2022 @ 2:44 pm

     
     

364. WaPo dumbing it down even more for their braindead 1/6 fans. I thought Ralph Bakshi died a few years ago…

     https://twitter.com/catchupscoop/status/1546255674992078848

     Colonel Haiku (76d394) — 7/11/2022 @ 3:02 pm

     
     

365. Didn’t think it was possible for Squinty and VP Dingbat top fvck up releasing the Webb pix… but they
     did.

     DCSCA (998c33) — 7/11/2022 @ 3:25 pm

     
     

366. https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/goddard/2022/nasa-s-webb-delivers-deepest-infrared-image-of-universe-yet

     ‘NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has produced the deepest and sharpest infrared image of the distant universe to date. Known as Webb’s First Deep Field, this image of galaxy cluster SMACS 0723 is overflowing with detail.

     Thousands of galaxies – including the faintest objects ever observed in the infrared – have appeared in Webb’s view for the first time. This slice of the vast universe covers a patch of sky approximately the size of a grain of sand held at arm’s length by someone on the ground.

     This deep field, taken by Webb’s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam), is a composite made from images at different wavelengths, totaling 12.5 hours – achieving depths at infrared wavelengths beyond the Hubble Space Telescope’s deepest fields, which took weeks.

     The image shows the galaxy cluster SMACS 0723 as it appeared 4.6 billion years ago. The combined mass of this galaxy cluster acts as a gravitational lens, magnifying much more distant galaxies behind it. Webb’s NIRCam has brought those distant galaxies into sharp focus – they have tiny, faint structures that have never been seen before, including star clusters and diffuse features. Researchers will soon begin to learn more about the galaxies’ masses, ages, histories, and compositions, as Webb seeks the earliest galaxies in the universe.

     This image is among the telescope’s first-full color images. The full suite will be released Tuesday, July 12, beginning at 10:30 a.m. EDT, during a live NASA TV broadcast. Learn more about how to watch.’

     And Joe quipped, ‘…wonder what the press is like out there.’

     It’s a cinch there’s more going on in this galaxy-festooned grain of sand-sized space than in the vast empty space in your brain-damaged, head, Joey. Be sure to ask for green stamps when you beg the Saudis for oil.

     DCSCA (fe46db) — 7/11/2022 @ 4:04 pm

     
     

367. Doc Jill has risen as high as an egotistical dolt can:
     Bride of Pinocchio

     mg (8cbc69) — 7/11/2022 @ 6:40 pm

     
     

368. “My God! It’s full of stars!”

     Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 7/11/2022 @ 6:45 pm

     
     

369. “Billions and billions”

     Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 7/11/2022 @ 6:45 pm

     
     

370. It should be pointed out that they use infrared becuase anything else is useless. Everything far is red-shifted.

     Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 7/11/2022 @ 6:50 pm

     
     

371. @370. Yep- but they’ve done a ‘stellar’ job of assembling this first image so the newsies can use it. Tomorrow should bring even more breathtaking magery and there’s years more to come. It’s just a stunning triumph of engineering and optics that had the potential of so many things to go wrong given the complexities in design, in deployment and the inability to access for repair at that distance out. There really should be a great deal of celebration over this across all media platforms. It merits pause to reflect on the perspective on display.

     DCSCA (72f771) — 7/11/2022 @ 7:32 pm

     
     

372. 7/11 shootings: 2 dead, 3 wounded at 4 Southern California 7-Eleven stores

     LOS ANGELES (AP) — Two people were killed and three wounded in robberies before dawn Monday at five 7-Eleven stores in Southern California and authorities said they were seeking the same lone gunman in at least three of the crimes. The string of violence occurred occurred within about four hours on July 11, or 7/11, the day when the national 7-Eleven brand celebrates its anniversary. This is its 95th year and on Monday stores gave out free Slurpee drinks. … 7-Eleven is owned by Japan’s Seven & I Holdings- AP.com

