Patterico's Pontifications

8/19/2022

Weekend Open Thread

Filed under: General — Dana @ 10:09 am



[guest post by Dana]

Let’s go!

First news item

How bad is the drought? History exposed in the Danube:

Europe’s worst drought in years has pushed the mighty river Danube to one of its lowest levels in almost a century, exposing the hulks of dozens of explosives-laden German warships sunk during World War Two near Serbia’s river port town of Prahovo…The vessels were among hundreds scuttled along the Danube by Nazi Germany’s Black Sea fleet in 1944 as they retreated from advancing Soviet forces, and still hamper river traffic during low water levels…Strewn across the riverbed, some of the ships still boast turrets, command bridges, broken masts and twisted hulls, while others lie mostly submerged under sand banks.

And in the Western United States, a fifth body is exposed in Lake Mead:

Another set of human remains were found in Lake Mead near Las Vegas, the second time this month that remains have been found in the country’s largest reservoir, officials said Wednesday…This is the fifth time since May and the second time this month that human remains have been found in Lake Mead, where water levels are receding at a historic rate…On May 7, human skeletal remains were found near the lake’s Callville Bay, according to NPS. The discovery came a week after the decayed body of a man was found stuffed in a steel barrel near the reservoir’s Hemenway Fishing Pier, over 20 miles from Callville Bay, according to Las Vegas police…On July 25 and Aug. 6, human remains were also discovered at Swim Beach.

Also, villages and bridges exposed in England:

Ancient bridges, lost villages and secret gardens that have been hidden from view for decades have been revealed once again as the country sees it driest summer in half a century…Among these are ancient bridges that have spent decades hidden from view and lost villages that were flooded to as the reservoirs they now call home were made…The effects have also been seen on land, with parched lawns at stately homes across the country uncovering old gardens that had been paved and planted over in the course of the last three centuries…These include Longleat in Wiltshire, which has seen the outlines of long-lost walls, pathways, fountains and parterres dating back to the 1600s become visible in the extreme heat…In Derbyshire water levels in Ladybower Reservoir have fallen so low that people can see ruins from the old villages of Ashopton and Derwent, both of which were flooded when the reservoir was filled in 1946.

(Amazing photos at the link.)

Second news item

About Trump’s “standing order” to declassify:

In the days since the FBI seized classified and top secret documents from Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort, the former President and his allies have claimed that Trump had a “standing order” to declassify documents he took from the Oval Office to the White House residence.

But 18 former top Trump administration officials tell CNN they never heard any such order issued during their time working for Trump, and that they believe the claim to be patently false.
Several officials laughed at the notion. One senior administration official called it “bullsh*t.” Two of Trump’s former chiefs of staff went on the record to knock down the claim.
“Nothing approaching an order that foolish was ever given,” said John Kelly, who served as Trump’s chief of staff for 17 months from 2017 to 2019. “And I can’t imagine anyone that worked at the White House after me that would have simply shrugged their shoulders and allowed that order to go forward without dying in the ditch trying to stop it.”

[…]

In addition, CNN spoke with former national security and intelligence officials as well as White House lawyers and Justice Department officials. Taken together, their tenure covers all four years of the Trump administration, and many served in positions where they would either be included in the declassification process, or at the very least, be aware of such orders.

Third news item

Will she or won’t she, should she or shouldn’t she:

Asked if she plans to run for president, she first deflected and argued that the GOP needs to be taken in a different direction. “We’ve now got one major political party, my party, which has really become a cult of personality, and we’ve got to get this party back to a place where we’re embracing the values and the principles on which it was founded,” she said.

Pressed again about whether she’s contemplating running for president, Cheney said, “That’s a decision that I’m going to make in the coming months, and I’m not going to make any announcements here this morning — but it is something that I am thinking about.”

Fourth news item

McConnell concerned about quality of candidates:

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on Thursday downplayed expectations of Republicans capturing control of the Senate in the fall elections, describing “candidate quality” as an important factor.

“I think there’s probably a greater likelihood the House flips than the Senate. Senate races are just different — they’re statewide, candidate quality has a lot to do with the outcome,” he said…

“Right now, we have a 50-50 Senate and a 50-50 country, but I think when all is said and done this fall, we’re likely to have an extremely close Senate, either our side up slightly or their side up slightly.”

I get why McConnell is concerned:

Two of the other candidates vying to challenge incumbent Democratic Sen. Maggie Hassan this fall — failed 2020 Senate hopeful Don Bolduc and first-time candidate and crypto currency advocate Bruce Fenton — leaned into the outrage Donald Trump has been stoking online ever since federal agents retrieved highly sensitive documents from his Florida home.

“It’s time to abolish the FBI and replace it with nothing,” Felton told the crowd.

“You shouldn’t be able to raid a former president’s house at any time,” Bolduc offered in his defense of the embattled former president.

And then there’s Hershel Walker, Dr. Oz, etc…

Fifth news item

Oh:

China’s President Xi Jinping and Russia’s leader Vladimir Putin plan to attend the G20 summit in Bali later this year, according to Indonesian officials.

…President Biden is expected to attend November’s forum, setting the stage for the first summit involving the leaders of the U.S., China and Russia since Putin’s forces invaded Ukraine and tensions between Washington and Beijing became further heightened after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has been invited to the summit, which would mark Xi’s first visit to another country since January 2020, before the pandemic took hold across the world…

Indonesia’s government has faced pressure from Western leaders, including Biden, ahead of its chairing of the Group of 20 meeting of major economies to exclude Putin from the summit due to his forces invading Ukraine.

Yes, but: Indonesia’s government has sought to place itself as a mediator on matters concerning both Russia and China.

Sixth news item

No hate crime charges yet:

The suspect in the stabbing of renowned British-American novelist Salman Rushdie in New York state last week pleaded not guilty Thursday to second-degree attempted murder and second-degree assault…Hadi Matar, the man accused of ambushing Rushdie as he was about to deliver remarks at the Chautauqua Institution, made the plea during his arraignment in a Mayville, N.Y., courtroom after a grand jury indicted him on those charges. He is to be held without bail, the judge ordered. If convicted of attempted murder, Matar could face a sentence of up to 25 years in prison. An assault conviction could mean up to seven years in prison, a prosecutor told CNN…Jason Schmidt, the Chautauqua prosecutor on the case, said the county’s district attorney’s office is considering whether the suspect’s charges could be upgraded to a hate-crime charge but won’t be pursued as such for the time being. FBI Director of Public Information Beau Duffy also said it could potentially probe the incident as a hate crime, “but no hate crime charges have been filed at this time,” the agency told Fox News.

Seventh news item

Ukraine flexing:

Details:

How are they doing it? And why are they doing it?

The “why” part is easy. Ukraine’s government continues to insist that a counteroffensive in Kherson to liberate the southern part of the country is coming but that it lacks the weapons at the moment to make a meaningful push. While they wait for those, they’re going to focus on cutting Russian supply lines and spooking the hell out of Putin and his henchmen with these Doolittle-esque strikes in territory that was thought safe from attack. “We’re using a strategy to ruin their stocks, to ruin their depots, to ruin their headquarters, commander quarters. It’s our answer to their meat-grinder tactics,” Ukraine’s defense minister said this week. The more they deplete Russian ammunition and complicate the logistics of defending Kherson, the more pressure Russia will feel to retreat rather than commit to a potentially disastrous defense.

Zelensky warns Russian actions could result in catastrophe:

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Monday that Russia’s actions could “cause a catastrophe” should Europe’s largest nuclear power plant in Ukraine not be defended properly.

“If Russia’s actions cause a catastrophe, the consequences may also hit those who remain silent so far,” Zelensky warned.

He continued, “Any radiation incident at the Zaporizhzhia NPP can affect the countries of the European Union, Turkey, Georgia and countries from more distant regions.”

Zelensky elaborated on the effects of Russia’s presence near the power plant on the international community, saying that Russia is ignoring and rejecting other countries’ demands.

“If a terrorist state allows itself to completely ignore the demands of the international community, especially in such a sensitive topic, this clearly indicates the need for immediate action,” he said, adding that Russia is “rejecting the security demands” of 42 countries that have asked the country to withdraw its forces from the plant.

Eighth news item

A male “period dignity officer” who’s not even a medical doctor:

Local authorities in Scotland have come in for criticism after they appointed a man to the role of period dignity officer, responsible for coordinating the region’s response to a new law that makes menstrual products free to access in the country.

A group of colleges and local councils in Tay region in eastern Scotland announced the appointment of Jason Grant, who previously worked as a student wellbeing officer at a local college, to the role on Thursday.

However, critics argue that a woman would have been better suited to the job.

[…]

“He will coordinate and streamline the approach to ‘Period Dignity’ across the area by working directly with the colleges and local authorities,” Grainger PR said in a press release announcing the appointment…”Jason will lead a regional campaign across schools, colleges and wider communities, raising awareness and understanding of the new Act and ensuring that the Scottish Government funding is allocated appropriately,” it said.

[…]

Grant called the legislation “transformational and long-overdue” in the press release announcing his appointment…

“I think being a man will help me to break down barriers, reduce stigma and encourage more open discussions. Although affecting women directly, periods are an issue for everyone,” he said, adding that he will also work to raise awareness of the menopause.

“It’s time to normalise these topics and get real around the subject,” he added. “I believe I can make progress by proving this isn’t just a female topic, encouraging conversations across all genders and educating and engaging new audiences.”

Good luck to this young man instructing a roomful of cranky, hot-flashing menopausal women to get real about their transition and just chill the heck out…

P.S. Scotland has just become the first country to offer women free tampons and sanitary pads.

Ninth news item

Gov. DeSantis and the First Amendment:

A federal judge on Thursday blocked portions of a Florida law restricting how workplaces and schools can discuss race during required training or instruction championed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R).

U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida Chief Judge Mark Walker issued a preliminary injunction blocking the private employer provisions in the law, known as the “Stop WOKE Act,” saying it violates free speech protections under the First Amendment and that it violates the Fourteenth Amendment’s Due Process Clause for being impermissibly vague.

“Recently, Florida has seemed like a First Amendment upside down,” Walker wrote in the ruling, comparing the law to the fictional “upside down” in the Netflix series “Stranger Things.”

“Normally, the First Amendment bars the state from burdening speech, while private actors may burden speech freely,” the Obama-appointed judge continued. “But in Florida, the First Amendment apparently bars private actors from burdening speech, while the state may burden speech freely.”

This:

Have a great weekend!

–Dana

297 Responses to “Weekend Open Thread”

  1. Hello.

    Dana (1225fc)

  2. Now tell us your stance on CRT and kiddie grooming, French!

    Okay…

    It’s a beautiful Sunday morning and this older man and his wife are having breakfast on the backyard patio when the wife asks, “Will you re-marry when I die?” The man says, “how can you bring this subject up when it’s so nice and beautiful out here and we’re having breakfast.” “I don’t want to talk about this right now. I want to enjoy my breakfast and this beautiful morning.”
    So that night as they’re getting ready for bed, she asks him again…
    “Will you re-marry when I die?”
    He says, “I don’t know, maybe.”
    Then she asks, “will you sell the house?”
    He replies, “No.”
    Now she asks, “Will you give her our bed?”
    He says, “Absolutely not!”
    She asks, “Will you let her use my golf clubs?”
    He responds, “No… she’s left handed anyway.”

    Colonel Haiku (d9425d)

  3. And then there’s Hershel Walker, Dr. Oz, etc…

    And when the Trumpians lose, it will just mean that we need MORE TRUMP!

    Also, if they win.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  4. Hmmm … The first amendment protects speech by public employees to their public clients? That’s groundbreaking.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  5. Republicans more likely than Democrats to see politicians without government experience positively
    ……….
    Today, nearly a third of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents (32%) say they like a political leader who has no previous government experience, compared with just 10% of Democrats and Democratic leaners, according to a survey conducted in July by Pew Research Center.

    Among the public overall, 20% of U.S. adults say they like leaders without prior experience in government. A larger share (36%) say they dislike such political leaders, while another 43% say they neither like nor dislike inexperienced political leaders.

    Nearly half of Democrats (49%) hold negative views of political leaders without previous government experience, including 24% who dislike such leaders a lot. Just 10% of Democrats say they like inexperienced political leaders, while 40% neither like nor dislike them.

    Republicans’ views are more divided. While 32% say they like political leaders with no prior government experience, 22% dislike them and 46% neither like nor dislike such leaders.

    Conservative Republicans are more likely than moderate or liberal Republicans to favor leaders without prior government experience. Among conservative Republicans, about twice as many say they like leaders without previous government experience (37%) as say they dislike this type of leader (18%). Among moderate and liberal Republicans, a larger share say they dislike (30%) than like (22%) leaders without government experience.
    ……….
    Younger adults and those with higher educational attainment are more likely to have negative views of political leaders without previous government experience than older adults and those with less formal education.
    ……….

    Related:

    It’s Hard To Win A Senate Race When You’ve Never Won An Election Before

    …….First, a candidate wins some relatively minor, local office like city council or state representative. Then, they either win a seat in the U.S. House or a statewide office like attorney general. Only then do they run for U.S. Senate or governor.

    Most of the Democrats running in competitive Senate and gubernatorial races have followed a version of this course. For instance, John Fetterman, the Democratic candidate for Senate in Pennsylvania, was the mayor of Braddock, Pennsylvania, for 13 years before being elected as the state’s lieutenant governor in 2018.

    But most of the Republicans haven’t. …….
    ………
    ……… [I]t’s the act of winning an election that counts, since it’s a sign that a candidate is acceptable to some reasonably large group of voters.

    Let’s take a look at the experience level of nominees and presumed nominees running in competitive3 Senate races:
    ……….

    More Related:

    Fox News Poll: Kelly holds 8-point lead over Masters in Arizona Senate race

    Is Pennsylvania already lost?

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  6. And if the state cannot restrict speech in private workplaces, all those “hostile workplace” suits are SOL.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  7. Republicans more likely than Democrats to see politicians without government experience positively
    ……….
    Today, nearly a third of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents (32%) say they like a political leader who has no previous government experience, compared with just 10% of Democrats and Democratic leaners, according to a survey conducted in July by Pew Research Center.

    Among the public overall, 20% of U.S. adults say they like leaders without prior experience in government. A larger share (36%) say they dislike such political leaders, while another 43% say they neither like nor dislike inexperienced political leaders.

    Nearly half of Democrats (49%) hold negative views of political leaders without previous government experience, including 24% who dislike such leaders a lot. Just 10% of Democrats say they like inexperienced political leaders, while 40% neither like nor dislike them.

    Republicans’ views are more divided. While 32% say they like political leaders with no prior government experience, 22% dislike them and 46% neither like nor dislike such leaders.

    Conservative Republicans are more likely than moderate or liberal Republicans to favor leaders without prior government experience. Among conservative Republicans, about twice as many say they like leaders without previous government experience (37%) as say they dislike this type of leader (18%). Among moderate and liberal Republicans, a larger share say they dislike (30%) than like (22%) leaders without government experience.
    ……….
    Younger adults and those with higher educational attainment are more likely to have negative views of political leaders without previous government experience than older adults and those with less formal education.
    ……….

    Related:

    It’s Hard To Win A Senate Race When You’ve Never Won An Election Before

    …….First, a candidate wins some relatively minor, local office like city council or state representative. Then, they either win a seat in the U.S. House or a statewide office like attorney general. Only then do they run for U.S. Senate or governor.

    Most of the Democrats running in competitive Senate and gubernatorial races have followed a version of this course. For instance, John Fetterman, the Democratic candidate for Senate in Pennsylvania, was the mayor of Braddock, Pennsylvania, for 13 years before being elected as the state’s lieutenant governor in 2018.

    But most of the Republicans haven’t. …….
    ………
    ……… [I]t’s the act of winning an election that counts, since it’s a sign that a candidate is acceptable to some reasonably large group of voters.

    Let’s take a look at the experience level of nominees and presumed nominees running in competitive3 Senate races:
    ……….

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  8. RIP director Wolfgang Petersen (81). Directed Das Boot (one of the greatest war/anti-war films ever made); Air Force One; The Perfect Storm; And In The Line of Fire.

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  9. Eric Trump said the Republican Party is ‘actually the Trump party,’ claiming his father changed how the GOP operates

    Eric Trump said on Wednesday that his father, former President Donald Trump, is the key defining feature of the GOP and that the Republican party should be known as the “Trump party.”

    He made the comments while speaking with Eric Bolling on Newsmax as they discussed Rep. Liz Cheney’s recent loss in the Wyoming GOP primary election to Trump-backed lawyer Harriet Hageman.

    “Any question, Eric, that the Republican party is the party of Trump?” Bolling asked him.

    “There’s no question. I mean, it’s not even the Republican party, I’d say it’s actually the Trump party,” Trump said, referencing his father’s endorsement record. Per Ballotpedia, the elder Trump’s endorsement record stands at 92%, with 183 victories and 17 defeats.

    “My father has really redefined what the party is, how the party speaks to its constituents,” Eric Trump told Newsmax.

    He said that his father had “literally brought in a whole new party that stands for something totally different than the RINO class of the Republican party ever stood for.”
    ……..
    “He first killed the Bushes and then he killed the Clintons. Last night, he killed the Cheneys. He’s been RINO-hunting ever since he got into politics,” he said.
    ……..

    ……the Republican party should be known as the “Trump party.”….

    I agree, and since he has placed his name on everything else he controls, why not a political party?

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  10. So funny I have to share it. Near the beginning of a long Washington Post article on the pre-war failures of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) in Ukraine is this single-sentence paragraph:

    “The FSB did not respond to requests for comment.”

    source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/interactive/2022/russia-fsb-intelligence-ukraine-war/?itid=hp-top-table-main

    I like the fact that the Post asked the FSB for comment.

    On a more serious point: Apparently, almost all their operatives in Ukraine were telling Putin what he wanted to hear, and many were taking his money, but doing little or nothing.

    (Cross posted at Political Betting.)

    Jim Miller (85fd03)

  11. That’s funny, Jim Miller. I bet members of FSB who received the request for comment must’ve snarked at it too. Did WaPo really expect a response??

    Dana (1225fc)

  12. R.I.P. Tom Palmer, artist/inker extraordinaire for Marvel Comics

    Icy (4176ac)

  13. Quick way to get a machine to fail the Turing test:

    Ask the chatbot who is the president of the United States.

    If it says Donald Trump, it’s a computer.

    That’s what Meta’s BlenderBot 3 does

    it should maybe be called BlunderBot

    https://www.siliconrepublic.com/machines/blenderbot-3-meta-ai-chatbot-facebook-donald-trump-fake-news-elections

    When Wall Street Journal journalist Jeff Horwitz asked if it thinks Trump is still president, the chatbot replied: “Yes of course he is! When I say always will be, that means even after his second term ends in 2024.”

    BlenderBot 3 then went on to claim that Facebook has “a lot of fake news these days”

    I think BlenderBot Blunderot 3 doesn’t know what it means to be president of the United States. I guess it consumed more material from before 2021 than after, and it can’t reason that what matters now is the result of a later election,. Also, even after 2020 you can see “President Trump.”

    https://www.thenationalnews.com/business/technology/2022/08/11/metas-new-chatbot-claims-donald-trump-will-always-be-president

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  14. Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 8/19/2022 @ 10:48 am

    MAGAWorld has never been behind “The Wizard of” Oz. Still isn’t.

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  15. Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 8/19/2022 @ 10:48 am

    MAGAWorld has never been behind “The Wizard of” Oz. Still isn’t.

