Patterico's Pontifications

7/22/2022

Weekend Open Thread

Filed under: General — Dana @ 10:17 am



[guest post by Dana]

First news item

Criminal probe opens after Secret Service deletes text messages:

The Department of Homeland Security’s internal watchdog has opened a criminal investigation into the destruction of Secret Service phone text messages related to the days around the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, two sources familiar with the matter told NBC News.

The Secret Service was informed of the investigation Wednesday night by the office of the Inspector General of DHS, which said the probe is now criminal and that the agency had been ordered to stop internal investigations into the deleted text messages, NBC reported.

Second news item

House passes contraception bill with eight Republicans voting yes:

The House on Thursday passed legislation that would protect access to birth control, the latest move in a broader effort by Democrats to enshrine into federal law rights they fear could come under threat by the Supreme Court following its decision to wipe away the constitutional right to an abortion.

The vote was 228-195, with eight Republicans joining every Democrat in voting in favor. All 195 “no” votes came from Republicans.

Ultimately, if Democrats had been smart about it, the bill would have been deftly worded with a goal of securing Republican votes rather than alienating them with what is typically seen as inflammatory rhetoric:

Third news item

They knew what Chappelle was about when they booked him. To cancel him and his sold-out show at the last minute because the internet pitched a fit is just stupid. But hey, if they want to bump his popularity, have at it:

Hours before Dave Chappelle was set to hit the stage in Minneapolis, the venue canceled the sold-out show.

First Avenue, well known as the venue featured in Prince’s 1984 film “Purple Rain,” declined to host Chappelle’s comedy show after backlash over comments in some of his previous Netflix specials that have been criticized as transphobic.

“The Dave Chappelle show tonight at First Avenue has been canceled and is moving to the Varsity Theater,” First Avenue writes in a post on its verified Instagram account.

“To staff, artists, and our community, we hear you and we are sorry,” the statement reads. “We know we must hold ourselves to the highest standards, and we know we let you down. We are not just a black box with people in it, and we understand that First Ave is not just a room, but meaningful beyond our walls.”

“The First Avenue team and you have worked hard to make our venues the safest spaces in the country, and we will continue with that mission. *We believe in diverse voices and the freedom of artistic expression, but in honoring that, we lost sight of the impact this would have. We know there are some who will not agree with this decision; you are welcome to send feedback.”

*Except when we don’t.

Fourth news item

For 187 minutes, then-President Trump chose to do nothing to stop the siege at the Capitol because he wanted it to happen:

Despite desperate pleas from aides, allies, a Republican congressional leader and even his family, Donald Trump refused to call off the Jan. 6 mob attack on the Capitol, instead “pouring gasoline on the fire” by aggressively tweeting his false claims of a stolen election and celebrating his crowd of supporters as “very special,” the House investigating committee showed Thursday night.

The next day, he declared anew, “I don’t want to say the election is over.” That was in a previously unaired outtake of an address to the nation he was to give, shown at the prime-time hearing of the committee.

The panel documented how for some 187 minutes, from the time Trump left a rally stage sending his supporters to the Capitol to the time he ultimately appeared in the Rose Garden video that day, nothing could compel the defeated president to act. Instead, he watched the violence unfold on TV.

“President Trump didn’t fail to act,” said Rep. Adam Kinzinger, a fellow Republican but frequent Trump critic who flew combat missions in Iraq and Afghanistan. “He chose not to act.”

We should have known by his reaction the next day that he was never going to say the election is over:

Fifth news item

Well, this could be very problematic:

Former President Trump’s top allies are preparing to radically reshape the federal government if he is re-elected, purging potentially thousands of civil servants and filling career posts with loyalists to him and his “America First” ideology, people involved in the discussions tell Axios.

The impact could go well beyond typical conservative targets such as the Environmental Protection Agency and the Internal Revenue Service. Trump allies are working on plans that would potentially strip layers at the Justice Department — including the FBI, and reaching into national security, intelligence, the State Department and the Pentagon, sources close to the former president say.
[…]

The heart of the plan is derived from an executive order known as “Schedule F,” developed and refined in secret over most of the second half of Trump’s term and launched 13 days before the 2020 election.

The reporting for this series draws on extensive interviews over a period of more than three months with more than two dozen people close to the former president, and others who have firsthand knowledge of the work underway to prepare for a potential second term…

Sixth news item

Gov. Newsom shifts his attention from Florida to Texas, or as it’s commonly known – campaigning for 2024:

California Gov. Gavin Newsom is running full-page ads in Texas newspapers Friday trolling Republican Gov. Greg Abbott to highlight a new California gun law modeled on the Lone Star State’s restrictive abortion law.

The ads, first shared with NBC News, will run in the Austin American-Statesman, Houston Chronicle and El Paso Times. They modify an Abbott quote about the state’s abortion ban and promote “California’s answer to Texas’ perverse bill.”

“If Texas can ban abortion and endanger lives, California can ban deadly weapons of war and save lives. If Governor Abbott truly wants to protect the right to life, we urge him to follow California’s lead,” the ad reads.

Sventh news item

Wonderful news:

The increase in the quality of Ukrainian weapons is also coinciding with the decrease in the quality of the Russian weapons. The Ukrainian military has operationalized its new HIMARS—and the trajectory (pun intended) of the conversation in the United States suggests that more will arrive soon. The Pentagon’s announced the shipment of four more earlier this week. Congress is about to approve a program to train Ukrainian pilots on F-15 and F-16 jets. Though the appropriation of this money will likely not come until next year, it will give the administration Congressional purchase—and push—for the transfer of military aircraft to Ukraine, which the administration could do at any time.

On the other side of the front lines, the American and allied export controls on the transfer of military and dual-use goods prevent Russia from producing more advanced weapons, and the Ukrainian are proving adept at blowing up the ones the Russians are currently operating. As a consequence of the Ukrainian’s facility at blowing up high-tech Russian weapons, the Russian military is recycling old weapons like T-62 tanks, which were introduced before the Cuban Missile Crisis and deployed with embarrassing results by Iraq during the Persian Gulf War and Russia during the Russo-Georgian War.

Eighth news item

President Biden willing to tick off progressive wing to help fight violent crime. Very low polling numbers will do that:

President Joe Biden plans to propose a steep funding increase for police, hoping to show that Democrats are serious about combating violent crime, despite the move potentially causing backlash from top members of his party’s left flank.

But a scheduled trip to Pennsylvania to ask Congress to spend roughly $37 billion for fighting and preventing crime was canceled Thursday when Biden tested positive for COVID-19.

His proposal is set to include $13 billion to help communities hire and train 100,000 police officers over five years…

As part of Biden’s plans, $3 billion would be geared toward clearing court backlogs and resolving cases involving murders and guns. The president also wants to use $15 billion to create a grant program that would fund ideas for preventing violent crime or creating a public health response to nonviolence incidents, aimed at reducing the burden on law enforcement.

Another $5 billion would support programs intended to stop violence before it occurs.

Ninth news item

Are Democrats making a strategic mistake?:

Democrats . . . have developed a party-wide strategy aimed at tagging Republican candidates in close elections as “MAGA Republicans,” a phrase they have poll-tested as off-putting for swing voters. In recent weeks, they have argued that the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the nationwide right to abortion, the continued GOP resistance to some gun regulations despite mass shootings and the ongoing investigation into the Capitol riot all show a broader extremism across the Republican Party.

Here’s the problem: to the extent that you want to isolate “MAGA” and make the identification with Donald Trump as politically toxic now as it was in 2018, you really should focus on the things that are uniquely Trumpy: January 6, “Stop the Steal,” support for Trump 2024, Trump’s general personal outrageousness and transgressiveness, the worst flavors of Trumpism.

Democrats being Democrats, however, they cannot resist instead defining “MAGA” (or, in Joe Biden’s beloved phrase, “ultra MAGA”) as people who stand for the stuff Republicans always promised on policy, such as firm opposition to abortion and strong protection for gun rights. Identifying those things with MAGA only strengthens Trump and his MAGA brand within the Republican Party while diluting the Trump-specific turnoffs that helped Democrats take the House and several governorships in the last midterm cycle. Is that what Democratic strategists want?

Tenth news item

Summing it up:

Have a great weekend!

–Dana

451 Responses to “Weekend Open Thread”

  1. Happy Friday!

    Dana (1225fc)

  2. Second item:

    Interesting more House Republicans favored gay marriage than contraception (47 v. 8).

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  3. Regarding the “Fifth news item”.

    Why would that be problematic?

    Bureaucrats don’t get to actively work against the President’s polices.

    whembly (b770f8)

  4. @2

    https://secure.winred.com/josh-hawley-committee/storefront/show-me-strong-white-coffee-mug/details/

    BuDuh (340919) — 7/22/2022 @ 10:25 am

    Heh. That’s my Senator.

    whembly (b770f8)

  5. https://www.newser.com/story/323255/fcc-targets-source-of-77m-robocalls-per-day.html

    More than 8 billion robocalls to US consumers since 2018 have claimed a consumer’s warranty or insurance is about to expire.

    If you’ve gotten these calls, you are not alone. I don’t know any that cited accurate information, or anything specific.

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  6. Ultimately, if Democrats had been smart about it, the bill would have been deftly worded with a goal of securing Republican votes rather than alienating them with what is typically seen as inflammatory rhetoric:

    They want it to fail. They want to claim that the GOP wants to ban contraception. They know that the Court won’t go there — such a case won’t even get there — but they want to scare young women, even those who would never consider an abortion — into getting to the polls to vote D.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  7. One thing that bothers me about the contraception thing is the idea that the fall of Roe has college girls suddenly buying IUDs. They were relying on abortion as birth control? Yikes.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  8. 3, perhaps those splitters between Yes on gay marriage and No on contraceptive access are trying to maintain the gatekeeper role of medical professionals and feel the bill might be a camel nose in tent toward OTC access (if these are Rs in more suburban districts, likely). Some number of abortion opponents are strident on OTC access because that negates the non-abortion procedure argument for Planned Parenthood like clinic facilities.

    urbanleftbehind (8999cd)

  9. Lit the fuse, and ran away from the explosion.

    This is a great political hit — and a great campaign commercial — but I have to question what character assassination has to do with the committee’s work.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  10. Interesting more House Republicans favored gay marriage than contraception (47 v. 8).

    Maybe the gay marriage bill didn’t have the same poisoned language?

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  11. Ultimately, if Democrats had been smart about it, the bill would have been deftly worded with a goal of securing Republican votes rather than alienating them

    They were smart about it because they didn’t want Republican votes (especially since this bill is not only not necessary, but will die in the Senate

    The goal is to get as many people as possible to regard any Republican candidate for office as unacceptable in as many different ways as possible.

    That way people will tolerate, and vote for, more Democratic candidates with more defects or fringe positions on issues.

    It’s not good for the country, ad ultimately it’s also not smart to create a situation like that.

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  12. Red? White? Blue? “These colors don’t run????” As videos of Josh Hawley [R] and Pierre Delecto [R] prove– yellow does.

    DCSCA (dc1979)

  13. Lit the fuse,

    Or, as the committee said both of their witnesses had said about Trump with his Mike Pence tweet – threw fuel of the fire.

    But if Trump threw fuel on the fire, somebody else lit the fire in the first place.

    Trump was busy calling, or wanting to call, Senators.

    That means he did not expect the mob to interrupt the proceedings — I think by that point he was hoping that the mob would not cause Republicans in Congress to abandon their schedule – 6 objections, with 2 hours of debate for each one, which would give him a minimum of 12 hours.

    One member of Congress at least has the fantasy that Trump wanted to go to the Capitol in order to lead the charge.

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  14. The 5th item may be a cause for concern for quite a few public employees. Must be some way to fire poor performers…

    Colonel Haiku (a4ee24)

  15. 8–Kevin, yeah, they were–around 95 percent of them, in fact.

    I’m not in agreement with what I see as hyper-restrictive abortion laws being proposed in red states. At the same time, if the end of Roe means that Millennials and Zoomers start taking more responsibility to practice birth control, that’s a win in the long run.

    Factory Working Orphan (f1804a)

  16. Trump
    Republicans bad
    Trans
    Trump
    Trump
    Newsom
    Putin
    Biden good
    Trump
    Trump

    JF (a6d404)

  17. Adam Kinzinger, outspoken GOP Trump critic, won’t seek reelection for US House seat

    https://www.cnn.com/2021/10/29/politics/adam-kinzinger-not-running-reelection-illinois-republican/index.html

    Takes one to know one: “Lit the fuse, and ran away from the explosion.”

    …said the ‘R’ quitter. Yet another yellow sprinter to an exit.

    DCSCA (dc1979)

  18. ‘Regarding the “Fifth news item”.

    Why would that be problematic?

    Bureaucrats don’t get to actively work against the President’s polices.’

    whembly

    =====================

    It’s problematic because it hamstrings Derp State by making it more difficult for them to screw their political opponents and the country over. Problematic for them.

    Colonel Haiku (a4ee24)

  19. We believe in diverse voices and the freedom of artistic expression, but in honoring that, we lost sight of the impact this would have

    “We really don’t believe in anything that might be controversial to the Left, but other than that we honor free expression.”

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  20. Where I had the thought that the ides of storming the Capitol may have come from:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1993_Russian_constitutional_crisis

    …The power struggle reached its crisis on 21 September 1993, when President Yeltsin intended to dissolve the country’s highest body (Congress of People’s Deputies) and parliament (Supreme Soviet), although the constitution did not give the president the power to do so. Yeltsin justified his orders by the results of the referendum of April 1993, although many in Russia both then and now claim that referendum was not won fairly.[3][better source needed][4]

    In response, the parliament declared the president’s decision null and void, impeached Yeltsin and proclaimed vice president Aleksandr Rutskoy to be acting president.

    On 3 October, demonstrators removed militia cordons around the parliament and, urged by their leaders, took over the Mayor’s offices and tried to storm the Ostankino television centre. The army, which had initially declared its neutrality, stormed the Supreme Soviet building in the early morning hours of 4 October by Yeltsin’s order, and arrested the leaders of the resistance. At the climax of the crisis, Russia was thought by some to be “on the brink” of civil war.[5][6] The ten-day conflict became the deadliest single event of street fighting in Moscow’s history since the October Revolution.[7]

    According to the General Prosecutor’s Office, 147 people were killed and 437 wounded…

    This precedent was not applicable, because the United States was different from, and had a different constitution than Russia in 1993.

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  21. In the last week, COVID hasn’t gotten worse in the US, and it hasn’t gotten better. From the front page of the Washington Post, we see that there were a daily average of 127,062 cases (1.2% increase), 43,679 hospitalizations (4.4% increase), and 427 deaths (0.7% decrease).

    (Were I running the Post, I would add error ranges on those numbers, but, from what I can tell, the last two are probably accurate to within 10 percent or so. The number of cases, since there are so many people with zero or few symptoms, is certainly an underestimate, and we ought to be doing regular random sampling to learn how big an underestimate.)

    Jim Miller (406a93)

  22. One thing new that cane out at the hearings was that some members of the Secret Service, who were with Pence, were so worried about what could happen, that they made goodbye calls to their families. (this does not mean that they actually were in near a danger to kill or be killed or both. But they were looking ahead to later)

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  23. BTW, the “Schedule F” thing isn’t really new and isn’t confined to Trump. I see no reason why a DeSantis wouldn’t adopt it. It’s a reform addressing the institutional Left of the Civil Service without reverting to the Spoils System of the 19th Century. Yes, it’s a three-edged sword, but the current sword is one-edged.

    The danger is obvious. If the DA Garcon had this power, most incumbent DDAs would be collecting unemployment and their jobs would be taken by public defenders.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  24. 20. You could also get an estimate of Covid’s prevalence — or at least its geographical spread – and what variant – from wastewater sampling.

    https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/b30ca571e00b42779875e3eaf7577b1b

    https://www.cdc.gov/healthywater/surveillance/wastewater-surveillance/wastewater-surveillance.html

    Coverage is, of course, still spotty, and will always be spotty, and it mostly confirms, with a time lag, what is already known

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  25. we ought to be doing regular random sampling to learn how big an underestimate

    “One, two, three, four, five …. you sir, please come with us for a random Covid test.”

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  26. Last Saturday (at about 7:30 PM!), my copy of Deborah Birx’s “Silent Invasion” arrived in the mail, and I have read through the first three chapters. I am mildly disappointed that it has fewer numbers than I would like, and, so far, no graphs, but instead is a personal account. (Most readers, of course, will prefer that approach.)

    Despite that, I will probably give it a five-star rating over at Barnes and Noble, and already believe that all of you could learn from it. For example, Colonel Birx says that she has always seen her medical work as a “calling”, which should tell you much about her motivations.

    Jim Miller (406a93)

  27. #25 Good point, Sammy, and we should be doing more of that, too.

    Jim Miller (406a93)

  28. Trump
    Republicans bad
    Trans
    Trump
    Trump
    Newsom
    Putin
    Biden good
    Trump
    Trump

    JF (a6d404) — 7/22/2022 @ 10:56 am

    Heh. Some real substantive dialogue there.

    Of course, when you do your Weekend Open Thread on your blog, you are free to post about whatever interests you.

    Dana (1225fc)

  29. @ Sammy Finkleman,

    But if Trump threw fuel on the fire, somebody else lit the fire in the first place.

    Sammy, Trump lit the fire by ginning up the outrage in his base. His whole “drain the swamp” shtick was just a manipulative way to tap into frustration or feelings of being left out in a segment of the population. He knew how and where to hit them so that he would benefit the most.

    Trump was busy calling, or wanting to call, Senators.

    He was calling senators in a desperate appeal to not certify the election. He wasn’t calling them to help quell what was happening at the Capitol. He didn’t want to stop what was happening at the Capitol.

    That means he did not expect the mob to interrupt the proceedings

    It absolutely does not mean that.

    — I think by that point he was hoping that the mob would not cause Republicans in Congress to abandon their schedule – 6 objections, with 2 hours of debate for each one, which would give him a minimum of 12 hours.

    All Trump cared about was that he be declared the winner and Joe Biden the loser. That was it.

    One member of Congress at least has the fantasy that Trump wanted to go to the Capitol in order to lead the charge.

    Omg, Sammy, it wasn’t a fantasy. Listen to the testimony, read the transcript, listen to Trump himself. Very clearly, Trump wanted to go to the Capitol.

    Stop making excuses for him. Stop infantilizing a grown man whose own oversized ego, self-delusions, and self-servicing obsession lead to his inevitable downfall.

    Dana (1225fc)

  30. So… after 40-some odd years or so, the 4foot tall rock dynamo is deleting one off her list…

    https://ew.com/music/pat-benatar-refuses-sing-hit-me-with-your-best-shot-tour-gun-violence/

    Colonel Haiku (a4ee24)

  31. The number of cases, since there are so many people with zero or few symptoms, is certainly an underestimate, and we ought to be doing regular random sampling to learn how big an underestimate.)

    I don’t remember the exact conversation, or when it occurred, but didn’t frosty mention that Jim Miller goes for the worst of Covid more often that not? And didn’t he get taken to task for that correct assessment?

    Hopefully we start working on the underestimating of MRSA in society and start testing everyone despite there symptoms.

    BuDuh (340919)

  32. She gonna teach those violent guns a lesson!

    Colonel Haiku (a4ee24)

  33. …their…

    BuDuh (340919)

  34. Without going into details, it turns out there are some guidelines for what male astronauts should not do in their “alone time.”

    One thing that struck me in the article was this:

    He compared sex in space to having intercourse while “skydiving”

    1) How do they know this?
    2) I see a new fad.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  35. Kevin, is there a mile high club amongst the Hot Air Balloon community (New Mexico is sort of a hub)?

    urbanleftbehind (8999cd)

  36. Former President Trump’s top allies are preparing to radically reshape the federal government if he is re-elected, purging potentially thousands of civil servants and filling career posts with loyalists to him and his “America First” ideology, people involved in the discussions tell Axios.

    We do not sell used cars “Drain the swamp”, we sell quality pre-owned vehicles “Schedule F”. — The Unoriginal Thinkers And Their Orange Sherbet God

    2016 called and it wants its chicken in every pot and its car in every garage back.

    nk (622d49)

  37. Lol, nk.

    Dana (1225fc)

  38. Steve Bannon found guilty of two counts of contempt of Congress for failing to comply with a subpoena.

    Dana (1225fc)

  39. And another selective prosecution in DC. Sh*theel lefties.

    Colonel Haiku (a4ee24)

  40. Kicks just keep getting harder to find…

    Colonel Haiku (a4ee24)

  41. I think it’s horrible that someone…likely at gun point….forces JF to read about Trump here….#FreeJFnow!

    AJ_Liberty (7505b1)

  42. #42 AJ_Liberty – I think you, like me, would be delighted if Trump would follow the advice in this song.

    Jim Miller (406a93)

  43. https://therightscoop.com/lee-zeldins-attacker-already-released-because-new-york-crime-laws/

    Republican candidate for governor attacked with a blade. No big deal.

    NJRob (a5804c)

  44. Put the blame on Hochul, the Cuomo with a vajayjay…

    Colonel Haiku (a4ee24)

  45. BLM Rioter Found Guilty of Murdering Black Missouri Police Captain
    ……..
    Stephan Cannon was convicted of all felony charges brought against him: first-degree murder, first-degree robbery, first-degree burglary, stealing $750 or more, unlawful possession of a firearm, and three counts of armed criminal action.

    Cannon had been accused of gunning down police officer David Dorn, 77, as he attended to a burglar alarm at a friend’s pawn shop, where looters had descended to capitalize on the chaos of the Floyd protests. Cannon was among the robbers Dorn confronted by the business before he was slain.

    Prosecutors obtained video footage of the incident, originally shared to Facebook Live but later removed, and played it in court to support their case. Attorney Marvin Teer claimed that Cannon fired ten shots at Dorn, killing him, as he arrived at the scene and fired off warning shots to stop the looters, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.
    ……..

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  46. Former President Trump’s top allies are preparing to radically reshape the federal government if he is re-elected, purging potentially thousands of civil servants and filling career posts with loyalists to him and his “America First” ideology, people involved in the discussions tell Axios.

    I could totally see Trump doing this. It’s entirely on brand for him, and it would seem to be the sort of thing he would think was actually really sound policy rather than setting a precedent that some future Dem President would exploit.

    On the other hand, seeing that this report comes from Axios, I am going to assume it’s a load of B.S. fed to them from some left-wing echo chamber.

    JVW (020d31)

  47. @39

    Steve Bannon found guilty of two counts of contempt of Congress for failing to comply with a subpoena.

    Dana (1225fc) — 7/22/2022 @ 12:06 pm

    From what I read, I simply don’t understand Bannon’s defense. Seems bizzare.

    Also, with this defense, I’d think he be convicted anywhere else, not just in DC.

    whembly (b770f8)

  48. @49

    I could totally see Trump doing this. It’s entirely on brand for him, and it would seem to be the sort of thing he would think was actually really sound policy rather than setting a precedent that some future Dem President would exploit.

    On the other hand, seeing that this report comes from Axios, I am going to assume it’s a load of B.S. fed to them from some left-wing echo chamber.

    JVW (020d31) — 7/22/2022 @ 1:00 pm

    ‘Member how Trump in 2016 campaigned on nominating conservative judges.

    That, I would argue, gave him some momentum.

    I see this policy in that same vein.

    Honestly, though, every GOP candidate should be on this plan.

    whembly (b770f8)

  49. Kicks just keep getting harder to find…

    Fun band

    Horatio (f02704)

  50. Even more bizarre is the DOJ pursuing this, given that – as I understand – it is rarely prosecuted.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  51. The difference in the DOJ going after Bannon but not Meadows or Scavino is that Bannon openly defied the subpoena, failing to provide any required documents or even talk with the Committee, unlike Meadows or Scavino.

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  52. “I love the tip, I love the top
    I love you better than a hog loves slop
    ‘Cause you’re a big legged woman
    With a short, short miniskirt
    Promise me darlin’
    You’ll never make me feel like dirt”

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXXkD7Dvq_E

    Colonel Haiku (a4ee24)

  53. More good news:

    Russia and Ukraine Reach Deal to Get Grain Out of Blocked Ports

    Russia and Ukraine signed an agreement in Istanbul on Friday to free more than 20 million metric tons of grain stuck in blockaded Black Sea ports in Ukraine, a deal aimed at bringing down soaring grain prices and alleviating a mounting global hunger crisis.

    The breakthrough comes after months of talks and was brokered with the help of the United Nations and Turkey. The agreement provides a method for exporting Ukrainian grain out of the country, and it comes after the United Nations gave Russia assurances that it can export its grain and fertilizers.
    ……..
    The agreement would expire after 120 days, officials said, but could be renewed on a rolling basis to normalize the export of grain for the months to come.

    It contains an express agreement that the commercial and civilian ships involved, as well as the port facilities, will not be attacked. But a senior U.N. official said that the Russian security guarantees did not extend to parts of the Ukrainian ports not directly used for the grain exports.

    Under the terms of the deal, Ukrainian captains will steer the vessels with grain out of Odesa and neighboring ports of Chernomorsk and Yuzhne through safe passages mapped by the Ukrainian Navy to avoid mines.

    A joint command center with Russian, Ukrainian, Turkish and U.N. officials will be set up in Istanbul as of Saturday, the U.N. officials said, and teams from all three countries and the United Nations will jointly inspect the vessels to ensure that they are not carrying weapons back to Ukraine once they have unloaded their cargo of grain.
    ……..

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  54. 54… the Democrat-controlled DOJ chose not to prosecute Eric Holder for ignoring subpoenas.

    But Congress only wanted to ask him about gun-running and the deaths of LEOs.

    Colonel Haiku (a4ee24)

  55. God help us… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AmKFYMxYYHE

    Colonel Haiku (a4ee24)

  56. They’re totally insane… http://ace.mu.nu/archives/399910.php

    Colonel Haiku (a4ee24)

  57. @54 *chortles in Eric Holder and Lois Lerner*

    whembly (b770f8)

  58. Steve Bannon found guilty of two counts of contempt of Congress for failing to comply with a subpoena.

    Why did Bannon choose a jury trial in DC? Was he hoping for a sympathetic DC jury, of just a stupid one?

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  59. Horatio (f02704) — 7/22/2022 @ 12:59 pm

    Pasteur wept.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  60. @56. So the suckered Feds gave $51 billion to finance ‘honor among thieves’; corrupt Moran and Capone cut deal to ‘keep the booze flowing.’

    … and Nitti smiled. 😉

    DCSCA (932d21)

  61. The vaxidemic is killing many people. Sad.

    mg (8cbc69)

  62. @49. Just never ‘confirm’ them– keep as many ‘acting’ officials as possible– with the real world concern of their asses getting fired for poor performance – or incompetence-=- like the rest of hard working Americans have to face busting their butts in their gigs.

    DCSCA (932d21)

  63. California signs into law gun control bill patterned after texas abortion bill alowing people to sue gun manufactures and sellers.

    asset (ab234b)

  64. Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 7/22/2022 @ 2:02 pm`

    Why did Bannon choose a jury trial in DC? Was he hoping for a sympathetic DC jury, of just a stupid one?

    He gets the benefit of both. He also asked for adirected verdict of acquittal. He has legal objections which the judge ruled he could not submit to a jury. And then, with a jury, he has jury grounds for appeal – ajuror who should not have been on the case etc.

    Or he might have been hooping his argument would be over their heads = reasonable doubt.

    It was mostly the default.

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  65. What Trump’s his mid-day January 6, 2021 tweet about Mike Pence reminds me of.:

    https://www.pinterest.com/pin/there-go-the-people-i-must-follow-them-for-i-am-their-leader-french-politician-alexandre-auguste-ledrurollin-1807-1874–186406872051780869/

    There go the people I must follow them for I am their leader. – French Politician Alexandre Auguste Ledru-Rollin (1807 – 1874)

    It was more moderate than what he was hearing. He didn’t say to hang Mike Pence.

    It doesn;t mean he had instigated that targeting of Mike Pence.

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  66. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexandre_Auguste_Ledru-Rollin

    Some variation of the following is often attributed to Ledru-Rollin:

    “There go the people. I must follow them, for I am their leader.”

    “There go my people. I must find out where they are going so I can lead them”

    “Eh! je suis leur chef, il fallait bien les suivre.” “Ah well! I am their leader, I really ought to follow them!”[2]

    The quote is probably apocryphal.[3]

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  67. The vaxidemic is real.
    God Bless you.

    mg (8cbc69)

  68. JVW,

    From the report:

    The reporting for this series draws on extensive interviews over a period of more than three months with more than two dozen people close to the former president, and others who have firsthand knowledge of the work underway to prepare for a potential second term. Most spoke on condition of anonymity to describe sensitive planning and avoid Trump’s ire.

    Dana (1225fc)

  69. Why did Bannon choose a jury trial in DC? Was he hoping for a sympathetic DC jury, of just a stupid one?

    Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 7/22/2022 @ 2:02 pm

    As you noted on an earlier thread, Susan McDougal got a hung jury during her contempt trial, but at least she put on a defense. Bannon didn’t do that, so I suspect he wants to appear as a martyr to MAGAWorld.

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  70. Bann6n d5dn’t want to perjure himself, or rather his lawyer did not Bannon to do that, and he had n6 defense.

    Sammy Finkelman (b7dc9b)

  71. Honestly, though, every GOP candidate should be on this plan.

    The problem is though, whembly, that we reason we instituted Civil Service reform (thank you, President Arthur!) is because we didn’t want the federal bureaucracy to become just a den of patronage for political hacks. What those fine folks in the 47th Congress couldn’t foresee is that instead of political hacks, the bureaucracy would instead end up consisting of an awful lot of bureaucratic hacks, who would naturally gravitate to the party of big government as a means of self-protection.

    There’s no easy solution here. I think Presidents like Reagan and GW Bush truly wanted to reduce the size of the bureaucracy, but both of them agreed to abandon those plans in return for support from Democrats on defense spending and tax cuts. Trump, on the other hand, strikes me as somebody who would welcome big government, so long as he felt that the bureaucrats were loyal to him and his agenda. I wish that some Republican President (you Ron DeSantis? Nikki Haley? Kristi Noem?) would immediately institute a hiring freeze on federal employees, and when people leave via attrition instead of hiring to replace them they would just reassign their duties. And in general, the federal bureaucracy should have far less work to do to begin with. Trump should sign on to the idea that the fewer bureaucrats we have in Washington DC and the less authority they have to meddle in the lives of our citizens, the diminished likelihood that they will thwart his agenda.