     DCSCA (72f771) — 7/11/2022 @ 7:50 pm

     
     

373. People have contracted these versions of COVID twice in a couple of months.

     Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 7/11/2022 @ 12:56 pm

     So, you’re a yes on the 100M and overwhelmed hospitals? Based on a lot of people testing at home and the rates being under reported?

     frosty (96fe5c) — 7/11/2022 @ 8:19 pm

     
     

374. Given the lack of cleaning in some of the slurpee machines, roulette either damn way. Any free food offering is a big no-no in ulb land due to lax hygiene and hasty cooking times.

     urbanleftbehind (d5b707) — 7/11/2022 @ 8:33 pm

     
     

375. The January 6 commmittte hearing today wil actually start atv 1 pm not 10 am. There will be a surprise witness. In addition to what I mentioned before, it will focus on members of Congress involved in assembling the crowd and on the role off some people sort of close to Trump, (who got some sort of pardons) like Roger Stone and Mike Flynn.

     https://www.newsweek.com/january-6-committee-hearing-tuesday-july-12-time-how-watch-1723470

     Sammy Finkelman (b7dc9b) — 7/12/2022 @ 2:46 am

     
     

376. https://pjmedia.com/vodkapundit/2022/07/11/youll-never-believe-the-contacts-on-hunters-iphone-n1611901

     mg (8cbc69) — 7/12/2022 @ 3:09 am

     
     

377. Once “they” ( Davos Man, Klaus and the WEF, eco/climate activists, NGO’s, etc. ) start messing around with any one of the three basics needed for living/survival: Food/water, clothing, shelter, things will start to heat up.
     When govt. starts to take away or shutting down farms ( food ) or start taking land and passing it off to someone else for better use ( shelter ), things can get ugly real fast, especially when there’s nothing left to lose.
     History has proven this time and time again …
     The Dutch farmers are supported by 75% of the Dutch population at last count.

     mg (8cbc69) — 7/12/2022 @ 3:24 am

     
     

378. Some people from groups like the Proud Boys, the Oath Keepers or the Three Percenters took to Washington, explosives for bombs, or maps of the Capitol, or lists of people to target.

     Sammy Finkelman (b7dc9b) — 7/12/2022 @ 3:37 am

     
     

379. An exception to crimne rising in citiees run by progressive Democrats: Boston. That may be because some of the factors causing a rise were absent and because the DA prosecuted recidivists who ignored diversion programs. (New York Post column)

     Sammy Finkelman (b7dc9b) — 7/12/2022 @ 3:39 am

     
     

380. In Sri Lanka, the government ran out or nearly ran out, of foreign exchange and it was nit a police state like China.

     Sammy Finkelman (b7dc9b) — 7/12/2022 @ 3:41 am

     
     

381. LOL…Never Trumpers have no clue…intentional redefining the word “insurrection”. Next you’ll be defining a woman as a “birthing person”

     Horatio (e4f2d8) — 7/12/2022 @ 3:46 am

     
     

382. https://nypost.com/2022/07/10/boston-shows-new-yorkers-what-their-city-could-be-like

     Then there’s Boston’s supposedly progressive prosecutor — who wasn’t all that progressive. Rachael Rollins, who headed the office until earlier this year, had a long list of “do not prosecute” offenses, including shoplifting — but then promptly prosecuted repeat offenders who wouldn’t cooperate with diversion programs.

     “Contrary to what she seemed to initially suggest, Rollins has not implemented a wholesale policy of waiving prosecution of lower-level misdemeanors,” Commonwealth magazine reported.

     Sammy Finkelman (b434ee) — 7/12/2022 @ 5:45 am

     
     

383. https://commonwealthmagazine.org/the-download/rachael-rollins-on-vindication-of-her-decline-to-prosecute-policy-2/

     Contrary to what she seemed to initially suggest, Rollins has not implemented a wholesale policy of waiving prosecution of lower-level misdemeanors, an idea some public safety leaders and other prosecutors had sounded alarms over.