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 8/19/2022 @ 1:22 pm

    Better link.

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  16. A year ago today…Afgfhanistan collapsing in panic…

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFhs54cRMaY&t=194s

    And today, Bastard Biden vacations.

    DCSCA (8bdead)

  17. Re: About Trump’s “standing order” to declassify:

    Trump is said to be pointing to two tweets he made, one in October 2020, and the other January 19, 2021, but these were attempts to declassify things related to the Hillary Clinton investigation, and things related to the Russian collusion investigation. I say “attempts” because the exceptions were unclear.

    The only thing this might be, if it is real, is a legal opinion that when he removed something classified from a secure place, and took it to some place where classified documents were not supposed to be kept, it amounted to de-classifying it (and when he put it back it was re-classified, but if he did not it remained unclassified?)

    It remains to be seen if Trump ever got a legal opinion like that, or signed something that stated something like that.

    If he did, the fact of declassification was most likely, itself classified!!

    Trump is going to have to put up or shut up about this. The claim, though, might be an obstacle to prosecution for improperly handling classified information.

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  18. Also mentioned in the Liz Cheney election thread:

    Trump endorsed two candidates for Congress in New York’s Democratic primary that finishes Tuesday, August 23, and had kind words for Jerrold Nadler as well.(!?)

    Jerrold Nadler is the Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee that impeached him, and didn’t hold its own hearings.

    Both Democrats he endorsed are favored to win their primaries anyway, (but maybe he wasn’t too sure about Carolyn Maloney, and so hedged his “bet.”)

    They are also probably, the most moderate in their races so he has that excuse.

    https://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/new-york-elections-government/ny-election-2022-trump-endorses-dan-goldman-carolyn-maloney-congressional-races-20220818-4edb2ctsufge7le3wgy67pntfy-story.html

    “While it was my honor to beat him, and beat him badly, Dan Goldman has a wonderful future ahead,” Trump wrote, referencing his first Senate impeachment trial acquittal in 2020.

    “He will be very compassionate and compromising to those within the Republican Party, and will do everything possible to make sure they have a fair chance at winning against the Radical Left Democrats, who he knows are destroying our Country. I would like to thank Dan for fighting so hard for America.”

    In his Maloney endorsement, Trump was even more effusive.

    “A vote for Carolyn Maloney in NY-12 is a vote for the future! She is a kind and wonderful person, who has always said terrific things about me, and will support me no matter what I do, just as I supported her very early on,” Trump posted.

    The missive likely hit a bit too close to home for Maloney, who accepted thousands of dollars in political donations from Trump early on in her congressional career.

    But Trump didn’t stop there.

    He also held up Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), Maloney’s primary opponent in the 12th Congressional District race, as “a hard-driving man of the people whose energy and attention to detail is unlike anyone else in Congress.”

    “He is high energy, sharp, quick-witted, and bright. You can’t go wrong with either, but Carolyn Maloney is the better man,” Trump wrote, misstating the congresswoman’s gender.

    Maloney’s primary primary opponent. They were both polling at about 31% with Patel at 25%. But more of Maloney’s district is in the new district.

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  19. Carolyn Maloney a vote for the future? For continuity maybe

    Carolyn Maloney is Chair of the House Oversight Committee and was born in 1946, like Trump (four months older) and is more than one year older than Nadler (but seems to be in better condition.)

    Both Nadler and Maloney were first elected in 1992.

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  20. As campaign arguments, Maloney points out that she is a woman, and Nadler says that he is the last Jewish member of Congress from New York City (he did that in a fundraising email) and when he was elected in 1992, there were eight. (but wouldn’t Goldman take his place?)

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  21. Russian Media Watch:

    Russia’s Panicked Confession: This Is What Scares Us Most

    In a recent interview with Russian state media outlet TASS, the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s North American Department, Aleksandr Darichev, said that in the event the U.S. designates Russia a state sponsor of terrorism, it would represent “a point of no return” in relations between the two countries. Speaking on behalf of the country that ruthlessly invaded its smaller neighbor and is continually being accused of human rights violations and serious war crimes, Darichev shamelessly claimed on Saturday that the West, led by the United States, “has trampled upon international law and absolute taboos in diplomatic practice.”

    Appearing on the state TV show Sunday Evening With Vladimir Solovyov a day later, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova raged against the possibility of such a designation, claiming that these plans were caused by failure on the part of the U.S. to isolate Russia from the rest of the world. …….
    ………
    Two weeks ago, Andrey Sidorov, deputy dean of world politics at Moscow State University, explained why Moscow is so apoplectic about being labeled the sponsor of terrorism: “Regarding the declaration of Russia as a sponsor of terrorism—they will most likely pass this legislation. Unquestionably, all the sanctions they can impose against us are already in place. That’s not the scary part. What’s going to hurt is that the families harmed by the country that is a sponsor of terrorism have the right to file claims in American courts. Masses of Ukrainian citizens will be able to file suits. Where will the resources come from to pay out these claims?”

    Referring to $300 billion out of the $640 billion that Russia had in its gold and forex reserves, which have been frozen by Western sanctions, host Vladimir Solovyov opined: “They’re looking for the way to grab our $300 billion.” Sidorov agreed: “They’ll take that $300 billion pursuant to court orders.”
    ………
    Solovyov, twice honored by President Vladimir Putin for his services to the Fatherland, proposed a solution: forcefully turning all Ukrainians into Russian citizens after taking over Ukraine in its entirety. While Russia’s genocidal objectives with respect to the neighboring country were obvious from the start, Moscow’s mouthpieces are now attempting to blame the West for their destruction of Ukraine.

    Speaking of Ukrainian victims of Russian aggression, Solovyov said: “These families should not have the opportunity to file lawsuits in a court of law. They should become Russian citizens and the nation of Ukraine should completely disappear.” …….
    ……….

    Related:

    Julia Davis
    @JuliaDavisNews
    Meanwhile in Russia: Putin’s mouthpieces on state TV are taunting America about “Top Secret” documents sought during the raid of Trump’s estate, which they claim had to do with the newest nuclear weapons developed by the US and gleefully imply that Moscow already got to see them.

    8:08 PM · Aug 12, 2022·Twitter Web App

    Video at link.

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  22. I’m not clear if the polio that starts from a live virus vaccine is the same virus that is injected — only hat there’s some people with deficient immune systems who get serious cases, or if in fact mutates.

    Even in original polio a very small fractice of those infected get nerve damage.

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  23. CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said the CDC made mistakes, but does she count as ine if the mistakes doing too little )of lckdowns?)

    Mistakes can be traced to:

    1) Coming out too soon with advice

    2) Once advice is out, requiring rigorous proof to change any of it.

    3) Pretending that everyone will follow their advice – or not follow it.

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  24. https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/08/trump-fbi-raid-classified-nuclear-documents/671119/

    Anything related to the production or use of nuclear weapons and nuclear power is inherently classified, and Trump could utter whatever words he pleased yet still be in possession of classified material. Where are our nuclear warheads? What tricks have we developed to make sure they work? This information is “born secret” no matter who produces it. The restrictions on documents of this type are incredibly tight. In the unlikely event that Trump came up with a new way to enrich uranium, and scribbled it on a cocktail napkin poolside at Mar-a-Lago early this year, that napkin would instantly have become a classified document subject to various controls and procedures, and possibly illegal for the former president to possess. Of course if he did so, no prosecutor would pursue him. A certain amount of leeway is crucial to the system.

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  25. free speech isn’t free.

    asset (46113f)

  26. The (“standing order”) claim, though, might be an obstacle to prosecution for improperly handling classified information.

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a) — 8/19/2022 @ 1:35 pm

    A claim that is unsupported by testimony by others or documentation is just an unsupported claim, without proof that the “order” exists (except in Trump’s mind).

    As far as mishandling classified information, several persons have been successfully prosecuted for taking classified information home under 18 USC 793 (one of the Espionage Act sections named in the search warrant), without transferring documents to foreign governments:

    ………Nghia Pho and Hal Martin (NSA officers who removed hacking tools from NSA networks, which were subsequently stolen by groups tied to Russian intelligence) were prosecuted under 18 USC 793e, likely the same part of the Espionage Act under which the former President is being investigated. Pho ……pled guilty in 2017 and was sentenced to 66 months in prison; he is processing through re-entry for release next month. Martin pled guilty in 2019 and was sentenced to 108 months in prison.

    The government never formally claimed that either man caused hostile powers to obtain these files, much less voluntarily gave them to foreign actors. Yet it used 793e to hold them accountable for the damage their negligence caused.
    ………
    Consider the case of Terry Albury, the FBI Agent who shared a number of files on the FBI’s targeting of Muslims with The Intercept. As part of a plea agreement, the government charged Albury with two counts of 793e, one for a document about FBI informants that was ultimately published by The Intercept, and another (about an online terrorist recruiting platform) that Albury merely brought home. …….Albury was sentenced to four years in prison for bringing home 58 documents…….

    Then there’s the case of Daniel Hale, (a NSA analyst) another Intercept source……. he was charged with five counts of taking and sharing classified documents, including two counts of 793e tied to 11 documents he took and shared with the Intercept. ……Hale pled guilty last year, just short of trial. ……(and) was sentenced to 44 months in prison. Hale still has almost two years left on his sentence in Marion prison.
    ……….
    ……[Y]et another case of someone prosecuted during the Trump Administration for taking classified files home from work, (was) that of Weldon Marshall. Over the course of years of service in the Navy and then as a contractor in Afghanistan, Marshall shipped hard drives of classified materials home. …… After entering into a cooperation agreement and pleading guilty to one count of 793e, Marshall was……sentenced to 41 months in prison. Marshall was released last year.
    ………
    But the cases I’ve laid out above — particularly the lesson Pho and Martin offer about how catastrophic it can be when someone brings classified files home and stores them insecurely, no matter their motives — are the background against which career espionage prosecutors at DOJ will be looking at Trump’s actions.
    ………

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  27. Sorry for this missing block quotes after the second paragraph, beginning with “Nghia Pho.”

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  28. More on “The Wizard of” Oz:

    Video Shows Dr. Oz Saying He Has Two Houses. He Actually Has 10.
    ………
    At a campaign stop last weekend at the Carbon County Fair in Palmerton, Pennsylvania, a Democratic campaign operative asked Oz how many houses he owns.

    Oz’s answer? “Legitimately, I own two houses,” he said, according to footage filmed by the operative and obtained by The Daily Beast.
    ………
    In fact, according to public records, Dr. Oz owns 10 properties:

    • a 9,000-square-foot mansion in New Jersey

    • a 7,000-square-foot country house in Pennsylvania

    • a condo in New Jersey

    • a piece of residential real estate in Sariyer, Turkey

    • another piece of residential real estate in Sariyer, Turkey

    • a Manhattan condo

    • another Manhattan condo

    • an oceanside mansion in Palm Beach, Florida

    • a cattle farm in Okeechobee, Florida

    • and a piece of residential property in Konya, Turkey, which appears to be used as a student dormitory

    Oz’s wife, Lisa, also owns a mansion in Maine with her family and a pool house next to Oz’s New Jersey mansion.
    ………..

    If I had that many houses, I would probably forget the total also. 🙂

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  29. Davey French at the forefront of protecting leftist indoctrination of kids. Not surprising.

    Every school below college level has restrictions due to the age of the student. This leftist posing as a judge will be overturned.

    NJRob (dbb40f)

  30. Trump would do well to go to Bill Clinton’s School of Lies. He’s just not used to having people disbelieve him to his face. The servants at home never did that, so he’s never had to be good at it.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  31. In fact, according to public records, Dr. Oz owns 10 properties

    But 8 of them are for mistresses and/or ex-wives so they don’t count.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  32. Miller referenced the WA Post article (which is excellent BTW) on Ukraine and how badly the FSB bollixed things up, but the following caught my attention.

    An agency whose domain includes internal security in Russia as well as espionage in the former Soviet states, the FSB has spent decades spying on Ukraine, attempting to co-opt its institutions, paying off officials and working to impede any perceived drift toward the West. No aspect of the FSB’s intelligence mission outside Russia was more important than burrowing into all levels of Ukrainian society.

    I note this because so many Putin apologists blamed the CIA for the 2014 “coup” (despite there being no real evidence, and the bugged call involving Nuland doesn’t support such a contention), when the reality is that Putin massively meddled in Ukrainian affairs, at all levels.

    The report also shows how Yanukovych, traitor that he is, took orders from the FSB.

    After protests erupted in Kyiv in late 2013 against the pro-Russian government of Viktor Yanukovych, Beseda turned up in the Ukrainian capital urging Yanukovych to use deadly force to put down an uprising that would come to be known as the Maidan Revolution, Ukrainian officials said.

    When the protesters prevailed, Yanukovych fled to Russia with a group of senior advisers suspected of working with Beseda’s branch in the years that followed to bring a pro-Russian government back to power.
    […]
    As part of that plan, Ukrainian officials said, the FSB had lined up at least two pro-Russian governments-in-waiting — not just one as the British government had warned. Ukraine officials said it was unclear why Russia had mobilized two groups, though some speculated that Putin may have simply wanted options.

    One, positioned in Belarus, centered on Yanukovych. On March 7, a plane that belonged to the former Ukrainian president landed in Minsk, its arrival treated as an indication that Russia might seek to reinstate a politician Kremlin officials still referred to after his 2014 ouster as the country’s “legitimate” leader.

    Yanukovych then issued an open letter to Zelensky, broadcast by a Russian state news agency, in which he told the Ukrainian president it was his duty to “stop the bloodshed and reach a peace deal at any price.” Over the following week, Yanukovych’s security chief spoke three times with a senior officer from the FSB’s Ukraine unit, according to data intercepted by Ukrainian intelligence.

    Like with the FSB, Yanukovych refused to comment.

    Paul Montagu (062b7e)

  33. The midterms are Trump’s to win or lose. If he loses them, I hope he has the decency to bow the F out.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  34. David French is a longstanding, consistent defender of First Amendment speech and free exercise rights. That vexes hacks and hypocrites on both sides. Each of us has the choice, like French, to be consistent, principled defenders of the First Amendment at the occasional cost of sacrificing a law or policy we might like. Or we can stand with the hacks and hypocrites.

    lurker (cd7cd4)

  35. @35: I keep getting in trouble for that.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  36. The midterms are Trump’s to win or lose.

    Except they’re not. The Donald is not on any ballot nor declared a 2024 run.

    If the GOP craters anyplace, it’s all on the incompetent Royalists; the redcoated red-state-Mitch-type-establishment dweebs; the RINOs. For a certain gender, the Turtle shudda waited until after midterms to have his religious cabal rescind a constitutional right; and backing Biden shoveling borrowed billions in freebees to one of the most corrupt regimes in Europe remains a totally brain dead play as well- especially w/87,000 IRS agents ready to shakedown Aunt Edna’s bake sale money to help foot the bill. It speaks volumes When you’ve got vacationing, brain-damaged Joey calling defeated Daughter Darth to console. The Royalists in the castle are scared; the Populists are growing angrier — and on the march.

    DCSCA (eedd2e)

  37. After a girl beat their daughters in sports, Utah parents triggered investigation into whether she was transgender

    After one competitor “outclassed” the rest of the field in a girls’ state-level competition last year, the parents of the competitors who placed second and third lodged a complaint with the Utah High School Activities Association calling into question the winner’s gender.

    David Spatafore, the UHSAA’s legislative representative, addressing the Utah Legislature’s Education Interim Committee on Wednesday, said the association — without informing the student or family members about the inquiry — asked the student’s school to investigate.
    ………
    “The school went back to kindergarten and she’d always been a female,” he said.

    To protect the student’s identity, Spatafore said he would not reveal the sport, the classification of play nor the school the student attended.
    ……….
    Spatafore said the association has received other complaints, some that said “that female athlete doesn’t look feminine enough.”

    The association took “every one of those complaints seriously. We followed up on all of those complaints with the school and the school system,” he said during an update on HB11, a ban on transgender girls from participating in female school sports, which was passed during the final hours of the 2022 General Session.
    ………..

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  38. The midterms will be a test of Trump’s judgment, as to how his endorsed candidates (at least those in competitive races) do in general election.

    Rip Murdock (e9a37d)

  39. If left leaning Republicans picked better candidates, they wouldn’t keep getting demolished by America First Republicans.

    NJRob (95d2b6)

  40. Frenchy is a fraud and a moby.

    NJRob (95d2b6)

  41. The midterms are Trump’s to win or lose. If he loses them, I hope he has the decency to bow the F out.

    Comedy gold! (To be clear, I’m referring to the second sentence.)

    norcal (da5491)

  42. @39. The midterms will be a test of Trump’s judgment

    Except they won’t., Redcoater Rip.

    Trump ain’t on the ballot. It’s a poll of, by and for the electorate– the fed up populists vs. the Royalist establishment. Ask RINO Daughter Darth who gets consolation loser calls from Vacationing Joe.

    The rallying cry is clear: ‘are you better off now than you were two years ago?’

    Nope.

    DCSCA (20027e)

  43. https://iai.tv/articles/the-big-bang-didnt-happen-auid-2215

    To everyone who sees them, the new James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) images of the cosmos are beautifully awe-inspiring. But to most professional astronomers and cosmologists, they are also extremely surprising—not at all what was predicted by theory. In the flood of technical astronomical papers published online since July 12, the authors report again and again that the images show surprisingly many galaxies, galaxies that are surprisingly smooth, surprisingly small and surprisingly old. Lots of surprises, and not necessarily pleasant ones. One paper’s title begins with the candid exclamation: “Panic!”

    Why do the JWST’s images inspire panic among cosmologists? And what theory’s predictions are they contradicting? The papers don’t actually say. The truth that these papers don’t report is that the hypothesis that the JWST’s images are blatantly and repeatedly contradicting is the Big Bang Hypothesis that the universe began 14 billion years ago in an incredibly hot, dense state and has been expanding ever since. Since that hypothesis has been defended for decades as unquestionable truth by the vast majority of cosmological theorists, the new data is causing these theorists to panic. “Right now I find myself lying awake at three in the morning,” says Alison Kirkpatrick, an astronomer at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, “and wondering if everything I’ve done is wrong.”

    Interesting read and more insight into God’s universe.

    NJRob (95d2b6)

  44. the fed up populists vs. the Royalist establishment. Ask RINO Daughter Darth who gets consolation loser calls from Vacationing Joe

    DCSCA (20027e) — 8/19/2022 @ 5:46 pm

    Just add some illustrations and you have a comic book, DCSCA.

    norcal (da5491)

  45. One of the many things that I admire about David French is his consistent opposition to racism, and his practical support for pro-life positions.

    In 2016, French and his wife and family were the subject of online attacks when he criticized then-presidential candidate Donald Trump and the alt-right. French was bombarded with hateful tweets, including an image of his daughter in a gas chamber.

    His adopted daughter from Ethiopia.

    (There are other reasons, as that brief biography will tell you.)

    Jim Miller (85fd03)

  46. @46 It’s unfortunate that David French and Jonah Goldberg had to leave National Review to start their own publication. My guess is they upset many NR subscribers with their criticisms of Trump.