    JVW (020d31)

  72. The reporting for this series draws on extensive interviews over a period of more than three months with more than two dozen people close to the former president, and others who have firsthand knowledge of the work underway to prepare for a potential second term. Most spoke on condition of anonymity to describe sensitive planning and avoid Trump’s ire.

    Thanks Dana. I’m sure that there is a kernel of truth to the report — like I said, it’s totally on-brand for Trump — but I have grown utterly tired of people talking “off the record” in Washington DC, and I find it especially loathsome when they are doing so about an Administration which is no longer in power. It just strikes me as excessively cowardly, and I really don’t think they should be taken seriously, especially when it’s a left-wing news site which they are blabbing to.

    JVW (020d31)

  73. The Covid vaccine is nothing like AIDS. But it stimulates the creation of antibodies against something non existent.

    Any vaccine maybe slightly reduces the strength of the immune response to pathogens not vaccinated against.

    Sammy Finkelman (b7dc9b)

  74. The Left should be ecstatic that Joe Biden has given them everything they wanted.

    The Left likes inflation. It reduces the value of old money by printing lots of new money. Those richer who have it, lose the value of their money; those poorer who don’t have any money, suddenly do.

    When combined with low interest rates, inflation roars even louder. Not since Jimmy Carter has a Democrat been so insistent on inflating the money supply.

    For decades, the Left has amplified former Energy Secretary Steven Chu’s 2008 dream that the government must spike fuel costs up to European levels. That was seen as the best way to force unsophisticated Americans to quit burning gas and transition to renewable energy. Biden took that sermon seriously.

    He canceled federal energy leases. He shut down ANWR. He canceled pipelines and warned the oil industry its days were numbered. Biden has done more than any other Democrat to ensure fossil fuels were unaffordable, forcing America’s supposedly unthinking consumers to drive less or consider ditching their gas-engine cars altogether.

    The hard American Left always wanted unlimited illegal immigration. Biden agreed and destroyed the southern border as we knew it.

    The result is that in less than two years, nearly 3 million illegal aliens have surged into the United States. Nearly all of them arrived unvaccinated, untested, and unaudited at a time of a COVID pandemic.

    Biden worries little that record numbers of Americans are dying from drugs that now pour across the border. Cartels became richer and more powerful than ever under his watch, while child traffickers were freed from worries.

    Biden did more than any prior Democrat to ensure massive illegal immigration as part of the leftist dream of flipping red states blue by changing the demography.

    The Left rails about imperialism, neo-colonialism, and military expenditure. Joe Biden without warning simply yanked all troops from Afghanistan. He abandoned a $1 billion new embassy, a $300 million refitted U.S. air base, and $80 billion worth of sophisticated arms and equipment.

    In other words, Biden did more than any other prior Democrat to ensure the United States was humbled abroad, and its expeditionary forces taught a lesson about the evils of foreign interventions.

    The Left fetishizes race. It enshrined the idea of “good” racial discrimination: to stop racial bias, one must be racially biased.

    Biden was the first president to promise in advance that his vice-presidential running mate had to be both black and female. For his cabinet picks, Biden ignored most criteria of prior experience or specific expertise, but instead ensured that his administration was “diverse.”

    No prior Democratic president has been so beholden to identity politics or so consistently used de facto racial, gender, and sexual identity quotas in his presidential appointees.

    https://amgreatness.com/2022/07/20/the-left-should-be-happy-with-biden/

    VDH nails it. He’s been the furthest left President of our lifetime. And people voted for him.

    NJRob (eb56c3)

  75. Weapon used in Lee Zeldin attack was $10 plastic cat keychain

    The weapon used in the attack on Republican New York gubernatorial candidate Lee Zeldin appears to be a plastic keychain fob that looks like a cartoon cat’s head and is marketed for “self-defense.”
    ……..
    The weapon resembles the “My Kitty Plastic Self-Defense Keychain Weapon,” which is designed to mimic a cat’s face with holes for its eyes and other cut-outs for its nose and whiskers.

    “Pointed cat ears make this keychain tool ‘purrfect’ for self-defense!” according to The Home Security Superstore website.
    ……..
    The weapon bears a “Made in USA” stamp and is sold online for $9.99.

    It’s also offered in pink, red, white and purple, and the site describes it as “very stiff and strong,” “stylish, compact and lightweight,” and “easy to use and carry.”
    ……..

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  76. Colorado Man Pleads Guilty to Casting Missing Wife’s Ballot for Trump
    ………
    The man, Barry Morphew, 54, was given a sentence of one year of supervised probation but avoided jail time after pleading guilty to one count of forgery, a felony, in district court in Chaffee County, according to court records.

    The outcome in the voter fraud case marked the latest twist in the mystery of what happened to Suzanne Morphew, who disappeared in May 2020 after going for a bike ride near her home in Salida, Colo.
    ……..
    About five months after she was reported missing, her mail-in ballot for the 2020 election arrived at the clerk’s office in Chaffee County, about 100 miles west of Colorado Springs, according to an arrest warrant.

    Election officials contacted the sheriff’s office, which took a photograph of the ballot and seized it as evidence. A space for the voter’s signature was blank, but Mr. Morphew wrote his name on a line for legal witnesses to sign ballots. The ballot was dated Oct. 15, 2020.

    When F.B.I. agents asked Mr. Morphew why he had returned his missing wife’s ballot, he told them, as detailed in the warrant, “Just because I wanted Trump to win.”
    ……..
    “I just thought, give him another vote,” he said, referring to Mr. Trump. “I figured all these other guys are cheating. I know she was going to vote for Trump anyway.”

    Iris Eytan, a lawyer for Mr. Morphew, said in an interview on Friday that her client had mistakenly assumed that when he became the legal guardian for his wife after her disappearance, it extended to voting.
    ………

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  77. South Carolina bill outlaws websites that tell how to get an abortion
    ………
    The bill aims to block more than abortion: Provisions would outlaw providing information over the internet or phone about how to obtain an abortion. It would also make it illegal to host a website or “[provide] an internet service” with information that is “reasonably likely to be used for an abortion” and directed at pregnant people in the state.

    Legal scholars say the proposal is likely a harbinger of other state measures, which may restrict communication and speech as they seek to curtail abortion. The June proposal, S. 1373, is modeled off a blueprint created by the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC), an antiabortion group, and designed to be replicated by lawmakers across the country.
    ………
    Eric Goldman, a professor at Santa Clara University School of Law, said the First Amendment and Section 230, a bill that shields internet providers and tech companies from liability for the posts, photos and videos people share on their sites, provide a strong defense in many instances for websites and providers facing lawsuits over hosting information about abortion access.

    But individuals could face liability for aiding and abetting people in accessing a criminalized procedure if they send messages about how to obtain an abortion or otherwise break the law.

    For the NRLC, which wrote the model legislation, limiting communication is a key part of the strategy to aggressively enforce laws restricting abortion. “The whole criminal enterprise needs to be dealt with to effectively prevent criminal activity,” Jim Bopp, the group’s general counsel, wrote in a July 4 memo, comparing the group’s efforts to fighting organized crime.

    In an interview with The Washington Post, Bopp said that the group has refined its blueprint for states since the South Carolina bill was introduced last month. The restrictions on websites and internet hosts in the July model bill language would only apply when the information is likely to be used “for an unlawful abortion in this state,” he said, not abortions generally, as the South Carolina bill says.
    ……..

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  78. @81 OMG. Not that Bopp guy again. In other words, in addition to not having an abortion, you can’t even talk about it. What a busybody.

    This is what happens when people give money to the National Right to Life Committee.

    Speaking of life, Bopp needs to get one.

    norcal (da5491)

  79. https://www.foxnews.com/media/hunter-biden-probe-abc-nbc-cbs-skip-damning-critical-stage-report-charges-table

    Partisanship. Don’t let anyone whine that conservatives aren’t covering leftist propaganda.

    NJRob (eb56c3)

  80. I think I finally understand why NeverTrump continues to harp on it to this day.

    Biden is so much worse than they ever imagined. He’s done his best to destroy our economy, our relationships with our fellow citizens and he’s clearly dealing with dementia and pushing a far left agenda. So the people that “supported him” need to keep justifying that horrible decision. And they do it by attacking Trump over and over again. It’s all that they have left. Otherwise they’d have to admit they were wrong.

    NJRob (eb56c3)

  81. https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2022/jul/19/gretchen-whitmer-veto-funding-adoption-alternative/

    The pro-death cult. Going after anything that gives women alternatives to murdering the unborn.

    NJRob (eb56c3)

  82. https://www.cbsnews.com/miami/news/us-formula-shortage-persists/

    The nationwide baby formula shortage that federal leaders once said would be fixed within weeks has dragged on for months, despite tons of imports and key steps forward in domestic production.

    Formula stock rates have been dropping since the end of February, when the US Food and Drug Administration shut down a major formula plant and issued a recall of products manufactured there after an inspection found dangerous bacteria in several areas. The closure exacerbated shortages caused by supply chain disruptions, leaving families struggling to find formula for infants and people with specific nutrition needs.

    More than 20% of formula products — powder, ready-to-drink and liquid — have been out of stock for the past six weeks, according to data released Wednesday by market research firm Information Resources Inc. Before the recall, about 10% of infant formula products were typically out of stock.

    Formula stock hit a low in late June; 22.4% of products were out of stock during the week ending June 26.

    Since then, the Abbott plant in Michigan that was at the heart of the recall has resumed production. Flooding from severe storms halted production for most of June, but it’s been back up and running for about three weeks.

    Still, stock rates have improved by less than 1 percentage point in that time. Last week, 21.9% of formula products were out of stock.

    Government mandates combined with leftist incompetence equals children starving.

    NJRob (eb56c3)

  83. @84 I’ve never supported Biden, Rob. He’s a trademark political hack, and always has been.

    (I voted for Trump in 2016. Fool me once…)

    In 2020 I voted for the Libertarian nominee.

    norcal (6fde5d)

  84. In 2020 I voted for the Libertarian nominee.

    That equals a vote for the winner in 2020.

    BuDuh (340919)

  85. @88 That’s one way of looking at it. Another way is that I supported neither an insurrectionist nor a lefty fool.

    Neither one of them can claim a mandate from me.

    norcal (6fde5d)

  86. BuDuh (340919) — 7/22/2022 @ 11:46 am

    Once a virus gets to the point where it’s causing zero (or few) symptoms there’s not much reason to randomly test for. At some point we’re going to need to start coming to terms with the mental health issues the response to covid created.

    This is also something you’ll see with people who are convinced we’re about to have a terrible covid wave because people are able to test themselves, stay at home, and recover quickly. They’ll tell you we can’t see the wave because the numbers are unreported but the hospitals are about to be overwhelmed again.

    frosty (793659)

  87. U.S. considers giving Warthog warplanes to Ukraine and training its pilots.

    U.S. Air Force leaders have raised the possibility of training Ukrainian pilots in the United States and giving Ukraine the American fleet of A-10 Warthog ground-attack planes — an idea that could solve a problem for both countries….

    Such a plan could make sense. Ukraine needs more air power and more ways to destroy Russian artillery and tanks, and the Warthog was designed during the Cold War for that very purpose.

    And the Air Force has for years wanted to get rid of the A-10s. That would free up maintenance money for new planes that can be used for multiple purposes, and would be more effective in a possible conflict with China….

    While designed to destroy Russian tanks, the Warthog was used in Iraq and Afghanistan to provide support for troops in combat. Air Force pilots would fly the Warthog slowly over the terrain and then open up with its guns on insurgent fighters.

    Some former officials believe that in Ukraine the Warthog could perform a combination of that role and its original tank-killing mission. In recent months, those former officials have been working with Ukrainian and American officials to discuss the possibility of sending Ukraine at least some of the Air Force’s A-10 fleet.

    It was designed to protect US ground troops against Soviet armor. Not so useful fighting China, but just about what they want in Ukraine.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  88. The Secret Service deletes all it’s messages and wants to whisk Pence away from the Capitol and completing his duties on January 6th? The question needs to be asked if they had someone high up who was part of Trump’s coup.

    Knickerbocker Slobbernocker (27d313)

  89. It’s all that they have left. Otherwise they’d have to admit they were wrong.

    NJRob (eb56c3) — 7/22/2022 @ 5:33 pm

    NeverTrump can’t give him up. That and they get to be the hero of every story when every story turns into stopping the bad man and saving all things good.

    Ironically, someone posted here before the election about how all of the Trumpers would deny knowing him, say they didn’t vote for him, it’d be rats fleeing a sinking ship, etc. I’m paraphrasing but I think that catches the idea.

    But now it’s all I didn’t vote for Biden and I voted against Trump and Biden’s not worse than Trump, etc.

    frosty (793659)

  90. Another way is that I supported neither an insurrectionist nor a lefty fool.

    What insurrection took place prior to Nov 2020?

    I do know who the lefty fool fool is. He was that both before and after you voted for someone who did not have a chance at winning. If you cast a real vote you may not have had a lefty fool(unless that was your actual choice), and an “insurrection” would have been avoided.

    Of course there is always the Electoral Escape Hatch labeled “My Vote Doesn’t Count Because My State Votes For Lefty Fools.”

    Maybe that happened too.

    BuDuh (340919)

  91. It was designed to protect US ground troops against Soviet armor. Not so useful fighting China, but just about what they want in Ukraine.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 7/22/2022 @ 6:17 pm

    They’ll work fine as long as the Soviets don’t bring in an arsenal of SAMs to bear against them. For all the hype they’ve gotten from Gulf War I and GWOT, they operated with the kind of impunity that they did because the battlefield was prepped for them. During Gulf War I, most of their missions were conducted in areas where the Iraqi SAM sites had already been cleared out by the F-15s and F-117s.

    They’re tough planes, but they’re also very mission-specific with very particular vulnerabilities, and the Ukrainians are going to have to be mindful of that if they’re going to use them.

    Factory Working Orphan (2775f0)

  92. My guess is that they finally found a way to get rid of the A-10s.

    BuDuh (340919)

  93. I now see that the article covers that notion.

    BuDuh (340919)

  94. Russia’s Excuse for Losing: Ukraine’s Mutant Bio-Lab Supersoldiers
    ………
    That’s according to two Russian lawmakers, who otherwise do not appear to have dropped any acid, heading up a commission looking into Ukraine’s supersoldiers.

    Testing of Ukrainian POWs’ blood, they claimed, uncovered “a range of diseases” that suggest they were secretly experimented on “for military purposes.”

    “And we see: the cruelty and barbarity with which the military personnel of Ukraine behave, the crimes that they commit against the civilian population, those monstrous crimes that they commit against prisoners of war, confirm that this system for the control and creation of a cruel murder machine was implemented under the management of the United States,” Yarovaya was quoted telling reporters.

    Russian state TV has been cranking up the propaganda lately, even by Russian standards. Here’s another fresh example:

    Julia Davis
    @JuliaDavisNews
    More genocidal rhetoric on Russian state TV: hosts and pundits repeatedly assert that Ukraine no longer exists, Ukrainians who refuse to see themselves as Russians and fight back against the invasion are described as Nazis and compared to insects (bugs, worms). Here’s an example:
    ……..

    Comparing conquering a people to deworming a cat, as the host does in that clip, is demeaning, de-humanizing, and gross. But at least there weren’t any bio-lab supersoldiers, I suppose.

    Let’s get something clear: This super soldier stuff is the silliest kind of excuse-mongering by the Russians.
    For starters, Ukrainian troops — bioengineered mutants or otherwise — did not turn back the Russian Army from Kyiv and Kharkiv in March.

    It was actually worse than that for Russia. They tried to take Kyiv and failed all by their little own selves.
    ………

    Rip Murdock (b30639)

  95. Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 7/22/2022 @ 5:07 pm

    hey Rip, when you fraudulently signed those petitions who’s name did you use?

    JF (a6d404)

  96. The question needs to be asked if they (the SS) had someone high up who was part of Trump’s coup.

    Knickerbocker Slobbernocker (27d313) — 7/22/2022 @ 6:31 pm

    The Secret Service did. Tony Ornato led Trump’s White House security detail and was appointed by Trump as deputy White House chief of staff for operations., while still employed by the Secret Service. He is now an Assistant Director of the Secret Service.

    The title does not fully capture the significance of the job, which entails ensuring the continuity of government and overseeing the logistics of the president’s movements outside the White House, security and the military office…….

    And apparently he has worked as Trump’s fixer.

    Rip Murdock (b30639)

  97. hey Rip, when you fraudulently signed those petitions who’s name did you use?

    JF (a6d404) — 7/22/2022 @ 7:12 pm

    Yours.

    Rip Murdock (b30639)

  98. democrats’ 2044 voter registration drive put on hold

    SCOTUS Blocks Biden Admin’s Attempt To Limit Immigration Enforcement

    The Supreme Court blocked a Biden administration effort to limit Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrests in a decision Thursday.

    The 5-4 decision placed a national freeze on a September 2021 Biden administration memo that sought to tighten the scope of civil immigration arrests to threats to national security, border security and public safety. A judge in the Southern District of Texas vacated the guidelines in June.

    DHS requested a stay on the order, but the request was ultimately denied in the latest decision. Arguments on the merits of the case are scheduled for December, according to the high court’s order.

    “The Department’s September 2021 Enforcement Guidelines direct U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to focus its limited resources and enforcement actions on those who pose a threat to our national security, public safety, and border security,” the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said in a statement to the Daily Caller News Foundation.

    JF (a6d404)

  99. NeverTrump can’t give him up.

    Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha! Too funny.

    “Why that Never Trump just can’t give up on Mr. Trump, my goodness gracious! They send him money, and suck up to him for endorsements, and some of them, can you imagine, they go to his rallies!”

    Saying Never Trump can’t give up Trump is like saying you can’t give up your crabgrass because you keep spraying it with weed killer.

    nk (0bacbb)

  100. ‘Trying To F*ck Up Ordinary People’: Russell Brand Goes On Rant Against The ‘Great Reset’

    anyone who’s dumped Katy Perry and torched George Bush has things to say that we should perk our ears up and listen to

    good on you, Mr. Brand

    JF (a6d404)

  101. Internet troll ‘Baked Alaska’ pleads guilty in Capitol riot
    ……..
    Anthime Gionet, known as “Baked Alaska” to his social media followers, faces a maximum sentence of six months imprisonment after pleading guilty to a misdemeanor count of parading, demonstrating or picketing inside a Capitol building.

    U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan is scheduled to sentence Gionet on Jan. 12, 2023.

    The judge had scheduled a March 2023 trial for Gionet after he balked at pleading guilty during an earlier hearing. Sullivan refused to accept a guilty plea by Anthime Gionet in May after he professed his innocence at the start of what was scheduled to be a plea agreement hearing.
    …….
    After entering the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, Gionet streamed live video that showed himself inside the building and repeatedly encouraging other rioters to stay there.

    “Come in. Let’s go. Come on in. Make yourself at home,” Gionet told other rioters, according to a court filing accompanying his guilty plea.

    Gionet joined others in chanting, “Patriots are in control!” and “Whose house? Our house!” Before leaving, he profanely called a police officer an “oathbreaker,” the FBI said.

    Federal authorities have used Gionet’s video to prosecute other rioters, including three men from New York City. Antonio Ferrigno, Francis Connor and Anton Lunyk pleaded guilty in April to riot-related charges. Gionet’s livestream showed them in Sen. Jeff Merkley’s office, according to court filings accompanying their plea agreements.
    ………
    Gionet’s plea agreement includes a provision allowing investigators to review any of his social media accounts for posts around the time of the Capitol riot.
    #########

    Rip Murdock (b30639)

  102. That equals a vote for the winner in 2020.

    No, because a non-vote for Biden is a vote for Trump. The logic is inescapable.

    Paul Montagu (062b7e)

  103. Russian state TV has been cranking up the propaganda lately, even by Russian standards.

    Propaganda works best when questioning it is punishable by fifteen years in Siberia.

    But they’re not totally off-base, just on the details:

    confirm that this system for the control and creation of a cruel murder machine was implemented under the management of the United States,”

    Nope. NATO’s biologically engineered mutant vampire ninja zombies were developed in central Romania from native stock.

    nk (0bacbb)

  104. I think I finally understand why NeverTrump continues to harp on it to this day.
    Biden is so much worse than they ever imagined.

    This presumes that all NeverTrumpers voted for Biden, which is a false presumption.

    Paul Montagu (062b7e)

  105. No, because a non-vote for Biden is a vote for Trump. The logic is inescapable.
    Paul Montagu (062b7e) — 7/22/2022 @ 7:49 pm

    if you normally vote R, and you didn’t vote R, you helped D

    QED

    JF (a6d404)

  106. @108

    There’s no presumption that all nevertrumpers voted for JB. That some of them might not have bothered to vote at all doesn’t make a bit of difference.

    You can bet that if JB was doing anything close to a decent job it would be non-stop I told you so and cheering their vote for JB from the rooftops time in nevertrump land.

    frosty (2e02b0)

  107. SCOTUS Blocks Biden Admin’s Attempt To Limit Immigration Enforcement

    Where’s the leaker?

    Until they get their own house in order their opinions have all the ‘legal tender’ of Monopoly money– so tip heavily and freely for the Dancing Alitos floor shows… two drink minimum, eh Brett?! 😉

    DCSCA (0e1c8b)

  108. Colorado Man Pleads Guilty to Casting Missing Wife’s Ballot for Trump

    Weird. It’s almost as if mailing ballots to every single American irrespective of whether or not he or she asked for one might invite a certain level of voting fraud. But I know we’re not supposed to make these sorts of suggestions, lest we undermine the “integrity” of our voting process.

    JVW (020d31)

  109. nk (0bacbb) — 7/22/2022 @ 7:24 pm

    Never give up nk. Some people may say you’ve exceeded recommended safe quantities but don’t let anyone fool you about that. Keep spraying and you’ll get it all.

    frosty (2e02b0)

  110. DeSantis: “I want to, on behalf of the State of Florida, wish President Biden a speedy recovery from COVID. And I also want to wish the United States of America a speedy recovery from Joe Biden”

    JF (a6d404)

  111. if you normally vote R, and you didn’t vote R, you helped D

    Apparently, the inescapable logic escapes.
    You’re assuming, falsely, that just because a candidate has an “R” next to his name means the person automatically gets my vote, by default. I voted for Anderson in ’80 and Perot in ’92.

    Paul Montagu (062b7e)

  112. BTW, Jomini has a good update on Putin’s War Against Ukraine, on land and at sea.
    The recapture of Snake Island by Ukraine was relevant, given that Putin moved his naval vessels out of Sevastopol (and out of range from Ukrainian missiles) and there is now a deal between Russia, Turkey and Ukraine to export Ukrainian grain, at least until Putin welshes.

    Paul Montagu (062b7e)

  113. I voted for Anderson in ’80 and Perot in ’92.

    Which were both votes for the winner.

    BuDuh (340919)

  114. You’re assuming, falsely, that just because a candidate has an “R” next to his name means the person automatically gets my vote, by default. I voted for Anderson in ’80 and Perot in ’92.
    Paul Montagu (062b7e) — 7/22/2022 @ 8:35 pm

    you’ve said you’re an R, so yes that’s exactly the assumption

    who do you think was happier about Rs who voted like you? Reagan/Bush or Carter/Clinton?

    who do you think was happier about Ds who voted for Nader in 2016?

    why do you think the Ds made sure the L party was on the ballot in swing states and the Green Party was off it in 2020?

    JF (a6d404)

  115. There’s probably some breach of comity or collegiality when a lame-duck House member calls a sitting Senator Fistpump McRunpants, but if the shoe fits…

    Paul Montagu (062b7e)

  116. JF (a6d404) — 7/22/2022 @ 8:47 pm

    Logic still escaping. That, and a lack of understanding of how the Electoral College works.

    Paul Montagu (062b7e)

  117. Which were both votes for the winner.

    Nope. More escaping logic.

    Paul Montagu (062b7e)

  118. “I voted for Anderson in ’80 and Perot in ’92.”

    … and the RINO blows his horn.

    DCSCA (0e1c8b)

  119. So… you voted for losers.

    That does make more sense.

    BuDuh (340919)

  120. 2 Americans dead in eastern Ukraine: Officials

    Two Americans thought to have been fighting for Ukraine have died in the eastern reach of the country, according to officials. “We can confirm the recent deaths of two U.S. citizens in the Donbas region of Ukraine,” a State Department spokesperson said. “We are in touch with the families and providing all possible consular assistance.” They added: “Out of respect to the families during this difficult time, we have nothing further.” -abcnews.com

    DCSCA (0e1c8b)

  121. I voted for jill stein in 2016 for president. The loser was not jill stein in 2016 but the clinton grifters.

    asset (aa359b)

  122. They’ll work fine as long as the Soviets don’t bring in an arsenal of SAMs to bear against them. For all the hype they’ve gotten from Gulf War I and GWOT, they operated with the kind of impunity that they did because the battlefield was prepped for them. During Gulf War I, most of their missions were conducted in areas where the Iraqi SAM sites had already been cleared out by the F-15s and F-117s.

    Or maybe by those HIMARS are good against SAM sites.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  123. if you normally vote R, and you didn’t vote R, you helped D

    Anyone who ever voted for Trump helped “D”.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  124. I voted for Anderson in ’80

    No one would say that, were it not true. That jerk Reagan, what did he ever do?!

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  125. @130 Read dark victory which has his grand jury testimony showing he couldn’t remember back in the 1950’s Well reagan and bill case committed treason with Iran to hold are hostages to win the 1980 election. Bonzo apologists say it was just a coincidence that iran released hostages at reagan took office. Iran-contra reagan administration selling crack cocaine to black school children and trading arms for hostages to finance his wars in central america. Also read dark alliance by gary webb and also ollie north all american drug dealer.

    asset (aa359b)

  126. Bonzo apologists say it was just a coincidence that iran released hostages at reagan took office.

    asset (aa359b) — 7/22/2022 @ 11:02 pm

    It was neither a coincidence nor a conspiracy.

    norcal (da5491)

  127. @132 Those who were in on it say different. Arafat told jimmy carter years later about the treason. Others including defectors have said similar. Tricky dick did the same with anna chenault as the go between in 1968.

    asset (aa359b)

  128. The 1992 white wash by congress was one of a long history of the government protection racket. Bandi Sadr Irans president at the time says the deal took place. Even before that Bill Casey was having the chase group sabotage Carters’ attempts at freeing the hostages.

    asset (aa359b)

  129. Hey Fools,
    The republicans are in on the destruction of America.
    They hate your middle class azz.
    We have lost our freedom and the rinos are extremely happy.
    Voting is a lost cause, but go ahead cast away.

    mg (8cbc69)

  130. Crossing the fence will get you-
    “Guard Dogs on Duty”
    Be prepared for the uni-party pink boots.
    Bring it soldier or what is the pro noun for the most woke military in the world?
    Hey lets all go potty in the same bathroom.

    mg (8cbc69)

  131. I’ve voted libertarian for many offices they didn’t win. I didn’t expect them to. I wanted
    Them to but I can read polling data and knew it was hopeless.

    The likely winner wasn’t much worse the the likely loser in in those cases. So there was no one I needed to vote against. By supporting the candidate I preferred I put one small check mark towards my preferences on paper. I can hope that seeing a slight uptick in “small government, individual freedoms” support might motivate future GOP candidates that direction.

    Sadly, the GOP has fully embraced big government and now I have 2 big government parties to choose from for likely winners.

    Time123 (e6b8d6)

  132. You must be pretty happy with Thomas Massie of Kentucky, Time.

    BuDuh (340919)

  133. Anyways, this is the “my mother, drunk or sober” tribalist mentality that has infested the GOP, trying to put responsibility on the voter who refused to pull the lever for an unhinged unfit crank and puts no responsibility on the party that nominated an unhinged unfit crank.
    Oh, and for the record, I was an independent in 2016, not an “R”. I took a 5-year hiatus from the GOP starting in 2013 because I was sick of where this party was going, and it’s only gotten more batsh-t since.

    Paul Montagu (062b7e)

  134. I didn’t think Putin would welsh on the grain-export deal so quickly, but welsh on it he did.

    Paul Montagu (062b7e)

  135. “… the ideals and methods which are dynamic in our institutions of higher learning are false. They are false to the students, false to the social purpose which nourishes them, false to the inward nature of education itself. They are false because they are irrelevant. And they are irrelevant because they are for the most part unabsorbed survivals from a pre-industrial past in an industrial age.

    “Though education is customarily described as ‘preparation for life’, the ways and works of high schools and colleges are so irrelevant to ‘life’ that their prime achievement remains perforce the prolongation of infancy. They make adulthood harder to reach, not easier.”
    Horace M. Kallen, College Prolongs Infancy (1932)

    Yes, 1932. And still true.

    nk (391309)

  136. @139 You’re not wrong but voting for some of these 3rd party people is the “mom’s drunk so I’ll go hang out with the pimps and pushers to see what life skills I can pick up” mentality.

    frosty (793659)

  137. @137 Did you prefer the candidate or the policies of the Ls you thought he might support? Did you research the candidate? Because the Ls, on average, don’t bring a lot of competence or character to the table.

    If it was the policies would you share which ones?

    frosty (793659)

  138. If your preferences are ranked: 1. A; 2. B; 3. C, and so you prefer B to C, you help C by not voting at all, or by voting for A, etc. If someone preferred Trump to Clinton, you helped Clinton by not voting for Trump, even though you might have a bunch of candidates ranked ahead of Trump.

    It depends I suppose on whether or not you think of voting as something that can be ‘intrinsically wrong.’ I don’t, I think it is always relative to the other option. It is at least permissible, if not required, to vote for the less-bad option, given several bad options. It is not like a situation where you should just do nothing, because all of the options are in themselves immoral. Whereas the view of Never Trump people, I guess, is that unless the options are above some threshold of competence, So to my mind, both Trump and Clinton were not above some threshold, but it not as if voting for Trump would be intrinsically immoral.