     She has increased the share of cases not prosecuted, but more than 40 percent of the cases on her list still move forward in the courts. Rollins said her goal has been to “flip” the presumption and ask frontline prosecutors to consider in each case whether moving forward with charges is the best approach.

     Non prosecution is mostly for first time offenders. She says prosecution makes recidism more likely. (the whole way it is handled)

     Sammy Finkelman (b434ee) — 7/12/2022 @ 5:48 am

     
     

384. @375 A surprise witness? Is this a mid-season plot twist?

     In the telenovela format this would also have music and a zoom to a dramatic facial expression.

     frosty (16078c) — 7/12/2022 @ 5:55 am

     
     

385. Increasingly what I hear when MAGA-world speaks

     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MK6TXMsvgQg

     AJ_Liberty (c82e21) — 7/12/2022 @ 6:25 am

     
     

386. 376… in his defense, mg, he is a crackhead.

     Colonel Haiku (13fcdd) — 7/12/2022 @ 6:39 am

     
     

387. @385 You might want to talk to someone about that. Auditory hallucinations is a symptom of a variety of possible issues. None of which should be ignored.

     frosty (16078c) — 7/12/2022 @ 6:39 am

     
     

388. There it is again……

     AJ_Liberty (c82e21) — 7/12/2022 @ 6:58 am

     
     

389. Horatio (e4f2d8) — 7/12/2022 @ 3:46 am

     Insurrection: “an act or instance of revolting against civil authority or an established government”

     Yep, that’s what happened on 1/6/2021.

     Paul Montagu (5de684) — 7/12/2022 @ 8:00 am

     
     

390. Paul, I like to stick with just factual description to avoid debates about what “insurrection” means.

     So instead of “Jan 6 was an insurrection.”

     Try “Jan 6 was hundreds of Trump supporters violently attacking the police to seize the capital in an effort to prevent the peaceful transfer of power after Trump lost the election.”

     We now have evidence under oath that Trump knew his claims about fraud were a lie. That he wanted his supporters to go to the capital and that he knew they were armed.

     Time123 (08d0ae) — 7/12/2022 @ 8:06 am

     
     

391. https://www.monticello.org/site/research-and-collections/tree-liberty-quotation

     Yep. that’s what happened on 1/6/2021. That Jefferson; what an insurrectionist. 😉

     DCSCA (4ffc6f) — 7/12/2022 @ 8:08 am

     
     

392. Meanwhile, in the-out-of-this-real-world:

     https://www.nasa.gov/content/first-images-from-the-james-webb-space-telescope

     Simply stunning star stuff.

     DCSCA (4ffc6f) — 7/12/2022 @ 8:09 am

     
     

393. 1/6 pearl clutches: The New Bitter Clingers

     Colonel Haiku (13fcdd) — 7/12/2022 @ 8:25 am

     
     

394. Make that pearl clutchers

     Colonel Haiku (13fcdd) — 7/12/2022 @ 8:25 am

     
     

395. https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/main_image_star-forming_region_carina_nircam_final-5mb.jpg

     DCSCA (4ffc6f) — 7/12/2022 @ 8:32 am

     
     

396. CH, was any part of my description inaccurate?

     Time123 (08d0ae) — 7/12/2022 @ 8:49 am

     
     

397. We now have evidence under oath that Trump knew his claims about fraud were a lie.

     Time123 (08d0ae) — 7/12/2022 @ 8:06 am

     Do we? We’ve got a lot of “was told” and “must have known” and things along those lines. If what Barr says is true it doesn’t help this narrative.

     You’re thinking that just because someone told Trump something he accepted it? This is the same Trump you’ve been going on about for the last few years?