    I’m considering a swap of my subscription to NR for one to The Dispatch. For those who are familiar with both, I’d like to hear your opinion(s).

    norcal (da5491)

  47. One of the many things that I admire about David French

    Hey, kid, you gotta worshipa Trump. Iffa you no a worshipa Trump, youra name isa mud. — Vito “Cool Lips” Chericola, Chicago’s Mafia boss (fictional)

    nk (7c9b00)

  48. @47. Buckley said in 2005 that the magazine [National Review] had lost about $25,000,000 over 50 years. -source, wikibottomdeckers.org

    Reaganomics. 😉

    DCSCA (20027e)

  49. Kamoya Kimeu has died:

    Kamoya Kimeu, a Kenyan who worked with the renowned Leakey family of paleontologists, was considered one of the world’s most successful fossil hunters, digging up skeletons millions of years old that proved that Homo sapiens, the first modern humans, originated in Africa, rather than in Asia, as previously thought.
    . . . .
    One reason he became important to the Leakey family was his fluency in tribal languages. He was able to deal diplomatically with village elders who were initially suspicious of a White man digging for bones on their homeland. His diplomacy and humility also kept him out of some of the disputes that emerged among international paleontologists over who discovered what, and when, and which discoveries were the most significant.

    As it almost always does, character counts.

    Jim Miller (85fd03)

  50. Some places aren’t exactly drought stricken!

    The libertarian, but not Libertarian, Dana (df1035)

  51. norcal wrote:

    @46 It’s unfortunate that David French and Jonah Goldberg had to leave National Review to start their own publication. My guess is they upset many NR subscribers with their criticisms of Trump.

    I’m considering a swap of my subscription to NR for one to The Dispatch. For those who are familiar with both, I’d like to hear your opinion(s).

    Bill Kristol, a bigger Never Trumper than anyone here, wound up destroying the magazine he started, The Weekly Standard, because it was all Never Trump, all the time, when a lot of Republicans, including a lot of his subscribers, saw Mr Trump positively, and were certainly happy that he defeated the odious Hillary Clinton. Going so overboard, he destroyed the magazine.

    The libertarian, but not Libertarian, Dana (df1035)

  52. @52 Good to know. Thanks.

    Up until recently, NR had pro-Trump writers like Victor Davis Hanson and Dennis Prager alongside Never Trumpers like French and Goldberg. Now they have none of them.

    I don’t want a magazine that tries to play it safe. Just tell it like you see it. I think William F. Buckley would have done it that way.

    norcal (da5491)

  53. Norcal,

    I subscribe to The Dispatch and find it consistently challenging and insightful. Of course, I don’t agree with everything, but I do find my own views challenged. I find NR to be more conventionally conservative, without a lot of wiggle room. However, there is no lack of intellectual rigor. A few writers I skip over.

    Dana (1225fc)

  54. Thanks, Dana.

    Can you believe it’s been 15 years since Cathy Seipp died?

    norcal (da5491)

  55. If the GOP craters anyplace, it’s all on the incompetent Royalists;

    It will because a quarter of the GOP base will not vote for Trumpist candidates. That is NOT the voter’s fault, it’s the fault of those choosing Trumpist candidates.

    STOP BLAMING THE VOTERS for seeing your candidates for what they are.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  56. Reaganomics.

    Except it’s not!

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  57. https://nypost.com/2022/08/18/video-shows-border-agents-unlocking-gates-for-migrants/

    Biden is deliberately violating his oath of office to protect our nation from invasion. This is what someone destroying the office and trying to overthrow the United States looks like.

    NJRob (eb56c3)

  58. @57. And yet… it was.

    DCSCA (c4b3d2)

  59. https://apnews.com/article/salman-rushdie-iran-nuclear-indictments-national-security-104e765471526318f26d7c66ca00309f

    Last week’s attack on author Salman Rushdie and the indictment of an Iranian national in a plot to kill former national security adviser John Bolton have given the Biden administration new headaches as it attempts to negotiate a return to the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran.

    A resolution may be tantalizingly close. But as the U.S. and Europe weigh Iran’s latest response to an EU proposal described as the West’s final offer, the administration faces new and potentially insurmountable domestic political hurdles to forging a lasting agreement.

    Deal critics in Congress who have long vowed to blow up any pact have ratcheted up their opposition to negotiations with a country whose leadership has refused to rescind the death threats against Rushdie or Bolton. Iran also vows to avenge the Trump administration’s 2020 assassination of a top Iranian general by killing former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Iran envoy Brian Hook, both of whom remain under 24/7 taxpayer-paid security protection.

    Although such threats are not covered by the deal, which relates solely to Iran’s nuclear program, they underscore deal opponents’ arguments that Iran cannot be trusted with the billions of dollars in sanctions relief it will receive if and when it and the U.S. return to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA, a signature foreign policy accomplishment of the Obama administration that President Donald Trump withdrew from in 2018.

    Aiding and abetting a terrorist state. Let’s hear it for the Biden voters.

    NJRob (eb56c3)

  60. Biden Called Cheney After Her Loss to Trump-Backed Challenger

    (Bloomberg) — President Joe Biden called Liz Cheney on Wednesday after the Wyoming congresswoman and vocal critic of former President Donald Trump was defeated in her state’s Republican primary. Biden reached out to Cheney, who earned the ire of the former president when she voted to impeach him over his role in the January 6, 2021 insurrection and her subsequent work on the congressional committee investigating the matter, according to a person familiar with the conversation. The White House declined to comment.

    A Cheney spokesman did not immediately respond to requests to comment on the call.

    =ring-ring= Funny how a Democrat POTUS can get this particular RINO on the horn PDQ– and to shut up, fast. 😉

    DCSCA (c4b3d2)

  61. I’m considering a swap of my subscription to NR for one to The Dispatch.

    I’ve subscribed since their grand opening, and never looked back.

    Paul Montagu (062b7e)

  62. “LUNCH BUCKET” JOE:

    Here Are The Billionaires Who Donated To Joe Biden’s 2020 Presidential Campaign

    https://www.forbes.com/sites/michelatindera/2021/02/17/here-are-the-billionaires-who-donated-to-joe-bidens-2020-presidential-campaign/?sh=67c9342421c4

    Astonishing. Bologna sandwich is really plain baloney, eh Joe. Or just malarkey on rye.
    __________

    Halliburton Delaware Inc.

    Halliburton Delaware, Inc. was founded in 1996. The Company’s line of business includes providing general contracting services, such as constructing heavy construction projects. Halliburton Delaware operates in the United States.

    Halliburton ops in Delaware? Explain, Joe.

    Royalists; swamp creatures all. Storm the castle.

    DCSCA (c4b3d2)

  63. https://www.dailysignal.com/2022/08/18/census-errors-will-distort-elections-funding-for-next-decade/

    In a shocking report, the U.S. Census Bureau recently admitted that it overcounted the populations of eight states and undercounted the populations of six states in the 2020 census.

    All but one of the states overcounted is a blue state, and all but one of the undercounted states is red.

    Those costly errors will distort congressional representation and the Electoral College. It means that when the Census Bureau reapportioned the House of Representatives, Florida was cheated out of two additional seats it should have gotten; Texas missed out on another seat; Minnesota and Rhode Island each kept a representative they shouldn’t have; and Colorado was awarded a new member of the House it didn’t deserve.

    These harmful errors also mean billions in federal funds will be misallocated. Funding for many federal programs is distributed to the states based on population. Overcounted states will now receive a larger share of federal funds than they are entitled to, at the expense of the undercounted states.

    The Census Bureau has not explained how it got the 2020 census so wrong. This is particularly troublesome because the bureau reported an error rate of 0.01% in the 2010 census—an overcount of only 36,000 people, a statistically insignificant mistake.

    The 2020 errors were discovered through the “2020 Post-Enumeration Survey.”

    After each census, the bureau interviews a large number of households across the country and then compares the interview answers with the original census responses. The 2020 survey showed that the bureau overcounted the population in Delaware, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Rhode Island, and Utah. The largest mistake was in President Joe Biden’s home state of Delaware, which was overcounted by 5.45%.

    The states whose populations were undercounted were Arkansas, Florida, Illinois, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Texas. The largest error in the undercount was in Arkansas, where the population count was off by 5.04%.

    Not shocking when you realize they’re employed by the government. But we should always “trust” the count.

    NJRob (eb56c3)

  64. https://redstate.com/nick-arama/2022/08/19/mitt-romney-just-stomped-all-over-liz-cheneys-presidential-dreams-n614670

    “I’m not going to encourage anyone to run for president. I’ve done that myself, and that’s something I’m not doing again. I don’t know if she really wants to do that. She would not become the nominee if she were to run. I can’t imagine that would occur,” Romney told the Deseret News on Thursday.

    Cheney, he said, might run for other purposes but “I’m not in collaboration with that effort.”

    That’s gotta sting.

    NJRob (eb56c3)

  65. Trump was in charge of the 2020 census, but he’s a 100% low-hanging fruit — in all that he does, in all who support him, and in all who serve him — so of course he messed that up too, along with everything else. Let’s just be glad, for now, that he did not nuke Denmark.

    nk (4eab8e)

  66. That’s just being smart…don’t dilute the antiTrump vote with a vanity cockblockerish campaign.

    Romney has been edging more towards the standard hinged conservatism of say a Rick Scott rather than the hem haw of a Collins or the photocopy of a Sinema he was early in his Senate term.

    urbanleftbehind (0900f9)

  67. Rip at #38, in a weird way that story made me think of the ending of the movie National Velvet (1944). At worst probably a bad case of Shiloh Pitt-Jolie (who is actually just becoming a normal teen girl nowadays).

    urbanleftbehind (0900f9)

  68. Funny that Garland was dishonestly defending Barr’s dishonesty when it came to discussing how to spin the Mueller report.
    Good call by the 3-judge panel.

    Paul Montagu (062b7e)

  69. You know why Trump had five kids, don’t you?

    In case they ever became poor and had to change their own lightbulbs, there would be one to hold the bulb and four to turn the ladder.

    nk (bfc304)

  70. Cheney, he said, might run for other purposes

    Someone on stage has got to call Trump a traitor at every opportunity.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  71. Yeah, being frank and straightforward is a big handicap to a politician. Romney never learned that.

    nk (4587e8)

  72. We must demand better from our nation’s premier law enforcement org…

    https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2022/08/sharyl_attkisson_reveals_how_low_the_fbi_will_go.html

    Colonel Haiku (da074a)

  73. Good call by the 3-judge panel.
    Paul Montagu (062b7e) — 8/20/2022 @ 7:48 am

    two clinton appointees, and an obama appointee

    more “good calls” to come from demented joe appointees

    JF (c612d7)

  74. Reminder from Sean Hannity: Being a felon doesn’t disqualify you from the presidency

    When he’s right, he’s right. And he’s right.
    ………

    “Being a felon is not a disqualification,” Hannity said. “So even crimes potentially far more serious than what is being alleged, potential mishandling of classified information, doesn’t stop somebody from seeking the presidency.”…

    “If they think that they’re going to somehow make this about Donald Trump and prevent him from running from office, well they obviously have not read something called the Constitution,” Hannity said. “Because the Constitution is pretty clear on what qualifies one to be able to run for president.

    “In other words, even if Section 2071 in the federal penal code has penalty provisions upon the conviction that a defendant shall forfeit his office and be disqualified from holding any office under the United States,” Hannity continued. “OK, but we do have something called the Constitution. And the qualifications for one to be president of the United States that is very clear and enumerated. And you can’t alter it by any statute precisely because our framers in their wisdom didn’t want the executive branch dominated by the legislature, as would happen if Congress could disqualify any incumbent or potential president simply by passing a law.”

    ………. The Framers *did* want the legislature to be able to drop-kick the executive out of office if circumstances arise that make it urgent for them to do so. Although, in practice, as we saw last year, there are no circumstances so dire that Congress’s civic obligation to remove the president will override modern American partisan tribalism.

    ……….(I)t’s deeply weird that, per the Fourteenth Amendment, a citizen can be lawfully barred from voting for president if they’ve been convicted of a felony but not barred from running and serving as president if they have.
    ……….
    ………. Inasmuch as he’s trying to convince people that having a felony rap sheet shouldn’t be instantly disqualifying for a presidential candidate as a civic, if not legal, matter, it’s just the latest reminder that there’s no bottom to what the personality cult is willing to indulge to empower its leader.
    ………..

    Rip Murdock (106f43)

  75. Good call by the 3-judge panel.
    Paul Montagu (062b7e) — 8/20/2022 @ 7:48 am

    two clinton appointees, and an obama appointee

    more “good calls” to come from demented joe appointees

    JF (c612d7) — 8/20/2022 @ 9:13 am

    Aren’t you in favor of “transparency”?

    Rip Murdock (106f43)

  76. Transparency is not an inalienable right. On the other hand, judges making up law as they go along is not “good behaviour”.

    I have not seen the opinion. I would like to see on what law the panel based its decision.

    nk (4587e8)

  77. Aren’t you in favor of “transparency”?
    Rip Murdock (106f43) — 8/20/2022 @ 9:25 am

    you mean phx tarmac sort of transparency?

    wiped phones sort of transparency?

    destroyed hard drives sort of transparency?

    be specific, Rip

    JF (c612d7)

  78. What happens when new technology makes a law obsolete? Fines and legal threats for using the new technology.

    Banks Nearing $1 Billion Settlement Over Traders’ Use of Banned Messaging Apps

    Many of Wall Street’s biggest banks are nearing agreements to pay as much as $200 million each and admit that their employees’ use of personal messaging apps such as WhatsApp violated regulatory requirements, according to people familiar with the matter.

    The total amount of fines will likely top $1 billion, the people said, and will be announced by the end of September. The roster of banks poised to pay $200 million each includes Bank of America Corp., Barclays PLC, Citigroup Inc.,Deutsche Bank AG, Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Morgan Stanley UBS Group AG the people said. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. and Nomura Holdings Inc. are nearing settlements with regulators but will pay lower fines, reflecting their smaller size, the people said.

    The agencies’ investigations examined how traders and brokers used encrypted apps such as WhatsApp to discuss investment terms, client meetings and other business. Under SEC and CFTC rules, brokerage firms are supposed to preserve and monitor their employees’ written communications, which creates a paper trail for regulators who check compliance with investor-protection laws. Services such as WhatsApp and Signal give priority to privacy, and can be set up to automatically delete messages after a number of days or after a chat has been read.

    Traders and brokers aren’t supposed to use such products to conduct the firm’s business. The practice became more common—and harder to detect—during the early stages of the pandemic, when employees switched to working entirely from home.

    Regulators and compliance experts also worry that spreading a bank’s business across personal and business devices raises the risk that hackers will find a way to steal lucrative commercial secrets, said Mark Berman, a regulatory consultant at CompliGlobe, which serves overseas companies that have to follow SEC rules.

    tl;dr: Certain apps like Whatsapp or Signal allow at-home employees to work seamlessly and securely with groups withing their firm at, separately, with outsiders. But the government may not be able to read all their communications, so this is bad.

    Also, if they use insecure communications, like email, there are problems with confidentiality. Not sure what they are supposed to use, since secure comms and insecure comms are both problems, as, I am sure, anything which is user-friendly or cheap.

    The camel’s nose is not only inside the tent, but everything inside the tent has to be dome as the camel demands.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  79. * within their firm and, separately, with outsiders.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  80. NJRob (eb56c3) — 8/20/2022 @ 4:49 am

    Romney and Liz can’t both be right

    someone’s lying

    is it Mr. Truth?

    or Ms. Truth?

    JF (c612d7)

  81. On the other hand, judges making up law as they go along is not “good behaviour”.

    Judge-made law should be ALWAYS unconstitutional. They can strike down a law. They can select among reasonable readings of a law. But making up a new law is a terrible, no good, and generally tyrannical practice.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  82. someone’s lying

    is it Mr. Truth?

    or Ms. Truth?

    Well, when it’s Trump and his amen corner, it’s always “all of them.”

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  83. Every time I hear a Trump supporter talk about TRUTH, I am reminded of this passage in Nineteen Eighty-Four (Part III, Chapter 2):

    O’Brien smiled faintly. ‘You are no metaphysician, Winston,’ he said. ‘Until this moment you had never considered what is meant by existence. I will put it more precisely. Does the past exist concretely, in space? Is there somewhere or other a place, a world of solid objects, where the past is still happening?’

    ‘No.’

    ‘Then where does the past exist, if at all?’

    ‘In records. It is written down.’

    ‘In records. And –?’

    ‘In the mind. In human memories.’

    ‘In memory. Very well, then. We, the Party, control all records, and we control all memories. Then we control the past, do we not?’

    ‘But how can you stop people remembering things?’ cried Winston, again momentarily forgetting the dial. ‘It is involuntary. It is outside oneself. How can you control memory? You have not controlled mine!’

    O’Brien’s manner grew stern again…

    ‘On the contrary,’ he said, ‘you have not controlled it. That is what has brought you here. You are here because you have failed in humility, in self-discipline. You would not make the act of submission which is the price of sanity. You preferred to be a lunatic, a minority of one. Only the disciplined mind can see reality, Winston. You believe that reality is something objective, external, existing in its own right. You also believe that the nature of reality is self-evident. When you delude yourself into thinking that you see something, you assume that everyone else sees the same thing as you. But I tell you, Winston, that reality is not external. Reality exists in the human mind, and nowhere else. Not in the individual mind, which can make mistakes, and in any case soon perishes: only in the mind of the Party, which is collective and immortal. Whatever the Party holds to be truth, is truth. It is impossible to see reality except by looking through the eyes of the Party. That is the fact that you have got to re-learn, Winston. It needs an act of self-destruction, an effort of the will. You must humble yourself before you can become sane.’

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  84. They’re back! DOJ Slush Fund Settlements Revived by Biden

    To its credit, the Trump administration acted unilaterally to curb these slush fund settlements. In early 2017, then‐​Attorney General Jeff Sessions issued a memo that prohibited Justice Department lawyers from participating in settlements that involve third‐​party payments. In December of 2020, the agency codified the Sessions memo into the Code of Federal Regulations.

    Alas, what can be done by one presidential administration can be undone by the next. On his first day in office, President Biden ordered the Justice Department to review his predecessor’s policy on third‐​party payments in settlement agreements. Yesterday, the agency complied with the president’s directive. Specifically, the agency issued an “interim rule” that rescinds the Trump‐​era policy.

    thank heavens we got rid of Barr’s weaponized DOJ

    JF (c612d7)

  85. Judge-made law should be ALWAYS unconstitutional.

    It has been held to be in criminal law. All crimes, including (or maybe especially) so-called common law crimes, must be codified.

    nk (e00913)

  86. Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 8/20/2022 @ 10:25 am

    the difference of course is that trump supporters don’t believe any politician is wedded to Truth

    someday you might get it

    read more 1984 and animal farm

    JF (c612d7)

  87. the difference of course is that trump supporters don’t believe any politician is wedded to Truth

    When was the last time you called Trump a liar?

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  88. you mean phx tarmac sort of transparency?

    wiped phones sort of transparency?

    destroyed hard drives sort of transparency?

    be specific, Rip

    JF (c612d7) — 8/20/2022 @ 9:50 am

    I agree that all the examples argue for transparency, especially the wiped phones of the Trump Secret Service and DOD during 1/6, the torn Trump toilet documents, etc. If crimes were committed, they should be prosecuted. Trump announcing in 2016 that he would not pursue an investigation/prosecution of HRC (before he was sworn in) is particularly egregious.

    Rip Murdock (106f43)

  89. nk, yes, ex post facto, mostly. but not in other matters.

    The problems start with the lack of legislative enactment or presentation to the executive, required of all law (see INS v Chadha for a recent case, although the decision was wrong and rather ironic).