    Generally, people will rationalize their past decisions. I doubt many people will say they regret voting for Biden, no matter how bad things get. In my view, Dobbs is a very strong case for why Trump was preferable to Clinton, at least.

    mikeybates (45deb2)

  139. America’s Open Border Dulled Uvalde Reaction To ‘Lockdown Alerts’

    The Texas House of Representatives committee report released July 17 showed that the staff at Robb Elementary School received almost 50 notices to lockdown their classroom from February until the shooting in May, dulling the alert’s effectiveness.

    The majority of the lockdown alerts were received by staff at the Uvalde elementary school, located 50 miles from the U.S. Southern border between Texas and Mexico, resulting from high-speed chases between law enforcement and border crossers, according to the report.

    Employees received their 47th lockdown alert on the day of the shooting but practiced loosened safety measures because staff had become accustomed to it, the report found.

    “Another factor contributing to relaxed vigilance on campus was the frequency of security alerts and campus lockdowns resulting from a recent rise of ‘bailouts’ — the term used in border communities for the increasingly frequent occurrence of human traffickers trying to outrun the police, usually ending with the smuggler crashing the vehicle and the passengers fleeing in all directions,” the report stated. “The frequency of these ‘bailout’-related alarms — around 50 of them between February and May of 2022 — contributed to a diminished sense of vigilance about responding to security alerts.”

    Democratic Texas state Sen. Roland Gutierrez said the community had become “numb” to the alerts. “It’s as if you had a fire drill every day,” Gutierrez told The Wall Street Journal.

    JF (a6d404)

  140. Lincoln’s first vote:

    On August 1, 1831, he cast his first ballot. The polls were in the home of John Camron where Lincoln was boarding and getting acquainted with Camron’s 11 daughters who teased him about his long legs and arms and heard him admit “he wasn’t much to look at.” Voting by word of mouth, each voter spoke to the election judges his candidates’ names. A judge then called out the voter’s name and his candidates, clerks recording the names “on poll sheets.” Lincoln voted for a Henry Clay Whig for Congress–and against Joseph Duncan, then a Jackson man serving in Congress. He stayed around the polls most of the day talking cheerily, telling stories, making friends and getting acquainted with the names and faces of nearly all the men in the New Salem neighborhood.

    (From Carl Sandburg’s biography.)

    What are now usually called “Australian ballots” were not used in the United States until late in the 19th century.

    Jim Miller (406a93)

  141. #139 Paul is right to remind us of “tribalism”, and the way it can distort our thinking, and prevent us from thinking rationally.

    There is another kind of thinking error that is also common, and often distorts our thinking about political questions. As Kahneman observed in Thinking, Fast and Slow, we are often all too quick to infer a generalization from an example, and too slow to infer something about an example, even when we know an applicable generalization.

    For example, the sad death of George Floyd was taken by many to show how horrible all American police were. Similarly, any crime committed by an illegal immigrant will be taken by some as proof that most illegals came here to commit crimes.

    (The elder Cumo once said that: “You campaign in poetry. You govern in prose.” That may have been the way he operated, but we should, on many things, ask our elected leaders to govern in statistics, however they campaign.)

    Jim Miller (406a93)

  142. Anyone know if Omar used her phone call for both her husband and brother?

    mg (8cbc69)

  143. For example, the sad death of George Floyd was taken by many to show how horrible all American police were. Similarly, any crime committed by an illegal immigrant will be taken by some as proof that most illegals came here to commit crimes.
    Jim Miller (406a93) — 7/23/2022 @ 8:43 am

    Jim Miller offers a really good example, though unintended, of a “thinking error.”

    no, not “Similarly” — the two examples are not equivalent

    our host wrote more than one post on this topic. Here’s one you should probably take in:
    https://patterico.com/2019/04/23/reasons-to-question-the-belief-that-illegal-immigrants-are-less-criminal-than-citizens/

    also, whereas the BLM crowd has drawn generalizations about all police, very few if any of those against border chaos have made generalizations about “most illegals”. The only gross generalization happening here is by you

    JF (a6d404)

  144. Well reagan and bill case committed treason with Iran to hold are hostages to win the 1980 election.

    That’s one take on what happened. The other take is that Reagan told the mullahs that if they were still captives when he took office, there would be war. They sure got them on those planes fast on Jan 20th.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  145. frosty (793659) — 7/23/2022 @ 8:07 am

    I voted for a former Republican, Gary Johnson, in 2016, when I wasn’t a Republican. I was in general but not complete agreement with his policies and, in terms of character, he lapped Hillary and Trump several times over. As GHW Bush said in 1992 when he faced a lying adulterer as an opponent, character matters.
    In 2020, I voted for a Republican, Larry Hogan, for similar reasons as 2016.

    Paul Montagu (062b7e)

  146. Arafat told jimmy carter years later about the treason.

    1) it would not be treason in any event, unless you claim that Reagan was a closet supporter of the ayatollah.
    2) Arafat told Jimmy?!?!?! Two liars do not make 1 truth-teller.
    3) Did you know that Jimmy won his GA governorship by calling his Dem opponent an integrationist?

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  147. @149 Jim Miller, here’s another one from our host:
    https://patterico.com/2018/02/06/outrage-colts-linebacker-was-killed-by-twice-deported-illegal-immigrant/

    Stories like this outrage people not because illegal immigrants are worse criminals than citizens — they’re not — but because they are not supposed to be in the country to begin with.

    this is not a generalization or a “thinking error”, but simple logic

    JF (a6d404)

  148. Here’s another good Ukraine thread from Lt General Hertling. I’m not going to say Ukraine is winning, but Putin put himself in a quagmire. His best solution is to lie by declaring victory, IMO, then withdraw his forces.

    Paul Montagu (062b7e)

  149. I am always amused at the “life-long Republicans” you used to see in the newspaper letters columns, who reluctantly vote Democrat every year because of some fault they always seem to find in the GOP candidate. Sometimes I think a few of those are here.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  150. One member of Congress at least has the fantasy that Trump wanted to go to the Capitol in order to lead the charge.
    It isn’t a fantasy. Trump said it in public, in his interview with Jonathan Karl. The same interview where he declined to say there was anything wrong with his mob chanting “Hang Mike Pence,” but instead said it was “common sense.”

    All the Trumpers who love to excoriate other people for their (alleged) voting choices are proud to have voted for the guy who made it clear before the election that he would view a loss as an illegitimate result, and who said “Get rid of the ballots and you’ll have a very a peaceful – there won’t be a transfer, frankly, there’ll be a continuation.”
    The leaked Bannon audio confirms that it was Trump’s strategy to exploit the “red mirage” — after sowing distrust of mail-in ballots — to declare himself the “winner” and the “king” before the ballots could all be counted (which was in large part because some GOP-controlled legislatures had prohibited any processing of mail-in ballots before Election Day).
    We’ve known for a long time that Bannon said on 1/5 “All hell will break loose tomorrow …,” but recently we learned that he had spoken with Trump shortly before saying that.

    Assaulting the process for the peaceful transfer of power and attempting to retain power unlawfully is one of the worst things a president could do to our country. It certainly does not represent a patriotic love of America.

    On top of that, Trump’s fundamentally selfish, egomaniacal, and still ongoing attacks on our electoral system have emboldened the cult followers who now dominate the GOP to engineer ways to overturn elections they lose in the future. Like Trump, they’ve come to regard electoral wins for their opponents as fundamentally illegitimate, and they want a “by any means necessary” strategy for preventing it. Which is not what a constitutional conservative would do.

    Radegunda (8169d7)

  151. @149 Jim Miller, another one you’d classify as a “thinking error”:

    https://patterico.com/2012/07/13/why-illegal-immigrants-killing-people-is-especially-galling-an-observation/

    But when an illegal immigrant enters this country, and then does something wrong — like, say, killing somebody — the argument from illegal immigration supporters is always the same. They will ask: “Are illegal immigrants more likely than citizens to kill people?”

    Here’s my answer.

    I don’t care.

    They’re not supposed to be here in the first place.

    JF (a6d404)

  152. Why would that be problematic?
    Bureaucrats don’t get to actively work against the President’s polices.

    The Swan piece also reports on how Ken Paxton’s office “has been using the legal equivalent of a blitzkrieg in the Biden era — suing fast and often to obstruct Biden’s agenda at multiple points — most frequently immigration, the environment, and COVID-19 measures.”

    So it’s only Republican presidents who should be able to implement their own policies, then?

    Also, it’s obvious that Trump saw federal employees – including Supreme Court justices he nominated — as his own employees, owing unconditional allegiance to himself personally. Trumpites adopted pretty much the same attitude: Donald Trump was the king, and any institutional or legal restraint on his wishes was illegitimate and corrupt.

    It’s the Trumpite proclivity toward personal, imperial rule (as long as it’s their guy in charge) — in combination with Trump’s entirely self-centered view of right and wrong — that makes Schedule F chilling.

    Radegunda (8169d7)

  153. @139. …and the RINO blows his horn. When you’re explainin’– you’re losin’.

    DCSCA (285243)

  154. JF – There are thinking errors, and there are reading errors Here’s what I said again, this time with four words emphasized: “Similarly, any crime committed by an illegal immigrant will be taken by some as proof that most illegals came here to commit crimes.

    I hope that clears things up for you.

    Jim Miller (406a93)

  155. Jim Miller (406a93) — 7/23/2022 @ 10:19 am

    ah ok, then it was your standard straw man

    you can’t actually name anyone who is part of this “some”

    JF (a6d404)

  156. When you’re explainin’– you’re losin’.

    Indeed. Real contributions like “=mike drop=” and “…and Putin smiled” are sooo much better.

    Paul Montagu (062b7e)

  157. @162. … and the RINO keeps blowing his horn.

    DCSCA (285243)

  158. Also, repetition.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  159. Weird. It’s almost as if mailing ballots to every single American irrespective of whether or not he or she asked for one might invite a certain level of voting fraud. But I know we’re not supposed to make these sorts of suggestions, lest we undermine the “integrity” of our voting process.

    JVW (020d31) — 7/22/2022 @ 8:20 pm

    The government made me do it! But seriously, this, (and several other incidents here and here) demonstrates that there are systems in place to catch it.

    Rip Murdock (b30639)

  160. Russian media roundup:

    Putin World’s Lovefest With ‘Beaut’ Trump Gets Cringier Than Ever
    ………
    ……… Russian experts are now firmly convinced that their favorite candidate will come through unscathed—despite being “lynched,” as they put it, by the January 6 Committee.

    Appearing on Tuesday’s broadcast of The Evening With Vladimir Solovyov, Americanist Dmitry Drobnitsky noted: “Despite [Trump’s] looks and various criticisms of him, he is the most acceptable politician in today’s world—as well as a couple of Republicans.”
    ………
    Russia’s preference for the twice-impeached former president is firmly founded on his words and actions: praising the annexation of Crimea as “very smart,” demanding political dirt in exchange for supplying weapons for Ukraine’s self-defense against its aggressive neighbor, and expressing admiration for Putin’s “genius” plan to re-create some version of the Soviet Union. Solovyov gushed: “Trump is a beaut. I’m deeply convinced that if there was Trump, there wouldn’t be a February 24 [the day Russian Armed Forces invaded Ukraine].”

    Russian propagandists and government officials often opined that Trump was willing to look the other way at Putin’s attempts to take over Eastern Ukraine.…….
    ……..
    “Biden is fundamentally different in many respects,” he continued. “Trump even said, ‘I don’t need NATO.’ He did impose some sanctions, but he listened to us. We were talking to him… Trump hates Ukraine, because Ukraine was trying to do everything possible for him not to get elected.”

    Playing off Trump’s well-known saying, “Russia, Russia, Russia,” Solovyov exclaimed: “Trump, Trump Trump!… Those Americans who are constantly analyzing our program are having heart attacks right now, so I’ll say: Trump, Trump, Trum-pum-pump!”
    ……….
    “Just light a match and everything there will be ablaze,” Solovyov said in reference to America’s internal volatility and mounting political tensions. Predicting turmoil and unrest in the United States, Maxim Bratersky, professor of political science at the Department of International Affairs in Moscow’s Higher School of Economics, then chimed in with his take on what Russia’s main goal should be for America: “In every way we can do them harm, we should do it.”
    ########

    Related:

    Putin’s Crew Is Already Scheming to Exploit America’s Abortion Chaos

    Rip Murdock (b30639)

  161. Baltimore prosecutor Marilyn Mosby defeated in primary

    Marilyn Mosby, a high-profile prosecutor who aligned herself with criminal justice reformers but ended up with legal problems of her own, has lost the Democratic primary for Baltimore state’s attorney to Ivan Bates, a defense attorney.

    Baltimore is heavily Democratic, and there is no Republican candidate in the race. Roya Hanna is an unaffiliated candidate who has filed to run in November’s general election.

    Mosby, who was a two-term incumbent, rose to national prominence in 2015 when she pursued criminal charges against six police officers in the death of Freddie Gray, a Black man who suffered a spinal injury after police handcuffed, shackled and placed him headfirst into a van. His death triggered riots and protests. None of the officers was convicted.

    In January, a grand jury indicted Mosby on two counts each of perjury and making a false statement on a loan application in purchasing a home in Kissimmee, Florida, and a condominium in Long Boat Key, Florida. She has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
    ………

    Rip Murdock (b30639)

  162. https://thetriad.thebulwark.com/p/the-constitution-is-a-mass-delusion

    I’m shocked no one posted this tripe already. More pretend conservatives and fake libs saying vote for the far leftist as it’s the only way to “preserve democracy.” Ay least fraud Tom Nichols admits what all honest people already knew, that he only supports leftists.

    NJRob (4796fd)

  163. Rob, I know you don’t view strengthening and maintaining our Republic as important, but some people do.

    Time123 (0e41e8)

  164. It may be getting hotter, but it’s also greener.

    England has doubled the amount of forestland in the past 150 years, and now has as much land dedicated to forests as the year 1350.

    Ireland could use a few more trees, too.

    Paul Montagu (062b7e)

  165. NJRob (4796fd) — 7/23/2022 @ 11:44 am

    spot on, Rob

    it captures the really deep thinking among the usuals here

    “You would have had to go pretty far out on the spectrum to find liberals who thought that a near-majority of every-day Republicans wanted to overturn democracy.

    Though that’s pretty clearly where we are today.”

    JF (a6d404)

  166. House GOP Tries to Mock Jan. 6 Hearing and Just Clowns on Itself Instead

    The House GOP took aim, apparently inadvertently, at one of its own on Thursday evening in an attempt to discredit the Jan. 6 hearings. Sarah Matthews, former deputy press secretary in Donald Trump’s White House, testified Thursday that Trump, via tweet, gave the “green light” to rioters to escalate their attack. About half an hour into the event, the House Republican Conference recirculated an earlier tweet from Matthews— in which she thanked Trump and Mike Pence for their service—and wrote, “Just another liar and pawn in Pelosi’s witch-hunt.” The attempted gotcha moment was stymied by the fact that, as Inside Elections’ Jacob Rubashkin pointed out minutes later, Matthews currently works for House Republicans:
    ………
    The tweet was removed soon after. ……. The House GOP’s Twitter account, a generally unhinged corner of the platform, is run by the office of Rep. Elise Stefanik, the No. 3 House Republican. CNN’s Melanie Zanona pointed out Thursday evening that Matthews’ tweet was “getting some push back inside the House GOP, where Matthews is widely respected and has worked as a staffer.”
    ………

    Related:

    ’Heresy’: House GOP Deletes Embarrassing Tweets Attacking Republican Witness at Jan. 6 Hearing
    ……….
    “This is all heresy,” tweeted @HouseGOP at 8:45 pm ET, and met with swift mockery as Twitter users pondered whether it was a typo or the Republicans being overdramatic.
    ………..
    It now seems likely the declaration of “heresy” was indeed a typo, as the tweet was deleted. A screenshot of the original is below.
    …………
    @HouseGOP later posted a new tweet that simply said, “All hearsay.”
    …………
    The new tweet only invited new mocking. Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA) quipped, “I think you had it right the first time”…….
    ……..
    Kentucky State Senator Whitney Westerfield (R) had some good advice for the @HouseGOP:

    Maybe those with access to the @HouseGOP should just stop tweeting for a while.

    — Whitney Westerfield (@KyWhitney) July 22, 2022

    ………..

    All of the testimony by Republican former members of the Trump Administration is heretical to MAGAWorld, so I would agree the House GOP was right the first time.

    Rip Murdock (b30639)

  167. But seriously, this, (and several other incidents here and here) demonstrates that there are systems in place to catch it.
    Rip Murdock (b30639) — 7/23/2022 @ 11:16 am

    hey Rip, who caught your fraudulent petition signatures?

    and what sort of punishment did you get?

    JF (a6d404)

  168. Suspected attacker of GOP Rep. Lee Zeldin arrested on federal assault charge
    ……….
    David Jakubonis, 43, was arrested Saturday and charged with assaulting a member of Congress with a dangerous weapon, according to Barbara Burns, a Department of Justice spokesperson. Jakubonis made his first court appearance before US Magistrate Judge Marian W. Payson in Rochester on Saturday.
    ……..

    Rip Murdock (b30639)

  169. That jerk Reagan, what did he ever do?!

    Turn America from a creditor into a debtor nation.

    And, as any Hollywood actor knows, lunch on the studio tab, leave the table — and stick the producers with the bill:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYeNuISN4Dc

    DCSCA (1f01d1)

  170. hey Rip, who caught your fraudulent petition signatures?

    and what sort of punishment did you get?

    JF (a6d404) — 7/23/2022 @ 12:48 pm

    A. No one.

    B. None.

    Thanks for playing.

    Rip Murdock (b30639)

  171. JF (a6d404) — 7/23/2022 @ 12:48 pm

    That’s an interesting question, though. Given the hundreds or thousands of signatures on ballot petitions that are disqualified, how many signers (not circulators) are 1) identified; 2) investigated; and 3) prosecuted? Probably close to zero.

    Rip Murdock (b30639)

  172. China is set to launch the next piece of its space station on Sunday — in a rocket that previously rained parts back onto Earth

    https://www.businessinsider.com/china-set-to-launch-space-station-module-possible-runaway-rocket-2022-7

    DCSCA (1f01d1)

  173. I’m speechless.

    Paul Montagu (062b7e)

  174. Rip Murdock (b30639) — 7/23/2022 @ 1:06 pm

    I guess your question is getting answered.

    …Not sure why the FBI would be involved. What would be the federal crime?…

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 7/22/2022 @ 9:41 am

    https://patterico.com/2022/07/21/biden-tests-positive-for-covid/#comment-2614049

    BuDuh (340919)

  175. Another way is that I supported neither an insurrectionist nor a lefty fool.

    What insurrection took place prior to Nov 2020?

    I do know who the lefty fool fool is. He was that both before and after you voted for someone who did not have a chance at winning. If you cast a real vote you may not have had a lefty fool(unless that was your actual choice), and an “insurrection” would have been avoided.

    BuDuh (340919) — 7/22/2022 @ 6:33 pm

    I see two risible arguments here:

    One, I should have voted for the insurrectionist because I didn’t know at the time he would become an insurrectionist.

    Two, I should have voted for the insurrectionist, and then there wouldn’t have been an insurrection.

    norcal (da5491)

  176. That is interesting.

    BuDuh (340919)

  177. Doctor: Biden likely has highly contagious COVID-19 strain

    President Joe Biden likely has contracted a highly contagious variant of the coronavirus spreading rapidly through the United States, and now has body aches and a sore throat since his positive test.

    WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden likely contracted a highly contagious variant of the coronavirus spreading rapidly through the United States, and now has body aches and a sore throat since his positive test, according to an update from his doctor on Saturday.

    The variant, known as BA.5, is an offshoot of the omicron strain that emerged late last year, and it’s believed to be responsible for the vast majority of coronavirus cases in the country. Dr. Kevin O’Connor, the president’s physician, wrote in his latest update on Biden’s condition that Biden’s earlier symptoms, including a runny nose and a cough, have become “less troublesome.” O’Connor’s earlier notes did not mention the sore throat or body aches.

    Biden’s vital signs, such as blood pressure and respiratory rate, “remain entirely normal,” and his oxygen saturation levels are “excellent” with “no shortness of breath at all,” the doctor wrote. O’Connor said the results of the preliminary sequencing that indicated the BA.5 variant do not affect Biden’s treatment plan “in any way.”

    Biden tested positive for the virus on Thursday morning. He has been isolating in the White House residence since then. Administration officials have emphasized that his symptoms are mild because he has received four vaccine doses, and he started taking the antiviral drug Paxlovid after becoming infected. During a virtual meeting with economic advisers on Friday, Biden was hoarse but insisted, “I feel much better than I sound.”

    In his previous update on Biden’s health, O’Connor said the president had an elevated temperature of 99.4 F on Thursday evening, but it returned to normal after taking Tylenol.

    https://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/doctor-biden-highly-contagious-covid-19-strain-87298325

    “I feel much better than I sound.” -Squinty McStumblebum

    ‘Body aches and sore throat’ aside on your near 80 year old bod after multiple-brain surgeries, skinned knee and bruised bike and stairway falls; miraculous, 24 hour cancer cured carcass aside, eh, Joe?

    Idiot.

    DCSCA (1f01d1)

  178. What most are uncertain about is whether giving Republicans control of congress will make it any better. The Republicans have, for the most part, consistently refused to indicate what they would do if gaining control of the governing branch, and have, in the last few years, shown an alarming and never ending preference for an adolescent obsession with social media and the always present need of praise from the NY Times rather than a willingness to engage on the substance of governing. Starring – Mitch and the Romneycrats Playing in “Lets Fluck the Middle Class”.

    mg (8cbc69)

  179. The government made me do it! But seriously, this, (and several other incidents here and here) demonstrates that there are systems in place to catch it.

    That it is sometimes caught does not mean it is often caught.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  180. Rob, I know you don’t view strengthening and maintaining our Republic as important, but some people do.

    Considering the number of demagogues that our Republic has weathered, I’m a lot more sanguine than most about “coups” led by narcissistic incompetent nincompoops like Trump. Much storm and fury, signifying nothing.

    What DOES worry me is clever legal minds attempting to subvert our system an inch at a time. Those people have had an effect. Trump’s silliness on Jan 6th had no chance of working. The National Popular Vote Compact could easily destroy the republic, as it burns down all the checks and balances in pursuit of a partisan goal.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  181. @181. FBI confirms there was no insurrection on Jan. 6

    The Cambridge Dictionary defines “insurrection” as: “an organized attempt by a group of people to defeat their government and take control of their country, usually by violence” By that definition, there was no “insurrection” at the United States Capitol on Jan. 6, according to the FBI. Reuters reports:

    ‘The FBI has found scant evidence that the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol was the result of an organized plot to overturn the presidential election result, according to four current and former law enforcement officials.… “Ninety to ninety-five percent of these are one-off cases,” said a former senior law enforcement official with knowledge of the investigation. “Then you have five percent, maybe, of these militia groups that were more closely organized. But there was no grand scheme with Roger Stone and Alex Jones and all of these people to storm the Capitol and take hostages.”

    This report is a devastating blow to President Joe Biden and Democrats, [and the ever-neoconing Daughter Darth] who have attempted to make the existence of an “insurrection” on Jan. 6 a key issue in the 2022 midterm elections. Reuters does note that some “cells of protesters,” including members of the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys, did coordinate to “break into the Capitol,” but the FBI found “no evidence that the groups had serious plans about what to do if they made it inside.”

    None of this excuses the violent riot that happened on Jan. 6. The FBI has arrested 570 rioters and each and every one of them should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. But that is what the event was: a riot, just like so many other riots. Trying to politicize it and turn it into something it wasn’t won’t make the Capitol any safer.” – WashingtonExaminer.com, 8/20/21

    DCSCA (901361)

  182. The Republicans have, for the most part, consistently refused to indicate what they would do if gaining control of the governing branch…….

    Most of their proposals (like reviving the Keystone XL pipeline, even though the company has moved on) would likely be unable to receive 60 votes in the Senate (and of course they will be vetoed by the President), so most of what the House GOP will pass will be sending messages to their base, like what the Democrats are doing now. But they will be conducting investigations into Hunter Biden’s laptop, the January 6th Committee, tech companies, immigration, Dr. Anthony Fauci, Afghanistan, etc. and impeaching President Biden and probably DHS Secretary Mayorkas (again, without the votes to convict either in the Senate).

    And anything that boosts the presumptive Republican nominee (Trump). I wouldn’t be surprised to see Mike Lindell in front of the Judiciary Committee explaining why the 2020 election was fraudulent and receive a standing ovation.

    It’s a full schedule.

    Rip Murdock (f28e64)

  183. Trying to politicize it and turn it into something it wasn’t won’t make the Capitol any safer.

    The aim of the riotous participants was already political-to stop the counting of electoral votes (and they temporarily succeeded in doing so).

    Rip Murdock (f28e64)

  184. Rip,

    The 1995-98 GOP Congresses got quite a bit of stuff passed, even with President Clinton’s vetos and Bob Dole’s foot-dragging in the Senate.

    The problem with recent GOP majorities has been the Yahoo wing blocking anything that was impure. So, it’s not the structure that will be the problem, it’s the lack of unity and the continued presence of Trump dead-enders.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  185. By that definition, there was no “insurrection” at the United States Capitol on Jan. 6

    It was merely a putsch.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  186. @170. Earth has ‘lost more than half its trees’ since humans first started cutting them down

    ‘The Earth has lost more than half of its trees since humans first learned how to wield the axe, scientists have found. A remarkable study has calculated that there are about 3 trillion trees on the planet today but this represents just 45 per cent of the total number of trees that had existed before the rise of humans.’ – https://www.independent.co.uk/climate-change/news/earth-has-lost-more-than-half-its-trees-since-humans-first-started-cutting-them-down-10483189.html

    DCSCA (901361)

  187. Was the main problem in 2017-18 the ‘Yahoo wing’?

    mikeybates (f6c19d)

  188. The problem with recent GOP majorities…

    were the fleas in the tail that once wagged the dog. Neocons. Modern ideological conservatives brushed out and aside by angry populists on the march.

    And the D’s best beware of the same simmering pot near the boil. None of these ancient Royalists are safe. Where’s the SCOTUS leaker??? Pull this crap in the private sector and you’re fired. People have had it with these ineffective, incompetent, party hacks; swamp creatures who believe you work for them, not the other way around; these bureaucratic boobs who can’t keep track of papers; abandon billions in expensive equipment to Afghans; blow billions backing a corrupt Ukrainian regime; run old, near brain-dead candidates from POTUS level into the state and local offices; sink the economy; let inflation run rampant and run the economy into a ditch. Left, right, D, R– no sane citizen would put up with this crap. You think Steny Hoyer, Nancy Pelosi, Biden and his minions give a damn? They’ll be dead in a decade but, like the Reagan era- they’ll leave their wreckage behind for those left alive to clean up. Jefferson had it right; Douglass, too; populists and Trump have it right. Agitate; storm the castle. Keep bureaucrats ‘acting,’ never and fire everybody who doesn’t perform.

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  189. They should at least be thinking about arranging difficult votes on spending rescissions, energy independence, carbon taxes, border security, crime, etc. They may. None of that is evident at the moment. Mitch and the Romneycrats have other socialist plans.

    mg (8cbc69)

  190. Mitch and the Romneycrats have other socialist plans.

    The Turtle’s been free lunching it and munching on government lettuce for decades will be dead in a decade as well. Another carton of Royalist Milk years past his expitation date; he doesn’t give a damn about the future any more than ol’Joe does. And Pierre Delecto is as irrelevant in 2022 as the rotary phone is in Biden’s ‘Deadly’ Delaware beach house.

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  191. Was the main problem in 2017-18 the ‘Yahoo wing’?

    They were blocking most of what the leadership and the Caucus wanted to pass. You may consider that a good thing, but it resulted in getting utterly nothing.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  192. By the way, when I said “the Yahoo wing” I was being polite.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  193. Paul Montagu @ 170,

    England has doubled the amount of forestland in the past 150 years, and now has as much land dedicated to forests as the year 1350.

    This is so interesting. I found the comments at the report interesting too. I have questions about whether natural growth of saplings or planted, as well as varieties. Clearly, England is not at a loss for water (like so many other regions in the world), so new growth is naturally irrigated. I know you’re in the PNW, so this isn’t much of an issue with you either. While I’m in a very, very dry region, I’m thankful to be in a town where massive old oaks and cedars abound and are valued. A few lesser trees (Chinese elms, sycamore, and jacaranda) are abundant as well and able to hold their own (at least for a long while) in drought conditions. But gosh, to actually see the level of trees increase would be wonderful.

    Dana (1225fc)

  194. And you must be from the broken wing party.

    mg (8cbc69)

  195. Mitch and the Romneycrats have other socialist plans.

    They may be thinking about what is possible to get done, rather than posing and posturing like the Trumpbots do.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  196. And you must be from the broken wing party.

    Whatever that means.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  197. Turd McConnell has never proposed a budget or tried to convince anyone the country needs one. Fires his chi com loving azz.

    mg (8cbc69)

  198. Ah:

    Former President Trump, in remarks prepared for delivery in Florida on Saturday evening, plans to tout his “Schedule F” executive order — and call on Congress to give the president more power to fire federal employees, according to excerpts obtained by Axios.

    The former president’s new blitz against federal employees follows a two-part Axios investigative series by Jonathan Swan, “Inside Trump ’25,” revealing his allies’ plans to make the issue a centerpiece if he wins a second term.

    Why it matters: By directly raising Schedule F, Trump is amplifying plans from well-funded outside allies to purge career civil service if he gets back into power.

    “To drain the swamp, we need to fire the swamp,” Trump plans to tell a Turning Point USA event in Tampa, according to the excerpts.

    In the speech, Trump will say he wants new presidential powers to “ensure that any bureaucrat who is corrupt, incompetent, or unnecessary can be told: ‘You’re fired!'”

    Whether he talks about it tonight should be easy enough to check on tomorrow.

    With that, Radegunda @ 158 neatly expressed why this is so concerning:

    Also, it’s obvious that Trump saw federal employees – including Supreme Court justices he nominated — as his own employees, owing unconditional allegiance to himself personally. Trumpites adopted pretty much the same attitude: Donald Trump was the king, and any institutional or legal restraint on his wishes was illegitimate and corrupt.

    It’s the Trumpite proclivity toward personal, imperial rule (as long as it’s their guy in charge) — in combination with Trump’s entirely self-centered view of right and wrong — that makes Schedule F chilling.