     If you’re going to stick with the facts that we’ve actually got, try:

     We now have evidence under oath that Trump was told repeatedly his claims about fraud were a lie. That he wanted his supporters to go to the capital and that he knew they were armed.

     frosty (4a4466) — 7/12/2022 @ 8:53 am

     
     

398. Your rewording is more accurate. It also doesn’t change my point an iota.

     Time123 (08d0ae) — 7/12/2022 @ 9:01 am

     
     

399. https://therightscoop.com/world-health-org-decides-sex-is-not-limited-to-male-and-female/

     This is why it’s hard to take leftists and their supporters seriously. When you just redefine words to take away their definition to fit your made up nonsense, it means the word doesn’t have any meaning anymore.

     For further examples, see marriage and insurrection.

     NJRob (eb56c3) — 7/12/2022 @ 9:03 am

     
     

400. Good clarification, frosty. All of this fever dream 1/6 “insurrection” novela built on half-truths, outright lies, and their perceived need to damage Trump to eliminate him as a factor in 2024.

     Colonel Haiku (dd42c6) — 7/12/2022 @ 9:04 am

     
     

401. CH, notice you can’t find anything inaccurate in my description of the events.

     Time123 (08d0ae) — 7/12/2022 @ 9:08 am

     
     

402. The only difference between the revolt in Sri Lanka and the attack on the Capitol is that the Sri Lankans succeeded.

     Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 7/12/2022 @ 9:15 am

     
     

403. Surpising absolutely nobody, most support banning abortion at 15 weeks at the latest.

     NJRob (fbe422) — 7/11/2022 @ 2:19 pm

     I supporting banning abortion, period.

     Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 7/12/2022 @ 9:18 am

     
     

404. Your rewording is more accurate. It also doesn’t change my point an iota.

     Time123 (08d0ae) — 7/12/2022 @ 9:01 am

     That depends on what you think your point is. If your point was that we have testimony under oath that Trump was lying, knew that he was lying, and lied anyway, which is what you said, then your point is not supported by evidence.

     So, yes, it doesn’t change your point. But your point is wrong.

     It also seems like you’re doubling down. Why are you doubling down if you know your comment was, at best, inaccurate?

     Are you trying to make some other point in that comment?

     frosty (c09971) — 7/12/2022 @ 10:26 am

     
     

405. Frosty, my point was that describing the actual events is preferable to using descriptive words like “insurrection” that people want to debate.

     Time123 (c6dcf6) — 7/12/2022 @ 10:54 am

     
     

406. 402. They also had good cause, and the constitution wasn’t totally disregarded.

     Sammy Finkelman (b7dc9b) — 7/12/2022 @ 11:36 am

     
     

407. The first part of the Jan 6 hearing was a long presentation without live witnesses, Liz Cheney spoke well about how no one was in a better position to know that the election had not been stolen than Donald Trump. That doesn’t mean he was not manipulated – not into claiming the election was stolen, but into some of the planning for Jan 6.

     Long discussion oof that 6 hour extended meeting in the White House Dec 18. I’ve resd some more details like how WH officials kept Sidney Powell and Mike Flynn away from a second meeting. They had no choice but to argue openly with her. Still not revealed who it was that let them into the WH

     Points to ponder:

     The committee did not succeed in connecting Donald Trump’s December 19 early AM tweet to anything that went before, They seem to think Trump conceived the idea on his own – but it’s impossible without him being told some people wanted a Jan 6 March on Washington.

     Response was too quick. Some people must have known a tweet like that could be coming.

     No evidence that Donald Trump knew rally could be violent.