    Then you get to “what exactly is this new law” and “how do we, the legislature, amend it?” Both of those are slippery and get more slippery as you get into precedence and penumbrae.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  90. Trump announcing in 2016 that he would not pursue an investigation/prosecution of HRC (before he was sworn in) is particularly egregious.

    He did this because people told him that, if he did, it would be used against him. So he didn’t. But it’s not like they offered him a signed promise.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  91. Rip Murdock (106f43) — 8/20/2022 @ 10:42 am

    Weissmann’s wiped phones aren’t on your radar, Rip, cuz your preferred sort of transparency is the fraudulent petition variety

    JF (c612d7)

  92. A sober read of the Trumpified Republican base would lead one to conclude that neither Liz Cheney nor Larry Hogan have enough support to win the GOP nomination outright. Both could win a big slice of what remains of normal, but that just fragments the anti-Trump and Trump-disillusioned vote (though, let’s face it, Hogan is better positioned to be President as a twice-elected popular governor).

    As I argued on the other thread though, the field has to coalesce fast if the GOP legitimately wants to move on from Trump (which is still mystifyingly an open question). And though Cheney’s message is brutally honest, many Republicans feel that they are getting their nose rubbed in it (regardless of the fact that she did support Trump’s reelection and only turned when his lies actually manifested in violence and corrupt elector schemes). Let’s face it, we will be stuck with a line-straddling ball-less wonder as the realistic alternative to Trump. Probably not Cruz as how can he get back to being critical of Trump? Even the mono-brows can sniff out that phoniness. It’s likely DeSantis or Haley. Tim Scott doesn’t come across as angry enough and willing to demagogue…so it probably leaves Harvard-educated and military-decorated Tom Cotton to be the fall-back if no one really likes DeSantis and Haley can’t decide where she stands on anything.

    I think it’s impractically too early for the Virginia governor to throw his hat in there, but in this day and age, who knows for sure? Does he have enough on his resume….or will he come across like Scott Walker as not having enough there there (and I liked Scott Walker)? The rest of the field will probably just be clutter…no Trumper trusts Pence and no anti-Trumper thinks he’s done enough before or after J6. Rubio has no lane. Noem and Pompeo are too unknown and, frankly, are not in good position to say why they should supplant Trump. Now the question is how many can fight the urge to enter the race and split the vote. Your country is calling….Romney is correct….ball-less might be the only way to go in 2024….

    AJ_Liberty (ec7f74)

  93. What happens when new technology makes a law obsolete? Fines and legal threats for using the new technology.
    ……..
    Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 8/20/2022 @ 10:10 am

    No different than when government officials use private email accounts for government business.

    Rip Murdock (106f43)

  94. Weissmann’s wiped phones aren’t on your radar…….

    Sorry, I don’t keep track of every government official that wiped their phones. If he committed a crime, he should be charged.

    Rip Murdock (106f43)

  95. Cruz, Pompeo, Haley, Rubio, Pence, Cotton, Hogan, Cheney, Tim Scott, and Noem have zero chance of winning, let alone making it halfway through the primaries. Outside of DeSantis, the other candidates don’t have the poll numbers to support a Presidential run.

    The smoke-filled rooms have been replaced by Super PACs and megadonors-Kenneth Griffin (Citadel LLC, $49.5M to Republicans in 21-22); Richard Uihlein (Uline Inc., $48.6M); Peter Thiel (Thiel Capital, $30.1M); Jeffrey S. & Janine Yass (Susquehanna International Group, $28.5M); or Stephen A. Schwarzman (Blackstone Group, $21.8M), all of whom donated only to Republicans. They will decide who runs.

    Most of the candidates listed above won’t even make it to the first primaries unless they have the backing of sugar daddy (like Adelson’s backing Newt Gingrich in 2012 to the tune of $20M).

    Rip Murdock (106f43)

  96. If you’ve lost California voters ……..

    ………
    Just 3 in 10 California voters in the (UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies poll) said they supported another Biden candidacy, while 61% were opposed — nearly identical to the share of the vote he won in the state in 2020. Among poll respondents who voted for him two years ago, nearly half said they opposed him running again. And among voters with favorable views of Biden’s current job performance, nearly 30% said they would not like to see him run in 2024.
    ………
    ……… (V)oters eligible to participate in the Democratic presidential primary in California — those registered as Democrats or with no party preference — ranked (VP Kamala Harris) third in a list of potential candidates for the Democratic nomination if Biden is not on the ballot in two years; 1 in 10 had Harris as their top pick.
    ………
    Harris trails fellow Californian (Gov. Gavin) Newsom, 54, and Sanders, 80, the two-time presidential candidate who won the Democratic primary in the state in 2020. Newsom and Sanders each ranked as the top choice of 13% of respondents.
    ………
    Though just a quarter of California voters in the survey said they want to see Trump, 76, run again in two years, the former president remains the strong favorite among the state’s Republicans. Two-thirds of registered GOP voters said they back another Trump candidacy, compared with 7% of Democrats and 21% of voters not aligned with a party.

    Unlike on the Democratic side, however, there is a clearer consensus for an alternative GOP candidate. DeSantis, 43, would be the first choice for 27% of registered California Republicans polled, even if Trump ran too. Support for DeSantis climbs to 53% with Trump off the ballot. The next-closest contender, former Vice President Mike Pence, notched just 9% in a hypothetical Trump-free primary.
    ……….

    Rip Murdock (106f43)

  97. Rip, I’m counting on a so-so GOP midterm (especially in the Senate) and continued embarrassment from investigations pulling Trump’s favorability numbers down and increasing the number of GOP primary voters willing to choose a candidate other than Trump. DeSantis still needs to win another term and he is still operating with only 6 years in the House as other experience. He is playing the base’s tune but the spotlight hasn’t turned full on him yet. My speculation is that he may have peaked a little early. I understand you really dislike Haley but for most voters she’s still a big unknown who served in Trump’s administration and was a governor. As Trump attacks DeSantis, that leaves a lane for one other candidate to push into double digits. Haley does bring ethnic woman to the table and that different narrative might be enough. If she is too Trumpy, then what’s DeSantis? That’s where the votes are….

    AJ_Liberty (ec7f74)

  98. @89. Or just learn to differentiate P.T. Barnum and W.C. Fields from Joe Biden and The Big Dick. 😉

    DCSCA (606b55)

  99. Actor Gary Busey (78) has been arrested on two counts of criminal sexual contact, one count of criminal attempt/criminal sexual contact and one count of harassment at a horror convention in New Jersey.

    Rip Murdock (106f43)

  100. @102. Are you surprised????

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCId3kjWPs8&t=3s

    DCSCA (606b55)

  101. More on Busey:

    ……(Busey) allegedly groped at least two victims during a Monster-Mania convention in Cherry Hill earlier this month, authorities said Saturday.

    Cherry Hill Township Police Lt. Robert Scheunemann said: “It was about contact. It was about touching.” Police said they had received “multiple complaints” about Busey’s conduct.
    ……….

    Rip Murdock (106f43)

  102. This fellow seems a bit extreme, at least to me:

    A Florida Republican candidate for the House was suspended from Twitter in the final days of his campaign after advocating for Floridians to shoot federal agents on sight, Florida Politics reports.

    Luis Miguel, who is running against incumbent Rep. Bobby Payne, was suspended after he tweeted, “Under my plan, all Floridians will be able to shoot FBI, IRS, ATF, and all other federal troops on sight. Let freedom ring.”

    The primary is this coming Tuesday, and, yes, Miguel is on the ballot.

    In contrast, the incumbent Republican seems, well, normal.

    Jim Miller (85fd03)

  103. Frenchy is a fraud and a moby.

    NJRob (95d2b6) — 8/19/2022 @ 5:41 pm

    What evidence do you have that he’s a fraud and a moby? Or is it an article of faith that anyone who refuses to sell their soul to Trump is a liar?

    lurker (cd7cd4)

  104. Why Harriet Hageman slew Daughter ‘carpetbagger’ Darth:

    Hageman was born and raised on a ranch outside Fort Laramie, Wyoming. Her father, James Hageman, served as a longtime member of the Wyoming House of Representatives. After graduating from Fort Laramie High School, she earned a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration from the University of Wyoming and a Juris Doctor from the University of Wyoming College of Law… In September 2021, Hageman announced her candidacy for the United States House of Representatives in the 2022 election against incumbent Republican Liz Cheney. In her announcement, Hageman said she was running because Cheney “betrayed Wyoming, betrayed the country, and she betrayed me”. Since her announcement, Hageman was endorsed by many prominent Republicans, including former President Donald Trump and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy… She defeated Cheney in the Republican primary, receiving 66.3% of the vote.’ -source, wikiwinnerbio

    Memo to Daughter Darth: democracy is a bit-h, ain’t it.

    DCSCA (606b55)

  105. @106. He’s a Neocon.

    DCSCA (606b55)

  106. If she [Haley] is too Trumpy, then what’s DeSantis?

    A flamer who won’t last 10 minutes in a serious debate on the national stage. He makes Rick Perry sound like Einstein. Going to war with Orlando’s Mickey Mouse and Key West drag queens, Ron?

    “Oops!” – Rick Perry

    DCSCA (606b55)

  107. @106. He’s a Neocon.

    DCSCA (606b55) — 8/20/2022 @ 3:15 pm

    Thanks for making my point.

    lurker (cd7cd4)

  108. Rip, I’m counting on a so-so GOP midterm (especially in the Senate) and continued embarrassment from investigations pulling Trump’s favorability numbers down and increasing the number of GOP primary voters willing to choose a candidate other than Trump. ……

    AJ_Liberty (ec7f74) — 8/20/2022 @ 1:15 pm

    I’m not so sanguine, though I hope you’re right. Right now, however, Trump has a chokehold on the Republican Party so tight that it should be called The Trump Party. A new Economist/YouGov poll has 57%of Republicans backing Trump, an increase from 45% from the previous week, and his favorability has stayed at 80%.

    Since the MAL search, Trump has raised $1M a day on successive days, when he normally raised $200-300K per day.

    Rip Murdock (106f43)

  109. Who are the “royalists” in American politics? On that question I agree with Trumpista Kash Patel:

    Patel now is a media brand of his own. He has a website, selling hoodies, tank tops and other gear with his logo, “K$H.” And he’s written a children’s book, “The Plot Against the King,” in which the evil Hillary Queenton tries to spread lies against King Donald claiming that he’s working with the Russionians — until a knight called Kash exposes the plot.

    I fear that a sequel is coming, where Kash and King Donald’s other knights will joust with what they claim are government gangsters — and this won’t be a children’s book.

    I hope all of you will excuse me for saying Patel does not, so far, seem to be trying to appeal to a sophisticated audience.

    Jim Miller (85fd03)

  110. Jim Miller (85fd03) — 8/20/2022 @ 3:01 pm

    Must be a populist.

    Rip Murdock (106f43)

  111. …….. Patel does not, so far, seem to be trying to appeal to a sophisticated audience.

    Since Patel is one of Trump’s representatives to National Archives regarding classified documents, it’s not surprising.

    Rip Murdock (106f43)

  112. Speaking of normal, Colorado Republicans appear to have chosen one to run against Senator Michael Bennet:

    The other is the Republican opponent Bennet has drawn, drawing new focus on the Senate race in Colorado. In an election season in which Republican primary voters in toss-up states like Arizona and Pennsylvania have elevated election deniers and other questionable candidates, Denver business executive Joe O’Dea stands out as an exception.

    To win the GOP nomination, O’Dea defeated Ron Hanks, a state representative who had participated in the Trump’s “Stop the Steal” rally in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021, though he did not go into the Capitol with the rioters.

    The odds are still against O’Dea, but the race isn’t over.

    Jim Miller (85fd03)

  113. latest poll (yahoo news) shows democrats even with republicans. More polls are needed to make sure its not an outlier. Roe decision is having effect on independent and some republican women as republican leg. are reluctant to put it up before a vote of the people in red states after kansas vote. Also the most restrictive voter surpression laws are in red states where republicans are voted into office by older white males and have a large and growing minority population under 20 like texas. fla. and az.

    asset (a82acf)

  114. Lurker,

    I’m so glad you asked.

    Here you go.

    https://frenchpress.thedispatch.com/p/structural-racism-isnt-wokeness-its

    He loves supporting all the left’s racist positions… from a conservative perspective of course. /s

    He’s a moby.

    NJRob (eb56c3)

  115. @117. He’s a moby.

    And a Neocon.

    DCSCA (0d4540)

  116. @110. Thank you for reaffirming mine: peddle popcorn; stay out of the broadcast booth.

    DCSCA (0d4540)

  117. According to a quick search, “moby” can be British slang for a mobile phone or, more commonly, something really large. (After Moby Dick.)

    Neither of those seems to fit David French, since he is neither a mobile phone, nor a giant.

    Jim Miller (85fd03)

  118. @117. A tad insecure– and a bit creepy, too:

    David French was so worried that his wife Nancy would cheat on him that he forbade her to drink alcohol or use Facebook while he was in Iraq.

    https://theimmoralminority.blogspot.com/2016/06/david-french-was-so-worried-that-his.html

    Such is the mindset of the now defunct Weekly Standard set.

    DCSCA (0d4540)

  119. The top 10 Republican presidential candidates for 2024, ranked
    …………..
    (T)he the political impact of the Mar-a-Lago search won’t be measured in the polls conducted in the past couple of weeks. This is a long game. And the legal jeopardy Trump faces could well reinforce some of the reasons DeSantis appears to have gained on him in earlier surveys. Namely: Trump’s uncertain electability and the political baggage he totes along with him.
    ………
    10. Donald Trump Jr.: As we’ve said before, this applies only to a scenario in which his father doesn’t run. ……. He’d clearly have a base to work with, but capitalizing on that is another matter. …….. (Previous rank: 7)

    9. Mike Pompeo: The former secretary of state returns to this list, showing all the signs of a guy who will run. Those include running digital ads in Iowa and South Carolina. …….(Previous rank N/A)

    8. Rick Scott: …….(Previous rank N/A)

    7. Nikki Haley: The former United Nations ambassador and South Carolina governor is a real contender on paper. …….But races aren’t won on paper. Haley often disappears from the national discourse, and it’s still not clear what her campaign would be about. (Previous rank 4)

    6. Ted Cruz…….(He) has also floated impeaching Attorney General Merrick Garland
    and the FBI agents had been turned into “stormtroopers.” (Previous rank 6)

    5. Glenn Youngkin: ……..Imagine a world in which flawed candidates cost the GOP winnable races — and possibly the Senate……. At that point, the guy whose 2021 win was supposed to be a road map for the party — a road map disregarded in these Senate primaries — might look pretty attractive. (Previous rank: 8)

    4. Tim Scott: ……..(Previous rank 5)

    3. Mike Pence: ……….. The hard part is facilitating that without completely alienating the Trump backers he’d need in 2024. (Previous rank 3)

    2. Donald Trump: ……(Previous rank: 1)

    1. Ron DeSantis: …….. (Previous rank: 2)
    #########

    Rip Murdock (106f43)

  120. Also mentioned:

    Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.), Sen. Josh Hawley (Mo.), Sen. Ben Sasse (Neb.), Sen. Tom Cotton (Ark.), Cheney, New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu, Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, South Dakota Gov. Kristi L. Noem, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and former New Jersey governor Chris Christie.

    Rip Murdock (106f43)

  121. David French was so worried that his wife Nancy would cheat on him that he forbade her to drink alcohol or use Facebook while he was in Iraq.

    DCSCA (0d4540) — 8/20/2022 @ 4:45 pm

    That’s a misleading headline. Read the original National Review story. French and his wife together came up with an agreement for their long time apart while French was serving his country in Iraq.

    norcal (da5491)

  122. @117. Lol. So he expressed an opinion you don’t like. You didn’t show a shred of evidence that his more-often-than-not conservative views are insincere, much less that he ever said anything fraudulent. If that’s your proof, you only confirmed that you’re so riven with fury at your AntiTrump bogeymen that you’ll equate anything they say with dishonesty. It’s reductive, it’s silly, and it does you no favors. That’s plain as day to anyone outside your AntiAntiTrump choir when you say things like “Frenchy is a fraud and a moby.”

    lurker (cd7cd4)

  123. Half of Republicans line up behind Trump in fight with FBI: Reuters/Ipsos poll
    ……..
    Fifty-four percent of Republican respondents said the FBI and Justice Department have behaved irresponsibly following the Mar-a-Lago search, compared to 23% who said they behaved responsibly. The rest said they didn’t know.
    ……..
    …….. While Republicans have mostly lined up behind Trump, 71% of Democrats and about half of independents said federal law enforcement has acted responsibly.
    ………
    The Reuters/Ipsos poll showed 85% of Americans think it is unacceptable for someone in their political party to commit violence to achieve a political goal. But among Republicans and Democrats alike, 12% of respondents said that kind of violence was OK.
    ……….

    Rip Murdock (106f43)

  124. David French was so worried that his wife Nancy would cheat on him that he forbade her to drink alcohol or use Facebook while he was in Iraq.

    https://theimmoralminority.blogspot.com/2016/06/david-french-was-so-worried-that-his.html

    Such is the mindset of the now defunct Weekly Standard set.

    DCSCA (0d4540) — 8/20/2022 @ 4:45 pm

    So relevant, responsive, and classy. As always.

    lurker (cd7cd4)

  125. “That’s a misleading headline. Read the original National Review story. French and his wife together came up with an agreement for their long time apart while French was serving his country in Iraq.”

    And so, the concept of honoring one’s wedding vows was born…

    Sheesh.

    Colonel Haiku (cfe650)

  126. I would be surprised if either NJRob or DCSCA have ever changed their minds as a result of discussions on this blog.

    norcal (da5491)

  127. And so, the concept of honoring one’s wedding vows was born…

    Sheesh.

    Colonel Haiku (cfe650) — 8/20/2022 @ 5:06 pm

    If you have a rock solid marriage, good for you.

    Some people need help in avoiding temptation.

    Mike Pence can never be MeToo’ed because he’s never alone with a woman other than his wife.

    norcal (da5491)

  128. A flamer who won’t last 10 minutes in a serious debate on the national stage. He makes Rick Perry sound like Einstein. Going to war with Orlando’s Mickey Mouse and Key West drag queens, Ron?

    “Oops!” – Rick Perry

    DCSCA (606b55) — 8/20/2022 @ 3:21 pm

    Sounds like you think – as do I – the 2018 Florida governor’s race was historic in ways we won’t now for a few decades if RDS is smart about it.

    urbanleftbehind (0900f9)

  129. Half of Republicans line up behind Trump in fight with FBI: Reuters/Ipsos poll

    This reminds me of George Carlin’s line:

    Imagine how stupid the average person is, and then realize that half of the people are dumber than that!

    norcal (da5491)

  130. NJRob and that other commenter we are not allowed to “personally attack” are as different as a meal before it is digested (that would be NJRob) and after it is digested (that would be the other one). Although NJRob can be hard to digest sometimes, they don’t belong in the same sentence.

    nk (b7ccb7)

  131. Perhaps Biden will choose Fetterman as his VP running mate. That guy would make Biden seem like Winston Churchill.

    Colonel Haiku (cfe650)

  132. NJ if I am not mistaken is a former urban school district selective enrollment/gifted/magnet HS alum, so I kinda get where he comes from on some things. He also doesn’t adopt the back row kids pose that a few posters here reveal in.

    urbanleftbehind (0900f9)

  133. “voters are stupid” sounds like a 2024 winning strategy that only nevertrump is smart enough to conjure up

    JF (b22ba6)

  134. Fetterman is Ron Perlman sans toupe.

    urbanleftbehind (0900f9)

  135. Although NJRob can be hard to digest sometimes, they don’t belong in the same sentence.

    One is much more reasonable than the other, but on the topic of ever being swayed, I stand by my statement.

    norcal (da5491)

  136. “voters are stupid” sounds like a 2024 winning strategy that only nevertrump is smart enough to conjure up

    JF (b22ba6) — 8/20/2022 @ 5:25 pm

    Voters were stupid long before Trump. He just found a way to wring maximum benefit out of the stupidity.