    Dana (1225fc)

  199. @195. They should be thinking about getting there asses back to work. No reason for them to take August off– nor SCOTUS to tgake three months off. They’re not French.

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  200. @207. Chaff. Twitt Miller running interference for Alito doesn’t enhance his web-cred. Nor does his screen pix. Best be sober for those, Stevie.

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  201. The easiest way to find any leaker is to subpoena the reporters and force them to testify before a grand jury. Such action would also discourage further leaks.

    Rip Murdock (f28e64)

  202. @209. They’d never reveal their sources.

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  203. Views of American Democracy and Society and Support for Political Violence: First Report from a Nationwide Population-Representative Survey-Abstract

    Several social trends in the United States (US) suggest an increasing risk for political violence. Little is known about support for and personal willingness to engage in political violence and how those measures vary with lethality of violence, specific circumstances, or specific populations as targets.
    ……..
    Results

    The analytic sample included 8,620 respondents; 50.6% (95% Confidence Interval (CI) 49.4%, 51.7%) were female; mean (SD) age was 48.4 (18.0) years. Two-thirds of respondents (67.2%, 95% CI 66.1%, 68.4%) perceived “a serious threat to our democracy,” but more than 40% agreed that “having a strong leader for America is more important than having a democracy” and that “in America, native-born white people are being replaced by immigrants.”

    Half (50.1%) agreed that “in the next few years, there will be civil war in the United States.” Among 6,768 respondents who considered violence to be at least sometimes justified to achieve 1 or more specific political objectives, 12.2% were willing to commit political violence themselves “to threaten or intimidate a person,” 10.4% “to injure a person,” and 7.1% “to kill a person.”

    Among all respondents, 18.5% thought it at least somewhat likely that within the next few years, in a situation where they believed political violence was justified, “I will be armed with a gun”; 4.0% thought it at least somewhat likely that “I will shoot someone with a gun.”

    Conclusions and Relevance

    Coupled with prior research, these findings suggest a continuing alienation from and mistrust of American democratic society and its institutions. Substantial minorities of the population endorse violence, including lethal violence, to obtain political objectives. Efforts to prevent that violence, which a large majority of Americans already reject, should proceed rapidly based on the best evidence available. Further research will inform future prevention efforts.
    ##########

    This is a pre-print study.

    Rip Murdock (f28e64)

  204. @209. They’d never reveal their sources.

    DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 7/23/2022 @ 7:03 pm

    Then they can spend the term of grand jury in jail.

    Rip Murdock (f28e64)

  205. Keeping it classy:

    Matt Gaetz: Women Who ‘Look Like A Thumb’ Shouldn’t Gripe About Abortion Rights
    ……..
    “Have you watched these pro-abortion, pro-murder rallies?” Gaetz asked the crowd at the Turning Point USA Student Action Summit in Tampa. “The people are just disgusting. Why is it that the women with the least likelihood of getting pregnant are the ones most worried about having abortions?”
    ………
    “Nobody wants to impregnate you if you look like a thumb. These people are odious from the inside out,” the congressman continued. “They’re like 5′2″, 350 pounds, and they’re like, ‘Give me my abortions or I’ll get up and march and protest.’”
    ……..
    Gaetz is currently under federal investigation for alleged sex trafficking and the statutory rape of a 17-year-old girl.
    #########

    Rip Murdock (f28e64)

  206. Election-denying Colorado clerk surrenders to authorities
    ………
    Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters turned herself at the Pitkin County Jail in Aspen in Thursday night and was booked, said Parker Lathrop, the county’s chief deputy of operations.

    She was released on bond later that night, Lathrop said. Authorities claim she had violated bail conditions by contacting workers at the Mesa County elections office.

    A warrant for her arrest had been issued less than a week after Peters’ lawyer convinced a judge not to send her back to jail because of allegations she improperly traveled out of state while awaiting trial.
    ……..
    Peters lost a bid for the Republican Party nomination for Colorado Secretary of State last month.

    After the Secretary of State’s office told her she was not entitled to a hand recount under the law, Peters contacted dozens of county election offices asking them to do their own.

    Authorities said she included Mesa County and that doing so was a violation of her release.
    #########

    Rip Murdock (f28e64)

  207. “What DOES worry me is clever legal minds attempting to subvert our system an inch at a time. Those people have had an effect. Trump’s silliness on Jan 6th had no chance of working. The National Popular Vote Compact could easily destroy the republic, as it burns down all the checks and balances in pursuit of a partisan goal.”

    Don’t hold your breath, Sparky. The Democrats have learned in 2020 there can’t be a valid audit if there’s no chain of custody. Works for them.

    Colonel Haiku (4c1485)

  208. Trump looked surprised when his supporters loudly booed him at an Arizona rally over his Congress endorsement
    ………
    Trump, used to adulation from his super-loyal MAGA followers, looked uncomfortable when he hyped Eli Crane, a candidate in the Arizona GOP congressional primary, and the crowd responded negatively, in large part.

    “And a highly respected man, just endorsed by me today, future congressman for the 2nd District, Eli Crane,” Trump said, prompting boos from the crowd.

    The former president appeared surprised and repeatedly looked towards the source of the booing before smiling awkwardly.

    “But you like me, right?” Trump then says to the crowd with an awkward chuckle.

    Seven Republican candidates are running in the primary for Arizona’s 2nd Congressional District, including Ron Watkins, the man widely rumored to have started the QAnon movement.

    Crane is a former Navy SEAL and self-described “America First” candidate who hopes to take on Democratic incumbent Rep. Tom O’Halleran in November.

    Crane has been described as a “carpetbagger” by some critics online……
    ……….

    Rip Murdock (f28e64)

  209. @212. Then they can spend the term of grand jury in jail.

    …and Putin smiled.

    DCSCA (53d612)

  210. @211 If your not going to commit violence. You can be ignored. I get in trouble here on this subject so I will keep it esoteric. I remember back in 1967 when black people were burning down a city a week. One week newark the next week detroit. The white power structure kept saying stop rioting we can’t ignore you when you are burning down cities! Ben Gazzara on run for your life said with reasonable people I will be reasonable and with unreasonable people I will be unreasonable! Conservatives now and liberal before now said you should be reasonable with unreasonable people. Liberals used to tell blacks when a conservatives kick you in the groin say Oh! I get your point like we do! Many republican senators say they will vote against gay marriage in the senate saying as in the dred scott decision that gays have no marriage rights that they are bound to respect. (read dred scott decision) And you ask gays to be reasonable with these homophobes? Yorktown and gettysberg on reasonableness enforced the declaration of independence and emancipation proclamation. When lincoln kept trying to reason with the slavers Gen. benjamin butler kept freeing every slave he could reach. Malcolm X is revered in this country for saying “By any means necessary!” Dr. king whined to the white power structure you deal with me or you deal with Malcolm X! and later the black panthers. With out John Brown lincoln would never have gotten elected president Hope I wasn’t to violent for you.

    asset (54f7f5)

  211. But you like me, right?” Trump then says

    Rip Murdock (f28e64) — 7/23/2022 @ 7:52 pm

    Less and less.

    norcal (da5491)

  212. @215 despite the claims of election deniers very little fraud was found mostly republicans voting twice or more. The states that were close like az. ga. and wi.have been rechecked again and again both by authorities and the media. In az the trumpsters did their own audit and came up with more votes for biden then the original tallies! Desouza mules hoax has been investigated by the news media that found it to be a money making scam like the stop the steal grifters. The crooks who plan to steal the election are trumpsters.

    asset (54f7f5)

  213. Anyone – Why has your guy McConnell along with the Romneycrats never proposed a budget for America? Disregard my years of nonsense, and answer a real problem.

    mg (8cbc69)

  214. “But you like me, right?” Trump then says to the crowd with an awkward chuckle.

    He is their leader. He will follow them wherever they go.

    nk (aec82c)

  215. Article 1, Section 7: All bills for raising revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives; but the Senate may propose or concur with amendments as on other Bills.

    nk (aec82c)

  216. It’s official. The ChiComs eliminated another species:

    The Chinese paddlefish was officially declared extinct in 2022, with an estimated time of extinction to be by 2005, and no later than 2010, although it had become functionally extinct by 1993.[4][5] The main cause of its decline was the construction of the Gezhouba and Three Gorges dams, causing population fragmentation and blocking the anadromous spawning migration. Overfishing also played a significant role in its demise.

    Another? Yes, they also got rid of a dolphin:

    The baiji (Chinese: 白鱀豚; pinyin: báijìtún; IPA: [pǎɪtɕîtʰwə̌n] (listen); Lipotes vexillifer, Lipotes meaning “left behind” and vexillifer “flag bearer”) is a possibly extinct species of freshwater dolphin native to the Yangtze river system in China. It is thought to be the first dolphin species driven to extinction due to the impact of humans. This dolphin is listed as “critically endangered: possibly extinct” by the IUCN, has not been seen in almost 20 years, and several surveys of the Yangtze have failed to find it.

    I think both the paddlefish and the dolphin qualify as “charismatic megafauna”, big fancy animals that get public support in the civilized parts of the world.

    Overall, the ChiCom record on the environment is terrible, possibly even worse than that of the old Soviet Union.

    Jim Miller (406a93)

  217. Was the main problem in 2017-18 the ‘Yahoo wing’?

    A President who thought his authority derived from Article Eleven of the Constitution. You know, Article II, that’s Eleven?

    Populism shmopulism! A leader of smart people will be smart, a leader of morons will be a moron.

    nk (aec82c)

  218. This is the transcript of the 8th hearing of the January 6 committee:

    https://www.rev.com/blog/transcripts/full-jan-6-committee-hearing-day-8-transcript

    I haven’t located another version yet, but NPR did previous ones I fond thiis one with a pprevious 24 hours search.

    Sammy Finkelman (b434ee)

  219. As I read through the first chapters of Birx’s Silent Invasion, I learned that the biggest mistake we made, early in the COVID pandemic, is not recognizing the three most dangerous kinds of infections from an epidemiologist’s point of view: asymptomatic, presymptomatic, and mildly symptomatic. The fourth kind, fully symptomatic, was more easily recognized, and so could be checked by quarantines, self or otherwise. She says she understood this, and shared it, weeks before she agreed, reluctantly, to be the White House COVID coordinator.

    That mistake led to many errors, for example, calling people back from China and letting them go home to spread the disease — if they weren’t showing a full set of symptoms.

    I suppose more of us need to read, or re-read, the famous story of “Typhoid Mary”, who was also asymptomatic.

    Jim Miller (406a93)

  220. Chairman Thompson: (04:02) [remotely, and possibly pre-recorded]

    But as that work goes forward, a number of facts are clear. There can be no doubt that there was a coordinated multi-step effort to overturn an election overseen and directed by Donald Trump.

    Yes, particularly if you consider the word “overseen.” Directed says too much. He didn;t direct Sidney Powell.

    There can be no doubt that he commanded a mob,

    Wrong, even if many people that day, not knowing any more, assumed he was commanding them. Although hid words were used, nd even probably supplied to him somewhat, he was not giving instructions to the mob.

    a mob he knew was heavily armed,

    Even wronger. “they” (how many?) were “heavily” (??!) armed?

    violent,

    Only after he saw it on TV – Mark Meadows and others assumed more because he knew there were some of the people involved in previous lashes with counter-demonstrators included.

    and angry

    To a limited degree. He wasn’t interested in making them more angry, but rather in making them more steadfast..

    to march on the Capital to try to stop the peaceful transfer of power.

    March TO the Capitol, not ON the Capitol. He wanted a demonstration there where he would give a speech. And he had already arranged to stopp the process for the transfer of power with Congressional Republicans — at least 12 hours of debate. His plans past that were not very well worked out, and he seemed to pin is hopes on Mike Pence — which even if \mike Peencd had gone along would not have worked. And he didn;’t want to STOP the transfer of power, because, if he did, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi would become Acting president at noon of January 20, 2021

    HE WANTED TO WIN THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE VOTE FOR THE NEXT TERM.

    Stopping everything wouldn’t help him.

    And he made targets out of his own vice president

    Yes he did. De facto if not intentionally. Since he wasn’t calling on them to storm the Capitol.

    and the lawmakers

    Some more than others.

    gathered to do the people’s work. These facts have gone undisputed.

    Only because there’s nobody competent saround.

    How can anyone say that |Trump wanted to stop the process? He wanted to win the process.

    Sammy Finkelman (b434ee)

  221. Here’s an excellent Letter to the Editor.

    Dear Matt,
    I love your work, and read everything you write. In fact, I write everything you write. My question: Who do you think would win in a footrace: Josh Hawley, running from a violent mob that he helped whip into a seditious frenzy? Or Steve Bannon, running from his new cellmate, Boo-Boo, with face tats and lust’s pure light in his eye?
    Ours,
    Matt Labash

    Thanks for the thoughtful inquiry, Matt. It’s like you’re reading my mail. But this is a pretty easy one. Have you seen Steve Bannon? He is shaped like a sack of potatoes in two shirts and a five-day beard, looks like a walking triglyceride, and likely hasn’t done any cardio since the Bush administration. (Bush The Elder, that is.) Sure, Bannon has spent the last several years in training – first, running from a congressional subpoena (why he’s headed to jail), and before that, running from his karma (Donald Trump pardoned the raging populist, who was arrested on a Chinese billionaire’s luxury yacht before he could stand trial on wire fraud and money laundering charges). But there is no way Bannon could keep up with Hawley, who has an apparently low B.M.I., who works out – even if some complain he doesn’t put the five-pound weights back on the rack in the Senate gym – and who has been running his entire life as a young man in a hurry.

    I generally don’t like to pile on someone who is already at the bottom of a dogpile, but in Josh Hawley’s case, I’ll make an exception.

    Paul Montagu (062b7e)

  222. Sammy Sammy Sammy,

    Once Trump sprayed his fighting words into a crowd that Trump had been told was armed, his intent does not matter. The Law holds him to a standard that he knew the likely consequences of his actions, even if he is as boneheaded stupid as you deduce him to be.

    While Trump pretends to be a toddler, the law holds him to be an adult. You should too.

    Appalled (7f8d9d)

  223. “Has there ever been an official statement that makes
    an American President sound weaker than the White
    House doctor saying Biden, ‘cleaned his plate’ and held
    it up to show him?”

    https://twitter.com/TimRunsHisMouth/status/1550963018636398592

    Colonel Haiku (4c1485)

  224. Be proud, NeverTrumperellas! You helped put the man in the Oval Office who’s bleeding the country dry.

    Colonel Haiku (4c1485)

  225. “Person, woman, man, camera, TV”

    Davethulhu (0b1e86)

  226. Paul Montagu (062b7e) — 7/24/2022 @ 8:52 am

    the people running from BLM and antifa violence, getting their storefronts and neighborhoods destroyed and looted, and dealing firsthand with border chaos are never the politicians like Harris and Schumer and the squad who egg it on with fist pumps

    the J6 committee wants to teach us that if you’re going to encourage a riot, make sure it’s in someone else’s neighborhood

    JF (a6d404)

  227. Matt Labash, to put is as kindly as possible, is a smirky twerp of limited intellect, education, and sensibility. Where Josh Hawley’s ambition outpaces his accomplishments, Matt Labash’s mouth (word processor?) outpaces his brain.

    nk (aec82c)

  228. Be proud, NeverTrumperellas! You helped put the man in the Oval Office who’s bleeding the country dry.

    Be proud, Trumperellas! You helped put the man in the Oval Office who made anyone else seem a better idea.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  229. Poll: Liz Cheney is down 22 points and on the cusp of getting trounced by Harriet Hageman, her Trump-backed GOP opponent

    ‘Republican Rep. Liz Cheney appears headed toward a brutal primary drubbing next month against Harriet Hageman, her Trump-backed challenge, according to an independent poll… According to a Casper Star-Tribune poll, Cheney trails Hageman 52% to 30% in a poll of likely primary voters. The same survey found that only 27% of Wyomingites have a favorable view of the top Republicans on the House January 6 committee and the eldest daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney.

    “The big story is Liz Cheney is going to get beat,” said Brad Coker, manager of the Mason Dixon Polling & Strategy, the firm that conducted the survey, told the Star-Tribune. “That’s a foregone conclusion.”‘

    https://www.businessinsider.com/poll-liz-cheney-is-down-22-points-wyoming-primary-trump-7

    DCSCA (bd3375)

  230. “Has there ever been an official statement that makes
    an American President sound weaker than the White
    House doctor saying Biden, ‘cleaned his plate’ and held
    it up to show him?”

    My God. Finished his milk, a cookie for dessert and in bed by 8 PM, too?

    … and Putin smiled, while Jinping chortled.

    Memo to Xi: Go ahead, ‘Taiwan’ on!

    DCSCA (bd3375)

  231. The 1995-98 GOP Congresses got quite a bit of stuff passed, even with President Clinton’s vetos and Bob Dole’s foot-dragging in the Senate.
    ……..
    Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 7/23/2022 @ 3:27 pm

    The current Republican Party bears no resemblance to any prior version of itself.

    Rip Murdock (f28e64)

  232. The current Republican Party bears no resemblance to any prior version of itself.

    Welcome to 1964.

    “… and that’s a good thing.” – Martha Stewart

    DCSCA (bd3375)

  233. “The current Republican Party bears no resemblance to any prior version of itself.”

    I’d wager the current R Party is closer to its predecessors than the Dim Party is to its.

    Colonel Haiku (4c1485)

  234. Hoo boy: Poll shows DeSantis within three points of Trump in Michigan
    ………
    A new Detroit News poll has it 45/42 between Trump and DeSantis in Michigan, within the margin of error. Anxiety must be rising at Mar-a-Lago over numbers like that. Yesterday I speculated that enough discouraging data for Trump might get him to reconsider running or to drop out early on some pretext if he does. But, Trump being Trump, it’s equally possible that it’ll lead him to go scorched-earth on his rival before DeSantis is prepared in hopes of halting the governor’s rise.

    Trump’s favorability rested at 76% in the July 13-15 poll compared to the 84% favorability margin he garnered in a poll of primary voters in early May that was conducted by (Richard) Czuba’s Glengariff Group and commissioned by The Detroit Regional Chamber…

    When asked about a prospective Trump-DeSantis matchup, college-educated Republicans said they supported DeSantis by a 51% to 37% margin, while Republican voters with a high school diploma supported Trump 55% to 29%.

    Among “Trump Republicans,” or those who indicated they were more a supporter of Trump than the party, Trump led the race against DeSantis 71% to 24%; and among “Classic Republicans,” those who answered they were more a supporter of the Republican Party than Trump, DeSantis led 53% to 33%, according to the poll.

    ………. Republicans divide between Trump and DeSantis along educational lines as well, with blue-collar GOPers preferring the former guy and college-educated GOPers preferring the new one.

    Which doesn’t bode well for DeSantis, as Michigan is below average across the 50 states in terms of the share of its population that’s college educated. Richard Czuba, the pollster who conducted the survey, mentions another point that doesn’t bode well for him. “It’s easy to think, ‘Oh, [Trump’s] going to have a race,’ but there is not likely going to be a one-on-one race for the nomination,” he told the Detroit News. “Donald Trump secures nearly half the vote off the top and the only way to defeat him is through a one-on-one race, which is not likely.”

    That’s a potentially insuperable problem for DeSantis fans and/or anti-Trumpers on the right. DeSantis could beat Trump in a one-on-one primary on “electability” grounds. But it’s hard to imagine him successfully engineering a one-on-one race with figures as well-known as Mike Pence already moving towards running. ……… I’m naively hoping that there’ll be an effort among major donors after the midterms to try to convince no-hopers like Pence, Mike Pompeo, Tom Cotton, Nikki Haley that there’ll be no money for them if they choose to run next year, as DeSantis is the only plausible ticket out of Trumpville. ………

    ……… If anything, Trump will probably recruit a stalking horse or two of his own to run for president with promises of favors if it leads to him being successfully reelected. I’m convinced we’ll see someone like Marjorie Taylor Greene run for the sole purpose of attacking DeSantis for Trump’s benefit.

    ……… Eventually (DeSantis is) going to have to address the subject of whether he believes the 2020 election was stolen and there’s no answer he can plausibly give that won’t alienate one of the factions he’s wooing. If he gives a full-throated “yes, it was stolen” defense, he’ll come off as a crank to some of those higher-educated Republicans who are hoping to leave behind Trumpism. But if he gives a tepid defense — “I don’t think it was rigged but there were irregularities and dubious rule changes” etc — some MAGA voters who are DeSantis-curious will conclude that he’s not a “fighter” after all. In fact, the Detroit News poll asked Michigan GOPers whether they believe Trump that the election was stolen or whether they believe the investigation of Republican leaders in the state senate, which found that no fraud occurred. Result: 59/26 for Trump.
    …………

    Rip Murdock (f28e64)

  235. Jeffrey Clark, Trump’s Man at the DOJ, Now Faces Ethics Charges for ‘False Statements’ in Draft Letter on Election Outcome

    An environmental lawyer with no experience in criminal or election law who rose to national recognition because of his apparent willingness to pursue Donald Trump’s election fraud conspiracy theories to the ends of the earth now faces ethics charges.
    ………
    On Friday, the morning after the latest hearing, it was first reported that the D.C. Bar Office of Disciplinary Counsel filed ethics charges against Clark.

    The specification of charges said that Clark violated D.C. Rules of Professional Conduct 8.4(a) and (c) (“in that Respondent attempted to engage in conduct involving dishonesty, by sending the Proof of Concept letter containing false statements”) and Rules 8.4(a) and (d) (“in that Respondent attempted to engage in conduct that would seriously interfere with the administration of justice”).
    ……….

    15. The Proof of Concept letter stated that the Department of Justice had “identified significant concerns that may have impacted the outcome of the election in multiple States, including the State of Georgia.” This statement was false. The Department was aware of no allegations of election fraud in Georgia that would have affected the results of the presidential election.

    16. The Proof of Concept letter stated that the Department of Justice found “troubling the current posture of a pending lawsuit in Fulton County” and the “litigation’s sluggish pace.”. This statement was false. The Department had no involvement in the Fulton County case and was not concerned by its lack of progress.

    17. The Proof of Concept letter stated that the Department of Justice believed “that in Georgia . . . both a slate of electors supporting Joseph R. Biden, Jr., and a separate slate of electors supporting Donald J. Trump, gathered on that day at the proper location to cast their ballots, and that both sets of those ballots have been transmitted to Washington, D.C., to be opened by Vice President Pence.” This statement was misleading. The Governor of Georgia had certified a slate of electors to the Electoral College pledged to Joseph Biden, and there was no legitimate alternative slate of Georgia electors pledged to Donald Trump.

    18. The Proof of Concept letter stated that the Department of Justice had concluded that the Governor should convene a special session of the Georgia legislature. This statement was false. The Department had not made such a determination.

    19. The Proof of Concept letter stated that the Department had concluded that if the Governor refused to convene a special session of the Georgia legislature, the legislature had the authority to do so on its own initiative. This statement was false. The Department had made no such determination.

    A spokesperson for The Center for Renewing America, where Clark is a senior fellow, reportedly responded to the news by calling it an “attack” on the “legal qualifications” of an “American hero.”
    ……….

    Rip Murdock (f28e64)

  236. A spokesperson for The Center for Renewing America, where Clark is a senior fellow, reportedly responded to the news by calling it an “attack” on the “legal qualifications” of an “American hero.”

    Rip Murdock (f28e64) — 7/24/2022 @ 11:38 am

    Yes, in service to another American “hero”. 🙄

    The sh!tshow will continue until the voters improve.

    norcal (da5491)

  237. Republican leading Wisconsin’s Assembly election committee calls for decertifying Trump’s 2020 loss
    ……..
    Rep. Janel Brandtjen, a Republican from Menomonee Falls who was endorsed by Trump earlier this year, said Friday she was joining Republican candidate for governor Tim Ramthun’s push to overturn the last presidential election because “tyranny is at Wisconsin’s door.”

    “We have been told for months now that decertification is impossible, meaning there is no downside to cheating in Wisconsin elections. How many more times do we need to endure this election injustice?” she wrote in a statement.
    ……..
    Since (the 2020 election), Trump has called on Assembly Speaker Robin Vos to decertify the 2020 election — an idea that legal experts and scholars, including Trump’s former campaign attorney and nonpartisan lawyers who work for the state Legislature, have said is impossible and unconstitutional.

    Vos has rejected such calls from Trump, Ramthun and other Wisconsin Republicans to do so.

    A spokeswoman for Vos did not answer whether Brandtjen, whom he appointed as chairwoman of the Assembly’s elections committee, should continue to lead the panel.
    ……….
    “Absolutely not. It was a mistake that I think Robin Vos has admitted to,” Sen. Kathy Bernier, R-Chippewa Falls, (the Republican chairwoman of the Senate’s elections committee) said about whether Brandtjen should continue leading the Assembly’s elections committee. “And she will not ever be the head of an election committee ever again.”

    “There is absolutely no proof that Donald Trump actually got more votes in the state of Wisconsin. And so even if you could, even if there were a provision legally to decertify an election, the proof has not been provided to even do it. If there was even a provision that allowed for it. There is not enough proof,” Bernier said.
    #########

    Rip Murdock (f28e64)

  238. Sammy, if Trump didn’t want a violent confrontation at the Capitol, then why did he not tweet for the mob to cease and desist? Especially after all of his closest staff, advisors, and family repeatedly urged him to do so. You seem stuck in a literalist infinite loop.

    AJ_Liberty (7505b1)

  239. Trump dominates 2024 GOP presidential nomination straw poll at Turning Point USA summit
    ………
    TPUSA polled conference attendees—youth activists from around the country—who they would vote for in 2024 if Trump decided to launch another White House run. …….

    78.7% attendees said they would vote for Trump.

    19% said they would vote for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis,
    1% said they’d vote for South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem,
    0.5% said they’d vote for former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo;
    0.3% said they would vote for Sen. Ted Cruz,
    0.3% said they’d vote for former Amb. Nikki Haley; and
    0.3% said they’d vote for former Vice President Mike Pence.
    ………
    30.3% of attendees said California Gov. Gavin Newsom would be the most difficult for a Republican to beat; 13.6% said former First Lady Michelle Obama;
    10.5% said former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton;
    10.3% said Sen. Bernie Sanders;
    7.9% said Vice President Kamala Harris; and
    5.9% said Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

    Just 4.4% of attendees said President Biden would be the most difficult for a Republican candidate to beat in 2024.

    Attendees were also polled on whether they approved or disapproved of the Republican establishment in Washington D.C.— with 92.7% saying they disapprove and 7.3% saying they approve.

    73.8% of conference attendees said they are not confident that the Republican Party can communicate with younger voters, while 26.2% said they are.
    ……….

    Nothing shocking here. The cult abides.

    Paragraphs reformatted.

    Rip Murdock (f28e64)

  240. Trump Says He ‘Kinda Liked’ That Taliban Called Him ‘Your Excellency’
    At a speech to loyalists Saturday night, former President Donald Trump said he “kinda liked that” when the head of the Taliban called him “Your Excellency.” He seemed to be referring to details of a phone call with Abdul Ghani Baradar, who served as the Taliban’s chief negotiator during a peace deal signed in 2020 that ultimately led to the group’s retaking of Afghanistan last year.

    Trump’s king-making comment came during a rambling speech at Turning Point USA, a conservative conference in Tampa, Florida. ……..
    ………

    Rip Murdock (f28e64)

  241. Damn, these Biden supporters sure want to distract from the litany of current woes created by Dementia Joe. Keep ‘em coming, tuggers…

    Colonel Haiku (4c1485)

  242. @251 trump’s nonstop trolling has them freaked out like mean tweets never did

    JF (a6d404)

  243. Trump is getting more attention than ever. I recently spent time with a sibling who asked if I have started to watch TV again. “No,” I said.

    This sibling asked me how long it would take for Trump’s name to come up on CNN. I wagered ten minutes. My sibling turned on the TV and withing ten seconds, “Trump” was said.

    felipe (484255)

  244. Rep. Liz Cheney says 2024 presidential campaign decision will come ‘down the road’

    Rep. Liz Cheney, ousted from her GOP leadership position in Congress for her anti-Donald Trump stance, said Sunday she’s undecided about whether she will mount her own darkhorse 2024 bid for the presidency. Despite being a staunch conservative, the Wyoming Republican faces a steep uphill battle to hold on to her seat in Congress thanks to her position against the former president and her role in investigating his efforts to overturn the 2020 election as part of the Jan. 6 House committee.

    “I have not made a decision on 2024,” Ms. Cheney told CNN’s “State of the Union.” “I am really very focused on the substance of what we have to do on the select committee, very focused on the work that I have to do to represent the people of Wyoming. I’ll make a decision on 2024 down the road.”

    https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2022/jul/24/rep-liz-cheney-says-2024-presidential-campaign-dec/

    WTF? Wyoming is going to make the decision on 2024 for you on August 16, Daughter Darth. A Double-D gal fer sure: dense and delusional. Wake up, Neocon; populism has condemned you to the ash heap of history. Thank God:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsoqRvYqWDg&t=2s

    DCSCA (743bd9)

  245. ‘Hollywood Ten’ were the last people jailed for contempt of Congress

    Stephen K. Bannon could become the first person sent to jail for contempt of Congress since the “Hollywood Ten” in 1948.
    ………
    The 10 men known as the “Hollywood Ten” were movie writers, directors and producers who refused to tell the controversial House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) whether they were Communists.
    ………
    When screenwriter John Howard Lawson asked permission to read a statement, Chairman Thomas refused after seeing the first sentence, which according to the New York Times said, “Rational people don’t argue with dirt.” Lawson got into a shouting match with lawmakers and charged the committee with using “Hitler techniques of creating a scare.” When he refused to say whether he was a Communist or to name others, the committee cited him with contempt.

    The next day, the panel cited three more writers with contempt: Albert Maltz, Alvah Bessie and Dalton Trumbo, writer of the 1944 film “Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo.” At the week’s third hearings
    (sic), four more men were cited: screenwriters Herbert Biberman and Samuel Ornitz, along with Edward Dmytryk, director of the movie “Crossfire” (about antisemitism), and the film’s producer, Adrian Scott.