     Sammy Finkelman (b7dc9b) — 7/12/2022 @ 11:50 am

     
     

408. I think somebody wanted Donald Trump to use the word “wild” in his tweet – and hhe did so, but inartfully.

     Sammy Finkelman (b7dc9b) — 7/12/2022 @ 11:52 am

     
     

409. Two witnesses sworn in, after more presentation, One speechwriter felt that night he got one woman killed

     Sammy Finkelman (b7dc9b) — 7/12/2022 @ 12:17 pm

     
     

410. Insurrection: “an act or instance of revolting against civil authority or an established government”

     Yep, that’s what happened on 1/6/2021

     Puhlease… to quote Kurt Schlichter, “…don’t insult our intelligence by referencing the minor fracas that was J6. If that was an insurrection, you would have seen some armed insurrecting instead of selfie-snapping. If red America wanted to start something, they would have brought along their ARs like progressive James Hodgkinson did.”

     Sri Lanka or getting rid of the Ceaușescus was an insurrection. J6 was a party in comparison…

     And to suggest that the most highly armed civilian population in the world committed an “insurrection” without armed battles, lots of dead Congress critters or Capital police, is a joke and a total distortion of reality.

     Horatio (e4f2d8) — 7/12/2022 @ 12:33 pm

     
     

411. The next hearing will apparently not be on Thursday but some day next week.

     Meanwhile Liz Cheney thinks she found a possible attempt to tamper with a witness (not a violation of the law, as Donald Trump was not under an order not to contact anyone and nobody waited to find out what Donald Trump wanted to say.)

     The witness did not want to be accused of lying so he didn’t take the call and informed his lawyer

     https://www.npr.org/2022/07/12/1111135283/jan-6-trump-witness

     Sammy Finkelman (1d215a) — 7/12/2022 @ 2:54 pm

     
     

412. If that was an insurrection, you would have seen some armed insurrecting instead of selfie-snapping. If red America wanted to start something, they would have brought along their ARs like progressive James Hodgkinson did.”

     There were a lot of weapons collected but little or no post-Medieval weapons were used except tear gas and bear spray.

     The person from the Oath Keepers who testified said things could have been a lot worse. It’s a good question why none of these things were ever used.

     Perhaps they knew that Donald Trump would not remain in office regardless

     Some or all of the people who expected or feared violence didn’t expect it to happen at the time when it did. An Arizona Congresswoman who was one of those who supported the objections was worried about what would happen once the crowd realized that they would not be able to prevent the certification of Joe Biden as president-elect. They were going to delay it 12 hours or more.

     Sammy Finkelman (1d215a) — 7/12/2022 @ 3:01 pm

     
     

413. Liz Cheney’s introductory remarks:

     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5D5mavXdiI

     At near 22 minutes she goes on about 2 – No rational man in his position could avoid the conclusion that he lost (3:10 approx)

     But that doesn’t mean he understood anything about violence being plannned It conflicted with his plans.

     Sammy Finkelman (1d215a) — 7/12/2022 @ 3:06 pm

     
     

414. Inflation declining in the US? “For the fourth straight week, the nation’s average gas price has fallen, declining 12.8 cents from a week ago to $4.66 per gallon today according to GasBuddy data compiled from more than 11 million individual price reports covering over 150,000 gas stations across the country. The national average is down 34.4 cents from a month ago and $1.54 per gallon higher than a year ago. The national average price of diesel has declined 8.5 cents in the last week and stands at $5.65 per gallon.

     “The national average has declined for 27 days straight, or four weeks, the longest decline in average gas prices since the pandemic started in 2020. Average gas prices are down nearly 40 cents, with Americans shelling out $140 million less on gasoline every day than they did a month ago,” said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy. ”
     source: https://www.gasbuddy.com/go/gas-price-decline-accelerates-steepest-since-pandemic-began

     Will the decline continue? De Haan admits he doesn’t know.

     Tomorrow, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics will release the June CPI estimate, giving us an overall measure of inflation.

     (Cross posted at Political Betting.)

     Jim Miller (406a93) — 7/12/2022 @ 3:08 pm

     
     

415. The person who qit the Oath Keeepers, long before he quit, declined to draw playing cards like US. forces used in Iraq in which Hillary Clinton would have been the Queen f Hearts (he didn’t have a good memory of just what that was so he used vague language to describe that)

     This is what he was talking about:

     https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Most-wanted_Iraqi_playing_cards

     The final straw to caused him to finally quit (this was after January 6) was when he overheard some members questioning the Holocaust. (That meant Nazis him probably and maybe murders) He did that even though he had no other job lined up.