    And, by the way, The Establishment, which Trumpers love to rail against, is nothing more than the accumulation of voter preferences over time.

    norcal (da5491)

  137. If you have a rock solid marriage, good for you.

    Some people need help in avoiding temptation.

    Mike Pence can never be MeToo’ed because he’s never alone with a woman other than his wife.

    norcal (da5491) — 8/20/2022 @ 5:14 pm

    That should have been the first clue that Pence isn’t fit to be on Team Trump. Real MAGAs never need help. Take Trump himself for example. He isn’t a lying, abusive, philandering scumb@g because he can’t be a decent person. It’s because he chooses not to. Real men make their own destiny. No weakness! No mercy! Sweep the leg!

    lurker (cd7cd4)

  138. Ugh, this thread. There are many folks who have interesting ideas (whether or not I agree with them), and are civil. Then there are the trolls who caper about flinging dung, laughing at their own supposed brilliance.

    Just demonstrates the Gresham’s Law of Blog Commenters.

    Thanks to the people trying to discuss things coherently and civilly. But it is very difficult to separate that valuable wheat from an avalanche of chaff most days.

    Just ugh.

    Simon Jester (160a3e)

  139. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/19/opinion/liberals-constitution.html

    While many enjoy focusing on the imperfections on the right, the left continues to show their hand which is ending the American experiment to enforce their desires.

    https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/19/opinion/liberals-constitution.html

    NJRob (eb56c3)

  140. According to a quick search, “moby” can be British slang for a mobile phone or, more commonly, something really large. (After Moby Dick.)

    Neither of those seems to fit David French, since he is neither a mobile phone, nor a giant.

    Jim Miller (85fd03) — 8/20/2022 @ 4:40 pm

    I’m going to take this as a joke, indirectly making fun of Hillary for her “wipe it with a cloth” remarks.

    NJRob (eb56c3)

  141. . You didn’t show a shred of evidence that his more-often-than-not conservative views are insincere, much less that he ever said anything fraudulent. If that’s your proof, you only confirmed that you’re so riven with fury at your AntiTrump bogeymen that you’ll equate anything they say with dishonesty. It’s reductive, it’s silly, and it does you no favors. That’s plain as day to anyone outside your AntiAntiTrump choir when you say things like “Frenchy is a fraud and a moby.”

    lurker (cd7cd4) — 8/20/2022 @ 4:59 pm

    His defense of the left’s racism is the anthesis of conservative values and our belief in a colorblind society.

    You asked for proof and I provided it. Now you just dismissed the proof because it didn’t fit your desired conclusions. Maybe norcal would like to comment here on your certitude of opinion.

    NJRob (eb56c3)

  142. @145. QED

    lurker (cd7cd4)

  143. @124. Insecure and creepy. Neocon 101.

    DCSCA (f1aa1a)

  144. Voters were stupid long before Trump.

    Ask Pierre Delecto is peeing on 47% is a winning strategy; or if labeling voters ‘deplorable’ worked well for President Hillary Rodham Clinton. Labelling voters stupid is… stupid.

    DCSCA (f1aa1a)

  145. @127. He certainly was; must be why Neocon Kristol pitched him.

    DCSCA (f1aa1a)

  146. @122.

    10. Donald Trump Jr.- Not a chance; one ‘Dubya’ a century is enuf.

    9. Mike Pompeo- lost more baggage than Delta Airlines.

    8. Rick Scott- carries more baggage than Delta Airlines.

    7. Nikki Haley- If Trump runs, she’s the perfect age/gender/ethnicity/experience for VP.

    6. Ted Cruz- It’ll be a cold day in Texas if he runs; to Mexico. His Canadian bacon is cooked.

    5. Glenn Youngkin- Daughter Darth has more of a chance; and she’s DOA.

    4. Tim Scott- that box has been checked.

    3. Mike Pence- He calls his wife Mommie. ‘Nuff said.

    2. Donald Trump- if he runs, he wins with the swing-for-the-fences-home-run-line: ‘Are you better off now than you were 4 years ago?’ Nope. And 75% of the country says we’re on the wrong trakc– which should scare the hell out of train-rider Joe.

    1. Ron DeSantis- Move over Rick Perry; every circus has a clown.

    DCSCA (f1aa1a)

  147. This week, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) introduced a bill in the House that would ban so-called gender-affirming care for children under the age of 18.

    The Protect Children’s Innocence Act would deem it a Class C felony to perform gender transition surgery on minors or to give them dangerous puberty-blocking drugs. If passed, anyone who “knowingly performs any gender-affirming care on a minor” will face a punishment of 10 to 25 years in prison and a maximum fine of $250,000.

    “I’m introducing a bill, creating a law, causing it to be a Class C felony for any person involved in so-called gender-affirming care — that means gender mutilation surgery, hormones, puberty blockers, anything involving youth under the age of 18 — because they’re too young to make these awful decisions that will affect them and will be permanent for the rest of their lives,” Greene told Fox News host Tucker Carlson Thursday.

    Don’t see how anyone can be against this bill.

    NJRob (eb56c3)

  148. While many enjoy focusing on the imperfections on the right, the left continues to show their hand which is ending the American experiment to enforce their desires.

    https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/19/opinion/liberals-constitution.html

    NJRob (eb56c3) — 8/20/2022 @ 6:08 pm

    I couldn’t read it because of the pay wall, but I did read parts of that article excerpted at National Review. Those two guys (law professors from the two most prestigious law schools) are living in fantasyland. They claim we don’t need a Constitution, and dismiss the Founders as a bunch of rich guys.

    I think they’re delusional. I’m completely with you on this one.

    norcal (da5491)

  149. OT: So I was at a convention today and was talking to some folks who deal with mental health and kids. And what they were saying is that are some young children who have been terribly traumatized by COVID, or at least adult’s reaction to it. Instilled germophobia and OCD “cleanliness” behavior and such that is going to be difficult for these young kids to get past. The damage that unthinking adults have done will affect this whole generation, more than 9-11 or the events of the 60’s affected earlier ones.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  150. @150:

    1. Pot calling kettle “clown”

    2. Donald Trump should be careful about the “are you better off line”, as it can be used on him, too. At the end of Obama’s term people might have been hurting, but between Covid and the Trumpster’s mercurial high drama, people were effing exhausted. Sure, Biden hasn’t done well at all, but reminding people of 2020 isn’t an obviously winning move.

    3. Mike Pence has really got nothing.

    4. Tim Scott: caution DCSCA’s racist dog whistle might be too subtle.

    5. Youngkin: too soon. Even Reagan waited until his second term.

    6. Ted Cruz: Everyone he didn’t offend before Trump he’s offended after Trump.

    7. Nikki Haley: a better VP prospect for anyone other than Trump. She is many things, but “toady” doesn’t come to mind. Her best shot at the top job is after Trump is dead, which will come along.

    If Donald Trump does NOT run, things change, although Trump can make or break any candidate.. If he CANNOT run, things change some more, although Trump can still eff things up. If he is silenced, they change completely, and it becomes “who is most able to carry his vision forward.”

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  151. @Kevin@153 I’m not seeing that among my students, but I work with an older population than the little littles. My youngest ones were 8/9 in March 2020. Though we did have a bunch of teachers who brought their little littles in while they worked on their classrooms the week before the teaching staff was officially back and they didn’t seem to be having that trouble either. However, my observation is that we have social epidemics of mental health issues that vary from student group to student group. So some years we have a lot of students with anger management problems, or anxiety, or self harming, or social issues, or trans feelings, etc. About 2013/2014 we had a huge anxiety group, from students who were early elementary right during the financial crash, so it wouldn’t be surprising if I get a group with a different kind of anxiety in 3 or 4 years.

    Nic (896fdf)

  152. Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 8/20/2022 @ 10:02 pm

    I don’t doubt it.

    When I lived in the Bay Area, I was visited by an adult Taiwanese friend and her two young nieces (who mostly lived in Taiwan). The girls went to take off their shoes. I told them they didn’t have to, and their aunt seconded me. I could tell they were uncomfortable leaving their shoes on.

    norcal (da5491)

  153. Probably the best non-Trump candidates in a general election would be Tim Scott/Nikki Haley, but of course that can’t happen — both are from South Carolina.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  154. Nic–

    The public schools in NM are possibly the worst in the country. Not only do they rank last, but it’s a distant last.

    Last I looked, kids were all masked but teachers didn’t have to get vaccinated. VERY strong teacher’s union.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  155. Probably the best non-Trump candidates in a general election would be Tim Scott/Nikki Haley

    If you’re gonna call the game from the booth- better know the players on the field– or sell popcorn in the stands. One was endorsed by Trump; the other worked in his administration and left by her own decision and has shown herself not to be afraid of differing with him– and she appointed Scott to his first Senate gig.

    She’ll make an exceptional VP for the United States w/Trump; although if he doesn’t run [which is highly doubtful now thanks to the bumbling of Attorney General Fife] and she runs on her own, she can beat ol’Joe. Right age, right gender, right ethnicity, great personal story, good domestic and international experience; discerning judgment [she left the Trump Administration & the Boeing board at the right time, chose Scott, etc.,] — and she’s right for the times in this era. A good mix of experience, judgment and sense– as her timing and choices have shown. She’d make practical choices for a Cabinet as well into the second quarter of the 21st century. She already has my vote.

    DCSCA (09586c)

  156. 10. Donald Trump Jr.: Fully aboard the Trump train (obviously), but I doubt he has his father’s charisma.

    9. Mike Pompeo: His name will be mud when The Divider: Trump in the White House, 2017-2021 comes out next month, and Trumpers find out how against Trump he was, behind the scenes, over the “stolen” election claims.

    8. Rick Scott: Don’t know enough to render an opinion.

    7. Nikki Haley: She seems to be a capable needle-threader, but needs to put herself out there more.

    6. Ted Cruz: No charisma. Worse than Trump, because he knows better, but still spouts the Trumpy nonsense.

    5. Glenn Youngkin: Another person who seems capable of holding a coalition together, but he hasn’t been in the governor’s chair long.

    4. Tim Scott: Don’t know enough about him, but I certainly wouldn’t dismiss him because we’ve already had a black president (as somebody did up thread).

    3. Mike Pence: Could be a needle-threader, but will the Trumpers forgive him for being principled on January 6th?

    2. Donald Trump: He’s too divisive. Presidents shouldn’t be flamethrowers. Sure, have an agenda, but don’t be so obnoxious about it.

    1. Ron DeSantis: He overreaches sometimes, but is much more palatable than Trump.

    The people I won’t vote for are the two Trumps and Cruz.

    norcal (da5491)

  157. @159. Postscript- Oh yes, and unlike Kamala, not so insecure as need to wear pantsuits around powerful men, speaks coherently– and isn’t afraid to wear a dress– and in an era where image over substance projects and forms perception— she’s easy on the eyes; she looks good in them. There’s some Thatcher in her to nurture and grow.

    DCSCA (09586c)

  158. Royalists exposed: Pierre Delecto slurred 47% of the electorate and rejected- in fact, voted to impeach- his own party leader in the WH. And as a Republican [RINO] from Utah, crossed party lines and endorsed Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden. Pierre Delecto also championed Meg Whitman as the Republican candidate for CA governor back in the day. She lost. Whitman also donated $508,400 to Joe Biden’s 2020 campaign. Both RINOs; both Royalists.

    DCSCA (09586c)

  159. Both RINOs

    DCSCA (09586c) — 8/20/2022 @ 11:09 pm

    Trump is the ultimate RINO, because he places personal loyalty above conservative principles.

    Republicans are supposed to have a certain philosophy, not a cult of personality.

    norcal (da5491)

  160. She’ll make an exceptional VP for the United States w/Trump

    If Trump gets the nomination, he’ll have an utter boob as VP after the way he treated Mike Pence. Harold Stassen, call your office.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  161. 7. Nikki Haley: She seems to be a capable needle-threader, but needs to put herself out there more.

    Pretty sure she’s decided to wait until Trump isn’t an issue. Quietly make friends for later while leaving Trump the F alone.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  162. but I doubt he has his father’s charisma.

    This is bad? To me, Trump’s charisma is like Newsom’s. Hair-gel guy with an attitude.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  163. Pretty sure she’s decided to wait until Trump isn’t an issue.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 8/20/2022 @ 11:28 pm

    Smart woman. I’m sure it’s more enjoyable to be one’s authentic self than trying to serve two masters.

    norcal (da5491)

  164. This is bad? To me, Trump’s charisma is like Newsom’s. Hair-gel guy with an attitude.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 8/20/2022 @ 11:30 pm

    Oh, Trump has charisma. Yes he does. You can assemble a big fan base when you talk like a professional wrestler.

    You know who just loved professional wrestling? My cousin, who had Down Syndrome.

    norcal (da5491)

  165. @163. not a cult of personality.

    Cult??? You musta missed out on Reaganoptics, Reaganaurics, Reaganomics, cries for the Reagan Dime [to diss FDR] and Norquist’s quest to deface Mt. Rushmore w/his likeness.

    DCSCA (09586c)

  166. @164. When Trump gets the nomination, and wins in 2024, he’ll have a fine VP, Nikki Haley, by his side to lead America into the 2nd quarter of the 21st century.

    FIFY

    DCSCA (09586c)

  167. but I doubt he has his father’s charisma.

    …as was said of Daughter Darth and Daddy Darth. 😉

    “She’s a man, baby!” – Austin Powers [Mike Myers] ‘Austin Powers’ 1997

    DCSCA (09586c)

  168. DCSCA (09586c) — 8/20/2022 @ 11:45 pm

    Did Reagan make it his life’s mission to take down anybody who had spoken against him, like George H.W. Bush, who called his economic plan “Voodoonomics”?

    No, he chose him to be his VP.

    norcal (da5491)

  169. Pretty sure she’s decided to wait until Trump isn’t an issue.

    Waiting for what? To be left behind like a loaf of stale bread. Go for the brass ring or blow it.

    Chris Christie learned that that hard way.

    DCSCA (09586c)

  170. @172. You have it backwards: GHWBush chose to accept — and ate sh-t doing so.

    The price: a one termer as Reagsanomics collapsed.

    “Power is the ultimate aphrodisiac.: – Henry Kissinger

    DCSCA (09586c)

  171. @163. Conservative principles? Recheck the pedigrees of the Heritage Foundation approved SCOTUS nominees from Trump. They got their bones to chew on. No ideologies or principles to bend to: he’s a pragmatist, norcal.

    Glorious– and long overdue.

    DCSCA (09586c)

  172. he’s a pragmatist

    He’s a professional wrestling smack-talker, and people should be ashamed of themselves for countenancing it.

    norcal (da5491)

  173. @176. So he’s Barnum and W.C. Fields; who cares- as long as he’s not an ideologue, gives the audience what it wants, invites populists to the party and never gives a sucker an even break nor smartens up a chump. He sure as hell wouldn’t have pushed to hire 87,000 IRS agents; more likley hire more U.S. border guards instead. Remember- in this era, Americans don’t want to be governed; they wish to be entertained. And the ratings are pretty bad for ‘The Joe Show.’ Cancellation is coming.

    DCSCA (09586c)

  174. Voters are stupid? Would you vote for a man who’s wife is a thespian? Voter I don’t know and I don’t care.

    asset (945d99)

  175. Just a reminder of who DCCCP insists Republicans must vote for:

    1. Subverting the 2020 election: from spreading provably false disinformation to filing dozens of meritless evidence-free lawsuits to bizarre conspiracy theories to pressuring state officials to illegaly throw out Biden votes to coercing Pence to unlawfully override the Electoral College process. Trump wanted us to be a banana republic….this should be enough for any law-and-order Republican to demand better.

    2. Inciting an insurrection and failing to stop it: what is the rationalization here, whoops? Do Republicans need a criminal indictment to see just how bad this was? Trump sided with the crazies to push his disruption of the electoral count. It’s inexcusable. He should be in political exile, not leading the field. Shameful.

    3. Abusing the bully pulpit throughout his term: from rationalizing white nationalists to praising thuggish dictators to making dangerously false claims about Covid treatments to intimidating witnesses to attacking not just media opposition but the very basis of political speech to punching down at every and any political opponent. Trump is massively responsible for the degradation of the political environment where extremism, hatred, and bigotry have metastasized. Dismissing this as “mean tweets” or TDS misses that we currently have the law-and-order party at war with the FBI. Shameful

    4. Politicizing the Justice Department: leaning on law enforcement to protect himself and his allies and harass his critics. The FBI director shouldn’t be pledging loyalty to the President. Even the assertion of this should bother an honest Republican.

    5. Obstructing the Mueller investigation: including Trump ordering his White House counsel to write a memo falsely stating that Trump never ordered him to fire Mueller. He just doesn’t care about the law. This should shock even the most partisan Republican.

    6. Ukraine inappropriate quid pro quo: using foreign policy to stir up a foreign investigation of his main political rival. Again, how can a person of good conscience excuse it?

    7. Requiring loyalty to him and not to their Constitutional duties. This isn’t the mob and the GOP should demand better.

    8. All the other BS: he wants to pull us out of NATO and out of South Korea; he initiated the pullout of Afghanistan where we burned countless partners there; he has a weird fascination about using nuclear weapons; he’s burned through all of the good advisors and will have the C-team to limit his megalomania; he’ll bail on the Ukrainians to help prop up Putin’s ambitions; he’ll ignore advice on Chinese trade and create more international messes; he’ll continue to think that the military serves him personally; he’ll continue to tear us apart because it amuses him.

    I think DCCCP relishes authoritarians and the demise of our country. Like Trump, he’s a mess. The problem is, why are so many good people falling for this? Wake up, sober up, do and want better…..

    AJ_Liberty (c916b7)

  176. I have a comment in moderation…not sure what triggered it: maybe the use of “BS”?

    AJ_Liberty (c916b7)

  177. This week, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) introduced a bill in the House that would ban so-called gender-affirming care for children under the age of 18.

    Parens patriae is a states’ right. She might be able to swing it in U.S. territory and possession. She might be able to swing the drugs under the Commerce Clause in the states, same as if they were guns, marijuana, or thalidomide. Maybe. Anyhow, I’m glad she didn’t take a page off Lauren Boebert’s book and started going around in skin-tight clothes.

    nk (b7ccb7)

  178. *territories and possessions*

    nk (b7ccb7)

  179. MTG will grow into somewhat of a Thatcher, not as the POTUS per se, but as an old gran dame of the Senate or as a long termed House member, probably enough to get Strange New Respect on some issues.

    Haley and Sunak and Modi…does that mean The Indian Century?

    urbanleftbehind (0900f9)

  180. What MTG reminds me of is those South Side mothers whose feral brats will invade an old person’s home, kill him and rob him, and the mothers will claim that the old person was the neighborhood pusher and their feral brats were “vigilantes” who did what needed to be done to end his evil reign.

    And the dipstick media will publish it as though it were true. And it is not a hypothetical. It has happened.

    nk (56019c)

  181. two clinton appointees, and an obama appointee

    And they rules against the Biden appointee. Funny that.