    On the final day of the hearings, writers Lester Cole and Ring Lardner Jr. also refused to cooperate. When Lardner, the Academy Award-winning writer of the 1942 film “Woman of the Year,” was ordered to answer the question about being a Communist, he replied, “I could answer it, but I’d hate myself in the morning if I did.”
    ………
    By mid-1950, all 10 men had been sentenced to prison. Eight of them received one-year sentences and a $1,000 fine, equal to about $12,000 today. Dmytryk and Biberman got six months in prison.
    ………
    In 1957, the Supreme Court in a 6-1 decision scaled back the HUAC’s powers by overturning the conviction of labor organizer John Watkins for refusing to name Communists in the labor movement. Since then, only two people have pleaded guilty to contempt of Congress charges: Nixon aide G. Gordon Liddy and former Nixon attorney general Richard Kleindienst. Neither went to jail on those charges.
    ………
    ……… In 1950, two of the Hollywood Ten — Cole and Lardner — got some consolation when they served time at the federal penitentiary in Danbury, Conn. An inmate there was former HUAC chairman Thomas, who had been convicted of congressional payroll padding. Before his conviction, Thomas had refused to testify before a grand jury on the grounds that he might incriminate himself.
    #########

    Dmytryk was released from prison early by naming others who were allegedly Communists. After his release, Trumbo won two Oscars (Roman Holiday” in 1954 and “The Brave One” in 1957) using front writers. Lardner received an Oscar in 1972 for M*A*S*H.

    Rip Murdock (f28e64)

  246. Paul Montagu (062b7e) — 7/24/2022 @ 8:52 am

    Ah, prison rape jokes. That’s how you know you’ve found a person of character, intellect, and education.

    frosty (8ab5aa)

  247. I don’t see how reporting Trump’s remarks is a bad thing.

    And I don’t care a thing about Biden. He never enters my thinking.

    Rip Murdock (f28e64)

  248. @246. That’s almost as funny as Daughter Darth running for POTUS in 2024!

    He could have said, “We’re all out of corn flakes. F.U.” — pulled a Scotty and hit ‘manual override.’ But he didn’t. After all, The Big Dick said, ” “When the president does it, that means it is not illegal.”

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9rQMheu2Tg&t=11s

    “Heil myself.” – Bronski [Tom Dugan] ‘To Be Or Not To Be’ 1942

    DCSCA (743bd9)

  249. Trump wanted to give himself the Medal of Honor.

    https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/trump-peeved-he-couldn-t-give-himself-the-medal-of-honor-they-wouldn-t-let-me-do-it-video/ar-AAZVa1Y?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=d4e982507a8e4dd78dffd7e9689d7a99

    Good God.

    Is there anyone here who still defends this dirtbag?

    norcal (da5491) — 7/24/2022 @ 12:16 pm

    They are really going to cry that the prez who screwed up America is ‘living rent free in your mind!’ That’s a horrible story! What a disgrace!

    Makes it pretty obvious why Joe Biden kicked Trump’s ass. Biden may not technically be alive, but he’s still the better man. If you’re grading on a curve, Biden passes the “2020 election” test and Trump fails. Joe Biden: not good, but good enough to crush Trump.

    After 4 years of Trump’s ultra-far-left policies and his BS about how he’s really super conservative, I just don’t care. The GOP can tell me whatever, I am not listening. I don’t care. The cities are ruined, disease, food, national security, all ruined. Happened on Trump’s watch. He made immigration a lot worse, spending, worshiped the bad guys. All Trump fans have is to whatabout some exaggerated version of the other side, which is all the other side has too. Just a load of BS, and at some point the fangirls on both sides trying to screech about it on the internet need to go outside and touch some grass, eat some fruit, exercise, just get over their doritos and internet wars. Of effing die. They are already dead anyway if defending politicians is life to them. Read DCSCA’s comments for 30 seconds and tell me this loser isn’t already in his own hell.

    Dustin (f01c00)

  250. frosty (8ab5aa) — 7/24/2022 @ 1:38 pm

    “All hell is going to break loose tomorrow. Just understand this. All hell is going to break loose tomorrow. It’s gonna be moving. It’s gonna be quick.”
    –Steve Bannon, 1/5/2021

    I’d say Labash was merely talking down to Bannon’s level.

    Paul Montagu (062b7e)

  251. A Sunday Miracle: Fox News Audience Exposed to Jan. 6 Truth During Liz Cheney Interview
    ………
    Early in the interview, Baier tried to pin some of the blame for Jan. 6 on Democratic leadership and Capitol Police. “What will the committee’s report have to say about why the assets, like the National Guard, weren’t prepped and ready? Is there testimony already gathered on Speaker Pelosi’s decisions or the Sergeant at Arms of the House and Senate on that regard?” he asked.

    “We have an entire team — we have five different teams in the investigation — one of them is totally focused on all of those issues of security at the Capitol and the response of Capitol Police, the response of the National Guard, the response of the Capitol Police board, what was going on at the Pentagon that day,” Cheney said. “It’s an entire focus of the investigation, you will see it in our report, you will likely see an upcoming hearing.”
    ………
    “We also know that on Jan. 6 while the attack was underway, Donald Trump did not place a single phone call to anyone at the Pentagon. He didn’t place a single phone call to anyone at the Justice Department to say, ‘Deploy law enforcement,’” Cheney said, adding, “The notion that somehow he issued an order is not consistent with the facts.”

    Cheney then shot down Baier’s attempts to paint the committee as unfair because the other side can’t “put forth a defense, there is no cross-examination” and because the Republican members of the committee were not nominated by their own party.
    ………
    “After (House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy) negotiated with the Democrats and got all of the terms he wanted, he pulled the rug out from under the Republicans who were supporting it and made sure that it was defeated in the Senate,” Cheney said. “Once the outside, bipartisan commission was defeated, the only alternative left to us was this committee.” McCarthy also withdrew all of his nominations to the committee after Pelosi rejected two of them “with good reason,” she added.

    “The notion now that somehow the committee is incapable of getting to the facts of what happened because Kevin McCarthy withdrew his nominees is nonsensical,” Cheney said before pointing out that all of the witnesses so far have been Republicans.
    ………
    “Look, it’s not just me that is saying that Donald Trump is unfit for office. It’s other entities owned by Rupert Murdoch,” Cheney said. “It’s the New York Post in their editorial on Friday. It’s the Wall Street Journal — said the same thing after our hearing on Thursday night.”

    …….
    Heresy” indeed.

    Rip Murdock (f28e64)

  252. @255. Trumbo quilled Spartacus, Exodus, Kitty Foyle, Gun Crazy and several other classics along w/Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo. Anybody who finds Congress contemptable deserves the MoH- -and you notice when the chip were down, the Hollywood Ten didn’t run away- like Hawley and Pierre Delecto. But then, you’re a fan of imprisoning reporters, too. This freedom of speech thingy is such a PITA, ain’t it, comrade. 😉

    DCSCA (743bd9)

  253. @259. =yawn=

    Dustin: ‘Ivana Trump was buried at Donald Trump’s Bedminster, New Jersey, golf course. The 10-plot graveyard overlooks the first hole of the golf course. which the NY Times noted marks, “in a way, the former couple’s final joint real estate deal.”’

    https://nypost.com/2022/07/20/this-is-where-ivana-trump-was-buried/

    Wanna visit her grave? Pay the greens fees.

    DCSCA (743bd9)

  254. @261. “Look, it’s not just me that is saying that Donald Trump is unfit for office.” Cheney said.

    Pfft. What’s the Wyoming GOP saying, Daughter Darth? You can tell us all about “being unfit for office”– on August 16.

    DCSCA (743bd9)

  255. U.S. women run to surprise gold in 4×100 relay at World Championships; American men take silver
    ………
    The men’s and women’s 4×100 medal races were held at the World Athletics Championships, and neither favorite won gold, instead taking silver.

    In the women’s race, the United States earned a surprise win, with Twanisha “TeeTee” Terry holding off Jamaica’s Shericka Jackson down the final straightaway for a title-winning time of 41.14 seconds, the third-fastest ever.
    ………
    It was the eighth Worlds gold in the sprint relay for the American women.
    ………
    In the men’s race, the U.S. were favored. They had swept the 100 and 200, and even without 100 gold medal winner Fred Kerley available after he suffered an injury in the 200 final, the Americans put a strong team on the track. And even better, they kept the same quartet and order from the qualifying round to the final, presumably meaning there was a measure of familiarity and that the chances of a major mistake were minimized.

    But it was not to be. Christian Coleman led off, but his handoff to 200 champion Noah Lyles was imperfect. Third leg runer Elijah Hall did his job, and anchor Marvin Bracy had a lead.

    But Canada’s Andre DeGrasse, the Tokyo Olympics 200 champion who has dealt with a foot injury and two bouts of COVID this year, which has meant a disappointing season for him, would not disappoint on Saturday night. DeGrasse caught and passed Bracy to give Canada the gold in 37.48 seconds.

    The United States’ silver-medal winning time was 37.55, while Great Britain won bronze in 37.83.
    ……….

    Rip Murdock (f28e64)

  256. A real moral force’: Conservatives praise Pence for being courageous on Jan. 6
    ………
    During a meeting of the Republican Study Committee, the largest caucus of conservatives in Congress, Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, stood up and thanked Pence for his “courage and standing for the Constitution and certifying” President Joe Biden’s election win, according to Rep. French Hill, R-Ark., and two other Republicans who attended the meeting.

    Roy’s comments received “sustained applause” in the room, Hill told NBC News. “I commend Vice President Pence for standing for the Constitution and doing his duty under duress,” Hill said.

    “Let me just say the vice president is a real moral force. He’s a real true leader and he’s earned the respect of Republicans and other Americans all over this country,” Rep. Andy Barr, R-Ky., told reporters as he left the meeting at the Capitol Hill Club, near the Capitol complex.
    ………
    Leaving the meeting, Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., told reporters “people were encouraging him in there” to run for president.
    ………
    The former vice president “talked about how Republicans can put forth an agenda to help us win and not just win in November but to focus on when we get the majority back,” said RSC Chair Jim Banks, R-Ind., a hoosier like Pence. “And the agenda was well received.”
    ……….
    “The truth is there’s almost no idea more un-American than the notion that any one person could choose the American president,” Pence said (at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in) June 2021. “The presidency belongs to the American people and the American people alone.”
    #########

    MAGAWorld is not amused.

    Rip Murdock (f28e64)

  257. It’s Scold Sunday!?!?

    Colonel Haiku (4c1485)

  258. @267. ROFLMAOPIP Depressing? Maybe for you; on the contrary; it utterly hilarious for me- and right in character with the incompetent, entrenched, be-robed bunch of bungling, bumbling bureaucrats who cannot keep track of a set of papers yet presume to opine on how 330 million people should live. They can’t keep their own house in order yet tell you how to live in yours– and still take 3 months off– because they’re government paper jockeys unafraid of losing their jobs– while hard working Americans who pay their salaries slave for two weeks off, if they’re lucky.

    They’ve become a joke– and with them, the laughable rule of law; a punchline for late night comedy skits- and the boobs have done it to themselves:

    New poll shows less than 40% of Americans approve of SCOTUS

    (KYMA, KECY/ CNN) – Americans’ approval of the Supreme Court is falling, according to a new poll released Wednesday morning. Just 38% of the country now says it approves of the nation’s highest court, which happens to be a stark drop from just a year ago when that number was 60%. The poll — conducted by Marquette Law School — was taken soon after the court’s recent Roe v. Wade ruling. It shows a dramatic shift in public opinion from even its March poll, when a majority of Americans still showed approval for the court.

    https://kyma.com/news/top-stories/2022/07/20/new-poll-shows-less-than-40-of-americans-approve-of-scotus/

    Woo-hoo! Bring on The Dancing Alitos! 2 shows nightly, October through June; and 2 drink minimum, eh, Brett?!

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQezL9pLUN4&t=1s

    DCSCA (5979b3)

  259. LOL…

    ‘Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), vice chair of the House select committee investigating the Jan 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, reiterated on Sunday that she hasn’t decided whether she will run for president in 2024.
    Cheney, who is in a tough reelection bid for her congressional seat in Wyoming, was answering a question by CNN’s Jake Tapper on “State of the Union” having just come off the committee’s eighth high-profile public hearing she is helping lead.

    “At this point, I haven’t made a decision on 2024 …. I’ll make a decision on 2024 down the road,” Cheney said, adding that she is focused on her work with the Jan. 6 committee.‘

    https://thehill.com/homenews/sunday-talk-shows/3572066-cheney-reiterates-she-hasnt-decided-on-running-for-president-in-2024/

    Colonel Haiku (0330cf)

  260. @267. First video of SCOTUS deliberations released!

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

    Who has the better gams– Kagan, Sotomayor, Barrett, Jackson…Thomas or Alito? Gorsuch and Kavanaugh are drinking lunch in the bar; but Roberts is a helluva hoofer in that straw skimmer. 😉

    DCSCA (5979b3)

  261. Dustin: ‘Ivana Trump was buried at Donald Trump’s Bedminster, New Jersey, golf course. The 10-plot graveyard overlooks the first hole of the golf course. which the NY Times noted marks, “in a way, the former couple’s final joint real estate deal.”’

    https://nypost.com/2022/07/20/this-is-where-ivana-trump-was-buried/

    Wanna visit her grave? Pay the greens fees.

    DCSCA (743bd9) — 7/24/2022 @ 2:17 pm

    I have no idea what you’re talking about. Ivana passed away? I hope she’s in a better place.

    The book, by former Texas Monthly and Newsweek reporter Harry Hurt III, described a harrowing scene. After a painful scalp reduction surgery to remove a bald spot, Donald Trump confronted his then-wife, who had previously used the same plastic surgeon.

    “Your fucking doctor has ruined me!” Trump cried.

    What followed was a “violent assault,” according to Lost Tycoon. Donald held back Ivana’s arms and began to pull out fistfuls of hair from her scalp, as if to mirror the pain he felt from his own operation. He tore off her clothes and unzipped his pants.

    “Then he jams his penis inside her for the first time in more than sixteen months. Ivana is terrified… It is a violent assault,” Hurt writes. “According to versions she repeats to some of her closest confidantes, ‘he raped me.’”

    Following the incident, Ivana ran upstairs, hid behind a locked door, and remained there “crying for the rest of night.” When she returned to the master bedroom in the morning, he was there.

    “As she looks in horror at the ripped-out hair scattered all over the bed, he glares at her and asks with menacing casualness: ‘Does it hurt?’” Hurt writes.

    Donald Trump has previously denied the allegation. In the book, he denies having had the scalp reduction surgery.

    Seems like she probably is I guess. Keeps wasting your life defending trash and trolling blogs that criticize your trash politician, or go outside, touch some grass, meet real people. Doesn’t matter to me. If anything, seeing you like this is actually amusing. You deserve it.

    Dustin (f01c00)

  262. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene Says GOP ‘Should Be Christian Nationalists’ Party

    The Republican Party’s primary focus this year should be on making the political party one of Christian nationalism, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) said Saturday.

    “We need to be the party of nationalism and I’m a Christian, and I say it proudly, we should be Christian nationalists,” she said in an interview with the conservative Next News Network while attending the Turning Point USA Student Action Summit in Florida.
    ……..
    “When Republicans learn to represent most of the people that vote for them, then we will be the party that continues to grow without having to chase down certain identities or chase down certain segments of people,” she said. “We just need to represent Americans and most Americans, no matter how they vote, really care about the same things and I want to see Republicans actually do their job.”
    ………

    Rip Murdock (f28e64)

  263. https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2022/07/biden-appoints-pro-crime-appellate-judge.php
    Never Trumpers love them some dementia joe appointments.

    mg (8cbc69)

  264. How close is the Senate race between Mike Lee and Evan McMullin in Utah? Here’s the latest poll
    ………
    The survey of 801 registered Utah voters shows 41% would vote for Lee and 36% for McMullin if the general election were held today. Another 14% would choose another candidate (two third-party candidates are on the ballot) and 8% don’t know who they would vote for.
    ………
    “Utah has not seen a Senate race this competitive in decades. Both Lee and McMullin have a base of support locked in and will spend the next few months in a contentious fight to win over the few who remain undecided,” said Jason Perry, director of the Hinckley Institute of Politics at the University of Utah.

    “This race is going to be expensive with tremendous outside interest.”
    ………
    The latest survey also found 46% of Utahns approve of the job Lee is doing in the Senate, up slightly from a poll earlier this year. But at the same time, his disapproval rating has ballooned to 47%, including more than a third who strongly disapprove of the two-term senator’s performance. Only 7% of those polled didn’t have an opinion.

    …….. The Utah Democratic Party did not nominate a candidate in the Senate race but endorsed McMullin, maintaining that he has a better shot to oust Lee than one of their own. A Democrat has not won a U.S. Senate race in Utah since 1970.
    ………
    The poll shows McMullin has strong support among Democrats in Utah, with 63% of those polled saying they would vote for him. It also found 28% of Republicans would vote for McMullin, along with 41% who say they don’t belong to either major party.

    Lee, who is endorsed by Trump, continues to enjoy a solid GOP base as 57% of Republicans polled said they would vote for him. Just over a quarter of those who aren’t affiliated with the Republican or Democratic parties favor Lee.
    ………
    The survey also found Lee has higher support among men, while McMullin has more support among women. Voters ages 40 and under favored McMullin, while voters over that age preferred Lee.
    ……….

    Top lines not available.

    Rip Murdock (f28e64)

  265. McMullin?… oh, yeah… the guy what hasn’t paid people owed for his last campaign.

    Lee is a cinch.

    Colonel Haiku (0330cf)

  266. Mike Lee is the son of Rex Lee, who was the president of BYU when I went to school there.

    Rex Lee would not approve of his son’s support of Trump, and neither do many Utahns. That’s why the race is close.

    Mike Lee really blew it when he compared Trump to Captain Moroni, a heroic figure in the Book of Mormon. That turned off a significant number of Mormons.

    norcal (da5491)

  267. “Apr 25, 2022 — Utah’s Democratic Party declined to endorse one of its own and instead is supporting independent never-Trumper Evan McMullin in his bid …”

    —- WaPoo

    Colonel Haiku (0330cf)

  268. As goes Trump, goes Lee.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  269. Biden isn’t on the ballot in Utah.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  270. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene Says GOP ‘Should Be Christian Nationalists’ Party

    She should be ejected from the House.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  271. The best of all possible worlds: The Biden administration puts Trump in prison before the midterms and his supporters get even at the polls. Bad Democrats.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  272. 435 tails wagging the dog. From AOC to MTG to McCarthy to Pelosi, and all in-between, each and everyone of them says what they need to say to get 200,000 or so voters in their respective districts to let them keep their jobs, and then they go to DC and f**k up the whole country. And put people who sass them in jail.

    nk (ec03fc)

  273. The best of all possible worlds: The Biden administration puts Trump in prison before the midterms and his supporters get even at the polls. Bad Democrats.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 7/24/2022 @ 6:52 pm

    I don’t see how Trump actually goes to prison or anything fun like that. He’s a world renowned loser and will always be known for how he handled losing. You’re probably right the election will be a bloodbath for Team D, but it’s just going to keep swinging back and forth, losers paying for poor performance. The only way to stop it is for an honest leader to stop trying to solve everything, stop trying to pay everyone goodies, and give the nation a chance with government out of the way. That’s why Trump failed, he was the most liberal president we ever had.

    Dustin (f01c00)

  274. Republicans did the same with Joe Lieberman when he was primaried by Ned Lamont in 2006. Even more so, since there was a Republican candidate on the ballot.

    According to columnist Steve Kornacki, Lieberman was therefore “able to run in the general election as the de facto Republican candidate – every major Republican office-holder in the state endorsed him – and to supplement that GOP base with strong support from independents.”[28]

    nk (ec03fc)

  275. Biden has upper respiratory infection but ‘doing just fine’ says White House pandemic coordinator. -TheHill.com

    Bullsh-t.

    Nobody w/an upper respiratory infection- let alone Covid, and especially a near 80 year old w/a questionable health history- is “doing just fine.”

    DCSCA (5979b3)

  276. Gavin newsome is positioning himself for 2024. If biden expires vp kamala would be awkward for gavin. Same for buttgeig.

    asset (f00a04)

  277. Gavin has a problem in that no one likes California.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  278. McMullin in 2016 condemned Trump for not being adequately critical of Roe. Now, I guess McMullin supports Roe? Or doesn’t support Roe, but opposes overturning Roe? Or supports codifying Roe (i.e., unrestricted abortion)? It’s unclear. I gather that the politics of Utah are about compromise, ‘coming together,’ etc. Okay. But when the Democrats put their unrestricted-abortion bill up for a vote, will McMullin be a yea or nay?

    What explains his change in position? The same thing that explains why many anti-Trump ex-Republicans are suddenly in favor Roe/unrestricted abortion: new professional incentives. If you run a website where your readers are now Democrats, or an ad agency where your donors are now Democrats, or a political campaign where your voters are now Democrats, are you likely to emphasize that you are pro-life? (No.) None of this is surprising, or unique to anti-Trump ex-Republicans. It is jarring, however, coming from people who loudly advertise that they are “principled,” and attack everyone else for a lack of principle.

    mikeybates (1a8416)

  279. Gavin newsome is positioning himself for 2024.

    …by bending over w/a Vaseline jar in hand.

    A legend in his own mind; water beads in his shadow and he was once married to Don Jr.’s main squeeze, Kimberly Guilfoyle. Hot presidential timber– from the blazing fires in California’s Sequoia National Park. Bring your own marshmellows.

    DCSCA (e785b6)

  280. Two dead, five wounded in shooting at Los Angeles park

    ‘(Reuters) -Two people were shot dead and five others wounded by gunfire at Los Angeles park on Sunday after shooting broke out at an informal car show in the community of San Pedro, the Los Angeles Fire Department said.

    Paramedics took seven people to area hospitals, and two of them, a man and a woman, later died from their wounds, said Brian Humphrey, a fire department spokesman.

    The shooting victims, four men and three women, ranged in age from 23 to 54, Humphrey said, but he could offer no information about what caused the confrontation.’

    DCSCA (550744)

  281. 3 teens shot, 1 killed at Exxon gas station in southeast Houston, police say

    Three teens were shot and one was killed late Saturday in southeast Houston, police said.

    The shooting happened around 10:20 p.m. Saturday at an Exxon gas station in the 13000 block of Astoria Boulevard, police said. The three young men were in a parked car when two gunmen ambushed them, firing into the black Chevrolet. – HoustonChronicle.com

    DCSCA (550744)

  282. So, it’s looking like some of the Trump-backed Senate candidates that the GOP needs to take back the Senate are cratering. JD Vance might even lose Ohio (rated solid R).

    I’m sure it will be someone else’s fault.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  283. Three teens were shot and one was killed late Saturday in southeast Houston, police said.

    Do you have any idea just how terrible the weather is this time of year in Houston? It’s surprising that there aren’t a lot more shootings.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  284. @291 Democrat primary voters want every state to be california. Blacks won’t vote for buttgeig which is why he collapsed after Iowa and harris collapsed before the first primary. Newsom/AOC 2024 as newsome will need the left and latinx otherwise they will have to pick another black woman. On a lighter note anybody see the end of the nascar race where holy joe gibbs was kneeling down after the race praying with crew that they didn’t get caught cheating. (they did) To bad they didn’t interveiw his bible thumping punk grandson ty.

    asset (f00a04)

  285. https://citizenfreepress.com/breaking/young-woman-breaks-down-crying-over-her-vaccine-injuries-this-is-heartbreaking/
    What a fricking scam the Chicoms pulled. And the republicans are in on it. Praying they lose it all in November. There has never been more of a pathetic group of a holes than the big tent flock.

    mg (8cbc69)

  286. Republicans are COWARDS

    mg (8cbc69)

  287. Apologies to Beldar, but to many, Houston ain’t really Texas.

    urbanleftbehind (29417f)

  288. @TulsiGabbard
    “Steve Bannon has been charged with contempt of Congress & found guilty, while Brennan, Clapper & others who lied to Congress have never been charged or prosecuted. This just shows yet again how the DOJ has been weaponized by those in power to go after their political opponents.”

    Colonel Haiku (0330cf)

  289. I’d say Labash was merely talking down to Bannon’s level.

    Paul Montagu (062b7e) — 7/24/2022 @ 1:56 pm

    I wasn’t really talking about Labash but sure him too.

    frosty (b0f549)

  290. All that is left of NASCAR these days is the name. It’s just another road race. The “cheating” was a deviation from uniformity of the front end of the vehicles.

    nk (92c481)

  291. @290 Mikey: “Okay. But when the Democrats put their unrestricted-abortion bill up for a vote, will McMullin be a yea or nay?”

    https://www.sltrib.com/news/politics/2022/05/10/overturning-roe-v-wade/

    Despite McMullin’s Roe reversal, his staunchly anti-abortion position has remained consistent. He is anti-abortion and favors policies to reduce unwanted pregnancies, a stance that is not inconsistent with his 2016 presidential campaign.

    “I think the way to move forward is found in data that says very clearly when we make long-term reversible contraception more available, the abortion rate declines. We should do more to support women and families, and children. That’s what actually lowers the abortion rate in America,” McMullin said.

    AJ_Liberty (7505b1)

  292. @290: The sub-heading of that article says: “Independent U.S. Senate candidate favored overturning Roe in 2016, but now opposes the move.” Oh, okay. So McMullin now supports Roe. Does it say how he would vote on the unrestricted-abortion bill? I didn’t see anything about that. He still says he “opposes abortion.” So he opposes abortion, but also opposes any legal restrictions on it. In other words the standard Democratic party position, with a sop to pro-lifers. Further on in the piece he says that Lee is an “opportunist” on the issue. Good grief.

    This is a moment of great promise but also great peril for the pro-life movement. It’s a shame to see so many erstwhile friends of the movement standing on the other side.

    mikeybates (2970e0)

  293. I wasn’t really talking about Labash but sure him too.

    Of course you weren’t.

    “As much and as important as that leadership is, the true thing that you’ve done, which is stunning, if you look at the evidence of doubt of the facts, you are one of the great thinkers of this. That is very rare. You’ve got to go back almost to the revolutionary generation and see that.”
    –Steve Bannon, highbrow unibrow intellectual, praising Alex Jones, showman, 7/23/2022

    Paul Montagu (062b7e)

  294. Well we already know the democrats are the anti-white, anti-male, anti-American party. And they welcome the America haters and bigots. Carry on

    NJRob (ef11e1)

  295. One of the strangest things about the Trump debate is how reluctant everyone is to charge a former president with crimes. The Founders had no such reluctance and spent quite a bit of time during the Constitutional Convention dealing with the idea of a criminal Executive.

    Not only did they deal with it as far as Impeachment was concerned, but the discussion of the Pardon power was informed greatly by the worry about how a criminal Executive might misuse it. A sizable minority wanted to limit the power by excluding Treason from the list of pardonable offenses. Among other things, they worried that he would attempt to pardon all his minions to prevent prosecutors from leveraging their guilt into testimony.

    The only thing they didn’t worry about, did not even discuss, was the notion that the Executive could pardon himself. Given the detail in which they discussed the Pardon power, it’s clear they never even considered a self-pardon possible.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  296. Well we already know the democrats are the anti-white, anti-male, anti-American party. And they welcome the America haters and bigots.

    The Democrats say that the GOP is the anti-minority, anti-Jew, anti-woman, anti-equality party. And that they not only welcome, but recruit, bigots of all stripes.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  297. Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 7/25/2022 @ 8:45 am

    it’s clear they never even considered a self-pardon possible.

    More likely, they didn’t consider a scenario where a president would to pardon himself, and then leave office but not the country.

    And they considered that as long as a president remained in office, he could prevent prosecutions.

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  298. https://legalinsurrection.com/2022/07/pennsylvania-man-awaiting-sentencing-over-january-6th-commits-suicide/

    Soviet style show trials get another pound of flesh.

    But Colbert’s crew get off scot free.

    NJRob (eb56c3)

  299. The Democrats say that the GOP is the anti-minority, anti-Jew, anti-woman, anti-equality party. And that they not only welcome, but recruit, bigots of all stripes.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 7/25/2022 @ 8:50 am

    Of course they say that. It’s because they are he anti-white, anti-male, anti-American party. And they welcome the America haters and bigots. Carry on.

    Leftists love too project.

    NJRob (eb56c3)

  300. to project*

    NJRob (eb56c3)

  301. AJ_Liberty (7505b1) — 7/25/2022 @ 6:03 am

    So McMuffin has the same position as stalwart Catholics Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi. Thanks for clearing that up.

    NJRob (eb56c3)

  302. @74 JVW

    Honestly, though, every GOP candidate should be on this plan.

    The problem is though, whembly, that we reason we instituted Civil Service reform (thank you, President Arthur!) is because we didn’t want the federal bureaucracy to become just a den of patronage for political hacks. What those fine folks in the 47th Congress couldn’t foresee is that instead of political hacks, the bureaucracy would instead end up consisting of an awful lot of bureaucratic hacks, who would naturally gravitate to the party of big government as a means of self-protection.

    There’s no easy solution here. I think Presidents like Reagan and GW Bush truly wanted to reduce the size of the bureaucracy, but both of them agreed to abandon those plans in return for support from Democrats on defense spending and tax cuts. Trump, on the other hand, strikes me as somebody who would welcome big government, so long as he felt that the bureaucrats were loyal to him and his agenda. I wish that some Republican President (you Ron DeSantis? Nikki Haley? Kristi Noem?) would immediately institute a hiring freeze on federal employees, and when people leave via attrition instead of hiring to replace them they would just reassign their duties. And in general, the federal bureaucracy should have far less work to do to begin with. Trump should sign on to the idea that the fewer bureaucrats we have in Washington DC and the less authority they have to meddle in the lives of our citizens, the diminished likelihood that they will thwart his agenda.

    JVW (020d31) — 7/22/2022 @ 3:21 pm

    I get this sentiment, I really do. We do want to mitigate the full bore ‘spoils to victor’ system.

    However, I’m an advocate of the Unitary Executive, such that the President has ultimate authority over policies.

    I object to the idea that the bureaucracy has any sort of “independence” from policies the President wishes to advance. (legally of course).

    If certain traditional ‘civil service’ positions end up being politically powerful, then they shouldn’t be categorized as if the protected civil service positions imo.

    Otherwise, you literally end up with unaccountable bureaucrats who can
    work against the President, who’s politically accountable.