     Sammy Finkelman (1d215a) — 7/12/2022 @ 3:13 pm

     
     

416. Inflation figures: This might not stop the Federal Reserve Board from raising interest rates another 3/4 of 1%. The Fed is causing inflation. not fightting it as interest is a cost.

     Sammy Finkelman (1d215a) — 7/12/2022 @ 3:15 pm

     
     

417. Sri Lanka is running out of (imported) pharmaceuticals.

     https://www.newser.com/story/322863/sri-lanka-doctors-sound-alarm-this-is-worse-than-covid.html

     …The South Asian island nation lacks the money to pay for basic imports like fuel and food, and medicine is also running out…Hospitals are struggling to maintain stocks of essential drugs to ensure uninterrupted treatment for cancer patients. They also lack drugs for rabies, epilepsy, and sexually transmitted diseases. Labs don’t have enough of the reagents needed to run full blood count tests. Items like suture material, cotton socks for surgery, supplies for blood transfusions, even cotton wool and gauze are running short. “If you are handling animals, be careful. If you get bitten and you need surgery and you get rabies, we don’t have adequate antiserum and rabies vaccines,” said Dr. Surantha Perera, vice president of the Sri Lanka Medical Association.

     Sammy Finkelman (1d215a) — 7/12/2022 @ 3:19 pm

     
     

418. Trump heard the rally that was held not far from the White House the night of January 5 2021 , and his spirits were much better than they had been the previous few weeks. (he actually thought he had a chance to pull off a second term? Or was it just a little hope?)

     Sammy Finkelman (1d215a) — 7/12/2022 @ 3:25 pm

     
     

419. Pat Cipolome let Trump think he had accomplished something by “appointing” Sidney Powell to s nonexistent position December 18, 2020. He didn;t even do any paperwork.

     Sammy Finkelman (1d215a) — 7/12/2022 @ 3:32 pm

     
     

420. The committee showed both what Ivanka Trump’s chief of staff and what Ivanka said. (there’s a dispute over whether the reason she attended the rally at the Ellipse was to keep rump calm – Ivanka says he didn’t have that idea)

     So that’s an element of fairness.

     Some things have been played anumber of times.

     This resembles the impeachment trials of Clinton and Trump. with speeches backed up by videotaped testimony except that they have a little bit of live witnesses here.

     Most witnesses didn’t let themselves be led

     Sammy Finkelman (1d215a) — 7/12/2022 @ 3:40 pm

     
     

421. Finally, a transcript

     Here’s where one of those who entered the Capitol doesn’t let himself be led:

     https://www.npr.org/2022/07/12/1111123258/jan-6-committee-hearing-transcript

     LIZ CHENEY: And do you still believe the election was stolen?

     STEPHEN AYRES: Not so much now….

     He further explained:

     You know, I started doing my own research and everything. And for me — for me for something like that to be that — to actually for that to actually take place, it’s too big, you know. There’d be — there’s no way you can keep something like that quiet, as big as something like that.

     You know, with all the, you know, all the lawsuits being shot down one after another, that — that was mainly what convinced me.

     The meaning of that about it being too big was that, if true, some details would have to leak, become known. And it was missing.

     Sammy Finkelman (1d215a) — 7/12/2022 @ 3:51 pm

     
     

422. Twitter suing Musk, going for the full enchilada (Musk required to buy Twitter for his contracted offer price):

     https://twitter.com/kateconger/status/1546964913511284736

     Davethulhu (0b1e86) — 7/12/2022 @ 3:54 pm

     
     

423. Cheney Voted with Trump More Than His Closest Allies
     November 16, 2021

     The Casper Star Tribune‘s report on Wyoming Republicans refusing to recognize Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) as a member of their party also notes that Cheney voted with Donald Trump on policy 93% of the time.