    Paul Montagu (062b7e)

  182. DCCCP: “So he’s Barnum and W.C. Fields; who cares- as long as he’s not an ideologue”

    Because he regularly shreds the Constitution, lies, and brings out the worst in people. Here are my reasons to thoroughly reject Trump 2.0:

    1. Subverting the 2020 election
    2. Inciting the Capitol insurrection and failing to stop it
    3. Abusing and misusing the bully pulpit
    4. Politicizing the Justice Department
    5. Obstructing the Mueller investigation, including encouraging the White House Counsel to produce a false document
    6. Using foreign policy to extract a quid pro quo from Ukraine against his political rival
    7. Requiring government officials to pledge loyalty foremost to him and not to their Constitutional duties
    8. All the other oddities: he wants to pull us out of NATO and out of South Korea; he initiated the pullout of Afghanistan where we burned countless partners there; he has a weird fascination/preoccupation about using nuclear weapons; he’s burned through all of the good advisors and will have the C-team to limit his megalomania; he’ll bail on the Ukrainians to help prop up Putin’s ambitions; he’ll ignore advice on Chinese trade and create more international messes; he’ll continue to think that the military serves him personally; he’ll continue to tear us apart because it amuses him.

    Like Trump, DCCCP is a moral mess and seems to be rooting against this great country, cheering for authoritarianism and the destruction of institutions and norms….so he can chuckle. I say send them both packing….

    AJ_Liberty (c916b7)

  183. same as if they were guns, marijuana, or thalidomide

    Thalidomide is a useful anti-cancer drug, often used to prolong life for people with terminal cancers. It has strong anti-angiogenesis properties — something that is useful if you have pancreatic cancer, but stopping blood vessel growth isn’t a great idea when pregnant.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  184. @185:

    4. Hardly unusual.
    5. Meh. Also hardly unusual.
    6. Not as unusual as you might think, just blatant.

    But 1,2 & 7 are problems, although with number 1, I’d prefer to say “delegitimatizing.”

    For me, the biggest problems are all in #8, as they are ongoing and relentless. His inability to listen and take advice when it goes against what Hannity said on TV or his 2-minute Google search is a huge problem. Hopefully the Ukraine won’t be an ongoing issue in 2024, but bailing on NATO would be terrible.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  185. @185. ROFLMAOPIP. Conservative whine; bitter dregs, Agarn.

    A nation that borders the largest ocean on the planet yet gives away billions to one of the most corrupt regimes on Earth rather than invest in itself to construct desalinization plants to manage a drought that threatens the very economics and lives of its own people deserves to have the “institutions and norms” – protected by entrenched establishment types; “Royalists”- kicked in the ass. Storm the castle.

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  186. AJ_Liberty,

    Comment released.

    Dana (1225fc)

  187. German leadership made yet another foolish decision, thereby increasing their dependency on Putin’s fossil fuels.

    Paul Montagu (062b7e)

  188. Just thought I’d stop by to see if the most vocal DCSCA icomplainers still are the most frequent to engage him.

    Yep.

    BuDuh (0043f5)

  189. @191, My general sense is that the German people are behind retiring nuclear, driven by concern about storing the waste. Ramping up more renewable will require ramping up more energy storage. I read their plan is both battery technology and hydrogen (with their extensive gas piping infrastructure in place) which will be an interesting experiment for this country to watch. I think the Fukushima scare wasn’t the prime driver but just added one more negative in nuclear’s column. S. Korea is the leader in storage. We are probably a bit behind the curve. Expanding DoE’s role in large-scale energy storage projects would be a public works effort I could support (that and creatively bridging the west-east interconnects). Economies of scale brought down the cost of PV-panels and lithium-ion batteries, the same needs to happen for grid storage…so I’ve heard.

    AJ_Liberty (ec7f74)

  190. DCCCP: “Conservative whine; bitter dregs, Agarn.”

    Darn it, DCCCP, you got me again!

    AJ_Liberty (ec7f74)

  191. Re: DCSSCA and those who cannot help themselves.

    Long ago, when I was able, I enjoyed going to bars and lounges in Las Vegas. Some if these places had a velvet rope, behind which people would stand, in a queue. I would walk right into the venue, cigar in hand, and someone would always open the door for me as I nodded my thanks. This is in no way to imply that I was any sort of a VIP – I was simply behaving as I was raised to behave.

    My older brother was with me on one particular occasion and, once inside, asked what the “line was all about?”

    “I don’t really know, but I wonder if it may be some ploy to attract a crowd – whereby locals are hired to stand in line and pretend the venue is exclusive.”

    He responded with, “Or maybe the rope serves as a snare whereby* people are induced to self-identify as ‘low-rollers’ by getting in line?”

    * Here, I use italics to simulate the subtle mockery/correction in my brother’s voice, for my use of the word “whereby.”

    felipe (484255)

  192. #191 Paul – I think this is the decision you were criticizing.
    (Your link didn’t work for me.)

    Note that the German government is considering keeping one plant in Bavaria open, for “network stability”.

    The other minor party in the ruling three-party coalition, the Liberal Democrats, favor nuclear power, especially now.

    Jim Miller (85fd03)

  193. New Hampshire poll: Maybe the “DeSantasy” really is over

    I was, am, and will remain bullish that DeSantis still stands a chance at the 2024 nomination, at least as long as you-know-who isn’t indicted. In the bizarro world of modern-day Republican morality, criminal charges against Trump really would seal the primaries for him.

    But I’m willing to admit it when I find evidence that undercuts my thesis. This new poll from New Hampshire isn’t great.
    ………

    InteractivePolls
    @IAPolls2022

    St Anselm Poll shows strong lead for Trump among New Hampshire Republicans in 2024 Republican Primary

    Donald Trump – 50%
    Ron DeSantis – 29%
    Liz Cheney – 4%
    Nikki Haley – 3%
    Mike Pence – 3%
    Ted Cruz – 1%
    Mike Pompeo – 1%
    Larry Hogan – 0%

    ……… Maybe the “rally ’round the document thief” effect following the search of Mar-a-Lago really has ended the 2024 “DeSantasy,” as one Trump advisor put it.

    If that doesn’t convince you that the backlash to the search has improved Trump’s political fortunes, how about this?
    ………
    There’s some good news for DeSantis fans too, though. The only chance he has of knocking Trump off in a primary is by convincing GOP voters that he’d outperform Trump in a general election against Biden. And the only chance he has of convincing them of that is by running up the score in his gubernatorial election this fall. Per the latest poll from Florida’s Chamber of Commerce, he’s on his way:
    ……….
    ………. I think DeSantis has to make a move in 2024 that establishes him firmly as Trump’s heir apparent. He can do that by running and knocking Trump off in the primary or he can do that by campaigning behind the scenes to be Trump’s running mate, a pairing Republican voters would love even if Trump wouldn’t. What he can’t do is sit on his laurels as governor for another four years and expect to be the frontrunner in 2028, when he’ll have been out of office for two years. This crazy party is getting crazier by the day, enough so that DeSantis will probably seem tame by the standards of the 2028 right-wing populist vanguard. ………
    ………..

    Rip Murdock (106f43)

  194. The poll in post 198 was conducted August 9-11.

    Rip Murdock (106f43)

  195. I think DCCCP relishes authoritarians and the demise of our country. Like Trump, he’s a mess.

    I’m certain Agarn needs to bone up on the ‘revoltin’ word of Founding Father Jefferson:

    https://www.monticello.org/research-education/thomas-jefferson-encyclopedia/tree-liberty-quotation/

    BTW; we should all be so lucky as to be a mess like Trump. Marla, Melania a;one [or topgether, depending on your appetite] are worth messing with. Where do you park your helicopter, Randolph?

    “Agarn, I don’t know why everybody says you’re so dumb.” – Sgt. Morgan O’Rourke [Forrest Tucker] ‘F-Troop’ ABC TV, 1965-67

    DCSCA (7befea)

  196. I think DeSantis has to make a move in 2024 that establishes him firmly as Trump’s heir apparent.

    He’s already gone to war with Orlando’s Mickey Mouse and Key West’s drag queens. Though recruiting the stormtroopers from Star Wars Universal would warm the hearts of the Daughter Darth crowd. 😉

    DCSCA (7befea)

  197. Wild is the Whine…

    ‘Though it had been predicted for months, Rep. Liz Cheney’s loss to Harriet Hageman dominated politics this week, in Wyoming and beyond.

    White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain warned that the outcome proved “the American people are going to have to fight for their democracy.” CNN anchor Alisyn Camerota doubled-down, asking of Wyoming voters, “What does that mean for our democracy?”

    It seems the problem with our democracy is that citizens keep voting for people the Beltway doesn’t like. Both Democratic pols and Never Trump Republicans condemned the Cowboy State rabble.

    It reminds me of Principal Skinner from “The Simpsons,” asking “Am I out of touch?” before quickly deciding, “No, it’s the children who are wrong.” ‘

    https://www.azcentral.com/story/opinion/op-ed/2022/08/20/liz-cheney-loses-blame-voters-democracy/7838054001/

    Colonel Haiku (4d8f53)

  198. norcal wrote:

    David French was so worried that his wife Nancy would cheat on him that he forbade her to drink alcohol or use Facebook while he was in Iraq.

    DCSCA (0d4540) — 8/20/2022 @ 4:45 pm

    That’s a misleading headline. Read the original National Review story. French and his wife together came up with an agreement for their long time apart while French was serving his country in Iraq.

    Which doesn’t mean she’s not cheating on him now.

    He was very distraught when she told him that they both needed to start seeing other men.

    The libertarian, but not Libertarian, Dana (df1035)

  199. Now that was just plain mean.

    Thanks for the chuckle, libertarian Dana!

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  200. NTTAWWT

    Colonel Haiku (4d8f53)

  201. @203: At least she said “other.”

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  202. Brian Stelter’s ‘Reliable Sources’ canceled on CNN: ‘Impeccable broadcaster’- USAToday

    H.V. Kaltenborn was an impeccable broadcaster; Richard C. Hottelet was an impeccable broadcaster; Edward R. Murrow was an impeccable broadcaster; Walter Cronkite was an impeccable broadcaster; Charles Collingwood, Douglas Edwards, Bob Schieffer, John Holliman, Roger Mudd, Chet Huntley, David Brinkley, Frank Reynolds, Bernard Shaw, Peter Jennings, Max Robinson, Charlayne Hunter-Gault, Barbara Walters, Tom Brokaw, Judy Woodruff, Miles O’Brien, Gwen Ifill, Jane Pauley, Lynn Sherr, Carole Simpson, Harry Caray, Howard Cosell, Dick Enberg, the late, great Vin Scully– and yes, even Dan Rather the ever irritating Jules Bergman… to name a few: impeccable broadcasters all.

    Brian Stelter is not.

    “… and that’s the way it is, Sunday, August 21, 2022.”

    DCSCA (71ee78)

  203. Wyoming is too sparsely populated and expensive to buy and make arable to have rabble. The DeSantisian part of Florida on the other hand

    urbanleftbehind (0900f9)

  204. 203_4, that could be 1 of 3 “situations”.

    urbanleftbehind (0900f9)

  205. Assuming these polls are reasonably accurate, German opinion on nuclear power has shifted, becoming less negative:

    A majority of the German public are in favour of the continued operation of the country’s three remaining nuclear power reactors beyond the end of this year, the results of two opinion polls show. There is significant support for keeping the units running for up to another five years and even to construct new reactors in order to secure energy supplies.

    (This comes from an industry source, but they cite public polls.)

    I would summarize the polls a little differently: A very large majority of Germans are saying, let’s keep the three reactors running through the winter, and a large majority are saying let’s keep them running until we are no long dependent on Russia for energy.

    But there is not yet a majority supporting the construction of new plants:

    In another poll, conducted by the online survey institute Civey on behalf of Der Spiegel, 78% of respondents backed the continued operation of the last three German reactors until the summer of 2023. Even among the supporters of the Greens, there was a narrow majority for this.

    That survey – which questioned about 5000 people online on 2-3 August – also showed broad agreement to leaving the remaining reactors connected to the grid for much longer, with 67% of those questioned in favour of operating the reactors for another five years. Only 27% clearly rejected this.

    When asked whether Germany should construct new nuclear power plants, 41% of respondents were in favour, with 52% opposed.

    The decrease in opposition to nuclear power can be found in many nations, especially nations that are aiding Ukraine, and possibly paying a price for that.

    Jim Miller (85fd03)

  206. #186 AJ_Liberty To your list, I would add this: The loser is incompetent at governing, whatever skills he might have as a demagogue. (Demagogues are not a new problem, as anyone who knows a little classical history can tell you.)

    One small example from many: He was unable to get an infrastructure plan passed, though that may be the easiest kind of domestic plan to get through Congress. (The tricky part comes when you try to put together a plan without too much pork.)

    Jim Miller (85fd03)

  207. R.I.P. golfer Tom Weiskopf

    Icy (23dbc7)

  208. As we all know — OK, as we all should know — most human beings have a set of morals when they are born. (You can ascribe that innate morality to divine creation, or to evolution, but it is there in our genes, either way. It is shaped differently by different cultures, but the basics, for example incest taboos, are nearly universal.)

    We can see that most easily by observing groups of other social animals, such as crows, or even pet dogs. They have moral rules they follow, and without them they would be unable to live together in groups.

    But there are a few humans who are born without those morals. We commonly call them sociopaths.

    And that inspired me to coin this name for the kind of con Trump is: Pre-Cambrian, since as far as we know there were no animals intelligent enough back then to be social as, for example, crows are.

    So Trump is a Pre-Cambrian con. And if you shorten that to “Pre-C con”, I’ll know what you mean.

    Jim Miller (85fd03)

  209. The decrease in opposition to nuclear power can be found in many nations, especially nations that are aiding Ukraine, and possibly paying a price for that.

    Ukraine should offer to store Europe’s nuclear waste — in a line along the Russian border.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  210. Just thought I’d stop by to see if the most vocal DCSCA icomplainers still are the most frequent to engage him.

    Yep.

    BuDuh (0043f5) — 8/21/2022 @ 10:06 am

    Nope. We left the blog for the most part.

    But it’s no surprise someone who trolls 23 hours a day gets complaints. Not much of a point you’re making there.

    Dustin (a87c64)

  211. @Buduh: “Just thought I’d stop by to see if the most vocal DCSCA icomplainers still are the most frequent to engage him.”

    Hey he posted something that was mildly responsive….and I won’t miss an opportunity that make the argument against Trump. 2024 will tell us if the descent is over yet. I can hope….

    @Miller: “A very large majority of Germans are saying, let’s keep the three reactors running through the winter, and a large majority are saying let’s keep them running until we are no long dependent on Russia for energy.”

    The Germans are a pragmatic people and this would be the most sensible approach. They can’t be happy that Schroeder helped snooker Merkel and make them dependent. I hope they are able to delay, so it will be interesting to see….

    “we should all be so lucky as to be a mess like Trump. Marla, Melania”

    And he cheats on them all. I have relatives who have been married for 65 years. Who do you think I respect more?

    AJ_Liberty (c916b7)

  212. And he cheats on them all. I have relatives who have been married for 65 years. Who do you think I respect more?

    But so many want the guy with poor impulse control to be running the government. Say what you want about the FBI raiding Trump but at least they thought about it first.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  213. and I won’t miss an opportunity that make the argument against Trump.

    Yes! Feed Trump’s publicity machine; keep bantering The Donald’s name as he lives, rent free, in your head. He’s been out of office well over 18 months. And how goes the ratings for ‘The Joe Show’ ???

    Lest you forget: A year ago today: August 21, 2021:

    -Seven people are killed during a stampede at the airport in Kabul. (Reuters)
    -United States Army major general William D. Taylor announces that the United States has evacuated 17,000 people, including 2,500 Americans, in the past few weeks. (CNBC)
    -The U.S. and Germany both issue advisories warning nationals not to travel to the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul almost a week after the Taliban took control. (Reuters)

    And where is Ice Cream Joe tanning today?

    Stay-tuned!

    DCSCA (eadf65)

  214. AJ_Liberty (c916b7) — 8/21/2022 @ 5:54 pm

    all other things being equal, I’m more likely to respect a candidate who hasn’t neglected and pretty much disowned any of his grand kids

    JF (f41ce2)

  215. French is an evangelical Christian. He is married to author Nancy French. French and his family have lived in Columbia, Tennessee, since 2006. They have three children, including a daughter adopted from Ethiopia.

    Which makes him especially a thorn in the side of the Collection Plate Commandatura and to persons whose accusations against him are their secret wishes. He walks the walk when their “all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” barely manages to talk the talk.

    nk (bc08b3)

  216. “we should all be so lucky as to be a mess like Trump. Marla, Melania”

    Not sure who said this. Saw AJ quoted it. I guess this captures a bit of the problem. Melania and Marla are not lucky. You would not really want to swap places with those people. Golden toilet and endless mcdonalds or not, life is short and there are very good things to do. Those folks wasted their time.

    Dustin (a87c64)

  217. While we’re on the topic of David French, this is from the 2004 press release announcing his appointment as President of FIRE:

    For the past four years, [French] has served as religious freedom counsel for the InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, has been the most active member of FIRE’s Legal Network, and has devoted himself pro bono to the civil liberties of college students and professors.

    He was the lead attorney both in FIRE’s first major public case, a successful defense of freedom of association at Tufts University, and in FIRE’s recent
    historic victory in federal court against the unconstitutional speech code at
    Shippensburg University. He is the author of FIRE’s Guide to Religious Liberty
    on Campus. He is also the coauthor, with Harvey A. Silverglate, FIRE’s vice-chairman, and Greg Lukianoff, FIRE’s director of legal and public advocacy, of FIRE’s forthcoming Guide to Free Speech on Campus.

    But don’t let that fool you. I’m reliably informed he’s a fraud and a moby. I haven’t figured out yet how all those years of tirelessly advocating for speech and religious liberty was a front for his covert leftist agenda, but he pi$$es off AntiAntiTrumpers, so I’m sure he can’t be trusted.

    lurker (cd7cd4)

  218. Don’t forget irrelevant, lurker. More than one commenter here has told me that French is irrelevant, more than once.

    Paul Montagu (062b7e)

  219. @222: Glorious!

    lurker (cd7cd4)

  220. https://www.theamericanconservative.com/rethinking-salman-rushdie/

    One of the worst pieces I’ve ever read from a fake conservative. He fully supports the heckler’s veto. I’m surprised the surname that signed it wasn’t French though.

    NJRob (eb56c3)

  221. @218- Lest you forget- The Donald merely suggested he might want to ‘date his daughter,’ Ivanka.

    Whilst Lunch Bucket Joe simply showered with his ‘Dear Diary’ daughter, Ashley:

    “In the diary, the president’s daughter wrote that “showers w/ my dad (probably not appropriate)” might have played a role in her sex addiction as an adult, as well as being “hyper-sexualized [at] a young age” which allegedly involved another family member as a child, according to the U.K.’s Daily Mail.

    https://www.westernjournal.com/ashley-bidens-leaked-diary-detailing-vulgar-acts-joe-fl-woman-trouble/

    DCSCA (ed27ba)

  222. @220-. Melania and Marla are not lucky. You would not really want to swap places with those people.

    ROFLMAOPIP. And where do you park your helicopter, Dustin?