    I’m not arguing that we do away with the civil service model. But analyzing which current civil service positions ought to be re-classified to be beholden to the political arm of the Executive Branch shouldn’t be controversial. Keep in mind, these executive departments are constantly evolving, so it’s understandable that certain civil service positions may become more powerful over time.

    whembly (3b98b6)

  303. https://behindtheblack.com/behind-the-black/points-of-information/a-large-majority-of-todays-college-students-think-blacklisting-is-a-good-thing/

    In one eye-opening finding, 74 percent of undergrads endorse the view that a professor who says “something that students find offensive” should be reported to the university. By a majority almost as lopsided, 65 percent believe that a fellow student who says something they consider offensive should be turned in. That informers’ mindset is especially pronounced among students who identify themselves as politically liberal, fully 85 percent of whom would report a professor who offends them. But even among self-identified conservatives, a solid majority, 56 percent, are of the same mindset. [emphasis in original]

    Communist indoctrination 101. The Secret Lives of Others.

    NJRob (eb56c3)

  304. @290 Mikey: “Okay. But when the Democrats put their unrestricted-abortion bill up for a vote, will McMullin be a yea or nay?”

    Assuming McMullin wins (a big assumption) and the Republicans win the Senate (a fair assumption), he will likely caucus with an irrelevant minority party, so who cares how will he vote on a losing issue?

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  305. @312, it’s sad that man killed himself. The article doesn’t give us much information on why. Maybe it was from the upcoming sentence, but that seems unlikely. A lot of people get probation and a fine every day without taking their own lives.

    Regardless, If anyone starts to think that you death is the solution to their problems please seek help. Life can get better.

    Time123 (54a8a1)

  306. Whembly, I think the previous administration is a good example of where an empowered bureaucracy is less bad (but still far from good) than a spoils system where the civil service owes personal allegiance to the executive officer. I wish I had the ‘perfect’ solution to propose.

    Time123 (f7af20)

  307. Trump: ‘Fox & Friends’ has gone to the ‘dark side’
    ……….
    “@foxandfriends just really botched my poll numbers, no doubt on purpose,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social, the social network platforming he started after leaving office. “That show has been terrible — gone to the ‘dark side.’ They quickly quote the big Turning Point Poll victory of almost 60 points over the number two Republican, and then hammer me with outliers.”
    ……….
    “That is a little different than a couple of other polls we’ve seen over the past couple of weeks,” host Steve Doocy said, referencing other national polling that has shown Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) ahead of Trump in several age demographics. “So it’s like the young people who are activists at that [Turning Point] event like the former president, but looking at these other polls, different answer.”

    Co-host Brian Kilmeade added, “If you look state by state, Ron DeSantis is showing tremendous strength in New Hampshire, Michigan and Florida.”
    ………
    During his time as president, Trump routinely touted “Fox & Friends,” appearing on the morning program live via phone often and tweeting his thoughts on various segments.
    ………

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  308. If the Big Government populists destroy each other in the primary we might get a decent candidate from the GOP. Here’s hoping.

    Time123 (fa9bd6)

  309. More likely, they didn’t consider a scenario where a president would to pardon himself, and then leave office but not the country.

    They did not even bring the subject up, in several days of discussion on the pardon power. It never entered their minds.

    You can actually read their discussions: https://memory.loc.gov/ammem/amlaw/lwfr.html

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  310. Leftists love to project.

    Said without a trace of irony.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  311. 14. I wrote:

    One member of Congress at least has the fantasy that Trump wanted to go to the Capitol in order to lead the charge.

    This is what I was referring to:

    https://www.npr.org/2022/07/22/1112138665/jan-6-committee-hearing-transcript

    But it’s more than that, Donald Trump summoned a violent mob and promised to lead that mob to the Capitol to compel those he thought would cave to that kind of pressure.

    He said he would meet them there. He talked about how many of them there were. As for what they would do, he said this:

    https://www.rev.com/blog/transcripts/donald-trump-speech-save-america-rally-transcript-january-6

    ….I know that everyone here will soon be marching over to the Capitol building to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard. Today we will see whether Republicans stand strong for integrity of our elections, but whether or not they stand strong for our country, our country….

    ….we’re going to the Capitol and we’re going to try and give… The Democrats are hopeless. They’re never voting for anything, not even one vote. But we’re going to try and give our Republicans, the weak ones, because the strong ones don’t need any of our help, we’re going to try and give them the kind of pride and boldness that they need to take back our country.

    It doesn’t make too much sense, really.

    More from the quote at the hearing:

    And when he was thwarted in his effort to lead the armed uprising,

    I don’t know what Congresswoman Elaine Luria imagines here. Is it an armed uprising or a threat of an armed uprising? With him right there? What is he, Napoleon? A Napoleon who ignored the question of who had the better weapons?

    The whiff of grapeshot would have hit him! More people weren’t killed because the defenders of the Capitol didn’t want to kill people.

    he instigated the attackers to target the Vice President with violence, a man who just wanted to do his constitutional duty.

    He didn’t instigate the attackers – already attackers even without him being there in person – to target the vice president with violence .

    The attackers had already targeted the vice president at the time when Donald Trump issued his tweet about Pence. It was something that condoned their hostility, but carefully did not support the threat to hang him or to do anything at all to him. It just didn’t repudiate the mob.

    He was a follower, not a leader, here, and he didn’t want to be too far behind them.

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  312. The problem is though, whembly, that we reason we instituted Civil Service reform (thank you, President Arthur!) is because we didn’t want the federal bureaucracy to become just a den of patronage for political hacks

    It’s not either-or. The “Schedule F” thing is a recognition that there is a policy-making level within the current Civil Service, and that group has a long history of thwarting the political appointees’ policy judgements.

    The “spoils system” had everything down to mailman a patronage job. The Civil Service system basically has everything that isn’t Senate-confirmed an iron rice bowl. There are quite a few places you could draw a line between the two.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  313. Now Trump had already made the vice president the critical decision maker. That much is true. The leaders of the mob picked up on what Trump sad about the crucial role of Mike Pence but he didn’t instigate any of the threats against Mike Pence..

    And Mike Pence, I hope you’re going to stand up for the good of our constitution and for the good of our country. And if you’re not, I’m going to be very disappointed in you

    He had made up a whole story about what would happen if Mike Pence did what he wanted him to do:

    ….and I hope Mike is going to do the right thing.

    Donald Trump: (08:09)
    I hope so. I hope so because if Mike Pence does the right thing, we win the election. All he has to do. This is from the number one or certainly one of the top constitutional lawyers in our country. He has the absolute right to do it. We’re supposed to protect our country, support our country, support our constitution, and protect our constitution. States want to revote. The States got defrauded. They were given false information. They voted on it. Now they want to recertify. They want it back. All Vice-President Pence has to do is send it back to the States to recertify, and we become president, and you are the happiest people.

    Donald Trump: (09:08)

    I just spoke to Mike. I said, “Mike, that doesn’t take courage. What takes courage is to do nothing. That takes courage,” and then we’re stuck with a president who lost the election by a lot, and we have to live with that for four more years. We’re just not going to let that happen…

    Now besides being wrong, in the sense of evil, this was utter nonsense.

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  314. Time,

    Do you think that, in general, a DoJ that refuses to follow the president’s lead on prosecutorial discretion is a good thing? For example, if a president wanted them to go after illegal immigration, but the rank & file managers refused? Or they kept going after states that demanded voter ID, despite the president’s clear wishes to the contrary?

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  315. @318: Assuming McMullin wins (a big assumption) and the Republicans win the Senate (a fair assumption), he will likely caucus with an irrelevant minority party, so who cares how will he vote on a losing issue?

    It’s actually very easy to imagine the scenario. Let’s say the Senate in 2023 is 51 D, 48 R, 1 McMullin. So the Democrats have 49 votes to scrap the filibuster, with Manchin and Sinema in opposition. We know Lee, if he were in the Senate, would oppose scrapping the filibuster to pass the unrestricted-abortion bill. Would McMullin?

    mikeybates (2970e0)

  316. Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 7/25/2022 @ 8:45 am

    Quite right, Kevin. Once one realizes that both parties live in glass houses, it makes sense that pebbles, however increasing in size, are thrown rather than rocks. In this game of chicken, the spineless will always lose.

    felipe (484255)

  317. I expect a larger Republican majority.

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  318. whembly (3b98b6) — 7/25/2022 @ 9:24 am

    It seems to me that the greater the body count in the executive branch, the greater amount of potential inertia in that branch, and the greater possibility for developing resistance once a critical mass is reached- like type 2 diabetes and insulin resistance.

    felipe (484255)

  319. Kevin,
    I think the president can and should set policy that will be followed by the DOJ. Prioritizing immigration cases, deprioritizing process crimes, not using false statements prosecutions, more agents working on human trafficking and such are legitimate.

    I think investigations or different treatment of individual cases based on politics is now.

    Also, I think many of our norms and policies are based on a DOJ that isn’t motivated based on partisanship and are ill prepared for a spoils system DOJ.

    Time123 (54a8a1)

  320. Time123 (fa9bd6) — 7/25/2022 @ 9:51 am

    I am with you, Time123. I would also include the Democrats as well, for an even better chance at getting better candidates from which to choose.

    felipe (484255)

  321. 30. SF: But if Trump threw fuel on the fire, somebody else lit the fire in the first place.

    Dana:

    Sammy, Trump lit the fire by ginning up the outrage in his base…

    That amounts to laying down the fuel, not to lighting the fire.

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  322. Former congressman charged with insider trading

    The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Monday charged former Rep. Stephen Buyer (R-Ind.) with insider trading, including purchasing stocks based on nonpublic information.
    ……..
    The charges were brought as part of an investigation into Buyer and nine other defendants, who were also charged on Monday with insider trading schemes.

    The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York on Monday filed criminal charges in a parallel case against nine defendants, including Buyer.
    ……..
    Buyer, who served in Congress from 1993 to 2011, founded his own consulting group called the Steve Buyer Group shortly after leaving public office.

    The former congressman is accused of acquiring $568,000 in Sprint shares after he learned through nonpublic channels in March 2018 that T-Mobile was planning to merge with the then-rival telecommunications company. T-Mobile was a client of Steve Buyer Group.
    ………


    Someone named Buyer is accused of insider trading? The jokes just write themselves. 🙂

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  323. Said without a trace of irony.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 7/25/2022 @ 9:56 am

    Facts bother you all of a sudden?

    NJRob (5b4153)

  324. Does this help or hurt a contendah?

    https://news.yahoo.com/clemson-love-story-former-sc-141808839.html

    urbanleftbehind (a4d9e1)

  325. AP-NORC poll: 2 in 3 in US favor term limits for justices
    ……..
    The poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research finds 67% of Americans support a proposal to set a specific number of years that justices serve instead of life terms, including 82% of Democrats and 57% of Republicans. Views are similar about a requirement that justices retire by a specific age.

    …….Now 43% say they have hardly any confidence in the court, up from 27% three months ago.
    …….
    Another proposal Biden’s committee studied was increasing the number of justices on the court, and the poll shows that proposal evenly dividing Americans. Overall, 34% say they’re in favor, while 34% are opposed and 32% say they hold neither opinion. Democrats are more in favor than opposed, 52% to 14%, while Republicans are more opposed than in favor, 61% to 14%.
    ……….
    In the April poll, conducted before a draft of the court’s (abortion) decision was leaked, 18% said they had a great deal of confidence, 54% said they had only some and 27% said they had hardly any. Now, 17% say they have a great deal of confidence, 39% only some and 43% hardly any.
    ……….
    The poll shows the drop in confidence is concentrated among Democrats, adding to evidence that the court’s decision on abortion worsened and polarized already tenuous opinions of the court. A large partisan gap in views of the court that did not exist before the decision emerged; 64% of Democrats say they have hardly any confidence, up from 27% in April. Another 31% have only some and just 4% have a great deal of confidence — down from 17%.

    Among Republicans, however, views of the court have improved. Now, 34% say they have a great deal of confidence, up from 21% in the earlier poll. An additional 47% have only some confidence and 18% hardly any.
    ……..

    Poll top lines.

    Related:
    ……..
    …….If this holds up in October, say, or perhaps into next year, perhaps then this might be an actionable consensus. At the moment, it looks more like a paroxysm of unhappiness over a single decision rather than a sea change that would enable a successful constitutional amendment to change the foundational structure of Article III — lifetime tenure for federal judges.
    ……..
    That leaves two questions: is this a good idea, and does it have any chance of success? The fact that it’s arising due to public opinion over a single court decision more or less validates the framers’ reasoning for lifetime appointments in Article III Section 1……..
    ……..
    Second question: will a constitutional amendment succeed? Not a chance, at least not soon. Democrats might float the proposal as a way to pander to voters before the midterms — in fact, I’m surprised they haven’t already — but Republicans won’t go for it in either chamber, nor should they. …….
    ……..
    Still, if this persists for a couple of years, those political considerations could change. It’s well worth watching, but it will take a lot more consensus over a long period of time before states will agree to destabilizing the federal judiciary even more than the SCOTUS wars in the Senate over the past 20-30 years have done. …….

    More Related:

    SCOTUS and media silence: Whatever happened to the leak probe?

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  326. The last line in #336 is mine

    SF: Trump was busy calling, or wanting to call, Senators.

    Dana: He was calling senators in a desperate appeal to not certify the election. He wasn’t calling them to help quell what was happening at the Capitol.

    Yes, of course. They wouldn’t have been the ones to call to do that in any case.

    He was calling either to make sure that Senators would object in spite of the riot (perhaps he heard something on Fox News about some objections being abandoned, as four of them ultimately were) or it was some previously planned lobbying.

    Congressswoman Elaine Luria (the same person who has the fantasy that Trump planned the assault) herself says:

    https://www.rev.com/blog/transcripts/full-jan-6-committee-hearing-day-8-transcript

    what did President Trump spend his time doing that afternoon while he first settled into the dining room? He was calling senators to encourage them to delay or object to the certification.

    Which means he didn’t expect the riot to do that.

    We don’t have much information about when exactly he was placing, or wanted to place these calls, although the committee may have some information, except I know when one of them as placed – right as they had started to be evacuated, and if I recall correctly, Trump was oblivious to that.

    They spoke for several minutes, presumably about events to take place on the floor of the Senate or in the Joint Session – Parliamentary procedure.

    https://www.sltrib.com/news/politics/2021/02/11/what-sen-mike-lee-told-me

    Here’s the timeline.

    https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/01/15/us/trump-capitol-riot-timeline.html

    By that time, Fox News must have alerted him that something was going on that couldn’t be ignored, although he tried to do that as much as possible.

    At 2:13 p.m. Senator James Lankford, Republican of Oklahoma, was interrupted on the floor of the Senate, which is called into recess. At 2:18 p.m.
    The House goes into recess, while the Congressmen stay in the chamber.

    Vice President Mike Pence had meantime been ushered off the Senate floor at around 2:12 and Speaker Pelosi at 2:15 (both of them quietly, without interrupting the proceedings probably with the intention of not alerting the mob outside, or causing a frantic rush for the exits among the Congresspeople.)

    By this time the chants of Hang Mike Pence might have been mentioned on Fox News, because at 2:24 pm (after working on it for a minute or five) Trump tweets:

    “Mike Pence didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution, giving States a chance to certify a corrected set of facts, not the fraudulent or inaccurate ones which they were asked to previously certify. USA demands the truth!”

    The call to Senator Mike Lee’s phone, Republican of Utah, meant for Senator Tommy Tuberville, Republican of Alabama to whom Mike Lee hands his phone, came at 2:26 pm and continued until the Senators were leaving the room.

    At the time (2:26) when the call was placed, the House goes back into session, but it recesses at about 2:30, which is also when the call to Senator Tommy Tuberville ends. Tuberville had told him, among other things, that Mike Pence had been evacuated, which Trump presumably did not know before.

    At about 2:39, House members begin their orderly evacuation.

    I leave out where the mob was because Trump is unlikely to have known these details.

    At around 3:00, House Minority leader Kevin McCarthy finally connects with Trump and asking him to call off the riot. Trump says they are not his people – that they are Antifa – and McCarthy tells him he sees them wearing MAGA hats or something to that effect and then Trump tries to lay the blame for the riot on Kevin McCarthy because he didn’t care as much about the election as they did.

    Meanwhile, people at the White House are pressing Trump to…not order the National Guard, but to make a statement, either is the hopes of getting people to leave, or to disassociate himself from them.

    Trump is very reluctant (maybe the call to disperse is the sticking point)

    He first tweets something about not attacking police — but finally has something ready, which he records, albeit with ad libs and sends out at 4:17 pm

    That video is one of the places where Trump says “everyone knows” the electionvwas stolen but he does say they “have to go home”

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  327. RIP Paul Sorvino (83). Paulie Cicero in Goodfellas, Henry Kissinger in Nixon, and 31 episodes of Law and Order.

    When he learned that Mira Sorvino had been among the women allegedly sexually harassed and blacklisted by Harvey Weinstein in the midst of the #MeToo reckoning, he told TMZ that if he had known, Weinstein, “Would not be walking. He’d be in a wheelchair.”

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  328. That settles it, getting Sausage and Peppers tonight. R.I.P., but man that RICO program in the sky has been working overtime lately.

    urbanleftbehind (a4d9e1)

  329. @321

    Whembly, I think the previous administration is a good example of where an empowered bureaucracy is less bad (but still far from good) than a spoils system where the civil service owes personal allegiance to the executive officer. I wish I had the ‘perfect’ solution to propose.

    Time123 (f7af20) — 7/25/2022 @ 9:43 am

    Except, we shouldn’t encourage to “hide” behind the civil service based on who’s in office.

    The previous administration was legitimately elected, as such, should’ve been able to implement policies without facing resistance from the civil service.

    Those folks in the civil services are not independent. They’re people too who has their own ideologies. (another reason we should move Federal Depts out of DC).

    Otherwise, you’re gonna get “Teh Deep State™” and the momentum to reform the civil service laws will grow louder. And that pendulum will likely swing too far closer to the spoils system, unless reasonable changes are implemented.

    whembly (905885)

  330. <i? One member of Congress at least has the fantasy that Trump wanted to go to the Capitol in order to lead the charge.

    Dana (1225fc) — 7/22/2022 @ 11:45 am

    Omg, Sammy, it wasn’t a fantasy. Listen to the testimony, read the transcript, listen to Trump himself. Very clearly, Trump wanted to go to the Capitol.

    Yes, Trump wanted to go to the Capitol.

    But not to lead the charge!

    What did he want to go there for?

    https://www.npr.org/2022/06/28/1108396692/jan-6-committee-hearing-transcript

    Here’s what various White House aides have told the committee about the president’s desire to go to the Capitol. [Begin videotape]

    UNKNOWN: Did the president tell you this, that he wanted to speak at the Capitol.

    MAX MILLER: Correct. Yes. …

    …..LIZ CHENEY: And we understand, Ms. Hutchinson, that the plans for the president to come up to the Capitol had included discussions at some point about what the president would do when he came up to the Capitol on January 6th. Let’s look at a clip of one of your interviews discussing that issue with the committee. [Begin videotape]

    UNKNOWN: When you were talking about a scheduled movement, did anyone say what the president wanted to do when he got here?

    CASSIDY HUTCHINSON: No, not that I can specifically remember. I remember — I remember hearing a few different ideas discussed with — between Mark and Scott Perry, Mark and Rudy Giuliani. I don’t know which conversations were elevated to the president. I don’t know what he personally wanted to do when he went up to the Capitol that day.

    You know, I — I know that there were discussions about him having another speech outside of the Capitol before going in. I know that there was a conversation about him going into the House chamber at one point. [End videotape]

    Kevin McCarthy did not want him to go, and he had called a few days earlier and got Cassidy Hutchinson to tell him they would not go, but meanwhile Mark Meadows was telling Trump he would go and some members of the Secret Service knew this too, but Meadows probably manipulated thins so that Trump would not go and lied in his book about Trump’s intention to do so.

    Stop making excuses for him. Stop infantilizing a grown man whose own oversized ego, self-delusions, and self-servicing obsession lead to his inevitable downfall.

    It’s not an excuse, even if it sounds like “If only the Czar knew.”

    It’s being fair and accurate and avoiding taking the blame away from wherever it truly belongs, which is an important question. The riot was planned in advance — but not by Trump.

    I don’t think he’s a mastermind. Now that doesn’t make him into a complete idiot – but he was facing checkmate in his effort to continue on as president, no matter what he did.

    Some possibilities might have gotten a lot more people killed, including maybe Trump himself, but nothing, nothing, given the balance of power, and who was in what position in January, 2021, was going to work.

    Another president, in other circumstances, with ethics like Trump, might have endangered American democracy. Trump couldn’t because he didn’t have the cards.

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  331. 231. Appalled (7f8d9d) — 7/24/2022 @ 9:05 am

    Sammy Sammy Sammy,

    Once Trump sprayed his fighting words into a crowd that Trump had been told was armed, his intent does not matter.

    They weren’t fighting words, and nobody understood them that way. Nor did they cause the riot because the riot was pre-planned. There were people in the area who were armed (who were avoiding the metal detectors) but those are probably not the same arms that were used.

    Originally, only the event at the Capitol had been planned, and it was scheduled to run from 10 am to 5pm.

    https://web.archive.org/web/20210104134147/https://wildprotest.com

    Then two more were added, one thee previous day. and the start of the Capitol event pushed off to 1 pm:

    https://web.archive.org/web/20210105132334/https://wildprotest.com

    The Law holds him to a standard that he knew the likely consequences of his actions, even if he is as boneheaded stupid as you deduce him to be.

    What happened was not the likely consequences of his acts, at least what he did that day.

    Now maybe Mark Meadows knew more (it is still not likely, because knowing you are dealing with bad people doesn’t tell you what they would do)

    CASSIDY HUTCHINSON: As Mr. Giuliani and I were walking to his vehicles that evening, he looked at me and said something to the effect of, Cass, are you excited for the 6th? It’s going to be a great day. I remember looking at him saying, Rudy, could you explain what’s happening on the 6th? He had responded something to the effect of, we’re going to the Capitol.

    It’s going to be great. The President’s going to be there. He’s going to look powerful. He’s — he’s going to be with the members. He’s going to be with the Senators. Talk to the chief about it, talk to the chief about it. He knows about it.

    LIZ CHENEY: And did you go back then up to the West Wing and tell Mr. Meadows about your conversation with Mr. Giuliani?

    CASSIDY HUTCHINSON: I did. After Mr. Giuliani had left the campus that evening, I went back up to our office and I found Mr. Meadows in his office on the couch. He was scrolling through his phone. I remember leaning against the doorway and saying, I just had an interesting conversation with Rudy, Mark. It sounds like we’re going to go to the Capitol.

    He didn’t look up from his phone and said something to the effect of, there’s a lot going on, Cass, but I don’t know. Things might get real, real bad on January 6th.

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  332. @342. From sales reps to film stars, everybody knew about Weinstein’s lecherous rep for years in Hollywood, Rip. First two anecdotes 25 years ago: 1. Kevin Spacey hit on male colleagues at the local watering hole; 2. Weinstein hit on the babes and those who went to the offices were made aware– or went at their own risk to further a career — and make a buck. You know what that’s called in Tinseltown: Reaganomics. 😉

    DCSCA (9bfed7)

  333. Sammy,

    Once you talk about going to the Capitol and fighting — when you know the group is armed — it’s very different than using those words in an average rally.

    And, your logic that the words didn’t cause the riot (because the riot was pre-planned)…sounds like saying the guy who screams “burn it down” before the matches are lit is innocent of the fire because an arsonist was already going to do it.

    Appalled (fa627b)

  334. Lying azzhole of the day: Gene Sperling.

    DCSCA (c9673c)

  335. R.I.P. Paul Sorvino

    Icy (3165a4)

  336. A triumphant antiabortion movement begins to deal with its divisions
    ……..
    Some national antiabortion groups — such as the Thomas More Society — and GOP state lawmakers are seeking to advance proposals allowing private citizens to sue people who help or provide a resident of a state that has banned abortion terminate a pregnancy in another state, The Washington Post previously reported. But some groups, like Alliance Defending Freedom, believe doing so could conflict with the right to interstate travel.
    ……..
    One question is to what degree this legal strategy should be used to enforce abortion bans within a state while another is how or whether it should be used to sue people who help or provide abortions to women traveling from states where the procedure is banned.
    …….
    The Thomas More Society typically focuses on litigation but decided to wade into the legislative arena after the Supreme Court overturned Roe. The conservative legal organization is planning to help legislators craft language using Texas’s mechanism empowering private citizens to sue, which could include prohibiting medication abortion and cracking down on out-of-state abortions. The efforts wouldn’t criminalize the patient.
    ……..
    Shortly before the Supreme Court’s ruling, the National Right to Life Committee released a model law, which its top lawyer said he vetted with other major groups. The legislation allows state and local officials — as well as the father or certain family members of the pregnant woman — to sue abortion providers.

    According to James Bopp Jr., the NRLC’s general counsel, “we think that it should only be family members” who can su
    ……..
    Among leading national groups, there’s unity around banning abortion even in the cases of pregnancies resulting from rape and incest. Such a position has thrust Republicans in an uncomfortable spotlight in recent weeks, as most bans in effect now include an exception only for life of the mother.
    ……..
    ……[S]everal groups are instead pushing to narrow or remove exceptions to save the health or life of the mother, arguing they create loopholes that can be exploited. Matt Sande, legislative director of Pro-Life Wisconsin, contends that a doctor can still intervene during life-or-death situations but that medical providers should also attempt to save the fetus.
    ……..
    Another division between hard-line and more mainstream groups is over prosecuting the woman. Major antiabortion groups have taken pains in recent weeks to publicly oppose the idea, particularly after the Louisiana proposal to criminally charge patients drew national attention.
    ………
    ………Bradley Pierce, executive director of the Foundation to Abolish Abortion, helped draft the Louisiana measure and said he was disappointed when antiabortion lawmakers backed away from it.

    “I think it revealed a lot of hypocrisy in those who said one thing and did something else,” he said, adding that the bill “would have done exactly what they say they believe. That is, treat a person before birth as being worthy of protection.”
    ###########

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  337. This is what Giuliani said at the rally at the Ellipse was going to happen that day:

    https://www.rev.com/blog/transcripts/rudy-giuliani-speech-transcript-at-trumps-washington-d-c-rally-wants-trial-by-combat

    Hello. Hello everyone. We’re here just very briefly to make a very important two points. Number one; every single thing that has been outlined as the plan for today is perfectly legal. I have Professor Eastman here with me to say a few words about that. He’s one of the preeminent constitutional scholars in the United States. It is perfectly appropriate given the questionable constitutionality of the Election Counting Act of 1887 that the Vice President can cast it aside and he can do what a president called Jefferson did when he was Vice President. He can decide on the validity of these crooked ballots, or he can send it back to the legislators, give them five to 10 days to finally finish the work. We now have letters from five legislators begging us to do that. They’re asking us. Georgia, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Wisconsin, and one other coming in.

    Sammy Finkelman F (1d215a)

  338. @351-

    This is why a national abortion ban is required. If abortion is the taking of a life, federalism shouldn’t allow states to do what the Roe allowed at the national level.

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  339. I leave out where the mob was because Trump is unlikely to have known these details.

    Sammy, Trump saw it all on live television, just like the rest of us, and who knows what else he knew from his staff, but it’s ridiculous to claim that he was ignorant about what was taking place.
    McCarthy was on the phone with Trump, telling to do something about the rioters.

    Paul Montagu (062b7e)

  340. Trump has claimed elections were stolen from him before.

    He did it with the Iowa caucuses in 2016, after first conceding defeat. But he didn’t claim a miscount. (like happened in some other caucuses both Dem and Rep)

    Ted Cruz’s campaign had claimed that Ben Carson was dropping out of the race (possibly based on something on CNN) and had tried to confuse some people into thinking they’d be violating some kind of law or rule if they didn’t caucus.

    https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/feb/03/donald-trump-ted-cruz-stole-iowa-caucuses-new-election

    Sammy Finkelman F (1d215a)

  341. Democrats running for office should make it clear that these anti-abortion outlaws will not be allowed to get away with threatening women who have to leave the state for an abortion. The lee zelden jury should perform jury nullification. These attacks on women’s rights should be met by fighting back against these legislatures. Blue states and D.C. should declare them outlaws so they cant travel to blue states and D.C.

    asset (52d92b)

  342. The religious cult that the killer of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe thought he was associated with is the Rev. Sun Myung Moon’s Unification Church

    It was pretty late for revenge. But it seems like he could find no better target.

    The killer blamed the Unification church for making his family, which had once been very rich, poor to the point were they once declared bankruptcy.

    He had an account on Twitter and also wrote a letter the day before to a blogger who wrote about the church. he Japanese government has not wanted to specify the religious group he was against but confirmed the letter

    His father committed suicide when he was 4 and his grandfather died ten years later and then there was no stopping his mother from giving away money to the Unification Church. His brother also later committed suicide, leaving only himself and his sister among the children of his parents.

    Abe’s grandfather Nobusuke Kishi, had given a lot of help to the church when it first got established in Japan after 1954, even perhaps donating land, (or letting it be sold) because he found it anti-Communist. Abe himself took place in some event associated with the church as recently as last September.

    His family had already settled a lawsuit against the Unification church in 2009, recovering about 50 million yen, or about $360,000, his mother had in donations she had made over the yea, about half of what an uncle estimated was the minimum she had given.

    The Unification Church was once very big in Japan but had gotten smaller and reformed its practices.

    https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/23/world/asia/japan-unification-church-lawsuits.html

    Amid anti-Korean screeds, misogynistic musings about incel culture and commentary on Japanese politics, the account — which has been suspended — describes a painful childhood and a seething fury at his mother’s allegiance to the Unification Church. He blamed the relationship for his own failings in life.

    https://www.economist.com/asia/2022/07/19/what-drove-yamagami-tetsuya-to-kill-abe-shinzo

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  343. Paul Montagu (062b7e) — 7/25/2022 @ 1:16 pm

    Sammy, Trump saw it all on live television, just like the rest of us, and who knows what else he knew from his staff, but it’s ridiculous to claim that he was ignorant about what was taking place.

    What I meant said was he didn’t know how deep they had gotten into the building or how much that would disrupt the proceedings

    At 2:26-2:30 he was still trying to discuss Parliamentary tactics with a Senator.