     “That’s a higher percentage than Rep. Jim Jordan, Rep. Elise Stefanik, Rep. Paul Gosar, Rep. Matt Gaetz and a number of other lawmakers who are seen as staunch Trump allies.” – https://politicalwire.com/2021/11/16/cheney-voted-with-trump-more-than-his-closest-allies/

     So she was for “Hitler” …before she was against him.

     =mike-drop=

     DCSCA (8471ce) — 7/12/2022 @ 4:06 pm

     
     

424. Looks like the story about the 10 year old rape victim from OH is sadly true.

     https://www.dispatch.com/story/news/2022/07/13/columbus-man-charged-rape-10-year-old-led-abortion-in-indiana/10046625002/

     The world would be a slightly happier place if it were and exaggeration or fabrication.

     Time123 (48c7ef) — 7/13/2022 @ 9:43 am

     
     

425. What had bothered me was the age of the child. A pregnancy would almost (not quite) put her in the Guinness book of Records. That arrest was taking time. Maybe none of the people involved filed a police report until after they publicized the case.

     I was thinking at least the age of the girl might be erroneous. But Det. Jeffrey Huhn says she had just turned ten.

     We still have to be careful this is not a cover-up of a false report. And the people involved with the abortion maybe didn’t bother to get the DNA or ask the child any questions so they could identify the father. So it could have happened and they arrested the wrong person. .

     Sammy Finkelman (1d215a) — 7/13/2022 @ 2:04 pm

     
     

426. “So it could have happened and they arrested the wrong person. .”

     If you read the article, you’ll see that the perpetrator confessed to the crime.

     Davethulhu (0b1e86) — 7/13/2022 @ 2:24 pm

     
     

427. Sammy, apparently she was 9 when she was raped.

     https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/07/13/abortion-girl-rape-victim-arrest-ohio

     Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 7/13/2022 @ 2:37 pm

     
     

428. Sri Lanka should extradite the former president and hang him. After he forced the farmers to go without pesticides and proper fertilizer and the harvest collapsed, he used the entire foreign cash reserve to import food, until the money ran out.

     Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 7/13/2022 @ 2:42 pm

     
     

429. I don’t know what’s a criminal violation. They also lost tourism because of Covid.

     Sammy Finkelman (1d215a) — 7/13/2022 @ 2:44 pm

     
     

430. Maybe none of the people involved filed a police report until after they publicized the case.

     Sammy Finkelman (1d215a) — 7/13/2022 @ 2:04 pm

     I don’t know OH law but I’d expect the doctors involved here to be mandatory reporters given the age of the girl.

     frosty (c17c75) — 7/13/2022 @ 2:52 pm

     
     

431. Well done, Ruler Putin, getting rid of more Ukrainian Nazis, this time in Vinnytsia, which is 120 miles southwest of Kyiv and far from any areas of combat.

     Paul Montagu (5de684) — 7/14/2022 @ 1:10 pm

     
     

432. WATCH: The mother of the Ohio 10/y rape victim tells Telemundo’s @MariaVargasPion that the child “is fine”, and “everything they say about (Gerson Flores) is a lie.”

     https://twitter.com/BonillaJL/status/1547643268040560640

     BuDuh (340919) — 7/14/2022 @ 1:12 pm

     
     

433. “everything they say about (Gerson Flores) is a lie.”

     What “lie”? Flores confessed to raping the girl.

     Paul Montagu (5de684) — 7/14/2022 @ 3:32 pm

     
     

434. The mother may not want to lose custody. Or there could be other explanations.

     This will get into court. Whether the news media will still be interested is another question but local Ohio media should be.

     It seems like the abortion clinic did save some DNA.

     Sammy Finkelman (1d215a) — 7/14/2022 @ 4:13 pm