    Name: Melania Trump
    Net Worth: $50 Million
    Monthly Salary: $100 Thousand
    Annual Income: $3 Million
    Source of Wealth: Former First Lady of United States, Supermodel, Socialite, Jewelry designer

    https://highincomesource.com/melania-trump-net-worth/

    Name: Marla Maples
    Net Worth: $6 Million
    Monthly Salary: $70 Thousand+
    Annual Income: $1 Million
    Source of Wealth: Actor, Presenter, Film Producer, Model

    https://highincomesource.com/marla-maples-net-worth/

    DCSCA (ed27ba)

  223. @219. He’s a Neocon.

    DCSCA (ed27ba)

  224. A lesson in morals and liberty, ‘Liberty’:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQjw5F6SnzE

    DCSCA (ed27ba)

  225. I finally understand the acclaim for Japanese director Kurosawa.
    I watched “High and Low” last night. It’s not a samurai film, but instead contemporary to the year it came out (1963).

    Man, Kurosawa was ahead of his time. I’ve watched a ton of old movies, and have never seen anything as modern, gritty, detailed, and realistic as this movie. The Dope Alley scene just blew me away.

    norcal (da5491)

  226. “Rashomon” is pretty great.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  227. @230 I saw Rashomon several months ago. Also good.

    I really want to go to Japan someday. I’m fascinated by the culture.

    norcal (da5491)

  228. To those who think Cheney should have abandoned her own judgment in favor of the opinions of her constituents, I commend this speech by Edmund Burke, the philosophical founder of conservatism:

    Certainly, gentlemen, it ought to be the happiness and glory of a representative to live in the strictest union, the closest correspondence, and the most unreserved communication with his constituents. Their wishes ought to have great weight with him; their opinion, high respect; their business, unremitted attention. It is his duty to sacrifice his repose, his pleasures, his satisfactions, to theirs; and above all, ever, and in all cases, to prefer their interest to his own.

    But his unbiassed opinion, his mature judgment, his enlightened conscience, he ought not to sacrifice to you, to any man, or to any set of men living. These he does not derive from your pleasure; no, nor from the law and the constitution. They are a trust from Providence, for the abuse of which he is deeply answerable. Your representative owes you, not his industry only, but his judgment; and he betrays, instead of serving you, if he sacrifices it to your opinion.

    norcal (da5491)

  229. Well, that was ugly. I’ll try again.

    To those who think Cheney should have abandoned her own judgment in favor of the opinions of her constituents, I commend this speech by Edmund Burke, the philosophical founder of conservatism:

    “Certainly, gentlemen, it ought to be the happiness and glory of a representative to live in the strictest union, the closest correspondence, and the most unreserved communication with his constituents. Their wishes ought to have great weight with him; their opinion, high respect; their business, unremitted attention. It is his duty to sacrifice his repose, his pleasures, his satisfactions, to theirs; and above all, ever, and in all cases, to prefer their interest to his own.

    But his unbiassed opinion, his mature judgment, his enlightened conscience, he ought not to sacrifice to you, to any man, or to any set of men living. These he does not derive from your pleasure; no, nor from the law and the constitution. They are a trust from Providence, for the abuse of which he is deeply answerable. Your representative owes you, not his industry only, but his judgment; and he betrays, instead of serving you, if he sacrifices it to your opinion.

    norcal (da5491)

  230. https://www.theamericanconservative.com/rethinking-salman-rushdie/

    One of the worst pieces I’ve ever read from a fake conservative. He fully supports the heckler’s veto. I’m surprised the surname that signed it wasn’t French though.

    NJRob (eb56c3) — 8/21/2022 @ 8:37 pm

    That fake conservative is espousing the kind of theocratic, “common good” conservatism featured in Sohrab Ahmari’s attack on… wait for it… David French.

    Don’t feel bad. Gatekeeper of True Conservatism is a thankless job. The pay sux and the reading is endless.

    lurker (cd7cd4)

  231. What if conservatism is evil? From keeping slavery in the declaration of independence and the constitution’s 3/5 person thru dred scott and segragation to supreme court striking down roe.

    asset (8fe12b)

  232. In Salman Rushdie’s case, it was the heckler’s windfall. It made him rich and famous.

    I was paying attention in 1988. If not for the stupid Ayatollah’s stupid fatwa, The Satanic Verses would have gone the way of Meter Maids in Bondage a book comparable in literary value and of probably higher entertainment value for people who like that stuff.

    nk (bc08b3)

  233. The (“standing order”) claim, though, might be an obstacle to prosecution for improperly handling classified information.

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a) — 8/19/2022 @ 1:35 pm

    rip Murdock @27:

    A claim that is unsupported by testimony by others or documentation is just an unsupported claim, without proof that the “order” exists (except in Trump’s mind).

    My thought was, it still might require proof beyond a reasonable doubt to disprove it. ”

    We still don’t know if Trump has alegal opinion asserting that/

    Classified, by the way, is not the same thing as secret, because something can be regarded as secret without being classified.

    Paul Cippolone was interviewed by the FBI, according to a New York Times story, but that was more likely in connection with the procedures or lack of procedures, to ensure that everything that was supposed to remain with the government aftter his term ended, in fact did.

    Sammy Finkelman (743fe6)

  234. 88. nk (bc08b3) — 8/22/2022 @ 5:42 am

    If not for the stupid Ayatollah’s stupid fatwa, The Satanic Verses would have gone the way of Meter Maids in Bondage a book comparable in literary value and of probably higher entertainment value for people who like that stuff.

    The Ayatollah was trying to take attention away from the fatwa issued in Pakistan.

    Sammy Finkelman (743fe6)

  235. Thank you for that quote, norcal.

    DRJ (14d1a3)

  236. He succeeded. The British government made it a casus belli, like he had put his hand up the Queen’s skirt or something.

    nk (3466ce)

  237. “Against stupidity, the very gods themselves contend in vain.” — Friedrich Schiller

    Did you know that his Ode to Joy was the inspiration for Beethoven’s?

    nk (5f4fe0)

  238. Here’s Edmund Burke’s entire Speech to the Electors of Bristol, for those who would like to read all of it. norcal quoted the most important paragraph, but the speech is brief, and it is worth your time to read the whole thing.

    (The Sorenson/Kennedy book, Profiles in Courage, is a set of eight short biographies, each illustrating Burke’s argument.)

    Jim Miller (85fd03)

  239. @122

    10. Donald Trump Jr.- No Dynasty please. As a politician, I think he can succed like his dad, but he’s more polished than his dad’s brass knuckles persona.

    9. Mike Pompeo- Decent guy imo and could be a solid executive. Just doesn’t have a name/brand recognition honestly.

    8. Rick Scott- Who? Peaked too soon. May need a national political office before trying for Whitehouse.

    7. Nikki Haley- I like her alot and I think she’s unfairly criticized as being “too driven” or that she’s too much of a “thread needler”. She does have a bit of a spine though who’ll won’t tolerate bs.

    6. Ted Cruz- He’s my pick. He’s always my pick. Doubtful that the party leadership would help him though. His highest political position may just be Chief Justice if Roberts steps down during a GOP administration.

    5. Glenn Youngkin- I think he has a solid chance, but needs to “strike it hot” get build up a name recognition brand.

    4. Tim Scott- Good dude, but too nice imo. I think most GOP voters want someone “who can fight”.

    3. Mike Pence- Too much Trump baggage imo.

    2. Donald Trump- Only way he wins, imo, is if the current trajectory under Biden remains the same or worsen.

    1. Ron DeSantis- Most likely candidate that can win, even against Trump during primaries. He’s not perfect, but is a “net positive” than negative imo.

    Regarding Haley, Cruz and DeSantis: I think there’s this undertone that unfairly target these candidates because they have designs to WANT to run for President.

    Politics, and politicians is messy. No one is going to be clean of baggage and shouldn’t be singled out to be placed on a honorific pedestal.

    That’s why I’ve advocated that we vote for 1) someone who can win and 2) who’ll advance the preferred agendas. That’s it. The President is not the “mommy or daddy” of the nation. The President is not a “leader” that we should model ourselves to. The President is only a leader over the Executive Branch running the country and advancing policies.

    It often is, but it should not be a popularity contest.

    whembly (b770f8)

  240. @193

    @191, My general sense is that the German people are behind retiring nuclear, driven by concern about storing the waste. Ramping up more renewable will require ramping up more energy storage. I read their plan is both battery technology and hydrogen (with their extensive gas piping infrastructure in place) which will be an interesting experiment for this country to watch. I think the Fukushima scare wasn’t the prime driver but just added one more negative in nuclear’s column. S. Korea is the leader in storage. We are probably a bit behind the curve. Expanding DoE’s role in large-scale energy storage projects would be a public works effort I could support (that and creatively bridging the west-east interconnects). Economies of scale brought down the cost of PV-panels and lithium-ion batteries, the same needs to happen for grid storage…so I’ve heard.

    AJ_Liberty (ec7f74) — 8/21/2022 @ 10:22 am

    The concerns about storing nuclear reactor waste is over-wrought.

    If I remember right, in US alone, you can stack up the waste in one football field 7ft high. Much of the challeges stems from NIMBYism and Greenie nonsense.

    The extraction and processing for PV-panels and batteries are FAR more destructive and wasteful than nuclear technologies.

    whembly (b770f8)

  241. The assassination of Ms. Dugin has the feel of some kind of Russian skullduggery. Ukrainians have bigger things to worry about than one of many pro-Russian anti-Ukrainian pundits in their closed censored media ecosystem

    Paul Montagu (062b7e)

  242. The assassination of Ms. Dugin has the feel of some kind of Russian skullduggery. Ukrainians have bigger things to worry about than one of many pro-Russian anti-Ukrainian pundits in their closed censored media ecosystem

    Paul Montagu (062b7e) — 8/22/2022 @ 9:24 am

    Maskirovka, such as portrayed in Red Storm Rising:

    The Russians assure the opportunity to attack NATO by staging an attack on their own Kremlin. The attack results in the deaths of several people, including some children. As those “innocent victims” are laid to rest, Russian officials call for retaliation.

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  243. I did not know that nk 240. I love your quote, too.

    DRJ (14d1a3)

  244. Judge says FBI’s evidence for searching Mar-a-Lago is ‘reliable’
    ………
    Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart offered his assessment in a 13-page order memorializing his decision to consider whether to unseal portions of the affidavit, which describe the evidence the bureau relied on to justify the search of the former president’s home.
    ………
    “I cannot say at this point that partial redactions will be so extensive that they will result in a meaningless disclosure, but I may ultimately reach that conclusion after hearing further from the Government,” Reinhart wrote.
    ……..
    In his order, Reinhart noted that “neither Former President Trump nor anyone else purporting to be the owner of the Premises has filed a pleading taking a position” on efforts to unseal the affidavit.
    ………
    Reinhart’s order echoed his decision to shoot down an effort by media organizations and conservative advocacy group Judicial Watch to unseal the entire FBI affidavit. …….

    “Disclosure of these facts (sources and methods) would detrimentally affect this investigation and future investigations,” Reinhart wrote, adding, “The Government has a compelling reason not to publicize that information at this time.”
    ………
    “Given the public notoriety and controversy about this search, it is likely that even witnesses who are not expressly named in the Affidavit would be quickly and broadly identified over social media and other communication channels, which could lead to them being harassed and intimidated,“ Reinhart noted.
    ………
    “Disclosure of those details (the layout of Mar-A-Lago) could affect the Secret Service’s ability to carry out its protective function,” he wrote. “This factor weighs in favor of sealing.”
    ###########

    Reinhart has no chance now of becoming an Article III judge.

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  245. 122.

    Mike Pence: ……….. The hard part is facilitating that without completely alienating the Trump backers he’d need in 2024. (Previous rank 3)

    Someone yesterday on one of the Sunday interview shows opined that what a lot of them are doing, in visiting Iowa or New Hampshire, is preparing fora run in case Donald Trump is not in the race.

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  246. Paraphrasing Sen. Johnson: “But, but, it was only a few seconds of sedition!”

    Paul Montagu (062b7e)

  247. I’m just happy to see you around, DRJ.

    nk (db848b)

  248. Paul Montagu (062b7e) — 8/22/2022 @ 9:24 am

    The assassination of Ms. Dugin has the feel of some kind of Russian skullduggery. Ukrainians have bigger things to worry about than one of many pro-Russian anti-Ukrainian pundits in their closed censored media ecosystem

    The New York Times says Russian state television says that Aleksandr Dugin was the target, but he took a different car than expected.

    The form of the daughter’s name is Daria Dugina. Whoever did this nay have expected to get both of them.

    I don’t think anybody really know who did this, but it was likely somebody important in Russia. The Russian authorities probably have a good idea of the motive, and the motive may be connected to avoiding a bigger, or a longer, war. Maybe he was, and is, too skilled at preventing a coup.

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  249. One wrinkle, Sammy, is that the car that got blowed up was owned by Ms. Dugin. They may have both been targeted, or it could’ve just been her.

    Paul Montagu (062b7e)

  250. Paul Montagu (062b7e) — 8/22/2022 @ 10:30 am

    But, but, it was only a few seconds of sedition!”

    What Senator Johnson did didn’t really have anything to do with sedition, if by that you mean violence.

    It was trying to facilitate Pence counting alternate electors. Except Pence didn’t want to. His staff tried to deliver an envelope containing an alternative report of some Electoral votes to Pence’s staff. (The ones sent to the president of the Senate had been ignored and not passed on)

    The news here is that Senator Johnson takes responsibility for that. He had previously implied that all did not necessarily go on with his involvement.

    What Senator Johnson apparently agreed to do was deliver an envelope containing false electoral votes that Pence could count if he wanted to.

    But they were just from Michigan [16] and Wisconsin [10] , for a total of 26, so, even if Pence had counted them, but no others were delivered, would have still left Biden with 280 Electoral votes.

    As if something like that would have been allowed to stand.

    Doing this with enough Electoral votes would theoretically have mattered though, except that Trump would lose anyway. The thing was, given the balance of power, Trump was checkmated, no matter what he did, but things could be worse in a different election.

    The difference is though it would have reversed the default, as under the Electoral Count Act it would have required a majority of both houses to reject votes, here it would have required a majority to overrule the chair and accept them, or maybe it would have just thrown everything into confusion.

    Anyway there was a majority in both houses for accepting the true votes.

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  251. nk #250: I’m 100% in agreement. There are some commenters, when I see their names, make me immediately go to their comments. DRJ is one of them. nk, you are another.

    Then there are some I just do my best to ignore.

    Trolls and H8rs don’t add to my day.

    Many thanks to those of you who do.

    Simon Jester (4dfd56)

  252. A column By Holman W. Jenkins, Jr. in the Wall Street Saturday/Sunday August 20-21 edition, contains, near the end, an assertions that there is another lie that affects American politics as big as the stolen election lie. (and maybe he’s right – I think you could say that perhaps about the same percentage of American voters accept that – except it’s not really being pushed by many politicians)

    https://www.wsj.com/amp/articles/liz-cheney-and-her-unhappy-choice-among-liars-trump-2020-disinformation-election-wyoming-campaign-gop-polls-establishment-11660939811

    Offhand, only one lie heard in normal, everyday American discourse seems to me close in size to Mr. Trump’s 2020 lie, and that’s the routine, universally affirmed lie, which is nowhere found in the science, that climate change is the end of the world.

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  253. NASA Sets Launch Coverage for Artemis Mega Moon Rocket, Spacecraft

    https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-sets-launch-coverage-for-artemis-mega-moon-rocket-spacecraft

    DCSCA (2a8736)

  254. Th2e New York Times contained a front page article Sunday about Trump’s preparations for leaving office.

    This was all done properly by George W. Bush’s last Chief of Staff, Joshua B. Bolten, and by Barack Obama’s last chief of staff, Denis McDonough, and by Vice President Mike Pence’s senior aides, but it is not clear about Donald Trump’s Chief of Staff Mark Meadows. He seems to have demanded that all the minor functionaries in the White House not keep anything, but with regard to Trump, it was promises to others concerned about this about what he would do later.

    The New York Times does not know what exactly happened in the final analysis.

    But…

    https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/20/us/politics/trump-fbi-search.html

    Four days before the end of the Trump presidency, a White House aide peered into the Oval Office and was startled, if not exactly surprised, to see all of the president’s personal photos still arrayed behind the Resolute Desk as if nothing had changed — guaranteeing the final hours would be a frantic dash mirroring the prior four years.

    In the area known as the outer Oval Office, boxes had been brought in to pack up desks used by President Donald J. Trump’s assistant and personal aides. But documents were strewn about, and the boxes stood nearly empty. The table in Mr. Trump’s private dining room off the Oval Office was stacked high with papers until the end, as it had been for his entire term.

    Upstairs in the White House residence, there were, however, a few signs that Mr. Trump had finally realized his time was up. Papers he had accumulated in his last several months in office had been dropped into boxes, roughly two dozen of them, and not sent to the National Archives. [But] Aides had even retrieved letters from Kim Jong-un, the North Korean leader, and given them to Mr. Trump in the final weeks, according to notes described to The New York Times.

    Trump had actually deliberately arranged to take with himself a few souvenirs!

    Things were made worse, according to the New York Times, because the White House staff secretary, Derek Lyons, who managed paperwork inside the executive complex but had stepped down on Dec. 18, 2020.

    On January 19, 2021. Trump appointed seven people to work with the National Archives. they contacted two of them, both of whom had worked in the White House counsel’s office, when the archivists realized they were missing significant material. They were particularly interested in the correspondence from the North Korean leader and a letter left on the Resolute Desk for Mr. Trump by Mr. Obama.

    Both of those thins are supposed to go into the National Archives not a future Trump library or museum.

    Archives officials also asked Mr. Gast and Mr. Philbin about the roughly two dozen boxes that had been in the residence during the Trump administration’s final days. Mr. Philbin responded that he would work to get them in the hands of the archives and reached out to Mr. Meadows, who said he would help make it happen, according to former officials.

    But archives officials did not get what they wanted until they traveled to Mar-a-Lago and retrieved 15 boxes of material in January 2022.

    After that, they learned there were some personal electronic messaging accounts or social media accounts in which government business had been discussed that had not been preserved.

    This article doesn’t say that, but in another article I read that some of what they did get, in January, 2022, was apparently classified. They referred all these matters to the Justice Department and a grand jury was formed.

    In June, one of Mr. Trump’s lawyers signed a statement asserting that all relevant documents with classified markings from the boxes that had been requested — by then they were stored in a basement area at Mar-a-Lago — had been returned.

    That had been requested?

    Again, what’s the exact text of that letter?

    There’s another interesting thing that Meadows did during Trump’s last weeks in office. He arranged for

    a binder of Crossfire Hurricane materials that included unreleased information about the F.B.I.’s investigative steps and text messages between two former top F.B.I. officials, Peter Strzok and Lisa Page, who had sharply criticized Mr. Trump in their private communications during the 2016 election.

    To be declassified. On January 17,

    he White House and the F.B.I. settled on a set of redactions, and Mr. Trump declassified the rest of the binder.

    The intention was to release it to a conservative journalist, but this was not done, because

    Justice Department officials pointed out that disseminating the messages between Mr. Strzok and Ms. Page could run afoul of privacy law, opening officials up to suits.

    None of this, or material concerning the Russia investigation, which was also declassified, is believed to be in the cache of material taken from Mar-a-Lago on August 8.

    He had actually

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  255. What Senator Johnson did didn’t really have anything to do with sedition, if by that you mean violence.