    He clearly knew when proceedings were interrupted because Fox News must have told him.

    McCarthy was on the phone with Trump, telling to do something about the rioters.

    This was at about 3 pm and McCarthy mentioned having seen some of the rioters

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  344. Here’s something about how other people were involved – not ine riot maybe but in claiming the election was stolen.

    https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/19/magazine/stop-the-steal.html

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  345. The version of Omicron that President Biden has is BA.5 which is something from 75 to 80% of the Covid cases in the USA now.

    Biden was given Tylenol but they say not for fever (because a temperature between 99 degrees and 100 is not considered a fever that needs to be treated at any rate, but for discomfort but they said he hadn’t any pain and do not explain what the discomfort was. The doctor said something about testing to see if the Tylenol worked, and if it worked it meant things were OK.

    They don’t have expert doctors at the House House – just routine military ones probably.

    The runny nose and some other symptoms went away replaced by a sore throat which is caused by the body fighting an infection.

    One of his medications was replaced by another one but I wonder if it is really better than the other, or just was not on the list of drugs Paxlovid interacts with.

    They may stop the Paxlovid too soon, per the standard course.

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  346. Whembly, I agree with everything you said and those are legitimate uses of executive power. Based on what we saw in the first term it seems very likely that a 2nd Trump administration would use this process to pressure executive branch employees to use their positions in illegitimate ways.

    Time123 (54a8a1)

  347. A Stop the Steal website, registered by Roger Stone on February 24, 2016 (archive from March, 10, 2016)

    https://web.archive.org/web/20160310155755/http://stopthesteal.org/

    It relatively shortly became defunct but its HTTP 301 return got archived many times for many years.

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  348. A May 2016 archive

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  349. VIA ELECTRONIC TRANSMISSION
    The Honorable Merrick Garland Attorney General
    Department of Justice
    The Honorable Christopher Wray Director
    Federal Bureau of Investigation
    July 25, 2022
    Dear Attorney General Garland and Director Wray:
    On May 31, 2022, I wrote to you regarding likely violations of Federal laws, regulations and Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”) guidelines by Assistant Special Agent in Charge (“ASAC”) Timothy Thibault of the Washington Field Office (“WFO”) based on a pattern of active public partisanship in his then public social media content. In that letter, I noted that Congress has a constitutional responsibility to ensure that the Executive Branch executes the law and uses taxpayer money appropriated to it in accordance with congressional intent. In furtherance of that constitutional responsibility, Congress has an obligation to investigate the Executive Branch for fraud, waste, abuse and gross mismanagement – acts which undermine faith in the American people’s governmental institutions. Those constitutional and legislative responsibilities apply to this letter to you. My letter also invited individuals, including current and former government employees, to contact me and my office to confidentially report allegations of fraud, waste, abuse and gross mismanagement by FBI and Justice Department (“Department”) officials including, but not limited to, ASAC Thibault. In response, my office has received a significant number of protected communications from highly credible whistleblowers.
    The information provided to my office involves concerns about the FBI’s receipt and use of derogatory information relating to Hunter Biden, and the FBI’s false portrayal of acquired evidence as disinformation. The volume and consistency of these allegations substantiate their credibility and necessitate this letter.
    First, it’s been alleged that the FBI developed information in 2020 about Hunter Biden’s criminal financial and related activity. It is further alleged that in August 2020, FBI Supervisory Intelligence Analyst Brian Auten opened an assessment which was used by a FBI Headquarters (“FBI HQ”) team to improperly discredit negative Hunter Biden information as disinformation and caused investigative activity to cease. Based on allegations, verified and verifiable derogatory information on Hunter Biden was falsely labeled as disinformation.

    Page 2 of 4
    The basis for how the FBI HQ team selected the specific information for inclusion in Auten’s assessment is unknown, but in more than one instance the focus of the FBI HQ team’s attention involved derogatory information about Hunter Biden. Accordingly, the allegations provided to my office appear to indicate that there was a scheme in place among certain FBI officials to undermine derogatory information connected to Hunter Biden by falsely suggesting it was disinformation.
    Importantly, it’s been alleged to my office that Auten’s assessment was opened in August 2020, which is the same month that Senator Johnson and I received an unsolicited and unnecessary briefing from the FBI that purportedly related to our Biden investigation and a briefing for which the contents were later leaked in order paint the investigation in a false light.
    As Senator Johnson and I have publicly noted, on July 13, 2020, then-Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, Senator Mark Warner, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Representative Adam Schiff sent a letter, with a classified attachment, to the FBI to express a purported belief that Congress
    1
    2
    Second, it has been alleged that in September 2020, investigators from the same FBI HQ team were in communication with FBI agents responsible for the Hunter Biden information targeted by Auten’s assessment. The FBI HQ team’s investigators placed their findings with respect to whether reporting was disinformation in a restricted access sub-file reviewable only by the particular agents responsible for uncovering the specific information. This is problematic because it does not allow for proper oversight and opens the door to improper influence.

    Page 3 of 4
    Third, in October 2020, an avenue of additional derogatory Hunter Biden reporting was ordered closed at the direction of ASAC Thibault. My office has been made aware that FBI agents responsible for this information were interviewed by the FBI HQ team in furtherance of Auten’s assessment. It’s been alleged that the FBI HQ team suggested to the FBI agents that the information was at risk of disinformation; however, according to allegations, all of the reporting was either verified or verifiable via criminal search warrants. In addition, ASAC Thibault allegedly ordered the matter closed without providing a valid reason as required by FBI guidelines. Despite the matter being closed in such a way that the investigative avenue might be opened later, it’s alleged that FBI officials, including ASAC Thibault, subsequently attempted to improperly mark the matter in FBI systems so that it could not be opened in the future.

    The aforementioned allegations put a finer point on concerns that I have raised for many years about political considerations infecting the decision-making process at the Justice Department and FBI. If these allegations are true and accurate, the Justice Department and FBI are – and have been – institutionally corrupted to their very core to the point in which the United States Congress and the American people will have no confidence in the equal application of the law. Attorney General Garland and Director Wray, simply put, based on the allegations that I’ve received from numerous whistleblowers, you have systemic and existential problems within your agencies. You have an obligation to the country to take these allegations seriously, immediately investigate and take steps to institute fixes to these and other matters before you.
    In light of the serious allegations and my ongoing investigation into Justice Department and FBI misconduct, I expect you to provide the following no later than August 8, 2022, as a preliminary matter so that Congress can perform an objective and independent review of the alleged misconduct:
    1. The case file for the Auten assessment.
    2. All records3 derived from reporting on derogatory information linked to Hunter Biden, James Biden, and their foreign business relationships that was overseen under the approval, guidance and purview of ASAC Thibault from January 1, 2020, to the present.
    3. All records related to derogatory information on Hunter Biden, James Biden, and their foreign business relationships.
    4. All leads sent to the WFO that were under the purview of ASAC Thibault that were ordered closed by ASAC Thibault and/or denied for opening by the Justice Department’s Public Integrity Section.
    3 “Records” include any written, recorded, or graphic material of any kind, including letters, memoranda, reports, notes, electronic data (e-mails, email attachments, and any other electronically-created or stored information), calendar entries, inter-office communications, meeting minutes, phone/voice mail or recordings/records of verbal communications, and drafts (whether or not they resulted in final documents).

    5. All opened and closed cases initiated by the WFO that were under the purview of ASAC Thibault that were ordered closed by ASAC Thibault and/or denied for opening by the Justice Department’s Public Integrity Section.
    6. With respect to the August 2020 FBI briefing given to Senator Johnson and me:
    a. A copy of the FBI 302 for the briefing;
    b. All intelligence reporting, products, and analysis that formed the basis of the
    briefing;
    c. The name(s) of the person(s) who recommended that Senator Johnson and I be
    briefed;
    d. A description of the process for deciding to brief us; and
    e. All records, including emails, relating to the briefing.
    Sincerely,
    Charles E. Grassley Ranking Member Committee on the Judiciary
    Page 4 of 4

    https://www.grassley.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/grassley_to_justice_deptfbipoliticalbiasfollowup.pdf

    BuDuh (340919)

  350. At 2:26-2:30 he was still trying to discuss Parliamentary tactics with a Senator.

    Sammy, the Senate adjourned at 2:13pm because of the violent breach of the Capitol, and there was well-documented and well-televised violence for at least an hour before that.
    The only business Senators had at 2:26-2:30 was to evacuate, not discuss parliamentary maneuvers.
    I really don’t understand why you’re bending so far backward in giving the Trump the benefit of the doubt.

    Paul Montagu (062b7e)

  351. Sorry. I fat fingered that and didn’t get the blockquote formatting and shortened quotes in before I somehow posted.

    BuDuh (340919)

  352. Cutting and pasting from the Grassley link is problematic for some reason. The quote regarding Schiff’s merrymakers keeps getting butchered.

    If you want to read it at the link it is worth the time to click.

    BuDuh (340919)

  353. RIP Taurean Blacque (82). Best known as detective Neal Washington on “Hill Street Blues.” Blacque had two biological sons and adopted 11 other children.

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  354. BuDuh (340919) — 7/25/2022 @ 2:54 pm

    Should that be in blockquotes?

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  355. RIP Bob Rafelson (89). Director of Five Easy Pieces and Head, and co-creator of The Monkees.

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  356. I should have noted that I “Ripped it” my mea culpa @ 2:56pm.

    BuDuh (340919)

  357. RIP British actor David Warner (80). Played villians in TRON, Time Bandits, and Time After Time (as Jack the Ripper).

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  358. BuDuh,

    Autin is the same analyst that vouched for the Trump dossier.

    Leftists embedded in government just the way many seem to prefer it.

    NJRob (5f5479)

  359. Facts bother you all of a sudden?

    Clearly self-awareness never bothers you.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  360. Also, I think many of our norms and policies are based on a DOJ that isn’t motivated based on partisanship and are ill prepared for a spoils system DOJ.

    Only if “non-partisan” and “left-of-center” are synonyms.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  361. Leftists embedded in government just the way many seem to prefer it.

    Indeed. And just the sort of people who will call “Schedule F” a witch hunt.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  362. I’m going to withdraw #373 as too harsh.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  363. On my screen, Kev, I wrote #373.

    The good news is that there is a new Trump-is-Devil thread so the Grassley letter can wait for next weeks open thread. 👍

    BuDuh (340919)

  364. Kevin,

    what you said doesn’t bother me. I know you’re trying to tell me to look at my own remarks before I pass judgment on others, but I already do so. I know where I stand. I also know where the left stands. So do you.

    No reason for you to critique me for it so I clapped back at you. No big deal.

    NJRob (eb56c3)

  365. She’s a distant third in the body positive MAGA token race behind Stefanik and Huckabee-Sanders.

    urbanleftbehind (a5f54d)

  366. I see old chuck from iowa is out campaigning for the worthless party, saying he has whistleblowers against the fbi. They are attempting to gather up the idiots to donate to the rino zoo. These hacks will never ever do what they say. Pure election year ploy for the dumb.

    mg (8cbc69)

  367. Breaking news: The Board of Elections in New York says that they have received guidance that,. owing to anomalous situation created by the judge ordered August 23 primary date for Congress and the New York State Senate, people will be able to switch party registration up to and even at the polling site. They will also have to fill out an affidavit ballot. (Those are two separate steps,, I believe)

    They can switch back all the way till next February 14, (2023) which begins the closed period again.

    It used to be that in New York State any party switch would only take place after the next November general election. making the effective deadline in early or mid-October. That is why Ivanka Trump and other members of Donald Trump’s family could not vote in the Republican primary for her father in 2016.

    (If a person was not registered at all, they could register in a party at the time of registration – this was used by Steve Forbes and others who hired people to gather signatures on petitions which had to be done by members of the same party as a primary was in. Many young people were not registered.)

    However they changed the law, apparently the closed period did not extend to all the primary elections that year, but only till the next regular primary election date.

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  368. Appalled (fa627b) — 7/25/2022 @ 12:34 pm

    Once you talk about going to the Capitol and fighting — when you know the group is armed — it’s very different than using those words in an average rally.

    The people who got close to Trump weren’t armed.

    Some people who declined to go through a metal detector were.

    And none of them needed to hear from Trump in order to go to the Capitol.

    Now some of the people at the Ellipse were sucked up to taking part in the storming of the Capitol.

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  369. https://gothamist.com/news/republicans-could-sway-nycs-most-competitive-democratic-primaries-on-august-23rd-heres-why

    Under state election law, the deadline to change one’s party affiliation is normally February 14th, and then the window is closed until one week after the June primary. That meant voters who wanted to change parties for the June 28th primary for statewide and Assembly races needed to submit their updated registration more than four months before the election. That’s not the case for New Yorkers looking to vote in the August primary for new congressional and State Senate races. .

    New York’s long-standing closed primary system was modified in 2019 to reduce the amount of time between when a voter had to select their party and the next primary election. It went down from a year to a four-month window before the June primary election. That law first took effect on Valentine’s Day in 2020.

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  370. Eastman’s memo, for a soft coup, which borrowed something from what Lawrence Tribe wrote regarding the Election of 2000: Eastman has 7 states not just 6, rejected leaving an Electoral vote count of 232 to 222 in favor of Trump.

    https://www.cnn.com/2021/09/21/politics/read-eastman-memo/index.html

    This has factual errors (there was no dispute) and assumed that nobody in Congress would try to overrule the presiding officer.

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  371. Off-topic:

    So, saw Netflix’s $200 million “The Grey Man” after reading the book of the same name. Hollywood writers cannot help themselves. They see a thriller plot and the first (and last) thing that comes to their minds is “Let’s make this about a lone guy fighting the evil CIA!” They did it several times with the “Bourne” movies (the books were also not remotely about that), and now they shoehorn this onto that old plot.

    Meh. There is a Bond-worthy action scene in Prague though.

    $200 million, though. They could have donated it to Children’s Hospital or something.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  372. AJ_ Liberty (7505b1) — 7/24/2022 @ 12:21 pm

    if Trump didn’t want a violent confrontation at the Capitol, then why did he not tweet for the mob to cease and desist?

    I said he didn’t want it, but it is not so much that he wanted it not to happen.

    He didn’t want to disassociate himself from the crowd or say they were doing, as a group, something wrong

    Especially after all of his closest staff, advisors, and family repeatedly urged him to do so. You seem stuck in a literalist infinite loop.

    But the thing is, I think there is little doubt that this was not on his agenda and it went contrary to his agenda. Every fact that comes up contributes to that picture.

    You can wonder why he didn’t try to stop it, but that doesn’t mean that he wanted it, or expected it, to happen.

    His political action committee found something now, but from three days before:

    https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/25/us/politics/biden-trump-jan-6.html

    The president’s comments came just four days after the House committee wrapped up its string of summer hearings with a prime-time meeting outlining Mr. Trump’s inaction as the mob of his supporters stormed the Capitol in an effort to stop the counting of the Electoral College vote sealing his re-election defeat. Mr. Trump did not call his vice president, his defense secretary, his military chief, his attorney general, his homeland security secretary or anyone else to dispatch help to the Capitol that day.

    Instead, testimony showed, Mr. Trump spent the afternoon watching the violence unfold on Fox News and resisting aides who kept imploring him to take action. A call from a Pentagon official to coordinate a response initially went unanswered because “the president didn’t want anything done,” according to a White House lawyer whose account was presented during the hearing. The tweets and video he ultimately did issue did not condemn the attack and in some cases seemed to add fuel to the fire.

    …The president has not otherwise rebutted the account of his refusal to act that day.

    But his political action committee did post an article on Monday recalling a Pentagon inspector general report last November noting that Mr. Trump told his defense secretary three days before Jan. 6 that there would be many protesters coming and he should ensure there was enough security to make it a safe event.

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  373. Kevin, skip Gray Man and watch Young Wallander. Season 2 just came out.

    Paul Montagu (062b7e)

  374. At 2:26-2:30 he was still trying to discuss Parliamentary tactics with a Senator.

    Paul Montagu (062b7e) — 7/25/2022 @ 2:55 pm

    Sammy, the Senate adjourned at 2:13pm because of the violent breach of the Capitol, and there was well-documented and well-televised violence for at least an hour before that.

    But the proceedings had not been interrupted for most of that hour.

    The House actually resumed its session at 2:26, after having recessed for 8 minutes since 2:18. (they recessed again at 2:30, according to the New York Times Jan 15, 2021 timeline, and began evacuation at about 2:39.

    I don’t know what Fox News was saying.

    The only business Senators had at 2:26-2:30 was to evacuate, not discuss parliamentary maneuvers.

    Trump presumably knew there was a recess, but he didn’t know how long it would last.

    The Parliamentary maneuvers he wanted to talk about were about what would happen later.

    Trump probably didn’t want the Senators to listen to Senator Mitch McConnell, who had wanted no Senator to object, so he was calling Tommy Tuberville and others to try to make sure they stuck to the plan and he’d get all his objections made (theoretically making it possible for him to win the Electoral College vote 232-227)

    I don’t think it’s actually been stated what the substance of any of these calls (if any were made besides to Senator Tommy Tuberville) were made.

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  375. Rather pathetic McConnell and old chuck are using Hunter Bidens laptop as a fund raising tool to trick Nationalist voters.
    Curious to see how many rinos now give a schiff about this laptop and its contents.
    rinos/media/2024

    mg (8cbc69)

  376. The upshot that was decided was that they’d finish with Arizona and only object to Pennsylvania, leaving out 4 states they’d planned on having debates about. The fact is, the proceedings ended at just about the time they would have ended anyway without the riot. I speculated earlier that the Congressional leadership originally wanted it to end in the middle of the night so the crowd would have dispersed or diminished to the smallest possible size, but there could be other reasons and maybe the demonstration wasn’t even a factor. Maybe they just wanted Trump to hope he could win 232-227. (but after Congress upheld the Arizona electors that would be impossible but maybe they wanted to give Trump this possibility as of noon January 6)

    According to the Electoral Count Act those 6 debates would have consumed 12 hours (from 1:12 pm) but you have to add some more time for voting and for assembling and disassembling so Giuliani is probably right when he says it would have lasted 14 or 15 hours – one of a limited number of things about this that he is right on. He thinks Democrats wanted the rioters to get in (!) in order to limit debate. He says they could have objected to 25 states (why not then, all 50? I guess he didn’t want any objections to votes from states states Trump won. And he still believes he could have gotten states to decertify their votes – something not even possible legally)

    And yet Giuliani isn’t wrong about prominent officials lying about Hunter Biden’s laptop having all the earmarks of Russian disinformation. He’s wrong about some of the conclusions he draws (which he got from Steve Bannon’s analysis – two bits of writing by Hunter Biden are absurdly interpreted – that his father made him give back half his salary (that probably must refer to something his father did when he was young – probably he had lent him money) and the other was about supporting his family for 30 years – his nuclear family!

    Anyway they planned on 6 states, which if all were upheld would give Trump a bare majority, or if 270 were still required, throw the election into the House.

    Where he would need Liz Cheney’s vote.

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  377. I really don’t understand why you’re bending so far backward in giving the Trump the benefit of the doubt.

    I don’t want to assume the worst when it goes beyond what somebody has done in the past – and besides it just doesn’t fit.

    And making Trump guilty makes other (unknown) people innocent

    Also to say they could be roused by a few words, is treating the crowd like toddlers, after all.

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  378. The Parliamentary maneuvers he wanted to talk about were about what would happen later.

    Trump probably didn’t want the Senators to listen to Senator Mitch McConnell…

    The problem, Sammy, is you’re trying to get into Trump’s head and divine what his thinking was. You’re mindreading in the attempt to give him all benefit of the doubt.
    His actions–and inactions by not deploying the National Guard and not telling his MAGA Nation zealots to leave–spoke volumes that day.

    Paul Montagu (062b7e)

  379. Sammy, this timeline is fairly detailed, and Senators were evacuating at 2:13pm. McCarthy was talking to Trump between 2:13 and 2:24, asking the president to do something because the House was under siege. I don’t know why the House would its session for four minutes, but it’s irrelevant given the breach of Senate chambers.

    Paul Montagu (062b7e)

  380. Democrats and Republicans agree: Pelosi should visit Taiwan despite Biden’s warning

    ‘WASHINGTON — Republicans and Democrats in Congress are rallying behind Speaker Nancy Pelosi by urging her to follow through on a potential visit to Taiwan even as President Joe Biden said the Pentagon believes such a trip is “not a good idea right now.” China has gone much further, warning that it would respond with “forceful measures” if Pelosi steps foot on the democratic island Beijing considers a breakaway province.

    Pelosi’s potential visit has created a rare and high-profile intraparty rift between the veteran legislator — a staunch defender of Taiwan and an outspoken critic of China’s human rights abuses — and Biden administration officials, who are wary about escalating tensions with the Asian superpower.’ NBCNews.com

    Too bad she doesn’t go to the Texas border… or the feces-strewn streets of San Francisco. Howzabout a compromise: Chinatown.

    DCSCA (acf5c0)

  381. Buzz Aldrin space jacket sells for sky-high $2.8m

    The space jacket worn by Buzz Aldrin while flying to the Moon has sold at a New York auction for $2.8m (£2.3m). Adorned with a US flag and NASA logo, Mr. Aldrin wore the white inflight jacket while speeding through space in Apollo 11’s command module Columbia. It is one of 69 personal belongings that the 92-year-old has decided to put up for sale.

    The jacket was sold by Sotheby’s and becomes the most valuable American space artefact ever sold at auction.

    The former astronaut travelled to the Moon in 1969 and is the only living member of the mission’s three-man crew. Mr. Aldrin spent the majority of the six-day journey in space wearing the inflight jacket, changing out of it only mid-way through to swap into a pressure suit for stepping onto the lunar surface itself. An estimated 650 million people from around the world watched the moment on television.

    After spending over 21 hours on the Moon, he and Neil Armstrong then returned to the Apollo mission and changed back into their inflight jackets, which he described as “much more comfortable” in a note accompanying the item. Manufactured out of a fire-resistant material known as Beta cloth, this Teflon-coated white jacket is the only piece of clothing from the 1969 space mission ever to have been sold.

    Bidding for the item lasted for almost 10 minutes before it went to an unidentified bidder over the phone, according to Sotheby’s which handled the sale.

    Other personal belongings also put up for auction include a broken circuit breaker switch and the black felt-tip pen Mr. Aldrin used to fix it with quick thinking – preventing the crew from becoming stranded on the Moon. In total, items from the astronaut’s personal collection sold for $8.2m (£6.8m), including a flight plan that travelled to space and back with the crew that was bought for $819,000 (£680,000).’ – BBCNews.com

    The much-storied broken toggle breaker switch and felt-tip pen are the real the treasures here. They belong at the NASM and not in a private collection.

    DCSCA (acf5c0)

  382. https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2022/buzz-aldrin-american-icon

    Peruse this ‘government issued’ stuff w/t awards, medals, medallions, stamp covers, flags and flown materials including assorted maps and kitch w/t final sale prices at Sotheby’s.

    Quite a load of expense ‘space junk.’

    DCSCA (acf5c0)

  383. Overtime from the Jan 6 committee hearings (not broadcast)

    https://twitter.com/RepElaineLuria?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor

    Just a little, including words Trump crossed out from a Jan 7 speech. He didn’t want to say “Good afternoon” and was willing to say he was outraged by the events of Jan 6, but nit sickened.

    Here is it, bigger:

    https://nypost.com/2022/07/25/trump-was-hesitant-to-give-speech-after-capitol-riot/

    Sammy Finkelman (b7dc9b)

  384. Just watched the latest video of your commander in chief. This stooge you people elected is on some serious dope. You people who voted for this senile fool should be in jail.

    mg (8cbc69)

  385. When does first felon Hunter get a mug shot?

    mg (8cbc69)

  386. Sammy: “I don’t want to assume the worst when it goes beyond what somebody has done in the past – and besides it just doesn’t fit.

    And making Trump guilty makes other (unknown) people innocent

    Also to say they could be roused by a few words, is treating the crowd like toddlers, after all.”

    There’s so much wrong here. When the President of the U.S. sits effectively doing nothing to quell the riot for 3 hours…despite repeated and emphatic urgings by his advisors and family…and having access to the best real-time intelligence, one may draw reasonable conclusions. He did not call Pence; he did not call Homeland Security; He did not call the Secretary of Defense; He did not call the Attorney General. He remained most concerned about delaying the vote. If you honestly believe that the riot worked against Trump’s interest (which is itself debatable), then he should have tweeted to leave the Capitol. He didn’t. These were his supporters. Even Trump isn’t claiming ignorance of the events….why are you carrying his water?

    AJ_Liberty (c82e21)

  387. https://nypost.com/2022/07/26/16-year-old-cop-basher-shows-just-how-broken-nyc-justice-is/

    So a 16-year-old fare-beater hauls off and wallops a cop on Saturday, igniting a wild subway-station brawl and producing — what else in these times? — a viral video. The perp is subdued, though not easily, and arrested — but is back on the street within hours.

    And then, as predictably as a summertime sunrise, it turns out that the accused cop-fighter was free on cashless bail after being charged with felony robbery just days earlier.

    The video at the link shows you all the savagery the left wants to visit upon society. This thug should be in prison, not walking the streets. Yet the left put him on the street to terrorize the populace.

    NJRob (eb56c3)

  388. AJ, Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the House, was in charge of security. She deliberately called them to stand down. Yet not a hint of investigation. Why is that? Why are you carrying water for her?

    NJRob (eb56c3)

  389. Talk about moving goalposts. Pelosi is in charge of Capitol security. You cited posts on the National Guard. One has nothing to do with the other.

    And as for the semantic games, it was another government official’s request that was denied. Unless you say NPR was lying. He was the Chief of the US Capitol police.

    https://www.npr.org/2021/01/11/955548910/ex-capitol-police-chief-rebuffs-claims-national-guard-was-never-called-during-ri

    NJRob (da8c24)

  390. And USA today does all they can to run cover. She’s not the head of the committee. All she does is decide who leads committees and what they bring to the House.

    What a joke.

    NJRob (da8c24)

  391. Not one of your better efforts to run interference AJ.

    NJRob (da8c24)

  392. Your link doesn’t back up your claims, NJRob.

    Davethulhu (0b1e86)

  393. Whereas AJ’s do, and you insult him.

    Davethulhu (0b1e86)

  394. NJRob is right. Congress should have anticipated that a large MAGA rally was likely to result in a violent attack on the police and congress and had more forces available to fight off the attackers.

    Time123 (b612e6)

  395. “We should take precautions to slow this virus.” – Squinty McStumblebum, 7/27/22

    “I’m, not going to shut down the economy, I’m not going to shut down the country, but I am going to shut down the virus.” – Squinty McStumblebum, 10/29/20

    IDIOT.

    DCSCA (5684fb)

  396. “NJRob is right. Congress should have anticipated that a large MAGA rally was likely to result in a violent attack on the police and congress and had more forces available to fight off the attackers.”

    If that was what he had claimed, yes, he would have been right.

    Davethulhu (0b1e86)

  397. “We’ve brought down [Covid] deaths by 90%.” – Squinty McStumblebum, 7/27/22

    More people will have died from COVID under Biden than Trump.

    According to Johns Hopkins University’s data on COVID-19 deaths, since Jan. 1, [2021] there have been approximately 353,000 deaths from the pandemic. This is about a thousand more COVID-19 deaths than in all of 2020. – washingtonexaminer.com

    https://www.newsweek.com/fact-check-have-more-americans-died-covid-under-joe-biden-donald-trump-1661528

    DCSCA (5684fb)

  398. ‘Failing President’ Biden must announce he won’t ‘run for re-election’: New York Times column

    ‘New York Times columnist Bret Stephens accused President Joe Biden of being a “failing president” who is so weak that the western world has been left effectively leaderless.

    Pulling no punches, Stephens also advised that the “best thing” Biden could do is announce immediately that he will not run again in 2024. The author began his blistering criticism of Biden by declaring that “the democratic world today is leaderless.” He brought up world leadership under the U.S. in the past to illustrate his point, writing, “Twenty-five years ago, we had the confident presences of Bill Clinton, Helmut Kohl and Tony Blair — and Alan Greenspan. Now we have a failing American president, a timorous German chancellor, a British prime minister about to skulk out of office in ignominy.”

    “This is bad in normal times. It is catastrophic in bad ones,” Stephens added, before attacking Biden’s credibility on the world stage. He claimed Biden’s lack of leadership has put holes in U.S. “international credibility.” He mentioned how the withdrawal from Afghanistan “telegraphed incompetence and weakness” and dinged Biden’s handling of the Ukraine conflict.

    He described the latter as a situation “in which President Biden has committed enough support to prevent outright defeat but not to secure a clear victory.”

    The author also expressed high doubt in Biden being able to deal with “an imminent nuclear crisis with Iran, in which the president seems to have no policy other than negotiations that are on the cusp of failure.” There is also the “looming crisis over Taiwan” on which Stephens saw Biden being shaky.

    Summing up Biden’s weakness, Stephens wrote, “Talented leaders turn proverbial lemons into lemonade. Biden seems to be mastering the trick of turning lemonade into lemons.”

    He then slammed Biden for butchering American “economic credibility,” stating, “The credibility crisis occurs when leaders make confident predictions, in the face of abundant contrary evidence, that turn out to be catastrophically wrong. Insisting that inflation was ‘temporary,’ as Biden did last year, was one such prediction.” [That’s the life-history of Joe Biden, kids. If he predicts sunny skies, carry your umbrella.]

    The columnist expressed fear that Biden’s “insistence on Monday that ‘God willing, I don’t think we’re going to see a recession’ may be the next.” In addition, Biden hasn’t made changes to face the economic problems head on. “At least Jimmy Carter had the guts to nominate Paul Volcker. Where is a similar confidence-inspiring move from Biden, who, remarkably, retains the same inept economic team that helped lead us into this mess?” he asked.

    Stephens expressed fear about a potential “global recession” and imminent collapse of other nations around the world, implying that’s going to be a tall order for Biden and the U.S. to deal with a geopolitical situation that’s probably going to become much worse.

    He also severely doubted Biden’s ability to handle the crisis facing “liberal democracy” throughout the world, writing that the rise of “effective autocracies” is a “challenge” for even the most inspired leaders. Except for Volodymyr Zelensky, there are none.”