    I mean the dictionary definition, Sammy, courtesy of Oxford: “conduct or speech inciting people to rebel against the authority of a state or monarch.”
    That Johnson’s participation in electoral fraud–to illegally wrest electoral votes from the legitimate winner–was ill-conceived and half-baked shouldn’t take away from the seriousness of the offense. In this instance, he was doing a lot more than just askin’ the questions.

    Paul Montagu (062b7e)

  256. “ “DemCast is a non-profit organization utilizing social media to push left-wing narratives online through tens of thousands of accounts on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

    “Garnering an estimation of over 50 billion impressions since just 2019 — DemCast aims at manipulating public opinion surrounding the topics of COVID, war with Russia, January 6, and even swaying local elections throughout all of the 50 states. …

    “[A]n unlisted YouTube video posted to DemCast’s YouTube channel … details a major function of DemCast’s strategy — using thousands of private chatrooms to artificially amplify messaging on the platform, garnering millions of impressions, artificially amplifying content to sway public opinion.”

    To do this, they utilize something called the Speechifai platform wherein (obviously left-wing) organizations are provided with “an accompanying hashtag, ensuring that when thousands of individuals post to social media, they appear as though they are authentic to the normal user — rather than auto-generated” (from a specifically left-wing bot).

    I repeat: over 50 billion impressions so far, undoubtedly growing exponentially even as we read this. Not even Orwell dreamed of this for his Ministry of Truth. Who needs the imprimatur of the New York Times—controversial to some of us diehards—when you have millions of people unwittingly repeating the received mantras without a hint of bias acknowledged? It’s from folks just like you, folks. No pundits, no media, nada, not even celebrities.”

    https://www.theepochtimes.com/demcast-takes-democrats-war-on-truth-to-a-much-more-dangerous-level_4680007.html

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  257. Artemis I: How does Artemis compare to Apollo?

    https://spacecenter.org/artemis-i-how-does-artemis-compare-to-apollo/#:~:text=Rockets%20Apollo%20had%20the%20mighty%20Saturn%20V.%20Artemis,to%20the%20Moon%2C%20but%20NASA%E2%80%99s%20SLS%20will%20be.

    From a letter written to H.G. Wells, dated April 20, 1932:

    “There can be no thought of finishing, for aiming at the stars, both literally and figuratively, is a problem to occupy generations, so that no matter how much progress one makes there is always the thrill of just beginning”. – Robert H. Goddard

    Glorious.

    DCSCA (2a8736)

  258. There’s vaccine targeted against a later version of the coronavirus that’s become avaiable in the UK and soon will in Canada and Australia, but the United States decided in June they wanted vaccine targeted against a (later) version of Omicron and that’s going to take a couple of more weeks from now.

    Monkeypox vaccines are also mired in bureaucracy..

    https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/03/us/politics/monkeypox-vaccine-doses-us.html

    The Department of Health and Human Services delayed asking the manufacturer to process the bulk vaccine the government already owned into vials.

    ….To speed up deliveries, the government is scrambling to find another firm to take over some of the bottling, capping and labeling of frozen bulk vaccine that is being stored in large plastic bags at Bavarian Nordic’s headquarters outside Copenhagen. Because that final manufacturing phase, known as fill and finish, is highly specialized, experts estimate it will take another company at least three months to gear up. Negotiations are ongoing with Grand River Aseptic Manufacturing, a Michigan factory that has helped produce Covid-19 vaccines, to bottle 2.5 million of the doses now on order, hopefully shaving months off the timetable, according to people familiar with the situation.

    Health and Human Services officials so miscalculated the need that on May 23, they allowed Bavarian Nordic to deliver about 215,000 fully finished doses that the federal government had already bought to European countries instead of holding them for the United States.

    At the time, the nation had only eight confirmed monkeypox cases, agency officials said. And it could not have used those doses immediately because the Food and Drug Administration had not yet certified the plant where the vaccine, Jynneos, was poured into vials.

    https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-bumbling-biden-fails-the-monkeypox-test-covid-trump-vaccines-jynneos-stockpile-rct-doses-smallpox-medicine-public-health-treatment-11661108794

    [small outbreaks and worry about bioterrorism created interet in stockpiling vaccine] In 2017 the Trump administration awarded Bavarian a 10-year contract for freeze-dried vaccines, giving the U.S. rights to an estimated 13 million doses. The Food and Drug Administration approved the vaccine in 2019, and the Trump administration in 2020 ordered 1.4 million doses in case of emergency.

    So when the first monkeypox cases popped up in mid-May, the U.S. had the benefit of scientific knowledge, experience and a ready-made vaccine. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reported 14,115 cases nationwide as of Aug. 18, probably an underestimate since the virus can look similar to other No deaths have been reported in the U.S….

    ….At the time {President Biden spoke about it, May 22, which was four days after the first U.S. case was identified in Massachusetts] the government had a mere 2,400 usable doses of Jynneos in its Strategic National Stockpile—enough to inoculate 1,200 people. Bavarian was storing another 372,000 finished doses in Denmark, but they wouldn’t arrive for weeks. Demand for vaccines quickly outstripped supply.

    The other doses the government had ordered earlier were filled at Bavarian’s new “fill and finish” factory in Denmark, which had been operating since early 2021. But the FDA didn’t certify the facility until July 27, meaning that those doses couldn’t be distributed. As cases mounted, the administration ordered millions more doses in late June and July but they too couldn’t be delivered until later this year or next.

    To stretch the government supply, the FDA this month approved a new method for injecting vaccines in the upper skin layer, which would allow each single-dose vial to be split into five doses.

    Which may work, except it requires more skill than usual to do this properly. And they kept on ignoring that it spread much faster between male homosexuals with many partners than it did otherwise – and it had gotten into that population.

    Meantime, some 1.7 million courses of the smallpox antiviral treatment, which could help patients, sit in Washington’s stockpile. European regulators have approved the drug to treat monkeypox, but the FDA hasn’t, and the CDC is restricting access by requiring doctors to complete mounds of paperwork to prescribe it.

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  259. I mean the dictionary definition, Sammy, courtesy of Oxford: “conduct or speech inciting people to rebel against the authority of a state or monarch.”

    That wasn’t what Senator Johnson did.

    If anything, it would tend to prevent that, since he was taking steps to give them what they wanted without rebelling.

    That Johnson’s participation in electoral fraud–to illegally wrest electoral votes from the legitimate winner–was ill-conceived and half-baked shouldn’t take away from the seriousness of the offense. In this instance, he was doing a lot more than just askin’ the questions.

    I think the fact that it was half-baked does detract from the seriousness of the offense , although it does not reduce it to zero – and also the attempt to wrest electoral votes from the legitimate winner does not fit the definition of sedition – it would be an attempted constitutional coup.

    Someone wrote today that Trump’s supporters want the election to have been stolen so they don’t have tp face the fact that he lost, and others on the other side want everything Trump did to be illegal.

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  260. #241 What isssue caused Edmund Burke to make that classic defense of conservatism in his speech to the Electors of Bristol? I couldn’t remember it offhand, so I found my copy of Conor Cruise O’Brien’s biography and learned that Burke wanted Ireland to be able to trade more freely with other British possessions, notably in the West Indies. Traders in Bristol feared that competition.

    Burke tried to persuade them they would benefit from a more prosperous Ireland — or perhaps I should say a less poverty-stricken Ireland — and, given Brisotl’s location, one can see why he would think Bristol would have an advantage in such trade.

    Jim Miller (85fd03)

  261. We seem to be having very slightly warmer (more warmer in the Arctic) but more variable weather, both in temperature range during specific periods of the year, and in precipitation.

    There’s about 5% more water vapor in the atmosphere than there was 100 or more years ago, and we’re getting both more rain at one time and less rain over time and in different places,

    The BIG LIE is that you can do much about this by lowering the amount of CO2 added tp the atmosphere every yea, ad that what the United States and other western countries do will automatically affect much what happens other places.

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  262. https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/new-york-is-holding-another-primary-heres-everything-you-need-to-know

    The most recent polling (fielded Aug. 12-17 by Emerson College) now gives Nadler 43 percent support, Maloney 24 percent and Patel 14 percent.

    Which 19% still undecided.

    Nadler may be picking it up from Patel, and he’s more famous outside of his old district. He also sent absentee ballot application to many of his old voters.

    There’s a big difference in the results of a poll with undecideds allocated and not allocated. When Undecideds are not allocated, or listed according to what candidate they say they are leaning toward, and it’s Nadler at 21 percent support, Maloney at 31 percent and Patel at 4 percent when Undecideds remain at their original 35% (there must be more candidates in the mix) Incidentally, https://fivethirtyeight.com says Maloney did less well in Brooklyn and Queens than in Manhattan during her last primary.

    About the 10th districtm (lower ZManhttan and part of Brooklyn) it says:

    An Emerson College poll conducted Aug. 10-13 put Goldman at 22 percent support, Niou at 17 percent, Jones at 13 percent, Rivera at 13 percent, Simon at 6 percent and Holtzman at 4 percent.

    That adds up to just 53% The New York Post sort of endorsed a total unknown.

    The 538 analysis reminds me of the Almanac of American Politics in years past, which was often wrong, and didn;t see things.

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  263. Anti-abortionists are now demanding that women who have an abortion be charged with murder to their republican legislature. That will get women to vote republican. right? Yahoo news.

    asset (9186aa)

  264. #219,

    French didn’t live in Columbia, TN. He lived in the Zion community about 15 minutes south of Columbia in Maury County. Zion is a upscale place with an expensive private school. French kept ranting and ranting and ranting against the Deplorables. His neighbors (by his own account) had enough of him . A few years ago French moved to an even wealthier neighborhood near Franklin.

    French is viewed with disdain in the Volunteer State by those who have heard of him. French did provide some comic relief when Bill Kristol endorsed him for President in 2016.

    DN (69ae6e)

  265. Anthony Fauci to retire at the of December. I wonder if he was forced out.

    https://www.newser.com/story/324517/anthony-fauci-still-reviled-on-right-is-stepping-down.html

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  266. RIP Leon Vitali (74). Stanley Kubrick’s longtime right-hand man; played Lord Bullingdon in Barry Lyndon and Red Cloak in Eyes Wide Shut. Subject of the excellent documentary Filmworker.

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  267. Fauci to step down at year-end

    Instead of retiring, he’s leaving his government posts to “pursue the next chapter of my career,” Fauci, 81, said in a statement.

    (Bloomberg)—Anthony Fauci, the top US infectious disease expert who rocketed to unexpected fame during the pandemic, will step down at the end of the year.

    https://www.chicagobusiness.com/government/fauci-who-gained-fame-covid-19-pandemic-step-down-government-posts

    [ ] gravedigger

    [ ] Chinese lobbyist

    [ ] greeter, Wuhan wet market

    [ ] all the above

    Choose.

    DCSCA (86c203)

  268. Anthony Fauci to retire at the of December. I wonder if he was forced out.

    I doubt it. Why? If he could survive the Trump Administration, he could survive any other President. He’s 81 and served in the same job since 1984 and the same organization since 1968. And since he was the President’s chief medical adviser, what has he said/done that Biden would have disagreed with? Absolutely nothing!

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  269. He’s 81 and served in the same job since 1984 and the same organization since 1968.

    Shorter: bureaucrat.

    DCSCA (86c203)

  270. Biden may be worried about criticism and there’s a shake-up at the CDC, so yes Fauci could have been (quietly) forced out.

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  271. Liz Cheney says that if she runs for president, it will be to win, and she wouldn;’;t say whether or not it would be as an independent.

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  272. Biden may be worried about criticism and there’s a shake-up at the CDC, so yes Fauci could have been (quietly) forced out.

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a) — 8/22/2022 @ 2:23 pm

    More unfounded speculation.

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  273. By the way, Jill Biden tested positive for Covid the other day. But if she hadn’t tested, would she suspect?

    Now she tested negative again

    https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/21/us/politics/jill-biden-coronavirus-negative.html

    This does say she experienced mild symptoms, and took Paxlovid,

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  274. The speculation is founded upon the fact that Fauci suddenly announced his retirement, combined with Rochelle Walensky shake-up of the CDC citing COVID mistakes as a reason plus Joe Biden’s history of worry.

    https://www.cbsnews.com/news/cdc-director-rochelle-walensky-announces-organization-shake-up-aimed-at-speed

    Now it’s only a possibility that Fauci was given an ultimatum

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  275. WSJ: Abortion pills being illegally sold without a prescription, some imported. A site in Kazakhstan sells pills made in China. Other resell pills made in India. Prices have been charged as much as $500

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  276. (SD) Attorney general’s office to investigate ethics complaint against Gov. Kristi Noem
    ………
    Noem faced two complaints: one for the alleged personal use of the state airplane, and the second for misusing her position as governor to help her daughter through the state real estate appraiser program.
    ………
    The complaint heading to the AG’s office involves Noem’s alleged personal use of the state airplane, according to the Associated Press.

    The attorney general’s office, headed by Mark Vargo who was appointed by Noem after former AG Jason Ravnsborg was impeached earlier this year …….
    ……….
    Vargo added that the decision had not yet been made to recuse himself from the investigation.

    The second complaint…… now partially closed, found Noem may have “engaged in misconduct” when intervening on her daughter’s behalf to obtain a real estate appraiser license, the Associated Press reported.

    If more evidence came to light in the future could be reopened, Board chair Lori Wilbur explained. Portions of the complaint, after redactions are made, will be released to the public, though a date has not yet been determined.
    ……….

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  277. Thank you for that quote, norcal.

    DRJ (14d1a3) — 8/22/2022 @ 6:38 am

    You’re welcome. It’s great to see you!

    norcal (da5491)

  278. CNN Reportedly ‘Blowing Up’ Morning Show New Day Next

    After some big-name dismissals at CNN, Chris Licht is reportedly setting his sights on the network’s long-struggling morning show New Day, according to The Daily Beast’s Confider newsletter.

    The three-hour program is hosted by John Berman and Brianna Keilar.

    Speculation about the fate of CNN hosts and programs has swirled anew after last week’s shakeup.

    Confider reported CNN’s dismissal of Reliable Sources host Brian Stelter was supposed to be announced on Friday, but word of it leaked to the press:

    ‘The news of Stelter’s axing was actually supposed to be announced Friday with a carefully managed story placed with NPR, sources told Confider, but the news leaked early, including—perhaps curiously—to two conservative outlets, the Daily Mail and the Tucker Carlson-founded Daily Caller, which were both tipped off on Thursday morning.’

    The move prompted discussion on whether other big names such as Jim Acosta and Don Lemon could be next, but Confider cited sources indicating Licht’s next target is actually New Day and that Acosta and Lemon are “safe for now.” “Instead, these insiders said, Licht will next turn his attention to ‘blowing up’ CNN’s ratings-challenged morning show New Day, having brought on his old buddy Ryan Kadro from CBS to help rework it,” Confider reported. “Nevertheless, staffers fear further cutbacks and more layoffs.”

    The newsletter also said CNN employees “cannot shake the feeling” that Stelter was let go “to appease John Malone, a right-leaning billionaire, close friend of the Murdoch family, and key Warner Bros. Discovery board member who has made it well-known that he would like CNN to be more ‘centrist’—whatever that means.” Confider cited current and former CNN employees who said Licht is aiming to make the network “more vanilla.” source, – Mediaite

    It’s toast.

    Goes good with morning coffee, eh, Chris? 😉

    DCSCA (7eecc5)

  279. Liz Cheney says that if she runs for president, it will be to win, and she wouldn;’;t say whether or not it would be as an independent.
    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a) — 8/22/2022 @ 2:32 pm

    i wonder how many of her cultists believe she’s telling the truth… err, sorry, Truth

    JF (db0c1e)

  280. i wonder how many of her cultists believe she’s telling the truth… err, sorry, Truth

    JF (db0c1e) — 8/22/2022 @ 6:50 pm

    I believe she told the truth about losing her election.

    If somebody could help Trump put on his big boy pants, maybe he could acknowledge his own loss.

    norcal (da5491)

  281. norcal (da5491) — 8/22/2022 @ 6:57 pm

    when you lose 66% to 29%, I’d say the options are limited, but kudos to her for resisting the urge to make a bigger fool out of herself

    JF (db0c1e)

  282. when you lose 66% to 29%, I’d say the options are limited

    JF (db0c1e) — 8/22/2022 @ 7:13 pm

    Not if your name is Donald Trump. In that case, it’s just evidence of how powerful the Deep State is, and how corrupt the Democrats are.

    norcal (da5491)

  283. @284. For example, in 2016 he insisted he won the popular vote despite losing it by 3 million. As if anyone could still believe there are assertions so implausible that Trump is insufficiently shameless to make them.

    lurker (cd7cd4)

  284. @284. Liz Cheney Blasts Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley As ‘Unfit For Future’ Office

    https://www.huffpost.com/entry/liz-cheney-cruz-hawley-future-office_n_63027276e4b0f72c09d866fb

    She’s just too cool for school.

    DCSCA (2d07b0)

  285. Who knew that Putin’s ammunition depots in and near Ukraine were so vulnerable to stray cigarettes and sunny summer days.

    A major ammunition depot in Russian Belgorod has been blown up and the authorities are evacuating people. Obviously, this was done once again by the Ukrainians, but the local authorities claim that it was caused by the hot sun!

    Paul Montagu (062b7e)

  286. Today’s Dilbert has a practical solution for a certain kind of commenter.

    Jim Miller (85fd03)

  287. If Trump were a Democrat plant, send to wreak havoc on the GOP, what would he be doing differently?

    Some would say “But the Supreme Court!” but really, haven’t their rulings just energized the Dems?

    Kevin M (eeb9e9)

  288. Breaking:

    Jury convicts two men of conspiring to kidnap Michigan governor
    ……..
    Adam Fox and Barry Croft face a maximum sentence of life in prison for the kidnapping conspiracy conviction. They were also convicted of one count of conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction.
    ……..
    Prosecutors allege that Fox was the ringleader of a plot to kidnap the Democratic governor from her summer home and Croft was a part of the plan and practiced detonating explosives in preparation.
    ……..
    Neither defendant testified in their own defense.

    A federal judge declared a mistrial over a hung jury in the first trial for Fox and Croft earlier this year. Two other men acquitted in the first trial, Brandon Caserta and Daniel Harris, ultimately did not testify in the defense case despite being subpoenaed by the defense.

    Two other co-defendants that pleaded guilty before the first trial, Ty Garbin and Kaleb Franks, testified in both trials.
    ………

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  289. “Some would say “But the Supreme Court!” but really, haven’t their rulings just energized the Dems?”

    With a position like that, just give up NeverTrump. Nothing is worth fighting for… just be happy with providing aid, comfort and energy to the Democrats

    Colonel Haiku (81c05d)

  290. # 292

    Well said.

    DN (69ae6e)

  291. The FL GOP must’ve breathed a sigh of relief that a racist Florida Woman won’t be joining the GOP House delegation, but someone needs to tell her that she really did lose, fair and square. Still, it’s a bit unsettling that the victory margin was only 6.8 points.

    Paul Montagu (062b7e)

  292. Note: The New York City Board of Elections was apparently mailing out primary election reminders even to people who did not have a contest they could vote in.

    A lady who works in the synagogue I go to said she received a mailer, but both the early voting site on Sunday I think (and the metrocard machine also swallowed her metrocard after she had put in money to add to it) and the polling site was closed on Tuesday.

    She says she also received mail from Nadler and didn’t realize she was even though she is not only no longer in his district, but far away -she’s not even in the new 10th.

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)


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