    Thus, according to the columnist, Biden might as well step aside in 2024 and let his party find new leadership that can handle the fraught moment he described. He urged Biden to announce he will not be running for president, as soon as possible. “The best thing Biden could do for the country is announce he won’t run for re-election — now, not after the midterms. Let his party sort out its own future,” Stephens wrote.’ – NYT.com

    You’re losing the NYT along w/your mind, Joe.

    DCSCA (5684fb)

  399. mg (8cbc69) — 7/27/2022 @ 2:44 am

    When does first felon Hunter get a mug shot?

    Sometime between late fall of this year, and the end of June, 2023. He’ll get a generous plea deal. (his lawyers will want that, in order to
    immunize him against more serious charges)

    It will involve some charge related to money, and lying on a background check form in order to buy a gun. Giuliani is right that he has him dead to rights on that.

    To purchase a gun Hunter Biden had to sign that he had not recenty used illegal drugs, or something like that. Yet the evidene is overwhelming from his laptop files that he had.

    Sammy Finkelman (b7dc9b)

  400. What definitely did happen is that somebody altered the Capitol Police’s intelligence estimate after January 3 to say that there was not evenn going to be a rally at the Ellipse. (Senate report)

    Sammy Finkelman (b7dc9b)

  401. Nancy Pelosi And Husband Sell NVIDIA Corp Stock After Public Pressure: Here’s How Much She Lost And What’s Next

    ‘Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has been one of the most high-profile members of Congress when it comes to buying and selling stocks and options during her time in public office. A recent transaction by her husband Paul Pelosi faced public scrutiny and may have influenced a recent sale.

    What Happened: Pelosi announced the sale of a portion of NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ: NVDA) shares in a filing. As reported by Congresstrading, Pelosi and her husband sold 25,000 shares of NVIDIA Corporation on July 26 valued between $1 million and $5 million.; – BZ.com

    In the comment line of the filing, Pelosi said the shares were sold at an average price of $165.05 for a loss of $341,365.’

    Bottom line: selling at loss = admission of impropriety and no ethics. No guts to stand before cameras and announce the 180 after last Thursday’s press denials.

    Nail her ass, MSM. BTW, $341,365 is cheaper than any PR firm would have charged to try to spin this her way.

    DCSCA (33404d)

  402. AJ, Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the House, was in charge of security. She deliberately called them to stand down. Yet not a hint of investigation. Why is that? Why are you carrying water for her?

    Rob, McConnell was just as in charge as Pelosi. Why are you carrying water for the former Senate Majority Leader?
    The fact is that the Capitol Police Board has three members, the Capitol Architect (who was appointed by Trump) and the Sergeants-at-Arms from both houses of Congress, and all three members of the board resigned after J6.. This is at least the 2nd time you’ve falsely claimed that Pelosi was “in charge”.

    Paul Montagu (062b7e)

  403. So many running interference for the left. So many cheerleading show trials. So many would prefer to destroy the nation to save it.

    Carry on carrying water.

    NJRob (ca1bc8)

  404. Dave, that’s the clear implication of criticism that we didn’t have enough police and soldiers to maintain order.

    Time123 (b612e6)

  405. It’s a simple factual issue, Rob. You claimed that Pelosi was “in charge” of Capitol Police and that she “deliberately called them to stand down”, both of which are false. How about carrying water for the truth?

    Paul Montagu (062b7e)

  406. Retro Nancy- welcome to the 80’s; before thumb drives: the age of “Floppy Disks:”

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/galleries/article-10991145/Nancy-Pelosi-82-wears-plunging-swimsuit-Italian-beach-day.html

    Heads in the sand: Nancy, 82, and Paul Pelosi hit an Italian beach resort owned by opera star Andrea
    Bocelli – after she met the Pope despite supporting abortion and as he prepares for his DUI trial

    DCSCA (7c35aa)

  407. That’s false, but this is not, and I think remains unexplained:

    https://www.hsgac.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/HSGAC&RulesFullReport_ExaminingU.S.CapitolAttack.pdf

    (it may show up in your computer as an Adobe Acrobat file)

    IICD = Intelligence and Interagency Coordination Division of the Capitol Police

    Go to pages 45-47:

    On January 3, IICD issued its final, 15-page Special Assessment for the Joint Session. As was the case with the prior assessments, the “Bottom Line Up Front” was not changed to
    capture the seriousness of the threat known at the time. It noted that several protests were
    expected on January 6, both on the Capitol grounds and across Washington, D.C.; that “some
    protestors have indicated they plan to be armed”; and that “white supremacist groups may be
    attending.”258 An overview of the expected protests highlighted that they would be similar to
    previous rallies and that protestors would remain in their designated areas.259 After numerous
    pages detailing the location of expected protests and traffic closures and at the end of the
    document, IICD’s overall analysis contained a starker warning:

    Due to the tense political environment following the 2020 election, the threat of disruptive actions or violence cannot be ruled out. Supporters of the current president see January 6, 2021, as the last opportunity to overturn the results of the presidential election. This sense of desperation and disappointment may lead to more of an incentive to become violent. Unlike previous post-election protests, the targets of the pro-Trump supporters are not necessarily the counter-protesters as they were previously, but rather Congress itself is the target on the 6th. As outlined above, there has been a worrisome call for protesters to come to these events armed and there is the possibility that protesters may be inclined to become violent. Further, unlike the events on November 14, 2020, and December 12, 2020, there are several more protests scheduled on January 6, 2021, and the majority of them will be on Capitol grounds. The two protests expected to be the largest of the day—the Women for America First protest at the Ellipse and the Stop the Steal protest in Areas 8 and 9— may draw thousands of participants and both have been promoted by President Trump himself. The Stop the Steal protest in particular does not have a permit, but several high profile speakers, including Members of Congress are expected to speak at the event. This combined with Stop the Steal’s propensity to attract white supremacists, militia members, and others who actively promote violence, may lead to a significantly dangerous situation for law enforcement and the general public alike.260

    7. IICD Continued to Release Daily Intelligence Reports That Did Not Align with the Final Special Assessment

    In the days following the issuance of the January 3 Special Assessment, IICD issued three DIRs—none of which reflected the likelihood of violence described in the January 3 Special Assessment or more broadly known within IICD. In fact, the January 4, January 5, and January 6 DIRs assessed the probability of acts of civil disobedience from the planned protests across all of Washington, D.C. as “Remote” to “Improbable.”261 Regarding a “Million MAGA March/US Capitol,” the report assigned a probability of “Improbable,” adding as context, “it [is] possible the Million Magi [sic] March folks could organize a demonstration on USCP grounds.
    Women for America First has permitted on USCP grounds and Freedom Plaza parade permit through MPD and has been the permitted portion of previous Million MAGA Marches.”262 The Stop the Steal event was assigned a probability of “Highly Improbable” given that “no further information has been found to the exact actions planned by this group.”263 The Women for America First event planned for the Ellipse also received a “Highly Improbable” rating, but the report contained no explanation or context as to why this rating was assigned.264

    It is clear that IICD intelligence products, in particular the January 3 Special Assessment
    analysis that “Congress itself is the target on the 6th” and its warning about the “significantly
    dangerous situation for law enforcement and the general public alike,” were not incorporated in
    subsequent intelligence documents. One explanation given to the Committees for why the January 3 Special Assessment was not incorporated into the DIRs is because a single analyst
    prepared and disseminated the DIRs without supervisory review.265

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  408. So it went from “Congress itself is the target on the 6th” and “protesters may be inclined to become violent” on January 3 to The Stop the Steal event being “Highly Improbable” and even the Women for America First event planned for the Ellipse being regarded as “Highly Improbable”

    In the case of the Stop the Steal event it was maybe that other people were going to be in charge of the rally at the Capitol but how is the Ellipse event gone?

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  409. …..Yet not a hint of investigation. Why is that?…..

    NJRob (eb56c3) — 7/27/2022 @ 5:23 am

    There was an investigation into Capitol Hill security with a report released in June 2021:

    The Senate report recounts how the Guard was delayed for hours Jan. 6 as officials in multiple agencies took bureaucratic steps to release the troops. It details hours of calls between officials in the Capitol and the Pentagon and as the then-chief of the Capitol Police, Steven Sund, begged for help.

    It finds that the Pentagon spent hours “mission planning” and seeking multiple layers of approvals as Capitol Police were being overwhelmed and brutally beaten by the attackers. It also says the Defense Department’s hesitant response was influenced by criticism of its heavy-handed response to protests in the summer of 2020 after the killing of George Floyd in police custody.

    The senators are heavily critical of the Capitol Police Board, a three-member panel made up of the heads of security for the House and Senate and the Architect of the Capitol. The board now is required to approve requests by the police chief, even in urgent situations. The report recommends that its members “regularly review the policies and procedures” after senators found that the three board members on Jan. 6 did not understand their own authority and could not detail the statutory requirements for requesting National Guard assistance.
    …….
    The report recommends a consolidated intelligence unit within the Capitol Police after widespread failures from multiple agencies that did not predict the attack even though insurrectionists were planning it openly on the internet.

    The police intelligence unit “knew about social media posts calling for violence at the Capitol on January 6, including a plot to breach the Capitol, the online sharing of maps of the Capitol Complex’s tunnel systems, and other specific threats of violence,“ the report says, but agents did not properly inform leaders of everything they had found.
    ……..

    From the report:

    The USCP Chief has no unilateral authority to request assistance from the National Guard; the USCP Chief must submit a request for assistance to the Capitol Police Board for approval. (USCP Chief) Steven Sund never submitted a formal request to the Capitol Police Board for National Guard support in advance of January 6. Instead, Steven Sund had informal conversations with the House Sergeant at Arms, Paul Irving, and the Senate Sergeant at Arms, Michael Stenger, regarding the potential need for National Guard support. No one ever discussed the possibility of National Guard support with the Architect of the Capitol, the third voting member of the Capitol Police Board.
    ……..
    The members of the Capitol Police Board who were in charge on January 6 did not appear to be fully familiar with the statutory and regulatory requirements for requesting National Guard support, which contributed to the delay in deploying the National Guard to the Capitol. …….
    ……..
    Prior to January 6, USCP informed DOD officials on two separate occasions that it was not seeking DCNG assistance for the Joint Session of Congress. The D.C. government, by contrast, did request unarmed troops for traffic support, and on January 6, 154 unarmed DCNG personnel were staged at traffic control points throughout the city. As the attack unfolded, USCP and the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia (“MPD”) both pleaded with DOD officials for immediate assistance. DOD officials claimed they received a “workable” request for assistance from USCP at approximately 2:30 p.m. The request was presented to the Acting Secretary of Defense and approved at approximately 3:00 p.m. For the next ninety minutes, DOD officials ordered DCNG personnel to return to the Armory, obtain necessary gear, and prepare for deployment as leaders quickly prepared a mission plan. Miscommunication and confusion during response preparations, demonstrated by conflicting records about who authorized deployment and at what time, contributed to the delayed deployment. DCNG began arriving at the Capitol Complex at 5:20 p.m.—nearly three hours after DOD received USCP’s request for assistance and more than four hours after the barriers at the Capitol were first breached.
    ………

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  410. Your link doesn’t back up your claims, NJRob.

    Davethulhu (0b1e86) — 7/27/2022 @ 8:07 am

    For the umpteenth time.

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  411. Page 94: (quoting Acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller , whom some people suspected was a Trump stooge because Trump had replaced Mark Esper after the election, but the suspicion extended mostly to acts against Iran

    I [previously mentioned] our premier counterterrorism force in the United States military that has been doing this for 40 years, has a three-hour period. The fact that the National Guard was able to move this fast is unprecedented in the history of the National Guard. So I see it fundamentally different than this criticism that there was some sort of conspiracy to slow down the deployment.686

    When asked the risk of deploying DCNG earlier, Mr. Miller warned it would have been “uncoordinated,” “unsynchronized,” and “not effective.”687 He continued, explaining what might have happened if DCNG had deployed without planning:

    I’ve been in a few riots and just having people show up without a plan and without mission intent, and having understanding of what is happening on the ground—you
    can just run to the sound of the gunfire, but usually it just doesn’t work. It’s not effective.

    So taking that time to make sure you have as much information as you can and making sure that your people—most importantly, that your soldiers have the information they need is pretty much the fundamental nature of these things.

    Unless you’re an extremely well-trained organization that has practiced and trained and educated and experienced at just coming in—and we have some of those. It’s not the D.C. National Guard, I just want to tell you that, and it’s not a criticism of them. That’s not their mission.688

    Now the 3-hour standard would make what the police did Uvalde right, so there has t be something more to his, but in any case they were not waiting for some authorization by President Trump even though there was some issue of it not being proper for them to intervene without authorization.

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  412. Ukraine would probably be better off if it just simply got rid of the draft. They have all the would-be volunteers that they need.

    https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/25/world/middleeast/ukraine-soldiers-recruitment-draft.html

    A nationwide campaign is underway in Ukraine to recruit, register and draft men — a predictable response for a country at war. That campaign includes fanning out on the streets to find potential soldiers and issuing summonses ordering them to report to recruiting offices.

    But the effort, especially the street recruiting, is drawing accusations that it is secretive and arbitrary, that it violates the government’s own rules and that it sometimes drafts the unwilling while spurning the willing. It has also led to a cat-and-mouse game between recruiters and men trying to avoid them…

    …“There are many willing people who are motivated, who have combat experience, but cannot join the service, because in many places they recruited people precisely on the streets who do not have experience,” the petition read.

    …The lack of public transparency about the recruitment system, a major complaint of its critics, makes it difficult to tell how and why people are recruited. For the most part, though, bureaucratic or logistical factors — such as some units’ lacking available slots for officers or soldiers — seem to be behind why some with relevant skills or experience are not accepted for service.

    On the opposite side, some commanders and senior soldiers say summoning men unwilling to serve is lowering morale among those who volunteered.

    ….He wrote that soldiers and officers who put their lives on the line were demoralized by a chaotic recruitment process that drew draftees with poor qualifications or little inclination to serve. Sergeant Markus said he had pers

    onally faced situations where draftees’ alcoholism or other problems endangered other soldiers’ lives.

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  413. Paul Montagu (062b7e) — 7/26/2022 @ 4:44 pm

    You’re mindreading in the attempt to give him all benefit of the doubt.

    Against a wild. improbable accusation: that he wanted to watch, or lead, the fight.

    More probable is that he roped into somebody else’s plan – somebody who wanted to discredit democracy//

    His actions–and inactions by not deploying the National Guard and not telling his MAGA Nation zealots to leave–spoke volumes that day.

    Nobody was going to deploy the National Guard. Not telling any of them to stop means something, but it doesn’t mean he instigated it.

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  414. A policy toward drug users that probably makes alot more sense than what is done in most places: Supply users with frugs, but just enough

    https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/26/health/fentanyl-vancouver-drugs.html

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  415. Ms. James failed repeatedly at treatment. What turned her life around wasn’t quitting heroin but rather receiving pure medical-grade heroin from the Crosstown Clinic, which is run by the British Columbia health care system and provides the drug free of charge. When she was taken on as a client there a decade ago, Ms. James stopped stealing, stopped hustling and was able to set down the constant terror of wondering if she would be able to buy the next hit. She got a job, and the Crosstown staff helped her find an airy apartment in the suburbs to share with her daughter.

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  416. Tanks to enforcement, people attempting to cross the border have been forced into the hands of the drug cartels who have built a new business: (without dropping their old one)

    https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/25/us/migrant-smuggling-evolution.html

    And in Uvalde, Texas:

    Law enforcement agents have engaged in so many high-speed chases of smugglers lately in Uvalde, Texas — there were nearly 50 such “bailouts” in the town between February and May — that some school employees said they failed to take a lockdown order seriously during a mass shooting in May because so many previous lockdowns had been ordered when smugglers raced through the streets.

    Apparently, nobody thought to clarify the reasons for a lockdown when locking down the school.

    There were routine false alarms, or near false alarms.

    From the Texas report:

    Another factor contributing to relaxed vigilance on campus was the frequency of security alerts and campus lockdowns resulting from a recent rise of “bailouts”—the term used in border communities for the increasingly frequent occurrence of human traffickers trying to
    outrun the police, usually ending with the smuggler crashing the vehicle and the passengers
    fleeing in all directions.

    The frequency of these “bailout”-related alarms—around 50 of them between February and May of 2022—contributed to a diminished sense of vigilance about responding to security alerts.

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  417. Against a wild. improbable accusation: that he wanted to watch, or lead, the fight.

    Again, Sammy, I don’t know why you’re mindreading Trump, or why you think I’m doing so. Like I already said, I’m judging Trump by his actions and non-actions, and they spoke plenty.

    Nobody was going to deploy the National Guard.

    It was literally deployed on J6 (finally arriving at 5:40pm), but not by Trump. Good grief.
    Sammy, Trump was in direct command of the DC NG. One phone call right after his speech (because the violence had already started), and they would’ve responded forthwith, but he took no action.

    Paul Montagu (062b7e)

  418. We’re officially in a recession. Woo hoo!

    Paul Montagu (062b7e)

  419. @437

    We’re officially in a recession. Woo hoo!

    Paul Montagu (062b7e) — 7/28/2022 @ 8:31 am

    Let’s go Brandon!

    (and if we’re honest, blame Trump for being the administration that shut down the economy that likely started all of this)

    whembly (b770f8)

  420. @438, despite Sammy’s odd insistence that raising interest rates causes inflation, the common belief is that the Fed must raise rates to choke off inflation. Just as Volker did in the 80’s, this will generally slow the economy with the hope that the inflation breaks, the supply chain can unkink, and the economy can get back to growing. Biden was wrong to push as large of a stimulus as he did. He also gets no points for providing any leadership on supply chain solutions. His rhetoric is uninspiring as reflected in his poll numbers. He hasn’t announced it yet, but he’s soon to be a lame duck with little mojo left to push any sort of agenda. I would like for him to vector to the middle and try to improve the political atmosphere, but he’s shown no willingness yet. Sa la vie.

    As to Sammy’s pronouncements on Trump and J6. They’re getting too hard to read….

    AJ_Liberty (ec7f74)

  421. AJ_Liberty (ec7f74) — 7/28/2022 @ 9:14 am

    @438, despite Sammy’s odd insistence that raising interest rates causes inflation,

    I once checked month to month results using the New York Times Index. The reason this is not accepted is that the effect is almost immediate, which they don’t want to believe, and because of the association between an increase in the money supply and inflation. There is indeed an association but the effect is the other way around: Inflation causes an increase in the money supply.

    The other day I actually heard a reporter ask a question about how does raising interest rates fight inflation when it increases costs.

    the common belief is that the Fed must raise rates to choke off inflation.

    Yes I know. Everybody stupidly says the same thing because it is the conventional wisdom. But that’s wrong.

    Just as Volker did in the 80’s, this will generally slow the economy with the hope that the inflation breaks,

    In 1980 Paul Volcker succeeded in raising the rate of inflation along with interest rates. Denial of this is based on the notion that Fed does not control most interest rates so in this version of reality it’s “inflationary expectations” that raises interest rates- in this version of events the Fed is only slowing the rate of monetary growth

    People who say that raising the prime rate to 20% in 1980 ended inflation are not looking carefully at the chronology. Inflation did drop later in the 1980s, maybe because the price of oil dropped. I haven’t studied it – what actually did end the Great Inflation..I just found a pdf file (by someone named Patrick Jackman) published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics in August 1990) that said that inflation dropped because interest rates went down in late 1982. I can’t link to the PDF in this version of Windows, but I can link to a page that lets you download the PDF

    https://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/1990/article/consumer-prices-in-the-1980s-the-cooling-of-inflation.htm

    The deceleration in prices during the 1980’s can be traced to the easing of monetary policy in late 1982. However, prices over the decade remained historically high. This article summarizes trends in the consumer price index in the 1980’s.

    Download PDF »

    Sammy FInkelman (1d215a)

  422. the supply chain can unkink, and the economy can get back to growing.

    Reducing demand will not reduce prices. And supply will drop more than demand.

    A recession does not “break” inflation. At one time it used to because it produces a breakdown in inventory control, but this no longer happens and hasn’t happened since maybe 1937. You can however get a breakdown in inventory control in a prolonged expansion because the supply is coming from different producers and the supply curve becomes steeper than the demand curve and this is what ended the postwar inflation of the late 1940s. It ended by itself – nobody did anything – at that time, till March 4, 1951, monetary policy was under the control of the Treasury, and the policy was to keep interest rates low in order to finance the government debt.

    Inflation was the primary thing that President Truman said the Do-Nothing Congress was doing nothing about and in October 1948 the inflation ended and Dewey never knew what hit him.

    Biden was wrong to push as large of a stimulus as he did.

    The theory about the stimulus, besides liking to take credit for giving people money or services was that the economy was going to slow down because of Covid.

    Now people warned of inflation for years. When it suddenly happens after years of predictions it does not mean you were right. Because if you were right it should have happened sooner.

    The big thing that happened was sharp rise in the cost of shipping needed to ration demand for shipping containers, many of which were going on 1-way trips to Africa from China carrying PPE. There was a big surplus of shipping containers but eventually it got used up.

    Sammy FInkelman (1d215a)

  423. He also gets no points for providing any leadership on supply chain solutions. His rhetoric is uninspiring as reflected in his poll numbers.

    All that is true, but he has no competition.

    He hasn’t announced it yet, but he’s soon to be a lame duck with little mojo left to push any sort of agenda.

    Biden has no intention of declaring himself a lame duck, and if his health maintains himself he’ll run for re-election, keeping the option of withdrawing in favor of his vice president, which will almost certainly still be Kamala Harris, should his health take a sharp downturn in the middle of the 2024 election.

    Here I get to use a false expansion of an acronym:

    The pro-Buttigieg LGTBQIA crowd [Let’s get Biden To Quit Immediately Amen] would like Biden to announce he isn’t running so that Buttigieg gets a chance.

    I would like for him to vector to the middle and try to improve the political atmosphere, but he’s shown no willingness yet. Sa la vie.

    Biden is genuinely in the middle but can be pushed around a lot by the left.

    Sammy FInkelman (1d215a)

  424. AJ_Liberty (ec7f74) — 7/28/2022 @ 9:14 am

    As to Sammy’s pronouncements on Trump and J6. They’re getting too hard to read…

    Maybe they weren’t well written, )pr some of them weren’t)

    Sammy FInkelman (1d215a)

  425. Let me try again:

    They are trying to say Trump wanted the riot, or knew it would happen.

    This is quite impossible, because he wanted to go to the rally.

    Cassidy Hutchinson says she doesn’t know what he wanted to do there, but in the days before she remembers a few different ideas discussed – she doesn’t know to what extent they were discussed with Trump. They involved making another speech outside of the Capitol and then going in to the House chamber. So: Address the second (Capitol Hill) rally, and then lobby members of Congress.

    I think what some people have done is maintain the assumption that Trump planned the riot, and then explain Trump’s mind within those limitations, but that assumption makes no sense

    Sammy FInkelman (1d215a)

  426. Idea: Trump wanted to leas or watch the riot personally.

    No reason to suppose that except to be consistent with both planning the riot and wanting to be there. His endorsement of an minor assault against hecklers at his rallies is nota precedent, and besides they had a logical purpose.

    You have to consider the purpose of the riot in thee minds of most of the people there. (not in the minds of whoever really dreamed it up planned it – the purpose remains to be figured out)

    It was revenge because Congress and/or Mike Pence had certified Joe Biden as president.

    But in Trump’s mind, it wasn’t over!

    Possible purpose number 2: To stop the certification process.

    But Trump had already arranged for it to be delayed for a minimum of 14 to 15 hours!

    And as for indefinitely stalling it, that would not make Trump President after January 20, 2021. The United States is not a like a Parliamentary system with indefinite terms. Trump’s term expired at noon on January 20, 2021 and that was that, After that, provisions of the 20th amendment and laws passed by Congress determine who would be president.

    Trump needed to WIN the 2020 election, not merely prevent a winner from being determined.

    He needed for Congress to take positive action to make him president, one way or another.

    The way things were, if no winner was determined by noon on January 20. 2021, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi would become Acting President.

    Sammy FInkelman (1d215a)

  427. Some people, like Nic, fall back on this syllogism:

    Major Premise: If Trump didn’t want the riot, he would have done his level best to stop it.

    Minor Premise: Trump did nothing and refused to take advice to tell the rioters to stop.

    Conclusion: Trump not wanting the riot is false = Trump wanted the riot.

    This is a false syllogism.

    Besides the fact that is highly improbable from other facts that Trump either expected or wanted the attack on the Capitol to happen, there are all sorts of ways these premises can be false.

    Mainly, not wanting the riot does not mean that, once it happened, he would do his level best to stop it.

    Possible reasons for not trying everything in his power to put an end to the riot:

    1) Trump still wanted to take advantage of the crowd, in whatever way he thought they would help him. But people were urging him to call upon them to disperse, and not merely to be peaceful and to not attack police.

    2) Trump expected this to end soon. After all, he had no idea of the scale.

    3) Trump did not want to condemn the crowd in general because he didn’t know what percentage were involved.

    4) Trump did not want to acknowledge that these were (ostensibly at least) his supporters.

    5) Trump wanted to use the crowd and he could not do that if he repudiated them.

    6) Trump did not want to exposed as powerless over the crowd.

    7) Trump felt he had to endorse at least some of the thinking of the crowd, because he was their leader.

    In other words, Trump not wanting the storming of the Capitol, and in fact, finding that this interfered with his plans does not mean that he would want to do anything and everything to STOP this from continuing. There were drawbacks, in his mind, to separating himself from the mob.

    There were other considerations in his mind. Ways that disassocaiting himself from what the mob was doing could hurt his postion.

    Sammy FInkelman (1d215a)

  428. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/27/world/middleeast/iraq-parliament-protests.html

    No lawmakers were present.

    al-Sadr used to be pro-Oran so some research needs to be done to figure`out what is going on.

    Sammy FInkelman (1d215a)

  429. Michael Shellenberger has a good rundown on the climate deal that Manchin and Schumer, and it’s not bad.

    But the legislation also slashes the renewable energy tax credit by 80%, extends it to existing nuclear plants, and prohibits wind and solar development on federal land, or in federal waters, unless oil or gas lease sales have also been issued. As such, the legislation goes a long way toward doing what Manchin has long said he wanted to do, which is to level the playing field between all energy sources.

    To be sure, the bill is still tilted toward renewables. It includes tens of billions in tax credits to build solar panels and wind turbines in the US, tens of billions in grants and loan guarantees for renewables, and billions for energy efficiency.

    But the bill is far more balanced than its predecessor, Build Back Better. In addition to cutting the tax credit subsidy for wind energy and other renewables by 80%, it phases it out at the end of 2024, and makes all future tax credits technology-neutral. And the legislation does not including tax credits for new transmission lines, many of which could cut through sensitive ecosystems, such as the Nebraska Sandhills, and are required for a significant expansion of renewables.

    Moreover, Manchin says President Joe Biden and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi promised to also pass, in September, legislation for the permitting of oil and gas infrastructure, which may finally mean the building of the Mountain Valley Pipeline to transport natural gas from West Virginia to Virginia, which is crucial to the effort to export natural gas to American allies in Europe.

    . Manchin got his compromise, and he also got his pipeline.
    Shellenberger also has some knowledge on the effects of solar.

    Paul Montagu (062b7e)

  430. >> the legislation goes a long way toward doing what Manchin has long said he wanted to do, which is to level the playing field between all energy sources.

    But that;s what the “climate emergency” people don’t want to do. Of course nothing will ever take off worldwide unless the price is competitive — and Manchin’s right about a shift toward more solar etc means more transmission lines/ He’s making it a bit more difficult to build electrical transmission lines – that tends to support the use of natural gas as something to meet peak demand.

    There was this idea of prohibiting the export of refined gasoline but I heard the argument against that is that there is a limit to within US transport of refined petroleum (because of the Jones Act?) so that the only effect would be to reduce world supply of gasoline slightly.

    Someone claime on the radio that electric cars are more dangerous in fires and fire departments have been warned about it (he said other things but that oart may be accurate)

    https://www.firerescue1.com/firefighter-training/articles/what-firefighters-need-to-know-about-electric-car-batteries-omiDv8vd87oZ9ZKs

    “In each of the six full-scale burn tests, firefighters at the test site found that they needed to flow large amounts of water on the batteries, because fire kept flaring up even after it appeared to be extinguished. In one test, a battery fire reignited 22 hours after it was thought to be extinguished.

    Here’s another site:

    https://www.firerescue1.com/electric-fire/articles/electric-vehicle-response-fire-attack-and-extrication-basics-PwPBmx8uuMuMOR2G/

    If the vehicle is on fire and the high-voltage battery is not involved, it is a standard vehicle fire that should extinguish with a few hundred gallons of water. If the high-voltage battery is on fire, things become much more complicated.

    There are many stories about fire departments being on scene for 6 to 8 hours using upwards of 40,000 gallons of water.

    …Extrication is an area that is overlooked when considering EV response.

    Depending on the severity of the crash, EVs can provide unique challenges to firefighters. The vehicle construction and weight distribution could change standard strategies for stabilization. Typically, the outer edges of the battery structure mate to, or are considered the rocker panel. If undamaged, this is typically a safe location for rescue struts or cribbing. Further, when faced with a vehicle on its side, DO NOT use any holes that may have been caused by the crash, or pierce, puncture, create any purchase point in the battery case for rescue struts. This could cause an electrocution and/or fire hazard.

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  431. Sammy’s logic on Trump is hard to follow because it’s not logic.

    Basically, I understand Sammy’s approach here is that, despite the Trump’s request to the crowd — that they go up there and keep demonstrating — and despite Trump’s knowledge that his people had weapons — Trump did not want the riot. He didn’t want it because he intended to go there and politic. Doing that in the middle of a riot would have put Trump in danger.

    Sammy does not consider (1) Trump did not think this group posed any danger to him and (2) Trump wouldn’t have minded leading an armed group into the Capitol to demand he be heard. He also neglects that the law treats Trump as a responsible, reasoning adult. So it doesn’t matter whether he didn’t think he was causing a riot, if a reasonable person with Trump’s experience and understanding of crowds knew he was sending an armed group to try and stop an action he wanted stopped.

    Appalled (fa627b)

  432. Keep ‘em bumfuzzled, Sammy!

    Colonel Haiku (50ef72)


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